The Dungeon’s Conspiracy

"Alright, this is the rest of what you're owed for the Dragon carcasses."

Relisha passed a bag over to me, and I promptly opened it up. There were

roughly twelve bags, and each had a hundred royal gold coins inside. It brought

my total up to a tidy sum of one thousand and two hundred. There was really

no point in comparing it to the currency of my old world, but it was about

twelve billion yen in total. Not too shabby at all.

Royal gold coins were rarely used in regular transactions. Instead, they were

mostly found in matters of national trade or business takeovers. That was

because losing one would be disastrous.

I'd received this much solely for the corpses of the Dragons that had attacked

Brunhild. The ones from Dragoness Island were still being kept in [Storage].

There were around a three hundred and fifty of them in total.

I didn't want to sell them all because it could've had disastrous effects on the

economy if I suddenly forced the guild to buy them all up. I knew they'd be able

to profit from them, too.

I decided I didn't want this many dead Dragon parts circulating around the

world at once, so I left it at that for the time being.

"Rumors are already beginning to spread, you know? They're whispering that

Brunhild's knight order massacred an army of rogue Dragons."

"It's a pretty unbelievable story, though. I wonder if people'll end up going

along with it."

"Me too. I was there, I saw you all do it... and even I can't believe it. But

there's no doubt, word of this country's strength is spreading like wildfire. I'm

certain that anyone with ill intent might reconsider their options, now." And

that was just what I had wanted. I didn't want a repeat of the Yulong incident,

after all.

There were still a bunch of Yulongese people prattling on and on about how I

was the great summoner of the Phrase, and how I had orchestrated the

destruction of their nation. They keep saying stuff like "Brunhild must atone for

their sins" and so on. It was annoying, frankly. I had no intentions of paying

reparations.

It was also officially declared that I had assassinated the new heavenly

emperor. There was a succession crisis in Yulong right now due to several

people vying for the title, claiming they were the illegitimate children of the guy

that died. One thing was for sure, Yulong was on its way out.

Ordinarily a nation would receive foreign aid or relief efforts after a crisis,

but... Yulong didn't get anything like that. Nobody wanted to associate

themselves with a nation of scoundrels and liars. To me, they were simply

reaping what they sowed. I couldn't muster up a single damn.

I dropped the money into [Storage] and left the guild. I wondered how much

money to give out to each soldier as a bonus. I decided that I'd be generous.

They'd earned it, after all. As I mulled over the specifics, I walked over to the

dungeon portals and checked in with the spy that Tsubaki had installed at the

nearby market.

"Yo."

"Aha. Welcome, dear customer. I've a bargain for you today."

Hm? Something happen? As he spoke up, I began inspecting the goods.

"Several people have died recently."

"...Oh. Well, that sucks but... I guess it's a real risk when you go adventuring.

Were they killed by magical beasts or something?"

"That's how it seems, at least. They simply didn't return... They were all lowranked adventurers, so it stands to reason that they overestimated themselves

and died as a result." Probably got cocky and dug too deep. People are greedy.

They should really prioritize their safety a little more, geez... It's smarter to pay

attention to your own situation rather than put yourself at risk.

"There is something a little strange about it, though. Their bodies have yet to

be found. Only their guild cards have been recovered."

"Huh? I know that slimes melt down organic material, but what about their

armor and stuff?"

"Ah, no... Well, perhaps you aren't familiar, but... there are those amongst the

adventuring community who are... somewhat like hyenas." What? There are

people that loot their fellow man's corpse? I mean, it's a pretty scummy thing to

do, but I guess it's not awful...

It was considered common etiquette to hand items belonging to the deceased

over to the guild. They'd then be able to pass those things on to the dead guy's

next of kin. Still, it wasn't an enforced rule or anything. It was just a matter of

good manners.

It reminded me of a story I'd heard from one of the guilds. Once there was a

rookie adventurer who had used his enormous savings to buy himself an

incredible set of armor. He was so pleased with it that he took every

opportunity he could to brag to his peers about it. Several days later... the

man's body was found in a dungeon. His expensive armor was nowhere to be

found.

The situation was rather interesting. Was the armor stripped from his body

after a monster killed him? Or was he murdered in cold blood by another

adventurer who had set his sights on the man's treasure? No way to know.

Regardless, these dead adventurers were just regular rookies, so it was

unlikely they'd been targeted and killed for any good reason.

"How many died?"

"We've found ten guild cards so far. Nothing else has been recovered, so we

can't say for sure." Geez... Ten people died? My mood had soured a little. I

decided it might be wise to create a safe zone on the top level that monsters

couldn't access, or maybe some teleportation circles in the rookie areas so they

could easily get back outside.

I said my goodbyes to the spy, and headed toward the portals.

I saw a group of youngsters heading toward the gate to Amaterasu. They

were handing their copper over to the clerk. They looked to be around twelve

or thirteen years old. In total they were a party of four. Two boys, two girls.

One of the boys was clad in scale mail, and he wielded a spear. The other

young lad was wearing leather armor, and he had a bow on his back.

One of the girls looked like a novice mage. She was wearing robes and had a

little magic rod. The other wielded an iron sword and wore leather armor much

like the boy's. They looked like archetypal newbies going off to adventure.

The four of them passed through the Amaterasu portal and were off to the

dungeon in a flash.

Now, in all honesty... I was a little worried about the kids due to the story I'd

just been told.

Should I follow them...? No, stalking's bad business... But I'd rather kids didn't

go out there unprepared... Maybe I could set up an adventuring school or

something... Yeah, that could work, I think. I could hire former adventurers to

give kids survival tips. Still, how should I run it? I don't think we should charge a

fee to enroll... Maybe they can pay back student debt after graduating? We

could co-operate with the guild to track the quests and cards of students, or

something...

I decided to ask Relisha about it later on. She'd probably have better input.

"Hm, Touya?" I turned toward the voice to find Leen as the source. Paula was

toddling after her. She was wearing her typical Gothic lolita outfit, and strolled

along beneath the shade of her parasol.

"Oh, Leen. What brings you here?"

"I was just doing a little window shopping. Sniffing around for bargains, you

know? And yourself?"

"Ah, well... I was thinking of making some modifications to the dungeon. I'm

gonna install a safe zone that monsters can't enter, so people can get some

rest."

"Heh... That sounds quite interesting. I'll tag along with you, then." Leen

grabbed me by the arm without even asking.

Hmph... You sure have been more aggressive in your approach lately... Are you

that desperate to marry me?

I was a little embarrassed since she looked around the same size as Yumina

and a couple of the others... To a bystander, I probably looked like a doting

elder brother.

We headed over to the toll booth. Leen took out a single copper coin from her

pocket and handed it over to the worker. Her name was then written down on a

small logbook.

Even if you weren't a member of the guild, you could still pay to pass through

the gate. The only difference was that your name was manually recorded in the

logbook. The guild card certainly made the process simpler, though.

I also paid a copper coin and put my name down. I didn't want to stand out

too much by flashing my card around. I put down 'Takeda Shingen' as my name.

There wasn't a rule against using a false name, after all. I decided that Takeda

Shingen would be the fake name I'd use for stuff like this in the future.

We passed through the portal, and the dazzling sun bore down on us.

Compared to the wintery Brunhild, the island was a tropical paradise.

I looked around uneasily, but I saw no sign of the rookies from before. I

assumed they'd already gone into the dungeon.

Leen and I, along with Paula, strolled through the entrance. My faithful fairy

friend put away her parasol and cast [Light Orb] in front of us.

"Shall we go down to the third floor?" If I recalled correctly, Amaterasu

Dungeon had been scouted out to six floors at that point. I pulled up my map

app and headed toward the first set of stairs.

"...Why, and how exactly, do you have this territory already mapped out on

that contraption...?"

"...I'm just not going to answer. I really have nothing to say about it."

Leen muttered as she stared at the projected map. It wasn't like I expected

the place to be fully mapped out for me or anything. It just wound up like that,

really.

We made it to the stairs without any issue, then descended to the second

level floor. We ran into the odd magical beast or monster, but I took care of

them fairly easily. We eventually made it to the third floor, but it took us a

decent while.

"I think I wanna make a rest area around here. It'll be a safe space where the

adventurers can rest up a little bit. Just gotta find a suitable spot..." I brought up

the map again to look for a good location. I'd also set the map to display any

other adventurers who were in here, since I didn't want to get in their way.

Plus, they might have ended up getting in my way, too.

"Isn't this spot fine? It's about midway between the stairs that lead up and

down." Leen pointed at a fairly broad room with a few sprawling paths leading

to and from it. It'd certainly make a good rest spot for any weary parties, and it

was out-of-the-way enough to avoid if you wanted to. It seemed just fine to me.

We carried on to our destination, killing more beasts that came our way. The

enemies were more annoying than anything else. Having an item like a 'repel'

from those handheld games certainly would've come in handy.

We reached our destination and began looking around. I wanted to

investigate the room for traps or hidden dangers before securing it properly.

I used [Enchant] and [Program] to monster-proof the room. Hostile creatures

wouldn't be able to enter at all. Then, I began to inscribe letters on the wall. It

was a fairly basic message, just detailing that magical beasts and monsters

couldn't appear in the room, so it was a safe space to relax.

I decided to add my signature too, since I didn't want them thinking it was a

trap.

"Signed by Mochizuki Touya... grand duke of Brunhild." I hoped it was enough

to make them feel safe. Thinking about it reminded me that I hadn't seen those

rookies anywhere. Then again, they were beginners, so they were probably just

walking around the first floor.

I remembered their faces, so I decided I'd run a little search just in case. Uhh...

let's see... Display the regular adventurers with a blue icon, and display the

particular newbies I'm thinking of with a green icon...

Huh... That's odd. They're on floor two already? And wait... there's more than

four in the room. Huh, three more adventurers? Maybe they teamed up or

something... Wait, something doesn't seem right here. What's with those

movements? Are they in the middle of a battle with monsters or something?

"There are seven, no? Why are they struggling so much?"

"Well, those four kids were totally amateurs. They felt like kids who had

basically walked right out of a farm and picked up some weapons." I briefly

considered that they might not be especially weak. After all, they could have

just been up against a lot of enemies. Even Kobolds and Goblins could be deadly

if you encountered more than ten of them at a time.

Let's see... Highlight monsters and magical beasts... There we... Wait... There

aren't any monsters in that room? Then... what the hell? It's not faulty, since I

can see the indicators for monsters in other rooms... So, wait... No way...

"...What does this mean?"

"...The other three adventurers... They're the ones attacking those kids."

There was trouble afoot.

◇ ◇ ◇

We reached the second floor just in time to see the young boy with the spear

being blasted into a wall. The archer and female mage were collapsed on the

ground in a heap. Though the boy with the spear and the girl with the sword

were clearly injured, they were still standing and defending their friends.

"Don't rough 'em up too much, retard. They're merchandise."

"Shut the fuck up, asshole. We're only in this situation because your deadbeat

ass forgot the paralysis poison."

"Whatever, you two! Just do it quick, yeah? If any monsters show up it'll—

Bauuggguuugh!!!" The obese man's commentary was cut short by a swift kick

delivered to his face. My attack had sent him bouncing across the room like a

rubber ball, where he landed in front of his comrades.

"Whuh— Who the hell are you?!"

"That's my line, asshole! Who are you guys?" One of them was fat, one of

them was bald, and the other was lanky. They couldn't have looked like a more

suspicious sort.

The tub of lard scrambled to his feet, wiping his nose. I was surprised that

he'd absorbed the impact, honestly... Seemed like obesity had its perks.

"Good grief... Seems we made it just in time." Leen arrived alongside Paula.

Immediately, lechery manifested on the faces of the three men. The lanky

asshole started sauntering over toward me, weapon drawn.

Not long after, the other two started approaching as well. They probably saw

Brunhild on my waist and assumed it was just a dagger. They were looking at

Leen instead of me, though. Looked almost as if they were trying to appraise

her worth.

"Mm... Sexy little thing, aren't you? Lucky us, eh boys? Hey, brat. If you care

about your life, then shove off and leave the bitch here."

"...Huh?" Not long after, the other two started approaching as well.

"You deaf, kid? We said beat it. Leave the little girl behind, and me and my

boys will have a bit of fun with her! Scram, idiot! You wanna die?!" I slowly

walked over to the lanky moron, then let out a little sigh. Then, in a single swift

motion, I brought my leg down upon his foot. Crunch. His bones splintered, and

he was down for the count.

"GAUAUUUUUUGH!!!" The man screamed, clutching his smashed leg as he

rolled around on the ground. His eyes welled up with tears, dribble and spit ran

down his chin, and obviously his nose was a mess of snot. Shut the hell up. I

kicked him in the side of the face.

"Ghuuuheeek!!!"

You think I'd leave Leen with bastards like you? Don't delude yourself,

dumbasses. Don't be so goddamn pathetic. I'll kill you.

"Y-You piece of shit! Stop this at once!"

"We're Blue adventures, fuckboy! Think you can win against us?!"

"You talk tough, but you're not rough enough to throw down with the best of

them. Vultures like you probably ranked up by stealing spoils from others, am I

right? There's no way in hell a Blue adventurer would be as shitty as you. Don't

you dare disrespect the name of the guild, you little bitch." I lashed out a kick,

cracking one of the fat bastard's kneecaps. He collapsed under his own weight

and fell on his face.

"Muggghuh... Mh-My lh-leg... Nnnghahhh!!!"

"E-Eek!" The baldy turned and ran, but it was futile. I pulled out Brunhild,

aimed at his back, and pulled the trigger.

"Guh!" He took a paralysis bullet directly, then fell forward. Some adventurer,

I thought. What a coward. Blue rank? More like blue stank.

"...That was more than a little extreme, Touya. You can color me several

shades of surprised," Leen muttered quietly as she looked at the fallen men.

"Ah... Forgive me. I got mad when they said that stuff about you." It had been

a while since I'd been that angry. The last time was when I was dealing with the

idiotic prince from Lihnea. In all honesty, I had thought that my patience had

gotten a little better, but it seemed I was still on far too short a fuse.

"Hmm... I'm a little bit happy you got so furious on my behalf..." Leen grinned

a little bit at me.

Ugh. That's embarrassing... I turned away from Leen to hide my face. Then, I

remembered the injured newbies.

"You guys good?"

"Y-Yes, we're okay... A little injured, but I'm fine... Klaus and Eon are in a

worse state, though..." The boy with the spear motioned to his collapsed

friends. They looked like they were just out cold, but I cast [Cure Heal] and

[Refresh] on them all just to be on the safe side. The two on the ground then

regained consciousness.

They wouldn't stop thanking me, but I did manage to get a few questions in

edgewise. The three men had met up with the kids in the dungeon and

promised them a safer hunting ground. Then, they just followed them. Pretty

careless, really. But they were just kids.

They were brought off to this secluded area and attacked. The archer and the

mage weren't frontline fighters, so they were knocked out of the battle faster

due to the surprise nature of the attack.

"I guess these guys are kidnappers, then... People have been going missing,

only bloodstains or guild cards left behind... It would be reasonable to assume

they were eaten up by the wildlife here, but... now I'm starting to get a

different idea."

"Y-Yeah! They said they were going to sell us to slave traders!" The swordwielding girl raised her hand and spoke. I hadn't noticed her ponytail earlier.

She was quite energetic.

Still, slavers... That's no good.

I walked over to the lanky man and thrust Brunhild's muzzle against his

forehead.

"Answer yes or no. Nothing else. Are you the ones responsible for the missing

adventurers lately?" The man nodded quickly. He was sweating bullets. It was

as I'd expected.

Leen tilted her head to the side as she pondered.

"But... after kidnapping the adventurers, how did they transport them from

the island? They wouldn't be able to use the portals..."

"That's pretty simple. They probably have a boat. Some kind of slaving vessel.

Is that right?" The man nods just as quickly as he had before. I was right.

These islands were located due south of Sandora, after all. And, as far as I

knew, the nation in which slavery was most prominent was none other than the

Burning Kingdom of Sandora itself.

It was a country that used special collars to enslave people and turn them into

living merchandise. It also meant that our missing persons were probably

already lost.

"Are the missing adventurers already in Sandora?" He shook his head this

time. I was surprised. It meant they hadn't shipped them all off... And that

meant we could still save them.

The slaver ship was probably anchored somewhere nearby, but obscured.

These assholes had clearly faked the deaths of several adventurers and stored

them on the ship for processing later on.

I brought up my map and searched for boats in the area. Sure enough, there

was a sizable boat moored off the coast of a smaller island to the north. I had

found it.

With that, I had the whole case figured out. It also meant the three stooges

here were of no more use to me. I subdued all three of them with [Paralyze] for

the time being.

"Well, What now? I-If you want to inform the guild or the knights, I'll come

with you..." The ponytail girl nervously spoke up. Her three companions were

talking amongst each other. The situation was pretty dire, but I didn't think they

quite understood. There was definitely some anxiety due to what had

happened, but they seemed more excited than they should've been.

"Don't worry about that. I can handle it. Ah, that's right... We never

introduced ourselves. This girl is Leen, and the little bear is Paula. I'm Mochizuki

Touya. I'm the grand duke of Brunhild."

"Wh-Wh-What?!" All four of them stared at me in terror. Then, they crouched

down on the floor and began bowing.

"Get up, geez. You don't need to do that kinda crap with me. I'm an

adventurer at heart, you know...? I still go on quests even now." I pulled out my

golden guild card as I spoke. Those kids had been tricked once already, so I at

least wanted to provide some level of evidence.

"G-Gold..."

"Amazing..."

"Th-This guy has killed Dragons, Golems, and Demon Lords..."

"We gotta tell our dads about this..." Well, they definitely believed me. These

kids were a little soft for this business, if you asked me. They'd end up getting

hurt if they just believed everything they were told... Although they'd actually

already ended up getting hurt because of that.

The four of them finally formally introduced themselves to me. Apparently

they'd all come from Regulus, a village called Pyton to be exact.

The scale mail-clad boy with the spear was called Lop. The sword-wielding girl

in leather armor was named Fran. The archer who wore similar leather armor

was named Klaus. And finally, the mage girl was named Eon.

The impression I got was that Lop was loyal, Fran was bursting with energy,

Eon was a total klutz, and Klaus was their leader. They were a bit of a ragtag

party, all things considered.

"What are we gonna do? Help out the adventurers who got caught?"

"That's right. I found out where the slaver ship is, so I'm gonna go wipe them

out."

"U-Uhm! Is there any way we could help you?"

"H-Hey now, Fran!" Fran suddenly spoke up, much to the chagrin of Klaus.

I was pleased that the kids had motivation, at the very least. I wasn't too sure

that they'd be of much help, though. I definitely was in support of helping them

gain a bit more experience, but at the same time... Well, I wasn't exactly sure

what to do.

"Our enemy here are merchants that deal in human lives. They might even

have slaves equipped for battle serving them. What I'm asking is if you're

confident you can help here. In a worst-case scenario, you'll be enslaved

yourselves."

"Ugh..." Fran looked down, seeming suddenly troubled. I wonder if she was

feeling ashamed about her earlier loss.

They were older than Lu and Yumina, but younger than Elze and Linze. Even

so, they weren't too far off my own age.

In the case of my party, we'd fought the Phrase, battled Dragons, involved

ourselves in a coup, and so on. We had many rich experiences that allowed us

to develop as a team... Even though those incidents were still my fault...

"Hmm... If they can't fight, can we not have them do recon?"

"Recon?" I quirked a brow at what she had said. Decoys, huh...? Maybe...

"Well, I said recon, but... I would recommend they infiltrate the ship and get

themselves intentionally captured. If they pretend they got caught by these

three and get aboard the ship, they'll be able to easily learn about what's going

on with the other missing people."

"I guess so... But are these three dumbasses gonna obey?" I turned toward

the three paralyzed men. It was true they might listen if I threatened them, but

they probably didn't have good enough poker faces to go along with that level

of deception.

"You dummy. Simply use [Mirage] and become part of the deception as well."

"Aha, smart thinking." Yeah, that makes sense. If I disguise myself as one of

those dumbasses, I can escort the rookies to the ship. That way we'll be able to

infiltrate the place and get the captured people out safely. I don't want the

adventurers being taken hostage, so this is probably a good idea, but still...

Guess I could just use [Invisible] to sneak on to the ship myself and rescue them

all a lot faster, though...

I looked over to the four kids, but they were just staring at me with stars in

their eyes.

Guh... What's with these kids? They're not scared at all about maybe being

made into a commodity? ...Man, fine. I won't trample over their resolve. Saying

something like "You're dead weight, so beat it, kid" would just break their hearts

at this point, and I'm not in the business of upsetting children. Hell, if I hurt them

now, they might end up being discouraged from adventuring, so... I guess I'll

pass on a little bit of that knowledge I've gained from my own quests...

"...You kids wanna try it?"

"Yeah!!!" The kids cheered merrily. I wondered if it'd actually be okay... But I

decided to go along regardless.

◇ ◇ ◇

We all left the dungeon, and I warped the three kidnappers to Brunhild's jail.

It'd cause too much of a fuss to carry them back through the portals. After all, if

their allies were watching, they'd know the jig was up and escape.

I contacted Relisha and told her the basic gist of the situation. Those three

would have their guild registrations erased, and their cards revoked. Even if

they used fake names, they'd still be rejected. No more adventuring for those

guys.

That was the guild's punishment for them, but I still had to decide how my

country would handle them.

They'd been capturing newbie adventurers, taking all their stuff, and selling

them into a life of servitude. It was a serious crime. If we went by Regulus law,

then these guys would be getting the death penalty.

Unfortunate as it was in some people's minds, Brunhild didn't have the death

penalty. Mainly because I hadn't created one. As I wondered about how to deal

with them, I recalled something I'd read about in the Library.

Dark attribute magic was pretty much exclusively summoning, but apparently

there used to be other applications of the element. There was a spell that was

the opposite of the Light element's recovery magic. It was a magic that sapped

the life away from the target.

Well, actually killing them with it would take considerable effort and focus.

The user would require incredible willpower, magical power, and skill with

magic. I'd probably have been able to pull it off, but I wasn't especially

motivated to try.

I wasn't saying I'd use this death magic on the kidnappers, by the way. There

were other spells derived from that kind of spell.

These spells could be described simply enough. Effects included pestilence,

fear, confusion, and life absorption.

In short, they were curses. Though maybe calling them curses was a little bit

of a stretch.

The magic kind of worked like a promise. It was a system where if they broke

the circumstances set by the caster, they'd become afflicted by the conditions.

Curse magic that only triggered if the affected disobeyed. Kind of like "Cross my

heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye." Except the needle actually

goes in their eye if they mess up.

"Brand, o Darkness. Sinful Brand: [Guilty Curse]!" I invoked the curse and

targeted the three imprisoned men.

The conditions were simple. "Do not knowingly commit crimes and hurt

others." Each time they broke this curse with petty crime, they'd lose a finger to

paralysis. Eventually it would spread to their arms, and then their legs. If they

persisted, they'd lose all five senses. The final stage was paralysis of the heart,

and that'd be a wrap. Of course, if they committed one large, heinous crime,

it'd all trigger at once.

This magic worked similarly to enchanting. The effect would persist even if I

died. It was an unbreakable curse.

I told the trio all the details of the brand they'd been marked with. Hurting

others didn't only apply to physical abuse. If they hurt people on a deep

emotional level, or tried to torment others, then it'd activate too. If they stole

and the original owner was devastated, it'd trigger too, as would rejecting a

woman's feelings if it ended up causing her to feel bad. I wasn't going to be

lenient about just what caused the curse to go off.

I'd been kind enough to let them live, so it was a fair burden for them to

shoulder. They needed to become ideal men to survive the punishment.

In all honesty, I didn't believe it was possible to live a life without hurting

anyone. Maybe if they became hermits and lived away from civilization, but

still... They'd only be surviving at that point, not living. Regardless, perhaps they

appreciated that Brunhild didn't just have them killed like Regulus did.

As I told them about their punishment, the men gradually turned pale and fell

to the ground. The brand of their curse appeared on their foreheads, marking

them forever.

The fatass turned to the lanky guy and screamed.

"We're only like this because of you, idiot!" It made me wonder if he'd

listened to a word I'd said. "Wuh?! Augh! M-My finger!!! I can't feel my finger!"

The fatass started to cry as he prodded at one of his dead fingers.

Isn't it obvious? You upset the lanky guy by screaming at him like that. It's

simply your just desserts.

Now that they'd seen the effects, I decided to banish them from Brunhild.

Where to send you... Oh, how about Yulong? The people there already talk shit

about me, so you'll be right at home.

I opened up a [Gate] to Yulong and shoved the guys through. That's that. Case

closed.

Oh. Wait. No. I still have to actually deal with the slavers, huh?

I headed toward the forest on the island and waited for the cover of night. I

felt a little bad for making the rookies wait so long, to be honest. Still, I couldn't

have them wandering around. It'd look weird if one of the slavers saw them

free, then captured only a bit later.

I'd left Leen with them, just in case they found themselves under attack by

the local fauna.

After regrouping with them, I used a [Gate] to bring us all to the island with

the slaver ship. All four of them were amazed. It was their first time, after all.

"Alright, then. Hand over your weapons. It'd be weird if captured victims still

had their stuff." They handed their weapons over and I tossed them into

[Storage] before pulling out a length of rope and tying them up. After that, I

popped gags in their mouths. Naturally, they were bound in a way that was easy

to escape from.

After that, I summoned a little mouse and hid it inside Lop's pocket. That way

I'd be able to know more about the situation aboard the ship.

I used [Mirage] to add the finishing touches. I'd disguised myself as the baldy.

One was too lanky, and the other way too fat, so cueball was closest to my own

physique...

"Well?"

"You look identical... That's incredible..." Lop was amazed, evidently. I used

[Mirage] once more to project a false image of the other two guys to my left

and right.

The four of them prepared to be transported, and I made the illusory versions

of fatty and lanky stand behind them, swords drawn. It'd look like they were

being escorted, now.

"What about you, Leen?"

"I'm fine, thank you. I'll keep watch and ensure nobody escapes the vessel."

Paula brought her hands up toward the sky. It was time to head to the slaver

ship.

We found the ship. It was well positioned, shrouded in the shadow of a cliff.

There were two smaller boats making port on a nearby beach. Four men

stood around a bonfire. They were grilling fish. Three of the four looked to be

slaves.

They were pretty bulky, so they were probably combat-oriented slaves. The

non-slave guy had a really bad overbite on the bottom row of his mouth. He

kinda looked like a jerk. We left Leen and Paula in the cover of the trees, then

moved toward them.

"Oh, good haul. I see you've been busy. Four at once! What a doozy."

Overbite walked over to us and smiled a bit. He seemed impressed.

He walked around us and started looking the kids up and down.

"Two gold for the boys. Five for the girls. Seems fair to me."

"Deal. Hand over the cash."

"Huh? No hagglin' today...?"

"We're in a rush." I didn't want to talk too much and get exposed. Still, two

gold and five gold respectively... That was like two hundred thousand and five

hundred thousand yen... Buying out someone's life for cash like that was

downright despicable.

They'd probably end up selling the people for a lot more to rich types in

Sandora. Overbite handed the money over and let out a shrill, annoying laugh.

If I saw that guy again, I'd definitely be giving him a smack in the face.

I returned to Leen and canceled my spell. I hated looking like those bastards.

I used [Long Sense] to watch the four men. They finished eating their fish, put

two kids into each boat, and started rowing toward the main ship.

"Infiltration complete."

"Indeed... I hope they get in touch with the other captured people soon,

though. How many have gone missing, exactly?"

"Relisha said there were ten who were formally dead. Their guild cards were

found, usually with blood nearby, so the guild assumed the worst. Uh... I think it

was three men and seven women."

"Seems they're biased toward capturing girls, then."

"Probably because they're easier to grab, and they sell for more money. All of

the captured adventurers were Black." From what I'd heard, newbie bullying

wasn't uncommon in the guild. More experienced adventurers with shitty

attitudes would use new recruits as bait for strong monsters. They even ended

up taking most of their rewards as "tuition expenses" if they survived. In the

end, the victims often wound up leaving the guild and going solo. It was

despicable.

No matter the world, there were always those who looked down on

newcomers. Those people often forgot that they too were new once as well.

Either way, I hoped all ten of the victims were safe. They were likely still alive.

Hard to sell a corpse, after all. But that didn't mean they were safe. Their lives

were hanging in the balance.

I synchronized my vision with the mouse in Lop's pocket. I saw the ship's

deck, which meant they'd made it there safely enough.

My hearing was also synchronized. I heard voices around them. Sight and

hearing was as far as I synchronized my senses, though. I tried taste once and

immediately regretted it... I didn't want to know what a beetle tasted like, but

the mouse had other ideas.

"Mr. Javert... I've brought four."

"Wonderful... They seem to be high quality stock. Young meat... Yes, they'll

sell well." Overbite approached a plump man. He was rubbing his hands

together as he looked at the kids. This guy was most likely the slave merchant.

He wore a fancy wool jacket, a silk sash with a golden dagger hanging from it,

and some pointy shoes that bent upward at the end. He also had a long coat

and what looked like a precariously balanced turban on top of his head. He

looked like a fat, discount Sinbad the Sailor.

Javert, huh...? I bet he's a slaver from Sandora. Probably a black market one,

too.

Even though Slavery was legal in Sandora, they prohibited kidnapping people

and forcing them into servitude. Slavery was typically reserved for criminals, or

those who willingly sold themselves into the service.

But that was only an official stance. There were many ways to become a slave

in Sandora. Some forced others into debt, or tricked them into crime in order to

make them slaves. Others simply kidnapped people and put them into market

circulation.

Once you're a slave, your opinion isn't valid. Nobody would listen to you. Even

if you made a fuss about being tricked or kidnapped, you'd be ignored.

The problem was the fact that Sandora's government never spoke about it.

Their king and nobles all had slaves as well. They worked slaves until they

expired, then simply replaced them with new ones. In Sandora, the life of a

slave wasn't really seen as a life at all.

"Come on! Pick up the pace!" Overbite yanked at Lop's rope and dragged

them all along.

All four of them were brought down to the lowest deck of the ship. There

were two jails, divided by sex. There were three men and seven women there.

The kidnapped adventurers. Lop's party was split up by sex as well.

After overbite had left, the four of them turned to ask the names of their

fellow captives.

The names matched those of the missing adventurers, so that was good.

They seemed weak due to lack of nutrition, but they hadn't been abused

otherwise.

"Seems they're all fine... I can pull up a [Gate] right now and sort it out, then."

"You should let those children get some experience first."

"Hm... I guess a ship escape would be good for them."

"Quite. It's an important lesson in stealth and perception. Wouldn't you

agree?" Leen smiled as she spoke. She was certainly right.

Lop's party began preparing their escape. I was prepared for this kind of

situation, so I'd given them two particular items.

The first was a tiny knife that folded. It had a 5cm blade. Naturally, it wasn't a

standard knife, either. It was forged of phrasium, and could cut through

anything at all. Escaping wouldn't be an issue at all so long as they used them

wisely.

The second item was a measuring tape. It was about a meter long. I'd

enchanted it with [Paralysis] so they could stretch it out and use it as a whip.

There were slaves built for battle aboard the ship. Those kids definitely

couldn't win if they fought fairly. Plus, their enemies would mostly be fellow

slaves anyway.

Lop's party cut their bindings apart and quietly escaped from their cells.

"Guess I better get going too, huh. I'll make it a little easier for the kids."

"Have fun, Touya." I deactivated the mouse's live feed and Leen saw me off as

I exited the forest. I stood facing their ship, Brunhild in my hand. Then, I loaded

the thing with [Explosion] bullets, though I took care to load the low-yield

versions.

"Let's dance..." With a grin on my face, I aimed my gun at the ship's mast...

and pulled the trigger.

The blast immediately made the thing collapse. It creaked and groaned, and

then snapped under its own weight. Every man on deck started freaking out.

Only natural, since part of their ship had just toppled into the sea.

"Wh-What happened?!"

"I-I don't know... There was an explosion of some kind!" Javert stormed out of

the main cabin and demanded an explanation. It was at this point that I landed

myself on the ship and revealed myself by the light of the moon.

"Wh— Who?!"

"I'm Mochizuki Touya. Touya's my given name. The brilliant grand duke of

Brunhild at your service." Everyone on deck was completely speechless. The

merchant didn't look as happy as he had before, his eyes filled with dread and

confusion. He was completely and utterly flustered, which meant he was aware

of his position.

"This island is Brunhild's territory. I've come to put an end to your illicit

activity."

"I-Illicit?!"

"Don't take me for a fool, tubby. I know what you've been doing with the

rookie adventurers from the nearby dungeons." He stood there, mortified. His

jaw was slack. Sweat began to bead on his brow. He really didn't seem all that

innocent.

"To be fair, we're a pretty small nation. I get it. We don't have a lot of laws

established properly yet. But you know, we don't have many bad people in

Brunhild. The worst we get is the occasional rough-housing traveler. Your

actions have made me think a little bit harder about crime and punishment."

If I hadn't come to the dungeon today, it wouldn't have just ended with Lop's

party been taken away. There would've been countless more victims

afterward... I have no idea how long it would've even taken me to realize what

was happening.

Punishment was the deterrent to crime, and I'd become lazy due to my

personal lifestyle. I kept thinking about how things would be fine, so I closed my

eyes to the cruelty of the world. Plus, I had Yumina and her Mystic Eye around,

so I was mostly surrounded by legitimately good people.

Either way, crimes needed to be punished. And I needed to make that clear.

I had to draft a bunch of laws, and fast. I decided to reference Belfast's legal

system before noting down my own later.

A lot of people had come to Brunhild after the dungeons were made, and

they brought with them a litany of their own issues. Either way, what was

important to think about at that moment was dealing with the slavers.

Huh? I can see four little boats escaping the ship... Damn, Lop. You work fast.

Guess there's no need to hold back now.

"Hrmph. A grand duke has no business here! Deal with him!" Javert gave his

order, and three burly slaves came running at me, curved swords at the ready.

"[Slip]." All three of them thudded on to the deck. Their swords ended up

stuck in the wooden flooring.

They tried to stand, but found themselves falling down again. It seemed like

my slipping spell had a slightly extended effect... I distinctly remembered it

affecting a smaller area and not lasting as long when I'd first used it. I wondered

if this was an effect of my own inner divinity growing.

"Wh-What are you fools doing?! Get rid of him!" Javert screamed, and the

slaves all started clutching their heads in pain. He was using their collars to

torture them.

I used Brunhild to fire a shot at the chubby jerk's feet. A weak explosive force

threw the man off his feet.

"Whoa!!!" Chubby old Javert fell to the ground, blood dribbling from his nose.

"A-Augh! F-Forgive me! I-It was just uhm... m-my culture!"

"Then your culture normalizes abuse. If degrading people and turning them

into slaves is your idea of the regular old thing to do, then do you really think

you're worth forgiving?"

"H-Help me, you bastards..."

"Do you think the people you collared are going to rescue you?" I had no idea

about this man or the life he'd been leading to this point, but I had no doubt in

my mind that he was scum.

Speaking to him was pointless. I loaded some paralyzing bullets into Brunhild

and shot them down at him.

He screamed out awkwardly, and then stopped moving.

I paralyzed the slipping slaves as well. They were probably being forced to cooperate, but they were still accomplices... It was some morally grey legal

ground. I guess it would depend on whether or not they were enjoying it. It was

a little more annoying to deal with than Javert. I didn't know if they'd been

enslaved for criminal behavior, so I didn't know if it was okay or not to free

them.

I also paralyzed all the remaining men on deck.

"Run search. Anyone remaining below deck."

"Searching... Search complete. Three individuals. All paralyzed and collapsed."

Hm... Lop's party must have dealt with them. So that should be everyone.

Twenty in total, eh... Half of them seemed to be slaves.

Wait, that reminds me... Where's overbite?

"Gah!" I heard a shriek from the shore. Then, I used [Long Sense] to check on

the shore. Overbite was collapsed in a smoldering heap, and Leen was waving

over at me. Seemed like he'd escaped at some point. Leen had it handled

though, so I wasn't worried.

Lop's party had made landfall and were walking over to Leen. It was time for

me to wrap things up.

I warped everyone from the ship over to the beach, just in time to see some

of my own knight order making their way out from the forest.

I took Javert, his workers, and his slaves to the knights. Restrained, of course.

We decided to lock them in the castle jail for the time being. I'd talk to Kousaka

about them later on.

"All's well that ends well, eh?"

"Well, we'll still have to follow it up a bit." I casually replied to Leen as we

walked along the beach. I looked back at the slaver ship, thinking to myself.

Should I confiscate it as Brunhild property...? Eh... The mast is broken.

"U-Uhm, Your Majesty! The kidnapped adventurers are all good!" Lop came

and reported in, but I pretty much saw the whole thing unfold through the eyes

of the mouse anyway. I cast [Refresh] on the weary adventurers and took them

all to the Silver Moon. There, I rented rooms for each of them. It was the least I

could do.

I was planning on giving Lop's party about ten potions for their trouble. It'd be

worthwhile for them to hold on to that stuff. Then, deciding that more detailed

investigation would happen another day, I bid everyone involved farewell.

After that, I went over to the guild and informed Relisha of the finer details. I

also asked her to return the guild cards of the people who were presumed to be

dead.

"The guild regrets that this incident occurred. However, the guild is only a

service mediator between clients and freelancers, so we cannot punish them.

Other than revoking their memberships, there is little we can do... Officially, at

least."

"Officially?"

"...Keep this just between us, but... in cases where we feel harm has been

done to the image of our guild, we mobilize our Black Operatives. It's not

necessary, however, in this case. You have meted out punishment enough."

Black Ops, huh... What, like an assassination corps? That's kinda scary, to be

honest... From what I understand, the guild exists all over the world. There are

Guildmasters like Relisha that govern different regions, but there is actually one

sole leader. I've heard they don't want to be in the public eye, though.

I entrusted the guild with following up on the kidnapped adventurers. After

that, I left with Leen.

It had gotten really late, so I took out my smartphone to look at the time. It

was way past midnight...

I was getting really hungry, and I knew it would be unreasonable to ask Crea

to make something when she was sleeping. I did have some grilled skewers in

my [Storage]... and the guild's bar was right next door.

"Hey Leen, want me to treat you to some food?"

"Aha... I shall take you up on that venerable honor. I haven't eaten out in

quite some time." I took Leen and Paula with me into the guild's bar. I put on a

coat and hood just in case there were those that recognized me there.

It was a pretty big room, and I noticed a free table for four a little bit away, so

we headed over there.

I ordered fried chicken and some fruit juice. No alcohol for me. Leen ordered

a pasta, some salad, and a little glass of wine.

It wasn't long before the waitress brought our food over, and we began

greedily chowing down. The food was great. I'd eaten at the Silver Moon a few

times, but dining out at a bar seemed quite fun as well.

All the adventurers were laughing, cheering, and making merry.

It seemed like the bar had gained a lot more patrons since the dungeons were

opened. It was hard to dislike the atmosphere here, even if the occasional

drunkard ruined the fun.

We left the bar after our meal. I checked again, and it was still extremely

late... Or, early. Matter of perspective. Most of the shops had closed down.

There wasn't any kind of entertainment district in Brunhild's castle town, either.

My country had nice, peaceful evenings.

Old man Naito relayed propositions from merchants and contractors to build

casinos and brothels, but I left those executive decisions to him. I personally

didn't see the need to have such gaudy venues. If they ended up coming in and

causing trouble for my people, I'd close them down.

I needed to keep a watchful eye out, too. I didn't want any shady businesses

setting up shop. It'd be beyond a joke if Brunhild became a breeding ground for

trouble under my nose.

I remember hearing that some slaves were forced to work in brothels over in

Sandora, too... I didn't want any of that going on here.

"Is it a pointless dream to wish slavery could be abolished?"

"I'm pretty sure it'd go if you smashed the hell out of Sandora. Pfftahaha..."

"N-No, that's not really what I meant..." I glanced over at Leen with curious

eyes. Her cheeks were flushed... She almost looked drunk.

I heard that slavery was gradually being phased out around the world through

social change anyway. Yulong had been a great advocate of slavery, so even if

Sandora remained, it was nice that at least one of them was gone.

Yulong didn't use the obedience collars, though. They just drew up contracts

and enforced indentured servitude. They didn't treat slaves nearly as badly as

the people of Sandora did. Which was funny, given the country was awful in

every other aspect.

"Sandora was founded by the chief of a desert tribe built by slaves. They used

slavery to build a great force and wipe out or assimilate the other tribes in the

area. The first king of Sandora was known as the Slave King." The Slave King,

huh...? Doesn't that name kind of give off the vibe of him being a slave himself?

Maybe he actually was one to begin with. Still, if that was the case, he could've

done something nice and abolished slavery after founding the nation...

I mused that abolishing slavery in a place like Sandora would be pretty rough

if it was so deeply ingrained in their society.

Leen wanted to feel the evening breeze on her skin, so we strolled home

together. She was definitely drunk. She casually swayed side to side and then

clung to my arm. Her cheeks were dyed red, and so were mine... but not

because of booze. I attempted to compose myself and walked down the road

with her.

There were four knights guarding the castle, but they stood down once they

saw us. They were wary at first, but once we came into the light they seemed

happy and waved us off.

After nodding to the guards, we entered the castle. Suddenly, we came face

to face with Ripple. She was an artifact creature that operated as our very own

security camera. When she saw me with Leen on my arm, she jumped right out

of her painting and started screaming.

"Danger! Danger! Master, you're in danger! You need to be careful, it's

almost too late! Hurry, prepare yourself f— Oh no... I wasn't fast enough..."

"Wh-What the heck?!" Ripple smiled wryly and then vanished on the spot. I

had no idea what she was trying to warn me about, but it almost felt like she

whispered "Good luck" before fading away. What the hell was that?

"Welcome home, Touya... You're rather late."

"Ah, Yumina... I'm... home..." My voice became quieter as I looked up and

realized what I was faced with.

Yumina, Lu, Elze, Linze, Yae, and Hilde were all standing there, gazing at us. If

Sue had been there, it would've been a full gathering of fiancees.

They were smiling, but their eyes projected danger. I felt anger emanating

from their forms for some reason.

"U-Uh... Is something wrong?"

"We've a teeny tiny matter to discuss... This way. You too, Leen."

"Huh? Uh... Sure." Leen casually answered, but I didn't think she understood

the threat. Yae and Hilde descended the stairs and grabbed me from either

side.

Wh-What the hell...? You don't need to forcibly escort me!

"Right this way, Touya. This is the right course of action."

"Good grief, Touya-dono... Resign yourself to fate. It is far easier this way, it

is."

"No, nooo! I didn't do anything wrong!!!" I internally and externally screamed

for mercy as my mind filled with nothing but question marks. They dragged me

away and completely ignored my pleas.

What the hell did I do now?!

◇ ◇ ◇

"Don't think we haven't noticed things have changed between you two

recently." The girls sat at the table, and Yumina began to talk. Leen was seated

with my fiancees, but I was made to sit on the floor. This is a little cruel, isn't

it...? But I guess I'm kinda used to it at this point... Haaah... It seemed that being

forced to the ground by these girls was becoming a more common occurrence.

"Leen. You love Touya, isn't that right?"

"...I can safely say that I do. My passion isn't quite on your level, but he is a

man that I find suitable to my needs. I would be happy to be married to him

until one or both of us die."

"I see... Well—"

"I'm not interested in him for Babylon's legacy, or his status as Grand Duke of

Brunhild. I simply like him for who he is. He's charming, and kind. That's all

there is to it." Leen interjected as Yumina spoke up again, clarifying her

intentions. After she finished speaking, she stared Yumina in the eyes.

After a while, Yumina's expression became a little more gentle, and she

smiled.

"Very well, then. You have my approval, Leen. I think you'd make a wonderful

bride for Touya. What do you all think?" Yumina looked to my other fiancees.

Yae raised her hand.

"I do not have any problems with this, I do not."

"I-I don't have a problem either..." Muttered Linze.

"Nope, no real problem here." Grinned Elze. The two sisters raised their

hands as they spoke. Seeing their actions, the other two quickly put their hands

up as well.

"I cannot say I object, either."

"N-No, me neither!" Hilde and Lu hadn't spoken with Leen much. But they still

had a good enough grasp on her personality to read her as a person, scant as

their interaction was.

Leen had been involved with me for longer than they were anyway... But even

I couldn't have seen the situation developing like this. I was dumbstruck.

"I also don't believe Sue would oppose this if she were here, either. Speaking

on her behalf as her cousin, I'd like to welcome you into the fold.

Congratulations, Leen."

"Wonderful. Thank you so much." Yumina and Leen smiled at each other and

gently shook hands. There wasn't even any room for me to comment at this

point. I didn't have any personal reason to oppose what had been decided, but

still... Well, Leen was mature, dependable, and very cute, so I figured it'd be

alright.

If Yumina was the de-facto leader of the fiancees, then Leen would definitely

fit in as the vice-commander.

Still, that brought the number of brides to eight. That meant I was one step

away from completing the set. I couldn't help but wonder if the situation

would've gotten this far if that damned doctor had just kept her future-telling

to herself.

It kinda felt like Yumina and the others were eager to accept girls until the

total came to nine... They probably couldn't relax until all nine were found. Still,

they didn't accept Pam, so they were at least putting some thought behind it.

"Leen is now a sister in arms, she's one of Touya's fiancees, and our kindred

spirit."