| Credits | |
| Translator | Google Translate |
| Editor | Riverson24 |
Day 383
Apparently it seems that I got in touch with one of the undergound organizations.
It is started when we were shopping in various wonderful places during our sightseeing tour, keeping our eyes open for pickpockets.
Because I was consciously suppressing the intimidating aura, someone slipped into a gap from behind, it almost seemed like a little strange demon.
If you leave it an opening without being concerned, it comes closer at the correct timing thinking that it has a chance, so if it is thin like an orphan child, I'll let it grab a little money, but not if it is only a slim adult, how often do you think they have broken or paralyzed arms?
The number of adult pickpockets is technically high, so it probably has [Burglar] or a similar feeling [Occupation].
It seems to be an alarm came from the driftwaters and, conversely, the other rude fellows found out about this and began to run away in increasing numbers, the atmosphere started to change as the number of pickpocket trainees decreased.
Pickpockets are often further down the back end of an organization, so perhaps someone among the pickpockets who broke her arm cried to her boss.
For the time being, I found a guy who watches alone, hunting by inviting me into an alley.
Pinching his neck from behind with my fingers before he noticed, he was kicking and dropped immediately.
Instantly implanting a parasite into the body while he was unconscious, I slapped him awake and quickly swept up the information.
As a result, it turned out that our new target is a [Slave Merchant] from the Ropson family.
Apparently this pickpocket seems to be among the lower end of the Ropson family's organization, it seems that information is transmitted towards the top, so I erased this idiot after a taste.
The Ropson family is only one of a number of medium and small scale organizations, but it seems to have the [Death Merchant] Grandes at the top.
People are necessary to handle weapons. In order to secure and train soldiers the available human resources supplied by the multiple [Slave Merchants] in the lower organization that pledge allegiance to 【Death Merchant Grandes】, the Ropson family being one of them.
While thinking about that, I will grab a man and stealthily go to the Ropson family base.
The store managed by the Ropson family was in a somewhat recessed place.
There is a feeling of cleanliness in a store of such size. It is surrounded by high walls that will not only keep intruders from out but also others from escaping, and there are many similar buildings around it.
Although not noticeable to a certain extent, since there is a big signboard, I immediately recognized it.
There are two kinds of slaves handled by the Ropson family slave merchants, the labor slaves who work by contract, and criminals who become criminal slaves.
A labor slave is part of a labor force that have cheap wages that instead have their employers pay for food, clothing, and shelter as early as possible.
Even if you say they are a slave, their treatment is closer to a citizen, and it is not permissible to give out unreasonable punishments or etc ..
Some people dare to do this because they can be freed after the contract period is over.
Labor slaves are fitted with iron shields on their feet collars and are made to be noticeable at a glance.
On the other hand, criminal slaves are those who committed a serious crime, so even if they die at their worst, there is no real problem.
Adventurers and peddlers who go to danger zones seem to use them as walls of meat.
Criminal slave showing that they are criminal slave by being fitted with a neck collar, which is also made to be noticeable at a glance.
Both are general wares sold by [slave merchants], but behind the scenes the Ropson family deals with other slaves.
Battle slaves, such as adventurers and poachers that fall into heavy debt, skill slaves who have special skills such as "smiths" and "alchemists", and monster slaves who train various monsters and tame them.
Selling battle and skill slaves separately is not a problem, but considering the [Death Merchant Grandes] is behind the Ropson family, they can hide significant fighting power from other parts of the organizations, or similar small and medium size organizations. There was a purpose, such as sending them out as a fighting force.
One of the projects of [Death Merchant Grandes] is a large [Arena], so there may have been something for [gladiator] to fight there.
A monster slave is usable as the villain, so it's okay them to crush crime slaves.
Anyway, I closed off the escape ways with clones, went in the front way in a dignified manner, and nothing in particular came up, leaving the suppression a complete success.
Besides dozens of armed members, there was the same number of battle slaves to be confronted, but if I swing one arm it will sink into groups of several people at once.
It's a hassle to make them submit while making sure they do not die, but they are not very strong opponents.
I thought that if the members had a very strong person, that I should try to eat them, but let's pass on that because there are only trashy girls.
Instead, among the combat slaves, they seemed to have a reasonable price, but I decided to overlook them this time around as they might be useful for something else later.
In that case, the opponents who I would want to eat no longer exists, so we will process them mechanically.
After suppressing them in several minutes without letting one person escape, we divided the body of [Roppongon] who is the head of the Ropson family, and used [slavery] to put them under my control.
Then it was time to collect the obsolete items.
Because they have a role as a local agent, I learned about a nationalistic tribe living in the desert, a woman of a few tribes living on a ship called a Sand Boat in a place called a Sand Shore, a calculating noble from another country, a girl or a boy, who lived across various places while moving with an ethnic group and pulling out only the talented people who have knowledge and skills that are likely to be useful in the future.
Battle personnel have not been necessary so far, but only a few from the top took into consideration the personality and so on when choosing them.
It will surely help us in expanding the scope of our activities in the future.
As I thought so, I take dozens of slaves and watch clothes shops while going around the city.
Everyone seems to have been treated as such because they are not crime slaves, but they are still a bit dirty, so I let them choose a pretty dress like that.
Then we attach the ear cuffs and return to the house we purchased as a temporary base.
Hotel living is also nice, but I do not know where the intelligence ears are.
That is what I said, so I decided to spend time listening to stories from slaves in our remodeled mansion.
PLACE TRANSLATIONS ABOVE THE BAR. THESE ARE THE RAWS, LEAVE THEM HERE UNTIL SOMEONE DOES A REAL TRANSLATION (NOT JUST A GT OR RUSSIAN TRANS). CLICK EXPAND TO VIEW THEM.
“三百八十三日目”
どうやら裏の組織の一つに目をつけられたらしい。
というのも、観光中色々と豪快に買い物をしているからか、スリに目をつけられたのが始まりだ。
意識して威圧感などは抑えているので、ちょっと変わった鬼人程度に思われたのか、物陰から隙を伺う者が出た。
気にせず放置しておくと、隙だと思ったタイミングで近づいて来るので、それが痩せ細った孤児らしき子供の場合は僅かばかりの金銭を握らせ、そうでない大人のスリは麻痺させてから腕をへし折る事幾度目か。
大人のスリは技術的にも高いので、【盗賊】とかそんな感じの【職業】持ちだろう。
流石にそれだけやれば警戒されるらしく、逆にこちらを見つけて逃げていく失礼な奴らが増え始めた頃、スリとはまた違う雰囲気の尾行者が増え始めた。
スリは裏の組織の下っ端の下っ端の更に下っ端である事も多いので、恐らく腕を折ったスリの誰かが上役に泣きついたのだろう。
とりあえず単独で監視する奴を見つけて、裏路地に誘ってハンティング。
気づかれる前に背後から首を指で摘まみ、キュッと絞めて即落とす。
意識が無い状態で即座に分体を【寄生】させ、叩き起こして情報を手早く吸い出していった。
結果として、俺達を狙ったのは【奴隷商人】であるロプソン一家だと言う事が判明した。
どうやらスリはロプソン一家の下部組織の更に末端だったらしく、情報が上に伝わり、舐めた馬鹿を消してやろう、とでも思ったのかもしれない。
ロプソン一家は数ある中小規模の組織の一つでしかないが、その上には【死の商人グランデス】が控えているらしい。
武器を扱うにはヒトが必要だ。使える人材の確保や育成をさせる為、【死の商人グランデス】に忠誠を誓う下部組織には複数の【奴隷商人】が存在し、ロプソン一家はその一つらしい。
ほうほう、と思いながら、尾行者を連れてふらっとロプソン一家の拠点に寄ってみる。
ロプソン一家が経営する店舗は、少々奥まった場所にあった。
そこそこの大きさの店舗で、そこそこ清潔感がある。侵入者だけでなく脱出者も出さない高い壁で囲まれ、周囲には似たような建物も多い。
そこまで目立つ訳ではないが、大きな看板が出ているので、ここだとすぐに分かった。
【奴隷商人】であるロプソン一家が取り扱う奴隷は表向きには二種類あり、契約によって働く労働奴隷、犯罪者がなる犯罪奴隷となる。
労働奴隷は、早い話が衣食住を雇用主が負担しなければならない代わりに、賃金が安くすむ労働力である。
奴隷と言っても扱いは市民に近く、理不尽な暴力などを振るう事は許されない。
契約期間が終われば自由になることも出来るので、平民の中にはあえてそうなる者もいる。
労働奴隷である事を示す鉄枷は足に嵌められ、一目で分かるようになっている。
対して犯罪奴隷は、重犯罪を犯した者がなるため、最悪死亡しても問題ない。
危険地帯に行く冒険者や行商人などは、肉壁として使う場合もあるようだ。
犯罪奴隷である事を示す鉄枷は首に嵌められ、これも一目で分かるようになっている。
どちらも【奴隷商人】が扱う一般的な内容だが、裏ではロプソン一家は他の奴隷も扱っている。
冒険者や攻略者などが借金などで落ちる戦闘奴隷、【鍛冶師】や【錬金術師】など特殊技能を修めた技能奴隷、そして様々なモンスターを調教して飼い慣らす怪物奴隷などである。
別に戦闘奴隷や技能奴隷を売っても問題にはならないが、ロプソン一家の背後にいる【死の商人グランデス】の事を考えれば、他の組織から戦力を隠したり、同じような中小規模の組織に戦力として送る事など目的があったのだろう。
【死の商人グランデス】の事業の一つに大規模な【闘技場】もあるので、そこで【剣闘士】として戦わせる事もあったかもしれない。
怪物奴隷は敵役としても使い勝手はいいだろうし、犯罪奴隷なら使い潰してもいいのだから。
ともあれ、分体で逃げ道を塞ぎ、真正面から堂々と乗り込んで特にあれこれもなく無事に制圧が完了した。
数十名ほどの武装した構成員だけでなく、同数以上の戦闘奴隷までも立ち向かってきたが、腕を一振りすれば数名単位で沈んでいく。
死なないように手加減しながら昏倒させるのは手間だが、さほど手強い相手ではない。
構成員にそこそこ強い奴がいれば摘まみ食いしようかなとも思っていたのだが、本当にゴロツキ程度の雑魚しかいないので見逃す事にしよう。
代わりに戦闘奴隷の中にはそこそこ良さそうなのも居たが、後で何かに使うかもしれないのでこちらも見逃す事にした。
そうなると喰いたい相手は居なくなったので、機械的に処理していく。
数分程度で一人も逃がさず制圧した後、分体をロプソン一家の長であるロプソンに【寄生】させて【隷属化】、支配下に置いた。
その後、目ぼしい商品を徴収する。
現地工作員としての役割があるので、砂漠で暮らす民族の男性だったり、砂海という場所で砂船という船に乗って暮らす少数部族の女性だったり、他国から連れられて来た計算の出来る貴族の少女だったり、移動民族で各地を転々と渡って暮らしていた少年だったりと、今後役立ちそうな知識や技術がある人材だけを引き抜いていく。
戦闘要員はそこまで必要ないが、上位から数名だけ性格なども考慮して選んだ。
今後活動範囲を広げる際には、きっと役立ってくれるだろう。
なんて思いながら、十数名の奴隷達を連れて服屋などを見て回る。
全員犯罪奴隷ではないのでそれなりの扱いを受けていたようだが、ちょっと薄汚れていたので、そこそこ小奇麗な服を選ぶ。
そのついでにイヤーカフスを装着させ、一時の拠点として購入した屋敷に戻る。
ホテル暮らしもいいが、どこに諜報の耳があるか分からない。
そう言う事もあり、早速改造した屋敷で奴隷達から話を聞いたりして過ごす事となった。