Chapter 271
Chapter 271
"Salt mine?"
When Zeke asked again, Ankel suddenly came to his senses and regretted answering him.
But it was already spilled water.
Ankel sighed and nodded.
"Yes. Between the lawless zone and Tahuani, there used to be a salt mine where they mined rock salt. Now it's a small village with few inhabitants since the mine closed... but they're sending the children they brought there."
After hearing Ankel's words, Zeke looked at him and said.
"You were watching their movements even before I asked?."
"...Don't misunderstand. I was just checking if they were risk factors that could disrupt the black market."
Zeke nodded.
"Alright, since you accepted my request, I should pay the price."
Zeke pulled out a potion from his chest. Ankel spoke while looking at the potion Zeke took out.
"You're going to pay the request fee with a potion?"
No matter how precious the potion was, its value alone couldn't cover the Thieves Guild's request fee.
Zeke looked at Ankel and said.
"Aren't you curious what kind of potion it is?"
"A potion is a potion, what could be different?"
Zeke poured the potion and took a sip, then swallowed it with a gulp.
Then he handed the rest to Ankel.
"There's no poison in it, so try it yourself and judge."
Ankel hesitated looking at the potion Zeke handed over.
He couldn't easily feel at ease with Shadia, the Desert Flower who specialized in poisons, standing nearby.
He looked at Zeke and said.
"Can you swear on your title as the Knight of the Sea?"
"I swear on my title. This potion contains no poison, nor anything else that would harm you."
Only then did Ankel take a sip of the potion Zeke gave him with an uneasy expression.
After swallowing one sip, Ankel was surprised for a moment.
'My body feels lighter?'
The potion Zeke gave was Wings of the Sky which increases agility, one of the ancient potions that could be crafted using only materials without consuming karma points.
Ankel drank all the remaining potion.
Then he could feel his body becoming lighter and his reflexes increasing.
'If this is how it affects me, it would be even more effective when my subordinates drink it.'
Agility was like life itself to a thief.
It was more important to quickly escape from a location than to accurately retrieve the targeted item.
Ankel had bought potions from quite a few alchemists, but this was the first time he'd encountered a potion with such effects.
With a completely different expression from before, Ankel asked Zeke.
"How long does this effect last?"
"It varies by person, but roughly 30 minutes."
30 minutes was more than enough time to escape.
At that moment, Zeke took out a chest from his inventory, placed it on the table, and opened the lid.
Inside were Wings of the Sky potions packed full.
"That's a hundred of the potion you just had. Is this enough for the request fee?"
At Zeke's words, Ankel's jaw dropped.
It wasn't just enough.
Such special potions were worth whatever price was asked.
So giving a hundred of these potions meant he wanted to continue trading in the future.
After hesitating a bit, Ankel seemed to make up his mind and bowed his head toward Zeke.
"Sir Zeke Draker, please forgive my earlier rudeness. I am moved by the trust you have shown."
Zeke smiled and replied.
"I'm glad you think so. I hope we can continue trading with good relations in the future."
"Of course. Our guild will be Sir Zeke's best friend, so please feel free to use us."
Ankel's attitude had completely changed from before.
While maintaining neutrality was good, the Thieves Guild was ultimately a gathering of thieves.
It was their virtue to switch attitudes immediately if they saw profit.
And Ankel caught the scent of a jackpot from Zeke.
Zeke received a token representing friendship with the King of Thieves from Ankel and left the guild building.
Zeke tossed the token he just received to Shadia and said.
"Shadia, you'd better keep this. You'll have more use for it than me."
"Is there more investigation needed?"
"No, there won't be any for a while, so let's go take a look at the salt mine together."
It was Zeke speaking as if going on a picnic about a place suspected to be Abyss's hideout.
The two left Black Market City and rushed toward Tahuani.
* * *
DENG! DENG! DENG!
When afternoon came, bells rang from the old monastery in the center of the village.
Along with the bell sounds, villagers gathered toward the monastery with smiles.
Where the villagers gathered, people in robes were boiling something in large pots.
The villagers lined up with bowls to receive soup from them, then went inside the monastery and sat down.
On the tables were white bread, unwatered wine, and various fruits that were rare to see in this region.
Soon after all the villagers came in and sat down, an elderly man in robes approached the front.
He smiled at the villagers and said.
"Everyone! Before we eat, let's all laugh loudly! HA! HA! HA!"
Following the elderly man's words, all the villagers opened their mouths and laughed saying
'HA! HA! HA!'
They could only eat after following the elderly man's instructions to laugh, clap, and recite prayer verses whose meaning they didn't even know.
The villagers followed their words without complaint because they provided three warm and delicious meals every day if they just did these things.
The robed people came to the village a year ago.
Once, the entire village was wealthy thanks to the rock salt mine, but after the mine closed, most young people left, leaving mostly elderly residents.
Since the village itself was barren and only elderly people remained, life inevitably became more difficult.
Then when they arrived, vitality returned to the village.
It didn't matter where they came from or who they were.
The villagers weren't very interested in why children kept coming from outside, or why the children staying in the village changed periodically.
They only cared about filling their own stomachs.
After dinner, the villagers gather at the community center to spend time smoking tobacco.
The tobacco they provided made you feel dizzy when smoked, put you in a good mood, and helped you sleep well at night.
As usual, the villagers laid out mats at the community center and lay down smoking tobacco, staring blankly at the air.
Meanwhile, the robed ones were moving busily.
CLOP! CLOP!
In the darkness, a carriage slipped into the village.
The carriage stopped behind the monastery.
The man driving quickly dismounted and said to a robed man who was waiting.
"This week's quantity."
The robed man went to the back of the carriage, opened the firmly locked padlock and checked inside.
Inside were children shivering, bound in chains.
The robed man counted the children and tilted his head.
"There's one more than recorded?"
At those words, the man waved his hand dismissively.
"What's wrong with having one more in quantity? It's better. Probably just missed in the count by mistake."
The robed man nodded thinking it was a common occurrence.
"Alright. When's the next schedule?"
The man took out a parchment from his chest, looked at it and said.
"It's scheduled for the week after next, skipping next week."
"No quantity next week? We have a big contract next week, what do you mean!"
At those words, the man stepped back and said.
"I-I'm just the messenger, I don't know much."
The robed man gritted his teeth then made a rough gesture as if understanding.
The man quickly unloaded the children from the carriage.
CLINK! CLINK!
Over ten children each had chains on their hands and feet.
After unloading the children, the man quickly drove the carriage away and disappeared.
When the carriage disappeared, the robed man gestured to the children while heading into the monastery.
"Quickly follow me."
The children followed the man into the monastery.
The robed man opened the door leading underground and led the children inside.
"Move quickly!"
The robed man yelled at the children, treating them like prisoners.
The frightened children carefully went down the stairs, barely breathing and trying not to trip over each other.
Going underground, there was an extremely wide space inside.
The robed man used a key to unlock the chains on the children's legs and arms.
While the children with unlocked handcuffs rubbed their bruised wrists and ankles, the man brought two prepared baskets from the side as if familiar with the routine.
"I'll only say this once so listen carefully. Put your clothes that you wore here in this basket, and change into the clothes in this basket."
The frightened children followed the man's orders, hurriedly took off their clothes and put on the clothes from the other basket.
The ragged clothes each had numbers attached to them.
When the children finished changing, the man counted again.
"Huh? What's this. The numbers match now."
The man tilted his head.
Then thinking he had counted wrong earlier, he clicked his tongue and put handcuffs back on the children.
Then he grabbed the chains and led the children again.
The children shivered as they walked barefoot on the cold stone floor.
Like that, the place the man arrived at with the children was an underground prison.
He opened the prison doors, put four children in each cell, locked the doors, and threatened the children.
"If you cry, whine, or shout, you'll get a harsh taste of punishment so stay quiet."
The children held their breath in fear at his words.
The man finished his daily routine and left the prison whistling.
When the man left, the prison was plunged into dark darkness.
Cold air kept rising from the cold floor. The children tried to warm their bodies with each other's body heat by huddling together.
At that moment, something slowly walked out from the darkness.
'These bastards worse than beasts.'
It was none other than Zeke.
He had followed the carriage entering this village and was hiding in disguise to see what happened to the children.
'First I need to figure out what kind of place this is.'
Zeke turned on his minimap and examined the structure.
It looked like they had renovated the monastery's underground storage, but surprisingly there was a deeper path connected underground.
Zeke left the prison and examined other places connected underground.
While moving around here and there concealing himself with stealth skill, Zeke discovered a passage connecting to another place.
'What's this place?'
Going inside, it was a path connecting to the mines.
'The monastery basement is connected to the closed mine.'
Zeke recalled the conversation between the robed man and the carriage driver.
'They said there's a big contract next week. If that contract means a contract with demons...'
Zeke's eyes sharpened.
'This place is likely where Abyss conducts contract rituals with demons.'
If Zeke's guess was right, they had finally caught Abyss's tail.
Since Abyss's mages had magical eyes that could see through stealth skills, before moving deeper, Zeke completely concealed his presence by drawing upon his soul technique 'Will of Silver'.
As Zeke went deeper into the mine, at some point he sensed something ahead.
He hid his body in the darkness.
THUD! THUD!
A group of figures appeared in the darkness.
Zeke immediately recognized who they were.
'Mein and Abyss's mages.'
Mine wearing black armor and Abyss's mages wearing black robes were heading somewhere.
Zeke carefully followed behind so the mages wouldn't notice.
The mine's paths were intricately tangled like a maze.
The mages arrived inside after passing through the maze-like paths.
Meins were standing guard at the entrance with spears.
When the mages approached, the Mein moved their spears and opened the door.
CREEEEAK!
When the door opened, the mages led the Mine inside.
And soon the door was about to close.
Watching this, Zeke contemplated then grabbed his scabbard and used Spirit manifestation skill.
WOONG!
Standing at the boundary between the spirit realm and physical realm, Zeke could pass through not only the meins but also the already closed door without issue.
After entering, he followed the mages and Mein again.
The mages finally stopped after passing through one more door inside.
Zeke released Spirit manifestation skill and looked around where they arrived while concealing his presence.
'What is this place?'
The place he arrived at was none other than where Abyss conducted their baptism rituals.