"Remember, don't take reckless actions unless you want to end up in misery!"
I was given a stern warning by the soldier escorting me.
Although I was supposedly granted permission to meet face to face, I was asked to only speak and convey the situation and conditions inside the Mine Dungeon. Nothing more, nothing less.
With my head lowered, I walked slightly slower behind the soldier.
Of course, I was only acting, but the escorting soldier misunderstood, thinking that I was suffering from some sort of psychological disturbance due to meeting the boss, the leader of the Nest of Slavery.
With me walking behind him, I had the opportunity to whisper to Nya Nu, who was still in camouflage mode.
There wasn't much I needed to whisper. I simply instructed Nya Nu to follow Sharon, to stand guard in case something happened. Perhaps I was overthinking, but I couldn't leave Sharon unattended.
To be honest, I didn't completely trust Sharon, even though she had known Mesties since childhood. She could betray me if she wanted to. If she wished, she could escape with Claude and Raiz without carrying out what I had commanded.
- Will you be alright, Master?
- Don't worry, if things don't go as planned, I'm confident I can escape.
- In that case, take care of yourself, Master.
And with that, Nya Nu left my side once again.
It was rare to see him speak so seriously. However, there was a possibility that he was just acting seriously because I could only hear his voice.
"Why are you walking so slowly? Move faster!"
Seeing me lowering my gaze and walking slowly, the soldier escorting me became angry.
Look at the tone of his voice when there's only me here. It's truly annoying to pretend to be a slave. Although I had grown accustomed to being demeaned to the point where I considered it my daily sustenance, waves of anger still emerged within me.
'I will tear you apart into pieces later!'
***
I thought I would be led upstairs, where Nya Nu told me Rafferty's room was located, but it seemed not.
I was led downwards, descending a rather dark staircase and traversing a not-too-wide corridor. Although magical lamps were installed on the ceiling, the emitted light was dim.
Although my description of the corridor and staircase I walked through might be somewhat negative, it wasn't as bad as you might think. Certainly not resembling a filthy underground prison.
"Hurry inside!"
Eventually, I was asked to enter a room.
As I was momentarily shocked and stood frozen, the soldier escorting me kicked my back and forced me inside.
Was this some kind of holding cell?
That was the first thought that crossed my mind after I entered the room whose purpose I initially didn't know.
I was greatly taken aback as my eyes surveyed the contents of the room.
I had a bad feeling when I saw the door adorned with sharp spikes, but I didn't expect to be led into a room filled with torture devices.
What was even more shocking was that Ragnar was hanging from the ceiling.
He looked pitiful. The wounds on his body were wide open to the air.
I was certain that not all of Ragnar's wounds were old, but there were new ones in addition to the ones I had previously seen.
In front of Ragnar stood a middle-aged man. He was wearing a sleeveless shirt, but there was a robe draped over his shoulders. Initially, I wasn't sure who he was since he held a whip, but after seeing a small magic staff at his waist, I was convinced that he was Rafferty Billington.
I had heard that Rafferty's hobby was torturing expired slaves, but I was still taken aback when I witnessed it firsthand.
Actually, I had heard a lot about the peculiar hobbies of nobles. Including engaging in torture. It was difficult to engage in enjoyable activities in the current era, especially in a place like the Nest of Slavery, but I still didn't like such peculiar hobbies like torture.
Psychopath? Was that the appropriate term to describe individuals like Rafferty?
Suddenly he brought the whip to his mouth. At first, he sniffed at it, but then he licked the whip, which was full of blood on its surface.
As if he wasn't satisfied with the taste, he furrowed his brow and spat out the blood he had licked.
He didn't see me until after that.
"So, you're the slave named Mesties."
That was the first thing he said to me.
His gaze only briefly glanced at me, as if he wasn't particularly interested.
"I feel honored to meet you in person."
I bowed to show a form of respect to him.
"It's rare to see a slave who can still speak fluently when meeting me. Perhaps it's natural, considering you used to be a noble. By the way, I heard you want to report the situation inside the Mine Dungeon."
For some reason, as he spoke, the mana around him began to surge, as if he intentionally did so to exert pressure on me.
If I were a normal slave, I would probably be prostrating on the floor by now. However, I didn't respond to the pressure he exerted and focused on explaining what was actually happening inside the Mine Dungeon.
Starting from the strange movements of the monsters as if provoked by something, and about the adventurer party led by Claude, who intentionally dropped something along the way.
I made up things as if all the chaos happening inside the Mine Dungeon was the fault of Claude's party, leading to a Dungeon Explosion.
"... That's the situation."
"...."
He didn't respond to my report, which I had made as believable as possible.
"Please put this slave down!"
Suddenly, he asked me to lower Ragnar, who was hanging from the ceiling.
Although I was slightly confused, I still obeyed his command.
I walked towards Ragnar, gripping the rusty chain lever tightly in my hand. With deliberate movements, I applied pressure to the lever, slowly releasing the interlocking links. As the metal mechanism creaked and groaned in protest, Ragnar's body descended inch by inch.
I couldn't imagine the extent of the torture Rafferty had inflicted to require using chains to restrain Ragnar's body.
Luckily, I managed to catch Ragnar's body before it fell to the floor, preventing it from being sprinkled with dust. Then I hung his arm on my shoulder as I helped him stand.
"Pffftt~ you two really match. One is a former noble slave from the human race, and the other is a former noble slave from the beastman race."
Rafferty's laughter echoed.
Snap!
Suddenly, Rafferty swung his whip. He aimed the whip at my back.
Luckily, I was always alert, so I managed to dodge. The whip only struck the floor.
Rafferty's change in demeanor truly caught me off guard. His previously indifferent demeanor suddenly shifted to a cold and oppressive tone.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Why are you acting foolishly like that? Do you think I'm the same as the fools you've deceived before? I don't care how you escape from the Mine Dungeon unscathed, but I just need to kill you."
"Don't you care about the situation inside the Mine Dungeon? If you don't mobilize your forces quickly, everyone in the Nest of Slavery could die."
"Even if everything you say is true, I still don't care too much. Do you think I would be afraid of the cockroaches in the Mine Dungeon?"
He suddenly took an old wooden chair, previously used for torture, and sat on it, propping up his feet, just like a boss.
"I ordered the adventuring party to clean up the place because I was too lazy to do it myself, not because I couldn't. And what's more? Everyone in the Nest of Slavery will perish? Why do you care about that? Even if they die, I might only receive a minimal punishment. I can blame that foolish Yary Stronghold."
Then he proceeded to explain further.
"Oh, is it possible that you're doing all this to free the slaves?"
He informed me that not only once or twice, but several times there have been instances where people sneaked into the Nest of Slavery to rescue the slaves.action
Most of them were individuals sent by nobles or traders who had attended the auction event.
"Am I guessing correctly? Perhaps your family head was forced to send a child to infiltrate here?! That's why you were cast aside to this place."
Although his guess was not one hundred percent accurate, in essence, he was correct.
"From the nonchalant reaction you displayed, I could assume that you were very confident in your power."
"Of course. What's the matter? Are you starting to panic because your plan isn't going smoothly? Don't worry. It's already an achievement that you made it inside here. I'll make sure to take care of your corpse."
He continued his rambling.
Initially, I furrowed my brows because my initial plan didn't go smoothly. If necessary, I didn't want to have to fight him.
But it seemed I was too naive to think that way.
Although his reaction was slightly unexpected, I could already predict that he would ignore my report and act as he pleased.
I could only smile.
"Why are you smiling? Are you so shocked that you're smiling like an idiot?"
"How amusing. From the beginning, I didn't expect everything to go smoothly when I knew my opponent was a psychopath."
Well then. It seems I should indeed confront him directly.
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