Volume 5 - CH 10

Chapter 10 – Basement

“What’s wrong, brother? Is a beastman that rare to you?”

The one who called Eto from inside the prison was a lion beastman with a muscular body. Thick chains were attached to both his hands and feet, yet the beastman didn’t seem to care about it. He was sitting deep in the prison, leaning his back against the wall.

When Eto, who had already broken his disguise by speaking, tried to speak to the beastman, he heard a yell from the corner of the passage.

“What are you doing there!”

The man, who happened to be the same person that came down to the basement with Eto earlier, glared at him. The man then took big strides, grabbed Eto’s nape and dragged him back toward the stairs. Eto tried to bow his head and express his apology, but the man kept ignoring him and didn’t stop his feet. Thus, Eto, whose collar was grabbed by the man, had no choice but to follow him.

“Oi, brother. Perhaps you can’t speak?”

The lion beastman asked in a carefree voice.

Hearing that, the man who was dragging Eto stopped and looked back.

“This guy can’t speak. I don’t know what you said to him, but shame on you.”

“Ha, I didn’t say anything, though. I just told him that if those Sleipnirs were kept in an unclean prison, they would go wild and wouldn’t be fit for sale.”

“What?”

“And since the Sleipnir also has been kicking the floor in the middle of the night, it looks like the kids in that prison can’t sleep either.”

“You don’t seem to understand your position yet.”

The man said in a low dreadful voice, but the lion beastman just laughed scornfully.

“You bastard!!”

‘I guess this is good enough. There seems to be no more information here.’

Since it seems all the slaves are trapped in this basement, Eto thought that if it’s just these guys, he can deal with them alone.

With that, Eto blocked the man’s view with ‘Dark’ and immediately cast an attack magic, Thunder. However, as the man was still conscious, Eto increased the output of Thunder. And then he brought the now immobile man to the end of the passage, then approached the beastman’s prison.

“Color me surprised. Who are you, brother?”

“Well, I’m usually an adventurer, and one of my comrades was enslaved because of these guys… Err, I bought her after she was enslaved, and now I want to know the truth…”

“What are you talking about, brother?”

“To put it simply, I am these guys’ enemy.”

In the end, Eto felt it was troublesome to explain it in detail.

“Ou. Then you are my ally, too.”

The lion beastman laughed while showing his fangs.

According to the lion beastman who called himself Gaios, every ‘commodity’ in this basement were indeed products that can’t be shown to others. Which means, Eto’s assumptions were correct.

“Well then, why can’t they display you?”

“Brother, you really have no restraint…”

“It’s an emergency, so please forgive me.”

“I came to this town as a ship escort, but I was swindled at the gambling house in the port town. Then, I got pissed off and went on a rampage. And when I came to my senses, I was already in this state. Well, lion beastmen are rare, after all. I was brought here because they thought someone with a weird taste might be interested in me.”

“Which means, you are a debt slave?”

“No, selling beastman slaves itself is banned on this continent. So, yeah, this is an illegal slavery.”

“I see. Understood. For the time being, I will take a look at the children.”

“Ou. The key to the prison is in the room on your right at the end. There are a bunch of them, so you’ll know right away.”

“Thanks for the information.”

As Eto walked through the passage, he saw about ten children, with boys and girls divided into several prisons. They are huddling together and staring at Eto. Probably because of the loud noises and voices from earlier, they were holding their breaths and observing the situation. And Eto could see fear and anxiety in their eyes.

“Are there any children named Neil and Myu here? By the way, they are from Veil.”

Eto asked in a gentle voice as much as possible. The children were looking at each other, but naturally, their gazes went to a brother and sister pair.

“Are you guys Neil and Myu? I’ve heard about you two from Sarah-san.”

Eto then gave the name of Sarah whom he met at the slave firm, as she said she was in the same carriage with Neil and Myu when they were brought to the royal capital. Hearing that, the brother and sister stared at Eto in surprise.

“Onii-chan, do you know Sarah-san?”

The sister asked.

“Un. Onii-chan is Sarah-san’s friend.”

“Is that so? Sarah-san was really kind, she even gave us sweets.”

“That’s right. Because Sarah-san wanted to see you two, Onii-chan came here to pick you two up.”

“Can we get out of here?”

“Un. And not just you two. All of you can get out of here. Leave it to Onii-chan, okay?”

The children then cheered. Although the older children seem half-convinced, Eto could see the feeling of anticipation in their eyes. And looking at their expressions, Eto couldn’t help but be angered at the men in the castle. Because of that, Eto began to think it was something that cannot be helped even if he broke the guild master’s instruction and overdid it a little.