The Necromancer Commands Slaves, Not Undeads

14 – Manticore the Human-faced Lion (3)

“Sure, the winner rightfully reaps the rewards. That’s what I believe, too.”

I broke the long silence and spoke to them. The mercenaries and the black wolf turned to look at me.

“But then, shouldn’t mercy be another privilege that the victor can exhibit?”

I shared a contrasting perspective to theirs. The mercenaries began their commentary, one by one.

“Magician, you are the winner too, but so are we. We’d bet our lives on this battle. This all started because of your slave.”

“Mercenaries earn their living from contracts, but we need a little extra to afford a decent life.”

“And these fellows tried to kill us. Not killing them should be considered merciful enough.”

They were complaining as expected. The mercenaries were accustomed to tidying up affairs like that.

Still, I continued the conversation.

“Let’s leave the differences between good and evil aside. These fellows acted out of necessity.”

Mercenaries stared at me. A further conversation like this would lead to an argument, but there was a simple solution. I could give them a fair reward.

I wasn’t objecting to their decision to show mercy to the slaves because I had any grand goal to abolish slavery.

I wasn’t trying to establish a strictly modern moral sense, either.

I looked at the young boy, kneeling down on his knees.

Ever since I was reincarnated in this world, roaming around in slums and begging, I saw much of my own reflection in him.

It overlapped.

This world was never kind to a child. To survive, one needed luck.

This child was a slave, and if asked what sins this child had committed, what sins could the child possibly have committed?

In fact, could the child exist in this world without committing any sins?

Whether in a previous life or in this one, my childhood was filled only with unpleasant memories.

Both those childhoods were extremely helpless and fraught with things that could not be overcome alone.

I projected myself in the child. Hence, I was needlessly meddling like this.

A nomad named Reed White had helped me. I wanted to extend the help I had received from him, who died, to this child.

Because I understood his powerlessness.

“Like all of you, and me, wouldn’t we choose to be slaves rather than starve in Manticore’s meals?”

As usual, I spoke with a smile on my face.

“As long as the opinion is settled to sell them, money is what matters, isn’t it?”

And then I spoke to the mercenaries and the black wolf.

“The price of a slave varies, but it’s usually 15 gold, right? Since there are two, that would be 30 gold. I will buy them.”

The mercenaries started murmuring. The black wolf squinted at his eyes and opened his mouth.

“Are you going to take them around?”

“I’m sorry, but I’m on the run myself. I just want to free them.”

At that, I nodded. Then, I took out 30 coins from my gold purse and handed it to the black wolf.

The black wolf looked at me as if he didn’t understand, but I spoke with a smile on my face.

“Well, then that settles the loot.”

“Hmm … alright.”

And the black wolf backed off. Then I kneeled and handed over 5 gold coins each to the old man and the child who were kneeling.

“As long as you are branded as slaves, it will be difficult to live in the empire. Whether it’s a kingdom or a republic, flee to a place where the empire’s hand can’t reach.”

And the old man and the child looked up at me.

“The mark on your leg. Your information must be famous. Even if plead with the lord for ownership and to release you, they won’t be able to remove the slave mark in Froite.”

Then I raised my hand over the slave child’s head.

“I’m busy on my way. Don’t ask for more luck than this. I hope you use this luck wisely.”

The slave child opened his mouth barely and spoke tearfully.

“Thank you …”

I didn’t respond. I pulled back the hand that was raised over his head.

The slaves began to pack up the gold coins I gave them and started to run away from this place.

As I watched them, I glanced at the mercenaries and the black wolf. Then I realized we had forgotten someone.

“Wait a minute, it seems like we are one man short…”

Then, the dirt-covered merchant, Gilbert, came running.

“I’ve always trusted you, your fight with the black wolf and the wizard was amazing!”

“Where have you been all this time?”

Proudly Gilbert pointed at a hole in the ground far off.

“I was perfectly hidden in that hole over there.”

“Oh, I see …”

I looked disapprovingly at the proud merchant, then spoke to Dorothy who had been quiet all along.

“Dorothy, it’s time to go.”

Then Dorothy, who had been looking blankly at the fleeing slaves, looked surprised at the sound of my voice.

“Oh, okay.”

Dorothy regained her senses and then she and I climbed into the wagon.

The mercenaries gathered the rest of the loot. They were knowledgeable. They skinned the bears and took the bear’s fat.

And then they cut the left legs of the slaves they had killed, where the mark was.

It seemed like they were taking the slave’s legs as evidence of the slave hunt and the Manticore’s story in the mountain.

That’s how the incident ended, and the carriage began to depart again for the Froite territory.

***

A huge yellow city wall came into view.

Looking at the majestic city walls encircling the entire city, I couldn’t help but exclaim.

This place was, quite literally, akin to a fortress. Freud Territory, the fortified city under the rule of Lord Freud.

The walls were so sturdy that they seemed impervious to any invasion, leaving anyone who saw them for the first time no choice but to admire them.

“Elia territory only had a small castle merely sufficient to protect the Lord’s mansion, but the walls of Freud territory are truly vast and gigantic,” I exclaimed to Dorothy from inside the carriage. Dorothy agreed excitedly, nodding her head.

“Yep. It’s fascinating.”

We arrived at the gates of Freud territory three days after fighting the bear in the plains.

The gate was as massive as the walls. Guards were conducting inspections at the gate.

“Ah, master, for this…”

Dorothy then pulled out a crude black eye patch from her pocket and handed it to me.

“This is an eye patch?”

“Yeah, you needed one before, right?”

Dorothy had been diligently working on something in the carriage and even while we were camping out during the past three days.

I never imagined she was making an eyepatch… I smiled at Dorothy.

“Thank you, I’ll put it to good use.”

“Mm.”

Dorothy blushed, shying away from my gratitude and insisted I try it on quickly.

I donned the eyepatch that Dorothy had made. It was a bit larger than my eye, but it completely covered my right eye.

This should make me less noticeable.

“Master, you look like a villain.”

“That’s usually what people think when they see someone with an eye patch.”

While Dorothy and I were chatting like this, the carriage came to a stop.

“Wizard. Please step off the carriage for a moment. We’re at the inspection point.”

The carriage’s driver, Gilbert, instructed us to get down.

Dorothy and I got off the carriage and approached the mercenaries escorting the carriage.

The Black Wolf looked at me and snickered.

“Ha, finally, I can take a bath in warm water. Kid, how about we share a beer at the inn?”

“Shall we? When do we plan to meet Lord Freud?”

“First, let’s enter the city and rest. We can think about that later.”

“You haven’t forgotten the fact that Dorothy and I are being chased?”

The Black Wolf and I intended to seek Lord Freud to relay information about the Manticore and the slaves.

Certainly, we had no obligation to do so…

But rarely would a lord fail to offer appropriate rewards when we come to assist him with matters within his jurisdiction.

To get that reward, Dorothy and I decided to travel with the mercenary guild until we could meet the lord.

We also asked Gilbert if he wanted to come along, but he said he’d meet us separately later since the victory over the bear and the slaves was our achievement.

Anyway, we engaged in casual chatter while awaiting the opening of the city gates.

“Master, are you all better now?”

“Yes, indeed. As expected, it feels good inside the carriage.”

I glanced down at my thigh. There was a bit of a scar, but the wound inflicted by Mors was completely healed.

It had been a while since the arrow was removed, and I took off the bandage today. There was no infection and the stitches healed well, so there was no issue.

However, the worrisome factor was the supposition that if Mors was chasing us… we were escaping at a dreadfully slow pace.

“It would be nice if we had a horse or something.”

Engrossed in such thoughts, Gilbert informed us that the inspection was over.

“Let’s go then.”

Together with the carriage, we navigled through the giant city gates.