Chapter 53

Chapter 53

I Became a Prisoner Trainer in the Dungeon.

Episode 53: Trade With The Barony (2)

At that moment, the lord’s residence office in the Gilberte Baron Territory.

“This is troubling.”

Blake Gilberte, the middle-aged lord ruling the Gilberte Baron Territory, let out a deep sigh at the documents spread out on his office desk.

“Troubling in many ways.”

Baron Gilberte was genuinely troubled.

Since the incident, no, the accident, two months ago, he couldn’t have been more troubled than he was now.

“Too many are dying.”

The number of missing persons, now 70.

To be precise, the number of those who entered the dungeon, were sucked beyond the fog, and never returned.

The 70 people didn’t disappear all at once.

At first, it was about a dozen or so.

The problem was that among the first missing persons was Eris, the most outstanding adventurer in this territory.

And another problem was that Eris’s true identity was Eris Alvatea—the only daughter of the Alvatea Count family.

The fact that his half-brother existed was just a minor issue.

Actually, it’s not minor.

The issue of inheritance distribution was always a concern just by the fact that a bastard was alive.

If he suddenly died one day, who would inherit the barony?

His young child, not even 10 years old yet?

Even if he was a prostitute’s son, the fact that he was the grandson of the previous baron was a matter that needed to be considered.

Moreover, he has been maintaining a reasonably good relationship with the knights in the family for a long time, perhaps anticipating such a possibility, so it’s only natural to be more wary.

If he came back alive—

“Tsk….”

He wished he were dead, but if he thought he was dead, he would have to think that Eris Alvatea was also dead.

What would be best for Blake Gilberte personally?

The guild master of the adventurers also kept coming to him, crying for him to send the knights because 70 adventurers had gone missing and hadn’t returned.

Based on the wounds of those who returned alive from the gray fog that suddenly appeared inside the dungeon, he only managed to realize that “it’s not a normal dungeon”?

Most of the dying words left by the few survivors were that they were all killed by an ‘old demon’, and that to defeat that old demon, perhaps a master-level swordsman or magician, not a high-ranking knight, would have to come?

“Ha… If only I knew for sure whether they were alive or dead.”

He wished someone was alive.

He wished someone was dead.

And if possible, he wished the person alive was Eris Alvatea, not the bastard named Jake Gilberte.

“……..”

Baron Gilberte opened the drawer.

After unlocking the lock with the key, he took out a letter written in blood from inside.

“Save me, huh.”

It was not his handwriting.

But the blood letter contained the reason why it had to be that way.

“I received it two weeks ago, but I wonder if he’s still alive?”

Only a very few people know about this blood letter yet.

If it was confirmed that he was alive, more ‘rescue teams’ would have to be deployed.

And deploying the knights, not the adventurers, will lead to a decrease in the Gilberte Baron family’s power.

“Damn it….”

Baron Gilberte couldn’t help but think so.

He didn’t know where the dungeon with the fog in that report was heading, but he knew that the demons appearing in that dungeon were beyond the Gilberte Baron family’s ability to attack.

He knew that the best he could do was to use the power of the goddess to repel the demons when they crossed over from the dungeon to this side.

If he didn’t have to go beyond the dungeon, he could sleep well just by maintaining the status quo, warning the adventurers not to be sucked into the gray fog carelessly.

It would be even more comfortable.

Even after he was given the barony, he wouldn’t have to worry about those parasites who were somehow clinging to Gilberte as adventurers.

He was also worried about having a relationship with the Alvatea Count family and being deprived of the barony by force—

Knock knock.

A knock sounded.

As it was late at night, Baron Gilberte put the blood letter back into the drawer with an annoyed expression and cleared his throat.

“Come in.”

“Excuse me, Lord.”

The secretary came in.

Baron Gilberte, who was about to show his annoyance at his pale face, swallowed hard.

“What’s wrong?”

“The Armot party has been annihilated.”

“……Is that 75 now?”

“Yes. But one has returned alive.”

“He’ll die soon. Not long from now.”

“That’s….”

The secretary held out a magic stone with a trembling hand.

“This was written on it.”

“Written on it?”

Baron Gilberte poured mana into the magic stone that the secretary was holding out.

Soon, the fog spread out in a rectangle over the magic stone, and an image, as if it had captured a scene, unfolded before Baron Gilberte by magic.

“…Ugh.”

The baron almost vomited at the sight of the image.

He was so shocked by the shocking sight he had never seen before that he almost lost his mind and couldn’t say anything.

“Are the demons… using adventurers as stationery?”

“It seems so.”

There were letters written on a human’s back.

Not just letters, but as if they had been carved into the body with a sharp knife.

“The adventurer?”

“He’s not dead, but he’s in great shock. The priest says that even if he’s treated, the scar will remain forever.”

“Ha….”

Baron Gilberte closed his eyes.

“This is driving me crazy.”

Because of the content engraved on the adventurer’s body, which can be called a letter.

“Lord, for now….”

“Butler. Convene a meeting.”

Baron Gilberte let out a deep sigh.

“Since Jake Gilberte is alive, we have no choice but to form a rescue team.”

The content written on the adventurer’s body was not much different from the content of the letter in the drawer.

“Rescue team… no.”

But to be more precise—

“For negotiation, we need to form a negotiation team.”

Regarding the release of the human prisoner, Jake Gilberte.

Regarding the compensation for the prisoner’s release, the largest number written on the adventurer’s body.

Training Room, Morning.

“One million gold?”

“Yes.”

Eris’s eyes widened in surprise.

It seemed Eris was also dumbfounded by the enormous unit of one million.

“……..”

She blinked her eyes.

It seemed she couldn’t quite grasp the unit of one million gold.

‘To be honest, I can’t quite grasp it either. It would be strange if I could.’

To define the value of one million gold, we needed to consider how much one gold was worth.

“Uh, so….”

“According to Chief Steward Akamondu, it’s roughly the annual tax revenue of the barony.”

“….The barony’s annual tax revenue?”

Calculating that appropriate value was not my job.

“R, really?”

“Specifically, it was 1.04 million something, but they just calculated it as a clean one million gold.”

Chief Steward Akamondu has already set an appropriate amount ‘according to the market price’.

“The compensation for the hostage release of Jake Gilberte. One million gold.”

“……Do you have to give up the entire annual tax revenue of the territory for one person’s life?”

“Yes.”

The figure of one million gold was not important.

The symbolic meaning of that amount was important.

“Are you trying to ruin the barony…?”

Annual tax revenue.

In terms of a company, it was like having to give up the annual sales as compensation for the company president’s illegitimate child.

‘As expected of a noble lady.’

Even if she worked as an adventurer, she should have some sense as a noble lady.

Even though the Gilberte Baron Territory was much smaller than the Alvatea Count Territory, the tax revenue earned through dungeons was quite substantial.

“……It’s not for a prisoner to say, but I think it’s a bit too much.”

Eris fiddled with her fork and lowered her head.

“Trying to sell someone who’s already dead as if they’re alive.”

“It’s too much. Economically, morally, and ethically.”

“But I’m the demon king’s trainer. Is that it?”

“That’s part of it, but….”

I tapped my finger on the table to draw Eris’s attention.

“Do you really think Baron Gilberte will negotiate with the annual tax revenue?”

“What?”

“He won’t.”

People had a price on their lives.

“If I were in that position? I wouldn’t do something stupid like blowing away a year’s tax revenue to save an eyesore bastard.”

“B, but….”

“It would be different if it was to burn a million gold to save Eris Alvatea.”

“……No way.”

Eris’s eyes shake greatly.

“To release me…?”

“Huh? Not that.”

“What?”

“Do you think your ransom is one million gold?”

“……..”

“Jake gets a million, but Eris Alvatea is incomparable.”

I asked just in case, but they said it would have to be about 20 times that to be profitable.

“I didn’t care before, but now that I’m in a position to handle hostage ransom, I see things I didn’t see before. Eris. Do you know why the hostage ransom is so ‘reasonably high’?”

“……Reasonably high?”

“Yes.”

“……Is it to decide whether to save one person even if you go bankrupt, or to kill them?”

“That’s it.”

The demon king’s army had ruined many groups with the price of one life.

“It’s not your turn to step up yet, Eris. But someday you will have to.”

“Someday…?”

“Yes. Exactly this.”

I took out one of the items from the training room warehouse.

“W, wait!”

Eris jumped up from her seat and pointed at the object.

“Are you, are you…! Going to tie me to that table and rape me!!”

“…Ah, it does look like that.”

A circular table.

On it were devices for laying a person down and tying their limbs.

“It’s a negotiation table, but if you want me to do that, I’ll have to.”

“Negotiation… table?”

“Yes. The main trading partner will be the Alvatea Count family, but first, I was going to ‘negotiate’ with Blake Gilberte for that.”

I raised my finger.

“A very good deal to save Jake Gilberte without paying a million gold.”

“……..”

“Curious?”

“W, well.”

“First of all.”

I lifted Eris’s waist.

“Wh, what are you trying to do…?!”

“What you want.”

“What am I—”

“Tie you to the table and rape you like a dog.”

“……!!”

Eris bit her lower lip, but

“Y, you’re not going to tie me up in a strange position, are you…?”

She didn’t deny or resist being raped.

Of course, she was just accepting being raped.

“Hey.”

I pointed to the table at Eris.

“Lie down.”

‘Like a dog’, to rape her.