Meruru Vanishes
I followed the wheel ruts and footprints along the path, pushing deeper into the forest. Daylight was beginning to fade.
This was going to be a problem. Once darkness fell, tracking traces would become nearly impossible. Still, Silphy had gone to the guild to request backup, so at least we had insurance — though I'd rather find Meruru myself before they sent anyone.
Night in the forest arrived far faster than it did in the city. The sun had barely begun to dip before the world around me plunged into darkness.
And they'd really seen a beastkin out here besides Meruru? A shadow that looked like one, standing tall in the center of a ring of monsters — that was the story. If someone had actually witnessed that, any ordinary person would have turned and run without looking back. Besides, there was no guarantee it was even Meruru's older sister.
Beastkin weren't exclusive to the tribes of Helvetica Island. They were rare in these parts, certainly, but a random sighting didn't automatically connect to Meruru's sister. It was entirely possible the beastkin spotted at two different locations were two different people. If anything, given they'd been seen around the same time under completely opposite circumstances, that seemed the more likely explanation. I understood why Meruru had gone out alone at night chasing those rumors, though.
At any rate, that meant monsters did appear in this forest. I'd need to stay more alert as I went.
Damn it. It was so dark now I couldn't even tell if there were marks on the ground anymore. Tracking Meruru's trail in this state was impossible.
I considered lighting a flame on my sword to use as a torch, but that was too dangerous. Ever since I'd acquired that alien mana in Einblad, I hadn't been able to control my power properly. If I ignited a mana flame on my blade just to light the way, the fire might surge out of my will and set the surrounding forest ablaze. I'd have to solve that problem eventually, or it was going to be a real headache.
Was tracking Meruru alone too much after all? Maybe I should head back to the guild, gather people, and come again.
The moment that thought crossed my mind, a light appeared in the far distance of the forest. It was quite far away, but the darkness settling over everything made it stand out with startling clarity.
Come to think of it, they'd taught us this in the military. Be careful even lighting a cigarette in the dark — in pitch blackness, even a tiny glow is more visible than you'd think. The distance was considerable, but judging by the size of it, someone had definitely lit a campfire. With Meruru's trail gone cold anyway, it was worth checking out.
"Shari."
I called her in a low voice.
"See that light over there? Can you go check what's on that side?"
At my request, Shari tore through the darkness and vanished at high speed. Before she returned, I started moving closer toward the light myself.
A short while later, Shari came back from her rapid reconnaissance and unfolded the scenes inside my mind.
A rickshaw stood parked, and on it sat an iron cage barely large enough to cram a single person inside. And inside that cage, a beastkin girl — Meruru — crouched with a gag in her mouth, her body curled into a tight ball.
This is strange, she thought.
Yunoa had told her that if she wore the robe he'd bought her, people like slave traders wouldn't be able to recognize her. And until now, that had always been true.
In central Kubel it didn't matter — plenty of people knew Meruru there, and the guild was nearby. But whenever she left Kubel and traveled far, Meruru always put on that old robe Yunoa had given her.
Of course, there was the clean new robe Yunoa had bought her just before she became a receptionist, and other clothes Tina had gotten her. But whenever she went out alone to investigate beyond Kubel, Meruru always wore that old robe and nothing else.
It was the first robe Yunoa had bought her, telling her to hide her ears and tail. Wearing it had given her a baseless conviction that she'd be safe even far outside the city.
A superstition she'd invented for herself. Meruru had never imagined that strange faith would land her in a situation like this.
"Heheheh! Two cities in a row and I came up empty — I was pissed. Never figured I'd get this lucky! Who the hell would've seen this coming? A stray beastkin, lost and wandering around this forest!"
"You're in a good mood, Boss Sauld."
"Damn right I am! Hey! You got any idea how much a beastkin that pretty sells for? The last one I offloaded went for fifty gold, and that thing was so ugly you couldn't tell if it was a person or an animal. This one? She'll fetch whatever I ask!"
A man with a thin, long mustache growing only beneath his nose shouted as he drank in front of the campfire. Directly across from him, a man who looked like a subordinate stood rubbing his palms together, fully prepared to refill the cup.
Sauld the slave trader. He traveled from city to city across the kingdom, kidnapping people who would sell for a high price and putting them on the market. He had been passing through several villages on his way west when he found Meruru here.
His work was simple: roam the cities of the continent, collect slaves that would fetch a good price, and sell them to his contacts in the capital, Pipnel. The largest slave market on the continent had formed in Pipnel's underground waterways. The clientele who visited it ranged from Pipnel's influential figures and nobles to even corrupt clergy — but they all had one thing in common. They had money. A slave market that included high-status customers could make a man rich once he broke into the trade.
And Sauld was different from the clumsy, dime-a-dozen slave traders you found everywhere else.
"That's our boss! Now I see why you ditched the Silver adventurer path to become the king of slave traders all on your own! I'll follow you anywhere, Boss Sauld!"
At his subordinate's greasy flattery, Sauld gave the man's head a light rap with his empty cup.
"Hey! I wasn't Silver. I was this close to Gold. I just didn't want it, that's all. If I'd set my mind to it, I'd have been the greatest, strongest adventurer on the continent."
"Ah! Sorry, Boss!"
"Thing is, though, being an adventurer doesn't pay. You lot figured that out too, didn't you? Grinding away at the guild or some mercenary company until it hit you — the work's dangerous as hell and the money's garbage. Stick with me and work hard, and you can become fine slave traders like myself. Watch and learn."
"Yes, Boss!"
Sauld smiled with satisfaction and knocked back another drink.
The entire slave-trading band, Sauld included, was made up of former adventurers. That was why, unlike other slave traders, they had enough combat strength of their own to keep this work going for so long.
"Tch. If it weren't for that monster boar, we'd have reached the next village by now."
Sauld said it while looking at the rickshaw that carried the cage Meruru was locked in. They had originally had a wagon, but a monster attack in this forest had wrecked it and killed the horse. So they had used the wagon's parts to cobble together a rickshaw, and were transporting Meruru in that. Once they reached the next village, they planned to buy a new wagon and head straight for the capital.
"Ugh, I'm getting drunk. Kh... but a beastkin this pretty? First time I've ever seen one. Almost a waste to just sell her."
"First time for me too, Boss!"
"Think I'll play with her a little. Checking the merchandise for defects is part of the job, after all."
"Boss! Can I have a feel too?"
The empty cup flew at the subordinate's head the instant the words left his mouth.
"You little shit! Of course you can't. Well, looking's fine, I guess. It's not like she'll wear out from you seeing her naked."
"Thank you, Boss!"
Face flushed with drink, Sauld started slowly toward the cage that held Meruru. She had heard every word of their conversation. She trembled, her head hanging low.
I'd finally found Meruru.
Among the scenes Shari had shown me were men who looked like a slave-trading band, drinking around a campfire — and Meruru, locked inside an iron cage.
"Hmm. So that's how it is..."
I was lucky I'd found her before it was too late. For some reason, the cage holding Meruru wasn't on a proper wagon but on a shoddily made cart. If these had been slave traders traveling by a real carriage, they might have gotten too far for me to catch them.
From what I'd gathered through Shari, the slave-trading band numbered one man who looked like the leader, plus six subordinates. Seven in total. They all carried weapons, but they were still just slave traders. They were never going to be a match for an adventurer.
I picked up my pace as I approached the campsite, then drew my sword and broke into a run. The moment I arrived —
"Heheheh!"
"Mmph! Mmph!"
A slave trader's nauseating laugh rang out, and an appalling sight unfolded in front of me. They had pulled Meruru from the cage and were stripping her clothes off. Gagged, she couldn't even put up a proper fight as they tore the fabric away. Her ears folded flat, and the feeble way she thrashed her arms and legs trying to twist free of their grip was pitiful.
I sprinted forward at once and put everything I had into a kick that caught the degenerate slave trader clinging to Meruru.
The impact sent him tumbling across the ground with a strangled grunt, rolling twice before he flopped still. I immediately stepped in front of Meruru, shielding her.
"Wh-what the hell!"
"Boss Sauld! Are you all right?"
The degenerate they'd called Sauld picked himself up off the ground and glared at me.
"The hell are you? You alone?"
"..."
I didn't answer. I just adjusted my grip on the sword. This was my first time fighting people instead of monsters, and the thought of just cutting them all down stirred a strange reluctance in me. For now, maybe I should just incapacitate them all and hand them over to the guild.
While I was thinking that, Sauld burst out laughing.
"Eheheheh! An adventurer? Ah, I get it. Someone put a request out on that beastkin, huh? Coming here alone, though — you've got some balls. You think we'll scare just because you're an adventurer and we're merchants?"
"Boss Sauld! You're all right! That's our boss! What should we do with this guy?"
"What do you think? Kill him!"
The instant Sauld's order dropped, the subordinates surrounding me charged all at once. I poured mana into my sword and caught their weapons as they came in.
A rapid succession of metallic clashes rang out — and every weapon that met my blade snapped and went flying. There were so many openings I could have cut their throats several times over, but incapacitating them seemed the better call, so I put a fist into each of their stomachs in turn.
The ones whose weapons had shattered and who'd taken a punch to the gut dropped to their knees on their own, making sounds like they were about to throw up. A few of them actually did, emptying their stomachs onto the ground. With their legs gone out from under them, none of them got back up to come at me again.
Just this Sauld left, then.
Having cleaned up the subordinates in an instant, I turned my stare on him. Sauld raised his sword and charged.
I caught his blade the same way I had the others, intending to deal with him the same way.
"Hm?"
This one, though — his sword didn't break. Which meant Sauld had poured a considerable amount of mana into it as well.
"Die!"
Sauld twisted the locked blades, changed the trajectory, and thrust for my chest. I jerked my body back and barely slipped the attack. It was a strike I wouldn't have eaten under ordinary circumstances, but I hadn't expected him to use this much mana. That was on me for being too careless. Assuming a slave trader couldn't wield mana the way an adventurer could had been a mistake.
Why did this bastard have talent like this and waste it being a slave trader instead of an adventurer?
But I'd dodged it once. I wouldn't eat it twice. The mana in Sauld's sword was impressive enough to match a decent Silver-rank adventurer — and it still felt far from enough against me.
I'd end this in one stroke.
I stepped forward to put him down. But in that instant —
A pitch-black shadow of unknown origin dropped from the sky, fast, landing behind Sauld. Then came the sound of tearing flesh, and Sauld's head went flying in a spray of blood. His newly headless body crumpled forward, limp.
What the hell had just happened? A monster?
As Sauld's body fell, the identity of the black shadow behind him came into view. A woman stood there — fox-like ears, a voluminous tail. She wore a light garment of animal hide that barely covered her chest and hips, and a tremendous wildness radiated from her.
"A beastkin?"