Skeleton Knight, in Volume 2 - Ch 21

Translator: Silver Editor: Namorax

Raid on the Etsuato companyPart 2

What is that? Do they have a Magician!?

The water wolves summoned by Chios ninjutsu evaded the sword swings of the guards and began to bite into their arms and legs, making them scream and roll on the floor in agony.

Occasionally a sword would hit one of the wolves, but the blade would pass right through it, making

think that normal swords couldnt affect them.

Ariane was about to jump into the fray but she stopped for a mont in order to analyze Chios movents.

Since her face was covered by the mask her expression couldnt be seen, but her astonishnt easily ca through.

However, the pause was only for a brief mont, imdiately after that the two of them started to cut down one injured guard after another.

My heart was conflicted since I knew that these were just guards hired to keep the peace and arrest thieves.

But looking at the way humans treated the People of the Plains and Mountains, I couldnt help but question this ambiguous situation and the ever changing values of an era.

I shook those thoughts out of my head and focused on the present where I needed to do my job and free the slaves.

There were about twenty people in this cell and I just finished cutting the last of the chains.

However, there were still a significant number of people chained up in the other cells.

I opened up the next cell like the first one and start cutting chains one after another. The freed people took the initiative and started working on freeing the others.

Thanks to that the rate at which the slaves were freed increased.

The number of guards continued to increase, but as youd expect from a race with high physical abilities, once they picked up the scattered weapons and joined Ariane and Chio, the guards were instantly repelled.

anwhile, the number of people freed numbered almost seventy, and a considerable amount of them had joined the battle against the guards.

The number of guards coming here has increased and the building was already under siege.

Simply put, we were approaching the limits of this passageway and this situation was highly advantageous for the high-spec People of the Plains and Mountains.

Because of the indoor guerilla warfare the kingdoms army couldnt make use of their nurical advantage, but there was still a chance for them to grow impatient and level the entire building with a barrage of magic.

We could not afford to take things slow and steady.

Since others were now helping

free everyone, I made destroying the cages my top priority and moved deeper into the building.

Before long I ca across a large gate with a group of guards glaring in my direction.

One of the larger guards was holding up two struggling children by their necks. The long rabbit ear and drooping dog ears made it clear that the little girls dressed in old rags werent human.

You! Thats quite the fancy outfit you got there! Bastard do you think we dont know youre beastman from Emancipator!? Itd be a sha if sothing happened to these kids, right?

I am not part of Emancipator, I am Arc. Why dont you just let the children go?

It was only after I introduced myself and requested the release of the children did I realized my mistake.

Crap, despite going through the trouble of wearing a mask I just gave them my na.

Internally, I was tearing out my hair for my carelessness. The opposition took my silence as an indication that having the hostages was effective because the large man gave a vulgar smile as he tightened his hold on the girls necks.

Bwaha! Dont resist if you want them to live!! A good deal, right? Be sure to behave yourself!

Spit flew from the mans mouth as he shouted while the other n started to smirk as they draw their weapons and gradually shrink their encirclent.

As the distance between myself and the other n shortened, the corners of the large mans mouth began to raise as he was assured of his victory.

The mont the n were about swing their weapons, I used Dinsional Step to transfer behind the large man.

I grasped the mans head with both hands and twisted with all my might.

There was a dull sound of bones breaking and the man was now making eye contact with .

The mans eyes widened in surprise for a mont as the muscles beneath his neck gave out, his pants darkened with waste, and the children fell from his arms.

His body fell to the floor like a doll that had been smashed against the wall.

The girls freed from the chokehold coughed for a bit before they looked up at

in fright.

Close your eyes for a bit. The scary n will be gone soon.

Kyun.

I softly patted the heads of the two five or six-year-old girls, who had to see Ponta around my neck, before giving

a nod and covering their eyes with their hands while calmly sitting down on the spot.

Shit! What did you do!?

The n that had been smirking just a second ago as they surrounded

were now shaken and trying to figure out what happened.

I took advantage of their confusion and struck down the closest n.

I swung my fist with explosive force into the mans face and chest, and the resulting sound of bones shattering caused the others to scream.

Not even ten seconds had passed before the heads and chests of the remaining n were all completely deford.

I had thought that a battered corpse would have been better than a bloody one, but that doesnt seem to be the case.

When I returned to the girls that had kept their eyes closed as promised, I whispered to avoid startling them.

Its alright, you can now open your eyes. The scary n are gone.

Inside I was sneering at myself for saying that while wearing a feather decorated ogre mask, when I heard familiar voices from behind .

Arc, were finished over there. The next area should be the only place left, right?

Arc-dono, sorry for making you wait.

The introduction of Arianes masked form frightened the girls, but when they saw their stealthily dressed, cat-eared brethren, they cald down again.

Once things are finished here we can escape with transfer magic.

I spoke my confirmation while opening the large door that led to the last area of the building.

The nice looking furniture and the table surrounded by chairs gave the place the atmosphere of a small, clean residence.

It must have been a conference room used for business negotiations.

While I looked around the room, the two little girls peeked through the door before entering the room.

Chio entered after the two, followed by Ariane while I brought up the rear.

After opening another door, we followed a long passage when we started to sll sothing rancid.

The room at the end of the passage reeked of sweat and dried grass, and was filled with almost completely nude People of the Plains and Mountains chained to the wall.

Many of the won here had bulging stomachs that indicated a pregnancy and all of them were frightened the mont they saw .

The girls ran up and tearfully embraced two different won that were both dressed in rags and had large stomachs.

This couldnt be anything but a breeding pen

They were impregnating these won to sell the children as slaves I doubted the practice would be very profitable, but judging by the scale of this company its likely that this was a small, experintal farm.

There was no way to not feel nauseated after looking at this.

Ariane-dono, could you please see if you can find them sothing to wear.

Yeah, I got it

When I called out to her, a speechless Ariane quickly left the room in search of sothing to dress these poor won in.

Chio frowned and had to close her eyes and calm herself down before she started to speak in her usual, monotonous voice

I know how to pick locks, lets hurry up and get away from this place.

Alright.

Chio kneeled down in front of one of the wons fetters before taking out a set of small tal tools from her breast pocket. After fiddling with the keyhole for a mont, the fetters ca off with a Gachari sound.

Following her example, I cut the chains of a nearby dog-eared man with my sword. Since it was difficult to use a two-handed sword in such a situation, I was thinking about getting a sharp dagger.

Ariane finally returned after everyones hands and feet had been freed.

There werent many clothes, so well have to make do with these.

She was holding out a bundle of cloth in her hands.

A closer look at the larger pieces of cloth revealed that they were actually bed sheets and curtains. I suppose that wearing these was better than nothing.

I took a few and started handing them out along with Ariane.

Arc-dono, lets move these people first.

Fine, lets used the hall from before as our base of operations.

Following my reply, Chio started to lead the people to the hall we passed through.

The people started to stir and question what was going to happen as I stood at the center of the room and invoked the spell, pouring in more mana than usual.

Transfer Gate

Once the magic was invoked, a larger than normal magic formation spread out across the halls floor and illuminated the whole room.

The gathered people went stiff and the animal ears atop their heads stood up in attention.

Things went dark for one mont and in the next mont the petrified people were standing in a plain illuminated by moonlight.

The wind carried the sounds of insects as it blew across the surrounding grass. Visible in the distant south was the royal capital Olav.

After we bought the masks from the street vendor we had co here to perform a preliminary inspection of a possible transfer destination. Though I couldnt see the entire capital like I did during the dayti, it still had more street lights than other cities.

When people started to understand the situation, so began to cry tears of joy while others asked Chio for an explanation.

Space opened up around us since no one wanted to approach the two cloaked figures that wore strange masks.

Or thats what I thought until the rabbit-eared girl I saved and the won that seed to be her mother walked up to

with tears in their eyes and half sobbed Thank you while bowing in front of .

Uhmmm, as long as you take care of your daughter

As I nodded and responded to her thanks, I noticed a group of people approaching from the shadows.

Although I couldnt make them out all that well in the moonlight, they were dressed in ninja garbs similar to Chios and they all had cat ears atop their heads.

Chio went over to have a long talk with the new group before she turned and began to speaking to everyone in her usual monotone voice.

These people will lead you to a safe location. Follow the instructions they give.

After speaking amongst themselves for a bit, the freed people began following Chios cat ninja companions.

Leave things to them. Lets return and free the others.

Alright. Lets go!

The magic formation of Transfer Gatelit up and I set the hall back at the Etsuato company as the destination.

The mont we returned to the hall we found ourselves surrounded by weapon-wielding People of the Plains and Mountains that were staring at us in surprise.

Huh!? Who!?

They were all surprised when three people suddenly appeared out of nowhere, but they cald down when they realized that we were the sa people that had freed them.

Sorry, we didnt realize it was you all. You wouldnt happen to know what happened to our brethren that were imprisoned in this area?

One middle-aged looking man with dog ears stepped forward as the groups representative and asked for the whereabouts of the others.

They have already been moved out of the building. My companions are already taking them to a hidden location.

Chio moved down her face mask before offering a brief explanation. The surrounding people sighed in relief once they heard her answer.

How goes the rescue operation and the battle against the guards?

Everyone is out of the cells, but half of them are still in chains. The guards have fortified their cordon around the building but only attack sporadically.

The dog-eared man gave Chio a report of the situation.

She lightly nodded at the report before prompting

with a look.

I nodded to her before invoking Transfer Gate once again.

After leaving the new group with Chios companions, we imdiately went back and returned to the passage with all of the cells.

A number of people hung around the cell and were in the middle of getting the fetters off the remaining people while others were fighting off the guards that occasionally attacked.

The People of the Mountains and Plains were basically the only ones left, since all the human slave traders and guards had been almost completely wiped out. A couple of guards would occasionally launch an attack, but every ti the fight started to turn into a match of endurance they would imdiately retreat.

Since there wasnt a lot of ti left we began to gather the clamoring people into groups and taking them to the grass plain with Transfer Gate.

When we had finished making all the round trips, more than a hundred People of the Plains and Mountains had been freed from the Etsuato company building.

They had all been confused and surprised by the situation, but once they realized that Transfer Gatehad taken them away from their prison to this grassy plain, one after another started to bow their heads towards .

The only real problem was that so pieces of the destroyed cells and chains ca along with everyone, which ruined the atmosphere.

Everything has gone according to plan.

Ariane muttered that as she removed her mask and lowered her hood as she stared back at the capital.

Pushing that thought into the back of my mind I nodded and said.

Ill go finish the job then.

I used Transfer Gate and returned to the Etsuato company alone.

There were no other people inside the companys building, and everything was covered by an eerie atmosphere because of the silence.

After making sure that not even a shadow of a living person was left inside I invoked a magic spell.

Stone Fangs!

When the interdiate level spell activated, stone spikes started to pierce the building from the ground, easily passing through the second floor at a sharp angle.

As all this was happening, the sound of the rumbling floor and the creaking building started to rock the area.

As a finishing blow, I began to fire Rock Bullet at the support pillars on the opposite side of the yard. When the dust settled, the pillars looked as if they were blown away with a howitzer. The sound of creaking started to get louder as the building could no longer support its own weight thus was on the verge of collapse.

It wasnt long before the building started to collapse in on itself like a chain of dominoes.

Witnessing the events unfolding till the end, I invoked Transfer Gatefor the last ti and returned to the grassy field.

Chio called out to

while I was brushing off the dust from the collapsing building.

Arc-dono, thank you for aid in this matter.

Several of Chios ninja companions turned in my direction and started to rise. Among them was a figure that I recognized.

He was dressed in similar ninja garb as Chio and had triangular ears atop his head. He was two ters and thirty centiters tall and had a body packed with steel-like muscle, he also projected the sa atmosphere as the conqueror of centurys end.

This could be no one other than the turban wearing man I had seen in the capital earlier today.

Chio introduced him as Goemon, one of the Blade Heart Clans six best ninjas.

I could totally believe that he could have destroyed a buildings gate with a single punch.

The man nad Goemon held out his rough hand and silently demanded a handshake. I rely nodded and accepted the handshake, after which he began to flex his right bicep.

I didnt understand the aning but when I assud a flexing pose he nodded in satisfaction before walking away.

I unmasked before giving Ariane a questioning glance, but she simply shook her head in response.

Without minding the atmosphere, Chio continued to offer her thanks in a light tone.

Ariane-dono, Arc-dono we cant thank you enough for the help you provided this ti.

This job helped us furthering our own agenda, so we didnt mind.

As long as we could lend a hand. Where will you go from here?

Our response was natural since we only helped Chio for the information we needed.

Chio looked up at a mountain range that laid in the horizon.

I will be heading to the hidden village located in the Calcutta mountain range.

Havnt your brethren built a large country on the southern continent?

Ariane suddenly approached Chio with a question about a country on a whole other continent.

The only change in Chios express was a lowering of her eyebrows.

Yes. However, its difficult to cross the sea with a great number of people and the climate here is acceptable for our people.

As the group of freed slaves began their trek to the Calcutta mountain range, their numbers quickly swelled beyond two hundred.

Those simultaneously rescued from the other locations were eting up here.

Considering the number of people heading to live in the hidden village and their limited ans of transportation, theres no doubt that they would be targeted by rcenaries sent out to reclaim the slaves.

It would be acceptable for you to know the location but

?

Chio thought aloud as she stared at them before she uneasily shook her head and looked back at .

No. More importantly, you two should receive your reward.

Chio straightened up before changing the topic.

Ariane and I looked directly into Chios eyes when she said that.

Drusus De Barishimon, the person that you two are looking for, is a viscount of the Holy Leburan Empire.

The sound of the blowing wind beca louder as it runs across the grassy plains and caused my cloak to greatly flutter.

It seems that this tale wouldnt just end in the Rhoden Kingdom.