Chapter 49
Regardless, Kyle, who had been raised in a privileged environment, was rarely exposed to such sudden and violent threats. There was an excessively elegant aspect to the struggles among royalty. Kyle’s fingers were trembling slightly. Seeing this, Blair covered Kyle’s hand with his warm one and soothed him.
“As I said earlier, you haven’t done anything wrong, so you don’t need to feel uneasy. Rather, I should apologize for startling you.”
Blair comforted the suddenly docile prince who had been quite shocked.
“Mhm.”
Kyle nodded. The city center and the Monetery Count’s residence weren’t very far apart. The carriage, arriving at the mansion in no time, safely delivered the two inside. Blair escorted Kyle to the guest room.
Blair confirmed that, as instructed in the morning, an extra soft topper had been placed on the bed in the guest room before showing Kyle in.
“You must be tired in many ways today, so sleep early. Are you hungry? If so, I’ll instruct them to prepare a separate meal.”
Kyle meekly shook his head. Seeing this, Blair smiled slightly to ease Kyle’s tension.
“Then sleep early. Let’s end today and have a lavish breakfast tomorrow morning. I’ll go give instructions to the kitchen and then go to bed, so please rest first.”
“Mm. Good night, Blair.”
After closing the door, Blair’s expression immediately hardened. Blair walked past his own room, which was next to Kyle’s. His face was rigid. He left the mansion and slipped into a small storehouse. It was a place with an eerie atmosphere. Blair entered, his expression stiff as he faced forward. As Blair entered, two men respectfully bowed. In front of them, a worm-like figure bound in ropes was rolling on the floor.
Blair stomped the man’s chest with his boot. A sound like beating a drum was heard. The man with a severely deformed face was someone Blair recognized. His eyelids were half-burst and swollen. The man was the thug who had just harassed Kyle.
“Good job. It must have been hard bringing him here in such a hurry.”
“Not at all, young master.”
The two knights bowed respectfully, bending their right arm under their left chest. Even if Blair went out for a simple walk, there was no way he would not have knights secretly guarding him. Blair was the son of the Empire’s wealthiest family. Of course, Blair was confident he could protect himself. But there was no need to deliberately worry his parents. Today, since Prince Kyle was also present, he had instructed them to double the security personnel.
He hadn’t mentioned it to avoid making Kyle uncomfortable, but earlier, both in the market and at the sea, there were several pairs of eyes watching them carefully.
Blair roughly stomped on the man’s chest with his boot.
“Whose pawn are you?”
Blair asked quietly. The man stiffened. If he had known the blond-haired kid was from the Monetery family, he would never have laid a hand on him even if it meant death. In fact, the blond-haired kid was neither a child nor a daughter of the Monetery family, but there was no one here to correct that fact. Blair lowered his voice and asked coldly.
“If you want to preserve your life, it would be better to speak now. Do you wish to die here?”
“P-pawn? There’s nothing like that!”
The man’s speech had already changed to polite form. Blair looked down at the man with contemptuous eyes. A typical thug who is strong against the weak and weak against the strong. Despite having accumulated countless real-world experiences, Blair was born and raised as a noble and had lived his entire life as one. He was fundamentally different from this hooligan. Blair was a noble who faithfully practiced noblesse oblige, and as such, he despised people with wicked hearts.
“I said a hundred thousand gold wasn’t enough. Was it a million?”
Blair dropped a pouch beside the man’s face. The coins clinked as they collided with each other.
“Exactly three million gold. I’ll ask once more. Where does this million gold come from?”
A million gold. A significant amount. Even fairly wealthy commoners could not accumulate such money in their lifetime. What could be the source of such money?
Blair stepped on the man’s hand and spread his fingers. The thick hand, crushed under the boot, writhed against the cold stone wall. Blair placed a dagger over the little finger.
“Will you answer only after losing all your wrists, or will you take the three million gold and leave here? You have to decide.”
The well-honed dagger slowly cut into the finger.
“Aaargh! I’ll talk, I’ll talk!”
The man hastily answered. It was just before the knife touched the bone. The knife stopped abruptly.
“Speak.”
The knights lifted the man’s upper body. There was no emotion in Blair’s eyes.
“…In Yureho, there’s a place where people are bought and sold. There…”
“Yureho?”
Blair’s left eyebrow twitched. It was a small city on the outskirts of the Imperial Capital. It also had a peaceful lake that nobles occasionally visited for sightseeing. Noting the change in Blair’s expression, the man hurriedly babbled.
“Yes. It’s a place for trading unusual people. They trade ordinary slaves and also buy and sell people with beautiful appearances. Exotic races fetch high prices. Rich people and noble lords often come.”
The Crassia Empire strictly prohibited slavery. The principle was to pay appropriate wages to those who worked for you. Of course, Blair was aware that slaves were bought and sold under the table. But hearing directly about people buying and selling other people made him feel utterly disgusted.
“So.”
Blair asked, suppressing his anger.
“And where exactly is this place?”
“It’s an auction that strictly operates by invitation from existing members. Young master, if you inquire with the surrounding nobles, you could probably obtain an invitation.”
The man wasn’t completely stupid. If he knew that much, he wasn’t entirely a riffraff. He was probably a thug with some notoriety in the Monetery territory.
“No one would tell such things to someone who isn’t even of age yet.”
Blair smiled slightly.
“I’ll ask one more time. Will you take the three million gold and leave this place, or will you die here?”
Blair slowly pulled the dagger out from the finger. This time, he moved the blood-stained dagger over the wrist. Before the blade touched the wrist, the man quickly answered.
“In the back alley of Yureho, there’s a red-light district. At the very end of that district, there’s a house where you should ask for a prostitute named Butterfly. That’s the code to summon the owner of the black market.”
“I see, so that’s it.”
Blair nodded.
“W-will you spare me?”
“I promised earlier that I would let you leave, so I must keep that. The three million gold is yours.”
Blair smiled and stood up. Even while bound, the man wriggled toward the pouch of gold coins that Blair had dropped. It was remarkable determination.
“Well then.”
Blair walked out with heavy steps and signaled to the two knights standing by. The knights nodded. From now on, only two people would be able to walk out of that building on their own feet. The other one would sink to the bottom of the sea, loaded in a sack with stones. Since the words “I’ll spare you” never left Blair’s lips, it wasn’t exactly a lie.
Blood had stained his shoes and hands. Blair washed his hands in clear water. The fresh blood dispersed in the water. After washing off the scent of blood from his body, Blair lay down on the bed. His mind began to work in complex ways.
- vigoroso – vigorously
Blair was lost in deep thought. He had thought he just had a bad encounter with a thug, but it seemed he had obtained unexpected valuable information. A market where human trafficking takes place. From the way the man spoke, it appeared that nobles were also quite extensively involved in this black market. Well, if such a market was still submerged beneath the surface, powerful nobles were clearly backing it.
‘Princess Adriana is definitely lucky.’
If she could first crush Empress Spirenda’s power and then resolve the human trafficking black market where people were bought and sold, she, as a woman, would certainly have considerable odds of success. If she achieved such a significant accomplishment, public opinion would turn to her. It was surprising how such a big opportunity had come so easily. It was a sign that things were going well. Blair tossed and turned. The room was dimly lit with the new moon.
After thinking for a while, Blair was gradually falling asleep when he heard the door sliding open. His fading consciousness jolted awake. He heard quiet footsteps. It was a gait trying to make as little sound as possible. His mind, which had been sharply honed from the blood he had just seen, became increasingly clear. Blair narrowed his eyes and observed the figure entering the room.
It was Kyle.
Kyle approached the bed where Blair was lying and raised his hand slightly, waving it over Blair’s eyes from side to side. He seemed to be checking if Blair was asleep. After confirming that Blair hadn’t awakened, Kyle wriggled into the space beside Blair. Carefully lifting the blanket Blair was covered with, he curled up his body and looked at Blair’s face.
Kyle, lying beside Blair, called out to him in a very small voice.
“Blair, um, are you, asleep?”
The broken voice was as small as a butterfly’s wing beats. Naturally, there was no response from Blair. Kyle, who both wanted to wake Blair and didn’t want to disturb his sleep, closed his eyes with mixed feelings.
[To be continued…]
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
