NOVEL NEXT Chapter 96 – Garl the Troublemaker III
Crowne waited long enough until the three men finally came out of the guild. When they exited, he immediately approached them and beat them repeatedly. Until he learned that they were not the ones who assaulted Lyrica and her party. They only saw that situation by accident.
"Do you know where Lyrica is?" Crowne asked.
The faces of the three adventurers turned pale, and they quickly answered. "We do not know, but it seems she was taken to a slave merchant. That was the last thing we heard," one of them replied.
"Take me there!"
The three of them shook their heads. They did not like going to that area, but Crowne stared sharply at them. In the end, they nodded and immediately led Crowne toward that place. It turned out the place was not far from there. When they arrived, Crowne was shocked because there were many slave seller houses.
If counted, perhaps there were more than fifteen houses, and it was done openly. As if slavery was a normal thing there. Something Crowne had never seen in the three cities he visited before.
"Isn't human trafficking illegal?" Crowne asked.
The three adventurers looked at Crowne. "Yes, but rumors say this business is handled by a duke. So no one can interfere with it."
Crowne was shocked to hear that. He did not expect a Duke to do something this insane. As a noble, they were supposed to protect many people. Crowne's father was also cruel and often raised taxes and acted arbitrarily, but not as insane as this.
He did not expect someone even more insane than his father. Crowne was now convinced that there existed a noble far more unreasonable than this duke.
"This cannot be allowed," Crowne said.
"What do you want to do? Stop slavery?" one of the adventurers asked him.
The question sounded like it was belittling Crowne. It made him frown. He stared even sharper at that adventurer.
The adventurer lifted his hands to protect his head as if he would be hit, but Crowne did not do anything. He was relieved and walked normally again.
"This has already become something normal in the capital. Even citizens often buy personal slaves. Not only the wealthy, but some ordinary people also buy slaves." He rubbed his chin, thinking for a moment. "It seems around sixty percent of the capital's population owns slaves. If you try to stop this, then many people will hate you."
Sixty percent was a huge number. If the capital had one hundred thousand people, then sixty thousand of them owned slaves. That was an insane number. If there were that many slave owners, it also meant that more than sixty thousand slaves had been sold.
Of course, Crowne was sure the sixty percent mentioned by the adventurer was only an estimation. Not the exact number. But that number did not appear without reason. He could say such a thing because many people he knew owned slaves.
Crowne shuddered imagining this madness. He was originally an adult man from the modern world. Naturally, slavery was something inhumane in his world. There were even legal institutions created specifically to protect the rights of individuals. Although, sometimes those were only formalities.
"If I destroy all these houses, what will happen?" Crowne asked.
The three adventurers immediately turned toward Crowne. They quickly shook their heads. "Are you crazy? If you do that, you will become a fugitive hunted by everyone," one of them said.
Crowne stayed silent, standing and staring at the slave seller houses. Each house had at least two guards at the front and a woman wearing revealing clothing who kept shouting at people passing by, offering them to enter the place.
Crowne only watched. He did nothing until he let out a long sigh. "It seems you only need to guide me this far," he said.
Two of the adventurers were relieved because they did not have to follow Crowne inside, but one of them kept staring at Crowne with suspicious eyes. He looked at Crowne for quite a long time, almost three minutes.
"You are not planning to do what you said earlier, right?" the adventurer asked.
Crowne initially only stared forward. Then he turned and replied, "No. I am not that insane."
The adventurer was relieved because if Crowne did that, he would be dragged into trouble since he appeared to be guiding Crowne there. He could be accused of cooperating and be killed by mercenaries hired by the slave sellers.
He turned around and began walking away. "I hope you do not do something foolish," the man said.
Crowne remained silent there. Staring at the houses in front of him. Then he walked into the area. There were many houses, which made him confused. Searching for Lyrica would be very difficult. He scratched his head for quite a while, frustrated.
"This will be troublesome," he complained.
He had no choice but to enter each one and ask whether the name Lyrica, Gorhan, or Meya was there. If not, he would visit the next house. He would repeat that until he checked every place.
He was sure he would find the three of them.
**
Three hours passed, and Crowne did not find Lyrica, Gorhan, or Meya at all. In every slave house, none of them recognized those three names. Either they truly did not exist there, or they were lying.
Or another possibility, they did not recognize the names because some slaves were sold without names.
"Should I check again?" Crowne muttered.
But when he looked up. The day was already heading toward evening. Soon, he had to meet Ruth. He needed to postpone his search for now. And also, he could ask Ruth for help to find Lyrica and her party. They were all members of the Adventurers Guild. They should be responsible for them.
"Maybe I can meet that bastard."
He hoped he would meet Garl in the guild. That would make everything easier. He would only need to force Garl to tell him where Lyrica was.
Crowne turned around and began walking back to the guild. Passing by the slave seller houses again. He looked upset.
"Master, I am surprised you care about someone you barely know," Sylvara said.
"I am human. Of course I do not like seeing other humans turned into slaves. Naturally, humans desire freedom. When that freedom is taken, they tend to feel uneasy," Crowne replied.
"What if the ones enslaved are other races? Would you feel the same?"
Crowne fell silent. He could not immediately answer because he was not sure what he should say. He thought for quite a while.
"Maybe," he replied.