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Chapter 228: Human Trafficking Prevention Mission. [Release Version]
🕑 Added 2021-10-01 04:00:48 +0000 UTCEdit: Just Saori's skill update.
Edit: Syntax and continuity error fixed. Saori's catalyst should be with the enchanter.
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<Multiple proficiency requirements fulfilled. [Fluid Cast Lv. 3] [Dagger Technique Lv. 6] [Mid-Air Maneuvering Lv. 2] [Lightning Resistance Lv. 4] [Holy Resistance Lv. 9] [Earth Resistance Lv. 9] [Water Resistance Lv. 8] [Wind Resistance Lv. 8] [Tenebrous Resistance Lv. 2] [Merchant Lv. 2] [Accounting Lv. 2] [Royal Etiquette Lv. 5] [Humanization Lv. 10] gained>
[“Thank you Sarasa. Quatre. Be ready to fight.”]
I stood up, peering from my perch on the rooftop down at the other buildings. The sight of a shining building standing conspicuously in this dark realm could be seen. Like fireflies, the path to our destination was clear, with lamps lightning up the streets like a guide. But we would not take that path. For shadows approach, not for us, but for those who harmed the ones under our protection.
“Mhmmmmmmmmmmm…”
Blades and strings are in my hand, shadows and lightning ready to sunder metal and leather stir in my blood, and garms salivating for blood and flesh prowl beside me. I peer forward. With the information on hand from my fiery friend and my pack, I knew it was time to strike. In the basement lie those who require my help, and, as their teacher-for-a-day, I shall make sure to escort them home.
“Mhmmmmmmmmmmm…”
“… What?” My thoughts were interrupted, I looked down at the source of the noise. It was a dwarf, fully clad in armor with two large gauntlets looking out of place with his outfit.
“I know that look, Saori. Knew someone with a vivid imagination who stared into the distance. Nothing could interrupt their fantasizing except for a good whack on the head to get back to work.” The dwarf — Grimnir — stroked his growing beard, looking curiously at how I would respond.
My face felt hotter, I was sure it reddened as I couldn’t help but reflect on what I had just been thinking. I just felt a bit poetic right now. “D-Do not mind me. Ahem, anyway, I have the information. Let us begin.”
I turned around, looking at the people behind me. Aside from most of Aurora, sans Hestia doing her part inside the auction house, there was also Gael, Friell, Kaian, and a few others Friell had brought with her. It seems that these beastmen were former slaves who had a history with Gael, seeing as they glared at him much like Friell did.
While the latter few were people I wouldn’t exactly call friends, especially since they were criminals, I wasn’t in the position to reject their assistance. Based on the information that Sarasa and Quatre just brought back to me, there wasn’t just the orphanage kids but rather there was a whole crowd of slaves in the basement, all huddled in cages.
This was a raid to get all those people out while also looking for a way to dispel the slave marks tattooed on their bodies. From what Eshe told me, removing a slave mark like that was expensive if you didn’t want to fry up your mana paths and potential to use mana. Outside of the costly option, the best method would be to “persuade” the current owners to release them.
As such, we needed all the help we could get. Fighting and protecting at the same time wasn’t easy, and I had no intentions of letting strangers, even those we saved, into our party’s [Room] subspace. The orphans were a different matter, but getting them out was never the problem.
I hoped Friell wouldn’t double-cross us in the end, but she and her crew seemed reliable for now. They hated slavers just as much as Eshe seemed to, and they were especially motivated seeing as there were beastman slaves to save. There seemed to be some beastman solidarity I wasn’t aware of.
“Ready?” I asked everybody. All of them nodded. “Good. We are going as planned, alright? Leave the fighting to us from Aurora as well as Kaian. We will be your distraction. Friell, you and your crew get the kids and the other slaves free. Hestia and Eshe will be causing a ruckus from within, and, once the auction itself is under lockdown, Gael you swoop in and get that Executive named Estas.”
Gael nodded. “Estas, huh? Yeah, I know his face from around here. He used to work as a majordomo for a noble or something.”
“Hope you guys can stay alive. I’d hate to inform those kids their saviors died in all of this,” Friell wished us luck in her own way. It was fine. If the information we’ve gotten is up to date and accurate, nothing should go wrong.
I activated [Shadow Armament] and shrouded everybody accompanying me with it, helping them blend into the dusky city of Shaturein. Using the wooden planks connecting each rooftop like bridges, we traversed from one building to the next, trying to avoid getting seen by the enforcers patrolling the streets.
After jumping over a few roofs, we descended into the back alley, seeing as how the light of the bright auction house could reveal us if we came too close. Instead of approaching the back entrance of the auction house, I ordered everybody to enter a house a bit further away. According to my garm’s information, there was a secret entrance here that the slaves would be moved through.
After Gael unlocked the door, we sneaked into the place, making sure nobody was around. We entered a small room on the ground floor, a rather empty one if it weren’t for a pile of broken-down debris from the upper floor. Sweeping it aside, we uncovered a trap door.
“Whew,” Gael gave a silent whistle. “Your garms are pretty good. Traveling through shadows makes them better dark mages than us arcane tricksters, Saori. I should maybe become a tamer, too.”
“I do not believe you can find a monster anywhere as competent as mine, Gael,” I stated with full confidence, before giving my praises to my garms. [“Good work, Song. Sarasa. Quatre. You three did amazing.”]
[“““Your praise is reward enough, Alpha!”””] They were adorable.
[“…”] However, poor Uno was brooding silently. I had not sent him out since I wanted him to take a rest after spending five days following those spies, but it seemed he was dissatisfied with being left out. Since Uno considered himself my Beta, my second-in-command, he might dislike not being relied on. I should remember this.
Although our way into the auction house was right in front of us, everybody on Friell’s side was waiting for me to do something. It seemed they were used to working with dark mages.
While my garms did bring the information about this secret entrance, they only heard it through gossip. They were fast scouts, but they didn’t have enough time to look everywhere. As such, I was not sure if there were traps inside or not. I couldn’t hear anybody, but I needed to see if there were traps myself.
Sending in a [Shadow Snake], I looked through its eyes as it slithered to the end of this tunnel. Once I was satisfied there was nothing dangerous, I told everybody the coast was clear and we made our way through it, ending up in a dusty room inside the basement of the auction house. After inquiring with the garms where we were, they told us we should be close to the wine room.
Since the auction house constantly moved around to not arouse too much attention, only a few rooms would be furnished. Of course, the wine room would be a priority. I wondered if stealing from criminals would be considered a crime, in this case. They probably wouldn’t realize a bottle or three would be missing after the chaos we’ll leave this place at.
No time to waste. Our time to prepare for the ambush won’t last long.
I perked my ears, hearing noises coming from above ground. The auction should have begun.
“The auction has started. They will probably begin sending slaves above ground. Friell, how does it work? Which group gets sent out first?” I turned towards the loopridae fire mage.
“Strong start, average middle, and the best for last. Former adventurers or soldiers would fetch a good price, while wage workers and such aren’t as popular. Beastmen are great at menial work and popular outside of Artorias, in particular, to torture. The kids, however, might be presented first, so we should hurry.”
I nodded and sent Song out to investigate to keep a watch on Hestia, Eshe, and the auction for us. I then followed my question with another one. “Are there any mana barriers we have to be aware of?”
“The usual climate control one. The ones nobles like to use around their mansions,” Gael answered.
“Alright, let’s go. Ellaine. Grimnir. Prepare that.”
I activated [Detection Sensor], creating a map of signals to warn me of any targets in the vicinity. With this clairvoyance, I ordered everybody to dash out of the room. Ellaine, Grimnir, and Gael separated from us to do their parts, while the rest of us moved towards the slave pens.
If we found any mercenary or gang member, dispatching them was our first reaction. While Tasianna and I were alright with just knocking them out till next week, Kaian was a different case. He showed no mercy as he skillfully decapitated anybody he got his hand on. Complaining wouldn’t change that bandit’s mind; after all, that guy was actually somebody willing to kill for nothing.
Although, staying silent about it might not be the best. These people are our enemies so kil— Actually, I have no idea if they deserve it or not. With no information, shocking them with electricity until they black out is good enough for me.
After moving a bit further in, I noticed a large gathering of signals. Either they were a garrison or some slaves, so we had to check it out. I sent Sarasa and Quatre through the shadow of the door. When their telepathic message arrived, I stomped the door open and located the two guards.
Gale Steps!
Dashing forward with proper footwork, my speed increased to the point my sudden appearance stunned them long enough for me to subdue one of them while my garms handled the other. As I choked one guard unconscious, I began to notice how all the guards we met up until now had tanned or brown skin, similar to Eshe’s and her knights. Did they come from the east?
“Miss Saori!” It wasn’t Tasianna’s voice. I turned my head to the source after throwing the unconscious body of the guard away like a ragdoll, only to see sobbing children holding onto metal bars, reaching their hands out as they called for my help. “Y-You’re here! You’re here! Miss Saori! Big Sis Tasi! The Goddess heard us— muwhaaaaaaaaaaa!”
Tasianna encased the cages with her [Air Shield], preventing more sound from escaping the room after Friell closed the door. It was just in time, as the two orphan kids couldn’t help themselves from crying, bawling their eyes out as they saw Tasianna and me. After I cut the cage open with my daggers, those kids ran into my embrace.
Aside from Abi, Yeffon and Danny were the only young kids who accompanied the caretakers for shopping. The rest were the older ones, around nine to eleven.
The kids in the orphanage came from a wide range of backgrounds. Some were street kids the orphanage took in, some came in as abandoned newborns, and some, I heard, were the children of the grey-robed priests. Information like that was not to be talked about. While white-robes were allowed to marry and have children, grey-robes weren’t, since their dedication to the Goddess was supposedly the only love they were allowed to have.
‘Orphans.’
“Shhhh, it’s alright. We’re here to bring you back home,” I soothed the two crying kids, before raising my heads to the remaining orphanage kids, the ones in their early adolescence. “Is everybody together? Have they taken any of you yet?”
“N-No, Miss Saori. After we were imprisoned, they only put us here with some guards to watch us. They haven’t applied that stupid slave mark on us yet, though… that’s cuz we just got caught.” The kids looked back at the cages, where I saw frightened children of various ages and races wearing rags. Shadows lingered under their eyes, their bodies looked malnourished, and a bright blue tattoo could be seen on their chests.
This auction supposedly would sell all their goods, so these kids were probably delivered here by wandering slave traders. Some looked almost fifteen, some were still kindergartners.
“Ah, wait, Miss Saori, how are the Sisters?!”
“Yeah! Are they alright! Those damn assholes beat them up when they tried to defend us!”
“Please, tell us they’re alive!”
“Shhh, calm down. They are alright. For now…” I stood back up, telling the older kids to keep the two young ones close. I turned to Friell. “We will begin the extraction now. Can you manage the kids for now?”
“That was always our objective.” The rabbit girl nodded. “However, you need to get the auctioneer’s party bracelet, you hear? Or get him to free all of them through a command. Whichever it is, we need it to free the rest of the slaves, you hear?”
“You heard the briefing. We are not leaving without sending International Desires a message.” I took off my gloves, letting the white fur on my hands begin generating more black electricity while Tasianna readied herself by taking her catalyst out.
[“Sarasa, go inform Ellaine and Grimnir that we are ready.”] I spoke telepathically.
[“Yes, Alpha!”]
With Tasianna, Kaian, and two of Friell’s comrades, we dashed out of the room and headed towards where the rest of the slaves were held. While enroute, Song returned and informed us that Eshe was ready to unleash her powers. They only needed the signal.
When we finally arrived at the location, I told everybody to hide. As my garms had told me, the slave pens were heavily guarded. The child slaves might not be able to defend themselves when most of them were young kids, but an army of desperate adults might cause problems.
We waited. We waited. There was no need to be impatient. I perked my ear up, I could hear clapping and cheers echoing through the ground. A few minutes later, a group of guards came over and picked out the next set of slaves to bring up. Still, it wasn’t time to hunt just yet.
And then it happened—
Boooom! A loud explosion ruptured through the basement, the heat and shockwave sending the guards instantly into alarm mode. With their minds preoccupied with the threat, none of them spared a thought for the slaves. As the number of guards dwindled, so did the difficulty of the mission.
Time for phase two. Good work on the bombs, Ellaine. Grimnir. Smokey Haze!
My shadow exploded into a giant cloud of black darkness, filling the hallway completely before it seeped into the slave room. Using [Telepathy], I began giving directions to my squad, as it was literally impossible to see inside this shadow smoke. You could only feel where everything was.
“Haha! Fuck that, as if I would fall for this spell twice! Riaarrghhhh!” With a loud war cry, Kaian dashed forward, ignoring my commands as he began causing splatters of blood and cries of dying men.
[Smokey Haze] was a custom spell I devised to simulate the smoke bombs of ninjas, which I intended to synergize with my stealth and dark magic. If you didn’t have these abilities and your opponent had [Enhanced Enemy Sense], then the spell was useless for you.
I can’t control this beast.
Leaving Kaian to do whatever he wanted to do, Tasianna and the rest followed me into the room. Panic and chaos were created through my smoke and the early explosion, disorientating both guards and slaves. In this confusion, it was practically child’s play for my garms, Tasianna, and me to knock every threat unconscious.
Dispelling the smoke, I counted 31 unconscious mercenaries. None of them were that C rank one we’d been warned of. With Kaian still rampaging around, we took this time to free all the slaves from their cages. As we did so, I suddenly felt my fur stand up, causing me to look up at the ceiling in the direction of a sudden appearance of power.
In the next second, rumbling from above could be felt. If I had to guess, that had to be the effects of Eshe’s unique skill given to her by Aurena after becoming a saintess. With Alikar and Anivh on her side, she said she could cause “trouble.” She never specified what that trouble was, though.
Speaking about trouble—
Booom! Another explosion, however, this time, it was scarily done right next to the walls of this room. Neither [Foresight] nor [True Wolven Instinct] warned me about it, which meant I was never in danger of getting hurt, but it surely made my heart skip a beat. Looking at everyone else in the room, I guess they felt the same shock.
“Are you two crazy?! You nearly blew a person up with that explosion!” It was a guard, but still. I just wanted to complain.
“Pah, I told you we should have dug more to the right, lass! You have mana to spare!”
“And I told you if you had put the bomb a bit more to the left, we wouldn’t be in this trouble!”
Seeing a human girl and a dwarven man getting out of the hole after the dust settled, arguing with each other as if they were a married couple made me want to laugh, but it would be a bit inappropriate right now. Ellaine and Grimnir, our distraction crew, returned.
“Haaaaa,” I sighed. “I hope you two were not hurt. How was it?”
Grimnir showed me a thumbs up. “Worked like a charm. Hestia’s bombs worked like always and caused a massive explosion, probably destroying the street in front of the auction. Sarasa told me the lasses will begin their work upstairs.”
The plan I had for those two was to create a massive distraction with Hestia’s bombs, drawing as many people as possible away from the slaves. While we began saving them, Ellaine and Grimnir were to dig themselves to us using Ellaine’s magic, where we would rendezvous with the slaves.
Ready to begin their extraction. With Ellaine and Grimnir guiding the slaves out, anybody standing in their way wouldn’t stand a chance. Once they began escorting the slaves to the secret entrance, Tasianna and I turned our attention to Kaian’s direction. Since one explosion had drawn everybody’s attention, another should do the same.
And the horde came.
“Shit! Da’fuking slaves are escaping! Get them!”
“Fuck, we got bumfucked! Move! Move! The boss will kill us if we fuck up the request!”
“Shit!” Kaian cursed. It seemed numbers were about to overwhelm him.
I called for my partner, “Tasianna!”
“Got it! Let’s go!” Her catalyst glowed, creating a cyan mana slime that crystallized into a solid ice blade. Flying forward, it sliced the jugulars of two men who were about to hit Kaian.
“Woo, nice support!”
It was time to take off our gloves. Sneak attacks made sparring lives easy, but in a chaotic fight like this, it was all about self-defense. We knew when it was time to get serious, and this was one of them.
Black lightning crackled on my hands, before I drew my daggers and slipped into the fray using [Gale Steps]. With every strike, flesh parted and blood spilt, painting the hallway red with guts. Whenever someone was about to hit me, my reflexes and skills activated and I moved to intercept and counter.
“Luuuuarkka!”
“Aieeeeee! My arm! My ar-egigigiigigiigigi! Gaaaaaaa…”
“No! Wai— Furk!”
Lightning flew, stunning mercenaires for a precise killing blow. My blades morphed with my [Shadow Armament], extending my reach and making it even harder to get closer to me. The moment anyone came too close, I slipped into my shadow and appeared out of the horde.
Having been gathered up, they were easy prey for Tasianna’s storm of ice spikes, piercing those in front of it. The remaining survivors were forced to use their dead comrades’ bodies as shields to survive the remaining projectiles, but once that stopped, Kaian handled the rest.
<Experience has reached multiple breaking points. [Young Stygian-Scaled Fenrir, Saori Segawa]’s Job [Monster Master] has risen from [Level 0] to [Level 6]>
<Attributes have increased due to level up>
<[Lifetaker (28 Kills)] inflicted on [Young Stygian-Scaled Fenrir, Saori Segawa]>
They were good enough for normal fighters, but they lacked the stats and equipment to fight me. Rest in peace— huh?
“Tasianna, water shield!” [True Wolven Instinct] suddenly sensed an incoming attack, prompting me to shout a command. Without questioning it, Tasianna cast [Sapphire Membrane] around us, perfectly blocking an incoming giant fireball. No real damage was done to the barrier of water; only sizzling steam was left behind.
“Helmut!” The water barrier crashed onto the ground, mixing with the blood and flooding the hallway. A mage in red robes appeared from behind the corner, his face was full of worry as he looked at who he had to deal with.
“Ooooooh, Helmut! Damn, fire slinger, I heard you were here but I didn’t think you would actually appear before us, haha!” Like a maniac, Kaian gave out a crazed laugh before calming himself, reassuming his stance. “You girls sense them?”
““Yeah.””
Helmut clicked his tongue, walking over to the side, making way for our two new guests. The first to appear was a brown-skinned man with a jewel-encrusted scimitar. As he touched the green one in the middle of his crossguard, wind began to twirl around it like a tornado.
“Hmmm.” He stroked his long beard before cracking his neck and stretching his arms. “Westerners, I ask you to move aside now. You have killed our men, but we need those slaves back in their cages. You do that, I promise on my honor that we will leave your corpses in peace.”
“Rejected!” Tasianna was the first to answer. The bloody water froze around her. “That fire mage. We have unfinished business.”
“Shiuek!” The mage grimaced. “Damn you, fairy girl! You won’t leave this place as anything but another piece for my experiments! Masalim, Hamil won’t forgive us for this mess if we don’t at least bring their heads to him! Shut up and fight!”
So, this Helmut was involved in the fae kidnapping during the Davison situation. Friell and Kaian participated in defending the mad alchemist back then, and we had no idea if they hunted fae themselves. But, for now, they were our allies. Halmut was a different subject — he was Tasianna’s prey.
“The wind blows heavily tonight…” The Arabian-looking swordsman bent his knees, assuming his stance as he stared at us. From his aura, I guess he had to be this C rank mercenary Friell had warned us about. “Engarde! Face the Goddess of Death!”
It seemed the fight was about to start; however, I could feel instinctively that the last combatant hadn’t made his appearance just yet. When Tasianna and Kaian showed no intentions of moving, having the same realization as I did, I used [Identify] on a weird-looking shadow in the middle between our enemies, only for it to move around like a slime.
And in the next second, the corpses around us began twitching, as if something was moving them. Tasianna, Kaian, and I dodged backwards, just in time to witness the bodies of the mercenaries we fought rising up.
Blood still gushed out from their paling bodies as they picked up anything they could get their hands on for a weapon. Whether it was a blade, a shield, or even a severed arm. Long, senseless moans came out of their mouths.
Identify.
<Human, Raised: A human corpse arisen from the ground through mana formed with the Goddess of Death’s magic. A simple undead whose body has only recently died, but the binding is lackluster, meaning the body cannot produce the strength it once held amongst the living. Rank E>
They were zombies.
“Kiek kiek kiek kiek!” Like the rattling of a beetle’s mandibles, an eerie laugh accompanied the appearance of a person rising up from a shadow. With a ragged, black robe, this dark mage stomped their bone staff on the bloodied floor, showing off the monster skull on top of it.
“Master Fulsura, we will need to recruit more people tomorrow,” the swordsman commented to the mage.
“Kiek kiek! Such a shame really, but that is what my company is known for, right? High mortality, sure, but I never run out of minions, kiek kiek!” While laughing creepily, the mage raised her head, revealing a brown-skinned woman with necrosis on the left side of her face.
She then pointed directly at me. “I feel our Dearest Mother Goddess in you, fellow dark mage. Have you piqued her interest? I am so enviiious! Ooooh, if he had only specified it more, I would have come to the west earlier! A battle to gain Goddess Death’s attention!”
‘He?’ Who is she talking about?
“Now!” With a raise of her staff, the zombies let out shrieks of agony, sounding like a choir of banshees. “Fight, my dear departed ‘Death Defiers!’ Let your bodies serve me here, while your souls nourish the Goddess of Death! I, Fulsura, will become a Champion candidate tonight!”
Hestia… where are you when we need you, priestess? The plan is facing a hurdle!
**************************************
“Blergh! Why is this wine so— Achieee! Huh? Did I catch a cold? But how?” I scratched my crimson hair, having no idea if I could get sick right now. Regardless, I ignored my possible condition and poured the wine back into its bottle. “Haaaa, Haati, do you wish to drink the rest? I can’t drink this dry liquid thing.”
The katzune shook her head rapidly, looking terrified as she turned her head back towards the entrance— or at least, what remained of it.
“Lady Hestia, are you sure you can be so casual? Sir Alikar and Dame Anivh are fighting right now.” I turned my head to my right, staring at Eshe as she had her eyes closed. Bright light could be seen escaping her eyelids.
“Nah, not really, but I don’t think I need to do anything. Everything seems fine. The explosions happened, your knights turned into giants and now they are mowing down everything you deem an enemy. All I need to do is protect you two, right?”
“Muuuuuuuuuuuun!”
Speaking of the devil, I snapped my head back to the entrance, noticing in the next second how parts of the wall were being destroyed. With slow, heavy steps, a bulky giant in heavy metal armor appeared before me, dual wielding a giant khopesh and greatsword.
In the next moment, the right side of our room also broke down, revealing a four-armed, lanky giant clad in armor and a dress. In its front arms it dual wielded two khopeshes while the hind ones held a bow and spear respectively.
““Theeeee enemiessss areee vanquisheeed.”” A metallic bass followed their voices out of their helmets, hard to listen to but not too difficult to understand.
“Thank you my knights, however, we have much more to do. I can see through your eyes… more enemies are coming. Please, be ready.” Eshe held her hands in prayer before two magic circle appeared on the giant’s bodies, healing them of any wounds. Holy light then surrounded their bodies like an aura, before they resumed their fighting.
Champions and Saints — blessed of the gods — all received some sorta boon from their sworn deity. You may call them cheats, in a way, but it was important for the gods to reward their servants, handing them something they could protect themselves with.
Mine was the unique skill [Idol].
In Eshe’s case…
“In the holy Goddess’s iridescent light, walk forward and protect me—” Eshe kept her shining eyes shut, preparing herself to cast the next spell through her unique skill. “— My Sworn Knights!”
[Honored, Sworn Knight], that was her unique!
