100 Northern Disturbance VII: The Light In The Cave (2/2)

「It was such a fierce battle, so I might have killed him.」

「It's fine, there's no point fussing over it now.」

Erich leaned into his chair a lot more this time. One of his men brings him a blanket. Staying any longer would be pointless.

「Then I'll be leaving now.」

「Alright, you really did well this time.」

My subordinates are glancing over at me and concerned about something. I'm wearing armor and dressed up nicely, but my body smells like women. I should hurry and get out of here.

Although I left Erich's tent, I'm still not that sleepy, so I decide to take a walk.

「Taking a walk at this time?」

As usual, Celia is tagging along behind me. It might be fun to enjoy myself outside with her against the wall but somehow I don't feel in the mood.

「I thought it might be nice to feel the breeze.」

「The night has gotten much cooler. It genuinely feels like it's autumn already.」

I line Celia up beside me and pat her head. She narrows her eyes delightedly and rocks her head slightly as I do so. I'm thinking that it isn't so bad to enjoy myself like this once in awhile.

The memory of the scenery left in a corner of my mind interfered with the calm atmosphere. The staircase leading to the basement has been buried with a boulder but there's no mistaking it. The building in front of me, the geographical features, and the rows of trees... nothing seems to have changed for quite some time.

I know there is no need to get involved. But this might be some sort of fate.

「Aegir-sama?」

I ignore Celia's voice and I knock on the door of the building standing in front of me. It looks like an old lodge, but the door opens as soon as I knock.

「... Well if it isn't Goldonia's...what could you want from me?」

「Show me the back.」

「We are just a humble inn and there is nothing suspicious...」

If the first thing he says is 'nothing is suspicious', most of the time, they're guilty of something, which is something I should also remember. I ignore the man and enter the building, then look around inside. When I lift up the carpet that was laid unnaturally in the corner of the room, a staircase leading down was revealed.

「You bastard! Enough of this non-!」

I grab the neck of the man who came charging at me with a fist and lift him off his feet.

「Gah...guh...ggh...…」

My hand tightens around his trachea and I can hear bone snapping. If I squeeze a little tighter, it would be easy for me to take this man's life.

「Guide me downstairs. If you do so, you don't have to die. Got it?」

The man nods eagerly and once I release him, he starts coughing violently.

「Hurry up.」

The man walks along while holding his neck and I follow him down the stairs.

「Aegir-sama...? Where on earth is this?」

「It's a little bit of a fated place... It isn't the most pleasant place so you can leave if you want.」

「Of course not, I can't just let you go by yourself!」

I didn't want to show Celia if possible, but it would be annoying if she starts questioning me here, so I'll bring her along.

When we descended the long staircase, the scene I've gotten so used to seeing for such a long period appears in front of my eyes. At that time... when I escaped from the basement, I killed the soldiers and the owner, but it wasn't like I destroyed the facility. The owner has most likely changed, but a guy who wants such an underground facility like this located in the corner of town will probably have a similar way of thinking too.

The children locked in small prison-like rooms, the smell of garbage and the screaming – nothing has changed at all. The screaming coming from the back is probably a girl getting raped or chastised.

「Th-this is-!」

Surprised, Celia clings to me. Then, we hear a voice coming from the end of the narrow corridor.

「Shit! Because of the war, the nobles and merchants are trapped and I'm not getting any customers...if this goes on, the fee for those brats' meals will put me in the red. Ooh, Barobo what about keeping watch, you... er, are these customers?」

The man, who clearly deals with dirty money, but seems slightly nicer and less fat than the one from back then, looks at us. Unfortunately, we're not customers.

「Goldonian military. I'm taking over this facility.」

The man, who appears to be the owner, and the people around him make a commotion.

「Go-Goldonia!? What right do you have to do so?!!」

「The child slaves are being treated terribly from what I can see.」

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「It-it's up to the owner to treat the slaves however they please, isn't it?」

「Would you like to make that same claim with me outside? 」

The buying and selling of slaves is legal and there isn't a problem with that. It might be illegal to kill the slaves you bought, but I'm not too familiar with the law. However, as long as I can see the owner's face warp in such a way, I'm sure there are heaps of illegal activities. Plus, in the first place...

「Does the occupying army need the right to seize land?」

I purposely smile wickedly. The kids are probably taken as slaves illegally if I investigate anyways, but I'll save myself the trouble of having to do so.

After the owner looks at his followers, they draw their swords. Fine, it is as I expected.

「There's only two of them, if we kill them and bury them in a cellar, no one would find outt!! Get them!!」

I was waiting for this. Now, we don't need to have a debate about rights or the law. We can treat them like rebels.

I make a single slash with my Dual Crater at the two men who are running at me. I watch as their upper bodies slowly slide diagonally and fall off, then I pick up the two swords that have fallen to the ground, one in each hand. The Dual Crater is precious to me, so I don't want to cut filthy things if I can avoid it.

The narrow corridor can't fit many people side-by-side so the enemy comes at me two at a time.

「Compared to the battlefield, this is so much easier.」

I split open the heads of the men who came charging at me, and lop their heads off. I swing both of my swords in an 'x' motion and slice their arms, then kick them aside.

The one who tries to charge in during the opening I created while doing such flashy moves gets his wrists sliced off. Celia doesn't really understand what's going on, but is fighting just because they're my enemies.

「I-I know this guy...the monster of Goldonia, the battle demon Hardlett!!」

「Why thank you.」

I bisect the man vertically from the top of his head, but because the sword is dull, it stops at his waist. Only his upper body is split in half and he ended up in a horrible state.

The man, who fell over in a bent-over state and ended up like a new species of monster, was the last soldier. To be precise, the guy, who guided us in the beginning and lost strength in his legs, is around but I still need him.

「So, you're the only one remaining.」

The owner smiles stiffly.

「I humbly apologize for all my wrongdoings!! Speaking of Lord Hardlett means... women, and I can offer you as many women as you want! We have an exquisite woman in this room and there are many others in each prison...」

「Is it necessary for you to be alive for me to take those women?」

I don't need this dirty old man. I swing the blood-covered and completely dull sword at his head. I avoid the juices that spray out from the crushed tomato and stand up the man acting as the guide.

「Ten people...instantly...」

What? That was only ten people? This underground facility is having financial troubles too, huh?

I let Celia go call the soldiers and in the meantime, release the children and the women, who have gotten in together with the children, from the prison. As soon as I set them free, the adult women rain kisses on me manically, but the children seem clueless as to what to do. They've been here since they were very young so it's natural for them not to know much about the outside world. I was like that in the past too.

「From now on, you will decide what will happen to yourselves. Live however you want.」

I recommend joining a mercenary group. Perhaps one of them will develop into a stunning beauty.

The last door that the guide opened is a thick one, and the room behind the door contains rows of painful-looking tools.

「The punishment room?」

「Heh, yeah」

In the middle of the room, there is an exhausted young girl... no, she looks a little more grown up than a young girl. Perhaps she's around the same age as Celia. I can tell from the seed leaking from her crotch that she was raped violently not too long ago.

「Ah...please don't be rough...the pain... I don't like it...」

The crying girl looks at me suddenly and opens her eyes in surprise.

「Y-you're... don't tell me...」

But as the girl lays eyes on the person behind me acting as my guide, she covers her face and cries loudly.

「Noooooo! I don't want to be hurt anymoreeee!!」

She won't be willing to talk anymore, so I pick the girl up and move her elsewhere. Her entire body is covered in wounds and she's dirty, but her face is quite nice. If she was treated gently, her beauty would shine that much more; these idiots will never learn.

「Aegir-sama!」

Celia brings the escort unit with her and enters the basement. Even the tough escort squad wrinkled their face at the disastrous scenes around them.

「We'll take custody of the children and bring back to the headquarters in the meantime. Take the injured and sick people to the doctors.」

The escort unit destroys the prisons one by one and takes the children with them. However, there are already some who have stopped breathing.

「...take them up and cremate them.」

I'm not angry because of my own circumstances. I never felt I was particularly unfortunate to begin with, I'm just disgusted.

「Hey, come over here.」

「Noooo! I don't like pain!」

It's the voice of the girl from earlier, and it seems that she's resisting the escort unit as well. She's completely frightened.

Just when I was thinking of what to do about her, she wobbles unsteadily over in my direction and hugs me. Oh, so she's fine with me?

「......」

「Well, I don't mind, come.」

It can't be helped so I pick up the girl and head to the surface. She seems to be fine amongst the other kids so I place her on the wagon and send them off to the headquarters. The girl kept staring at me. Did she fall in love at first sight?

Then I descend into the basement once again. I need to clean up some things.

「B-boss...what will happen to me?」

「You haven't guided me around the whole place yet, right? Let's start with that.」

Even though I say guide, I'm already taking the lead as we move around underground. Then I make some light conversation with the man.

「That girl just now gave you quite a lot of trouble, huh?」

「Heeh! Absolutely, that bitch.」

「She's pretty afraid of you, so did you **** her a lot?」

I even show him a smile to give off an impression of joking around.

「Heeh...well, I guess so.」

「Was it good?」

「That girl, her hole was the best! You should definitely try it too, boss...wait, this isn't even a room.」

In the corner of the underground prison, there is a heavy-looking steel lid.

「You need two people to lift that lid, and if you're not careful when you open it...」

I lift the lid. A deep hole was uncovered, and it was so dark I couldn't see the bottom. The rustling sounds inside are probably rats scavenging for decaying flesh, or perhaps corpses that have become zombies.

「This is...」 「the place where you throw corpses and weakened prisoners, right?」

It's being used for the same purpose as it was in the past, isn't it.

I grab the neck of the man, who turned pale when he saw my face, and drag him.

「B-boss! The promise w-gah!!」

「Promise...?」

「You said if I take you around, you wouldn't kill me!!」

「Sorry, I forgot about it.」

I throw the man in the hole. He fell quite the distance, but since there are piles of corpses at the bottom, he shouldn't die. Although his screams don't seem to end. It's annoying, so I gently close the lid.

Well, let's go back now.

The Next Morning

「You went pretty wild, didn't you.」

Erich is already mad.

「As a commander...what you did is completely unnecessary – to rampage like that when the hearts of the people are disturbed right after they have been occupied and then to produce casualties is preposterous.」

He sighs and collects himself before speaking again.

「As a man, it's a job well done. It's better for you to be like that.」

What an unstable guy.

But besides Erich, it seems the capital is pretty unstable too. A few days later, a messenger from the capital gave us orders to head north instead of telling us about the end of the war.