CHAPTER 7

[Deilos, Son of the Demon Lord Dantalion, Young Lord]

[Demon Territory, Carriage]

“You like good-quality ones, yeah?”

The coachman asked as he yanked the rope—tying together a crate into his carriage. His name was Leiche, a black market dealer heading to De Gracia’s back passage. He was part of a slave ring carrying goods for an auction later down the line.

He threw the rope to the other side and pulled again—his assistant helped him.

“What do you like? Something built like a guard? Maybe you’d like something more intimate. What’s your type? Big bosoms? Thin, slender elves? Or something that can serve both purposes? I can get you some connections if you’re interested.”

“Perhaps.”

“Kid, you sound uninterested. Heard the two of you wanting something better earlier. Was my ear not working fine?”

So he’s been eavesdropping on us earlier. Generally, I don’t want to interact with people as creepy as this, but I’ll let this slide—he’s the only carriage that can give us a ride, after all.

“Eavesdropping isn’t a good look, Mr. Coachman.”

“Don’t take it too seriously, kid. I ain’t going to do nothing to you.”

He laughed as he tugged on the crates tied to the carriage.

“Aight, all good. Hop on.”

The inside of the carriage was smaller than I’d thought. It was half filled with crates, herbs, and a gigantic wooden box at the center of it. At least he wasn’t lying about the fact that it was cramped.

Seekth and I sat at the outer edge—across from us sat his assistant. As he reined the horse, the sudden pull of the carriage made it jump slightly—my spine ached as I landed from that small jump.

“Tsk.”

It seems like my body still isn’t ready. Just from that slight bump, my broken bones now started to ache up again even after the healing potions were used. When will I even get away from this pain?

The ride from there on was far from comfortable. Honestly, it’s quite hellish. Each bump was harder than the last. No wonder Seekth bought some herbs for stomach aches.

The whole day was like that, and the only thing I did was try to rest and sleep, but this damn road wouldn’t let me. After I got comfortable, a pothole would rattle the carriage, and when my eyes would close just for a second, the carriage would swerve and the wooden pole holding the canopy would hit my head.

“Hahhh......”

Bags and tiny boxes were pressed against my feet, covered by some white tarp of animal skin. I was trying to find a place comfortable within the whole day of our riding, and this was the only spot I found—a small space within the confines of the gigantic crate.

It wasn’t much, but the small space was ideal for keeping my body in place with minimal effort in doing so, much like a vise gripping onto something. There’s one thing that got me worried though—the inside of it was making noises. I tried to peek inside, but there was no hole for me to peek into. That was my thought exercise to keep myself from thinking of the pain in my body.

What was inside?

Weapons?

More goods?

A slave, maybe?

As I was questioning myself. The carriage halted, and the animal skin tarp that covered the boxes fell on me.

“Ack.”

“Young lord, I’ve asked you not to rest there.”

Seekth spoke, already standing outside of the carriage.

“It’s comfortable here.”

“This is concerning.”

“Do not question me.”

Seekth sighed lightly.

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“If the young lord were to take more injuries than the one he’s already sustained, then I’m concerned that I may have to be punished for that.”

“Then be.”

“That is why I’m concerned.”

We had been doing this back and forth for a while now as we were riding the carriage. I do have to say that annoying someone is pretty fun. I took the tarp off me and stood up. I stepped off the carriage.

The outside was now dark. The assistant was gathering some wood, and the coachman had already started to make a fire. Seekth and I approached them.

He was busy rubbing the sticks to create the fire. He spun the sticks until an ember glowed before feeding it into the tinder. He carefully placed it on the pile of sticks. As the coachman blew on the little ember, the tinder caught fire but fizzled out.

“Shit.”

“I might help with that.”

Seekth extended his arm out, and the ember pulsated and became brighter. After a few seconds, the surrounding tinder was caught on fire.

“That’s some fancy skill you got there.” The coachman threw a log onto the fire. “What do you two want to get in De Gracia for?”

“That has nothing to do with you.”

I replied as I sat down across from him.

“Snarky kid,” he spat. “I do have to warn you, though. Heard that there’s been something going on behind some bullshit with the nobles there.”

“How come?”

“Heard whispers about nobles smuggling supplies to the rebels. Though, this is just a rumor. Don’t take my words for anything.”

“Hearing that from some coachman doesn’t support the claim either.”

“Tch—this kid.”

“While we’re on the topic, what’s in that gigantic crate?”

“Crate?”

The coachman looked at the crate in the carriage. He looked around, looked at Seekth, then looked at me. He went silent for a while, then hit the back of his head.

“You’re asking too many questions,” he paused. “But if you must know—that’s a beast-kin. A hard one to find, at that. That’s all I can say.”

Oho? So that’s where the noises have been coming from. From my knowledge, although beast-kin are quite common, there are others that are harder to find. Perhaps it is one of the more exotic—a tribal beast-kin, at least.

“That’s been set in the auction in a few weeks from now.”

“Where would that take place?”

“De Gracia.”

Hmm. De Gracia again.

“You interested? I can hook you up with some connections if you’d like. This kind of product is hard to come across after all.”

Reducing someone to a product—what a joke.

“I’ll think about it for now. As you can see, I’m out of money to even hitch a pleasant ride.”

“That tongue of yours is a shitty thing, don’t you think?”

An ironic statement.

We reached the outer skirts of the city of De Gracia by noon the next day. The carriage went through a thick forest with branching paths, likely there to confuse those trying to enter this way.

The back passage was a cave. It was exceptionally dark inside.

Echoes of dripping water reverberated to the walls of the cave. The cave looked old. Moss grew within the wooden pillars that kept the cave’s rugged ceiling up. The only light we had was coming from a lantern the coachman was holding. When shined upon, the rocky walls of the cave glistened in the golden light of the fire emitted by the lantern.

It was quiet. Only broken down by the dripping water from the ceiling, the skimming steps of the horse, and the rattle of the carriage wandering the cave’s innards.

“It’s here,” the coachman whispered.

In front of us was a metal door. He knocked on it, and a loud clang rang and reverberated through the metal. After a while, the slit of the door slid open. A man looked through that small slit of the door.

“What are you here for?”

The coachman took out a bracelet and showed it to him. He opened the door.

Beyond the metal door was a cavern. The people inside were ruffians—you could say that they were bandits even. Either way, they gave off the impressions of such. The men looked rugged and uncivilized.

So....... this is the slums.

The coachman nudged us to follow him.

“You two have been here before? Best advice I can give is to shut your mouth. People here would skin you alive if you’d piss them off.”

“Oi! Leiche, c’mere.”

“Speaking of which. Better stay put for a while—I’ll be back after this.”

The place we stopped was where the slaves were kept. A foul smell was omitted from their cages.

The slaves......

The slaves were nearly dead.

From their cells and the state of their bodies, they were just as much as mine during the time of my torture. Though here...... it’s much more than what I’ve seen or experienced. Some of them had limbs cut off—others had patched eyes and were missing an ear or two. Their eyes were empty—there was no light coming from them. To think I’ll encounter this again does make my stomach churn.

Seekth looked at me. His mouth was half open but stopped midway.

“It’s fine.”

I said blankly. He nodded.

We stayed there for a while. The goods of the coachman’s carriage were being dropped off as he came back with his hands in one of his pouches.

“Well, lads? Shall we go? You behaved like I told you yeah?”

“How can we not? We don’t look like we were skinned now, did we?”

He chuckled.

“Hey, I got to deliver you two before I call in my day. Keeping both of you alive is part of that deal.”

We rode the empty carriage out of the slums towards a slim alleyway near a bustling open market.

“Kid,” the coachman threw a card towards me. “Keep that. Just show that when you want to find me. Some lackeys here might point where I’m at.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

There, we parted ways......

. . .

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