"Please, don't kill us!" The pleas of a man echoed loudly in the dark corridors. Around him, aside from blood, there were parts of corpses that had been split in half, their faces filled with horror.
The smell of dampness and metal permeated every corner of this place, but now only the scent of blood lingered after it had been attacked by men dressed in black, wielding enormous swords.
"We warned you to sell all your slaves to the Three Ravens organization. If you can't meet those requirements, you must pay for it!" One of the men pointed his sword at the man who couldn't stop pleading.
"I'm sorry! You see, those damned nobles threatened me, and all I can do in response is beg... I only sold one girl; it's not that big of a deal. I promise that from now on, all the slaves that come to this place will be delivered to you as promised."
The man behind the mask who was massacring the slave traders in this place was Simon. He had received a report that the fledglings had witnessed the sale of a slave to a young member of the Notos Greyrat family. According to Gilgamesh's orders, these slave traders had to pay with their lives.
They had been consolidating the slave traders of the city of Ars and implementing new reforms in the city. These reforms included creating educational schools and magical towers for those with talent in magic and an interest in further research.
During the buying and selling of slaves, no one knew the talents of the people being sold, which was why few realized that there were geniuses among the slaves. One of them was Tristina, the daughter of the Purplehorse household. She was incredibly skilled with a sword, as Alastor had informed him. In no time, she would become a Sword King in the Water God Style technique.
"Please... Don't kill me..." Pleaded the slave trader with tears in his eyes.
Simon smiled coldly, raised his sword, and said, "I have no orders to kill you; this is just a warning for your lack of respect. You should have thought that we wouldn't notice that you sold a slave below our agreement, but that's okay. I suppose we weren't clear enough about the consequences of offending the Three-Eyed Crow, so as punishment, you will have to pay with a hand."
"No, please, you were very clear when you took control of the criminals. Please don't take my hand; I need it." The man kept bowing and trying to lick Simon's boots.
Seeing this disgusting act, Simon's expression grew colder, and he said, "We'll continue with the good work. I'll be taking all the slaves from this place, and we hope you'll continue to sell us all those who arrive here. Of course, I'll be keeping your left hand."
"No, wait!" Upon hearing these words, the slave trader panicked, not knowing what to do to prevent what was about to happen to him. All he had left was to plead shamefully, but it seemed that wasn't enough.
Crack!
However, Simon remained unmoved as he removed the slave trader's left hand, a man filled with filth who needed to be punished for spitting at his lord. This was just a small warning. They hadn't killed all the slave traders because it would seriously disrupt the slave distribution in this area, and controlling this part of the world would become complicated.
"Sir, we've taken care of everything!" said one of the black-clad men with crow masks.
Simon nodded and walked toward the exit through the dark hallway. As he was about to leave this place, he turned around and said, "The Three-Eyed Crow is watching. If you sell any slaves to anyone other than us again, you will die! Remember, if you act foolish again, I won't just take your hand; next time, I'll rip your whole arm off."
"Tell the Three-Eyed Crow I understand. It won't happen again," said the slave trader through gritted teeth in pain.
By then, Simon had already left this place, and outside, numerous figures dressed in black awaited his exit. When they all saw him, they respectfully bowed and said, "Greetings, sir!"
"Take the rescued ones to the shelter, and the others who are free, come with me to rescue the slave who was sold today!" shouted Simon as he boarded a carriage.
"Yes, sir!"
Inside the carriage, Simon sat in silence as he closed his eyes. Several months had passed since the Three-Eyed Crow organization was created, with the sole purpose of controlling the channels of slavery and illegal goods. Gilgamesh knew one thing, and Simon remembered his words perfectly: "Crime is something that cannot be controlled. If we prevent it from happening, it will find another way! With that in mind, what we must do is control crime and where it is directed."
The answer was simple. Crime was mostly directed toward money. As long as Gilgamesh respected the price of the slaves, if he bought every slave that entered the city of Ars, he would have a complete monopoly that would only bother the nobles, but the slave traders wouldn't mind.
There was a rumor among the slave traders during the time Gilgamesh had taken control of the sales, and it was this: "Don't sell slaves to anyone other than the Three-Eyed Crow. They'll take your hand, and if you don't obey, your neck will be next!"
The punishments and rumors were true; nothing was done without shedding a drop of blood, so Gilgamesh knew how to control a pack of furious lions whose sole aim was gold.
After gaining control of Ars, several groups began to spread towards the Uruk towers that were being controlled by the Black Pearls auction houses, thus establishing a strong channel for everything Gilgamesh sought.
The fledglings, on the other hand, were merely workers in the Uruk towers, serving as workplaces, training centers, and operational hubs for Gilgamesh's men. As long as he provided everyone with work, work corresponding to missions that brought them benefits, money would flow like water in a river.
The noble families were already suspecting that something was happening because numerous knights were now under the command of a new captain who was extremely powerful. This captain enforced the law to the letter and established the Templar Knight Guard.
This was how Gilgamesh had taken complete control of Ars without even being king, demonstrating how inept his father was at ruling currently. Perhaps it had always been this way, and he couldn't judge him now because he had fulfilled his role even if he didn't like ruling.
...
City of Ars.
Tower of Uruk.
"Are the magicians a problem?" Elaine looked at Aria, the girl who had started her studies in magic at an early age and had shown incredible talent.
"There are no highly talented masters who can teach us properly, and our growth is much more limited than the knights in swordsmanship," Aria had seen her brother Finian's growth and was not satisfied with her own progress in magic.
Elaine had also noticed this detail. Without powerful magicians and with exceptional talent, it was very difficult for the magical towers to progress rapidly, so they should solve this problem as soon as possible.
"I will tell Prince Gilgamesh; he should have a solution to this issue." Elaine knew that this was the only thing she could do. If their forces in magic were not strong enough compared to the knights, their forces would be severely imbalanced.