Chapter 47: Male Slave Auction

"Nice to meet you all, brave adventurers♪"

The woman greeted us with a beaming smile.

Clinging to Karl’s arm, she introduced herself to us.

"I'm Sister Ilyu, a traveler journeying through many lands. A pleasure to meet you all!"

There was no malice or deceit in her expression.

She simply looked overjoyed as she snuggled up to Karl, blushing.

"......"
"......"

Lovey-dovey. Karl was completely lovestruck.

Well, he is a guy. No surprise he wouldn’t feel bad being praised by a cute girl.

"...Karl. Thanks for staying up all night on watch."

"Oh, morning, Lev. Ahahaha, actually, I ended up chatting with Miss Ilyu the whole time, and the night just flew by."

"Hmm..."

When Lev addressed him, Karl smiled back in high spirits.

This guy still has no sense of danger.

"Morning, Sakura, Irine. Hey, is it just me, or does Maika and the others seem a bit pissed?"

"Ah, um... yes, I do believe they’re in a bad mood?"

Yeah, because of you.

No one’s going to feel great waking up to the sight of the guy they like getting all cuddly with another girl.

"...I see! You must be Miss Irine, right?"

"Huh? Y-Yes, that’s correct."

"Thank you so much for last night!!"

"Bwuh!?"

The Sister in question, upon hearing my name, lit up and flung herself at me.

...Whoa, her chest is huge!?

"You and Karl saved me, didn’t you? Hehe, for someone who looks so refined, Miss Irine, you’re really brave♪"

"Eh, ah, no. I just did what any noble would naturally do..."

"You carry a magic staff, right? Does that mean you're a mage? And I heard you took down one of the bandits too! That’s amazing!"

"I-It really wasn’t that big of a deal..."

She clung to me like a puppy wagging its tail, nuzzling up to my side.

S-So this is what Karl had to deal with all night.

She didn’t give off any bad vibes, but... pushing her away felt oddly wrong.

"...Karl, you look a little down now that she’s not glued to you anymore?"

"T-That’s not true at all!"

"...Hmm."

Hard to read that look on his face, but yeah—no doubt about it. He definitely enjoyed those boobs.

"Miss Irine, what kind of magic do you use? Combat spells?"

"Y-Yes. Something along those lines."

"I see! Oh, oh! Do you have someone you like, Miss Irine!?"

"E-Eeeh!?"

She was relentless.

That was my first impression of Sister Ilyu—energetic and overwhelmingly sociable, even after everything she’d just been through. Probably tougher than she looked.

"Okay, okay, Irine’s clearly overwhelmed, right? Let’s eat breakfast first."

"Kyaa♪"
"Th-Thank you so much..."

Sakura gently pulled the clingy Sister away from me. I didn’t hate the attention, but overly forward people just aren’t my type.

---

"Whew, that was terrifying. They just—bam—attacked me out of nowhere!"

"...You weren’t traveling with anyone? Alone?"

"Yup, solo journey. Had a bit of a falling out with my last party in the previous town, so we split up."

Apparently, Sister Ilyu had been traveling on her own.

She’d heard the rumors about rogue races but figured she’d be fine. No way they’d attack her, right?

That’s some dangerously low risk awareness.

"I mean, I did get attacked, you know? If things had gone worse, I might’ve been dragged off to some hideout and used for... their filthy urges..."

"Yeah, that was close. Be more careful next time."

"Kyaa! Being cute really is a curse, hehe♪"

Her nerves were made of steel.

She’d nearly been abducted, yet here she was, chipper as ever.

Her nun outfit was barely holding together, even after Maika had patched it up with sewing supplies. It still had holes everywhere.

"So where were you planning to go by yourself?"

"Ressal. The cathedral there’s famous, right? I was thinking of quitting adventuring and getting a job there."

"...Ah. Yeah, you might wanna rethink that."

So her goal was Ressal’s cathedral, huh?

Well, that’s just... bad luck.

"Why not?"

"That cathedral’s just a front for greedy aristocrats. A complete exploitative mess."

"...No waaay."

I felt bad. She’d come all this way with high hopes, only to get hit with this.

But someone had to say it.

"We’re leaving this town after handing over the bandits. What about you, Ilyu?"

"Hmm... I think I’ll still check out the cathedral for myself. See if it's really as bad as you say."

"Alright, then. Guess this is goodbye. Just so you know, inns aren’t allowed inside the village, so staying at the cathedral costs 500G. You good?"

"What!? That’s insane!"

Ilyu’s face froze in disbelief.

Yeah, no kidding. The whole setup is ridiculous.

"...I don’t have that kind of money..."

"Seriously, the people around here are rotten. If you’re smart, you’ll ditch Ressal ASAP."

If she still wanted to see it with her own eyes, that was her choice.

Any sane person would recognize the place is a lost cause pretty quickly.

"If what you’re saying is true... then I’ve got nowhere else to go. I was honestly planning to grovel—beg them to hire me if I had to."

"...No other options?"

"I’ve always been a wanderer. An orphan. No family or home."

Her voice trembled. Her eyes welled with tears as she looked at us.

...Yeah. Hard to walk away from that.

"Hey, Ilyu. While we’re handing over the bandits, why not check out the cathedral? If it’s no good, come with us to the next town."

"Really!?"

Karl beat me to it—he was thinking the same thing.

Ilyu was now officially invited to tag along.

"Yes, please! I’ve had enough of being attacked!"

"Can’t blame you. Alright, we’ll meet at the town gate."

"Got it!!"

She accepted Karl’s offer without hesitation.

We weren’t dragging her along for our demon lord-slaying business, but at the very least, we could get her to a safer place.

---

"...So that’s how it turned out."

"Another girl joins the party, huh."

Yeah. I pretended not to notice.

Even Maika, who’d been all smiles when Sakura and I joined, clicked her tongue this time. But that wasn’t my problem.

Even if the gender balance in this group was skewing hard, it didn’t concern me. If you count me as one of the guys, it was still... barely balanced.

"Karl. Just don’t come crying when one of them stabs you in the back, alright?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

Unlike Sakura and me, the new girl was very obviously into Karl—and that had hit a nerve with the others.

Since neither of us had romantic feelings for him, we’d probably be the ones stuck keeping the group from tearing itself apart.

---

“...Whoa. You actually captured the bandits alive?”

“What do you mean, ‘whoa’?”

We brought the bound bandits to the local guard station—expecting at least a little appreciation—and instead got a grimace.

Seriously? We do your job, and this is the thanks we get?

“Well, we’ll take custody of them, sure… but why’d you bring them all the way to Ressal?”

“Because it was the closest town. Problem?”

“You really don’t know? We don’t have any kind of military here.”

The guard clicked his tongue like the town’s incompetence was personally offending him.

“The idiot running this place cut the defense budget down to nothing. Said it was a waste. We don’t even have a jail, let alone the staff or resources to transport prisoners.”

“…Then how do you handle public safety?”

“We don’t. Not anymore. Ever since the current lord took over, it’s been a free-for-all. It’s enough to drive a man mad.”

…Unbelievable. The guy’s a noble, but clearly not a ruler.

“This used to be the guard station, but now it’s just a building. I’m not even officially on duty—I just shut the gates at night.”

“…So there’s no security at all? This town’s basically asking to be overrun.”

“If you report a crime, maybe Lord Korippa’s private army will do something. But whether they let the guy go or execute him on the spot depends entirely on his mood. Law doesn't mean anything here.”

This was way worse than we thought.

A city where justice hinges on the ruler’s whim? That’s not just corruption—it’s collapse.

“They say people act out because they’ve lost faith. So Lord Korippa’s solution was to build a giant statue of his dead father—the last lord, Gorippa—to 'inspire' everyone and bring back the city’s former glory.”

“No. If people are acting out, try enforcing the actual law.”

“I’m amazed Ressal hasn’t fallen apart completely.”

“Well, Gorippa was also a religious nut, but he at least managed to run the place. Since he died of illness two years ago, everything’s gone downhill. Crime, emigration, bankruptcy. Even the cathedral’s drowning in debt.”

So the father was just competent enough to keep things together.

And then his spoiled son took the throne—and promptly ran the city into the ground.

“I didn’t mind Gorippa, but Korippa? The guy’s been unhinged since his father died. He’s obsessed with the past—clings to it like a child to a toy. Hence the giant statue towering over everything.”

The gatekeeper’s words were drenched in bitterness. He clearly hated Korippa.

“I’m leaving soon myself. Going to stay with my brother in the Win Territory. If he can help me find a place, I’m gone.”

“…Can’t blame you.”

“But folks without family or money are stuck here. If Korippa weren’t such a disaster, none of this would’ve happened.”

A textbook case. The competent father failed to raise a proper heir, and now everyone’s paying for it.

“Ressal’s finished. There used to be a volunteer watch group to keep things from completely falling apart, but even they got disbanded.”

“The watch group?”

“Yeah. Right after the guards were dissolved and crime spiked, some idealistic locals banded together. They weren’t perfect, but they tried to protect the city.”

“…That’s kind of admirable. So why disband them?”

“Korippa again. Claimed they were ‘profiting off the people’ since they took community donations. Taxed them like a business. They couldn’t pay, tried to flee, got caught—and now they’ve been sold into slavery.”

“What the hell!?”

Yeah. It kept getting worse.

At this point, setting Korippa’s mansion on fire didn’t sound that extreme.

“They’re being auctioned off today, actually. If you’ve got the coin, maybe you could buy them back.”

“…I’ve got the money, sure. But I’m not handing it over to that bastard. No way I let him profit off of me.”

“Didn’t think you would. Just figured I’d mention it.”

Apparently, Korippa spent a fortune on that ridiculous statue—so massive you can see it from the outskirts.

Honestly, blowing up the cathedral with a spirit cannon might fix everything.

“…So, what now?”

“This place is rotten. Let’s get out while we can. I don’t want to get involved.”

“Can’t we do something? Those watch guys don’t deserve this…”

“The law here is Korippa. Even if you’re a noble, Irine, if you make trouble… you’ll end up branded a criminal.”

...That would be bad.

Getting Irine on a wanted list would cause major problems—for her, her family, and our entire journey.

Okay, yeah… no torching the place. Yet.

“There’s nothing we can do. Be patient, Irine. Besides, I have a hunch something might happen.”

“‘Something’!? What does that even mean, Sakura?”

“‘Something’ means something, okay? Don’t you feel it?”

As Irine fumed, Sakura stared toward the heart of the city—wearing that strange, confident smile of hers.

…What is she seeing?

“Hey, everyone. What do you say we stop by that auction?”

“Huh? Why?” Karl blinked, puzzled.

Sakura gave him a sly wink.

“Because I think it’s going to be very satisfying.”

---

“────Korippa must be brought down!”

Worried by Sakura’s sudden declaration, I headed to the hill that overlooked the central square.

From there, I saw it—chaos exploding in the heart of the city.

At the slave market, angry shouts clashed with the ringing steel of combat. Citizens had risen, their fury boiling over into open battle against Korippa’s private militia.

“Drag that bastard down!!”

“Free the vigilantes!!!”

“Time to settle the score for everything he’s done!!”

Ah… so it finally happened.

The uprising against Korippa—long overdue—had begun at last.

“See?” Sakura said beside me, smiling faintly. “Told you it’d be interesting.”

“…Sakura, how did you know this was going to happen?”

“Right before war breaks out, there’s this… tension in the air. Like a drawn bowstring. You can feel it all through the city—crackling. It started last night.”

Yeah. That checked out.

Sakura had seen more battlefields than I could count. She could read the signs. She knew.

She’d sensed it in the people—their bottled-up rage reaching the breaking point.

“Oh, look—the slaves have been freed.”

“And they’ve armed themselves. That pretty much seals it.”

The captured members of the vigilante corps—once chained and helpless—were now free and fighting at the front lines. They moved with lethal precision, cutting through the panicked private militia like a blade through mist.

On the stage, a man in garish robes—Korippa, no doubt—screamed orders with a pale, frantic face.

“The difference in combat experience is obvious,” I said. “The militia never stood a chance.”

“Yeah, no surprise. That vigilante group probably was the old city guard. Their form’s way too clean to be amateurs.”

“Aha, that makes sense,” Karl added. “No way some glorified rent-a-cops could match that.”

Two years. That’s how long the people had endured this.

They’d known the risks—challenging a noble could mean death. Or worse. Even if they were burned alive by magic, no one would’ve dared speak up for them.

But today, the dam finally broke.

“Oh, he’s trying to chant something,” Ilyu muttered. “Looks like fire magic.”

“You can tell from here?”

“I saw the spirits gathering.”

Hmph. I could see it too. Weak, scattered spirits, barely responding. That spell wouldn’t even singe a tree branch.

As a mage, Korippa was pathetic.

…Still, just in case.

I raised my hand.

“Applaud, Proudits. Applaud, Proudits.”

“Oh… that’s—”

Yup. Muscle Heaven: The Musical. A ridiculous source for a spell incantation—but it worked. A shimmering anti-magic barrier unfolded across the square, subtle and unseen.

Korippa’s feeble spell fizzled the moment it tried to launch.

Even a small fireball could’ve hurt someone. This way, the people could win without collateral damage.

“With that, he’s done for,” Sakura said. “He has nothing left.”

The crowd surged forward.

Korippa was dragged from the platform—his screams lost in the roar of the uprising.

A moment later, it was over.

Korippa was executed by his own people.

Ressal, at last, was free. Leaderless now, but it wouldn’t stay that way forever. One of the nearby noble houses would send a replacement. Hopefully someone sane.

“────Ancient Arena, O Antique! Bloom in glory, O Colosseum!”

I glanced over. Sakura had just cast her signature spell again. The sky shimmered faintly with arcane beauty.

“Wow,” Karl whispered. “Still such beautiful magic…”

“Alright,” Sakura said, brushing off her hands. “I’m done here. Time to head to the gate, just like I promised Ilyu.”

From the hilltop, I looked down once more at Korippa’s crumpled form—eyes wide, lips trembling, magic stolen from him by a spell he couldn’t even see.

Then I turned away.

What happened to that man no longer concerned me.

---

There was nothing left to do in this city. All that remained was to regroup with Ilyu and leave.

…At least, that was the plan.

"Wa—waaah!! Mr. Karl, Mr. Karl!"

"O-oh. Ilyu? What’s wrong?"

"I went to the Grand Cathedral and everything was going crazy! Fires were breaking out everywhere!! And someone came at me like, ‘You’re with the cathedral, aren’t you!?’ and almost cut me down!"

"…Ah. My condolences."

After we split up, Ilyu had gone to the Grand Cathedral alone—only to be mistaken for one of the staff and attacked.

Apparently, she barely escaped with her life.

"What is wrong with this city!? It’s seriously insane!!"

"Y-yeah, you’re not wrong. Lessal’s a dangerous place."

"I can’t live in a city like this! I’m getting out of here!!"

It seemed Ilyu had already given up on Lessal.

And honestly, I couldn’t blame her. She picked the worst possible day to go sightseeing—a coup day.

"And on top of that!! Mr. Karl, look at that!"

"That?"

"That, that!!"

Still flustered, Ilyu pointed outside the city.

There we saw—

"…No way, is that…"

"Bandit Clan?"

A mob of clearly unsavory types, numbering in the hundreds, was storming across the plains toward the city.

They were dressed just like the bandits we’d captured yesterday.

"This has to be because they saw us transporting those bandits!"

"Ah—so they’ve come to get their comrades back. And they're taking advantage of the fact that Lessal has almost no military defenses."

"W-what do we do!? How are we supposed to deal with a force that big!? The city’s already in total chaos, and now this—!"

Ilyu spun in place, panicked, her head jerking left and right as she started to go dizzy.

Well, the main force of the bandits was on the move. Anyone would panic.

"So basically, this is a mess we started. That means we’ve gotta be the ones to clean it up."

"Karl, what should we do? If we lift Muscle Heaven: The Musical, the spirit cannon will be usable again."

"Nah, no need. That much is────"

As the horde of over a hundred bandits steadily closed the distance to Ressal—

"I’m enough on my own."

Karl said it with a fearless grin, and slowly drew his sword.