Chapter 150
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 150
Chapter Title: Arsha's Record
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In truth, that backlash had no effect on Luna whatsoever.
"Mon... ster......"
As the voice of a man collapsed behind Luna echoed out, she extended her slender finger.
"That's Baron."
"Yeah."
I replied calmly and approached him, stepping firmly on his fallen hand.
"Kugh?! What are you... Aaaargh!!!"
After completely crushing his hand, I lightly flicked my wrist. The air tore open, and a ghost sword sprang out, embedding itself into his mangled hand.
"Gaaargh... Guh..."
"This hand?"
"Gurk... Kek... What... are you saying..."
"Did this hand put the necklace on her?"
When he didn't answer, I glanced at his other hand.
"Or was it this one?"
"Aaaagh!! Sp-Spare me! Please!"
Everyone who might have protected him was already down and out. People who were slow on the uptake in situations like this didn't survive for long—they were quick to read the room.
"I was blind to your greatness! Please forgive me!"
Terrified, he screamed like he was vomiting out the words.
But I didn't stop. This bastard had been planning to collar Luna and turn her into a slave the moment he thought he could get away with it.
Could a merchant really act so recklessly without thinking of the consequences?
A question bubbled up in my mind.
"Hiiiiaaagh!! Spare me! Please!"
He slammed his head into the ground, desperately begging for his life. Knowing there was information I needed from him, I swallowed my boiling rage and squatted down in front of him.
"Baron, was it?"
"Y-Yes... speak, and it's done."
"Were you so deranged that you'd turn a customer into a slave without a second thought?"
"I'm... sorry! Before leaving this place, I just wanted one big score..."
Leaving this place?
So that's why he tried to enslave Luna?
Killing intent began pouring from my entire body, and blood trickled from his nose and ears.
"Gurk... Kek..."
"Leon, this necklace isn't important right now."
Luna casually shook the shattered necklace fragments.
"We'll deal with that later. Finding Arsha comes first. What about those two—are we sparing them?"
"For now. Hey."
At my call, Baron flinched and looked up at me.
"Y-Yes! I'll prepare the information you need right away!"
True to his merchant bones, he was sharp.
I pulled a couple of wraith banshees from the shadows and stationed them beside him. His face turned pale blue.
"If he tries any tricks, chew him up nice and slow."
At my command, the wraiths seeped into his shadow. Baron hastily clutched his crushed hand and scurried inside.
Shrewd merchants like him usually recorded everything in their ledgers.
If Arsha had been brought in as a slave back then, there had to be a record.
"H-Here it is."
Under threat from the wraiths, the limping slave trader Baron approached, his face ashen, and handed me a worn ledger.
"Th-These are records of all the slaves from that time—their details, acquisition routes, sale prices, and destinations."
"......"
As soon as I opened the ledger, it was filled meticulously with details on hundreds of slaves: personal info, sources, sale prices, and buyers.
They ranged from young children to adults, sorted by type. The sheer number didn't matter.
I could spot her just from the sketches of their appearances on the side.
After flipping through for a while, I spotted a familiar entry for a small girl with gray hair.
-Name: Unknown.
-Age: Appears to be early teens.
-Mentally extremely unstable, but responsive to violent conditioning.
-As a child, presumed to have high value as material for magical experiments.
-Purchased by an upper house for 5 million cell. Slave's purpose unknown. Presumed to be with the Remirishi Family currently.
Honestly, I hadn't expected to find her like this.
With just the angler bird and paper clues pointing to her somewhere in this archipelago, I'd raided the info guild and the slavers who caught slaves back then.
It was just one lead among many—I figured it'd take time.
Was it luck, or a miracle...?
The search area had narrowed dramatically.
Slaves, once settled, rarely moved unless they died.
Reading the entry on Arsha made my blood boil in reverse.
It detailed the abuse inflicted after capture.
Not just starving her—they'd locked her in the dark for days and beaten her.
A child who should have been showered with love, shattered mentally, washed up on this distant archipelago without help, enslaved and dragged away?
And after all that suffering, sold for a mere 5 million cell to continue a hellish life?
"Violent conditioning."
Luna peeked over, muttered it like it struck a nerve, and approached Baron.
She kicked him flying.
Boom!
"Guhk..."
Choking and unable to breathe properly, she kicked him repeatedly as he lay there.
I was the one who stopped her silent barrage.
"Luna, enough."
"Leon, this guy's the one who beat your little sister into a slave."
"I know."
Luna looked at me like she couldn't understand, then backed off slowly.
Afterward, I approached him.
"Sp-Spare... me... Mercy..."
I silently looked down at him repeating the same plea, then reached out.
"Can't let you die easy—my little sister would feel cheated."
I shoved necromantic mana straight into his head.
I'd experienced firsthand how the rotting pain of living flesh was beyond imagination.
His suffering wasn't my concern.
"Time to pay up front."
"Gaaaaah!!!"
He drooled and begged for mercy, but I made his fingertips rot slowly.
He resisted desperately, but his body was no longer under his control.
If he'd at least wielded aura, he might not have rotted so helplessly...
Pointless now.
At the same time, the evil spirits hiding in the building began creeping out.
Clearly the resentful souls of those who died in the slave-making process.
"Popular guy."
"Gurk... Kek..."
Baron could only make grotesque noises now, unable to resist. I twisted the undead into wraiths.
No plans to subjugate this one.
Instead, after fully neutralizing him, I tossed him to the grudge spirits targeting only Baron.
"Not easy to rack up this many grudge souls. Consider it karma."
-Kiiiiiaaaah!!!
Baron's soul let out a horrific scream.
The grudge spirits lunged like starving beasts, tearing and ripping his soul apart madly.
"Young Master Leon, wait a moment."
Then Merrill cautiously held me back.
"This is the Phinas Archipelago."
"So?"
"It could spark a war if we're not careful. We need to be cautious here..."
Her wary attitude—what was she on guard against? The Lunar Watch definitely knew something about me I didn't.
Of course, it didn't change what I had to do.
"I know. That's why we go check it out ourselves."
"What if we're spotted?"
"Why ask something obvious?"
"Pardon?"
"Who leaves enemies alive?"
The Remirishi Family's mansion on Remirishi Island, lords of the place, housed many slaves.
Among them, no one was unaware of the small girl from the central continent who had washed up here recently.
Arsha Cascadia. An 11-year-old girl.
Of course, the mansion folk didn't know her name.
Gray hair, sky-blue eyes, definitely from the central continent—that was all. Whether she was a noble lady or royalty didn't matter.
To the maids and servants here, she was just an enemy nation's brat.
Unlike the island's commoners who disliked the ruling class, to these workers, the central continent was just a foe to be beaten down.
Facts like the war starting from the archipelago's raids? Irrelevant to them.
They just hated that Arsha was from there.
To the mansion folk, Arsha was a filthy little mute with a hoarse voice, suffering from speech impediment.
But even a child was quick on the uptake.
She knew beatings came if she didn't work, and no food if she was slow.
Though her mind was broken from some ordeal, her survival instincts burned fiercer than ever.
It was brutal.
Yet she survived. Lucky she was still clinging to life.
In the harsh atmosphere, Arsha endured steadfastly.
That resilience creeped out the servants.
"Where's that brat?"
"Saw a senior take her off earlier."
"She looked messed up. Beat her again?"
"Probably. Tiny thing can't resist, but stubborn as hell."
They snickered, guilt-free.
"Why can't she talk, though? Cursed?"
"They say it's selective mutism. But she pronounces 'big brother' and 'sister' fine. Medica beats her extra for it."
It felt a bit off.
Her unchildlike endurance.
They didn't know her remaining will was a desperate obsession: she had to meet someone, so she couldn't die.
"That's over now, though. Dumb girl doesn't even know what's waiting."
The two chuckled as they walked on.
"Guess her instincts are sharp. They told her to come like usual, but her eyes rolled back and she bolted."
"Oh? Where to?"
"That old dirty attic she hates? There."
"Hahaha! She fled to that?"
"Kid's got survival sense. Still just a kid."
Arsha's struggles didn't amount to much.
That moment was when Leon was hearing about the slave trader Baron from the info broker.