Chapter 294

Chapter 294

The short man with his robe hood pulled low grumbled.

“They’re making quite the damn spectacle of this departure ceremony. Humans really do love uselessly flashy things.”

“Thanks to that, everyone’s eyes are on that side. That’s good for us, isn’t it?”

The tall man walking beside him chuckled as he answered.

One man was so short that his head barely reached an adult’s chest, but his shoulders were broad and solid. His companion, on the other hand, boasted a body two heads taller than an adult.

They were a completely mismatched pair.

The two men had just come from watching the Mana Stone Mine expedition’s departure ceremony.

It was not that they had come deliberately to watch the ceremony.

It just so happened that on the day they entered the slums, the Mana Stone Mine expedition had departed.

The tall man patted the shorter man’s shoulder and said,

“Still, it was worth watching. When else would we get to see something like that?”

“It was just entertainment for worthless humans.”

“Those worthless humans built a civilization like this.”

“Damn it! If we had enough materials, we could build a city like this in no time.”

“I know! I know. With the proud handiwork of a dwarf, a city like this would be easy to build.”

“Hmph!”

At the tall man’s words, the short man seemed to feel better and snorted.

The short man was not human, but a dwarf.

The dwarf’s name was Etli.

He was in his early forties and used a large war hammer as his weapon.

The name of the man walking with him was Bucksher.

He was Etli’s friend, a man with a strong-looking face and an especially hairy body.

Bucksher and Etli walked through the slums with the hoods of their robes pulled deep over their heads.

Even if they had not pulled their hoods low, there would likely have been no one who recognized them. Still, one never knew what could happen in this world, so they made every preparation.

They had committed that many sins.

If anyone recognized them by chance, things would become troublesome.

At that moment, Etli spoke as if something had suddenly occurred to him.

“I saw a familiar wench earlier.”

“A wench?”

“I’m sure I’ve seen her somewhere before, but I can’t remember.”

“What kind of wench?”

“The one wearing a pointed hat. Her build felt familiar.”

“Hmph! There are plenty of wenches like that. Stop thinking about useless things and focus on what’s in front of us.”

At Bucksher’s rebuke, Etli grimaced. But since he was not wrong, Etli did not bother arguing.

They were outsiders who belonged neither to Neo Seoul nor to the slums.

No matter how freely one could enter and leave the slums, it was still better to be careful.

Fortunately, because people’s attention had been divided by the expedition departing for the Mana Stone Mine, no one paid them any mind.

Thanks to that, they were able to reach their destination easily.

The place where they stopped was a small pub in a shadowy corner of the slums.

The signboard bore a picture of a hammer and sword crossed together.

THUD, THUD!

When they knocked, the door opened slightly, and someone poked her head out.

She was a woman with skin so white it looked almost pale, and vivid red hair.

The woman looked at the two and said,

“What is it?”

“What else? We’re the people you called.”

“How do I know that?”

“Fuck! Do we look like we started this business yesterday? Do we have to go through this annoying check every time?”

Etli exploded in irritation.

“Just answer.”

“Damn it! I’m Etli of Helbrin.”

As he answered, Etli showed the bracelet on his wrist.

A black jewel was embedded in the bracelet, which was engraved with intricate patterns.

Beep!

The woman placed a scanner against the black jewel. Then Etli’s face and information appeared on the scanner.

“That’s correct. The person next to you, identify yourself as well.”

“Bucksher of Helbrin.”

Bucksher also wore a bracelet identical to Etli’s. When it was scanned, his information appeared.

After confirming all the information, the woman opened the door wide.

“I’m Romina of the North District.”

“Romina?”

“As you can see, I’m an elf.”

Romina slightly lifted her red hair. Then her pointed ear was revealed.

After confirming her identity, Etli grinned.

“It’s nice to meet someone from home.”

“Strictly speaking, it’s not my home. I was born here.”

“Why be so stiff? Our roots are the same anyway.”

“Enough useless chatter. Come inside.”

“Hehe!”

Etli entered the pub with a lecherous smile.

Bucksher followed and looked around the inside of the pub.

The pub was extremely old.

It was so old that even calling it vintage could not describe it, to the point where he wondered if this was truly a place of business.

In fact, there were no customers inside the pub.

Romina offered them seats and said,

“This is a real business. We only empty it temporarily when something special like this happens.”

“Then the liquor must be real too.”

“Of course. Would you like a drink?”

“Gladly! Bring me a cold beer.”

“As much as you want.”

Romina smiled, poured beer from a keg, and handed it to Etli.

Etli drank all the beer in one gulp.

“Krr! Good. Not as good as Kurayan’s, but drinkable.”

“You talk as if you’ve drunk beer in Kurayan. You were born here too.”

Romina filled his glass with beer again.

Etli shook the glass full of beer and said,

“That’s just how it feels. More importantly, why did you call us?”

“Because there’s work.”

“I’m not asking because I don’t know that. I’m asking what work you called us for.”

At Etli’s indifferent tone, Romina smiled faintly and answered,

“Why would I call human hunters? To ask you to hunt humans.”

“What humans?”

“You don’t need to know the purpose. I need humans with no ties.”

“How many?”

“Around a hundred?”

“Only a hundred? You’d be better off hunting in the slums, then. That would be much easier.”

“I told you. I need humans with no ties.”

“That means we can’t leave traces.”

“Now we’re talking.”

“A hundred, huh...... I’ll talk to the Captain first, but it won’t be easy.”

“Why?”

“It’s gotten hard to secure manpower lately.”

Romina’s expression twisted in an instant.

That was because Etli’s words sounded like an excuse.

“The Helbrin Mercenary Corps has truly fallen far, then, if you can’t even secure a mere hundred.”

“Recently, the desert terrain map has changed greatly.”

“What do you mean?”

“With a colony called Steel Fortress suddenly appearing, our area of activity has shrunk a lot.”

“Steel Fortress?”

“Looks like Neo Seoul doesn’t know yet. It’s a newly created colony in the desert. The owner there came from a Scavenger background like us. But now that he has his own territory, he’s hunting other Scavengers like rats. Thanks to that, we can’t even go near that side.”

The Helbrin Mercenary Corps were Scavengers.

They hunted humans wandering the desert.

Their main trade was taking everything their victims owned, then selling them off as slaves.

The world was wide, and there were many people who needed slaves.

The place that sought slaves the most was Neo Seoul. And the place the woman before them came from was one of the places that bought the most slaves.

Romina’s voice rose.

“So you’re saying you can’t get them?”

“That’s not it......”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“Hehe!”

Instead of answering, Etli made a money-counting gesture with his fingers.

“Hmph! How much more do you want?”

“Weapons developed by Neo Seoul.”

“That’s impossible. The risk is too great. If City Hall finds out, they won’t let it go.”

“Then do whatever you want. We don’t lose anything if we don’t take this job.”

At Etli’s sheer nerve, Romina glared with wide eyes. But Etli drank his beer as though he could not care less.

Romina slammed the table and said,

CRASH—!

“Fine. In exchange, bring me people with no problems. If trouble occurs, I won’t leave you alone.”

“Don’t worry about that. We’re experts at this sort of thing.”

“Bring all one hundred within ten days.”

“We will.”

“Then I’ll be leaving first.”

“We’ll finish our beer before we go.”

Etli brought the foam-filled beer glass to his mouth.

Romina stared at him for a moment, then left.

Once only the two of them remained, Bucksher spoke carefully.

“Is it okay to decide that without discussing it with the Captain?”

“The Captain will say I did well.”

“How are you going to get a hundred slaves? Steel Fortress absorbed everyone, so there are no people left.”

Bucksher could not hide his worried expression.

Normally, hunting around a hundred people was not that difficult.

That was because they had already identified the small villages in the areas where the Helbrin Mercenary Corps mainly operated.

If necessary, they could raid one of them, kill everyone, and seize what they needed. But over the past few months, the situation had changed.

People had abandoned their villages and moved to Steel Fortress.

Because of that, the prey of the Helbrin Mercenary Corps had dried up.

Etli spoke as if he did not see the problem.

“If there’s really no prey, we can get them here.”

“She clearly asked for people with no ties.”

“What ties would the bastards in the slums have? A hundred people disappearing won’t even show.”

“Etli!”

“Shut up and drink. What kind of Lycanthrope has so little guts?”

Even at Etli’s words, Bucksher’s face did not easily relax. Seeing that, Etli clicked his tongue.

“Tsk!”

---

After sending Briel home, Zeon walked the streets alone.

“Beastfolk and dwarves......”

Zeon did not dismiss what Briel had said.

Briel had sharp eyes and a good memory.

If she had been an ordinary child, she would not have learned alchemy to such a high level so quickly.

If Briel said she thought she had seen them, then she had surely seen them somewhere.

If she had seen people resembling the human hunters who had kidnapped her, he naturally had to suspect them.

That was why Zeon was walking through the slums alone.

Because the expedition had just left, the streets were extremely crowded.

That was because many of the people who had watched the departure ceremony still remained in the streets.

Zeon did not think he would be able to find the two people Briel had mentioned easily either. But one never knew what might happen in this world, so he decided to walk around for now.

Zeon searched every street in the direction where the dwarf and beastfolk had disappeared. But he found no one similar anywhere.

“It seems they went inside somewhere.”

Regrettable as it was, he would have to give up here for today.

If the people he was searching for truly were the human hunters who had kidnapped Briel, they would surely reveal themselves somewhere.

“This city never has a single quiet day.”

He had thought that now, after returning to Neo Seoul, he might finally spend some peaceful days. Yet another problem had surfaced like this.

Just as he thought that the word “peace” really did not suit him—

Tap!

Someone passing by brushed lightly against Zeon’s shoulder.

Zeon apologized.

“I’m sorry. I was thinking about something else......”

“Hmph! Watch where you’re going.”

The woman who had bumped into him spoke sharply.

She was a beautiful woman with fiery red hair.

Perhaps something unpleasant had happened to her, because she glared at Zeon for a moment before passing him by.

Zeon watched the woman’s back as she grew farther away.

It was not because he felt offended that she had glared at him.

It was because her face looked somehow familiar.

After searching his memory for quite a while, Zeon finally remembered where he had seen her.

“That’s right. I saw her beside Eli.”

When Damian had used the Spirit King’s Crown as bait to lure the elves of the North District, that woman had been beside Eli, the Spider Queen.

Although she did not seem to recognize Zeon.