Chapter 210: If I Have Time
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 210: If I Have Time
It wasn’t as if the boiled water was poisoned. There was no poison in the tea leaves either, and even the cookies that followed were clean. There simply wasn't any intent to assassinate me.
"You’re active in the Southwest, aren't you, Mr. Aven?"
"Yeah."
"The Southwest is a lovely place. It’s quiet, peaceful... and it’s wonderful to see it so full of life."
"I suppose so."
I couldn't tell what her goal was. I wondered if she had really called me here just to talk, as she was currently droning on with nothing but trivial small talk.
"For some reason, whenever I visit the Southwest, I find myself feeling at ease."
"What business do you have in the Southwest?"
"Hmm, shall we call it a vacation? Since I’m always stuck in a place like this, there are times when I want to enjoy the atmosphere of the Southwest."
"If you spent the money used on this tea house in the Southeast instead, I think it could become a lot more like the Southwest."
"Ahaha, perhaps you’re right."
Mystery Antoinette brushed off my comment as if it were nothing. I couldn't tell if she truly didn't care or if she was just maintaining her composure.
"Mystery Antoinette."
"Isn't that a bit long? You’re welcome to call me 'Terry' if you’d like to be more friendly."
"Fine, Terry. Let me ask you one thing."
"Yes, anything."
"The assassination contract. Why did you do it?"
"...."
Terry looked momentarily surprised by my question, but soon a faint, weak smile touched her lips as she lowered her head slightly. The woman who had been chatting so animatedly fell silent for a long moment.
"Mr. Aven... you aren't originally from Calax, are you?"
"You could say that."
"Are you aware... of the relationship between the Mayerbridge Union and the Antonio Brotherhood?"
"To some extent."
"I see...."
Terry picked up her teacup, took a sip, and continued her story.
"Calax... long ago, before the Labyrinth Portals appeared, our town was just a tiny village of barely 150 people."
Calax had been a small, self-sufficient village where about 150 people lived by hunting and gathering in the nearby forests and tending to small fields. The change in the unremarkable village occurred about 200 years ago, after a Labyrinth Portal appeared 300 meters northwest of Calax.
"Labyrinths are named after nearby villages or landmarks. Did you know that?"
The name 'Calax Great Labyrinth' was taken from the village of Calax, located southeast of the portal. The once-quiet village, where people lived by hunting and gathering, began to bustle with scholars and explorers who traveled from afar to investigate the portal.
"We thought it was a good thing. People gathered in the village, demand was created... it felt alive."
"What does that have to do with anything now?"
"...Could you listen to just a bit more of this story? I’ll answer any questions you have afterward."
"Sigh. Go on."
When people gather, demand follows. Food, clothing, and shelter are issues directly linked to human survival, and Calax, a small village, could not fully handle the requests for food and lodging from the swarming scholars and explorers.
Naturally, they set up temporary tents near the Labyrinth Portal to establish a base, but food isn't something that can spring forth infinitely from the same space.
"It was a small village where people were ignorant of the world outside and not a single person had ever entered the Labyrinth."
At first, the villagers treated the scholars and explorers with hospitality, sharing what little bread, meat, soup, and fruit they had while providing places to sleep and rest.
However, when the food problem became difficult to solve within the village, the villagers shared their knowledge of how to pick edible berries and where to find local game.
There were about 20 scholars and roughly 50 explorers. The number of mouths to feed had suddenly increased by half the village's original population.
The edible berries and plants in the vicinity vanished quickly, and the animals were hunted down until their populations were decimated. The explorers, after all, consumed a staggering amount of food per person.
And determining the edibility of the monsters inside the newly discovered Labyrinth was a process that took quite a long time.
"We gave away our flour and bread out of kindness. All the edible berries and huntable animals nearby were gone. What were the villagers supposed to do?"
"Hmm...."
"We couldn't just wait for them to stop forever. The children were starving, and the adults were coming back from the forest empty-handed."
In the end, the original residents of Calax had no choice but to do menial labor for the explorers. They raised cattle but had no horses, and since they had no carriages, they had no means of leaving the village.
The mages, being officials, were less prone to trouble, but the explorers were naturally coarse and rowdy. In a village with no entertainment or sights to see, what else would they do for fun?
The food bought from other cities, or the animals and fruits the explorers traveled far to catch—in an instant, the villagers fell from the position of providers to that of beggars.
"How ridiculous it must have been. To see them taking on all the chores all day long, bowing their heads for a single hunk of meat."
"The powerless villagers, who had no mana and would collapse from a single punch."
The difference in martial power was stark. They were high-ranking explorers dispatched to investigate a Great Labyrinth, while the villagers had spent their lives plowing fields or, at most, firing a few arrows. They had never fought another human being.
"When a gap in wealth and power forms between people... what do you think happens?"
"...I wonder."
"A ruling class and a subject class are born."
They cut down trees to build houses they wouldn't live in, and they cooked food they wouldn't eat in front of scorching fires. As the exchange rate between labor and reward grew increasingly cruel, the villagers grew more exhausted by the day.
"Non-payment of rewards, breach of contract, seizure of residential areas, and even assault and rape."
Amidst the unfair treatment, the one phrase of hope they heard every day was, 'It will be over soon.' Since there was little infrastructure to support explorers nearby, and the Labyrinth was in a remote location, they expected to clear it and collapse the portal.
"But alas, how heartless the heavens can be. Calax was a Great Labyrinth so vast it could not be cleared."
One day, two days.
Three days, four days.
One month, two months.
"The relentless oppression and domination, the ever-increasing number of explorers... and the mountain of chores that grew along with them."
One day, amidst the excessive exploitation, an incident occurred.
"Antonio Edgar. He was a fine hunter, a kind neighbor, a devoted husband, and a strong father. His wife passed away after being subjected to a long period of gang rape by those lawless explorers."
"...."
"Just a single arrow. The rage he expressed after losing his wife was just a single arrow."
Starting with that one arrow of resentment, which failed to leave even a proper scratch on an explorer's forearm, the villagers officially became 'slaves.'
"With a justification in hand, what wouldn't they do? A noble can move the limbs of a commoner for a cheap price, but no matter how high a price a commoner pays, they cannot move even the tip of a noble's foot."
The once-peaceful village site became a prison for criminals. They were dragged out to be beaten whenever desired, used as sex toys, or treated as clowns for entertainment. The mages did not stop it. In fact, it’s more accurate to say they couldn't.
Without the explorers, their work wouldn't progress.
Unlike the buildings in the northwest and northeast of the Labyrinth Portal, which were built large and sturdy through the sacrifice of the residents, the village itself grew increasingly desolate, with parts of it being torn down for firewood whenever needed.
"The fortunate thing... was that Calax was eventually announced to the world."
Once Calax was revealed to the world, many people, including explorers, flocked there.
However, between the half-ruined original village site in the southeast and the magnificent buildings in the northeast built on the residents' sacrifices, it was obvious where those visiting Calax for the first time would stay.
As the population grew, explorers could no longer openly commit illegal acts, but the gap between the north and the south had already become insurmountable.
In memory of the man who died after venting his grief over losing his wife, the villagers formed the Antonio Brotherhood, meaning 'Friends of Antonio.'
Now based in the Southeast, they began to operate among the visitors from other lands, working to revive the village site that was originally their home.
"I also find it regrettable that their method involved deceiving others for profit. But... do you think we should have just endured until the very end?"
"...."
"Do you have any desire to go into business with a beggar? Do you see any need to honor the terms of a contract with the weak and powerless?"
"That’s..."
"You might be different. But there are far more people who aren't."
As time passed, the Southeast became a gathering place for thugs and hoodlums. As always, when people gather, laws are formed, and those who wish to commit illegal acts flock together.
Unlike the explorers who wore the mask of virtuous citizens while committing crimes, the villagers, who were once virtuous citizens, had put on the mask of illegality.
"What I’m telling you now... will ultimately just be a matter of hindsight. I truly find it regrettable that the Antonio Brotherhood of that time grew into a delinquent organization that makes money through illegal means."
"Then you—"
"However."
Mystery Antoinette.
Terry Edgar.
"More than that, I crave revenge."
She gave a thin, bright smile.
* * *
The story that followed was similar to what I knew.
A resident of the Southeast, who had been scamming warrior explorers crossing the Myers River, was about to be hanged in the northeast plaza.
—My name is Antonio. Remember me.
He died after leaving those words, and the story goes that the Antonio Brotherhood became public enemy number one after that.
The reason they didn't bother the Southwest was simply because there was no reason to.
"The warrior clans have 'subjugated' the villagers of the Southeast for generations. How hateful it must have looked to see them swaggering about, thinking they were upholding justice without knowing a thing."
"Tsk...."
"I am aware that the people today have little to do with the people back then. But Soles Getia is their direct descendant. And our Southeast... is still struggling in poverty because of the exploitation from that time."
"I see...."
"Oh my, have I given you a lot to think about? That means you are a thoughtful person, Mr. Aven. Thank you for listening to my story."
Terry bowed her head slightly while seated to express her gratitude. Then, as if remembering something, she looked up.
"And... regarding the assassination request... would it suffice if I offered you my worthless neck?"
"Forget it."
"Fufu, I was joking. I’ve prepared a bag for you; it would be good if you took it with you."
"I assume there were no lies in what you’ve said so far."
"Hmm, I do feel like I might have spoken a bit subjectively because I was overcome with emotion."
"Then take this one with you."
I manifested my tail and spat out Siv, who had been stored inside.
"Oh, this person is..."
Fortunately, the Taboo seemed to have been broken. Knowing the effects of the Knight Lord's mana and Amelia's mana, I thought it would likely break, and it seemed my guess was correct.
"And, manage the Southeast properly."
"...I understand. I will carve those words deep into my heart."
This didn't mean the accountability for the Southeast's illegal activities and the delinquent explorers was over.
It was just that... after hearing that story, the desire to take any immediate action had vanished.
"I’m not in a position to say anything."
It wasn't that I was filled with a sudden sense of duty to crush the Antonio Brotherhood and play the hero, but it was true that my heart had leaned somewhat toward the Mayerbridge Union.
Now, I wasn't so sure.
I wasn't such a grand person that I could mediate between the two.
"Sigh."
If I have time, I should head to the Mayerbridge Union.