Chapter 367
Chapter 367
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 367
Chapter Title: Sewer Rats (2)
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1.
Diana stormed ahead, huffing and puffing.
She knew it was an absurd rage.
She couldn't even explain to herself why he looked so infuriating, yet she'd vented her anger first and stormed off anyway.
Calling him loathsome, annoying, or saying it was nothing at all—none of it was more than lashing out at the sudden surge of fury.
"Who does he think he is, expecting an apology...?"
Exactly thirty seconds later, she realized her reaction had been a bit over the top.
But Diana stubbornly ignored it, shaking her head defiantly.
She had no intention of apologizing first.
If he hurried after her and grabbed her, though, she might concede that her words had been too harsh and murmur a half-hearted sorry.
But no matter how far Diana walked, no cry of "Miss!" came from behind.
That only fueled her anger even more.
By the time she passed the pier and reached a quiet stretch lined with rundown warehouses...
"Huff... huff... Hello there?"
Diana flinched in surprise.
A fat, ugly man had popped out from an alley and spoken to her.
She could guess his identity immediately.
The shabby clothes, the sweat pouring off him like he'd just been working...
And that sleazy vibe in his eyes.
He had to be a private slave bought by smugglers.
Her mother had once told her that all the slaves worked to death in this port were death row convicts.
Her mood was already foul, and now some human scum equivalent to a condemned prisoner was talking to her.
Diana's brows furrowed, her usually languid eyes narrowing sharply.
"What?"
The dress Diana wore now wasn't some run-of-the-mill garb like the witches of Border Town sported.
Her shoes were a bit dirtied, but it was a silk dress worth buying a fine villa outright.
Anyone could tell at a glance she was a noble witch, so his intentions from the start were suspicious.
"Um, sorry... Could I trouble you for a glass of water, ma'am?"
And then he asked for a glass of water.
Diana was utterly dumbfounded.
"Do I look like I have water on me? Get lost."
She rejected him sharply.
Normally, he'd slink away by now, but the fat man was inching closer slyly.
What an oblivious fool.
Diana's lips twisted.
She'd tried to warn him off nicely, but if he wouldn't listen, she'd have to resort to force.
But Diana never got the chance to draw on her magic.
"Kyaa... mmp...!"
Suddenly, a hand reeking of cigarette smoke clamped over her mouth from behind.
As Diana craned her neck up in panic, she saw a man with a vicious knife scar across his face holding her from behind.
"Hey, miss. Wanna have some fun with us?"
"Mmph... mmph...! Mmph...!"
"Stay still."
Too flustered to even cast a spell, Diana struggled to break free—only to freeze stiff when she spotted the sharp blade at her throat.
"Witches' eyes glow when they cast, right? Go ahead and thrash if you want. I'll slit your throat before you can squeal like a pig."
At the same time, more men sauntered out from who-knows-where, sneering and chuckling vilely.
They looked just like sewer rats scurrying out when you poked a drain.
"Heh heh, I don't mind 'em warm or cold."
"Whoa, shit, it was this easy?"
"Kekeke, putting on a tough act like some big-shot witch. Kinda cute."
Diana was a witch from a prestigious family, after all.
If she could cast properly, these small fry couldn't lay a scratch on her.
But they knew about the glow of mana reflection.
And at her throat was a blade that looked anything but a toy.
Two seconds would be enough—but slicing soft flesh would be faster.
Besides, she was a flower raised in a greenhouse, untouched by the world's malice.
It was only natural for such a Diana to panic in a life-or-death situation.
Her mind went blank, her legs turned to jelly.
No thoughts came to her.
"Quit shaking like a damn retard and cover her already."
"Why curse? There, done."
And just like that, Diana's options vanished.
The moment they slapped the kachusha—clearly an artifact—over her head, she couldn't wield any magic, as if bound tight in a noose.
"Move her quick before anyone sees!"
"I-I lured her, so I'm second, right?"
The brutish man gripping Diana from behind growled in a rough voice.
"No screaming, no resisting. Come quietly."
He released her mouth.
Diana had frozen from the shock, but instinct told her this was her last chance.
If she screamed or used nearby objects to resist—even stalled a little...
She desperately tried to force her frozen mind to work.
"...Ah."
She tried to scream for help at the top of her lungs.
But all that escaped her throat was a sighing wheeze.
And her legs didn't bolt—instead, they trudged after the filthy man.
As if strings pulled her body like a puppet.
The slaves surrounded Diana to block her view and led her into their rundown warehouse hideout.
2.
The rundown warehouse they always used as a hideout.
The slaves couldn't help but gasp in admiration the moment they dragged their captured Diana inside.
A mindset utterly unlike ordinary folk.
Even beasts who killed their fellow man without hesitation for desire or profit swallowed hard at her beauty.
She was leagues above the cheap whores they'd known.
Just approaching wafted a faint gardenia scent.
The flesh wrapped in a dress unlike any from this world gleamed with noble radiance.
"Whoa, look at that silky hair."
"Her skin's whiter than snow..."
"How can a person be this gorgeous?"
Like standing before a beautiful work of art, filling them with awe.
Even the smugglers, crawling with all manner of lusts, paused to admire her stunning form.
But when their gazes caught Diana's terrified, frozen expression and trembling legs...
They all realized the same thing.
Ripping that flowing dress to shreds.
Defiling beauty that made heads bow.
Dragging a promising apprentice witch into the muck.
It was all their right.
They'd already crossed a major line.
Touching an apprentice witch was the ultimate taboo in witch society.
Having gone so far as to kidnap her, standing back now offered zero chance of survival.
Even those who'd hemmed and hawed out of fear of their boss-man Jack were all-in now—it was do or die.
And the quivering flower before them was worth dying a thousand times to taste.
They crept toward Diana.
Meanwhile, Diana couldn't process the situation at all.
The lecherous eyes swarming her.
They felt like they coiled around her body—utterly repulsive.
One glance showed their bulging crotches and smirking lips reeking of base lust.
Vermin she could sweep away with one incantation.
But the moment that artifact kachusha went on her head, Diana became no different from any ordinary girl.
All she could do was bluff in a quavering voice.
"Y-You... Do you think... y-you can get away with this... and live?"
The pride of the young lady of Viscount Yesod.
A threat squeezed out from the scraps shriveled in fear.
Her trembling voice got back vile chuckles laced with lust.
Jack strode up and seized Diana's hair, baring his teeth.
"Don't care."
"Hik...!"
Diana had never been handled so roughly, let alone yelled at.
The unimaginable sharp pain and viscous malice froze her breath.
"Bet you've lived happily as some hotshot witch till now. Sipping tea all elegant while slobs like us slaved like dogs."
Diana gritted her teeth and glared at Jack.
"Th-That's just... paying for your crimes..."
"Dunno about that."
Jack roughly grabbed her cheek again with his brutish hand.
"We've taken plenty of shit ourselves, so we need an outlet. Gonna use you till you drop dead. Heard apprentices can't become witches if they're defiled back there? Your teacher's gonna be sad. Such a pretty one turned into broken trash after we all take turns."
Use till dead.
Defiled back there.
All take turns.
Vulgar terms Diana didn't know.
But instinct let her grasp his meaning.
These men meant to rape her.
"N-No...!"
"Sounds good to me. Hey, hold her down."
"Boss first? Rest of us draw straws?"
"I-I'm second, we agreed!"
Diana was mercilessly hurled onto the muddy haystack, her hands and feet pinned in an instant.
Too late to struggle now—the gap in raw strength between labor-hardened men and a powerless apprentice witch was vast.
"Not gonna give orders?"
"Our boss knows his stuff. Feels more like rape this way."
"Oh."
Her arms yanked overhead and pinned, legs simply held fast.
"D-Don't...! Stop...! Please stop...!"
Diana's desperate screams rang out, but no one cared.
This was a remote warehouse no one but their decurion visited.
Even if her cries leaked out by some miracle, they'd drown in the din from the docks.
"We'll keep your clothes on for the first round. Too much of a waste to strip you right away."
"Mmph...! Mmphp...! Mph...!"
As Jack knelt between Diana's spread legs and reached to tear her skirt...
-Thud!
A sound that made everyone's hearts drop.
The slate warehouse door had swung open.
Jack instantly clamped Diana's mouth and glared wide-eyed at one of the decurions.
"You idiot, didn't you lock the door?"
"N-No, boss! I swear I did! With that huge padlock!"
"Then how'd someone get in, you moron?"
Jack shot a glare at his pathetic, fumbling underling.
Someone strode through the chaotic, dusty warehouse.
"What the hell are you doing?"
The eyepatch-wearing man of burly build asked, suppressing his surging rage.