The Captives on the Second Floor
As we descended the three floors via the motionless escalator, I remarked on the pattern of encountering enemies every two levels. “Doesn’t it seem like the remaining thirty might be gathered on the second floor? We’ve run into them on the eighth, sixth, and fourth—so far, it feels like they’re clustered every other floor.”
“Now that you mention it, you’re right. Why split them up like that?”
“Humans are a species that loves dividing itself into hierarchies, meow. They must have sorted themselves into ranks and assigned roles accordingly, meow.”
“Hmm. That makes sense.”
The highest-ranking members were probably living on the most comfortable floors with proper furniture, while the rest were spaced out one level apart. My guess proved correct—the third floor was completely empty.
While searching the third floor, my brother tilted his head. “There’s no one here, but something feels off. These partitions and mattresses… it’s almost like…”
“I’ve seen this in movies, meow! Brothels look exactly like this, meow.”
“Ah, there’s even a trash can full of used condoms over here.”
“Eww! Don’t touch that. Why would you pick up a condom some trash used? Gross, just gross.”
“Yes, brother.”
My brother yelped and stopped me the moment I reached into the trash can. Charlotte, who had been standing nearby, wrinkled her nose and shuddered violently.
“Meow! The stench of rot is unbearable, meow! My nose is rotting, meow!”
“You’re right. Some of these are old, others more recent.”
“Why are you analyzing it? Just leave it and let’s head to the second floor.”
The presence of recently used condoms meant women had been here until quite recently. It was unlikely all forty men were homosexual, so women were definitely present. Yet every human we’d encountered so far had been male. That could only mean the people on the second floor were all women.
“I think the women are on the second floor.”
“Ah, right—we’ve only met men until now. If they’re women, I’ll have to go a little easier on them.”
“Is ‘not hitting them’ not an option, meow?”
“Enemies have no gender. I’ll just hit them more gently, that’s all.”
“Even a light beating from a civilian husband would leave a normal woman crippled, meow.”
“Come on, do you really think women living with scum like that are ordinary civilians?”
“Hmm. In my opinion, they’re far more likely to be treated as slaves.”
“Slaves, meow?”
“Look over there.”
The two of them followed my pointing finger to the floor. Faint, messy gray streaks marred the surface—clear signs of something heavy being dragged.
“Judging by the shape and color, those are marks left by iron chains scraping the floor. Since this spot is right in front of the escalator leading down, if the women had chains around their ankles, the links would leave exactly these kinds of marks as they walked.”
“You spotted that? It’s barely visible.”
“So the women upstairs are being exploited by those men, meow? We have to save them, meow!”
“Well, it’s still just a guess until we go down and confirm. Let’s check first.”
“Yes.”
We walked down the escalator to the second floor. The radar, previously blocked by the thick floor, now functioned properly. At first the signals were so faint we weren’t sure they were human, but the moment they heard us descending, the dots grew agitated and began moving with clear purpose.
“We have contacts. Twenty-five detected. They really were gathered here.”
“I hear the sound of chains, meow.”
“One person is approaching us from directly ahead.”
Both the radar and my night-vision confirmed it: a woman with an iron chain around her ankle was walking toward us. Though she trembled, her posture remained upright and dignified. Only when she drew close enough to see us clearly did she falter, her expression turning to confusion as she stammered something in the otherworld language.
“Hand me the translation ring. A woman would be better than me for this.”
“Understood, meow. Take this, meow. It goes on your finger, meow.”
Still bewildered, the woman accepted the ring and slipped it on.
“Can you understand meow?”
“Huh? What is this…? More importantly, who are you people?”
“Travelers who happened to fall into the mart, I suppose. We’ve already subdued the men attacking from the upper floors. Can we assume the people here have no hostile intent?”
“You subdued them? Ah… finally…”
The woman’s pale, malnourished frame collapsed as she dropped to her knees, tears streaming down her face. The other women nearby, their eyes dull and lifeless, watched in growing panic as their leader suddenly knelt and wept.
“Please calm down. The women around you are frightened. I’ll give you time—spread the news and reassure them.”
“Yes… hngh. Yes.”
She nodded, rose unsteadily with our help, and limped away to deliver the message. At first the others were skeptical, but when we lit our lanterns and revealed ourselves, light slowly returned to their eyes and hope began to bloom.
“Elisha was right. They’re all chained at the ankles.”
“They’re so emaciated they’d probably collapse if you touched them, meow.”
“Those pigs fattened themselves while starving their female slaves.”
“We’ll shake those bastards down until they vomit up every scrap of food.”
“At least they had the sense to use contraception—there are no pregnant women, meow.”
“That’s a small mercy.”
My analysis program displayed what little information could be gleaned at a glance. Though exhausted, none of the women showed signs of illness. In such a sealed environment, an epidemic would have been catastrophic, so we were fortunate.
Once the space quieted, the woman who had first approached us returned and bowed deeply.
“Thank you for dealing with those men.”
“Have you calmed down? Could you tell us exactly what happened in this mart?”
“Yes.”
She explained everything that had occurred since the plant monsters appeared. The men we had subdued were late arrivals—local gangsters who had stormed the mart armed with weapons. They had forced the original survivors outside to scavenge for supplies, executing anyone who refused as an example. One by one the men sent out died until none remained, after which the women were turned into sex slaves.
“Any woman who refused was killed in front of everyone. In the end, they all submitted to survive, but it was nothing but rape.”
“So that’s what happened.”
“Those bastards deserve to die, meow.”
“Mm.”
Having once lived as a sex slave myself, I found their treatment of these women nothing but crude violence—too brutal even to be called proper enslavement. Trash who lacked the qualifications to own slaves had no right to treat fellow humans as such.
“Let’s remove the ankle chains first.”
“What? Do you have the key?”
“We could always beat it out of those men later. I’ll just cut them off. Tell everyone to line up.”
“Cut them…?”
Though puzzled, she relayed the order and the women formed a line. My brother channeled mana from the embedded magic stone into the runes along his sword, reinforcing the blade. With precise strokes he severed only the iron around each ankle.
While watching the lengthy process of freeing twenty-five women, I spoke.
“I have a plasma sword too, but I’m not confident I could cut only the restraints without injuring anyone. It flickers and wavers.”
“When did you get a sword like that, meow? I don’t remember seeing it, meow.”
“Ah, it’s not something I carry separately. It’s built into my arm.”
“Meow? What do you mean, meow?”
“I can’t show you right now, but there are multiple folded blades stored inside my arm. When the joint opens, they extend and assemble.”
“…That sounds terrifying, meow.”
Charlotte shuddered and rubbed her own arms, clearly imagining the mechanism.
By the time we finished chatting, every shackle had been cut. The freed women bowed repeatedly in gratitude, and the only one who could speak through the ring conveyed their thanks.
“The thanks can wait. How is the situation on the first floor?”
“Almost every entrance has been blocked with heavy objects. Only one emergency passage used for transporting supplies remains locked.”
“And the windows are all sealed as well. Do the monsters climb the walls?”
“During the height of the attacks, they tried to reach at least the second floor.”
“The lack of windows worked in their favor, then.”
The original survivors had built these defenses. She mourned that while those measures had turned the mart into a livable shelter, the gangsters had slaughtered them all upon arrival.
Leaving the women to prepare, we descended to the first floor to check its security. As described, every entrance was barricaded with heavy objects, and only the steel door remained locked. My brother pushed and pulled on the locked door, testing its strength, then nodded.
“Hmm. Without heavy machinery, it would be difficult to break in from outside.”
“We still don’t know how strong those plant-type monsters are, meow.”
“From what we heard, they seem to rely on numbers rather than individual strength. Even if they breach the entrance, blocking the narrow doorway should keep us safe.”
After finishing our inspection, we returned to the second floor and rejoined the women, who had packed their belongings in blankets.
“Now let’s head back up and deal with the men we tied up. Is there anywhere suitable for holding prisoners?”
“I don’t think so. Those men preferred to exile or kill people rather than imprison them.”
“This is troublesome.”
My brother was right. We had no holding cells, the women’s condition was too poor to simply guard the men, and feeding forty additional people was another problem.
“Even if we exile them, we can’t be sure they won’t return for revenge…”
“Setting the place on fire would be disastrous, meow.”
“Let’s go up for now. Everyone’s waiting.”
“Yes.”
We led the exhausted women up the escalator to the third floor. This mart had an unusual layout—escalators were positioned at either end rather than the center, forcing people to zigzag between floors. The design was probably meant to maximize product exposure, though it likely annoyed customers. Because of the layout, we naturally passed through the partitioned area resembling a brothel, and the expressions on the women following us grew visibly darker. Some even spat in disgust.
I sighed inwardly at the incompetence of men who, instead of properly breaking women in extreme circumstances, had only managed to breed deep resentment.
When we finally reached the fourth floor with the furious group, the women squinted against the light—far brighter than our lanterns. Having lived so long in darkness, their eyes needed time to adjust.