Vol 1 Chapter 4 (1/2)
Chapter 4: Light and Shadow Part 4 – translated by Azakura
“Save your breath. They’ll be back again later to force you into signing a slave contract.”
The bard turned to look. The one who had spoken was one of the slaves. He was covered in so much filth and had a thin and weak body that if it weren’t because his voice was indeed that of a man’s when he had spoken just now, it would have been impossible to tell his gender from appearance alone.
“But how can that be?” The bard stated heavily, “Slaves are only permitted to sign the slave contract on the ‘Slave Contract Signing Day’ that happens once a year! There must also be someone whose status is at least as high as a city lord present as witness!”
“So where do you think you are right now?” The slave said in a mocking tone, “Aren’t you in the city lord’s prison?”
Hearing this, the bard stared in a daze for a while before he realized what was going on. He stuttered, “The city lord is v-violating the laws set by the Holy King, privately letting slaves sign their lives away? H-how could he dare to do such a thing?”
The slave spoke unenthusiastically, “If there were no money in this business, people wouldn’t do it. However, even if the business was killing others, people would flock to do it so long as there’s money involved. Nowadays, even ten gold ducats are not necessarily enough to buy a slave through legal means. But if someone were to kidnap slaves to sell, he would earn ten gold ducats just like that. Could there be any business easier to do than this?”
Hearing this, the bard became very curious about this slave. His tone and language were hardly like those of a slave. He could not help but ask, “Were you also kidnapped and brought here?”
The slave fell silent for a while. He replied indifferently, “You could say that. One of the slaves escaped yesterday, so you were probably captured as his replacement. After all, the day of the auction is almost here. They probably didn’t have enough time to go look for him.”
The bard froze. He questioned curiously, “An auction?”
“Yeah, the underground slave auction.” The slave continued on unenthusiastically, “It’s probably the biggest selling event of the city. There are still two days until the auction. You’d best hurry and make yourself appear dirtier.”
“Why?” The bard’s eyes widened. He was one who loved being clean to the extreme!
The slave said in a tone much more mocking than before, “Dirty slaves are sent to do manual labor. Slaves that are too beautiful are sent to do work in bed. But I suppose if you would rather lie on a bed, then do preserve your pretty appearance!”
Hearing this, the bard’s face flushed red. He quickly scooped up some soil from the ground and spread it over his face. However, the moment he applied it he almost threw up. The soil in this place was really too smelly. It did not only smell of soil but also had the stench of excrement and rotting food mixed into it.
The bard was so disgusted by this smell that a number of tears had already fallen from his eyes, yet he could not rub the soil off of his face either. He wailed as if he were at a funeral, “Why on earth is such a thing happening? Isn’t this supposed to be a time of peace and prosperity? The Holy King definitely does not permit such a thing…”
The slave snorted coldly. “Hmph! Holy King? To lowly people like us, whichever king it is makes no difference. We’re not in a position where we’re ent.i.tled to receive his grace, and he likewise doesn’t bother with places like this one.”
The bard wanted to rebuke those words, as he had seen plenty of peaceful cities under the rule of the Holy King on his journey, and this was the first time he had ever witnessed such a situation!
But instead, he abruptly closed his mouth and appeared to be deep in thought.
The slave looked quite oddly at the bard and held some curiosity as he asked, “What? You’ve fallen into despair that quickly?”
The bard shook his head from side to side then said in a rather confused manner, “No. I just suddenly thought of one of my friends. He just abandoned me a moment ago and didn’t care for the fact that I was kidnapped.”
“And you still call him your friend?” The slave rolled his eyes from under his disheveled hair.
The bard paid no attention to what the slave was saying. Instead, he started talking to himself, “Ooh! On the contrary, having considered all that you said earlier, I feel as if it would be far from a coincidence if she were to appear here. Maybe it was all in wait for the illegal auction. If that’s so, I guess I have no need to be troubled anymore…”
But then again, just now, the patrol leader had said that Red Cloak is a man, but the Warrior Queen is a woman. So if Red Cloak really is a man, then he’s definitely not the Warrior Queen… Aaah! To think that I went back to square one!
“Sob, sob… Never in my entire life have I wanted to see a woman so badly.” The bard wanted to cry but had no tears. If Red Cloak really was a man, then not only had he failed to find the Warrior Queen, he might even henceforth become a slave… Have mercy on me!
“You’re stuck in jail, yet you’re still thinking of women?” The slave’s face twitched. He really wanted to inflict pain on the idiot spouting reckless words in front of him.
The bard reb.u.t.ted, “Of course I have to think of a woman! If I don’t, then who would come to save us?”
“What?” The slave froze. However, he then thought about how clean and fair the man before him originally was. Perhaps he was even the gigolo of some woman, so naturally, he would wish that this same woman would come to his rescue.
“But I don’t know if Red Cloak really is a woman or not… Sob. If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have left G.o.d in the forest because otherwise, He would probably be able to come to my rescue? After all, He’s G.o.d! Even if He’s the G.o.d of Slimes, G.o.d is still G.o.d!”
“… So you’re actually just a mad man?”
“Hey! Wake up! How on earth do you manage to sleep like a pig in a place like this!?”
The bard rubbed his eyes and asked in bewilderment, “Oh… Is the sun up already?”
“You can wait for sunrise if that’s what you want, but I’m going to go off first!”
“You’re going off?” The bard stared blankly as he asked, “Where to?”
“Obviously to escape from this place!” The slave rolled his eyes. He snapped, “You’re still sleeping? Well, I’m not going to wait for you. Bye!”