Crownless Reincarnation: New World? Nah I'd win

After a long second she replied. "My aunt." She whispered. "And the one who sent me here."

Akamir's eyes narrowed behind the mask, though his body remained still.

"…Your own blood," he said slowly, his voice quiet. "Your aunt sold you into chains."

Serenya's lips trembled, but her eyes… though bruised and tired, they did not falter.

"Do not mistake me for a victim, masked one. I fought. I nearly killed her before they overwhelmed me."

She clenched her fist in anger. "That is why these runes burn into my flesh instead of simple shackles."

Nayomi floated closer, curiosity flickering in her blue eyes.

"So the lovely Aure princess who handed us her family's secrets… has darker roots than she let on."

Serenya spat blood to the ground, the act defiant despite her weakened state.

"Sylari speaks with honey but carries venom. Whatever deal she struck with you—know that it will be poison in the end."

Akamir leaned back in his chair, his fingers calmly placed on his knee.

"How do you know I made a deal with her?" Akamir asked, looking at her.

"Why bother asking about her if you didn't?" She replied, glaring at him. "Don't tell me you are her lover and are here just to mock me."

Akamir shook his head as he looked at her.

His tone was calm, but every word pressed on her.

"…Her information led me here. Her betrayal freed these people. If she hadn't spoken, you'd still be rotting unseen."

"She knew you'd come!?" Serenya snapped, the fire in her voice cracking through her fatigue. "Are you really here to mock me?"

Akamir didn't reply as he glanced at Nayomi, his voice barely audible. "What do you think?"

"It could be a coincidence." She replied. "And I don't think dear princess could even dream of you taking over this place."

Akamir nodded as he too agreed with her.

No matter how far that woman might be thinking, she wouldn't imagine him being stronger than an army.

Nayomi smiled faintly, amused at the tension. "Oh, I like this game."

Serenya's glare remained on him. "And who the hell are you?" She asked. "Why are you here?"

Akamir leaned forward as he replied. "I am here to free all of you." He stood up. "But first I need to confirm something."

Akamir walked out of the place ignoring the pleading of those in cages.

He walked out as he looked at those soldiers in heavy armour.

The ones who were guarding the place when he came here.

"Search the place." Akamir ordered them. "I want every detail about who and why they are shipping slaves."

The armored soldiers bowed their heads in unison, their voices flat. "Yes, my lord."

They split off immediately, moving with the eerie precision of mimickers now wearing Aure's finest steel.

Their footsteps echoed through the camp as they began overturning crates, prying open sealed wagons, and dragging ledgers from officers' tents.

Akamir stood outside the great tent, the evening wind tugging at his cloak.

Behind him, Nayomi hovered lazily, arms folded, "any idea what the princess is even thinking?"

"I don't know." Akamir replied honestly. "I really have no idea about her thoughts."

Does she want to help the poor who are being abducted?

Does she want to take over the kingdom?

Is she good or bad?

Akamir doesn't know much about her to draw a clear line.

He has no way of knowing what the hell her plans even are.

One of the heavy-armored mimickers returned, kneeling.

In its gauntleted hands was a thick leather-bound book, the Aure crest scorched into its cover. "We found their records, my lord."

Akamir took it without a word.

He flipped through the pages, his eyes scanning the neat Aure script.

Each entry was precise, almost clinical. Dates. Locations. Numbers and beside the names of towns, tallies of "units."

Men, women and children.

And beside each tally… a price.

Akamir's jaw tightened behind the mask. "They catalog their own people like coin."

Nayomi leaned over his shoulder. "Not just people. Look closer."

Among the lists were not just commoners but nobles.

Bloodlines of minor houses. Names of mages, healers, scholars. Anyone with value beyond mere labor.

And scrawled in Aure's cold script was a name he recognized.

There was also a target list within it.

In which Akamir found some names that he recognised.

He even found his own and….

"…Inara."

He almost burned the book but Akamir controlled himself.

Akamir's voice came out low, dangerously steady. "Bring me everything."

The mimicker bowed and left.

Nayomi studied him, her tone half-curious, half-taunting. "So, it's not just Aure's greed anymore. Now it's personal."

---

The place was completely turned upside down as Akamir found everything he needed.

The ledger he got gave him an estimated number of people that have been already shipped.

….it's over a hundred thousand.

But even though he searched everything Akamir didn't find a single document that stated…. why.

Why are the humans even being transported to the other side of the world.

Akamir highly doubts it's for labour.

They have far better technology and it would not make sense to buy powerful people.

'…What the hell is happening?'

He couldn't understand for now.

"My lord." the voice of a soldier made him look up. "We have gathered them all."

Akamir looked at all the to be slaves that have been gathered.

He asked the soldiers to bring them in one place and they did it quite well.

The people of Aure kingdom looked at him with fear and hatred.

And Akamir understood where it was coming from.

For them the soldiers were obeying him and that means he was the one behind their abduction.

"You have two choices!" Akamir said enhancing his voice with mana.

"You can walk away now and go back to your family or you can stay and get your revenge on Aure kingdom."

The crowd of captives stood frozen, their hollow eyes flickering with disbelief.

Some clutched their children tighter, some trembled with exhaustion, and others lifted their gazes toward the masked man speaking to them.

Akamir's voice carried through the valley, calm yet sharp enough to cut through despair.

"Leave now, and you'll be free. No one will chase you, no one will harm you. Or—"

his hand gestured to the camp around them, the fires, the overturned wagons, the mimickers standing like silent sentinels—

"stay, and I will give you the means to fight back."

The silence stretched heavy.

One man spat at the ground, his hands still raw from shackles.

"Fight back? With what? You— you're Aure's dog! Look at them!" He pointed at the armored soldiers who bowed to Akamir. "They serve you. What are you, if not the master of this hell?"

Akamir glanced at one of the soldiers and he immediately walked forward.

Akamir stared at him before ordering. "Kill yourself."

The soldier unsheathed his sword and plunged it deep into his stomach before cutting it off.

Gasps rippled before they turned even louder as the man regenerated in an instant.

"As you can see, they are not humans anymore." Akamir said, looking at them. "They are my puppets."

The crowd looked even more fearful of him now.

"My choice still stands." Akamir said, gesturing at the carriages. "You can go or you can stay and fight."

Many hung back, clutching their families, unwilling to risk another battle after barely surviving this nightmare.

Akamir nodded once.

He didn't berate the ones who chose to leave; he simply gestured.

The mimickers opened a path toward the road.

Those who wished to return to their villages began their uncertain journey, some weeping, some silent.

Those who stayed gathered before him, their eyes still fearful but burning with something new—resolve.

Nayomi chuckled from above, tilting her head.

"Look at you. Playing king, dividing the weak from the bold. Careful, mortal—you might start to like it."

Akamir ignored her taunt.

He looked at those who remained.

Farmers, merchants, a handful of mages too weak to resist Aure's chains, even children who clenched their fists as though willing to be soldiers.

"From this moment," Akamir said, his voice deep and absolute, "you are no longer Aure's slaves. You are mine. And together, we will show Aure what it means to be prey."

The captives bowed their heads, some in fear, others in acceptance.

A few lifted their chins, eyes blazing.

The camp was no longer Aure's.

It was Akamir's.

And with it, the seeds of something far greater had just been sown.

Yet, the one who Akamir liked the most was still glaring at him.

Akamir gestured her to walk towards him.

Serenya though wary still walked closer at his command.

"Say girl…" Akamir mumbled looking at her. "…How much do you hate your family?"

"Is that even a question you should ask?" She spat glaring at him. "I hate them down to my core."

Akamir nodded, she was exactly what he needed right now.

"Serenya." He said, looking into her eyes. "What do you think about becoming the Queen of Aure kingdom?"