The Slave Trader from Ten Years Past
The man who had tried to kidnap and sell me and my friend ten years ago had exactly that look.
To be precise, I was the one who had given him that particular appearance.
Even more accurately, it was all Rai's handiwork.
“Kyaaack! Uaaack!”
“Ack! What kind of dog is this!”
The moment when Rai, transformed into a snake, had been strangling that man’s neck and tearing off his ear was still vividly etched in my mind.
It wasn’t a memory that could be easily forgotten. For that man, it must have been burned even deeper.
I didn’t remember whether his name was Grack because I had never cared enough to ask.
“...Why is that bastard here?”
The strange way the compass had moved this morning flashed through my thoughts.
Had it been pointing at him? Had it reacted because Grack was nearby?
“According to the inn staff… that man is the leader of Blood Wing, the organization that controls this entire area. And for some reason, it seems he holds a grudge against Miss Jeanie.”
A grudge and longing are two completely different things!
This stupid compass!
“He showed up out of nowhere looking for Miss Jeanie, and when he couldn’t find her… he got angry and took Einy… Ah, Ash went after them at least… Uaaa…”
The more Lox spoke, the more horrific it sounded, and he began letting out despairing groans.
The way he looked at me was filled with the kind of fear reserved for someone already dead.
“And… if you want the child back…”
“If I want?”
“He said you must come to their base alone…!”
“Ha. He dares to invite this body? Using a little kid as a hostage, no less?”
This was really pissing me off.
The fact that the slave trader bastard was still alive was already unbearable, but the realization that he was still only preying on the weak filled me with a dark premonition.
Thanks to him, it looked like I would finally commit my first murder.
“Rai.”
“Not him.”
Grack.
I wasn’t going to let him die easily. I would teach him exactly what the most painful thing in the world felt like.
I would make sure he remembered—even after death—just how terrible an enemy Jeanie Crowell could be!
I ground my teeth with an audible crunch and swept my gaze across the inn, which still couldn’t shake off its chaotic atmosphere.
Then I found my target.
“You there!”
It was the boy who usually worked the counter. He was now cleaning the completely wrecked inn with a pale, bloodless face.
At my call, the boy flinched violently before turning to look at me, his expression still drenched in fear.
“M-me?”
“Yeah! You know, don’t you? Where those bastards’ base is.”
He lived here, so he had to know.
As I approached, staring directly at him, the boy clutched the broom tightly and stumbled backward.
Then, as if even speaking the words terrified him, he frantically shook his head and answered in a trembling voice.
“I don’t know! I really don’t! How would I know that the Blood Wing base is in the back mountain? I swear I don’t know anything!”
“Oh. So it’s the back mountain.”
“Huk!”
The boy realized what he had blurted out a second too late. He flung the broom away and clung to me desperately.
“You can’t! You mustn’t go!”
“What’s with you? Let go!”
“You must not know because you’re an outsider! Those people are monsters! They’re a human trafficking ring that kidnaps people and sells them! Slave traders!”
“I know.”
How could I not know when I had nearly been sold by them myself?
“Th-they’re terrifying…! If you offend them even a little, they kidnap you, cut out your tongue, and sell you off—those cruel bastards! They’re not even human! No one can stop them. Even the nobles have given up!”
The boy’s voice broke with emotion and he began to wail loudly. Wondering why he was acting like this, I subtly slipped sideways to escape his grip.
“He’s right. I also oppose the guest going there.”
At that moment the cook emerged from the dining area, removed the white cloth from his head, and spoke in a heavy, solemn voice.
What the hell was with this uncle?
“That child’s parents were both killed by Blood Wing.”
“You mustn’t go. You absolutely mustn’t. Heuuung!”
“His only younger sister was taken long ago and we still don’t know where she is. Touching those people around here is no different from suicide. It’s tragic that the girl was taken, but you should just give up… Keuk.”
This uncle had lost his mind. I grabbed the first thing on the table and hurled it, scoring a perfect hit.
The cook who had been struck in the head with bread immediately dropped his serious act and exploded.
“What the hell was that for?!”
“Because you’re spouting ominous nonsense!”
But my temper refused to back down either.
Who the hell were they to tell me to give up!
“Nonsense?! Do you even know what kind of people they are?! Do you know how vicious they are?! There are over a hundred of those beast-like bastards who kill without blinking and kidnap people to sell!”
“A hundred?”
“Unless the palace sends several full squads of knights, there is absolutely no way to stop them!”
“That many…!”
Shock. There were really that many slave traders?
“Aha! Now you finally understand the situation! So stop doing anything foolish and take care of your own life!”
The cook seemed to interpret my hardened expression however he pleased. But I wasn’t frightened in the slightest.
I had simply realized, like a bolt of lightning, the simple fact that if there were that many of them and I wiped them all out, it would prove I possessed military strength equivalent to several knight squads.
I had been curious about exactly how strong I was anyway.
Until now the opponents had all been bad matches, so I couldn’t get a proper sense. It had been either Robenin Pedri or a dragon.
It wasn’t exactly something to celebrate, but still—this was good!
“There’s no way the country will suddenly send knights to eradicate the slave cartel, so it’s faster to learn to just give up. That’s the secret to living a long life… Ack! Again!”
I threw another piece of bread at the cook who was making assumptions on his own, hit him cleanly, then suddenly shouted.
“Ah! Behind you!”
“What?”
“Huh?”
At my gesture everyone instinctively turned their heads. In that instant I gave the order.
Rai could change forms in the blink of an eye. Taking advantage of the moment everyone’s attention was diverted, I snatched up the spirit stone necklace Rai had dropped during the transformation and bolted straight out of the inn.
“What was that just now?”
“Hey! Where are you going?!”
“Uaaack! You can’t go! Miss Jeanie! Didn’t you hear what they said? It’s dangerous!”
They were causing a commotion behind me, but leaping into a pit of flames had always been something of a specialty of mine.
I was starting to think I might have been born with this kind of fate.
Maybe after coming back from the dragon’s lair I had lost what little fear I possessed.
Though it felt like I never had any to begin with.
Kicking open the already broken and tattered inn door, I suddenly remembered that I had heard the name Blood Wing just yesterday as well.
It seemed the thieves who stole the sword had mentioned that name too.
Perhaps they had brought Grack along as reinforcements. And maybe Grack had recognized me.
As expected, my luck was absolute garbage!
“Undain!”
There was no time to waste, and Undain was the perfect choice for rapid movement.
“Save the greetings for later! Hurry.”
I mounted the summoned Undain’s back as skillfully as if I were climbing onto a motorcycle.
After gripping the translucent fins firmly, I tucked the spirit stone necklace Rai had shed during the transformation into my clothes with one hand.
Meanwhile Undain’s body began to rise into the air, and Rai—without needing to be told—coiled around my right shoulder and settled perfectly in place.
The way his long body wrapped around me looked somewhat like a crude shoulder guard.
In urgent situations like this, it was reassuring to keep Rai close to my body.
“Call the security force first… What! That is!”
“Miss Jeanie! Don’t go… Heok?”
I could see Chad and Lox, who had chased me out of the inn, standing there with their mouths hanging open.
Even though I was the one doing it, flying through the sky wasn’t exactly a common sight.
Chad, who had been stunned for a moment, shouted at me as I grew more distant.
“Hey! If you’re going, take us with you! Are you trying to die alone?!”
“…This can’t be! Miss Jeanie was a Spirit Master? A water spirit master like Lord Crowell?”
Lox, being educated, seemed to have recognized at a glance that it was a spirit.
Compared to ordinary people who didn’t even know what spirits were, that was praiseworthy.
“Wait, wait… This, the overlaps are too many… It can’t be!”
“Huh? What’s wrong, Lox?”
“Same origin, same name, same Spirit Master! It can’t be! Even the golden hair and blue eyes! It’s too strange!”
“What are you talking about.”
It seemed Chad hadn’t noticed at all, but Lox—as my self-proclaimed ultimate fan—appeared to know a great deal about me, who was supposed to be dead.
Most people, upon hearing “Saint Jeanie Crowell,” only thought of a talented student from Drike Academy and didn’t even realize I was a Spirit Master.
It was a glimpse into just how deep Lox’s fandom ran.
And the fact that it was causing him distress now was obvious from his shocked expression alone.
“No way! It isn’t, right…! Please say it isn’t true! Please! Miss Jeanie!”
Sorry, Lox. I wanted to protect your fantasy too.
Leaving Lox’s questions and astonishment behind, I rose even higher.
After ascending to an altitude far above the buildings, I began swimming straight toward the back mountain.
Undain’s speed as he flexibly sliced through the air was no slower than a horse, and the voices of Lox and Chad calling my name soon faded into the distance.
At the exact moment I was flying over the city, the sky suddenly grew dark and it began to rain. It all happened in an instant.