Of course, I didn’t care who Bednicker made enemies of. As I’d said before, I had no particular regrets about the family I grew up in.
Still, there were two main reasons I wanted to prevent this disaster...
First, no matter what, Bednicker was the most active family when it ca to subjugating cults. The weaker they beca, the stronger the Church of Darkness would grow.
It might sound a bit ridiculous to say that the influence of a single family could directly affect the Empire’s greatest enemy, but it was the truth. Even without the individual restraining force of the Lord of Blood and Iron, Bednicker had long since surpassed the power of an ordinary family.
In reality, even I, now the deputy family head, didn’t know one-fourth of the family’s true power.
Second, and this was actually the main reason, I wanted to closely observe the duke’s ideology.
Of course, there was no such thing as compromise for the Lord of Blood and Iron when it ca to the cult and demons. His children were probably the sa as well.
I wanted to see how far this bloodline supremacy could tolerate the wandering, rebelling, or corruption of his own kin.
I thought it would be wrong for the Lord of Blood and Iron to try to kill Raizen for having a small connection with demons... If he tried that, he needed to change.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say he should bend his beliefs or compromise with his enemies, but one should make no mistake in choosing where to direct their hatred and resentnt, especially when that person was as powerful as the duke.
Not to ntion that a closed-minded person was bound to make many enemies.
That man needs to learn how to be flexible.
So far, from what I’d seen, Raizen hadn’t committed a cri worthy of death.
Compared to the fact that his youngest kid was a high priest of the cult, this was almost like child’s play.
“Luan, the situation here is more or less under control.”
“You didn't kill him, right?”
“Nope.”
“Good job.” I thought for a mont before saying, “Stay here and watch these guys for a while.”
“What about you?”
“I'm going to go backstage for a minute.”
“By yourself?” Hallo asked, her tone sowhat sharp and an. She was trying to say, Who do you think you are, going there alone?
Before I could say anything, Ashol coldly said, “Just let him go.”
“What?”
“It's related to his family, Hallo. It’s not sothing we should get involved with.”
“Ugh.” Hallo, who flinched like she’d taken a hit, muttered in a low voice, “...Fine.”
“Great, then I’ll leave this place to you guys.”
I nodded once and headed straight for the backstage.
The stage was bright, but the area with the seats was still dim. Thanks to that, I could move without drawing any eyes.
”1,000 gold!”
”1,100 gold!”
“Damn, 1,500 gold!”
The auction was heating up. The amounts popping up here and there were making my hands and feet tremble...
At this point, I couldn’t even guess how much the demon, the highlight of today’s auction, would sell for.
I finally managed to get to the back of the stage in the midst of the frenzied auction atmosphere.
Nobody tried to stop , nor did I see any staff mbers from the auction. It seed that I had just fought most of the auction staff.
“Hey, who are you?!”
“You're not supposed to be here!”
However, behind the stage, where the auction items to be presented were stored, there were about four or five guys who looked like guards.
None of them were wearing animal masks, so they were probably small fry.
Bam! Bam bam!
“Urgh.”
“Keuk.”
“Gasp...”
I quickly subdued them, then glanced around.
“...”
I spotted the slaves behind bars.
I knew a thing or two about the general attitude of slaves.
Naturally, most of them would wallow in denial, pessimism, and despair. The few who seed full of life were, in fact, consud by vicious hatred and anger. Whether they’d been born slaves or beca slaves for so reason, their identity as slaves was what made them that way.
But these guys’ attitudes...
“Gosh dang it, it’s so cramped. Move over!”
“Just fold those pigeon-like wings of yours. That would make both our lives so much easier.”
“You think that's easy? Damn it, who the hell thought it was a good idea to put a lizardman and winged celestials in the sa space?”
“This auction is taking longer than expected... I'm starting to feel sleepy.”
“Damn it. If I had just won the lottery, I would’ve been out of here already.”
“...”
What should I even call this?
It didn’t feel like slaves in cages. It felt more like people experiencing what it was like to be caged as slaves.
These guys didn't even say anything when I beat up the guards. So of them even whistled.
That was when I locked eyes with a pretty-looking fairy woman.
“Wow... what a...”
“...?”
“Handso guy.”
“...”
The fairy woman smiled and asked, “You co from a well-off family, right? Hm? Am I right?”
I looked at her with suspicious eyes, wondering where this was going. “Well, I didn't grow up with nothing.”
Her eyes lit up. “Then buy ! I'm good at Elental Spirit Arts and I can read ancient languages to an extent. I’m also only 120 years old, so I’m still young and healthy.”
“What a load of bull,” a gruff voice interrupted with a scoff. It was the dwarf in the cage next to the fairy. “He's 300 years old this year. And he’s actually a man.”
“You crazy bastard! Why are you shoving your ass up in other people's business?”
“Heh. Call it revenge for last ti. Anyway, ignore him. What about ? I may be from the South, but I've lived in the capital for 50 years. I have a diploma from an artisan academy. I can do anything from painting to sculpting, calligraphy, crafts, and architecture. And I’m only 500 gold right now! How about it? Good bargain, ain’t I right?”
“Don’t fall for his sh*t! This bastard’s eyesight is so bad he’ll soon be blind as a bat! To fix his eyes, you’d need to call a high-ranking priest from the Church of the Sun, and that would cost several hundred more gold!”
“You crazy bitch?”
I approached the two bickering figures. For so reason, they were the most energetic among the slaves.
“Let ask you sothing,” I said.
“Huh? Uh sure, but...” The fairy woman... No, the fairy man cocked his head and said, “Have we ever t before? You look familiar.”
“My ancestors were fairies.”
“Oh, but why do I feel so uneasy?”
“I'm a dark fairy.”
“Aha.”
Fairies and dark fairies might share ancestors, but they were more distant than other races. Though they shared a race, their personalities and cultures were completely different. I rembered there’d been significant resistance when the seven races tried to lump all fairies together.
Now that I thought about it, wasn’t it said that the more similar two beings were, the more they tended to avoid associating with one another?
For instance, for humans, wasn’t it more unsettling to see a talking gorilla than a talking pig?
“Okay. Ask anything. What do you want to know?”
“You two are slaves, but you don't seem particularly unhappy with your situation.”
“I know, right? I got myself into this ss by doing sothing stupid.”
“Yeah. The contract with the Zairen Trading Company is considered relatively fair in the industry.”
“Zairen Trading Company?”
“Yep. When I borrowed money from Zairen Trading Company, I signed an agreent that if I couldn’t repay, I would beco a slave.”
“...”
* * * * *
* * * * *
Zairen... It was an anagram of Raizen. He must have built the trading company up himself. That wasn’t unexpected, though, since it took a lot of money to run an underground auction of this scale.
“You beca a slave because you owe a few bucks? Isn't that a bit much?”
“Not really. It’s called slavery, but ownership doesn’t pass on to future generations. Slaves are freed whenever the owner dies. It usually lasts 20 years at the shortest, 30–40 years at most. Oh, of course, that’s a long ti in a human’s eyes...”
“And if there’s abuse, imprisonnt, or any other inhumane treatnt, the contract can be terminated anyti.”
“So... it’s only slavery in na. It’s basically just long-term employnt?”
“Pretty much?”
“...”
Then this wasn’t a slave auction. It was more like a broker for employers and workers.
Of course, it was still a twisted version of such a thing.
If that’s the case...
That ant most of the slaves here had already agreed to their current situation...
Selling other things, like monsters or mystical beast eggs—or their babies—wasn’t exactly illegal in the empire.
In other words, the Abyss Auction was not exactly legal, but it was within a gray area between legal and illegal.
Except for that one thing.
That one thing in the catalog. An item that not only involved imperial law but also the Lord of Blood and Iron.
I was talking about the demon.
At first, I’d thought Raizen was crazy, but the more I listened, the more I wondered. Raizen surprisingly knew how to draw the line.
In the first place, business was all about balancing on a tightrope. You had to make deals, establish trade zones, dispute territories, and build networks. In the midst of all that, even a small slip-up could lead to imdiate losses.
In that line of business, if he had the resources to set up such an auction, Raizen’s talent had to be extraordinary.
Hm. There has to be sothing more. Am I missing sothing?
I thought for a mont, then turned back to the two of them. “Did you see a demon, by any chance?”
“A demon? Oh, I heard about that. Haven’t seen one, though. I didn't think they’d handle sothing like that.”
“It’s only possible because it’s the Zairen Trading Company. I’ve heard there's nothing you can't get at the Abyss Auction so long as you can pay the price.”
“Right? And I heard that many people were asking for demons for this auction.”
“Why is that?”
“Well, a demon lord nearly descended in the Imperial City, and because of that, an archmage even retired.”
They were surprisingly well-inford for slaves. I wondered if the trading company gave them newspapers to read or sothing.
“Everywhere you turn within the empire right now, it's all people are talking about.”
“Which isn’t surprising. Demons were once only found in books, but suddenly, one showed up in the middle of The Empire? Of course loaded folks would be interested in them.”
“Zairen Trading Company has plenty of people like those in their network,” the fairy added.
“The Abyss Auction has never ignores a custor's request. If the client wants ice from the desert, they’ll make it happen. That kind of trust and faith is the greatest strength of the Zairen Trading Company.”
“...”
The trading company’s reputation.
Raizen Bednicker’s tendencies.
The statents I’d just heard, and the demon’s existence...
All the separate pieces of the puzzle clicked together in my mind, leading to a sudden conclusion.
No way... Is that bastard perhaps...?
Disbelief settled, and instantly, my body moved on autopilot.
“Huh? W-wait! Hold on a sec! I answered everything, so you’re gonna buy , right?”
“No! Forget this pointy ears, pick—!”
“No thanks!” I shouted over my shoulder.
Where the hell was Raizen?
The space behind the stage was pretty big, so it wasn't easy to find him in the first place.
So instead of looking for Raizen, I tried thinking like the Lord of Blood and Iron.
If I were the Lord of Blood and Iron, how would I break in?
...By blending in with the lowest-ranking tier.
Judging by the crowd, there were a lot of Black-tier guests... but the lowest rank seed to be White. Naturally, they had the greatest numbers.
Based on that, I assud the Lord of Blood and Iron and the Sky-Sundering Sword entered in the White tier.
I’d bet that with their level of perception, they definitely picked up the noise of the fight around Raizen.
With most of the auction house's security focused on us, it would have been a perfect ti to make a move unnoticed.
The Lord of Blood and Iron wants to finish this quietly, without revealing himself.
The level of security here wasn't exactly top-tier to begin with. He could have wrecked this whole place solo and still walked away without a scratch.
Even so, he had sought help from , the Sky-Sundering Sword, and the Sky-Sundering Sword’s two disciples, aning he wanted to finish things up relatively quietly.
Wolf told Raizen to check the backstage area, but...
Now that I thought about it, that could have been a fake to misdirect us.
I was flipping through everything in search of Raizen, but he was nowhere to be found here.
“Backstage” might have been a code, then.
If that was the case, then what they really ant was...
Escape this place, ASAP?
I activated my golden fire eyes and scanned the area.
My eyes saw through the darkness and all obstacles, revealing every detail of my surroundings.
Eventually, I found it—hidden stairs leading to the roof. Racing up them was Raizen, his back turned to .
But he didn't seem to realize...
Death itself waited at the end of those stairs.
Argh, for fuck’s sake...!
I launched forward with lightning-walker steps.
Sparks of lightning crackled in my vision.
It beca imdiately obvious that I definitely shouldn’t use this technique often while out of shape. My joints were creaking and straining under the pressure.
I quickly shot across the backstage area, found the hidden stairs, and bolted up them.
As I did, I stared up and saw Raizen and the Lord of Blood and Iron co face to face.
The mont Raizen flinched, the Lord of Blood and Iron drew his blade...
Raizen, using what decent reflexes he had, twisted his body, trying to dodge the incoming strike...
But his opponent was the Lord of Blood and Iron.
Even if he dodged the slash, he wouldn’t escape the blade of wind slashing toward him.
Just as the chilling blade wind was about to reach Raizen, I arrived—just barely in ti.
BOOOOOM!
First Technique. Scorching heat.
My outstretched fist was able to block the powerful blade wind.
“Phew...!”
I tried to shake off the chills that ran down my spine. If I had been even a second too late, Raizen would have died...
Not only that, the attack I’d just blocked from the Lord of Blood and Iron was anything but ordinary.
The duke stopped his attack and tilted his head to the side, sword still drawn. “Explain.”
A short demand. A single word that placed a heavy pressure on my chest. My life was nearly on the line. If I said sothing stupid here, the tip of that blade would point toward .
I twisted the corners of my mouth into an awkward smile and said, “I think you're making a mistake.”
“A mistake?”
“Yes. You must not kill Raizen.”
“...”
The Lord of Blood and Iron gazed at , telling to keep talking... so I voiced the conclusion I had drawn.
Getting straight to the point, I said, “There was never a demon here to begin with.” I turned to look behind . “Right, Elder Brother?”
“...”
Raizen remained silent, his expression unreadable.
____
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