[Deilos, Son of the Demon Lord Dantalion, Young Lord]
[Demon Territory, Carriage]
"You like good-quality ones, yeah?"
The coachman asked as he yanked the rope—tying together a crate into his carriage. His name was Leiche, a black market dealer heading to De Gracia's back passage. He was part of a slave ring carrying goods for an auction later down the line.
He threw the rope to the other side and pulled again—his assistant helped him.
"What do you like? Something built like a guard? Maybe you'd like something more intimate. What's your type? Big bosoms? Thin, slender elves? Or something that can serve both purposes? I can get you some connections if you're interested."
"Perhaps."
"Kid, you sound uninterested. Heard the two of you wanting something better earlier. Was my ear not working fine?"
So he's been eavesdropping on us earlier. Generally, I don't want to interact with people as creepy as this, but I'll let this slide—he's the only carriage that can give us a ride, after all.
"Eavesdropping isn't a good look, Mr. Coachman."
"Don't take it too seriously, kid. I ain't going to do nothing to you."
He laughed as he tugged on the crates tied to the carriage.
"Aight, all good. Hop on."
The inside of the carriage was smaller than I'd thought. It was half filled with crates, herbs, and a gigantic wooden box at the center of it. At least he wasn't lying about the fact that it was cramped.
Seekth and I sat at the outer edge—across from us sat his assistant. As he reined the horse, the sudden pull of the carriage made it jump slightly—my spine ached as I landed from that small jump.
"Tsk."
It seems like my body still isn't ready. Just from that slight bump, my broken bones now started to ache up again even after the healing potions were used. When will I even get away from this pain?
The ride from there on was far from comfortable. Honestly, it's quite hellish. Each bump was harder than the last. No wonder Seekth bought some herbs for stomach aches.
The whole day was like that, and the only thing I did was try to rest and sleep, but this damn road wouldn't let me. After I got comfortable, a pothole would rattle the carriage, and when my eyes would close just for a second, the carriage would swerve and the wooden pole holding the canopy would hit my head.
"Hahhh..."
There were people outside the carriage.
It had been about an hour since we started to travel. We were in the middle of the forest now with no other than ourselves to keep company until these people came along. They were ragged and stood in front of the path, urging Leiche to stop the carriage.
Leiche clicked his tongue as the rope he held slacked when the horses stopped.
"What do you fuckers want?"
The man in front of the carriage had long locks and a shabby scabbard of a blade on his hip. His skin was pale brown with teeth growing out of his mouth.
"We ought to have something-something before you can pass."
The man smugged.
"These sons of bitches."
There are approximately 6 of them, 3 in front of the carriage, 1 on the side, and 2 at the back. I could see Leiche's cold sweat as he gritted his teeth.
"Young lord, stay here."
Seekth said in a manner that sounded like he was taking care of children.
"And you're trying to go where, exactly?"
"To finish this."
Seekth, although I haven't seen him fight, seemed more annoyed than intimidated by the bandits despite them outnumbering us 6-4, or in his case, 6-1.
"If you're confident that you can take them on, then be my guest. Do note that if you fail, I'm going to die and your mission will be compromised."
"I'm confident."
He stood up and put his hand on the hilt of his sword.
He stepped down from the carriage and the one standing behind came closer to him—half drew the dagger on his back.
"What do we have here? Are you here to negotiate?" The bandit laughed. "We'd like to have a hundred gold coins if you're so kind to offer—"
The man's head flew—a thin streak of blood intertwining like a corkscrew replaced where his head was.
I couldn't see it. Seekth moved faster than what my vision could properly track down. His movements became a blur, and only the aftermath was what I could fully envision. He drew, dashed, and decapitated the man in an instant.
"Huh—? Freima—!"
His words were cut mid sentence as his body was split in half.
By the time the others could react, Seekth was already running full speed towards them.
"This bastard—!"
The bandit on the side tried to draw his sword, but Seekth was faster than he could even put his hand on it. Seekth made a sweep of his blade coming up from his left shoulder down to his right hip in a smooth motion.
3 left.
The remaining bandits were hesitating. Their eyes widened as Seekth flicked the blood away from his sword.
"Shit—shit—shit."
They were trembling.
Seekth slowly walked towards the bandits, letting his sword hang idly, a silver blade with a black handle, as their feet wouldn't let them move. He stared at the bandits without interest.
By the time Seekth reached the one that talked to Leiche, he opened his mouth.
"Leave."
The bandit wet his pants as he ran towards the forest. The others followed.
Seekth sheathed his sword and made his way back to the carriage.
Leiche looked at him nervously.
"That's one way to deal with things."
"They do not need remorse."
"R—right."
Seekth sat back to where he was sitting before and whisked the blood off his cloak.
"..."
Leiche made the horse trot, and we rode on again. One of the corpses was run over by the carriage as they lay on the ground covered with mud. Death seems to be normal in this world.
. . .
Bags and tiny boxes were pressed against my feet, covered by some white tarp of animal skin. I was trying to find a place comfortable within the whole day of our riding, and this was the only spot I found—a small space within the confines of the gigantic crate.
It wasn't much, but the small space was ideal for keeping my body in place with minimal effort, much like a vise gripping onto something. There's one thing that got me worried though—the inside of the gigantic crate was making noises. I tried to peek inside, but there was no hole for me to peek into. That was my thought exercise to keep myself from thinking of the pain in my body.
What was inside?
Weapons?
More goods?
A slave, maybe?
As I was questioning myself. The carriage halted, and the animal skin tarp that covered the boxes fell on me.
"Ack."
"Young lord, I've asked you not to rest there."
Seekth spoke, already standing outside of the carriage.
"It's comfortable here."
"This is concerning."
"Do not question me."
Seekth sighed lightly.
"If the young lord were to take more injuries than the one he's already sustained, then I'm concerned that I may have to be punished for that."
"Then be."
"That is why I'm concerned."
We were doing this back and forth for a while now as we were riding the carriage. I do have to say that annoying someone is pretty fun.
I took the tarp off me, stood up, and stepped off the carriage.
The outside was now dark. The assistant was gathering some wood, and Leiche started to make a fire. Seekth and I approached them.
Leiche was busy rubbing the sticks to create the fire. He spun the sticks until an ember glowed before feeding it into the tinder. He carefully placed it on the pile of sticks. As Leiche blew on the little ember, the tinder caught fire but fizzled out.
"Shit."
"I might help with that."
Seekth extended his arm out, and the ember pulsated and became brighter. After a few seconds, the surrounding tinder was caught on fire.
"That's some fancy skill you got there." Leiche threw a log onto the fire. "What do you two want to get in De Gracia for?"
"That has nothing to do with you."
I replied as I sat down across from him.
"Snarky kid," he spat. "I do have to warn you, though. Heard that there's been something going on behind some bullshit with the nobles there."
"How come?"
"Heard whispers about nobles smuggling supplies to the rebels. Though, this is just a rumor. Don't take my words for anything."
"Hearing that from some coachman doesn't support the claim either."
"Tch—this kid."
"While we're on the topic, what's in that gigantic crate?"
"Crate?"
Leiche looked at the crate in the carriage. He looked around, looked at Seekth, then looked at me. He went silent for a while, then hit the back of his head.
"You're asking too many questions," he paused. "But if you must know—that's a beast-kin. A hard one to find, at that. That's all I can say."
Oho? So that's where the noises have been coming from. From my knowledge, although beast-kin are quite common, others are harder to find. Perhaps it is one of the more exotic—a tribal beast-kin, at least.
"That's been set in the auction in a few weeks from now."
"Where would that take place?"
"De Gracia."
Hmm. De Gracia again.
"You interested? I can hook you up with some connections if you'd like. This kind of product is hard to come across after all."
Reducing someone to a product—what a joke.
"I'll think about it for now. As you can see, I'm out of money to even hitch a pleasant ride."
"That tongue of yours is a shitty thing, don't you think?"
An ironic statement.
. . .
We reached the outer skirts of the city of De Gracia by early noon the next day. The carriage went through a thick forest with branching paths, likely there to confuse those trying to enter this way.
The back passage was a cave. It was exceptionally dark inside.
Echoes of dripping water reverberated to the walls of the cave. The cave looked old. Moss grew within the wooden pillars that kept the cave's rugged ceiling up. The only light we had was coming from a lantern the coachman was holding. When shined upon, the rocky walls of the cave glistened in the golden light of the fire emitted by the lantern.
It was quiet. Only broken down by the dripping water from the ceiling, the skimming steps of the horse, and the rattle of the carriage wandering the cave's innards.
"It's here," the coachman whispered.
In front of us was a metal door. He knocked on it, and a loud clang rang and reverberated through the metal. After a while, the slit of the door slid open. A man looked through that small slit of the door.
"What are you here for?"
The coachman took out a bracelet and showed it to him. He opened the door.
Beyond the metal door was a cavern. The people inside were ruffians—you could say that they were bandits even. Either way, they gave off the impressions of such. The men looked rugged and uncivilized.
So.... this is the slum.
The coachman nudged us to follow him.
"You two have been here before? Best advice I can give is to shut your mouth. People here would skin you alive if you'd piss them off."
"Oi! Leiche, c'mere."
"Speaking of which. Better stay put for a while—I'll be back after this."
The place we stopped was where the slaves were kept. A foul smell was omitted from their cages.
The slaves...
The slaves were nearly dead.
From their cells and the state of their bodies, they were just as much as mine during the time of my torture. Though here... it's much more than what I've seen or experienced. Some of them had limbs cut off—others had patched eyes and were missing an ear or two. Their eyes were empty—there was no light coming from them. To think I'll encounter this again does make my stomach churn.
Seekth looked at me. His mouth was half open, as if wanting to say something, but stopped midway.
"It's fine."
He nodded.
We stayed there for a while. The goods of the carriage were being dropped off as Leiche came back with his hands in one of his pouches.
"Well, lads? Shall we go? You behaved like I told you, yeah?"
"How can we not? We don't look like we were skinned now, did we?"
He chuckled.
"Hey, I got to deliver you two before I call in my day. Keeping both of you alive is part of that deal."
We rode the empty carriage out of the slums towards a slim alleyway near a bustling open market.
"Kid," Leiche threw a card towards me. "Keep that. Just show that when you want to find me. Some lackeys here might point where I'm at."
"I'll keep that in mind."
. . .
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