Saved by a knight in not so shining armor.(2)

Paul found it hard to believe that Dusk Nightmoon, an 8-year-old child was able to hold off a monster like the Troll. Trolls are even above Tier 3. Meaning they are stronger than the average mercenary. It was a mid-tier monster that was feared for its raw strength and strong self-healing capabilities.

That being said, he couldn't think of any reason for the boy to lie. Even if one would want to brag about their feats, surely they would make it much more believable. And even that aside, the child did not seem the type to lie for such petty reasons. From Paul's initial impression, Dusk was a polite, kind, and sincere boy. After all, his words managed to even ease Paul's grievances despite only having met the boy mere minutes ago.

So Paul told the two children to wait nearby while he inspected the surroundings.

'Now what do I investigate first?' Paul thought as his sights fell on the corpses he had seen earlier before killing the Troll.

But just as he was about to head toward the corpses, he remembered something else. He could faintly recall seeing a middle-aged man with a wagon near the incident. So he started looking around for the man. It only took him a second or two to find the man.

The man was unconscious, lying on the ground. His body was right beside his wagon. Paul quickly started heading towards the unconscious man. After reaching the man, he was a bit shocked to find that the person looked much older up close than from far away. He looked to be in his fifties. Seeing this Paul was wondering how he would address the man, as he was an elder. Paul always liked to be respectful to his elders. But before he could attempt to call and wake the man up, something fell in his gaze.

The cloth covering the wagon started fluttering due to the cold night's wind. Due to the wind the contents within the wagon or rather the "Cage" could be seen. Frail children just barely clothed in rags. Some had bruises on their bodies, some did not. But they all had something in common. Their eyes were devoid of any life and emotion. The nearly inaudible breathing suggested they were alive but their expressions suggested their souls were long gone to the depths of despair. There was also a repugnant smell coming from the caged vehicle, that he hadn't noticed until getting closer.

This heart-wrenching sight caused fury to well up within Paul. As the man seemed to be the owner of the wagon, for a moment his rage made him want to kill the man. But he held himself back and calmed himself down with a few deep breaths. He was about to wake the man up but the man started groaning on his own before waking up by himself a few seconds later.

"Hey, You. You're finally awake..." Paul called out to the man, holding his anger back. Though he doubted it, It was possible the man wasn't the perpetrator of this crime.

"Huh? Shit! It's a knight!" The man scurried back on his knees as he was incapable of standing at that moment.

"You're not going anywhere until you answer my questions!" Paul roared before appearing before the man with frightening agility. His heavy armor didn't seem to slow him down at all.

"Ah fuck! Don't hurt me! I'll tell you everything I know!" the man said putting his hands up as Paul's sword was only an inch away from his throat.

"Good to hear. Now tell me, are you the owner of these slaves?" Paul glared at the man with seething rage.

The act of both owning and trading slaves was illegal. Paul disliked the ideal of slavery even more than most. He knew there were corrupt nobles who would secretly buy slaves, and there were obviously slave merchants as well. But these cases had become rare for the past century or so...until recently. Due to some unknown reason, the number of these cases suddenly started surging.

"Yes...I am. I am a slave merchant."

Paul then asked the man for his identification papers and searched through his clothes. He found an insignia that had the picture of a humanoid figure with horns. It was the symbol of the criminal underworld, where heinous criminals roam about. Paul asked for information about what he was doing here and where he planned to take the slaves. Brad was reluctant to answer but as Paul's sword started inching closer to his throat he had no choice but to explain everything.

He told Paul that the slaves were being transported to one of the underground bases of the underworld. The base itself was abandoned a long time ago due to certain reasons, so it was freely used by slave merchants such as himself. The merchants would stay there and give each other info or recommendations on which client was easy to milk more cash from and such. Then they would move on to their true destination they decide after gathering enough intel.

"I see. Then those 2 corpses...do they have any relation to you?" Paul asked Brad while brooding over all of the things he had just heard.

"Yes. They were mercenaries I hired. Unfortunately for me, that brat killed both of them..." Brad said as he clicked his tongue.

"...What? What kind of nonsense are you spewing?" Paul glared at Brad. He could only think of what Brad said to be complete bullshit.

"I-Its true! That brat killed both of my mercenaries! He might not look like much, but he's a wolf- no a devil in sheep's skin!" Brad tried to convey the truth to Paul.

"A child like that? Murder two people?! Do you really expect me to believe that?! He told me those two murdered each other due to a difference in views. " Paul shouted in anger.

"If you don't believe me, then check their bodies! He used his bare fists to kill one of them and another was killed by his knife!" Brad said in response.

"...Fine. You're coming with me too. But if this all turns out to be a lie, then I'll cut you down for trying to frame a child." Paul sighed. He thought the merchant was just trying to divert the attention from him to Dusk. The idea that Dusk would kill two 2 mercenaries seemed ridiculous.

After reaching the site of the two corpses, he started examining them. Brad stood by his side, his nervousness was showing. This made Paul's belief in Dusk's innocence strengthen. Nonetheless, he thought he might as well check the bodies as Dusk's story wasn't completely believable either.

'Male. Large and bulky figure. He was probably one to rely on strength rather than speed. But what killed him then?'

After examining the body for a minute, he managed to find out a few things. He was somewhat experienced in such situations as he had to identify many of his fallen comrades this way.

'Shallows cuts all over his body. Multiple broken bones and fractures. The cause of death is most likely his shattered spine. Something hit him with incredible strength. Strength of this level could very well belong to a monster but the attack....it was precise and calculated. It was definitely the work of a human... '

There was also the possibility that it was someone from the other three races, but Paul doubted that. The Human realm was rarely visited by other races. None of the three races liked humans that much. Besides from Dusk's story, it was the other mercenary.

To confirm that, Paul moved on to the other corpse. It was female. He started examining just like the other.

After some time he found that there were similarities between the injuries of the two. Both had shallow cuts over their bodies. And what's more, both took great damage from a blunt force impact on the area where they took damage. In the case of the female mercenary, there was a dark bruise on her stomach. There was also dried blood in her mouth. Suggesting she coughed up blood.

But the cause of death for her was...

'Penetration of the skull...' Paul shook his head at the gruesome scene. The only saving grace for this horror was that the victim died instantly.

Brad couldn't even look at Sally's corpse. It was too gruesome of a scene as brain matter could be seen spilling out from her skull.

After thinking things through, Paul came to an unfavorable conclusion. One that he didn't like. Firstly, he found mercenary Tier tags on them. Both were Tier 3. The injuries on the bodies were very similar. The male wielded a sword, while the female wielded a spear. Yet, the wounds on their bodies differed greatly from what would be caused by an injury inflicted by either of those weapons. The cuts were very shallow and small. For a spear user, it wouldn't make sense to use the weapon that way. And for the sword user who had great strength that seemed unlikely too. Instead of fast and quick slashes, it made more sense to use his great strength.

The male mercenary had great strength so it would have made sense for most to assume he was the one who dealt the strong blunt attacks with his fist...but his own spine was crushed by such a blow.

The female mercenary didn't possess the strength required to deal such a blow. Even if she could enhance her strength with mana, the required amount would be too great for a Tier 3 mercenary.

The cuts and strong blows pointed toward a knife or dagger user who used hand-to-hand combat as well as unique martial arts amidst his attacks.

The only knife user in this incident was...Dusk Nightmoon. He had seen him pointing his knife while facing the Troll.

But it didn't make sense to Paul. These two were Tier 3 mercenaries. They weren't the strongest but they were still quite experienced in their work. So how could a child beat them? Not only that the injuries told a story where the victims were completely outclassed by the perpetrator...

"Who held off the Troll?" Paul asked Brad. He already knew the answer at this point but he needed to hear it from a witness.

"It was the boy. He went toe to toe with that thing...though he was getting sluggish later on in the fight. Guess those mercenaries tired him out a bit." Brad said with a shrug.

At this point, Paul knew what the only logical conclusion was for this incident. But it was still hard to believe.

Paul shot a stealthy look at the silver-haired boy. But his gaze had been felt in an instant by the boy, who shot him another polite smile.

But unlike before...Paul couldn't help but feel a shiver go down his spine...as he felt something sinister was hidden behind that innocent-looking smile.