The Proud Pet Knight and the Midnight Territory Patrol (5)
The dank, freezing-cold underground warehouse. Selin desperately wrapped her arms around the young girls burrowing into her embrace and huddled in the corner. Blood seeped from her wrists, tightly bound with rope, stinging fiercely, but as the oldest woman among those gathered here, she couldn't even let on that it hurt—for fear the children might get scared.
The underground warehouse was littered with women and children like discarded luggage—women and kids who'd been tricked into coming here with promises of work, just like her. Someone let out a stifled sob, but even that was muffled, too afraid to make any real noise. They all feared the beatings from the soldiers guarding outside.
Selin held tight to a girl whose face looked even more pitiful, emaciated from days without food just like her, and recalled the events of the day. A brutal face, an intimidatingly massive build. At first sight, she'd instinctively known it was a trap and tried to run.
But he'd removed the cloak draped over his body to reveal the emblem on his shoulder—the Kraus family crest—so she'd believed him.
After hesitating, Selin had mustered her courage and stepped forward, unable to let the slum kids, like her own little sisters, starve to death...
But what awaited her wasn't work or the warm soup he'd promised after. It was the merciless violence of the slave traders.
"Have we filled the quota?"
Then, from beyond the firmly shut rusty iron door, a familiar knight's voice reached Selin's ears.
"Yes, Sir Gareth! Heh heh, a full ten in total. More than enough to meet today's quota, sir."
The fawning voice of the slave trader who'd trampled the children, dragged Selin by her hair, and thrown her into this warehouse followed.
"It's a special order from Eric. These girls have high merchandise value—hand them over to Lady Ophilia without a single scratch. Make one mark on them, and you'll lose your head."
Then another man's voice cut into their conversation.
"Kekeke, don't worry, Sir Gareth. No one handles goods better than our mercenary band. Man, the world's a funny place. The real power in the Kraus family, Eric, is actually Lady Ophilia's blood kin—and the territory folk have no clue. A slave trader as the mother of the castle's top dog. Kekekeke."
"Shh! You idiot, watch your mouth."
Gareth's stern warning to the man, who seemed to be a mercenary, reached Selin's ears.
"What does it matter? These bitches here will be sold off to brothels in another territory by tomorrow night anyway."
The moment she overheard the horrific truth about their future, Selin's eyes—still clinging to hope to protect the children somehow—froze in despair. The noble knights sworn to protect them, the territory's nobles... they were in league with the slave traders selling them off. The Kraus family was a den of rotten demons through and through.
'Ah... In this hellish world, there was never any hope to begin with.'
The Kraus nobles had abandoned the territory folk. Even Lady Isabella, occasionally glimpsed near the walls, had been gone for ages, the rumors said, rampant in the castle.
In this brutal reality, Selin felt to her bones that no heroes existed.
Having lost all hope, Selin closed her eyes, let tears fall, and lay down into the darkness.
How much time passed like that?
When she opened her eyes again, the surroundings were pitch black. Kiiiek— With a chilling scrape, the warehouse's iron door swung open.
A slave trader holding a torch entered, baring yellowed teeth.
His greedy gaze swept over the people sprawled on the floor, then fixed on the young girl trembling behind Selin's back.
"Oho, this little one's gonna fetch a high price."
As the slave trader reached out with filthy hands toward the child, Selin instinctively threw herself in front, blocking the way.
"D-don't... touch her...! You trash!"
"Oh ho?"
The trader scoffed mockingly, then seized Selin's jaw in his rough grip and yanked her up with brute force.
"Ah, ugh...!"
"Know your place. You'll be sold soon enough anyway. Hmm, up close, you're the pretty one. Let me see..."
The trader's dazed eyes flashed, but he suddenly shut his mouth and glanced toward the door outside.
It was quiet out there.
Judging that as long as he kept watch, no one would know what he did in this dark warehouse, a nauseating smile spread across his lips.
"As long as no marks show. Can't use the pussy hole... it'd ruin the merchandise, but a little taste of her mouth won't leave a trace... Before handing her to the lady, why not let me have a go? It's unfair only those damn nobles get the prime goods. Yeah, mmm."
His foul-breath face drew close to Selin's.
His rough hand tugged at her ragged collar, ready to rip it off.
Bound by rope, powerless to resist, she squeezed her eyes shut.
Tears of injustice and utter helplessness streamed down her cheeks.
'Anyone... even a demon... please... just save these children...!'
Selin resigned herself completely, steeling for the humiliation.
But even after waiting longer, the shameful act didn't come.
"...?"
The collar pulled taut in the trader's hand suddenly loosened. And instead of his disgusting breath, cool night air filled the warehouse, feeling almost refreshing.
Selin cautiously lifted her trembling eyelids. And nearly screamed at the unbelievable sight before her.
The iron door, firmly shut moments ago, now stood silently open. The slave trader who'd been about to pounce lay dying on his feet.
Moonlight filtering through the blade edges briefly illuminated the warehouse.
Revealing him.
A man standing behind the slave trader. One hand clamped over the trader's mouth, the other driving a dagger deep into his heart from behind.
Wearing a creepy black leather mask, Selin couldn't make out his face. But his tall, upright stature and golden hair screamed handsome even in the dark.
The blond man silently lowered the now-dead slave trader's corpse to the floor without a twitch. Then locked eyes with Selin in a terrifying glare, raising a bloodied finger to his lips.
"Shh."
Selin clamped one hand over her own mouth, the other over the child's in her arms.
But she couldn't stifle the tiny "Eep!" gasp.
The sudden appearance of the blond man in the darkness was heart-stopping enough. But what shocked her more was at his feet.
The end of a leash gripped in his hand...
Attached to a silver-haired... dog? No, a woman on all fours, wearing a fearsome leather mask.
A sleek, muscular woman clad only in a large fur cloak.
Her bare skin gleamed sensually even in the dark, strangely matching the thick dog collar around her neck, exuding an erotic aura.
Looking closer in shock, Selin widened her eyes.
Between the silver-haired woman's thighs on all fours—sticky love juices dripped, wetting the stone floor.
Her body quivered with each ragged breath, panting like a bitch in heat.
A shameful pose too embarrassing to even look at straight.
But even stranger: the silver-haired woman wasn't ashamed at all. She was excited by it. And clamped sideways in her mouth was a gleaming sword, utterly at odds with her lewd body.
Cool? Sexy? Proud? Humiliating? Human or bitch? An incomprehensible sight.
'B-beastkin? No, human... woman, right? Then why... that lewd pose...'
Selin's mind blanked. No way she could comprehend modern dopamine addicts' kinky cosplay like bitch-in-heat walks and outdoor pet play.
As her brain refused the scene, footsteps approached from outside.
"Hey! I told you to check the slaves and come back ages ago—why aren't you out? You dog, you touching the goods first again? I warned you—if Lady Ophilia finds out, you'll be hacked to pieces!"
The voice of the soldier who'd kidnapped her alongside the Kraus knight made Selin tremble in fear.
Yet mustering courage amid terror, she tried to warn these... whatever they were... two weirdos before her.
But before Selin could speak, the handsome blond man addressed the woman at his feet first.
"Go. Bite. Silver."
His voice was tender, yet like commanding an obedient pet dog—so Selin figured the woman would protest.
But Silver nodded eagerly, joyfully rubbing her head against his knee like something less than human, then barked happily: "Woof!"
Suddenly, a silver flash gleamed before Selin's eyes.
Kiiik—!
The door creaking open, then—
Slash—!
A sound like a sword cleaving flesh.
"Gurk!"
No other screams followed.
Just the sharp blade slicing smoothly through bone and meat echoing.
Slash—! ...Thud.
Slash—! ...Thud.
Slash! ...Thud.
Heads of countless slave traders hitting the ground.
"Wh-what?!"
"S-Sir Gareth! Enemy... Graaaah!"
Late to notice their comrades' deaths, slave traders screamed, drawing weapons.
The outside turned to pandemonium in seconds.
Men's shouts. Clanging metal. Tearing flesh—sounds flooding into the warehouse.
"Form up! Enemy's just one... guk!"
"My arm! My aaaarm!"
"Who's the enemy? Who?!"
"A w-woman! N-naked pervert woman! Pervert—"
"Woof! Woof woof!"
"Graaaah!"
"What nonsense are you spouting?!"
"Mercy... kaaaah!"
Thick, nauseating blood stench wafted in.
Yet amid the agonized death cries outside, the blond man strode confidently toward Selin, ignoring the carnage behind him.
Step, step.
He lightly drew the bloodied sword from the dead trader's heart. Then raised it high toward the terrified, shaking Selin—and swung.
'Ahh...!'
Selin squeezed her eyes shut, convinced he'd slaughter her like the traders.
But no horrific pain came.
Instead—snap.
"...Huh?"
Cautiously opening her eyes, Selin saw the rope that had bound her wrists—now rolling on the floor.
He hadn't swung to kill her. He'd severed her bonds in one stroke.
"Ah..."
Selin's lips quivered.
She looked up at her savior and asked:
"Wh-who... are you?"
"Me? Who I am doesn't matter. What matters is you."
"M-me?"
Never dreaming such a noble-looking blond man would care about a worthless commoner like her, Selin panicked.
The man asked her with utmost seriousness:
"Are you a virgin?"
"...Y-yes? Yes!"
Already flustered, Selin grew even more so at his question.
Slave traders' screams and clashing swords still echoed from beyond the bars.
In that brutal atmosphere, his out-of-place question made her pathetically blurt back:
"Wh-what... does that mean?"
She regretted it instantly. Stupid words.
Expecting the blond man to get angry at her idiocy—
Pat.
Instead, he stroked her head and spoke in the kindest voice she'd ever heard from a man.
"Ahh, perfect answer. So you are a virgin."
His gaze, treating a mere commoner like something precious, left her mind blank.
"Worth risking my life to save."
Gentle touch, tender voice. And as he drew near, the stimulating, oddly addictive scent wafting from his body.
'Who are you? And why? Why for someone like me?'
The blond man handed her a dagger, telling her to cut the other slaves' ropes too, then turned toward the bars. He started toward the door but suddenly stopped, looking back at Selin.
"It's fine. It's all over. Stay there and wait... Your nightmare's ended now."
As if reading her heart, he said exactly what she'd longed to hear most.
His broad back, departing to punish the vile slave traders, etched into Selin's heart.
It was a scene she'd recall for a long time after—and one that always brought a happy smile to her face.
Selin has been registered as a Corruption Training target!
Selin's affection is rising abnormally fast!
'What the hell is this! Don't use that skill on a virgin!'