Legends: The Emerald World

Ase grunted with a sore face, "Look at them chained in the back…how nasty." Slaves weren't uncommon, but those in the carriages weren't normal slaves. Slaves are usually criminals serving hard labor under surveillance to reduce their sentences.

To Shin, something felt off, the slaves' clothes looked fairly decent, and one of them was even wearing a fancy and colorful dress. "Hey, what's up with that? The empire only gives us rotting rugs and they get to wear actual clothes? Isn't that a bit unfair?"

"Slaves usually wear special clothes, since they are inmates." She looked at Shin with a worried face. "They are probably…"

"Villages kidnapped by bandits to be sold at the black market. Don't teach me how the world works kid, I've seen plenty of things like this." He looked at the carriage, "The question is if those bandits are really bandits or soldiers of the empire trying to make a quick cash grab at the blue moon and then slither away."

"Which might mean they are armed and dangerous to deal with… you aren't thinking of attacking, are you?" She glared at him. They were only two and the carriage had over seven men guarding it, at least each of them seemed to hold a dagger or a sword.

"No, no, no, of course not, I'm not thinking of attacking them or saving those people." He waved his hands with a giggle, "I've already planned it, we're going to dive now." He looked back at the carriage.

'Sweet, those are our tickets to a big city.' He immediately jumped out of the cliff and Ase rushed after him, "You aren't serious, are you?"

***

"Say, it's been days since we last rested well." One of the men guarding the slave-filled carriage sighed, sweat dripping across his forehead. He was walking with his comrade beside the carriage, holding his sword in his hand while keeping an eye out for any monster that might attack.

His friend beside him looking just as exhausted sighed, "Tell that to the boss, he said we should cross the border before the empire makes a move. Only a few days left and we'll be swimming in money."

Shin was walking beside them, "The boss? I didn't see him around." Like their shadow, he trailed between them.

"He's over there, isn't he…" The guard saw the boss's face stuck between Ase's jaws, and Shin who stood beside him was a stranger.

A mischievous smile crossed Shin's face as the two guards immediately engaged in combat, swinging their blades at his neck without a moment's hesitation.

'Immediately going for the neck? The sign of a noob that had just started wielding a sword.' Shin was extremely surprised by their incompetence, if they were his student he would've whipped them for making such an obvious move.

Getting whipped is better than being dead… Shin ducked his head and dodged the first sword while at the same kicking that guard's jewels, destroying his entire lineage. He masterfully deflected the second sword toward the first guard's neck and punched that second guard in the face right after the first guard was beheaded.

He looked at them with a shocked face, pretending to be emotionally hurt, "How could you?! He was your friend, wasn't he?" But deep inside, Shin could feel something twisting inside his stomach.

{Notice: Quest: Breaking The Wall has started.} For a second, Shin was distracted and he was forced to dodge the guard's enraged swing at the last moment, losing a bit of his flowy, unclean, and jagged hair.

A third guard came rushing in, trying to backstab Shin, but Char was already sitting on his head. Using her limbs and Shin's human strength, she rapidly twisted the guard's neck, dropped him dead on the spot, and immediately jumped at the one attacking Shin, landing on his face.

"Light out baby…" She bit the guard right in the eyes and Shin took the chance, immediately stealing the dead guard's sword and finishing the job, cutting the guard's throat open.

He could feel his heart racing and his breath growing heavier…the world twisted around Shin like it was being deformed by some mysterious power. He fell to his knees, his arms shaking and he emptied his bowels.

{Notice: Quest: Breaking the Wall is finished. Experience gained, Level increased.}

"Shin! What up with you?" Ase who had just finished the men's boss looked at Shin and screamed, something was off about him.

'You large human!' Char growled as she saw Shin fall and a guard rushing to strike him. With a single jump, she smacked the guard with her head straight into the throat, killing him.

She landed back on Shin's head, "What happened to tell me not to freeze up?"

'I see, I see…so this is how this thing works.' It was now clear what the system wanted, and Shin should've expected it. The wall the system spoke about, was killing, this was the first person he directly killed in this world, and it wrenched his guts.

He pushed on the ground with his legs and forced himself to stand, "I'm fine…let's…" As he looked around, Ase had already finished the rest of the guards. The only real threat among those men was their leader, and he was killed by Ase in a sneak attack that ended the fight before it even started.

The slaves in the carriage hugged each other, terrified. Even if they were being saved, they had no idea if Shin and Ase wanted to save them or just another bunch of slavers. "Calm down!" Ase rushed in and looked through the back, men, women, children, and elderly, it was as if those slavers gathered everyone in a tiny village and squeezed them into the tiny carriage.

She looked at the cage's door and it was locked with a large lock that needed at least two keys. Before she could ask, Shin had already found the keys and gave them to her.

"How do you open this?" She growled, the keys didn't seem to work. They fit inside but didn't turn the lock.

"You…" The woman inside wearing a fancy dress crawled her way from among the slaves and looked at the lock, "This is a silver hand lock, it should have a tiny button beneath that you can only access with a needle or a tiny hairpin." She pulled a small needle that she was hiding inside beneath the layers of her clothes.

"Push this inside the hole, and then turn the keys." She pointed at the lock with a shaking hand, "Hurry."

"You know a lot about locks?" Ase started opening the lock, trying to fiddle with the tiny hole.

"I'm a merchant… just, get it open!" She tapped the gate and the lock finally opened up. The woman jumped out without hesitation and ran into the wood as fast as the wind.

Several minutes later she returned with a happy face.