Episode 130
"Oh my, Lord Frey! You've come? Welcome to our slave market!"
As Frey dragged the fox beastkin forward, someone approached him with a delighted expression and offered a greeting.
"If only I had been here when you visited last time, I could have served you better! What a pity! If there's anything you need in terms of service..."
"Enough with the fuss."
Interrupting his words with an annoyed expression, Frey threw words at the man who was still looking at him with a beaming smile in a low voice.
"Is it appropriate for the person in charge of the slave market to be acting like this here?"
"Haha, don't worry! Since the scale this time is unprecedented, I've been extra careful with the staff selection! So things will run smoothly even without me!"
Listening to the man's words, which sounded slightly flighty and like a merchant's to anyone listening, Frey.
"So, what business brings you here?"
Frowned slightly and asked again.
"Ah, well! There are some things I wanted to ask!"
Still wearing a smooth-talking smile toward Frey, the man began to speak.
"Have you decided to clean out all the beastkin slaves today?"
"What do you mean?"
"What do I mean? Aren't you currently wiping out the beastkin stock right now, Lord Frey?"
Saying that, the man soon wore a mischievous expression and opened his mouth.
"Then again, if it's Lord Frey, even all the female slaves here wouldn't be enough to satisfy you, would they? You're quite renowned in that regard..."
"What exactly are you trying to say?"
When Frey asked in a cold voice, the man rubbed his hands together and got to the main point.
"So... how many do you intend to buy today exactly?"
"I'll buy as many as I please. Is there a problem?"
"Hmm, well... Normally that would be an answer that would make my jaw drop in joy..."
When Frey spoke nonchalantly, the man started to look slightly troubled.
"Well, you see... Lord Frey, you're well aware, aren't you? Among those visiting our market today, quite a few of our VIPs are present."
"And?"
"Well, you see. If Lord Frey monopolizes the slaves, how should I put it... Not everyone can be satisfied."
Desperately trying to persuade the usually self-centered Frey who cared only for himself, the man exerted himself to convey his message.
Already at that point, protests from VIPs who couldn't buy the slaves they wanted because Frey had purchased entire races were pouring in.
"Monopoly? Can't they just pay more than what I paid? Hasn't this place always operated on that system?"
"Well, to pay more than what Lord Frey offered... Even for nobles, that would be quite a burden."
"Is that so?"
Scratching his head at those words, the man put on the most pitiful expression he could and began to beg.
"Please! Lord Frey! I never thought I'd have to say this, but just take it a bit easier..."
"Alright."
"...Huh?"
Expecting an angry Frey to punch him, the man instead looked bewildered when Frey unexpectedly agreed readily.
"I only brought a limited amount of money anyway. I was planning to slow down soon."
"I, I see! Understood! Thank you!"
After wearing a confused expression for a moment, he quickly bowed his waist and expressed his gratitude when Frey answered with an indifferent expression once more.
"...Kehck."
"Is there something else you want to ask?"
Looking at him for a moment, Frey, who was about to exit the corridor while putting strength on the leash the fox beastkin was wearing, looked back with a puzzled expression as the man quietly followed him.
"There is, but it's nothing much! Just a simple survey!"
"Survey?"
"Yes, we're currently conducting a preference survey for market slaves targeting VIPs!"
Frey frowned at those words, while the man smiled and began asking questions.
"What type of slave do you prefer? Race? Age range? Build?"
"I'm busy right now, so let's do that later..."
"Oh my, now that I look, isn't this a fox beastkin?"
As Frey stepped back a pace from the man who was approaching with twinkling eyes, the man who had been clicking his tongue turned his gaze to the beastkin beside Frey.
"Let's see... Judging by the tail shape and color, she's from the Eastern Continent mountains. My, your eye for quality is truly exceptional. That's a premium specimen that appears once every ten years..."
Eventually, reciting approximate information just from a quick glance, he murmured with a regretful expression.
"If I had spotted her, I would have made her a non-sale item for entertainment purposes, but she's already sold so it can't be helped."
"So you don't know everything about this place either, do you?"
"Of course not! Do you know how massive this place is! Even I, who is well-versed in such matters, have my limits!"
"...I thought as much."
"What?"
Muttering with a meaningful expression at those words, Frey soon smiled.
"Nothing. Well then, I'll be off to take my newly purchased slave for a walk."
"Yes! Have a good time! By the way, the secret lounge for nobles is located across from the waiting room!"
Leaving behind the man who said that while bowing his head, Frey began sending a telepathic message while avoiding the gaze of the fox beastkin who was still secretly glaring at him.
'You all heard, right? Even the person in charge doesn't know everything. So, move more flexibly according to the situation. And don't forget the secret lounge location either.'
Having sent a telepathic message to everyone once more, Frey began walking slowly down the corridor, relying on his cane.
"Human."
"...Hmm?"
Walking down the corridor for a while, Frey looked back with a puzzled expression when the fox beastkin called out to him.
"Where are you going?"
The fox beastkin, who had been quietly glaring at Frey, asked a question, and he opened his mouth with an incredulous expression.
"Your manner of address is terrible, and you're speaking informally too. You don't seem to understand your situation. With one word from me, you're finished."
"Southern Continental language, unfamiliar. So please understand... Kehck!"
The fox beastkin, who was answering in a low voice, started making choking noises because Frey suddenly yanked the leash hard.
"If you don't know, you shouldn't have run your mouth until you got used to it."
"Keck, kuhck! Ugh..."
Looking at the fox beastkin clutching her throat with tears welling up, Frey soon pulled the leash weakly to signal departure.
"...Human."
"Sigh."
Walking down the quiet corridor again for a while, Frey turned his head with an irritated expression when the fox beastkin's low voice was heard once more from behind.
"Do you have no fear? Or do you want to die?"
"I have, a question."
Glaring fiercely at Frey, the fox beastin asked in a cold voice.
"Why do you do this? Such things?"
"...What?"
Before he knew it, holding a gleaming blade from her clothes.
"Why did you buy, the children who were with me?"
"Hmm..."
Now, awakening her senses as a predator to the maximum, as she had been doing.
"An untrained slave is a first in a long time. A slave who doesn't understand her situation is also a first. It'll be satisfying to break her."
"Answer me, human."
"Are you really asking because you don't know?"
To her, Frey said with a sneer.
"I'll throw them all in my basement and make them sex slaves. Especially you, being beautiful, I'll make you my personal attendant."
"...Young."
"What?"
"Children younger than me, younger than you."
Putting more strength into the blade she was secretly gripping, she growled fiercely.
"Do you feel no guilt... ugh!"
And at that moment, Frey yanked her leash violently once more.
'...It's a chance!'
And that was the moment she had been waiting for ever since gripping the blade.
- Shwick!!
"...Hup."
In the blink of an eye, the blade was pointed at Frey's neck.
Despite being considerably weakened due to the bracelet, her characteristic agility and the force of Frey's pull created an opening.
It was her triumph.
"...Human, don't move."
Having succeeded in her rebellion, she pressed close to Frey, who had a stiff expression, and began whispering in a cold voice.
"Your life, it's mine now."
"Is that so?"
"That's right. So you must follow my words."
At those words, Frey started to smile.
"What's so funny, human."
"No, it's nothing. Just..."
When the fox beastkin, who put a bit more force on the blade pointed at his neck, asked the reason, Frey answered with an amused expression.
"It's my first time having a slave challenge me, so I found it a bit fascinating."
"Do you not understand the situation? Human? You're right now..."
"Even though you can't attack anyway."
As Frey said that and reached his hand toward her neck, the fox beastin frowned and tried to slightly drive the blade into his neck, but.
".....Ugh?"
The sharp blade extending toward Frey's neck.
No matter how much strength she applied.
Didn't move even a hair's width.
"What's wrong? Didn't you say my life was yours?"
"What, what is this. Why..."
Flustered by the strange phenomenon, she started to look panicked when Frey, who had reached out to her, began stroking her neck.
"The bracelet you're wearing doesn't just have a weakening curse."
"A c-curse?"
"That's right. That bracelet contains not only a weakening curse but also a 'curse of obedience' embedded in it."
Saying that, Frey whispered quietly in her ear.
"Stand still and don't move."
".......!"
Then, her body froze in an instant.
"Mmh, nngh..."
Struggling to escape from that situation, the fox beastkin soon realized it was futile and looked ahead.
".........Heek."
And only then did she begin to feel fear.
The shock that a boy who was no match for her from her perspective was stroking her defenseless neck.
The leash in his other hand, gradually being pulled, starting to cut off the oxygen flowing to her.
The heterogeneous and spine-chilling power called 'magic' that she experienced for the first time in her life.
"Mmh, mmm..."
Thanks to those facts, she realized for the first time in her life what true oppression meant.
Not the orderly and reasonable oppression of village rules or adult authority, but violent and unreasonable oppression.
The fear that she, who had left her village to find freedom, would have to spend her entire life as the plaything of the man before her, was enough to paralyze her reason.
"I, I was... wrong..."
"What?"
"I, I was wrong... I apologize for my mistake. So please, stop..."
Therefore, she even apologized to the human she had secretly looked down on, but.
"Heek..."
Frey quietly grasped her neck.
Without squeezing hard, just with his small hand wrapping around her throat as if embracing it.
'He can kill me at any moment...?'
But the hidden meaning of that action she guessed only deepened her fear.
"P, please spare..."
As a result, before she knew it, she was sobbing and pleading with Frey.
"...Spare me."
No matter how much she called herself a noble fox tribe or a great warrior, the unreasonable malice she encountered for the first time in the wide world.
Was not something a young fox beastkin who had lived being worshipped by villagers and hadn't even molted many times could endure.
- Ssslurp...
"Heek..."
As a result, the fox beastkin who had fallen into complete fear felt a spine-chilling sensation as if her neck would break every time Frey's hand brushed against her throat.
She could only hold her breath and endure what felt like an eternity.
"...What's your name?"
When the truly long and endless time for her ended, Frey, who had removed his hand from her neck, asked in a low voice.
"M, Miho."
"Alright, Miho. You won't do such a thing again, will you?"
When Miho nodded frantically at those words, Frey quietly led her toward a room's door.
"Wait in there for a bit."
"W, where is this..."
"My private waiting room. The slaves I've purchased are gathered there."
Saying that, Frey whispered while stroking Miho's head.
"I'll come get you when I'm done with my business. Then we'll take a walk again and do various fun things together."
"Mmh, mm..."
Having finished speaking, Frey pushed her inside the door, smiled for a moment, then turned his steps.
"........Ugh."
Left behind with the slaves Frey had purchased for a while, she fell into fear and despair for a moment before cautiously surveying her surroundings.
""..........""
The same was true for all the slaves in this room.
Because, before coming to this room, they had all experienced similar treatment from Frey.
Even though some of them were stronger than Miho.
'...Home, I want to go home.'
In that situation, Miho, who realized her helplessness for the first time, buried her face in her knees and quietly began to tremble.
It was the moment when the sprout that had emerged from the earth with the innocent dream of finding freedom was about to be trampled mercilessly.
"Hello, everyone."
Until Demirkan, who appeared to be receiving a signal from someone, suddenly appeared in their midst.
""......!?""
The slaves looked at the gentleman in a suit who had suddenly appeared without any warning or notice, bewildered.
"...As expected, it's him. Each one is the strongest among their race."
Looking at them with a satisfied expression.
"I'll get straight to the point."
In a low voice, but clearly so everyone in the room could hear, he made a proposal.
"...I'll give you the power to bring this place down."
When the slaves looked dumbfounded at his words, he quietly added.
"In exchange, join the Demon Lord's army."
.
- In exchange, join the Demon Lord's army.
"No way, on whose account?"
Frey, who had put the beastkin named Miho in the waiting room and was taking a brief rest, smiled and whispered upon hearing Demirkan's statement resonating in his head.
"...See, I told you they're quite useful?"
- Frey, I found how to dispel the self-destruct magic on the slaves' necks! Just come here for a moment and...
At that moment, Irena's telepathic message resonated in his head.
'I've been destroying them with Star magic until now though?'
- Is that... possible?
'I just channeled magic into their necks and it worked?'
Saying that while scratching his head, Frey.
'Everyone, report. Any anomalies or variables observed?'
Soon sent a telepathic message to everyone.
- This is Kania, no problems here. By the way, young master, is that child really not a sub-heroine?
- I'm focusing on magic restoration so I don't really know.
- This is Clana, a problem has occurred.
Soon closing his eyes and listening carefully to the telepathic messages, Frey started frowning at Clana's words about a problem.
- The Royal Knight Commander and Holy Knight Commander have appeared.
"What, I thought it was something serious."
He soon made a relieved expression upon hearing her statement.
'It's only natural for those two to appear, being blind to talent recruitment lately. They'll probably try to select the strong ones among the male slaves.'
- B-but...
'Leave them be. Those people are just here to scavenge today anyway. And they're not strong enough to disrupt the plan either.'
Answering in a calm tone, Frey began humming a tune and heading somewhere.
- There's one more variable.
"......!!!"
Suddenly stopping his steps, he froze completely.
- Don't be surprised, right now here...
'I know.'
- What?
In his field of vision.
"Frey!!! You shameless and wicked!!! Despicable and vulgar and flighty and evil human!!!"
'It's right in front of my eyes right now.'
A massive variable named Perloche was approaching.
"I will definitely kill you today!!!"
How that variable would play out, at that moment, no one knew.