Chapter 88
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: Cooperation
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Elise Vlad.
Also known as the Blood Princess.
A transcendent Awakened One born with a 4-star class.
Though she had yet to join the ranks of the Paljongyungma, she was a renowned genius throughout Odobaekryeong.
At one point, she was even considered the most likely successor to the Vlad family.
…That is, until her fiancé, known as the shame of the Unlight family, dragged her down into the abyss with him.
In any case.
She had been incredibly busy lately.
After staking everything on a trip to the underground city, her search for the artifact had fizzled out, and to make matters worse, she was ambushed by assassins.
As a result, Elise's position was pushed to the very brink.
“…He wiped out the Soma Knights? That idiot?”
“Yes.”
“Are you certain?”
“It's still being verified, but based on the current evidence, there's a greater than 90% chance it's true.”
That was why.
The moment she heard the unexpected report.
Elise couldn't help but wear a complex expression.
The Soma Knights were a military force a cut above the hunting dogs of the hunting city, who had only managed to wound her by borrowing the power of a holy relic.
They were combat machines capable of threatening even a transcendent Awakened One.
The idea that Dion had annihilated such a force was something one would normally scoff at as a baseless rumor, a hundred times out of a hundred.
Believing it would have been foolish, but…
“That idiot Dion…! What kind of trouble has he gotten himself into now!”
Instead of doubting the rumor, Elise erupted in anger.
It wasn't just because she had been steadily gathering information since Ren Unlight's invasion of the City of Perpetual Night.
It was because, as the fiancée who had been the first to hear of Dion's awakening, she was certain.
That boy with a heart as black as night was more than capable of causing such an incident.
Compared to the days when he was called the shame of the Unlight family for never doing anything right, this was indeed a remarkable change.
But that was precisely why she couldn't help but be even angrier.
Ren Unlight, the Iron-Blooded Mad Demon, would surely retaliate for this, and she would be included among his targets.
Caught in the crossfire, Elise could only vent her indignation.
“…My benefactor wouldn't have caused me this kind of trouble.”
And that was why.
The one who had appeared so suddenly.
Who asked for nothing in return.
Who had only helped her before vanishing.
She couldn't help but feel a renewed sense of longing for the boy in the white mask.
Recalling his incredibly calm voice, the reassuring back that had protected her, and above all, that exquisitely enchanting blood.
Elise could only lament her fate of being engaged to Dion, and not the White-Masked Young Master.
***
The Ketlick Slave Trading Company.
A slave trader whose motto was quantity over quality.
Of course, "quantity over quality" was just a nice way of saying they dealt exclusively in low-grade slaves who couldn't even turn a profit.
A shoddy business that earned pocket change by swindling customers with tricks that were practically scams.
That was the essence and identity of the Ketlick Slave Trading Company.
…At least, until it unintentionally became the exclusive slave trader for a certain little devil of a boy.
Losing all of his prized high-grade slaves and having to sell off the low-grade ones for next to nothing was the least of his worries.
The real disaster began when that little devil started capturing bandits from all over and selling them all to Ketlick.
Normally, having a monopoly on so many slaves without an exclusive contract would have been a welcome development.
The fact that it even included high-grade slaves who were Awakened Ones should have been a stroke of luck worth bowing down in gratitude for, but…
It all depended on the volume.
Being forced to buy hundreds of slaves had not only wiped out his entire fortune.
Ketlick, now saddled with massive high-interest loans and monthly installments, could only weep tears of blood.
To hell with the company.
He had contemplated just running away more than a dozen times a day.
But in the end, he made a choice.
Not to run.
And what followed was a living hell.
He poured 21 hours a day into training slaves, borrowing money using them as collateral, and begging on his knees before creditors.
Every single day felt like it was shaving years off his life.
He became so accustomed to sleeping slumped over his desk instead of in a bed that getting a random nosebleed was no longer a surprise.
But at the end of that struggle.
Ketlick had finally done it.
He had succeeded in paying off that enormous debt.
Although he had taken a huge loss by selling off the slaves too quickly, once he sold the remaining ones, his assets would multiply several times over.
It was a true goblin victory.
A legendary tale of turning crisis into opportunity, a rags-to-riches story that every goblin merchant would admire.
“S-s-so, what brings you here today, sir?”
But in this very moment.
Ketlick, the hero of this legend, was trembling.
He couldn't help it.
The half-masked boy sitting across from him was the very person who had thrown his life into a pit of despair.
A little devil more demonic than any demon.
“Don't be so nervous. I'm not here to sell any slaves today.”
“Is that so, sir?!”
“Yeah, I just have a few questions for you.”
“Ask me anything, sir. This Ketlick will tell you everything he knows.”
Ketlick's face brightened.
He had only just cleared all his debts.
If Dion had come to sell more slaves, he would have had no choice but to hang himself.
Compared to that, answering a few questions was something he could do anytime.
…At least, that's what he thought.
“Then tell me everything you know about the Dogwiryeon.”
“…Pardon?”
“What? Didn't you say to ask anything?”
“W-why are you asking about the Dogwiryeon…?”
“Because the Dogwiryeon must be one of your customers, Mr. Swindler.”
“…!!!”
“Otherwise, there's no way you could have gotten rid of all those criminal slaves I sold you in such a short time. Right?”
One or two would have been understandable.
But the number of people who would buy hundreds of criminal slaves, all former bandits, in bulk is limited.
Nobles preparing for war who need arrow fodder.
Or a bandit group that could use those bandits as their own men.
In that sense, the Dogwiryeon, being both bandits and nobles, were the perfect customers for Ketlick.
Even more so because Ketlick could sell the untrained slaves immediately, and the Dogwiryeon could acquire subordinates for a pittance.
Of course, even so, Ketlick's effort in securing a deal with the Dogwiryeon in such a short time was impressive.
The problem was…
“But selling criminal slaves to bandits is illegal, isn't it?”
“W-well, that is…”
“This is serious. If someone were to report this, you'd be sentenced to slavery at a minimum, and possibly even executed.”
“…Th-th-th-that.”
“What do you think, Mr. Swindler?”
The choice is yours.
After breaking out in a cold sweat while looking at the boy who spoke with a beaming smile.
Ketlick threw himself flat on the floor.
“I'll tell you everything I know, so please, just spare my life!”
***
“So you're saying you don't know the details about the Dogwiryeon?”
“How could I possibly have a direct line to the Dogwiryeon, sir? I just dealt with them through a bandit group I know.”
“Really?”
“How could I dare lie to you, Young Master?”
Looking at Ketlick, whose dead-fish eyes were welling up with tears.
She thought.
What a pathetic little farce.
The Dogwiryeon was an organization of nobles who even used the bandit guild as their puppets.
Even the Lord of Nakrang Castle, a high noble, had been unable to gather proper intelligence and had asked Dion to investigate.
There was no way a mere slave trader would have information on such an organization.
“Hmm… Fine, I'll believe you.”
“Thank you, sir!”
That was why.
Dion's calm demeanor felt all the more strange.
His visiting a slave trader in the first place was puzzling, but to casually accept the answer that he knew nothing about the Dogwiryeon…
She couldn't figure out his ulterior motive at all.
Especially since there was no way this cunning boy would have made a wasted trip to a place like this without a plan.
“Instead, I have another favor to ask.”
“What kind of favor, sir?”
“You still have some of the bandits I sold you, right? I mean the high-grade slaves, the Awakened Ones.”
“They won't know anything about the Dogwiryeon either, sir.”
“That's fine, just bring them here.”
“No, but…”
“Mister.”
“…!”
“I've already asked.”
Just as she'd expected.
With a faint smile on his face.
But with cold eyes that permitted no further argument or question.
She could tell just by looking at the boy pressuring the frozen goblin for an answer.
That Dion had a different, real motive for visiting Ketlick.
“Y-yes, sir! I'll bring them right away.”
And so, a short while later.
Ketlick hastily brought in a group of slaves.
From lizardmen to goblins, orcs, kobolds, and catmen. These slaves, who differed in everything from race to build, had two things in common.
One was that they all had a circular magic circle engraved on their chests, centered around a strange symbol.
The other was that their faces hardened the moment they saw Dion.
A natural reaction.
She thought coolly.
They were all criminal slaves.
Awakened Ones who had been captured by Dion and his slaves, either while attacking the Dragon's Lair or while quietly committing crimes in the City of Deformity.
“Hmm, more than I expected.”
“W-well, the high-grade slaves take more time to train, you see.”
“So you were saving them to sell at a higher price, even holding them back from the Dogwiryeon, right?”
“That's about right, sir.”
“Mister, I'll buy them back.”
“…You'll buy them back, sir?”
“Yep. For the same price I sold them to you.”
“Th-uh, that.”
She thought.
The cost of feeding and housing those slaves until now, the time and effort spent training them as befits high-grade slaves.
And above all, the cost of the slave crest procedure.
For a poor slave trader like Ketlick, it was surely an amount that would make him weep tears of blood.
Even more so because selling them back at the original price meant that massive investment would become a complete loss.
But…
“Ah, I understand, sir.”
Being blackmailed, he had no other choice.
Watching Ketlick agree with tears in his eyes, Dion spoke with a faint smile.
“Don't look so disappointed. This is a good deal for you too, Mr. Swindler.”
“For me, sir…?”
“There's a way to double their price.”
“…There's such a way, sir?”
“Yep. It's not something just anyone can do, but for a swindler like you, it should be perfectly possible.”
What kind of nonsense is that?
He didn't say it out loud.
But looking at the goblin, whose face practically screamed it, Dion wore a meaningful expression.
Then, he beckoned Ketlick closer with a light gesture.
And whispered into his ear.
*Whisper, whisper.*
“…Pardon?”
A whisper so quiet she couldn't have heard it even if she were right next to them.
But thanks to the keen hearing of a transcendent Awakened One, she had heard every word clearly.
She understood.
Why Ketlick's eyes were bulging out of their sockets.
And…
“Th-that's a scam, sir!!!”
What Dion's true objective was.
Cunning, one might say.
Or perhaps insane.
To the goblin slave trader, who was horrified by the outrageous proposal that would make even a demon flinch.
The boy asked with a faint smile.
“So, you're not going to do it?”
“…!”
“You could double your money if you do it right.”
Whether to cast aside his conscience for a moment, pocket a hefty sum, and become rich.
Or be exposed as a criminal, lose everything, and face a fate no different from death.
Decide.
The boy, who hadn't given him a real choice to begin with, blackmailed him magnanimously, as if offering a special opportunity.
And the goblin, who, despite his despair and fear, swallowed dryly with greed.
She couldn't help but think once again.
“On that note, guys, to celebrate you becoming my slaves, I have a special proposal for you, too.”
“…!”
“How about you all make a ‘contract’ with me?”
—Truly, what a world-class son of a bitch.