Slave Management (2)
Slave Management (2)
Most Holy Arts could be learned quickly once someone explained the theory. My original brain probably couldn't have managed it, but I had the assistance of the 'System.'
A device of some kind that Ra seemed to have attached to me. It felt as if an artificial intelligence was assisting me from inside my head.
In other words, once something was registered as a skill, I naturally understood its principles. My body couldn't keep up yet, but as long as I had enough power, I could use what I knew proficiently.
So from a teaching standpoint, I was the best teacher.
"Stand straight. Move."
I picked up a wooden stick myself. Hmm. I liked the grip. That Hector kid. He'd carved it pretty well.
I stood in front of the children. I glanced down at Hector's gang.
"What I'm going to teach you is the Sun God Church's swordsmanship—the basics learned by aspiring paladins."
"How did you, Boss..."
"I stole it."
For some reason, Irene seemed to want to join the Sun God Church's 'Day Priestesses.' One of the Sun God Church's few military forces.
A paladin order made up solely of women.
She trained her body steadily every night. She built her stamina and worked hard without fail.
A character who was already talented adding effort on top of that—it would have been stranger if she didn't grow.
Having happened to witness it, I secretly watched Irene every night. Of course, she was pretty, but my purpose lay elsewhere.
Acquiring the Song of Fire.
I clumsily extended my arms, following her. It took two weeks for it to register as a skill.
Once the effort bore fruit, I came to roughly understand what kind of swordsmanship the Song of Fire was.
I'd even registered it as a skill!
"Now that you're my subordinates, you can't go around getting beaten up. Why not, Hector?"
"...Because it's embarrassing?"
"What?!"
I struck the ground hard with the wooden sword.
"You know very well. Impressive. And right now is class time. Use polite speech. Hector."
"Th-thank you!"
"During training, you'll address me as 'Instructor.' You only get one life, so don't live it pathetically. If I catch you getting beaten up somewhere, I'll hit you even harder. Always remember that I'm watching your backs."
"Understood!"
"I will personally teach you the swordsmanship 'Song of Fire.' So you..."
I nodded my head.
"Learn it like your life depends on it."
"...Wh-what about you, Instructor?"
"I'll be training alongside you."
I might as well raise my skill rank too. My level was 7, but if my skill grade went up, I'd be able to beat opponents higher than my level.
I couldn't put it off forever, so I trained together with them while raising the kids.
You can't always get out of situations with tricks. That was my iron rule.
For a trick to really pay off... it needed hard work underneath it!
"Now. First..."
I let the wooden sword hang down.
"Let's start by getting hit."
. . .
"Zahard."
"Yes!"
"What exactly is going on here?"
Irene frowned. What exactly was going on here?
The garden that should have been clean was a complete mess. Worse, the people barely gasping for breath in it were orphans she'd seen before.
Children sheltered by the church, but not members of the faith.
Irene looked them over. They were swollen here and there—bruises.
Just then, Zahard was hiding something like a wooden sword behind his back.
"...Did you hit them?"
"No? They just voluntarily did physical training."
"Physical training?"
"Healthy faith resides in a healthy body, doesn't it?"
"They aren't apprentice priests. They aren't even followers of this church. They're not under my instruction."
"Oh, that's different from what I know."
Zahard grinned slyly.
"'The church's teachings shine brighter when dealing with the ignorant.' Isn't that Ra's teaching?"
"Teaching is not violence."
"I never used violence. I merely guided them."
"That's wordplay."
Among the sprawled children was a big one. Irene might not know the other children's faces, but she knew his face.
One of the delinquent kids who often talked back to Mierkant.
Come to think of it, weren't the rest of them from the same gang?
"...Hmm."
Irene stood and gave Zahard a look.
"Don't go too far."
"If you say so!"
She could never tell what Zahard was thinking. Even so, Irene turned away without hesitation.
Honestly, she'd thought they were kids who deserved some scolding, so if someone else did the scolding for her, she was only glad.
Irene had plenty to do besides managing them. She had to help with the work Mierkant had been carrying alone.
As she started back inside the church, she suddenly looked over her shoulder. Come to think of it...
Those injuries... looked oddly familiar...
"...Zahard."
"Yes?"
"Do you happen to know the 'Song of Fire'?"
"Not sure."
Zahard just shrugged.
"Is it something you eat?"
. . .
I put them through the wringer again and again. But as a result, they grew quickly.
I also threw myself into physical training during my spare time. Thinking that it would become my lifeline when hardship came later, it wasn't all that hard.
Building up the present to prepare for the future.
Well, wasn't that something everyone did? It felt a bit like studying.
"Hoo."
I clenched my fist tightly. My body's growth was still incomplete. But I could feel my height and muscles growing day by day.
Faster growth seemed possible, but for that, I had to eat properly first.
I quietly looked over my Status Window.
[Zahard Balton] [Level: 10]
[Race: Human] [Class: Apostle of the Sun God]
[Class Unique Skills]
-Sun God's Love: Sun-God-related skills you possess grow rapidly.
-Sun God's Grace: Your Sacred Power recovers rapidly.
-Sun God's Blessing: You can handle the Sun God's Sacred Relics without risk.
-Sun God's Prayer: You are immune to mental corruption.
[Possessed Skills]
-Sacred Mark (C): Grants resistance to all Demonic Force. Can grant a Sacred Mark to others. (5/5)
-Divinity (C): Can draw upon the Sun God's divinity.
-Healing (E): Heals minor cuts at a moderately fast rate.
-Blessing (E): Mood improves somewhat.
-Ember (D): Produces a hot flame on contact.
-Prayer of Fire (D): Praying warms the body to a certain extent. Physical abilities increase slightly.
-Holy Water Production (E): Infuses a small amount of Sacred Power into water.
-Sacred Barrier (E): Creates a small wall the size of one finger.
-Weapon Blessing (E): Sword becomes slightly sharper.
-Purification (E): Agitates curses lodged in another's body.
-Song of Fire (D): Basic swordsmanship of Sun God Church paladins. Wreathes the sword in small flames.
-Crown of Ash (EX): Offering tribute raises the grade of Sun-God-related skills.
My level went up by one, and my skill levels rose steadily too.
It was worth running around without taking a single day off.
And the kids were the same.
"Hup!"
Hector's muscles had grown. His frame had gotten bigger too, and his body was sharply defined.
Pavel and Linden were the same. Both had gotten stronger. I couldn't see their stats, but I could clearly feel that they had improved.
Mari and...
"Rotasha?"
"It's Natasha!"
Natasha. Right. Natasha.
Those two, how should I put it... they were a bit...
"You've gotten prettier."
"Huh?!"
Natasha dropped her wooden sword with a clatter and frantically felt her face as she asked.
"R-really?!"
"Yeah. You've gotten prettier."
Come to think of it, this swordsmanship's origin was the basic swordsmanship for entering the Day Priestesses.
Hmm. Who knew a sword art could have beauty effects. Now that I noticed, Hector, Pavel, and Linden had all gotten finer facial features too.
Could my face have too?!
"...Well, I was always good-looking, so it doesn't matter."
"Why is Boss like that?"
"Ignore him. He's always weird."
Anyway, the time had come. I stretched out fully. What I wanted to do was shake down the neighborhood thug gangs.
I strapped the wooden sword to my waist. To others, we looked like children, but we had changed on the inside.
"From today, it's real combat."
"Real combat, what do you..."
"Hector. Dodge."
I swung the wooden sword. Startled, Hector barely dodged.
"Wh-what are you doing?!"
"Oh, you didn't call me Instructor."
"...What are you doing?!"
"It's a joke. You don't have to. Instructor ends as of today. How about it, Hector. You could dodge, right?"
"Now that you mention it...?"
I'd swung playfully, but it was the Song of Fire, which had reached D rank. A strike delivered by an ordinary swordsman.
Hector had dodged it. Even after dodging, he nodded, looking dumbfounded.
"You guys won't lose to most back-alley thugs now."
"Really?"
"Have you ever seen me lie? So let's move now."
"Where to?"
Dry bread was truly sickening now. I didn't even want to put it in my mouth anymore. I cracked my neck.
"We're going to get money."
. . .
Falcon of Black Steel yawned languidly and smacked his lips.
There was no prey today. Probably because word had spread about the back alley where they mainly shook people down. People weren't coming into the out-of-the-way spots at all.
The neighborhood kid who sometimes showed up wasn't around either. Falcon was bored out of his mind. Low-ranking members like himself had nothing else to do except when the organization called.
Falcon's crew photosynthesized lazily in the sunlight. They muttered about moving spots, but decided to stay here just for today.
"Come to think of it, those kids, you know."
"Who?"
"That little kid. The big one."
"Ah... Hector?"
"Haven't seen him around lately, have you?"
Falcon remembered the kid who used to cling to him. He hadn't liked him, so he'd smacked him around a few times and extorted money under the pretense of borrowing it.
Even if you stripped his pants off and threw him out onto the street, he'd come back like a stray dog if you lured him with the promise of joining Black Steel.
Lately, he hadn't come around at all. What a shame. If he'd known this would happen, he would have just grabbed him and sold him to a slaver.
"Maybe I should've just grabbed him and sold him."
"Don't you know that route's gotten complicated lately? Once the brokers take their cuts, you don't even get a hundred thousand in hand."
"That's chump change."
"If we just hand the kid over, they handle the annoying stuff for us, so... still, what he brought in was worth more than that, wasn't it?"
"You think he got caught by some other guys?"
"He was naive as hell."
"When he comes back this time, how about we put a leash on him and make him crawl on all fours?"
"Not bad."
Falcon, who had been giggling and joking, suddenly noticed shadows entering the alley.
The shadows were smaller than ordinary adults. Falcon glanced at the one in front. The kid had a young face half-hidden by cloth and didn't look away even when their eyes met.
Six of them, huh.
Falcon stood up from the trash can. Yawning, he walked over with a swagger. He signaled with his eyes, ordering his comrades to block the escape route.
"Hey. Brats."
"These bastards?"
"Yeah."
Falcon stared at the brats talking casually. What nerve.
And that big one...
"Hector?"
"...Falcon."
"What happened to calling me "big bro"? You little shit. You've forgotten your manners since I last saw you."
He looked the kid over. What was this.
"Did you put something on your face?"
He looked oddly more handsome.
"You really have changed, huh?"
"Starting today, I'm not sleeping, just swinging my sword!"
The whispering girls were familiar faces too. Now that he looked, they were all Hector's gang.
Falcon burst out laughing. How could he not?
"Was one of you not enough? Did you bring the whole group to ask us to take you in?"
"......"
"Then the tribute money goes up... let's see... you really can't get by on begging anymore. You'll have to start pickpocketing. If you say you can't do it like before, expect to get beaten."
"......"
Falcon felt something strange. It wasn't the boy's silence that bothered him so much as the way he glared.
What was this. He seemed different from before.
"...What are you staring at? Wanna die? You gonna keep glaring?"
"Why don't you stop glaring first?"
"What?"
The kid at the lead cracked his shoulders.
"Falcon. Extortion of goods from Hector: 12 times. Extortion of money: 22 times. Various perverted acts ordered: 39 times total. Grand total: 73 times."
"...Are you insane?"
"Insane, my ass. Hector. Want me to do it for you?"
"...No. I'll do it."
Hector stepped forward. Falcon sneered.
"You're gonna fight back? You? Against me? Shit, you think that's gonna work? You're dead today."
"...You son of a bitch."
Hector raised his fist with a trembling hand.
"Shut up and come at me. I'm gonna beat the shit out of you."
"Haha... you little shit...!"
Falcon lunged immediately. Even by his own judgment, it was a clean flying kick.
But for some reason, his vision plummeted in an instant. The moment he was grabbed, the world spun. Had the ground always been this close? Falcon blinked.
"...Huh?"
Crunch!
A vicious sound rang out. Falcon howled as the pain hit him a beat later. His nose, scraped raw against the ground, dripped blood.
"You fucking... fuck... you fucking piece of shit...!"
Falcon raised his face, trembling. Hector stood frozen, his hand still extended.
As if he couldn't believe what he himself had done, he stared down at his fist with startled eyes.
Then his fist clenched.
Hector laughed, trembling.
"You sons of bitches! Come at me, all of you!"