162-156 Nature of slave merchants




 As we entered the front line of the battle, I high heeled from a distance, surprised that the two of them were struggling, and the slaver changed the smile that seemed to have been pasted on earlier and became expressionless.
'Have you figured it out yet? You seem to be a bit of a head turner, even though you seem to fall into the trap easily.
So you, the slaver, are the one who set up this operation?
 As I say this, the slaver smiles again and starts talking.
''Moderately terse. Just for your information, can you tell me why you thought this was a diversion and weren't surprised to find me here?
 The slave who had been fighting earlier also stops moving to listen to us.

''That's because you were drunk with yourself, bragging about your once successful criminal modus operandi.
Oh. Did she tell you anything you could tell me?
'Ah. He was going into too much detail about being betrayed by his friends while conquering in the labyrinth of intrigue, about being attacked by the Hydra, about those who captured the sisters outside, and about the new adventurer he killed. As if you were a party to it or had a plan. And you were laughing at that time.
 There was a really small snag here.

''...I see. I hadn't noticed it. But what if those who were trying to sell the sisters were bragging about it?
 His tone was calm but his smile was fading and I decided to try to provoke him further.

'Then you must be pretty dumb to have used the same move. You can't even think up your own strategy.
 It's second best, but if it wasn't Master and Lionel who were ahead of us, they would have rammed into this place together, and the carriage would have been attacked, and I don't know how those ambushed adventurers would have fallen.......

''Let me tell you, get it all out of the way.
 The upset slaver tells me so, and I pounce on Master and Lionel, but Kefin and Ketty step in to help.
 I continue to talk and provoke the slavers' mistakes as I high heel on Master and Lionel.
'And I made one mistake as a slaver. How did you distinguish between two people who were in such a terrible state? If I could discern it, it would be nothing more than having appraisal skills. When I thought about it, the dots that were contradictions connected.

 I figured that the only thing that could distinguish between two people in such a bad state was the appraisal skill.
 If there's something else, it's just a skill that I don't know about, having looked at the list of skills many times.

 And now that the slaver found out whether or not he had an appraisal skill, the slaver's plating came off at once.

''..........''
'Assuming you have the appraisal skills, there are two things about your actions that make sense to me. When you visited the slavers, you checked the skill level of the Holy Attribute magic and asked if you could cure them. And that you didn't say anything about me buying you two at the auction.
What's that supposed to mean?
 As the battle continues, the man stares at me as if he were irritated.
'You thought your sisters might be cured, and you were so frustrated that I outsmarted you that you tweaked your slave contract in some way to piss me off by letting your men treat your sisters like crap when you handed them over, right? You didn't expect it to be disarmed right away, though.

...So not everything is going to go as planned.
Plan?
'If you're the same age and have so much skill, you must be a reincarnation, right? Tell me how you've managed to have so much skill in six years and I can pull it off this time, okay?
 I thought he had appraisal skills, but he didn't look to be around twenty years old, so I was surprised that I didn't suspect him of being a reincarnation.
''I don't know if you're a reincarnation or what, but I'm going to have you locked up and tell me all the bad things you've done.

"...as a reward for screwing up your plans, you can shut up there and watch your own people become my pawns.
 The slaves were all trying to stick it to Master Brod and Lionel with abandonment at once.
'Screw you! I'm not going to let someone who can only fight for other forces hurt my precious friends!
 I was blown away when I found out that the other party was a reincarnation, and I decided to activate Dispel's magic circle chant against the slaves.
 My magic circle is drawn on the bodies of the would-be slaves.

''Tch, aim at those white robes!''
 While pretending to be calm, as I activate my magic, the slavers order an entire attack on me as if they were in a hurry.
 As expected, they don't want me to disarm the slaves.

 I disarm them four at a time with my dispel.
 I focus my efforts on disarming the slaves who try to get close to me, leaving them to trust Master Brod and Lionel to stop them completely.

''Use your brains a little bit to set them up. You rubbish!
 The slavers were directing long range attacks, but all of that and more would be completely defended by Keti and Kefin.

 They piled on the dispels and the enemy's pressure weakened at once.
 And when they had used half of their magic power, all the emancipation of slaves ended and the fighting stopped.

''You, do you have any idea how much time and money it took to gather all these slaves!
 The slavers were showing their anger and yet I was trapped by the fact that they didn't move from the scene at all.

 A guy who could think that much would lose his temper like that just because he was being unenslaved?
 I'm going to reassess the situation and give you instructions immediately.

I've de-slaved them, but that doesn't mean they're following orders as slaves, sir.
 My words were gradually getting smaller and smaller.

 Because in the middle of my screaming, Master and Lionel were slashing while sorting through the slaves that had already been freed.
 They must have realized what the discomfort was sooner than I did.
 That even if they were de-slaved, there were still those who would attack us.

'Truly dependable. Keti, Kefin, take care of the defense of the carriage.
 I stepped on this one's defense and asked for the carriage's defense.
 Of course, that one would be able to fight too, but I didn't want to put it in front of this slaver.
''Ha!''
 Keti and Kefin took my orders and stepped backwards.

 I activated the area barrier on all of them once more, then looked at the slavers and they stared back at me with a blank expression.
'Ahhh, boring - stop playing. I was going to stab you in the gap and use it as a high level sacrifice, as a high level sacrifice...''
 The freed ex-slaves try to attack the slaver who is making a dubious statement, but when the slaver raises his hand towards the sky, a red-black magic circle appears in the sky, and a red-black glowing magic is released from it to the ex-slaves, blowing them away.

 What the hell is this guy?
 You are a reincarnated person and you think you are the field boss?
 I'm going to talk to the slave-trader while tsking in my mind, kneading the magic power in my body and talking to him.
I'm not sure what you intend to summon with that magic circle.
Ho. You can clearly see that this is a summoning magic circle. It would have been helpful if you'd mistaken it for attack magic. Do you have any documentation in the church? Yes, this is a summoning magic circle for summoning powerful demons and monsters. Even though I'm a slave, I think I can summon a few strong demons.
 I'd called it a sacrifice myself, but already the madness seemed to have taken over the slavers.

 I think about calming it down with a story that the slavers might be interested in.
''Well you said earlier that you were reincarnated. If you're a reincarnated being, why would you mimic something that would take you out of the way of others? If you have the brains and the ability to command it, you can get it if you want!

 The face of madness turned expressionless again and stared at me.
''........I did indeed die once and was reborn by God. But what was waiting for me was this world of weak, strong, rotten and barbaric. You, who were born with such blessed abilities, wouldn't understand.
 The pressure of the magic circle rises.
 It might be something every reincarnated person would think.
 When you think of a fantasy world, it seems like there's magic and you can do anything you want.

 But the reality is that every day is a situation where you're facing death, and it wouldn't be strange to be a slave trader.
'But you haven't lived alone, have you? There must have been someone there to support you.
I was there. That's why I've decided to get revenge on this world for killing the people who supported it. I'm going to destroy this world and rebuild it!
 The man was proud to win and was about to summon something evil.
 And the man would not stop summoning.
''Well that's a shame.''
Yeah. I'm not going to help you anymore. God love you, Cheeto, be my experience! Come on. What?
 Bachi, Barrie, Barrie, the red-black magic circle cracked and the blue-white magic circle filled the black magic circle.

 I used most of my remaining magic power to overwrite the red-black magic circle with a sanctuary circle.
'I'm sorry, but I can't let you summon it. I won't let you shed any more pointless blood for my dream!

 A column of light formed in the activated sanctuary circle, and the next moment when it swallowed the red-black magic circle, a blast blew everything away.

''Healer Luciel, the next time we meet, I'll crush your dreams, so be prepared.
 I thought I heard the slaver's voice say that just as it exploded in my ears.

 When the wind stopped, the slaver was nowhere to be seen.
 Thus, I vowed to endure the training to not die, while my stomach ached for having made a new enemy.