Garwyr's POV
I spent the next two weeks investigating. So far, this is what I found...
The merchant's name is Theo Ormer, the owner of the Ormer Company and a member of Merchant's Guild. His company is responsible for transporting and selling goods from far-away and isolated areas. In reality, it's just a front. The real business behind the front is slave trafficking and dealing with illegal items.
Because of this, there are series cases of missing person. Although the officials of the kingdom suspected him because of some witnesses, they can not take any action because they lack any evidence.
So far, everything that I heard about him is bad rumours. Despite that, however, his business still continues.
He is a cautious man and quite a schemer. After all, he manages to destroy all evidence, linking him to any illegal activities. He even managed to frame his business rivals of his own crimes.
The one thing that I found surprising is that he is a cheapskate despite being a rich man. All carriages used for transporting goods and supplies are cheap and old. Even the escorts are only two people. You may think that he'll invest some money to improve them, but he never does.
The only difference between him and his competitors is that his carriages do not fall victim to any bandits attack, hence why he never hires more escorts.
What I found about that is that he has a connection with the bandits. He hires them to be the escorts of his carriages and buy their spoils and kidnapped villagers, then sell them to the capital of Sarvall.
Although other countries are aware of these illegal activities, they did not take any action. After all, Sarvall kingdom is the only one getting hurt by this.
While my homeland does not usually interfere with this, My master has commissioned me to investigate and put a stop to any dangerous situation that may escalate. While i'm at it, he also told me to reveal his crimes to Sarvall while hiding my affiliation.
My master has keen intuition, and his predictions are often correct, so when he said something will happen, it will happen.
As I recall everything that I have investigated in the past two weeks, I put on my "Skőll" outfit.
I am now wearing a black iron armor tailored with Wyvern scales along with a black vest. I also wear a hooded black cloak covering my body. It is enchanted with defensive protection against elemental attributes.
This is my personalised "Wolf" armor. It is sturdy, light, and versatile. This is the specialized outfit made for the members of "Skőll".
"Ooohhh, so cool!"
"Is that so?"
"You look like a hidden video game character that is so OP that they have him hard to unlock."
"Riiiiiiight..."
There she goes again with her shenanigans.
As she observes while looking around me, her excitement falls and is replaced with worry.
"I can tell from your outfit that it's going to be dangerous."
"Not dangerous per se, but better prepared than never. After all, if it all goes well, it'll all over for that merchant, and you'll be free."
"... I'm still worried."
"I'll be fine, trust me."
I patted her head and gave her a reassuring smile.
She nodded with acknowledgement.
Now that I'm prepared, I'm ready to leave.
"Don't be reckless, okay?"
"Yeah."
"If the situation has gotten worse, make sure to get out of there as quickly as possible."
"I will."
"Have you brought everything you need? your magic pouch? your tools? your weapons?"
"Are you my mom or something?"
I smiled wryly as we had this exchange.
"I'll be going then."
"Then... Good luck and be safe."
I nodded and then left the campsite. I'll be gone for at least a week, but I'm sure she'll be safe here.
As I left, I took a quick look at the documents that I brought out from my pouch. This is the file that documents all the illegal transactions and exchanges. I found and gathered them all from the warehouses that the merchant owned. While they may be well hidden and secured, I managed to locate them from secret passages. The security is tight, but it is not enough to stop me.
These documents can be used as evidence to bring that merchant on a trial, but first, I have to go to a suspicious place where all the kidnapped slaves have been brought to. Not only that, all kinds of illegal items like drugs go there.
The location is somewhere north of "Bronwall," a town that is northeast of Silper according to the documents.
It took me three days to arrive at Bronwall, and before I went to the suspicious location, I secretly left some clues for the guards to find.
I waited until night before going to the suspicious place. When I arrived, I saw a building with a size of a mansion. There seem to be a lot of guards on a watch. I noticed that they are well equipped.
That means that the building seems to be hiding something.
I put on a mask covering my lower face, hide my presence, and observe the whole building if there are any traps. After making sure that there is no trap lying around, i sneaked past the guards and infiltrated the building.
As I entered, I noticed that there were also guards patrolling, so I made sure to hide and sneak around to look for clues.
The first floor consists of four rooms, and inside of each room are stored merchandise used for selling. All of it seemed to be normal, so I went to the next floor.
The second floor has six rooms, and inside them are full of luxurious goods. There is nothing out of the ordinary here, and i went on the next floor.
The third floor is the living quarters for the guards. There are few people sleeping, and as expected, nothing weird can be found here.
The fourth and final floor have two large rooms.
Both rooms are offices, so I went inside to look for any clues.
So far, i found nothing. Right now, this building appears to be like an ordinary warehouse. It's such a mismatch from the way the document said. After looking for a while, I found a particular note from the desk. I read the note.
'Don't forget to put the slaves and the 'materials' in the basement. If you have already forgotten, you dumb sh*thead, the entrance is at the back. Make sure to always close the entrance, or else I'll make you swallow horse sh*t.'
With that, I went outside and checked the back of the building, and sure enough, there was closed door.
The door is protected by a magical barrier. It has three magical layers of defence, so whatever is in there, they don't want anyone to find out. The three layers are soundproof, alarm, and lock. I concentrated my Mana and let it flow on the barrier. I carefully navigate my Mana to safely locate and trace each of the layers to avoid tripping them.
It took me thirty minutes to get the past the barrier. I left the soundproof layer, so any noise that I may make inside will be blocked.
After entering, the atmosphere changes drastically. I went full alert as I went down the stairs leading to the basement.
The stairs lead me to a hallway with two prison cells facing each other on the side. Inside of them are what seems to be the slaves. Both young and old, and most of them are women. They are all in tattered clothes and rags. All of them look so dazed and silent. Contrary to what I imagined in their conditions, they seem to be quite healthy. Although I noticed they have some sort mark on their shoulders. It appears to be numbers.
I'm worried that they will make a ruckus when they see me, but they seem to be ignoring me when i walk through. They keep staring at the ceiling or walls. As I walked through the hallway, I smelled a faint fragrance of something sweet and sour coming from the cells. I frowned and quickly made my way through. The scent is from a drug called "Selika" an illegal drug that makes you go high and hallucinate. They must have been drugged, which is why they look so dazed.
As I went further to the end of the hallway, I was greeted with a room wide enough to fit an army, and there I found a large altar. Surrounding the altar are twenty hooded figures, with three separate figures observing them from afar.
"Huh?! Who's th-..."
I immediately threw a dagger and pierced the head of one of the observers.
"Intruder!!"
As one of them shouted, I immediately brought a sword from my pouch and drew them as I rushed through the group and attacked them. While most of them are confused, I slashed them one by one, with each one being killed.
With the ten of them killed, they began to counterattack. All of them equip a dagger and attack me simultaneously. Three of them attacked me at the same time, and then I dodged while attacked them with a sweeping slash. Another three attacks while there are two behind me attempting to stab me, so I guarded the three, pulled one of them, and made them my shield for the other two.
After they got stabbed by the other two, i immediately cut off their heads. The remaining four seemed to be afraid and began to run away, but I threw daggers to their head as they turned around.
Now that the twenty hooded figures are killed, I engage with the two observers.
"Idyu Flaur Gerseh!"
Three flaming spear appeared behind one of them and attacked me. As i attempted to dodge, another one slashed me immediately with a greatsword. I countered the incoming blade with my sword and chanted.
"Idyu Qua Tecte."
I blocked the incoming fire magic with a water wall. I repelled and kicked the one with the greatsword away from me.
"Dammit! Who the f*ck are you?!"
"Erren, keep him busy, i'm gonna do 'that'."
"Shuddup! Just do it!"
The one named Erren began to attack me with furious slashes. As i guard and parry all of his attacks, his companion went to the altar and began to chant.
"Oh, beings of the underworld, I present you an offering to make a contract and grant our deepest desires!"
I have a bad feeling about it, so as soon i parry Erren, i immediately went to the altar, but he blocked me.
"You will not step any further, you f*cki-...!"
I attacked him nonstop before he could finish his sentence.
"Sh*t!!! Agh!!"
Each time we exchange strikes, he becomes more and more injured.
"Uargh!!"
Although i managed to gravely injure him, i was too late to stop the other one.
"Come forth and bring chaos upon this world,
Arunoth!"
The bodies of the corpses dissolved into blood pools and gathered around the altar.
The injured Erren went behind the altar.
As the blood gathered and mixes, a magic circle began to form on the altar and released a torrent of magical waves of mana.
There appeared a figure of a man.
Two large horns, Jet black pointy wings, and a long black pointy tail.
A being of malice that sends shivers to any human being. His aura, full of dark mana, empowers the room.
His golden eyes gazed upon me.
An evil grin with malice.
I am now facing humanity's greatest enemy.
"Demon..."