Episode 10: Downtown
Early the next morning, the Duke and Ella headed downtown.
“Let’s start with the fabric shop where Mari went to pick up some work.”
“Yes, the fabric shop Mari went to is over there.”
Ella walked with the Duke along the alleys on the outskirts of downtown, heading toward the fabric shop. Coming from the opposite direction, an elderly woman with a bent back struggled to carry a suitcase, leaning heavily on a cane. Since the alley was narrow, Ella and the Duke pressed themselves against the wall, waiting for her to pass.
Even though there was enough space for her to pass, the elderly woman tripped over Ella’s foot and tumbled to the ground along with her suitcase.
“Ah!”
Ella felt as if the woman had deliberately bumped into her, but seeing the elderly woman fall on the hard ground, she hurriedly approached to help her up.
“Are you alright?”
“Ugh! You step on people as they pass? You little brat! Oh, my leg, I think it’s broken!”
The woman pointed to her leg and shouted at Ella.
“What are you going to do about it?”
She glared at Ella with her clouded eyes. The Duke, being a high-ranking noble, shouldn’t be involved in such a commotion. As he moved to intervene, Ella signaled him not to.
“My leg is broken! You’ll take responsibility! You carry me, and you take my bag and bring me home!”
“Grandma, I’m busy right now.”
As Ella tried to refuse, the elderly woman’s eyes sharpened.
“Don’t worry, it’s not far. Just a little way.”
“But…”
Ella hesitated, and the woman waved her cane, shouting at the top of her lungs.
“Hey! Villagers! Look here! This brat broke my leg and is trying to run away!”
“Alright, I’ll take you.”
As Ella tried to calm the woman and led her along, the woman’s crying and shouting quickly turned into a smiling face, guiding them onward. Eventually, Ella and the Duke followed her out of downtown, heading into increasingly deserted areas.
“Grandma, you say your house is this way?”
As far as Ella knew, there wasn’t a single house in this area.
“Why so many questions! I said my house is here! Just go past this forest path.”
However, contrary to the woman’s words, once they passed the forest path, a group of burly men stood waiting, each holding weapons in both hands.
“Hehe, Granny, you’ve brought another pretty girl, huh?”
“Yes! Make sure to pay well this time!”
The elderly woman jumped off the Duke’s back and walked toward the men with surprisingly firm steps, cane forgotten.
“Now, don’t resist, come quietly, or you’ll get hurt.”
One of the men, holding a small axe, spoke to the Duke and Ella, gesturing for them to comply.
“Ella, get behind me.”
The Duke placed his hand on the sword hidden under his robe.
“Are you sure, Duke?”
Ella was suspicious of the woman’s behavior but never expected her to lure people for kidnapping. She looked at the Duke anxiously. Observing such a cunning human trafficking ring, it was easy to see why the guards couldn’t trace them easily.
“Instead of worrying about me, you should worry about them…”
The Duke rested his hand on the sword under his robe and spoke to Ella.
“What are you whispering about? Do you want to die?”
The men, who had handed over a fat pouch to the woman that tricked Ella and the Duke, brandished their weapons threateningly as they approached.
“Are you the ones behind the recent disappearances in the Empire?”
Spitting thick phlegm onto the ground, one of the men answered confidently.
“Hah! Look at you, fearless? Yeah, we kidnap people and sell them. What are you going to do?”
Before he could finish, the Duke drew his sword from under the robe and swiftly sliced the man’s neck.
The sudden action caused the men behind him to panic, taking up defensive stances.
“What… what? He can actually use a sword?”
“Everyone, be careful!”
“Damn it!”
Two men simultaneously attacked the Duke from both sides. He quickly stepped back and slashed the man on the left, who collapsed like a crumbling sandcastle.
The men, who had underestimated the Duke, were increasingly flustered as they fell one by one to his skillful swordsmanship.
One man screamed at the sight of the Duke killing with a stoic expression and turned to run. The Duke, however, drew a dagger and stabbed him in the back before he could escape.
“P-please, spare me! I have… children at home!”
One by one, the Duke eliminated them, leaving the last man and the elderly woman begging on the ground.
“Please, sir, I had no choice! They forced me to lure people.”
The previously greedy woman trembled in fear, giving a ridiculous excuse to the Duke.
“Spare me too! Please! I have young children at home!”
The last man also pleaded, using the same feeble excuse.
“Where are the people you’ve kidnapped from this village?”
The Duke wiped the sticky blood from his sword on their clothes, expressionless, as he asked. The man, hoping for mercy, answered carefully.
“We’re just a low-level branch of the trafficking ring. The Granny lures the people, and we collect them weekly to take to the auction.”
“An auction? Human trafficking is a major crime in the Empire. You’re telling me there’s an auction?”
Ella was shocked. The man nodded and continued.
“It’s illegal in the Empire, but in neighboring kingdoms or across the Western Continent, slavery isn’t banned. So we sell them abroad.”
“Take us to the auction.”
“Yes… follow me.”
The man, intimidated by the Duke, nodded obediently.
“Before that, let’s make sure she never tricks anyone again.”
The Duke approached the trembling elderly woman, slicing her tongue with his sword. Blood gushed out. She could only whimper in pain, unable to scream.
Passing the suffering woman, the Duke made the man lead them forward. Terrified of the Duke, he had no choice but to comply, guiding them to the auction.
They arrived at a quiet port, nothing like what one would imagine for a human trafficking auction.
“This is it? The auction?”
The Duke surveyed the nearly empty port, looking for signs of the trafficking ring, but found nothing.
“Yes, the basement of that abandoned building is the auction,” the man said, pointing to a former ship repair facility.
“If my superiors find out I brought outsiders, they’ll tear me apart. I’ll make excuses, so just play along. And… you’ll spare me once we get inside, right?”
The Duke smiled meaningfully.
“Yes, guide us safely inside, and I’ll spare you.”
“Hehe, so you’re here to buy slaves, right?”
The man explained the auction in detail: it required a guide to enter, prospective buyers observed the captives through iron bars, and could immediately purchase and take anyone they liked.
“Who’s your superior? Who runs this ring?”
The man fell silent, intimidated by the Duke’s expression.
“I… I don’t know. Name, age, face—I don’t know. We just supply people, that’s all. Don’t ask more…”
“Fine, guide us.”
Inside the abandoned building, a narrow staircase led down to a small iron door guarded by a scruffy man.
“Billy! Been well? I’ve brought buyers. Open up.”
The man who had guided them exchanged glances with the doorman, who silently opened the door.
Inside was a surprisingly lavish setting, in stark contrast to the quiet exterior, seemingly for wealthy buyers.
Passing a reception room with sofas, they entered a hallway with red carpets. On either side, people of decent appearance were trapped behind iron bars.
The number was so overwhelming that Ella couldn’t help but grimace in disgust and stop in her tracks. The Duke naturally wrapped his hand around her waist and whispered in her ear.
“Ella, stay calm. They’re watching us…”
