The SSS-rank Guide Doesn't Need Saving

The last thin curls of smoke died out.

Aisha stood in the middle of the room, arms crossed over her chest, watching him in silence. The two corpses had long been swallowed up by the shadows, leaving no trace that anything wrong had ever happened in that room.

But Nykos did not stop moving once Marlon and Styx had vanished. He produced a dagger and pointed the tip into his palm, dragging the sharp blade across his skin and tearing it open. The scent of blood immediately rose into the air.

”What are you doing?” she asked curiously.

Nykos put his dagger inside its scabbard before turning to her. He raised his eyebrows and asked, ”You’ve never heard of bloodletting?”

Aisha rolled her eyes. ”I can see that. But why are you doing it?”

He smiled at the irritation on her face. He answered, ”It’s to bleed out the effects of the drug I ingested.”

She frowned. ”Is it going to work?”

She had never heard of such method to flush out the effects of an aphrodisiac. In her world, that would’ve been impossible. The only way to get it out of their system was either to engage in sexual intercourse or relieve themselves on their own. However, she heard that sex was more effective and took less time.

In a world where time was what they didn’t freely have, everyone would choose to resolve things faster.

”It is.” A fizzle rang inside the room. Nykos continued, ”Most aphrodisiacs that are being distributed in Sector Nine can be diluted or flushed out through bloodletting. Unsurprisingly, most people who are under the effects of it don’t use this method.”

In the end, they chose to use the most primitive and effective way to get rid of it.

”Of course, if your offer is still open and available for my taking, I wouldn’t refuse.”

Aisha ignored his untoward comment, approached him, and stopped before him.

Nykos’ hands slightly flinched, though it was almost unnoticeable. His foot unconsciously took a step back before he stopped it from backing away. He was curious. Was she seriously going to help him?

It would be surprising if she did. Though he wouldn’t stop her if she wanted to help. Either way, he was all the more willing and pleased.

’Ssssszt.’

Suddenly, Nykos felt the weightlessness on his hip. When he realized what she was doing, it was too late for him to stop her.

Aisha held the same dagger he held just now. A freshly cut the size of a finger appeared on her inner forearm, drawing blood that also fizzled upon meeting the floor below.

”You—”

Nykos took the dagger away from her and threw it somewhere in the room. The dagger that was worth millions of star credits and had slain countless people was haphazardly thrown away without a care from its owner, whose attention was solely focused on the woman in front of him.

”It’s really working,” Aisha whispered in fascination.

To think just letting out blood could help rid of the effects of the drug.

”You shouldn’t have done that.”

Aisha lifted her gaze to look at him, confused. ”But I also inhaled it.”

Nykos started to regret telling her how to get rid of it this way. It was hard to deny there was a part of him that wanted to act cool in front of her, but a larger part of why he did that was because he had never thought she’d copy him!

This type of aphrodisiac was notoriously used by almost every brothel in Sector Nine. The old types of drugs that had been used in the past had been thrown away already. It was to counter addiction and abuse. Because there were bound to be people who would take advantage of it, a way to ensure it was safe for use was introduced.

The Nectar of Eros. It was the name of the aphrodisiac that had become a hugely popular drug that has been sold far and wide into hundreds of star systems. It amassed a huge market and profit in just seven years.

But only a few people knew who developed Nectar of Eros.

Nykos felt irritated that the drug his organization developed happened to affect Aisha. Had he known this would happen, he would’ve watched her and found she’d come straight into one of his bases, he’d tell everyone to pull out all traces of Nectar of Eros in Sector Nine.

He had to acknowledge that it was his fault that she ended up injuring herself.

Without hesitation, he took out a salve from his storage bag. He’d won it at an auction on his last trip outside Gaia, worth at least fifteen million star credits. It was made of extremely rare star pearls smashed into paste with different kinds of medicinal ingredients.

Nykos didn’t need it. But the thought of messing with one of the crown princes from another star system who wanted it pushed him to buy it. In addition, Amar praised him for finally becoming a sensible commander.

And Amar had been right. Nykos felt the fifteen million star credits had been well spent.

He cradled her arm like it was precious, and without waiting for her to ask him for an explanation, he dipped his finger into the salve and rubbed it along the gash on her forearm.

He coldly told her, ”Do this again, and I will personally suck the drug from your body.”

Nykos stared at her forearm, watching the salve work its wonder. If it hadn’t worked as it was expected to, he’d destroy that auction house, demand repayment, beat the people there, and smack that crown prince, too.

The wound closed up quickly, though there was still a trace of it being cut open; it was not that noticeable. Unless someone took hold of her arm and looked carefully, no one would see it.

Aisha did not understand why he was reacting like this. It was just a small cut. Besides, he was the one who told her it was the only way to get rid of the effects of the drug.

And this kind of injury was never one that scared or hurt her.

At least, in her past life, the number of wounds and scars she had on her body had outnumbered the spot where flawless skin was visible.

She kept a frown on her face as Nykos continued to rub more salve on her arm, even though it was almost healed. Only a faint redness was left, but he looked like he was still dissatisfied with that and continued.

Until—

’Bzzz, bzzzt.’

Aisha looked at where the sound had come from.

Nykos’ finger with the salve paused and resumed after accepting the call on his communicator. He still hadn’t released her for the entire minute.

After another minute passed, he finally let her go after placing the small jar of healing salve on her palm.

”My men are locating your brother now,” he said.

Aisha pulled her arm back, letting the sleeve of her shirt cover the skin. Though a different sensation of heat seemed to remind her of whose fingers had traced her skin just now.

”Will they find him?”

Nykos nodded. ”It’ll be done in half an hour.”

”That fast?”

”Someone on my ship has the ability to track. We need to wait for him to map out the path toward your brother’s exact location.” Nykos turned around and raised his hand. The blade he had thrown earlier reappeared in his hand, retrieved by his shadows. ”For now... you should meet your little followers.”