Chapter 158 The Slave Traders
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
—It all went back to right before Ayumu was named a Special Honorary Count.
”Th… that’s… not true… right? …Kiritani…”
Ami Takanashi’s voice trembled as if every word might shatter. Her face had gone pale, lips bloodless, as she whispered toward the empty space where Takuya Kiritani used to be standing.
He was gone. Vanished.
That morning, they had woken in the inn they were staying at—only to have the door slammed open by a group of hulking men in rough leather gear, led by a grinning slave trader who sneered, “Heh heh heh! You little ladies have been sold off! Stop whining and come quietly if you know what’s good for you!!”
It had been so sudden—so absurdly unreal—they couldn’t even react at first.
Of course they had resisted. Ami, Maina Uzuki, Renka Amagasaki, and the others had shouted things like, “Stop! If you do anything awful to us, Kiritani won’t forgive you!!” and “Ow! No—let go of me!!”
But the men just barked back,
”Shut up, dammit! Don’t fight back, you brats!!”
The moment one of the girls struggled too hard, a sharp crack echoed through the room—smack—as the man’s palm struck her cheek, sending her collapsing to the floor with a gasp. Before she could even breathe, he grabbed her by the hair and yanked her head up, snarling,
”Listen up, little ladies… you’re our merchandise now. If you don’t come quietly, we’ll have to do even worse things—bad enough to ruin your pretty faces.”
The sheer suddenness of it all broke them.
Terror surged in their chests like icy water, and their minds just… blanked. They had no choice. One by one, they were chained—heavy iron shackles clamping around their wrists, chains snaking down to iron balls strapped to their ankles to stop them from running.
The harsh scrape of iron on their skin made the truth impossible to deny: they weren’t adventurers anymore. They were slaves.
No one from Japan would have ever imagined feeling the weight of real iron shackles. It was like the chains themselves were pressing that horrible reality into their bones, each clink of the links louder than their own heartbeat.
As they were marched away and eventually locked behind the bars of a cold iron cage, their minds slowly began to clear again.
And once they could think, they started questioning the slave traders.
None of the rough men who had dragged them here would answer, though. Either they said nothing at all or muttered things like, “Ain’t got nothin’ to say,” or “Don’t care as long as I get paid,” or just barked, “Shut up and walk, damn it!!” while shoving them forward.
Eventually, from bits of mocking remarks, they pieced together what the traders claimed:
That they had been sold.
By Kiritani.
That he had taken the money—including not only the price for them but also the gold from selling off their equipment—and then disappeared.
Of course, they didn’t believe it.
”That’s… that’s impossible! Kiritani would never sell me!” Ami cried.
”Yeah! It’s gotta be some kind of mistake! He and I… we… we had that kind of relationship!” Renka blurted, her voice breaking.
”Y-yeah! And we’re part of a Hero Party, remember?! Even if Kiritani can’t come save us, Alyurein will—they’ll definitely come save us!!”
Even now, dragged off in chains, they clung to hope.
They had no way of knowing the truth—
That back outside, they were already being treated as dead.
The slave traders knew.
But their faces didn’t flicker even a little as they turned their backs and walked away.
Notes:
• Kiritani – The class president who takes leadership and questions their situation. A smooth operator, laid-back and calm. The handsome one.
• Takuya – The class president who takes leadership and questions their situation. A smooth operator, laid-back and calm. The handsome one.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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