Chapter 137
Chapter 137
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 137
Chapter Title: City of the Fallen
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I, too, was one of the many imperial citizens who rejoiced at the fall of the Soviet Union.
Heaven's punishment had come down upon Stalin, who had toyed with the Emperor and massacred the dwarves...
(omitted)
Until the Earth armies withdrew, the atmosphere was nothing but festive.
Nobles aligned with Earth like the Lerak family quickly liquidated their assets, but no one sensed anything amiss...
(omitted)
When the railroad construction company went bankrupt and the stockpiled supplies ran dry, even the House of Nobles began to feel that something was off.
The price of fertilizer for the coming spring skyrocketed...
(omitted)
...Wasn't it the Soviets who fell? So why is our homeland collapsing?
What the hell is this economic crisis?
『Collection of Interviews on the First Red Panic 11-C』
***
"Who the hell is pulling the strings behind this? Dreiterial's Palace Lord? Or those disgusting elf bastards?"
Dagall screamed the question like a banshee, but the attackers didn't answer right away.
The two of them quietly murmured to each other, paused for a moment, and then replied.
"We're... bounty hunters."
*Bounty?*
"There's quite a hefty sum in gold on your head."
The bounty hunter—no, the attackers' golden eyes scanned Dagall up and down.
The sunken gaze fiddling with the sword at his waist reminded him of a butcher eyeing meat to slaughter.
'The reason they're not killing me right away... Ah, I see.'
Dagall realized something and licked his lips. Then, in a sly voice, he asked,
*How much is the bounty on my head?*
"Five hundred gold coins."
500 coins? Is that all my life is worth?
Not some dirt-poor knight or criminal, but a mage like me?
Dagall felt an unbearable humiliation. But instead of showing it, he swallowed it down deep inside.
This was a time to endure.
As he racked his brain on how to start the conversation, the hunter spoke first.
"We heard from the orcs. You squeezed the clans dry and amassed a fortune."
It was a blatant, greedy tone. Dagall barely held back a curse. Regaining his mage-like dignity, he thought,
Yeah, that's how it is with blood-soaked vermin chasing gold.
*What do you want?*
"More money than what's on your head."
*And in exchange, you'll let me live? Hilarious. How am I supposed to trust you?*
The answer came from the woman behind him.
"Then don't trust us and die."
Her half-lidded blue eyes smirked. A light attitude, as if she could kill him anytime she wanted.
Dagall didn't argue and lowered his head.
Was it because he had no retort? Partly, but he still had one card left to play.
The venomous insects he was raising deep in the dungeon.
Greed always creates openings. If he showed them the gold bars he'd hoarded to create one, and struck their backs with the insects in the meantime...
He still had a chance.
*Fine, deal. But I have one request.*
"A request? You're in no position to make those."
*It's a request for the deal! Come with me to where the gold is! You expect me to carry heavy gold bars myself?*
The two hunters glanced at each other, chuckled, and extended the hands that had been on their swords. Dagall cautiously clasped them.
As the two glared at each other and gripped hard, two entirely different schemes intertwined.
***
After the handshake, the three headed deep into the dungeon.
Dagall led the way, grunting as he pushed a bed in the middle of the cavern, revealing stairs beneath it.
"A secret staircase? Gotta have all the clichés, huh."
Ignoring Seti's jab, they descended, and a thick stench of blood and filth hit them.
Even Yeomyeong, who worked cleanup, wrinkled her nose involuntarily. It was the smell of corpses.
When the two, excluding Dagall, pinched their noses and reached the bottom of the stairs—the dark corridor—Yeomyeong spoke.
"Why did you gather the slaves?"
*Obviously for money. In this cursed desert, what else is there to sell but slaves?*
Dagall snorted and continued.
*You've seen Dreiterial, right? Ever since the beastmen of the southern grasslands were wiped out, the city's only demand from the south is slaves.*
"But the slave trade is..."
*Forbidden. But who follows some international law Earthlings made up on their own?*
"..."
With that, the three fell silent and continued down the corridor.
Even after their noses grew accustomed to the foul smell, they walked quite a bit longer before arriving at their destination.
It was a prison filled with iron bars under torchlight.
Beyond the bars were large chests stuffed with gold coins, but what caught Yeomyeong and Seti's eyes were other things... no, the slaves.
*Ugh... uh...*
*Lord Mordak, end our suffering...*
*Mommy, mommy...*
Orcs, beastmen, and humans, shackled and gasping amid corpses and filth.
Most were adults, but here and there were children mixed in.
Emaciated to the bone, too weak even to cry properly, they mumbled for their mothers.
"..."
As Yeomyeong stared silently, Dagall, who was opening the prison door full of gold coins, spoke.
*You into little kids?*
"..."
*If you want, take that kid too. They're not long for this world anyway.*
Yeomyeong gripped her sword tightly. He wasn't a hero, but he wasn't a coward who could stay silent in the face of such horror.
"...Why capture children?"
*Why? For money, obviously.*
"Bullshit. You treat kids you're gonna sell as slaves like this?"
He spat the words, and Dagall's eyebrow arched long.
*That's 'cause these ones were all bug food. Well, you lot freed my bugs, though.*
"..."
*But... you talk like an Earthling, or a priest.*
"...What?"
*What does it matter what happens to mana-less dirt-poor fools?*
Swoosh—
Dagall murmured the incantation secretly as he spoke. The venomous insects hidden between the prison ceiling beams began wriggling in the darkness at his command.
*All the mana-less scum in this world are consumables for those who've awakened mana. That kid, the desert clans... You must've learned that already, right?*
"...Learned?"
*It's basic knowledge every mage learns. You don't even know that? Aren't you ashamed as a knight?*
The next moment, Dagall commanded the insects.
Kill them. Cover their bodies!
As soon as the mana arrayed and the spell completed, the insects poured down, covering Yeomyeong and Seti. Or trying to.
But Yeomyeong's sword was a fraction faster.
A flash of sword ki sliced the air, followed by winds that blew the falling insects away in unison.
*What?! That easily...!*
Seeing his trump card fail, Dagall tried to turn into a bug and flee late, but Seti and the hammer struck his body a bit faster.
BOOM!!
Dagall, smashed by the hammer, crashed into the pile of gold coins beyond the bars. Coins flew into the air, his limbs snapped, and blood gushed from his mouth.
*N-No...*
Am I dying like this? Dagall desperately clung to his fading mind. If he could just mutate into a bug... somehow...
But he couldn't complete the spell.
Seti, now in front of him, gently crushed his mouth with her foot and said,
"By any chance, you like torture?"
***
Like all mages beyond the dimensional gate, Dagall never doubted he was a special existence.
Of course, he wasn't born of noble blood like other mages. His mother was nothing but a lowly back-alley whore.
But don't they say the truly great are made, not born?
He overcame his birth defect and awakened mana on his own.
Though too old to become nobility or enter the mage tower...
He caught the eye of Dreiterial's western Palace Lord—no, that greedy pig bastard—and got an official position.
Sewer management overseer.
As the name implied, not a prestigious post. To a commoner, maybe, but for a mage, it was the lowest of the low.
But Dagall gladly accepted the position and swore loyalty to the Palace Lord.
He was confident he could rise higher.
The insect control magic he'd honed for years was specialized for eavesdropping, and Dreiterial had plenty to overhear.
Companies illegally dumping waste, nobles turning a blind eye, secret deals between organizations, the highborns' filthy tastes.
He controlled sewer flies to unearth countless secrets.
With innate talent and the right info, Dagall's rise was inevitable.
He quickly left the sewers behind, becoming part of the palace staff, and a member of the Palace Lord's direct mage squad.
Or almost.
The day before joining counterintelligence, he overheard a secret he absolutely shouldn't have.
Was it a mistake to revisit the sewers out of nostalgia?
Or to unknowingly tail the Palace Lord sneaking into the sewers?
Either way, if he could go back, Dagall would never eavesdrop on the Palace Lord and the beast-headed monster's conversation...
"...Beast head?"
The air suddenly grew chilly, and the hammer pounding Dagall's body stopped.
A brief silence.
Seti turned her head, and Yeomyeong, who had been quietly listening, spoke.
"Beast head—was it cow, pig, or horse?"
*Y-You... know... those... guys...?*
Dagall, little more than a lump of meat, trembled as he answered. His affirmative reply made Yeomyeong's eyes sink coldly.
Dagall explained slowly.
*P-Pig, dunno... Cow and horse... heads, yeah. The one who... s-spotted my... flies... had a... chicken head...*
"...Chicken?"
*T-Those... bastards... if they hadn't... run into elves... they'd be... dead...*
With that, Dagall hit his limit, drooling uncontrollably.
It was only natural. He'd taken enough hammer blows to die dozens of times over.
"Think we can squeeze more out?"
Yeomyeong glanced at Dagall, teetering on death's door, and said. Seti shrugged.
"I'll give it a shot."
No sooner had she spoken than the meat lump Dagall shrieked convulsively.
*K-Kill me...! I t-told you... everything... I know... W-We had a deal... p-please...*
A total reversal from when he'd tried to backstab them with insects.
Yeomyeong looked down at him, then turned to the corpses of the dead children.
He didn't hesitate.
"...Squeeze him more. Especially everything about the city's underbelly."
She did just that. Infusing mana into the lightning gripping his nerves and heart by force, she raised the hammer again.
Dagall screamed, but there was no one to hear him.
* * *