Vol 1 Chapter 3 (2/2)
Upon hearing this, a spark of hope was reignited in the bard. If it really is her, she definitely wouldn’t simply abide by what others tell her to do… However, in the next second, the patrol captain mockingly spat, “Hmph! So you really are a guy. To think I thought you were female, with your tiny figure and red-colored cloak… How boring. Let’s go!”
A man? The bard froze. How’s that possible? Red Cloak isn’t her? Red Cloak isn’t…
The Warrior Queen?
He desperately tried to turn around for a look as if his life depended on it, but the two patrol members vehemently kept his head stuck in place, preventing him from looking around by his own will.
Just one look would be enough. Just let me have one look… Red Cloak! Are you the Warrior Queen or not?
Wields a blade, fond of wearing the unbridled color red, small in size, has a voice so low that it resembles that of a man, fiery black pupils… Every single detail fits exactly with the traits stated by Teacher Louis. Red Cloak is also clearly interested in both the Ballad of the Warrior Queen and the nickname LL. And to top it off, what Red Cloak just said earlier…
It should be fair to conclude that Red Cloak is indeed the Warrior Queen!
No matter how the bard thought about it, Red Cloak simply had to be the Warrior Queen. But why on earth did the patrol captain say that she is a man?
“Pardon me but I have a question!” The bard turned to ask the two patrol members who were holding him down. Considering the awkward position he was in, with his feet lifted off the ground, his posture and manner of speech were incredibly polite. He asked, “The Warrior Queen is female, right?”
The two patrol members were stunned. They sounded extremely confused when they replied, “What the heck are you talking about?”
The bard hurriedly said, “That is, the Warrior Queen who is the second wife of the Holy King and commander of the army! She should indeed be female, right? Or would there be some chance that she is male instead?”
The two were so stunned their complexions changed. They snarled, “Y-you dare slander the Holy King?!”
“I haven’t slandered him!” The bard was greatly alarmed. He quickly added, “I was only inquiring about the Warrior Queen. I did not speak any ill of the Holy King!”
“You…” One of the patrol members was so shocked that he could not even speak.
The other patrol member responded differently. He directly yelled, “Nonsense! Of course the Warrior Queen is female! Do you honestly think the Holy King would take a man for his wife? What blasphemy!”
Oh! That makes sense as well. The bard nodded in realization. “I understand now. Thank you for your explanation. Come to think of it, if the Warrior Queen was male, Teacher would definitely have clarified that with me.”
Upon hearing this, one of the patrol members raised his fist. He slugged the bard as he continued scolding, “You still dare to speak! You’re just asking for a d.a.m.ned beating! You dare to say that the Holy King’s wife is a man!”
The other patrol member rushed to stop his partner’s actions. He painstakingly urged, “Take it easy! This guy most probably has a few loose screws in his head. What’s more, bearing in mind what’s in store for him later, there’s no need to go over the top, right?”
Sure enough, the other lowered his fist in response to his partner’s words. “Heh heh, I suppose you’re right. Can’t damage this face after all. A damaged face is no good to sell on the market.”
No good to sell? The bard was lost in thought. So my face is actually something worth selling? If I’d known that earlier, I would have sold it off whenever my stomach was empty and I had no money. I wonder how much it’d be worth…
While he was still lost in thought, the two patrol members suddenly threw him forward with a hard push. Fortunately, the bard had gotten used to being thrown around by others long ago. Without further ado, he reflexively spun into the posture that was least likely to receive injuries. After groaning for a while, he promptly got up off the floor, looked around, and was shocked to realize that this place was a jail cell.
The cell contained quite a few people already. These people all had ghastly complexions and held their heads low. Despite the commotion when he was thrown in the cell, none of them had reacted.
The bard found this incredibly strange. He examined the people around him. To his surprise, every single one of them had a brand on their right arm. That-that’s the… brand of a slave!
At this moment, the two patrol members shut the door to the jail cell and then locked it tightly.
The bard hurriedly rushed over to the iron bars and shouted. “Wait up! Why did you guys bring me here? I didn’t choose to sell my body! I’m not a slave!”
“You’ll be one from now on!” The patrol guard took joy in the bard’s misfortune while speaking, “Relax! With a face like yours, you’ll definitely catch the attention of many rich housewives. After that, who knows, maybe your face will become even prettier than it is now!”
“Congratulations! Ha ha ha!” The two of them simply ignored the protests of the bard and left the jail while roaring with laughter.
“How could it turn out like this?”
The bard was left in a daze. Although he was indeed bullied a lot during his journey, no one had ever gone as far as kidnapping him to sell him off. Long since the establishment of the country, the Holy King had set strict regulations. Slavery was only allowed if that was the will of the person being sold off. Even parents did not have the right to sell their children. Also, regardless of the price the slave was sold at, all contracts would expire in twenty years. After twenty years, the slave could request that he be set free, unless he was willing to sell himself off once again.
“Let me out! I’m not willing to sell my body!” The bard frantically yelled, “You’ve got it all wrong! I don’t want to sell my body!”
Footnotes
1 “did not even have the strength to truss up a raw chicken”: Trussing a raw chicken means to tie up its legs and wings, typically to leave it to roast in an oven. It is a very easy thing to do, which goes to show how unbelievably weak the bard is.
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