"Alright, this is the rest of what you're owed for the Dragon carcasses."
Relisha passed a bag over to me, and I promptly opened it up. There were
roughly twelve bags, and each had a hundred royal gold coins inside. It brought
my total up to a tidy sum of one thousand and two hundred. There was really
no point in comparing it to the currency of my old world, but it was about
twelve billion yen in total. Not too shabby at all.
Royal gold coins were rarely used in regular transactions. Instead, they were
mostly found in matters of national trade or business takeovers. That was
because losing one would be disastrous.
I'd received this much solely for the corpses of the Dragons that had attacked
Brunhild. The ones from Dragoness Island were still being kept in [Storage].
There were around a three hundred and fifty of them in total.
I didn't want to sell them all because it could've had disastrous effects on the
economy if I suddenly forced the guild to buy them all up. I knew they'd be able
to profit from them, too.
I decided I didn't want this many dead Dragon parts circulating around the
world at once, so I left it at that for the time being.
"Rumors are already beginning to spread, you know? They're whispering that
Brunhild's knight order massacred an army of rogue Dragons."
"It's a pretty unbelievable story, though. I wonder if people'll end up going
along with it."
"Me too. I was there, I saw you all do it... and even I can't believe it. But
there's no doubt, word of this country's strength is spreading like wildfire. I'm
certain that anyone with ill intent might reconsider their options, now." And
that was just what I had wanted. I didn't want a repeat of the Yulong incident,
after all.
There were still a bunch of Yulongese people prattling on and on about how I
was the great summoner of the Phrase, and how I had orchestrated the
destruction of their nation. They keep saying stuff like "Brunhild must atone for
their sins" and so on. It was annoying, frankly. I had no intentions of paying
reparations.
It was also officially declared that I had assassinated the new heavenly
emperor. There was a succession crisis in Yulong right now due to several
people vying for the title, claiming they were the illegitimate children of the guy
that died. One thing was for sure, Yulong was on its way out.
Ordinarily a nation would receive foreign aid or relief efforts after a crisis,
but... Yulong didn't get anything like that. Nobody wanted to associate
themselves with a nation of scoundrels and liars. To me, they were simply
reaping what they sowed. I couldn't muster up a single damn.
I dropped the money into [Storage] and left the guild. I wondered how much
money to give out to each soldier as a bonus. I decided that I'd be generous.
They'd earned it, after all. As I mulled over the specifics, I walked over to the
dungeon portals and checked in with the spy that Tsubaki had installed at the
nearby market.
"Yo."
"Aha. Welcome, dear customer. I've a bargain for you today."
Hm? Something happen? As he spoke up, I began inspecting the goods.
"Several people have died recently."
"...Oh. Well, that sucks but... I guess it's a real risk when you go adventuring.
Were they killed by magical beasts or something?"
"That's how it seems, at least. They simply didn't return... They were all lowranked adventurers, so it stands to reason that they overestimated themselves
and died as a result." Probably got cocky and dug too deep. People are greedy.
They should really prioritize their safety a little more, geez... It's smarter to pay
attention to your own situation rather than put yourself at risk.
"There is something a little strange about it, though. Their bodies have yet to
be found. Only their guild cards have been recovered."
"Huh? I know that slimes melt down organic material, but what about their
armor and stuff?"
"Ah, no... Well, perhaps you aren't familiar, but... there are those amongst the
adventuring community who are... somewhat like hyenas." What? There are
people that loot their fellow man's corpse? I mean, it's a pretty scummy thing to
do, but I guess it's not awful...
It was considered common etiquette to hand items belonging to the deceased
over to the guild. They'd then be able to pass those things on to the dead guy's
next of kin. Still, it wasn't an enforced rule or anything. It was just a matter of
good manners.
It reminded me of a story I'd heard from one of the guilds. Once there was a
rookie adventurer who had used his enormous savings to buy himself an
incredible set of armor. He was so pleased with it that he took every
opportunity he could to brag to his peers about it. Several days later... the
man's body was found in a dungeon. His expensive armor was nowhere to be
found.
The situation was rather interesting. Was the armor stripped from his body
after a monster killed him? Or was he murdered in cold blood by another
adventurer who had set his sights on the man's treasure? No way to know.
Regardless, these dead adventurers were just regular rookies, so it was
unlikely they'd been targeted and killed for any good reason.
"How many died?"
"We've found ten guild cards so far. Nothing else has been recovered, so we
can't say for sure." Geez... Ten people died? My mood had soured a little. I
decided it might be wise to create a safe zone on the top level that monsters
couldn't access, or maybe some teleportation circles in the rookie areas so they
could easily get back outside.
I said my goodbyes to the spy, and headed toward the portals.
I saw a group of youngsters heading toward the gate to Amaterasu. They
were handing their copper over to the clerk. They looked to be around twelve
or thirteen years old. In total they were a party of four. Two boys, two girls.
One of the boys was clad in scale mail, and he wielded a spear. The other
young lad was wearing leather armor, and he had a bow on his back.
One of the girls looked like a novice mage. She was wearing robes and had a
little magic rod. The other wielded an iron sword and wore leather armor much
like the boy's. They looked like archetypal newbies going off to adventure.
The four of them passed through the Amaterasu portal and were off to the
dungeon in a flash.
Now, in all honesty... I was a little worried about the kids due to the story I'd
just been told.
Should I follow them...? No, stalking's bad business... But I'd rather kids didn't
go out there unprepared... Maybe I could set up an adventuring school or
something... Yeah, that could work, I think. I could hire former adventurers to
give kids survival tips. Still, how should I run it? I don't think we should charge a
fee to enroll... Maybe they can pay back student debt after graduating? We
could co-operate with the guild to track the quests and cards of students, or
something...
I decided to ask Relisha about it later on. She'd probably have better input.
"Hm, Touya?" I turned toward the voice to find Leen as the source. Paula was
toddling after her. She was wearing her typical Gothic lolita outfit, and strolled
along beneath the shade of her parasol.
"Oh, Leen. What brings you here?"
"I was just doing a little window shopping. Sniffing around for bargains, you
know? And yourself?"
"Ah, well... I was thinking of making some modifications to the dungeon. I'm
gonna install a safe zone that monsters can't enter, so people can get some
rest."
"Heh... That sounds quite interesting. I'll tag along with you, then." Leen
grabbed me by the arm without even asking.
Hmph... You sure have been more aggressive in your approach lately... Are you
that desperate to marry me?
I was a little embarrassed since she looked around the same size as Yumina
and a couple of the others... To a bystander, I probably looked like a doting
elder brother.
We headed over to the toll booth. Leen took out a single copper coin from her
pocket and handed it over to the worker. Her name was then written down on a
small logbook.
Even if you weren't a member of the guild, you could still pay to pass through
the gate. The only difference was that your name was manually recorded in the
logbook. The guild card certainly made the process simpler, though.
I also paid a copper coin and put my name down. I didn't want to stand out
too much by flashing my card around. I put down 'Takeda Shingen' as my name.
There wasn't a rule against using a false name, after all. I decided that Takeda
Shingen would be the fake name I'd use for stuff like this in the future.
We passed through the portal, and the dazzling sun bore down on us.
Compared to the wintery Brunhild, the island was a tropical paradise.
I looked around uneasily, but I saw no sign of the rookies from before. I
assumed they'd already gone into the dungeon.
Leen and I, along with Paula, strolled through the entrance. My faithful fairy
friend put away her parasol and cast [Light Orb] in front of us.
"Shall we go down to the third floor?" If I recalled correctly, Amaterasu
Dungeon had been scouted out to six floors at that point. I pulled up my map
app and headed toward the first set of stairs.
"...Why, and how exactly, do you have this territory already mapped out on
that contraption...?"
"...I'm just not going to answer. I really have nothing to say about it."
Leen muttered as she stared at the projected map. It wasn't like I expected
the place to be fully mapped out for me or anything. It just wound up like that,
really.
We made it to the stairs without any issue, then descended to the second
level floor. We ran into the odd magical beast or monster, but I took care of
them fairly easily. We eventually made it to the third floor, but it took us a
decent while.
"I think I wanna make a rest area around here. It'll be a safe space where the
adventurers can rest up a little bit. Just gotta find a suitable spot..." I brought up
the map again to look for a good location. I'd also set the map to display any
other adventurers who were in here, since I didn't want to get in their way.
Plus, they might have ended up getting in my way, too.
"Isn't this spot fine? It's about midway between the stairs that lead up and
down." Leen pointed at a fairly broad room with a few sprawling paths leading
to and from it. It'd certainly make a good rest spot for any weary parties, and it
was out-of-the-way enough to avoid if you wanted to. It seemed just fine to me.
We carried on to our destination, killing more beasts that came our way. The
enemies were more annoying than anything else. Having an item like a 'repel'
from those handheld games certainly would've come in handy.
We reached our destination and began looking around. I wanted to
investigate the room for traps or hidden dangers before securing it properly.
I used [Enchant] and [Program] to monster-proof the room. Hostile creatures
wouldn't be able to enter at all. Then, I began to inscribe letters on the wall. It
was a fairly basic message, just detailing that magical beasts and monsters
couldn't appear in the room, so it was a safe space to relax.
I decided to add my signature too, since I didn't want them thinking it was a
trap.
"Signed by Mochizuki Touya... grand duke of Brunhild." I hoped it was enough
to make them feel safe. Thinking about it reminded me that I hadn't seen those
rookies anywhere. Then again, they were beginners, so they were probably just
walking around the first floor.
I remembered their faces, so I decided I'd run a little search just in case. Uhh...
let's see... Display the regular adventurers with a blue icon, and display the
particular newbies I'm thinking of with a green icon...
Huh... That's odd. They're on floor two already? And wait... there's more than
four in the room. Huh, three more adventurers? Maybe they teamed up or
something... Wait, something doesn't seem right here. What's with those
movements? Are they in the middle of a battle with monsters or something?
"There are seven, no? Why are they struggling so much?"
"Well, those four kids were totally amateurs. They felt like kids who had
basically walked right out of a farm and picked up some weapons." I briefly
considered that they might not be especially weak. After all, they could have
just been up against a lot of enemies. Even Kobolds and Goblins could be deadly
if you encountered more than ten of them at a time.
Let's see... Highlight monsters and magical beasts... There we... Wait... There
aren't any monsters in that room? Then... what the hell? It's not faulty, since I
can see the indicators for monsters in other rooms... So, wait... No way...
"...What does this mean?"
"...The other three adventurers... They're the ones attacking those kids."
There was trouble afoot.
◇ ◇ ◇
We reached the second floor just in time to see the young boy with the spear
being blasted into a wall. The archer and female mage were collapsed on the
ground in a heap. Though the boy with the spear and the girl with the sword
were clearly injured, they were still standing and defending their friends.
"Don't rough 'em up too much, retard. They're merchandise."
"Shut the fuck up, asshole. We're only in this situation because your deadbeat
ass forgot the paralysis poison."
"Whatever, you two! Just do it quick, yeah? If any monsters show up it'll—
Bauuggguuugh!!!" The obese man's commentary was cut short by a swift kick
delivered to his face. My attack had sent him bouncing across the room like a
rubber ball, where he landed in front of his comrades.
"Whuh— Who the hell are you?!"
"That's my line, asshole! Who are you guys?" One of them was fat, one of
them was bald, and the other was lanky. They couldn't have looked like a more
suspicious sort.
The tub of lard scrambled to his feet, wiping his nose. I was surprised that
he'd absorbed the impact, honestly... Seemed like obesity had its perks.
"Good grief... Seems we made it just in time." Leen arrived alongside Paula.
Immediately, lechery manifested on the faces of the three men. The lanky
asshole started sauntering over toward me, weapon drawn.
Not long after, the other two started approaching as well. They probably saw
Brunhild on my waist and assumed it was just a dagger. They were looking at
Leen instead of me, though. Looked almost as if they were trying to appraise
her worth.
"Mm... Sexy little thing, aren't you? Lucky us, eh boys? Hey, brat. If you care
about your life, then shove off and leave the bitch here."
"...Huh?" Not long after, the other two started approaching as well.
"You deaf, kid? We said beat it. Leave the little girl behind, and me and my
boys will have a bit of fun with her! Scram, idiot! You wanna die?!" I slowly
walked over to the lanky moron, then let out a little sigh. Then, in a single swift
motion, I brought my leg down upon his foot. Crunch. His bones splintered, and
he was down for the count.
"GAUAUUUUUUGH!!!" The man screamed, clutching his smashed leg as he
rolled around on the ground. His eyes welled up with tears, dribble and spit ran
down his chin, and obviously his nose was a mess of snot. Shut the hell up. I
kicked him in the side of the face.
"Ghuuuheeek!!!"
You think I'd leave Leen with bastards like you? Don't delude yourself,
dumbasses. Don't be so goddamn pathetic. I'll kill you.
"Y-You piece of shit! Stop this at once!"
"We're Blue adventures, fuckboy! Think you can win against us?!"
"You talk tough, but you're not rough enough to throw down with the best of
them. Vultures like you probably ranked up by stealing spoils from others, am I
right? There's no way in hell a Blue adventurer would be as shitty as you. Don't
you dare disrespect the name of the guild, you little bitch." I lashed out a kick,
cracking one of the fat bastard's kneecaps. He collapsed under his own weight
and fell on his face.
"Muggghuh... Mh-My lh-leg... Nnnghahhh!!!"
"E-Eek!" The baldy turned and ran, but it was futile. I pulled out Brunhild,
aimed at his back, and pulled the trigger.
"Guh!" He took a paralysis bullet directly, then fell forward. Some adventurer,
I thought. What a coward. Blue rank? More like blue stank.
"...That was more than a little extreme, Touya. You can color me several
shades of surprised," Leen muttered quietly as she looked at the fallen men.
"Ah... Forgive me. I got mad when they said that stuff about you." It had been
a while since I'd been that angry. The last time was when I was dealing with the
idiotic prince from Lihnea. In all honesty, I had thought that my patience had
gotten a little better, but it seemed I was still on far too short a fuse.
"Hmm... I'm a little bit happy you got so furious on my behalf..." Leen grinned
a little bit at me.
Ugh. That's embarrassing... I turned away from Leen to hide my face. Then, I
remembered the injured newbies.
"You guys good?"
"Y-Yes, we're okay... A little injured, but I'm fine... Klaus and Eon are in a
worse state, though..." The boy with the spear motioned to his collapsed
friends. They looked like they were just out cold, but I cast [Cure Heal] and
[Refresh] on them all just to be on the safe side. The two on the ground then
regained consciousness.
They wouldn't stop thanking me, but I did manage to get a few questions in
edgewise. The three men had met up with the kids in the dungeon and
promised them a safer hunting ground. Then, they just followed them. Pretty
careless, really. But they were just kids.
They were brought off to this secluded area and attacked. The archer and the
mage weren't frontline fighters, so they were knocked out of the battle faster
due to the surprise nature of the attack.
"I guess these guys are kidnappers, then... People have been going missing,
only bloodstains or guild cards left behind... It would be reasonable to assume
they were eaten up by the wildlife here, but... now I'm starting to get a
different idea."
"Y-Yeah! They said they were going to sell us to slave traders!" The swordwielding girl raised her hand and spoke. I hadn't noticed her ponytail earlier.
She was quite energetic.
Still, slavers... That's no good.
I walked over to the lanky man and thrust Brunhild's muzzle against his
forehead.
"Answer yes or no. Nothing else. Are you the ones responsible for the missing
adventurers lately?" The man nodded quickly. He was sweating bullets. It was
as I'd expected.
Leen tilted her head to the side as she pondered.
"But... after kidnapping the adventurers, how did they transport them from
the island? They wouldn't be able to use the portals..."
"That's pretty simple. They probably have a boat. Some kind of slaving vessel.
Is that right?" The man nods just as quickly as he had before. I was right.
These islands were located due south of Sandora, after all. And, as far as I
knew, the nation in which slavery was most prominent was none other than the
Burning Kingdom of Sandora itself.
It was a country that used special collars to enslave people and turn them into
living merchandise. It also meant that our missing persons were probably
already lost.
"Are the missing adventurers already in Sandora?" He shook his head this
time. I was surprised. It meant they hadn't shipped them all off... And that
meant we could still save them.
The slaver ship was probably anchored somewhere nearby, but obscured.
These assholes had clearly faked the deaths of several adventurers and stored
them on the ship for processing later on.
I brought up my map and searched for boats in the area. Sure enough, there
was a sizable boat moored off the coast of a smaller island to the north. I had
found it.
With that, I had the whole case figured out. It also meant the three stooges
here were of no more use to me. I subdued all three of them with [Paralyze] for
the time being.
"Well, What now? I-If you want to inform the guild or the knights, I'll come
with you..." The ponytail girl nervously spoke up. Her three companions were
talking amongst each other. The situation was pretty dire, but I didn't think they
quite understood. There was definitely some anxiety due to what had
happened, but they seemed more excited than they should've been.
"Don't worry about that. I can handle it. Ah, that's right... We never
introduced ourselves. This girl is Leen, and the little bear is Paula. I'm Mochizuki
Touya. I'm the grand duke of Brunhild."
"Wh-Wh-What?!" All four of them stared at me in terror. Then, they crouched
down on the floor and began bowing.
"Get up, geez. You don't need to do that kinda crap with me. I'm an
adventurer at heart, you know...? I still go on quests even now." I pulled out my
golden guild card as I spoke. Those kids had been tricked once already, so I at
least wanted to provide some level of evidence.
"G-Gold..."
"Amazing..."
"Th-This guy has killed Dragons, Golems, and Demon Lords..."
"We gotta tell our dads about this..." Well, they definitely believed me. These
kids were a little soft for this business, if you asked me. They'd end up getting
hurt if they just believed everything they were told... Although they'd actually
already ended up getting hurt because of that.
The four of them finally formally introduced themselves to me. Apparently
they'd all come from Regulus, a village called Pyton to be exact.
The scale mail-clad boy with the spear was called Lop. The sword-wielding girl
in leather armor was named Fran. The archer who wore similar leather armor
was named Klaus. And finally, the mage girl was named Eon.
The impression I got was that Lop was loyal, Fran was bursting with energy,
Eon was a total klutz, and Klaus was their leader. They were a bit of a ragtag
party, all things considered.
"What are we gonna do? Help out the adventurers who got caught?"
"That's right. I found out where the slaver ship is, so I'm gonna go wipe them
out."
"U-Uhm! Is there any way we could help you?"
"H-Hey now, Fran!" Fran suddenly spoke up, much to the chagrin of Klaus.
I was pleased that the kids had motivation, at the very least. I wasn't too sure
that they'd be of much help, though. I definitely was in support of helping them
gain a bit more experience, but at the same time... Well, I wasn't exactly sure
what to do.
"Our enemy here are merchants that deal in human lives. They might even
have slaves equipped for battle serving them. What I'm asking is if you're
confident you can help here. In a worst-case scenario, you'll be enslaved
yourselves."
"Ugh..." Fran looked down, seeming suddenly troubled. I wonder if she was
feeling ashamed about her earlier loss.
They were older than Lu and Yumina, but younger than Elze and Linze. Even
so, they weren't too far off my own age.
In the case of my party, we'd fought the Phrase, battled Dragons, involved
ourselves in a coup, and so on. We had many rich experiences that allowed us
to develop as a team... Even though those incidents were still my fault...
"Hmm... If they can't fight, can we not have them do recon?"
"Recon?" I quirked a brow at what she had said. Decoys, huh...? Maybe...
"Well, I said recon, but... I would recommend they infiltrate the ship and get
themselves intentionally captured. If they pretend they got caught by these
three and get aboard the ship, they'll be able to easily learn about what's going
on with the other missing people."
"I guess so... But are these three dumbasses gonna obey?" I turned toward
the three paralyzed men. It was true they might listen if I threatened them, but
they probably didn't have good enough poker faces to go along with that level
of deception.
"You dummy. Simply use [Mirage] and become part of the deception as well."
"Aha, smart thinking." Yeah, that makes sense. If I disguise myself as one of
those dumbasses, I can escort the rookies to the ship. That way we'll be able to
infiltrate the place and get the captured people out safely. I don't want the
adventurers being taken hostage, so this is probably a good idea, but still...
Guess I could just use [Invisible] to sneak on to the ship myself and rescue them
all a lot faster, though...
I looked over to the four kids, but they were just staring at me with stars in
their eyes.
Guh... What's with these kids? They're not scared at all about maybe being
made into a commodity? ...Man, fine. I won't trample over their resolve. Saying
something like "You're dead weight, so beat it, kid" would just break their hearts
at this point, and I'm not in the business of upsetting children. Hell, if I hurt them
now, they might end up being discouraged from adventuring, so... I guess I'll
pass on a little bit of that knowledge I've gained from my own quests...
"...You kids wanna try it?"
"Yeah!!!" The kids cheered merrily. I wondered if it'd actually be okay... But I
decided to go along regardless.
◇ ◇ ◇
We all left the dungeon, and I warped the three kidnappers to Brunhild's jail.
It'd cause too much of a fuss to carry them back through the portals. After all, if
their allies were watching, they'd know the jig was up and escape.
I contacted Relisha and told her the basic gist of the situation. Those three
would have their guild registrations erased, and their cards revoked. Even if
they used fake names, they'd still be rejected. No more adventuring for those
guys.
That was the guild's punishment for them, but I still had to decide how my
country would handle them.
They'd been capturing newbie adventurers, taking all their stuff, and selling
them into a life of servitude. It was a serious crime. If we went by Regulus law,
then these guys would be getting the death penalty.
Unfortunate as it was in some people's minds, Brunhild didn't have the death
penalty. Mainly because I hadn't created one. As I wondered about how to deal
with them, I recalled something I'd read about in the Library.
Dark attribute magic was pretty much exclusively summoning, but apparently
there used to be other applications of the element. There was a spell that was
the opposite of the Light element's recovery magic. It was a magic that sapped
the life away from the target.
Well, actually killing them with it would take considerable effort and focus.
The user would require incredible willpower, magical power, and skill with
magic. I'd probably have been able to pull it off, but I wasn't especially
motivated to try.
I wasn't saying I'd use this death magic on the kidnappers, by the way. There
were other spells derived from that kind of spell.
These spells could be described simply enough. Effects included pestilence,
fear, confusion, and life absorption.
In short, they were curses. Though maybe calling them curses was a little bit
of a stretch.
The magic kind of worked like a promise. It was a system where if they broke
the circumstances set by the caster, they'd become afflicted by the conditions.
Curse magic that only triggered if the affected disobeyed. Kind of like "Cross my
heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye." Except the needle actually
goes in their eye if they mess up.
"Brand, o Darkness. Sinful Brand: [Guilty Curse]!" I invoked the curse and
targeted the three imprisoned men.
The conditions were simple. "Do not knowingly commit crimes and hurt
others." Each time they broke this curse with petty crime, they'd lose a finger to
paralysis. Eventually it would spread to their arms, and then their legs. If they
persisted, they'd lose all five senses. The final stage was paralysis of the heart,
and that'd be a wrap. Of course, if they committed one large, heinous crime,
it'd all trigger at once.
This magic worked similarly to enchanting. The effect would persist even if I
died. It was an unbreakable curse.
I told the trio all the details of the brand they'd been marked with. Hurting
others didn't only apply to physical abuse. If they hurt people on a deep
emotional level, or tried to torment others, then it'd activate too. If they stole
and the original owner was devastated, it'd trigger too, as would rejecting a
woman's feelings if it ended up causing her to feel bad. I wasn't going to be
lenient about just what caused the curse to go off.
I'd been kind enough to let them live, so it was a fair burden for them to
shoulder. They needed to become ideal men to survive the punishment.
In all honesty, I didn't believe it was possible to live a life without hurting
anyone. Maybe if they became hermits and lived away from civilization, but
still... They'd only be surviving at that point, not living. Regardless, perhaps they
appreciated that Brunhild didn't just have them killed like Regulus did.
As I told them about their punishment, the men gradually turned pale and fell
to the ground. The brand of their curse appeared on their foreheads, marking
them forever.
The fatass turned to the lanky guy and screamed.
"We're only like this because of you, idiot!" It made me wonder if he'd
listened to a word I'd said. "Wuh?! Augh! M-My finger!!! I can't feel my finger!"
The fatass started to cry as he prodded at one of his dead fingers.
Isn't it obvious? You upset the lanky guy by screaming at him like that. It's
simply your just desserts.
Now that they'd seen the effects, I decided to banish them from Brunhild.
Where to send you... Oh, how about Yulong? The people there already talk shit
about me, so you'll be right at home.
I opened up a [Gate] to Yulong and shoved the guys through. That's that. Case
closed.
Oh. Wait. No. I still have to actually deal with the slavers, huh?
I headed toward the forest on the island and waited for the cover of night. I
felt a little bad for making the rookies wait so long, to be honest. Still, I couldn't
have them wandering around. It'd look weird if one of the slavers saw them
free, then captured only a bit later.
I'd left Leen with them, just in case they found themselves under attack by
the local fauna.
After regrouping with them, I used a [Gate] to bring us all to the island with
the slaver ship. All four of them were amazed. It was their first time, after all.
"Alright, then. Hand over your weapons. It'd be weird if captured victims still
had their stuff." They handed their weapons over and I tossed them into
[Storage] before pulling out a length of rope and tying them up. After that, I
popped gags in their mouths. Naturally, they were bound in a way that was easy
to escape from.
After that, I summoned a little mouse and hid it inside Lop's pocket. That way
I'd be able to know more about the situation aboard the ship.
I used [Mirage] to add the finishing touches. I'd disguised myself as the baldy.
One was too lanky, and the other way too fat, so cueball was closest to my own
physique...
"Well?"
"You look identical... That's incredible..." Lop was amazed, evidently. I used
[Mirage] once more to project a false image of the other two guys to my left
and right.
The four of them prepared to be transported, and I made the illusory versions
of fatty and lanky stand behind them, swords drawn. It'd look like they were
being escorted, now.
"What about you, Leen?"
"I'm fine, thank you. I'll keep watch and ensure nobody escapes the vessel."
Paula brought her hands up toward the sky. It was time to head to the slaver
ship.
We found the ship. It was well positioned, shrouded in the shadow of a cliff.
There were two smaller boats making port on a nearby beach. Four men
stood around a bonfire. They were grilling fish. Three of the four looked to be
slaves.
They were pretty bulky, so they were probably combat-oriented slaves. The
non-slave guy had a really bad overbite on the bottom row of his mouth. He
kinda looked like a jerk. We left Leen and Paula in the cover of the trees, then
moved toward them.
"Oh, good haul. I see you've been busy. Four at once! What a doozy."
Overbite walked over to us and smiled a bit. He seemed impressed.
He walked around us and started looking the kids up and down.
"Two gold for the boys. Five for the girls. Seems fair to me."
"Deal. Hand over the cash."
"Huh? No hagglin' today...?"
"We're in a rush." I didn't want to talk too much and get exposed. Still, two
gold and five gold respectively... That was like two hundred thousand and five
hundred thousand yen... Buying out someone's life for cash like that was
downright despicable.
They'd probably end up selling the people for a lot more to rich types in
Sandora. Overbite handed the money over and let out a shrill, annoying laugh.
If I saw that guy again, I'd definitely be giving him a smack in the face.
I returned to Leen and canceled my spell. I hated looking like those bastards.
I used [Long Sense] to watch the four men. They finished eating their fish, put
two kids into each boat, and started rowing toward the main ship.
"Infiltration complete."
"Indeed... I hope they get in touch with the other captured people soon,
though. How many have gone missing, exactly?"
"Relisha said there were ten who were formally dead. Their guild cards were
found, usually with blood nearby, so the guild assumed the worst. Uh... I think it
was three men and seven women."
"Seems they're biased toward capturing girls, then."
"Probably because they're easier to grab, and they sell for more money. All of
the captured adventurers were Black." From what I'd heard, newbie bullying
wasn't uncommon in the guild. More experienced adventurers with shitty
attitudes would use new recruits as bait for strong monsters. They even ended
up taking most of their rewards as "tuition expenses" if they survived. In the
end, the victims often wound up leaving the guild and going solo. It was
despicable.
No matter the world, there were always those who looked down on
newcomers. Those people often forgot that they too were new once as well.
Either way, I hoped all ten of the victims were safe. They were likely still alive.
Hard to sell a corpse, after all. But that didn't mean they were safe. Their lives
were hanging in the balance.
I synchronized my vision with the mouse in Lop's pocket. I saw the ship's
deck, which meant they'd made it there safely enough.
My hearing was also synchronized. I heard voices around them. Sight and
hearing was as far as I synchronized my senses, though. I tried taste once and
immediately regretted it... I didn't want to know what a beetle tasted like, but
the mouse had other ideas.
"Mr. Javert... I've brought four."
"Wonderful... They seem to be high quality stock. Young meat... Yes, they'll
sell well." Overbite approached a plump man. He was rubbing his hands
together as he looked at the kids. This guy was most likely the slave merchant.
He wore a fancy wool jacket, a silk sash with a golden dagger hanging from it,
and some pointy shoes that bent upward at the end. He also had a long coat
and what looked like a precariously balanced turban on top of his head. He
looked like a fat, discount Sinbad the Sailor.
Javert, huh...? I bet he's a slaver from Sandora. Probably a black market one,
too.
Even though Slavery was legal in Sandora, they prohibited kidnapping people
and forcing them into servitude. Slavery was typically reserved for criminals, or
those who willingly sold themselves into the service.
But that was only an official stance. There were many ways to become a slave
in Sandora. Some forced others into debt, or tricked them into crime in order to
make them slaves. Others simply kidnapped people and put them into market
circulation.
Once you're a slave, your opinion isn't valid. Nobody would listen to you. Even
if you made a fuss about being tricked or kidnapped, you'd be ignored.
The problem was the fact that Sandora's government never spoke about it.
Their king and nobles all had slaves as well. They worked slaves until they
expired, then simply replaced them with new ones. In Sandora, the life of a
slave wasn't really seen as a life at all.
"Come on! Pick up the pace!" Overbite yanked at Lop's rope and dragged
them all along.
All four of them were brought down to the lowest deck of the ship. There
were two jails, divided by sex. There were three men and seven women there.
The kidnapped adventurers. Lop's party was split up by sex as well.
After overbite had left, the four of them turned to ask the names of their
fellow captives.
The names matched those of the missing adventurers, so that was good.
They seemed weak due to lack of nutrition, but they hadn't been abused
otherwise.
"Seems they're all fine... I can pull up a [Gate] right now and sort it out, then."
"You should let those children get some experience first."
"Hm... I guess a ship escape would be good for them."
"Quite. It's an important lesson in stealth and perception. Wouldn't you
agree?" Leen smiled as she spoke. She was certainly right.
Lop's party began preparing their escape. I was prepared for this kind of
situation, so I'd given them two particular items.
The first was a tiny knife that folded. It had a 5cm blade. Naturally, it wasn't a
standard knife, either. It was forged of phrasium, and could cut through
anything at all. Escaping wouldn't be an issue at all so long as they used them
wisely.
The second item was a measuring tape. It was about a meter long. I'd
enchanted it with [Paralysis] so they could stretch it out and use it as a whip.
There were slaves built for battle aboard the ship. Those kids definitely
couldn't win if they fought fairly. Plus, their enemies would mostly be fellow
slaves anyway.
Lop's party cut their bindings apart and quietly escaped from their cells.
"Guess I better get going too, huh. I'll make it a little easier for the kids."
"Have fun, Touya." I deactivated the mouse's live feed and Leen saw me off as
I exited the forest. I stood facing their ship, Brunhild in my hand. Then, I loaded
the thing with [Explosion] bullets, though I took care to load the low-yield
versions.
"Let's dance..." With a grin on my face, I aimed my gun at the ship's mast...
and pulled the trigger.
The blast immediately made the thing collapse. It creaked and groaned, and
then snapped under its own weight. Every man on deck started freaking out.
Only natural, since part of their ship had just toppled into the sea.
"Wh-What happened?!"
"I-I don't know... There was an explosion of some kind!" Javert stormed out of
the main cabin and demanded an explanation. It was at this point that I landed
myself on the ship and revealed myself by the light of the moon.
"Wh— Who?!"
"I'm Mochizuki Touya. Touya's my given name. The brilliant grand duke of
Brunhild at your service." Everyone on deck was completely speechless. The
merchant didn't look as happy as he had before, his eyes filled with dread and
confusion. He was completely and utterly flustered, which meant he was aware
of his position.
"This island is Brunhild's territory. I've come to put an end to your illicit
activity."
"I-Illicit?!"
"Don't take me for a fool, tubby. I know what you've been doing with the
rookie adventurers from the nearby dungeons." He stood there, mortified. His
jaw was slack. Sweat began to bead on his brow. He really didn't seem all that
innocent.
"To be fair, we're a pretty small nation. I get it. We don't have a lot of laws
established properly yet. But you know, we don't have many bad people in
Brunhild. The worst we get is the occasional rough-housing traveler. Your
actions have made me think a little bit harder about crime and punishment."
If I hadn't come to the dungeon today, it wouldn't have just ended with Lop's
party been taken away. There would've been countless more victims
afterward... I have no idea how long it would've even taken me to realize what
was happening.
Punishment was the deterrent to crime, and I'd become lazy due to my
personal lifestyle. I kept thinking about how things would be fine, so I closed my
eyes to the cruelty of the world. Plus, I had Yumina and her Mystic Eye around,
so I was mostly surrounded by legitimately good people.
Either way, crimes needed to be punished. And I needed to make that clear.
I had to draft a bunch of laws, and fast. I decided to reference Belfast's legal
system before noting down my own later.
A lot of people had come to Brunhild after the dungeons were made, and
they brought with them a litany of their own issues. Either way, what was
important to think about at that moment was dealing with the slavers.
Huh? I can see four little boats escaping the ship... Damn, Lop. You work fast.
Guess there's no need to hold back now.
"Hrmph. A grand duke has no business here! Deal with him!" Javert gave his
order, and three burly slaves came running at me, curved swords at the ready.
"[Slip]." All three of them thudded on to the deck. Their swords ended up
stuck in the wooden flooring.
They tried to stand, but found themselves falling down again. It seemed like
my slipping spell had a slightly extended effect... I distinctly remembered it
affecting a smaller area and not lasting as long when I'd first used it. I wondered
if this was an effect of my own inner divinity growing.
"Wh-What are you fools doing?! Get rid of him!" Javert screamed, and the
slaves all started clutching their heads in pain. He was using their collars to
torture them.
I used Brunhild to fire a shot at the chubby jerk's feet. A weak explosive force
threw the man off his feet.
"Whoa!!!" Chubby old Javert fell to the ground, blood dribbling from his nose.
"A-Augh! F-Forgive me! I-It was just uhm... m-my culture!"
"Then your culture normalizes abuse. If degrading people and turning them
into slaves is your idea of the regular old thing to do, then do you really think
you're worth forgiving?"
"H-Help me, you bastards..."
"Do you think the people you collared are going to rescue you?" I had no idea
about this man or the life he'd been leading to this point, but I had no doubt in
my mind that he was scum.
Speaking to him was pointless. I loaded some paralyzing bullets into Brunhild
and shot them down at him.
He screamed out awkwardly, and then stopped moving.
I paralyzed the slipping slaves as well. They were probably being forced to cooperate, but they were still accomplices... It was some morally grey legal
ground. I guess it would depend on whether or not they were enjoying it. It was
a little more annoying to deal with than Javert. I didn't know if they'd been
enslaved for criminal behavior, so I didn't know if it was okay or not to free
them.
I also paralyzed all the remaining men on deck.
"Run search. Anyone remaining below deck."
"Searching... Search complete. Three individuals. All paralyzed and collapsed."
Hm... Lop's party must have dealt with them. So that should be everyone.
Twenty in total, eh... Half of them seemed to be slaves.
Wait, that reminds me... Where's overbite?
"Gah!" I heard a shriek from the shore. Then, I used [Long Sense] to check on
the shore. Overbite was collapsed in a smoldering heap, and Leen was waving
over at me. Seemed like he'd escaped at some point. Leen had it handled
though, so I wasn't worried.
Lop's party had made landfall and were walking over to Leen. It was time for
me to wrap things up.
I warped everyone from the ship over to the beach, just in time to see some
of my own knight order making their way out from the forest.
I took Javert, his workers, and his slaves to the knights. Restrained, of course.
We decided to lock them in the castle jail for the time being. I'd talk to Kousaka
about them later on.
"All's well that ends well, eh?"
"Well, we'll still have to follow it up a bit." I casually replied to Leen as we
walked along the beach. I looked back at the slaver ship, thinking to myself.
Should I confiscate it as Brunhild property...? Eh... The mast is broken.
"U-Uhm, Your Majesty! The kidnapped adventurers are all good!" Lop came
and reported in, but I pretty much saw the whole thing unfold through the eyes
of the mouse anyway. I cast [Refresh] on the weary adventurers and took them
all to the Silver Moon. There, I rented rooms for each of them. It was the least I
could do.
I was planning on giving Lop's party about ten potions for their trouble. It'd be
worthwhile for them to hold on to that stuff. Then, deciding that more detailed
investigation would happen another day, I bid everyone involved farewell.
After that, I went over to the guild and informed Relisha of the finer details. I
also asked her to return the guild cards of the people who were presumed to be
dead.
"The guild regrets that this incident occurred. However, the guild is only a
service mediator between clients and freelancers, so we cannot punish them.
Other than revoking their memberships, there is little we can do... Officially, at
least."
"Officially?"
"...Keep this just between us, but... in cases where we feel harm has been
done to the image of our guild, we mobilize our Black Operatives. It's not
necessary, however, in this case. You have meted out punishment enough."
Black Ops, huh... What, like an assassination corps? That's kinda scary, to be
honest... From what I understand, the guild exists all over the world. There are
Guildmasters like Relisha that govern different regions, but there is actually one
sole leader. I've heard they don't want to be in the public eye, though.
I entrusted the guild with following up on the kidnapped adventurers. After
that, I left with Leen.
It had gotten really late, so I took out my smartphone to look at the time. It
was way past midnight...
I was getting really hungry, and I knew it would be unreasonable to ask Crea
to make something when she was sleeping. I did have some grilled skewers in
my [Storage]... and the guild's bar was right next door.
"Hey Leen, want me to treat you to some food?"
"Aha... I shall take you up on that venerable honor. I haven't eaten out in
quite some time." I took Leen and Paula with me into the guild's bar. I put on a
coat and hood just in case there were those that recognized me there.
It was a pretty big room, and I noticed a free table for four a little bit away, so
we headed over there.
I ordered fried chicken and some fruit juice. No alcohol for me. Leen ordered
a pasta, some salad, and a little glass of wine.
It wasn't long before the waitress brought our food over, and we began
greedily chowing down. The food was great. I'd eaten at the Silver Moon a few
times, but dining out at a bar seemed quite fun as well.
All the adventurers were laughing, cheering, and making merry.
It seemed like the bar had gained a lot more patrons since the dungeons were
opened. It was hard to dislike the atmosphere here, even if the occasional
drunkard ruined the fun.
We left the bar after our meal. I checked again, and it was still extremely
late... Or, early. Matter of perspective. Most of the shops had closed down.
There wasn't any kind of entertainment district in Brunhild's castle town, either.
My country had nice, peaceful evenings.
Old man Naito relayed propositions from merchants and contractors to build
casinos and brothels, but I left those executive decisions to him. I personally
didn't see the need to have such gaudy venues. If they ended up coming in and
causing trouble for my people, I'd close them down.
I needed to keep a watchful eye out, too. I didn't want any shady businesses
setting up shop. It'd be beyond a joke if Brunhild became a breeding ground for
trouble under my nose.
I remember hearing that some slaves were forced to work in brothels over in
Sandora, too... I didn't want any of that going on here.
"Is it a pointless dream to wish slavery could be abolished?"
"I'm pretty sure it'd go if you smashed the hell out of Sandora. Pfftahaha..."
"N-No, that's not really what I meant..." I glanced over at Leen with curious
eyes. Her cheeks were flushed... She almost looked drunk.
I heard that slavery was gradually being phased out around the world through
social change anyway. Yulong had been a great advocate of slavery, so even if
Sandora remained, it was nice that at least one of them was gone.
Yulong didn't use the obedience collars, though. They just drew up contracts
and enforced indentured servitude. They didn't treat slaves nearly as badly as
the people of Sandora did. Which was funny, given the country was awful in
every other aspect.
"Sandora was founded by the chief of a desert tribe built by slaves. They used
slavery to build a great force and wipe out or assimilate the other tribes in the
area. The first king of Sandora was known as the Slave King." The Slave King,
huh...? Doesn't that name kind of give off the vibe of him being a slave himself?
Maybe he actually was one to begin with. Still, if that was the case, he could've
done something nice and abolished slavery after founding the nation...
I mused that abolishing slavery in a place like Sandora would be pretty rough
if it was so deeply ingrained in their society.
Leen wanted to feel the evening breeze on her skin, so we strolled home
together. She was definitely drunk. She casually swayed side to side and then
clung to my arm. Her cheeks were dyed red, and so were mine... but not
because of booze. I attempted to compose myself and walked down the road
with her.
There were four knights guarding the castle, but they stood down once they
saw us. They were wary at first, but once we came into the light they seemed
happy and waved us off.
After nodding to the guards, we entered the castle. Suddenly, we came face
to face with Ripple. She was an artifact creature that operated as our very own
security camera. When she saw me with Leen on my arm, she jumped right out
of her painting and started screaming.
"Danger! Danger! Master, you're in danger! You need to be careful, it's
almost too late! Hurry, prepare yourself f— Oh no... I wasn't fast enough..."
"Wh-What the heck?!" Ripple smiled wryly and then vanished on the spot. I
had no idea what she was trying to warn me about, but it almost felt like she
whispered "Good luck" before fading away. What the hell was that?
"Welcome home, Touya... You're rather late."
"Ah, Yumina... I'm... home..." My voice became quieter as I looked up and
realized what I was faced with.
Yumina, Lu, Elze, Linze, Yae, and Hilde were all standing there, gazing at us. If
Sue had been there, it would've been a full gathering of fiancees.
They were smiling, but their eyes projected danger. I felt anger emanating
from their forms for some reason.
"U-Uh... Is something wrong?"
"We've a teeny tiny matter to discuss... This way. You too, Leen."
"Huh? Uh... Sure." Leen casually answered, but I didn't think she understood
the threat. Yae and Hilde descended the stairs and grabbed me from either
side.
Wh-What the hell...? You don't need to forcibly escort me!
"Right this way, Touya. This is the right course of action."
"Good grief, Touya-dono... Resign yourself to fate. It is far easier this way, it
is."
"No, nooo! I didn't do anything wrong!!!" I internally and externally screamed
for mercy as my mind filled with nothing but question marks. They dragged me
away and completely ignored my pleas.
What the hell did I do now?!
◇ ◇ ◇
"Don't think we haven't noticed things have changed between you two
recently." The girls sat at the table, and Yumina began to talk. Leen was seated
with my fiancees, but I was made to sit on the floor. This is a little cruel, isn't
it...? But I guess I'm kinda used to it at this point... Haaah... It seemed that being
forced to the ground by these girls was becoming a more common occurrence.
"Leen. You love Touya, isn't that right?"
"...I can safely say that I do. My passion isn't quite on your level, but he is a
man that I find suitable to my needs. I would be happy to be married to him
until one or both of us die."
"I see... Well—"
"I'm not interested in him for Babylon's legacy, or his status as Grand Duke of
Brunhild. I simply like him for who he is. He's charming, and kind. That's all
there is to it." Leen interjected as Yumina spoke up again, clarifying her
intentions. After she finished speaking, she stared Yumina in the eyes.
After a while, Yumina's expression became a little more gentle, and she
smiled.
"Very well, then. You have my approval, Leen. I think you'd make a wonderful
bride for Touya. What do you all think?" Yumina looked to my other fiancees.
Yae raised her hand.
"I do not have any problems with this, I do not."
"I-I don't have a problem either..." Muttered Linze.
"Nope, no real problem here." Grinned Elze. The two sisters raised their
hands as they spoke. Seeing their actions, the other two quickly put their hands
up as well.
"I cannot say I object, either."
"N-No, me neither!" Hilde and Lu hadn't spoken with Leen much. But they still
had a good enough grasp on her personality to read her as a person, scant as
their interaction was.
Leen had been involved with me for longer than they were anyway... But even
I couldn't have seen the situation developing like this. I was dumbstruck.
"I also don't believe Sue would oppose this if she were here, either. Speaking
on her behalf as her cousin, I'd like to welcome you into the fold.
Congratulations, Leen."
"Wonderful. Thank you so much." Yumina and Leen smiled at each other and
gently shook hands. There wasn't even any room for me to comment at this
point. I didn't have any personal reason to oppose what had been decided, but
still... Well, Leen was mature, dependable, and very cute, so I figured it'd be
alright.
If Yumina was the de-facto leader of the fiancees, then Leen would definitely
fit in as the vice-commander.
Still, that brought the number of brides to eight. That meant I was one step
away from completing the set. I couldn't help but wonder if the situation
would've gotten this far if that damned doctor had just kept her future-telling
to herself.
It kinda felt like Yumina and the others were eager to accept girls until the
total came to nine... They probably couldn't relax until all nine were found. Still,
they didn't accept Pam, so they were at least putting some thought behind it.
"Leen is now a sister in arms, she's one of Touya's fiancees, and our kindred
spirit."