- Myra -

"Grmph" (Myra)

For several days now we've been scouting the southern outskirts of Ekoras.

Jacob somehow managed to get some of our colleagues to talk about places "you'd rather avoid if you don't want to get involved in something".

It's not a popular topic, but he's clearly a people person, whereas I'm not and Lorel with his background already triggers them merely by showing up.

Can't believe that I seriously again took a commission from these slimes.

It didn't end well for our group the last time we got involved with them.

Heck, the mere association with those two might lay grounds for us getting expelled from the guild.

And that's the light outcome.

Certainly, we're in a bad situation if they ever find out that we were the ones who got them into the guild.

Those all are just logical reasons to make a wide bow around them.

I won't even get started about how Shari killed my childhood friend.

Doesn't matter the situation we were in, she did it and I have every right not to want to work with her after this.

Still, their money is real.

We can't exactly be picky with accepting orders and they promised a reward far above our usual income.

That being said, the nature of this one is delicate.

Slave trading, as everyone knows, is backed by powerful people in the background.

Just barging in there will clearly get you into enormous trouble.

My old self would probably have done so, however, I learned not to take unnecessary risks.

To receive our payment we only need to find the base where the slaves are held and the route they're moved along.

No reason to actually get involved.

The captives are likely to get saved anyway, and if our two slimes decide to take care of it personally, then, well, a sudden monster attack is far less likely to force retaliation.

Honestly, what would those slavers even intend to do about it?

Put in an assignment at the guild to keep their slave trafficking routes free?

Fortunately, it's not so far with the guild yet.

The last couple days didn't exactly bring much progress, nonetheless, we're moving on and as our scout, I'm keeping my eyes open for any traces, as well as whatever else catches my attention.

Even if we don't find them, we should at least be able to gather some forest goods and bring them with us.

However, I'm positive.

Everyone knows about the slaves.

There is something to find, so we're likely to find it.

The only thing that's troubling me would be the forced conversations along the way.

"So let me get this straight: Those two killed my predecessor and then you parted ways?" (Lorel)

"To be fair, he attacked them. Nonetheless, he was our comrade. It would've been difficult to keep working together with them with this history." (Jacob)

"So what do you think those slimes are up to?" (Lorel)

"Right now or in general?" (Jacob)

"Well, both? You know them from before, right? Are they trustworthy?" (Lorel)

"I'd say so. Especially the blue one. Almost fanatically committed to keeping her word." (Jacob)

"Who cares about this?! They're always unpredictable! You let them be for half a day and they shake whole towns with their antics!" (Myra)

"To be fair, we knew what they were going to do, and Cid was an asshole." (Jacob)

"I still can't believe that they killed a middleman of the cartel." (Lorel)

"You can. We're lucky it was such a contained event. Don't let yourself get fooled by their reasonable demeanor. Those two can be true monsters. I mean, just thinking about that rager they took down-" (Jacob)

"Quiet now! The trail picks up. I suspect we’re not too far away anymore." (Myra)

It looks like someone passed this trail pretty recently.

Now we only need to follow the traces, confirm that they indeed transport slaves, avoid getting caught, and report the location of this route to earn our payment.

At least, coming from the number of footsteps in the ground as well as the other signs of crossing this must've been a fairly large group.

The slight limp I can identify between some of the indentions rather points at someone who's not at their physical height, in contrast to adventurers on a mission, who maintain a fitness regiment.

Though, I don't like what the smaller ones imply.

Once I'm sure we're coming closer, I decide to leave the path.

Otherwise, we'd run directly into them.

Nobody likes being followed in these realms and it's a bit of an unspoken agreement that a followed group can consider their pursuers to be hostile if that happens.

But the other reason is that if not tasked specifically, adventurers don't profit from being involved with bandits and the likes.

This tradition is basically set to avoid getting involved with shady business.

That just wouldn't do well for its position in Ekoras.

As long as you don't have a mission involving finding that kind of scum that is.

I pay keen attention to our surroundings and ultimately manage to spot the ones we are looking for.

To be honest, they're not trying too hard to go unnoticed.

Monsters aren't too frequent and big at this layer of the forest.

At most, you are to encounter some feliras, direwolves, or woodpiercers if you're especially unlucky, yet the latter are rather stationary with their habitats.

A group as big as the one I'm seeing here can handle this much.

We move a little closer and discover their camp at a small clearing.

No talking allowed at this point.

It helps that most of their guardposts are directed inside the camp, not outside.

For obvious, business-related reasons.

The "goods" are sitting within a ring that was drawn on the ground, the inside padded with cheap-looking rags.

All of them wear some weird kind of metal collar.

They... don't look too great.

Unfortunately, my concerns proved to be true.

Most of these people consist of weak women and children.

How they intend to make a profit with these is beyond me.

I wouldn't wonder if at least a third of them wouldn't make the journey to Siras, which is the only possible destination I can imagine.

Or they're trying to somehow get over the river directly to Koreso.

In this case, the chances of the people they're transporting would be much worse.

One of the women approaches a warden.

"Please! My child is weak! He needs something to eat!" (woman)

"Back in!" (slaver)

"But.... Aaaahhhhhhhh!" (woman)

"You know the rules! If they step over the line you use the collar!" (apparent boss slaver)

The woman writhes in pain and stumbles back where whatever torments her stops.

I see how the boss puts some kind of complicated-looking device to the side.

That thing might be why they think this line is enough to keep them back.

I don't like this sight, but much more concerned I am because Lorel apparently is totally on edge.

Only Jacob's sudden grip can prevent him from rushing out of our cover.

"Lorel! We aren't here for that! Our mission is to report this to our contractors. They're going to take care of this." (Jacob)

"You can't seriously expect me to let that go!" (Lorel)

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Why does Noble Boy even care?!

Their type doesn't concern themselves with the fates of those beneath them.

"They'll get their punishment. Those two are strong enough to take all of them out." (Myra)

"Are we not?" (Lorel)

Honestly, I'm not sure about this.

I see at least a dozen of them.

At the minimum, they have to be strong enough to fight off any attacking monsters, while simultaneously keeping the captives contained, though I doubt they'd qualify for anything above D-rank.

"P-please. Please." (woman)

"What about that kid?" (slaver)

"Sigh. Kill them both and leave them to distract the direwolves." (boss)

"Boss, are you sure? The woman can still move." (slaver)

"There's no way the child is going to make it till our destination. We're selling parents and kids as a set. The Koresos pay extra if they have a lever to make them risk their necks. Desperate mothers with dying children are the best if it comes down to jumping an enemy soldier with reckless abandon. On the other side, grieving mothers are worthless." (boss)

"Okay, but can't you just kill them off with the collar? Would be cleaner." (slaver)

"You've got no idea what kind of agony this inflicts. Killing like this is for rulebreakers only. I might be harsh, but I'm not a monster. So don't question me again or you'll take their place." (boss)

"Yeah. Sure thing, boss." (slaver)

The boss already turns away from the gruesome sight that awaits.

Three more slavers join the one who got the job to intimidate the slaves to stay at their place, while the woman can only whimper on the ground, her child next to her.

I really don't want to see this, but if we act now we'll have the whole camp against us.

We might still be able to save the others if we inform Shari and Liqu about their route.

They surely can catch up easily at their ridiculous pace.

But this doesn't help those two.

That scum raises his spear to end the life of the woman, yet before it's even up in the air a shadow rushes past me.

I need a moment to register that Jacob fell backward and it's Lorel who sprints at the slavers with the aforementioned reckless abandon.

His strides are so big, it's almost like he's flying, each step its own jump, propelling him further forward.

Putting all his body into it, he swings his bastard sword at the man with the spear and cleaves the torso apart from the lower body.

This... can only be body strengthening.

He must've learned it somewhere to accomplish such feats.

There are still three more.

One tries to get into position to deflect the strike with his axe, but this hasty defense is by no means enough to defend against Lorel's full-force swing that pushes through and disembowels him.

The third wants to take a jab with his spear at him but switches to bring the shaft between his next strike.

However, the weapon is just sliced in half together with the man behind it.

Seriously, how is he doing that?

It's not just an increase in strength, rather it's as if he doesn't limit himself for his overpowered strikes.

No holding back at all, even if his muscles were to rip and his tendons to snap.

But this has its clear downsides, as by now I can see how he's powered out and seems to struggle killing the one who's next to him.

This gets aggravated by the fact that the other slavers are fully aware of him by now.

This means I have to act now or he's likely about to get killed, and the aftermath won't work out well for us.

Due to his good start the chances even got somewhat acceptable to engage now.

So I rush out at an archer that already nocks his arrow at Lorel, my two daggers ready to deal with him before he can aim this shot.

My sudden appearance works out in so far as that it draws his attention.

This means, Lorel is out of danger, but unfortunately, I'm his new target.

But I didn't sit idly on my butt during the past month.

Before the arrow flies off I focus on my inner workings.

With trained practice, I call the picture of a cloud to my mind that encompasses my whole body, whose contents I draw to my eyes.

Next, I feel a certain tingling pressure building up in them and release my focus to open my eyes with new clarity, the whole word receding to slow motion, just in time to see the arrow coming in my direction.

Its speed makes it necessary that I proceed to the next step.

As much as I can grasp of the cloud I guide it to my joints where it settles right there, between the bones and the nearby muscles.

Once I'm finished the arrow got already much closer.

My knees bend together and lower me just below the trajectory.

Without even slowing down I snap back up and cross the rest of the distance.

My target knows that he can't shoot another arrow and draws a short sword.

The next happens within half a second.

My left dagger I let get deflected before his chest, while the other dives below his arm and then rushes straight up to draw a line up from his collarbone right through the throat.

A feat that I can only accomplish because of the increased sense, durability, and strength I forced into my joints.

However, there's no time to dawdle.

The next target is already set.

It goes well with my style that Lorel drew their attention and they're all so widely scattered around the camp.

I barely need any time at all to jump along the next one's arm to stab his neck and move on to bury my dagger in another's eyehole.

Meanwhile, Lorel's profound sword technique, which was the initial reason for us to even consider him, got him on top of the fight he just had.

So the slavers are down to less than half of their men.

Which is when their boss chooses to play dirty.

"Slaves! Kill these fuckers! If not I'll make you wish you die! Whoever gets one can go free!" (boss)

He threateningly raises the device he used before, the people inside the ring looking anxiously at it and then at us.

"Swsh"

"Uggh" (boss)

This is the moment when a bolt abruptly settles in the boss' chest.

Our leader finally made his move.

He just waited to find the best target before releasing his bolt.

The poison on the tip settles the rest.

With this, the ban on the slaves is broken.

They see this as their only chance and rush at their tormentors.

Two are literally getting ripped apart, and another is killed soon after with the help of Lorel who joins them.

From the two who now choose to flee, one is picked out by Jacob and the other is no match for my increased speed.

He's so intent on running that he doesn't even defend himself once I'm at his neck.

This concludes it.

Just one thing to deal with now.

"What the fuck, Lorel?!" (Myra)

This idiot revealed our presence, made us fight a clearly superior force that could have done us in if they managed to assemble properly, and charged in without any plan aside from "must slash"!

That's so far past unreliable, his actions could have got the whole of us killed!

"What do you mean?! I had to do something!" (Lorel)

"Did you fucking lose it?! Before we could've just delivered the info and be out of it, but it's going to be impossible to deny this kind of mess!" (Myra)

Seriously, the guild doesn't want to be involved in gang wars, and we basically started one just now.

I'm already getting sick from thinking about the repercussions we're going to face.

A rank demotion is the best we can hope for.

"Are you seriously telling me you would've let them die because you're afraid of getting scolded?!" (Lorel)

"We will face consequences for this, and it's a problem that you just made this decision for the entire team." (Jacob)

As bad as it sounds to say this, we could've died here if things had gone a little worse or they'd employed stronger guards.

Even if it worked out fine, we couldn't know.

On the other hand, by reporting our findings after we returned, those literal monsters would've taken care of them without any issues.

Even worse, because we attacked this delivery the ones waiting at the other end of this route will be able to assume what happened, and we have no way of ever finding out where the delivery point is located.

"This wasn't the job! We were only supposed to find them. Nothing else." (Jacob)

"You wouldn't even have taken this job if not for the money, despite knowing what happens here!" (Lorel)

It's not like I'm really thrilled about the current state of affairs in Ekoras, but it seems a bit much to ask us three to change it.

Especially, as there's not much support we could expect for doing so.

We're already scraping hard to get by.

"This wasn't our fight! You can go save the world by yourself if you want to be an honorable idiot, but I'd pretty much prefer to live a little longer!" (Myra)

After all, doing unnecessary things will only get you killed in the long run.

"At least they try to change something! That's more than I can say about you! Those slimes are far more honorable than any of you!" (Lorel)

Ouch, that hurt.

At this, one of the slaves, the woman who was writhing on the ground before to be precise, approaches.

"Thank you so much! Without you... without you... Thank you! My, my son..." (woman)

Damn that tugs at my heart

Sigh.

I reach into my satchel, pull out whatever of my provisions qualifies as a decent meal, and hand it to the child.

"Here. Try to eat slowly." (Myra)

"Thank you! Thank you!" (woman)

Sigh, this is going to be a hassle.

"So what now?" (Jacob)

"We have to bring those people back! We can't abandon them!" (Lorel)

He's right.

It's only a question of time till the blood will lure in the monsters.

"What about the fact that we killed a bunch of people? This might backfire at us." (Myra)

This isn't going to stay without consequences.

If they can't press official charges they might make something up.

Our leader meanwhile tries to come up with something to get us out of this mess.

"Okay, here's what we do. We search the whole camp for valuables and anything that might be of interest to our employers. After we're done, we'll take the slaves back with us, they might be able to carry equipment. When we arrive in town, we will proclaim that they attacked us first and we rightfully slayed them, thinking they were bandits. These people will at least help us to testify that those weren't honorable citizens." (Jacob)

That might not completely help us, but it should be better to come clean than granting whoever paid those slavers the opportunity to deal with us in silence.

So we start getting to work.

The mood is a bit tense because the issue that Lorel acted rogue remains.

This is going to be such a mess.