Kio was surprised after he inspected Luna because his [Inspect] skill had never shown ??? before.
When Kio reacted differently after looking at her, she also noticed this small detail and stared back.
Since all the other slaves were downcast and lowered their heads, he hadn't looked at any of them closely.
However, for the first time since he came here, he made eye contact with a slave.
Taking a more detailed look at her eyes, he noticed the glimmer inside of it.
'This girl… her eyes are still full of life, unlike all of the other slaves here who had given up hope.'
After looking at her, he knew he had to make a decision.
"Dammit…"
Stuck in a dilemma that could affect their whole group, Kio resolved himself and took a deep breath.
Next, he took a step forward towards her direction.
While Jay was deciding on which path they should take, he noticed Kio walking towards the slaves and asked, "Hey Kio, what are you doing…?"
Ignoring his question, Kio moved forward.
Riko released her grip on his clothes after she realized what he is about to do.
She was happy about his decision since she knew that under his cold exterior, he was actually soft-hearted, mainly towards the people that he cared about.
Although he chose not to save the slum inhabitants earlier, she understood the logic behind his words.
However, these slaves are different.
Losing their freedom, they can only live out the rest of their lives in a cage until somebody buys them.
Being treated as a merchandise is something that no human being should ever experience.
Although there were some non-human races inside the cages, Riko believed that they were similar enough to human beings for her to treat them as one.
After Kio reached the cage that Luna was trapped in, he asked, "Oi, you over there, what's your name?"
Although he already knew her name, he wanted to start a conversation with her first, to know what kind of person she is.
"...?"
The slave girl was confused about his question.
"Why… do you ask? Are you planning to buy me?"
Hearing her voice, Kio realized that she still had a hint of pride within it, as if she was a noble.
"Although that wasn't my intention, let's just say if you answer my questions, I'll help you out."
"???"
The slave girl became further confused after she heard his reply.
'Why does he want to ask me questions if he isn't planning to buy me? I can't even escape from here since I'm bound by the slave crest.'
Although she had questions in her mind, she felt like she should at least try answering his questions.
"My name is Luna."
"I see. What's your class?"
"...I cannot tell you."
"Eh? Why?"
"It is a tradition passed down among my clansmen. Aside from our own people, we can only inform our race and class to the person who will be our fated partner."
"Huh? Aren't you human?"
Looking closely at her again, Kio could only describe her as a beautiful human girl, although she is now covered in dirt and grime.
"..."
Seeing Luna remain silent, he decided to ask something else.
"Fine, I won't ask you about your race or class. How did you become a slave?"
"I was captured by humans when I left my home for a stroll. Although there are usually guards near me when I leave, I wanted to try sneaking out by myself that day. After testing out my skills in secret, I became exhausted afterwards and ran into humans. You can probably guess the rest... I was captured and sold to a slave trader."
'Why does this sound so cliche? Well, I guess if she gets infected and turned into a zombie, it's not so cliche anymore.' That was the first thought that came to Kio's mind after he heard about her story.
"I see. I have one last question for you."
"What is it?" A hint of excitement could be seen in her eyes, as she expected him to ask if she wanted to be free.
"Do you want to live?"
"Hahh?"
Luna subconsciously voiced out, since his last question was a little different from her guess.
"Well?" Even though Kio wanted to know why she was so perplexed, he wanted to know her answer first.
"Can you please explain your question? I thought you were going to ask if I wanted to be free."
"Heh… you want to be set free. Do you even know why we were fleeing towards this direction?"
"???"
"Well, there were zombies chasing us a few minutes ago."
"Zombies?"
"Ah, I guess you might not know about them, since they were summoned here. Well, if you get scratched or bitten by one of these zombies, you die shortly after and become one of them."
"!?!"
Luna became shocked after hearing about the deadly zombies that appeared in this city. Although she doesn't know much about the world outside her home, she has enough strength to defend herself in a normal situation. But based on what he told her, she might be in danger if she had to fight these zombies alone, since a mere wound would transform her into one of them.
After giving Luna a moment to process his words, Kio asked again, "So? You still didn't answer my question yet. I didn't ask if you wanted to be free because I don't want to see you turn into a zombie shortly after I save you."
After she heard his words, Luna calmed answered, "I want to live."
"Heh, alright. Step back then"
Raising his sword above his head, Kio swung it down with all his strength against the lock at the center of the cage.
*Clang*
A loud metallic sound erupted as his sword became a bit chipped.
However, the lock was still in one piece.
"..."
Trying not to show his embarrassment, Kio swung his sword towards the lock again.
*Cling*
Despite his attempts to break the lock, he lacked the power to do so.
'Fuck! If I had a strength-based class, this would've been easy. I can't even ask Jay for help, otherwise I'd make a fool of myself.'
Feeling a bit ashamed of himself, Kio thought of another method that he could use.
"Luna, can you hold the sword handle?"
After positioning the sword horizontally, with its tip facing the lock, Kio asked Luna to hold the sword steady.
"Alright," Luna nodded and did as he asked.
Kio then released the sword and took a step back.
"Let go of the sword the moment I make contact with it, otherwise you might hurt your hands."
Giving her a warning of what he's about to do, Kio proceeded to use [Haste].
Feeling his legs become stronger, he launched a kick at the end of the sword handle.
*CLANG*
The lock broke and flew out of sight.
Seeing Kio's sword fly a few meters away to the side, Riko quickly went to retrieve it for him.
'Luckily that worked. After looking at the skill description of [Haste], I knew it wasn't simply a movement speed skill.'
Breathing a sigh of relief, Kio removed the remaining bits of the lock and opened the cage.
Although Luna could easily break the lock herself if it wasn't for the slave crest, nonetheless she was amazed at the power displayed by the man in front of her who appeared to be extremely weak.
From the moment Kio walked towards the slaves, everyone else had been observing his actions.
After he freed a slave, Jay decided to do the same and save even more, lest he risk losing his leader position to Kio. Jay had wanted to free them all along, but he didn't want to raise any criticisms in case some of them objected.
"Guys! Let's go free all of these slaves!" Jay commanded, as he ran towards the cages.
Ren and Akira quickly followed behind him, excited to gain some slave followers.
Licking his lips, Ren was heading towards the cages filled with women who had visibly larger chests. Meanwhile, Akira was heading for the stronger looking slaves, planning to find suitable people to recruit into his party.
With each of them having their own motives, they began freeing the slaves.
*Clang* *Cling*
Jay and Ren used their skills to quickly free the slaves, while Akira struggled due to his low level and lack of any powerful skills from his Plunderer class.
With all the ruckus being made, a snobbish-looking person walked out of the building followed by a few of his bodyguards.
"W-w-what are you guys doing!? Who gave you permission to free my goods?!"
With a face full of confidence, Jay answered him, "We're only doing what's right."
"Haaaah? Aren't you afraid of being captured by the guards for stealing my merchandise?"
"Heh," Jay smirked and continued with his actions, ignoring the slave owner's threats.
"Guys! Didn't you all complain about having nothing to do earlier? Go kill these brats!" The slave owner ordered his bodyguards to do their jobs, fuming at being ignored by the kid in front of him.
"Yes!"
Acknowledging the slave owner's words, 4 muscular adventurers walked towards Jay while emitting an intimidating aura.
"Although my strongest bodyguards are taking a break at the plaza, these four are enough to handle you brats."
Hearing the slave owner's words, Jay and the rest of his group were glad that there would be no reinforcements, if their assumptions are correct.