STGB Episode 493

Declaration of War(4)

I continued to run down the empty corridor, smashing through walls as I went. Whenever my path was blocked, I swung my hammer again.

Kwaaaaah-!

Occasionally, the area beyond the wall is completely blocked and no path appears, but that’s no big deal.

Given the structure of the building, there’s always a way up or down.

Just like this.

Quang-!

After breaking through the ceiling and climbing up to the next floor, I’m greeted by a rather strange sight.

The lighting is much darker.

A long, narrow corridor lined with dozens of cages on both sides.

And inside them, numerous races.

Though not barbarians, they all have the same tattoos in similar places.

‘Slaves. …….’

Despite the sudden appearance of a giant barbarian smashing through the floor, they just stare into space with lifeless eyes.

As a 21st century barbarian, it felt strange.

So, there are still slaves in this world…

Technically, slavery is illegal in Raphdonia as well.

At one point, those who committed crimes could legally be reduced to slaves, but after a legal reform about 100 years ago, slavery disappeared from this world.

Slaves who had committed heinous crimes were immediately executed,   and those who became slaves due to minor crimes or unpaid fines regained their civil status.

Most of them died shortly after because they couldn’t afford to pay taxes.

“Hey.”

I spoke to one of the few slaves whose eyes still showed some life.

“!”

I spoke to a child who still had a glimmer of life in his eyes.

“……!”

The child flinched and pressed his back against the wall when I addressed him.

Regardless, I asked,

“How did you end up here?”

Unfortunately, the response came from the thug who had followed me up.

“……S-stop! Baron Jandel!”

What? What are you going to do if I don’t stop?

He can’t do anything but stand there and watch me.

I ignored him and kept my gaze fixed on the child.

Surprisingly, the thug’s shout seemed to have helped a bit.

“The giant…?”

Murmuring my nickname under his breath, the kid opened his eyes wide and stepped toward the bars.

“The giant… they said you’re a hero. That you save people and punish villains… Is that true?”

“Well, to some extent.”

“……Did you come to save us?”

“No.”

I answered honestly.

“I found you by chance. So tell me. How did you get here?”

Even in the midst of this, the hug begged me to stop, and the boy, looking back and forth, finally spoke.

“My mum… couldn’t pay her debts. So they said I had to pay them.”

“And your mum? What happened to her?”

“She couldn’t pay her taxes… so they said she died.”

“And the fairy woman next to you?”

I glanced at the woman in the same cell and asked. The child whispered, “Riley… she couldn’t pay her debts either. She said she could have paid, but the bad people wouldn’t let her. So they brought her here.”

“…”

“…She said she’d escape and come back to save me, but after they took her away a few times, she stopped talking.”

“I see.”

It seemed I understood why this kid was the only one with lively eyes. Those with a spirit of resistance underwent even harsher brainwashing.

Human will can be easily broken.

Well, I’ve confirmed everything I needed to…

Having finished my conversation with the child, I turned my gaze to the thug.

As our eyes met, he flinched.

Like a bully caught torturing a weak child.

Thud.

I took a step forward and asked, “Do you know?”

The thug raised his shield higher and swallowed.

“I haven’t killed anyone yet.”

I knew they were bad people, so I didn’t hold back when beating them, but I controlled my strength enough to avoid killing them.

“Why do you think that is?”

“…Because you don’t want to be completely at odds with us, the higher-ups have assessed.”

“Really?”

I coolly acknowledged.

“That’s right.”

The fact that they had maintained a defensive stance against me, the intruder, was likely because they had read my intentions.

If I had gone around killing everyone, they wouldn’t have just stood there with their shields; they would have been ordered to do whatever it takes to stay alive.

Therefore, my plan was to establish order and then negotiate with their boss to get what I wanted.

But…

“If you have something you want, say it now.”

Plan B is always Plan B.

In this world full of variables, there are always things you can’t control.

Like this.

“We are ready to talk with the baron—”

Before the thug could finish his sentence, I punched him in the jaw.

Crack!

Like a baseball, he flew and hit the side wall, collapsing and twitching like a bug.

“He’s sturdy.”

I commented nonchalantly.

“I swung with the intention to kill this time.”

The thugs behind him twitched in unison, not yet understanding the situation.

“What does this mean?”

Ah, that?

“Baron, didn’t you say earlier? That you didn’t want to be at odds with us”

“Yeah, I did say that earlier.”

I looked at the writhing figure and raised my hammer.

His expression changed.

“Stop. You’ll regret this…….”

What a strange thing to say.

“Why would I regret it?”

With those words, I brought the hammer down with all my strength.

Crunch-!

The writhing figure stopped moving.

“You’re the ones who should regret it.”

Isn’t that right?

***

“…….”

“…….”

There was no further conversation. After I brought the hammer down, the thugs clenched their mouths shut and focused all their attention on my every move.

Swoosh.

As I took a step forward, they stepped back in unison.

I was timing my next move when—

Creeeak!

A door opened behind me.

Turning around, I saw a thick iron door at the end of the corridor between the cells opening.

A middle-aged man, heavily guarded by several thugs, appeared.

“Let’s stop here, Baron Jandel.”

“Who are you?”

“I am Mel, the current president of the Shadow Guild.”

In simple terms, this guy was the master of the black market.

Mel gestured to his subordinates.

“How is that friend doing? Is he still alive?”

“…He’s still breathing, President.”

“Good.”

Then Mel asked me, “Baron Jandel. Before we start a formal conversation, may I first attend to my friend’s injuries?”

“Do you think I, a baron of Raphdonia, would accept the demands of rebels?”

“Haha, rebels… It seems you have a very poor opinion of us, Baron.”

“Well, is there any reason for me to think highly of you, who have such a ridiculous disregard for the law?

“Hmm, is that so?”

He nodded as if my words made sense.

“Everyone, step back.”

His order widened everyone’s eyes.

“President!”

“It’s too dangerous!”

His subordinates collectively protested, but President Mel’s determination was unyielding.

“I won’t say it twice.” 

Maybe he is normally so strict that they wouldn’t dare defy him—because one sentence was all it took to make them clear the area without another word.

Step. Step.

Soon President Mel was walking down the now empty corridor towards me.

Honestly, I was quite bewildered.

What’s this? Is this guy actually incredibly strong? Or is he some kind of clone that doesn’t care if he dies?

As all sorts of possibilities swirled in my mind—

Swoosh.

The man reached me, turned his back, and crouched down. He then pulled out a potion from his pocket and poured it over the thug.

Sizzle-!

Bubbles rose from the half-crushed face of the thug.

A moment ago, he was on death’s doorstep, but now his body twitched slightly.

“Top-grade potion.”

“Yes”

I couldn’t understand it at all.

What the hell is going on here?

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure it out, so I just asked bluntly, “What are you trying to do?”

“I saved my subordinate who was about to die.”

“Even though you could die?”

“Yes. Because he’s one of my people.”

For a moment, I was speechless.

I had seen many leaders before, but this type was new to me.

“And you’d risk your life for that?”

“Value is subjective, isn’t it?  Just like how you, Baron, changed your thoughts after seeing these slaves.”

“…You’re a funny man.”

“So, shall we move to another place? This doesn’t seem like a good spot for a conversation.”

With that, he turned his back and walked away, and I, still baffled, followed him.

After passing through several doors, we arrived at a small room.

“It’s one of the private rooms prepared for our guests. We’ve sent all the guests back to the city, so no one will disturb us.”

He sat at the table in the center of the room.

Then he gave me a look that said, “Aren’t you going to sit?”

At this point, I couldn’t help but ask, “Aren’t you afraid?”

“I am.”

“Your actions don’t show it.”

“But what can I do? If I harm Baron Yandel, this place and my family will be finished. I’m not that reckless.”

“Isn’t this reckless?”

“If I die, that’s the end of it. Someone else will take my place, and everything will return to normal. The lowest places always collect the filth.”

“…….”

“Ah, of course, you’ll just vent your anger and leave without getting what you want.”

What kind of guts does this guy have?

I hadn’t talked to him for long, but I could feel it.

This guy wasn’t ordinary.

However, I was tired of being dragged along.

“So, what do you want to say?”

“It’s not for me to speak but for you, Baron. You must have something you want since you came here.”

Ah, that’s true.

Damn, now I don’t have anything to say.

Since it had come to this, I decided not to care about taking the lead and just stated what I wanted.

“Give me the identities of the clients.”

That was the main reason I had visited the black market.

[Some mages… have placed orders in the black market.]

Those who, due to the dwindling supply, had come to the black market to obtain a barbarian’s heart.

[Ah, at the black market… there’s a request for your heart, Baron…]

And even further, those who had requested my heart.

And…….

[I, really… I just received a request at the black market, that’s all… I don’t even know who the client is…]

Those who dared to disrupt the floor lord raid.

“I see… so that’s why you came here, Baron Jandel.”

“Spare me the small talk, just answer the question.”

“Asking us for the identities of our clients is a rather difficult request from our point of view.”

“So you’re saying you won’t do it?”

“No, I’m a merchant. Even if it reduces the number of future requests, it’s still more profitable than becoming your enemy, Baron.”

“So what does that mean?”

“I will compile the information on the customers so that you can have it by the end of the day.”

Mel agreed to my request without hesitation.

It was a completely unexpected turn of events.

No matter how much of a fuss I’d caused, I’d expected it to take a lot more back and forth to get him to comply.

“So are we done here?”

“No. There’s one more thing.”

“Go ahead.”

Then I made one last demand of Mel.

“Release the slaves you have locked up.”

There was no way I could just walk away after seeing all this.

“Hmm… Baron Jandel, it seems you believe in the dignity of human life?”

“You ask a lot of questions. I thought that was a yes or no question.”

“…May I take a moment to calculate something?”

“Go ahead.”

With my permission, Mel bravely closed his eyes and began to think. He kept them closed for about three minutes before opening them again.

“Very well. I will free all the slaves and promise not to deal in the slave trade from now on.”

“…You decided that rather quickly.”

I probed, but once again, he answered smoothly—like it was nothing to hide.

“In truth, I’ve wanted to end that business for quite some time.”

“You wanted to shut it down?”

“Too many buyers failed to manage the slaves properly, and it nearly caused huge problems on several occasions.”

He added that he’d tried more than once to close the business, but since it had been passed down through generations and generated high profits, there was never enough justification to do so.

“Now that Baron Jandel is involved, no one will be able to oppose closing it. It actually works out for the best.”

“…”

“So, does that fulfill all your demands?”

“Yeah. Once I receive the client information and take charge of the freed slaves, I’ll be out of your sight.”

“In that case, I should handle everything as quickly as possible.”

With that, he called his subordinates and gave them a series of orders. By the time dawn broke, I had the information on the clients and custody of several hundred slaves.

Afterward…

“Mel Asmond.”

Before leaving, I asked him:

“Why are you giving in on everything so easily?”

He didn’t answer right away, only gave me a curious look.

“I see you already know of our family, Baron Yandel.”

Of course, I’d heard about this clan that had ruled the black market for ages—even played through the black market episode in the game.

But…

“That’s not what I asked, is it?”

When I pressed him again, he finally revealed his honest thoughts.

“Heroes tend to die young. There’s no reason for us to take the falling blade.”

In other words, he’s saying that someone like me, who acts the way I do, is bound to die soon.

‘Interesting guy.’

Mel Asmond, the master of the black market.

Somehow, I had a feeling I’d be seeing him again.

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