Return of The Martial King

[ Chapter 218 ]

“Hmph!”

Iniya raised her right hand, shaping it into a blade. A brilliant silver aura surged forth, transforming into a sharp blade. It was her unique Blade Aura, infused with both the terrifying power of destruction and a chilling cold. Iniya gave a light flick of her hand.

Swoosh!

Wherever the flash of light passed, everything was cut and frozen. Swords, shields, even metal armor were utterly useless. Everything sliced like cheese and froze solid.

“Repenhardt-nim instructed to avoid killing whenever possible…”

With a single horizontal slash, five soldiers were left crippled for life, bound to spend the rest of their days seated. The soldiers’ faces turned pale.

“…I’ll show mercy and not kill you.”

Iniya swung her hand once more. Another five soldiers were rendered incapable of ever clapping their hands again. After all, a person can’t clap with just one hand.

After three swings of her hand, no soldier was left standing. They were all horrified at the sight of their limbs turned into blocks of ice, lying on the ground, and soon fainted from shock.

It might have seemed better to just kill them, but Iniya was serious. For the harshly raised Stiria Tribe, losing a limb was no big deal. The mindset in the wilds was that as long as you’re alive, you can somehow manage.

After assessing the situation, Iniya turned to Siris.

“Are you hurt anywhere, Miss Siris?”

Brushing off her clothes, Siris coldly replied.

“I’m not weak enough to get hurt by something like this.”

‘So prickly.’

Iniya pouted. She really didn’t like that brat!

At that moment, a faint knocking sound came from beyond the back door of the auction house.

Knock! Knock knock! Knock!

Simultaneously, the lock on the firmly secured back door opened, revealing a frail-looking elf woman.

She looked at Iniya, Siris, and the other elf slaves, swallowing nervously.

“Um… My name is Arni. As promised, I’ve come to guide you…”

A shackle was fastened around her neck, marking her as a slave. It was proof that she wasn’t just a slave being raised in Elvenheim, but one who had been officially sold outside.

Unlike Iniya or Siris, who had infiltrated Zeppelin from the Duchy of Antares, Arni was an elf who had lived as a slave here from the start.

* * *

To liberate the slaves of Zeppelin, Karl carried out various preparatory tasks, but the most troublesome aspect was dealing with the non-human slaves outside the auction house.

Those gathered at the slave auction could somehow be taken out. However, the slaves who had already been sold and had individual owners were much more difficult to reach.

To rescue the slaves, there was a crucial prerequisite: at the very least, they had to be willing to follow voluntarily for the sake of their own freedom. No matter how powerful the non-human species of the Duchy of Antares were, the number of slaves in Zeppelin was simply too vast to control them all by force.

So, they carried out several preliminary efforts to encourage internal support. And to some extent, this strategy was successful—at least for those inside the auction house, who were in similar situations and hadn’t yet had a definite owner assigned to them.

However, making the slaves who had already been sold aware of their plight was far from easy. In fact, when they rescued a few Elven slaves, they followed Siris more with the mindset of having found a new master rather than with any sense of freedom.

To plan a liberation operation on such a large scale, each of those slaves needed to have at least a minimal awareness and desire to escape their situation. And this wasn’t something that could be achieved with a few months of preparatory work.

“So, I had actually half-given up on that part… but unexpectedly, Repenhardt-nim had already taken care of it in advance?”

“Huh? What did I do?”

Repenhardt looked puzzled as Karl, impressed, asked him the question. Karl also looked confused as he asked back.

“The method of educating those slaves, wasn’t that something you popularized, Repenhardt-nim? According to Siebolt, that’s what he said…”

“Oh, that?”

Only then did Repenhardt seem to understand.

Indeed, several years ago, during a visit to the Principality of Chatan, he had rescued Siris along with various other Elven slaves. With an eye to the future, he had subtly pressured Siebolt to educate them.

As Repenhardt had anticipated, educating those who were mere slaves had significantly expanded their utility, making them much more valuable.

From a merchant’s perspective, hiring an accountant is a costly endeavor. But if a slave could handle the task instead, it would be a substantial gain. Moreover, having slaves equipped with knowledge in various fields greatly helps in reducing labor costs.

Repenhardt had half-forgotten about it due to his busy activities, but since then, in the Principality of Chatan, especially within Zeppelin, it had become quite the trend to educate slaves as a means to reduce labor costs. This was precisely the point Karl had touched upon.

“I wasn’t expecting much, but after some investigation, I found that the response from the non-human slaves within Zeppelin has been surprisingly positive. There’s a considerable movement among them, secretly meeting and hoping for some kind of change. Of course, for now, it seems they’re mostly just gathering to share their grievances, as they don’t see much hope in rising up alone.”

Thanks to this, Karl said, they would be able to garner enough support if an uprising were to occur. There were already secret communications taking place, and a significant number of Orc, Elf, and Dwarf slaves who shared the same ideals had gathered.

“With this, we can now hope to rescue the dispersed slaves of Zeppelin. Moreover, we’ve managed to resolve other issues as well.”

The fact that these slaves were voluntarily responding to the Duchy of Antares didn’t just mean that the number of slaves they could rescue had increased.

“Thanks to this, we now have a reliable group of allies within Zeppelin.”

There were limits to how many troops the Duchy of Antares could sneak into Zeppelin. No matter how elite the non-human warriors of Antares were, only a few were strong enough to face fully armed soldiers without weapons or armor.

“Guiding them through hidden paths, assessing the fluid situation, and even equipping those who escape—there couldn’t be a better group for such tasks.”

* * *

Arni had originally been one of the Elf slaves working in a well-known trading company in Zeppelin. Just a few years ago, she had been nothing more than a maid, serving in a mansion and being dragged to the bedroom whenever her master desired.

But things were different now. Although she still had to go to the bedroom when her master wished, at least her work was no longer that of a mere maid.

Thanks to the strange trend that had recently swept through Zeppelin—educating slaves to make them more useful—she was now a junior accountant for the Ratarun Trading Company and also managed the warehouse inventory.

Doing accounting work properly required more than just good arithmetic. Since it involved dealing with people, she had to learn all the basics of general education.

Thanks to this, Arni, even as an Elf, was able to receive a proper education like a human. As she lived this changed life, questions began to arise in her mind.

She could do everything that humans could do.

She could feel everything that humans could feel.

Then why was she a slave while humans were not?

What was the difference between herself, a slave, and those humans?

At first, these questions were very small—a fleeting thought that would occasionally come to her as she lay down, exhausted from her work.

The doubts began to swell in her heart when she heard rumors about the Crovence civil war.

Stories of Elves living like figures from myths or legends—Elves who thought and acted on their own will and stood proudly against humans—only served to deepen Arni’s doubts. She unintentionally voiced her questions to another Elf slave.

Why was she a slave, and why were humans not?

What was the difference between herself, a slave, and those humans?

To her surprise, Arni wasn’t the only one with such doubts. The other Elf slave to whom she had spoken harbored the same questions.

Moreover, Arni discovered another fact.

There were many slaves in Zeppelin who, like her, harbored similar doubts. They would sometimes meet secretly, building connections with one another.

The Elf slave Arni had spoken to was also employed in managing goods at another trading company, having received the same kind of education as Arni. It wasn’t exactly a coincidence. The recent “slave education fever” that had swept through the city of Zeppelin had become so widespread that almost all slaves had received some basic education. In Zeppelin, it was now harder to find an uneducated slave.

These slaves, who had received proper education and begun questioning their reality, would gather whenever they could. Most of them were Elves, but there were also Orcs among them. While their gatherings didn’t result in any concrete actions, the education they had received had made them aware enough to question their reality. And with that awareness came the realization of how tightly controlled the human-dominated world was.

They had come to understand reality, both in a good way and in a bad way.

Realizing that their situation was wrong, lamenting their plight, and yet acknowledging that there was nothing they could do about it except dream of an impossible hope in their fantasies—that was all they could manage.

Still, they continued to meet. At the very least, they could find some comfort in meeting others who shared the same fate.

The change in their situation came just a few days ago, brought about by an Elf who had approached them in secret. This Elf, who introduced himself as Relhard from the Duchy of Antares, was the one who brought that change.

“This way!”

As she ran down the alley, Arni quickly gestured with her hand. Following her lead, dozens of Dwarves hurriedly moved their short legs, cutting through the darkness.

The place Arni pointed to was the weapon storage of the trading company she belonged to, the one she was responsible for managing. When the Dwarves gathered around, Arni swiftly unlocked the door and opened the storage. Under the moonlight, the storage filled with numerous weapons was revealed. The Dwarves eagerly grabbed weapons and armor.

“Oh, this is quite a well-forged sword for human work.”

“This longsword isn’t bad either.”

“But the armor doesn’t fit.”

“Just discard the arm and leg parts and use the shoulder and chest sections.”

The Dwarves hastily armed themselves. Although there were nearly a hundred of them, there were more than enough weapons for everyone. After all, Arni had deliberately prepared the numbers for this day.

‘The weapons are delivered! Now, the next step…’

Arni looked up at the sky, checking the position of the moon. By now, other weapon storages across the city should also be opening. The other slaves she had contacted would be leading Elves, Orcs, and Dwarves, just like she was.

“Haha, it’s been a while since my blood boiled like this after holding a sword.”

A heavily armed Dwarf man stroked his beard, his eyes gleaming. His energetic demeanor made it hard to believe he had been a slave just moments ago. For Arni, who had never seen a Dwarf before, it was astonishing. Her heart was still pounding wildly.

After the Dwarves finished arming themselves, they moved out into the streets. Arni hurriedly followed them.

All across Zeppelin, red flames were already rising. Amidst them, countless slaves were running towards freedom. Everywhere she looked, there were Elves, Orcs, and Dwarves. The sheer number of slaves in the city was staggering.

As Arni stood there in a daze, the Dwarf man turned to her with a warm smile and beckoned.

“Come on, let’s go, Elf girl.”

“Yes!”

Arni swallowed hard. The die was cast, and there was no turning back now.

Not that she wanted to turn back.

With hope and fear for the future coexisting in her heart, Arni, her face flushed, followed them with determined steps.