episode_0115
by fnovelpiaBang! Bang!
“The world seems to be going strangely these days.”
A mine on the continent.
There, where the sharp iron clang resonated chaotically, the bearded man who was the mine manager continued to grumble.
It was a common grumbling that anyone would make about the world going around, but the skinny man across from him also nodded.
“Everyone thinks so.”
It must have been about a year ago.
Mysterious phenomena began to occur across the continent.
Countess Gayoungae, who escaped from slavery, goes missing.
The Grim Reaper appears and massacres innocent people.
The Magic Tower, which had been vacant for hundreds of years, appears.
A meteor fell and the entire top was obliterated.
The elves come out of the forest and start doing business.
I can understand if it happens occasionally, but I can’t help but be concerned when incidents that have rocked the continent have been happening one after another for almost a year.
“And that’s not all? Recently, there have been a lot of demons invading the Suin country, right?”
“Then a pitch-black curtain covered the entire city. It was so big that it could be seen from here, so that says it all.”
The neighboring kingdoms were in complete chaos.
I thought there had been a terrorist attack in Vestia.
Fortunately, no damage occurred.
“That’s even stranger. The people inside don’t remember anything that happened at the time. Did the Archmage use magic?”
The skinny man shook his head.
“I’ve heard rumors that it’s the work of a nine-tailed fox.”
“Gumiho?”
“One of the demons called Yokai in the East.”
A long time ago, when magic was the exclusive domain of a select few witches.
The nine-tailed fox, revered as the king of monsters and god in the East, has recently appeared.
It is said that behind the gumiho, there is nothing but dust left due to the disaster.
The bearded man sighed and waved his hands.
“Oh my. This is the end of the world. This is clearly a sign that the world is about to end.”
“The story isn’t over yet.”
“There’s more?”
“Someone analyzed it and said that the mysterious phenomena occurring these days have one thing in common.”
A skinny man creates a heavy atmosphere.
The bearded man swallowed hard as his expression was so dark.
“What, what is that?”
“Slave messenger. That man is connected to all the incidents.”
“Slave messenger?”
I’ve heard the name.
A man who does not sell slaves, even though he is a slave trader.
Just buy it.
Slaves who pass through the hands of the slave messenger disappear shortly after. When asked where they went, they only look up at the sky and repeat that they were sent to a good place.
“What did you say? There was a word that I used often… .”
“Liberation?”
“That’s right, liberation.”
liberation.
The word itself has a good meaning.
But there is no word more foreign to a slave trader.
How can a people who buy and sell humans to make ends meet be liberated?
People quickly figured out that this was a roundabout way of saying that slaves were bought for fun and then murdered in horrible ways.
And of all people, it’s only women.
The worst of bad tastes.
He is the worst slave trader among slave traders.
“Then shouldn’t we catch that guy and beat him up? Why are we just letting him wander around?”
There is always a slave messenger in strange phenomena.
He causes strange phenomena.
In fact, it is an unrealistic guess.
He has the grand nickname of a slave messenger, but he is just an ordinary human being with abnormal sexual desires. I don’t think he really caused these incidents, it’s just a coincidence.
But the details are not important.
There is only a suspicion, but the suspicion is enough.
Because the higher-ups are people who cannot learn without removing a thorn in their eye.
“You don’t know. He’s just a bad guy to us. Most nobles like slave messengers. I guess those with eccentric personalities get along well with each other.”
“This is truly the end of the world.”
The bearded man sighed as if the ground was falling apart.
Then suddenly I realized something strange and turned my head.
One of the dwarf slaves is not working with a pickaxe.
Somehow, at some point, the sound changed.
“Hey, you! Are you slacking off right now?”
“Oh, no!”
The startled dwarf girl started swinging her pickaxe around in a frenzy.
Bang! Bang!
The sharp sound of iron pounded my eardrums.
Big beads of sweat are pouring out.
The dwarf girl’s name is Perka.
It’s been half a year since I entered the mine.
Perka wants to go home.
***
Dwarf girl Perka.
The mine was a familiar place to Perka.
Most of the dwarves on the continent made their home in the underground city of Doomheim, and Perka’s hometown was also Doomheim.
Just as water and fish are inseparable, dwarves and mines are inseparable. Minerals were their bones, and veins were their blood.
This underground mine was similar to Perka’s home environment, but it was definitely not home.
Even though they are dwarves, they don’t stay underground all day long. Sometimes they go out to the surface and get some sunlight. Even though they like mining, they don’t do it without eating.
There is no such dwarf.
… … .
‘Is it there…?’
It seems like it was there too.
More than you think.
That’s not the point, for Perka this is not a comfortable underground city, but a terrible Tartarus.
Perka has been interested in minerals since he was young, and his hobby was mining ore, but when a hobby becomes forced labor, interest quickly fades.
It’s the same now.
There are handcuffs on the wrists and ankles.
In hand is a cheap pickaxe.
The clothes don’t wash well and they stink.
Meals consisted of lumpy grain bread and a watery soup that was no different from water.
It was a life of slavery that could be seen anywhere, but not for Perka. Perka, the daughter of one of the seven masters in Doomheim, was a young lady in her own right.
Of course, I was always told that I sounded like a boy because I was so tomboyish and had a unique way of speaking.
In any case, it means that I was able to live doing what I wanted, even if it wasn’t a full-time job.
‘I miss my dad… .’
I bet you’re really worried by now.
If only you had listened carefully, this wouldn’t have happened.
The fear of never seeing her father again and being trapped here for the rest of her life came over her. Tears welled up in Perka’s eyes.
“Sniff… .”
Perka sniffled.
It was around that time that the mine became chaotic.
“Why, of all the slaves, why the dwarves? You know very well that no slave is as efficient as a dwarf in mining.”
“What can I do? I’m doing it because I was told to. If you tell me to bring it, I have to bring it.”
“Haa… Without him, it’ll be hard to fill the quota.”
The skinny mine manager who had been talking to his boss sighed, scratched his head, and started to approach Perca.
An eerie red whip in his hand.
If you slack off or stop your madness, you will occasionally get a whip crackling behind your back.
It is rumored that the whip was originally brown, but it became discolored after being stained with the blood of slaves.
As I walked straight towards Perka with that whip in my hand, Perka flinched. Without even having time to wipe away the tears welling up in my eyes, I hurriedly swung the pickaxe.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
But the manager didn’t stop and kept walking, then stopped behind Perka. Perka shut his eyes tightly.
“Hey, dwarf over there.”
“Yes, yes!”
“Is your name Perka?”
“That’s right!”
“Put down your pickaxe and follow me.”
A skinny man turns around and walks away.
Perka, who had been standing there dumbfounded, put down his pickaxe and hurriedly chased after him.
‘Wh, what’s going on?’
There are two common instances when a mine manager calls in a slave:
One is to confine disobedient slaves in solitary confinement. The cells are so cramped that there is barely enough room to sit, and slaves who are confined in solitary confinement come back as semi-incapacitated people without even being given food.
Another is when they become too weak to mine anymore and are sold elsewhere. Women are sold to brothels, and men are sold to be used as meat shields on the battlefield or to slay demons.
“Tsk. Poor guy. He had to be sold… .”
The skinny manager walking ahead mutters to himself.
He was a man who would take out his anger on slaves by whipping them whenever he got the chance, as if he was trying to get revenge on the outside world. If he were to say that he felt sorry for a slave…
‘A place worse than the window?!’
Perka’s eyes went dark!
The place where Perka, who was walking trembling, stopped was the staff office located inside the mine. It was a building used when guests came or when the managers rested.
The man opened the door.
“Go in.”
Perka was horrified.
This guy is willing to open the door with his own hands?
Even the way she looks at herself is like the way a mother cow looks at her calf being dragged to the slaughterhouse.
“Come on in. An honored guest is waiting.”
I don’t want to go in.
Perka stepped inside, moving one centimeter at a time.
Inside, a high-ranking female employee who occasionally visits the mine to supervise management and a handsome man I had never seen before were waiting.
Black hair and black eyes, extremely rare to see.
A neat outfit that doesn’t match the dirty mine.
Sipping coffee leisurely with your legs crossed was something you would never see among the dwarves.
“Please check before purchasing. Is this dwarf girl the Perka you mentioned?”
“Let’s see… . Oh, that’s right. It matches what I remember. Now, here’s the price I told you about in advance.”
A man putting his pockets on the table.
Judging from the jingling sound, it seemed like there were coins inside.
The female employee picked up the pocket while keeping an eye on the man’s expression, checked the contents, and nodded.
“It matches the amount you promised. Then I will hand over the ownership of the slave.”
A female employee transferring ownership to a man.
Perka felt a sudden sense of suffocation.
body?
chest?
I don’t know how to describe it, but if I had to describe it, it would be a feeling of suffocation in the soul. It’s a suffocating feeling, and it’s not very pleasant.
widely.
The man put down his coffee cup and stood up.
“I think it’s all over, so I’ll go now. Let’s go, Miss Perka.”
When Perka came to his senses, he was already outside.
Perka looks up at the sky, making a shadow with his hand. The sunlight that he had not seen in half a year was shining down strongly. It seemed like he had gone in when it was warm, but the wind was chilly, as if winter was coming soon.
‘This… Really?’
Is it really that easy to get out?
I always dreamed of getting out. I thought I’d be trapped in the mine my whole life and would have to turn into a fossil before I could get out.
It still doesn’t feel real.
It’s all thanks to an unidentified man who bought himself.
He was looking at the map.
What on earth does this person do?
Who could it be that came to rescue me from the dark mine?
Perka couldn’t suppress his rising curiosity and opened his mouth cautiously.
“Hey, hey… .”
“What’s going on?”
“You are my savior, but I still don’t know your name. Can I ask what you do?”
“Oh, I was absent-minded so I’m late with my self-introduction. Sorry.”
A man apologizing with a smile.
This can’t be happening.
What kind of person is this who speaks politely to slaves and even apologizes for something so trivial!
‘Are you a gentleman?’
He’s usually not a nice person.
A sense of anticipation rises inside Perka.
I wonder if this person will take me back to my hometown.
The girl’s desire melted like molten iron in a furnace at the words spoken by the next man.
“My name is Karami. I am a slave trader. It is shameful, but the world also calls me a slave messenger.”
“Huh?”
What are you saying now?
Slave… God of Death?
Karami continued with a cheerful smile.
“We won’t be together for long, but let’s get along well until then. I’ll send you deep underground soon.”
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