Picking Up a Slave (3)

Night had settled deep over the world.

With dinner finished, Seina and I made our way to the slave market.

"The market's already closed for the day. Come back tomorrow."

Waiting by the main gate, a hulking brute and a scrawny shrimp moved to block our path.

"Step aside at once. Who dares stand in my way?"

At my voice, dripping with authority, the pair merely snorted.

"Hah! A funny guy, aren't you? Seems you want to get badly hurt."

"Hey, where'd this piece of trash even crawl out from?"

Seina started to step forward at their words, but I raised a hand to stop her.

If we kicked up a fuss here, Bilbeckman might catch wind of it and bolt.

"Crawled out from, was it?"

I drove a hard kick into the big one's shin.

"GRAAGH—!"

"Seems lowly scum can't understand polite language."

The brute clutched one leg, hopping up and down, then stared at me with eyes gone wide as saucers.

"F-Forgive me, sir! Where might you be from?"

"You have no need to know. I have business with Bilbeckman. Clear the way."

At my firm words, the men exchanged a quick, sidelong glance.

"...Let's, let's step aside. He's clearly some highborn lord — if the boss finds out we crossed him, it'll be a headache."

"P-Please, go on in."

The two parted to let us through.

I smiled inwardly.

Idiots.

The world was wonderfully convenient — play at being a noble for even a moment, and people moved exactly as you wished, all on their own.

"If you ever block my path again, that will be the day you bid this world farewell."

Wearing an easy expression, I strode through the entrance with the pair at my back.

Behind me came a call of "Enjoy your visit, my lord."

Should I take up acting for real?

I was weighing the question seriously when I felt a gaze on me and turned my head slightly.

"......"

Seina was staring at me, unblinking.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"How come they suddenly tucked their tails and backed down?"

She asked as if I'd cast some kind of magic.

Well, fair enough — she'd been ready to start swinging the moment they opened their mouths, and I'd ended the whole situation with a few words. It must have surprised her.

"It's nothing."

I said, walking on.

There wasn't nearly enough time to explain the human class system to her.

"...Impressive."

But Seina let out a short breath of awe, as if she'd misunderstood me entirely.

She seemed to have gotten the wrong idea... though explaining further felt like too much trouble.

"This way."

We descended the stairs leading underground.

Little by little, the atmosphere changed.

A thick silence pressed in from the darkness.

No screams. No sounds of struggle.

Only a voiceless despair, filling every corner.

We rounded one corner, and the same wretched sight I'd glimpsed before came into view.

Iron cages lined up on either side of the corridor.

Young children and demi-humans huddled inside, drained of all strength.

Seina's face darkened too — perhaps memories of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her own suffering were surfacing.

"Who goes there?"

A voice rang out from far down the hall.

Naturally, it wasn't Bilbeckman.

Just lackeys — the ones who trained the slaves and kept watch over them.

Eight or so in number.

Each gripped an assortment of weapons — daggers, axes, and the like.

"We're customers."

Seina and I approached the men at our leisure.

"Customers? Closing time was ages ago."

"Hey, how'd you even get down here?"

The men took fighting stances, faces full of wariness.

"We've come to see Bilbeckman."

I drew the calling card the man at the gate had handed me from my coat.

Never imagined I'd end up using it like this.

Good thing I'd kept it.

"No need for all that caution. Here."

I walked over slowly and held the card out to the man ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in front.

"Hm, what's this? Hey, John! You're the one who can read. Take a look at this."

They can't even read?

Come to think of it, I'd heard commoners never received any schooling.

It was a fresh reminder of just how fragile education was in this medieval age.

"Let's see here... Ah, it's our leader's calling card! Looks like this gentleman out front really is a customer."

One of the blackened, grimy men stepped forward, examined the card, and announced it to the rest.

"Aw, damn it. And here I thought I'd finally get to stretch my muscles."

The men tucked their weapons away with obvious disappointment.

I opened my mouth as if I'd been waiting for exactly that.

"Where's Bilbeckman?"

"The leader isn't here."

"The boss is resting upstairs, see."

"Upstairs?"

So it wasn't simply a slave market — there was a separate lounge of some kind as well, it seemed.

"I see."

I nodded — and drove my foot straight into the crotch of the man in front of me.

"GUOOOAAAH—!"

The man howled as if the world had ended, doubled over, clutching his precious goods.

Without a pause, I slammed my fist into his face with the full weight of my arm.

THWACK—!

He crumpled to the floor in a heap.

"Y-You bastard!"

"Kill him—!"

"Intruder!"

The rest finally grasped the situation and came charging, weapons drawn.

One of them ran off down the corridor ahead — presumably to call for reinforcements.

"Seina, kill the one running away—!"

"Leave it to me!"

Her figure vanished as if she'd teleported, and in the next instant she was standing in front of the man who'd made it all the way down the hall.

I'll leave that one to her.

"Die, you bastard—!"

One of them drove a dagger into my chest.

Screeeech!

But what came back was a spine-chilling sound, like iron grinding against steel — and the dagger bent like a ripe banana.

"...Wh-What the hell?!"

I punched the astonished man square in the face.

He crumpled bonelessly to the floor.

Clang!

At the same moment, I felt a tickle at the back of my head.

"Huh...?"

I turned to find a lackey staring open-mouthed at the handle of an axe — its blade missing entirely.

The axe head had come clean off the handle.

I picked the fallen blade off the floor and hurled it at the man with everything I had.

"Khhagh!"

Call it luck — it buried itself dead center in his forehead, and blood fountained out like a geyser.

"Ah, shit!! Die—!"

An arrow came streaking toward my face.

Ting.

It bounced off, of course, without so much as a scratch.

"A m-monster..."

The archer dropped to his knees where he stood and began scrambling backward.

"Where are the keys to the cages?"

"H-Here, my lord... Please, spare me. I beg you!"

Trembling, the man fished a key ring from his coat and held it out.

"You want to live?"

Nod! Nod!

"I've no intention of killing you, either."

I drove my foot into his jaw like I was kicking a ball.

His eyes rolled back, and he flopped limply onto the floor.

"That leaves... three of them?"

Clatter!

But they had already lost their will to fight, and their weapons slipped from their hands.

"S-Spare us, my lord!"

"We beg of you!"

They dropped into full dogeza, foreheads to the ground.

Their situational awareness was always this quick — at exactly moments like this.

What should I do? Let them off?

Just as I was deliberating—

A sudden violent gust swept through, and all three heads went smashing to the floor with a sickening crack.

"!"

Standing there before I'd even noticed her arrival was a gray-haired woman, glaring at me.

I couldn't help but admire her inwardly.

In the time it took to blink once, all three of them were face-down on the ground.

Truly the speed befitting the Wolf of the Flash.

"I have a question for you."

Seina said.

Her expression, for some reason, was brimming with anticipation.

"If it's something I can answer, ask away."

"How did you do it?"

"You dropped the subject. Of what?"

"How can you block their attacks without even dodging them?"

...It's not that I don't dodge them. It's that I can't.

She had no way of knowing that, of course — apparently she'd concluded I simply had no need to dodge.

Which, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in fairness, was also true.

"It's nothing."

Having nothing useful to offer, I decided to brush it off as usual.

"...Can you?"

"What?"

"Can you block my attacks, too?"

At her question, I let out a sigh.

"Let's not waste each other's strength for no reason."

"That sounds an awful lot like you're saying you could block my attacks."

Seina glared at me with an oddly resolute look on her face.

What's gotten into her all of a sudden? Did she take something?

"We're here to capture Bilbeckman right now. Any number of variables could be waiting for us. And you want to burn strength here, of all places? Enough with the stupid ideas."

At my firm words, Seina took a reluctant step back and nodded.

Having finished off one of the lackeys, Seina made her way back to where Gerard stood.

The whole trip had taken less than ten seconds.

"!"

She froze.

And she saw it.

The entire sequence of events that had unfolded ahead of her.

Gerard had not dodged a single blow.

From start to finish, with an air of perfect composure, he had simply let their attacks land on him.

And yet none of them had touched him — they had all been batted away, feckless and meaningless.

...That.

Seina thought it looked so very much like something she had seen before.

It resembled, more than anything else, the power of the one person who had brought her tribe to ruin.

He had been a human far too powerful.

One swing of his blade split mountains apart.

One kick off the ground cracked the very earth.

Even the werewolves of a superior bloodline had been helpless against that single man — nothing more needed to be said.

And now Gerard had performed the same defense that man once had.

And with such effortless ease.

...Don't tell me he's as strong as that monster.

For an instant, goosebumps raced across every inch of Seina's body.

She could not forget the terror of that day.

I mustn't jump to conclusions.

The attacks of those small fry just now had been pitifully weak.

And so, she had asked.

"Can you block my attacks, too?"

"What?"

"Can you block my attacks, too?"

Gerald had sternly talked her down, saying they shouldn't waste their strength for nothing.

Left with no choice, she'd accepted his reasoning — but she had seen it.

His face, without a flicker of agitation.

And if, just maybe, he really could block her attacks—

.

.

.

Seina was ready to kneel before him at any moment.