Crowne waited long enough until the three n finally ca out of the guild. When they exited, he imdiately approached them and beat them repeatedly. Until he learned that they were not the ones who assaulted Lyrica and her party. They only saw that situation by accident.
"Do you know where Lyrica is?" Crowne asked.
The faces of the three adventurers turned pale, and they quickly answered. "We do not know, but it seems she was taken to a slave rchant. That was the last thing we heard," one of them replied.
"Take there!"
The three of them shook their heads. They did not like going to that area, but Crowne stared sharply at them. In the end, they nodded and imdiately led Crowne toward that place. It turned out the place was not far from there. When they arrived, Crowne was shocked because there were many slave seller houses.
If counted, perhaps there were more than fifteen houses, and it was done openly. As if slavery was a normal thing there. Sothing Crowne had never seen in the three cities he visited before.
"Isn’t human trafficking illegal?" Crowne asked.
The three adventurers looked at Crowne. "Yes, but rumors say this business is handled by a duke. So no one can interfere with it."
Crowne was shocked to hear that. He did not expect a Duke to do sothing this insane. As a noble, they were supposed to protect many people. Crowne’s father was also cruel and often raised taxes and acted arbitrarily, but not as insane as this.
He did not expect soone even more insane than his father. Crowne was now convinced that there existed a noble far more unreasonable than this duke.
"This cannot be allowed," Crowne said.
"What do you want to do? Stop slavery?" one of the adventurers asked him.
The question sounded like it was belittling Crowne. It made him frown. He stared even sharper at that adventurer.
The adventurer lifted his hands to protect his head as if he would be hit, but Crowne did not do anything. He was relieved and walked normally again.
"This has already beco sothing normal in the capital. Even citizens often buy personal slaves. Not only the wealthy, but so ordinary people also buy slaves." He rubbed his chin, thinking for a mont. "It seems around sixty percent of the capital’s population owns slaves. If you try to stop this, then many people will hate you."
Sixty percent was a huge number. If the capital had one hundred thousand people, then sixty thousand of them owned slaves. That was an insane number. If there were that many slave owners, it also ant that more than sixty thousand slaves had been sold.
Of course, Crowne was sure the sixty percent ntioned by the adventurer was only an estimation. Not the exact number. But that number did not appear without reason. He could say such a thing because many people he knew owned slaves.
Crowne shuddered imagining this madness. He was originally an adult man from the modern world. Naturally, slavery was sothing inhumane in his world. There were even legal institutions created specifically to protect the rights of individuals. Although, sotis those were only formalities.
"If I destroy all these houses, what will happen?" Crowne asked.
The three adventurers imdiately turned toward Crowne. They quickly shook their heads. "Are you crazy? If you do that, you will beco a fugitive hunted by everyone," one of them said.
Crowne stayed silent, standing and staring at the slave seller houses. Each house had at least two guards at the front and a woman wearing revealing clothing who kept shouting at people passing by, offering them to enter the place.
Crowne only watched. He did nothing until he let out a long sigh. "It seems you only need to guide this far," he said.
Two of the adventurers were relieved because they did not have to follow Crowne inside, but one of them kept staring at Crowne with suspicious eyes. He looked at Crowne for quite a long ti, almost three minutes.
"You are not planning to do what you said earlier, right?" the adventurer asked.
Crowne initially only stared forward. Then he turned and replied, "No. I am not that insane."
The adventurer was relieved because if Crowne did that, he would be dragged into trouble since he appeared to be guiding Crowne there. He could be accused of cooperating and be killed by rcenaries hired by the slave sellers.
He turned around and began walking away. "I hope you do not do sothing foolish," the man said.
Crowne remained silent there. Staring at the houses in front of him. Then he walked into the area. There were many houses, which made him confused. Searching for Lyrica would be very difficult. He scratched his head for quite a while, frustrated.
"This will be troubleso," he complained.
He had no choice but to enter each one and ask whether the na Lyrica, Gorhan, or ya was there. If not, he would visit the next house. He would repeat that until he checked every place.
He was sure he would find the three of them.
**
Three hours passed, and Crowne did not find Lyrica, Gorhan, or ya at all. In every slave house, none of them recognized those three nas. Either they truly did not exist there, or they were lying.
Or another possibility, they did not recognize the nas because so slaves were sold without nas.
"Should I check again?" Crowne muttered.
But when he looked up. The day was already heading toward evening. Soon, he had to et Ruth. He needed to postpone his search for now. And also, he could ask Ruth for help to find Lyrica and her party. They were all mbers of the Adventurers Guild. They should be responsible for them.
"Maybe I can et that bastard."
He hoped he would et Garl in the guild. That would make everything easier. He would only need to force Garl to tell him where Lyrica was.
Crowne turned around and began walking back to the guild. Passing by the slave seller houses again. He looked upset.
"Master, I am surprised you care about soone you barely know," Sylvara said.
"I am human. Of course I do not like seeing other humans turned into slaves. Naturally, humans desire freedom. When that freedom is taken, they tend to feel uneasy," Crowne replied.
"What if the ones enslaved are other races? Would you feel the sa?"
Crowne fell silent. He could not imdiately answer because he was not sure what he should say. He thought for quite a while.
"Maybe," he replied.
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