Chapter 5 ─ Dangers of Nobility

After tidying up the place, I went to get some water for Shannon, I don't know how to make tea, so I just gave her a glass of water.

I sat down next to her and asked her now that she was calmer.

"What do you mean Mary was kidnapped? Who did it?"

After looking at her glass for a while she answered me.

"For starters, let me tell you how I got here. I'm sure Mary told you that I was abandoned by her father, who was a nobleman."

"He told me to leave and never see him again, he gave me enough money to live with my family for a while, my parents died, but Mary was already born, so we moved to another place as our village was torn apart because a noble bought the land."

"We came to this place, the house was very cheap, but I hadn't any money to pay for it."

"Then... one day a man came and told us that he would lend us the money to buy the house but we had to pay him back the 1% interest he lent us."

"Since I am ignorant in calculations, I didn't know what he was talking about, but I knew that the number 1 when mentioned was nothing serious. I accepted and they gave me the money almost immediately."

"It was 10 years ago that that happened... I didn't imagine the hell we accepted."

Shannon collapsed into tears again covering her face.

"I agreed to pay them what they asked for each month since the 1% interest was low I figured, but I didn't know they charged us 1% interest per month. Meaning that what we pay is now multiplied, resulting in never being able to repay the debt, I was getting exasperated until they recently came..."

◇◇◇

"What do you wish?"

Shannon remembered what happened an hour ago.

Some men arrived in the rain.

"Ma'am, we regret to tell you that there is a certain problem you need to solve."

"Problem? I don't think so, I already paid you what I owed you a little while ago. Now you must wait until next month for the next payment."

"That's the problem ma'am."

The men entered without her permission.

"We have a serious financial problem, for that reason we need you to pay us the equivalent of the next three months, right now."

The plate in her hand dropped when she heard such an outrage.

"Pay you the equivalent of three months? No. It's impossible to pay that amount, I can barely pay you for the month and you want me to pay this ridiculous amount?"

"Ma'am, we are not begging you, we are demanding that you pay us."

The men suddenly started tearing the place apart.

"We don't play games ma'am. We want the money right now or it will be very bad for you."

Mary came out of the kitchen to defend her mother.

"My mother already told you that she doesn't have that amount! If you want us to pay you that's impossible, find another way to raise money, you have the adventurer's guild for that."

The man started laughing for no reason.

"You're right girl, we'll get the money some other way. I'm sure a wealthy man will want to pay a good amount of money for you."

"... What?"

Suddenly a cold sweat broke out on Mary's body, Shannon understood what this was about, it was too late to do anything, she stepped between her daughter and the man.

"Please, if you want to take someone, let it be me!"

"I'm sorry ma'am, but old women like you are not required. Young girls are the ones who are worth a great deal of money."

"Take her away!"

"No, Mary!"

"Mama, help me!"

The men took Mary by force.

Throwing Shannon against the counter.

They walked out the door with their transaction completed.

In the midst of that rain, Mary's pleas for help to her mother were buried as her hope.

◇◇◇

Upon hearing that news, Regulus slapped the table hard.

"Those bastards..."

Russell understood his frustration.

"Ma'am, I'm afraid what happened to you is called extortion. It's a very common operation performed by these guys, a lot of people have lost everything because of them."

"What I don't understand is, why wait so long to kidnap your daughter?"

Wiping her nose, Shannon told them something she remembered.

"I heard from them, that taking multiple prey to the mansion was very annoying. That they should have a better place to do it."

Russell instantly understood what she meant.

"Did he say mansion!? No, this is very bad."

"Why is it?"

Russell told her the real culprit behind Mary's kidnapping.

"There's only one mansion in this town, whose mansion do you think it belongs to?"

"You don't say!"

"That's right. The feudal lord is responsible for the kidnapping."

◇◇◇

On the highest hill of the city stood a huge mansion whose grounds were surrounded by a great wall.

It was the house of Viscount Heving.

The viscount was in his office talking to someone through a magic mirror that allows communication with people in different places.

"Yes. As I told you, after ten years of staying away from my home, helping the [New Faction] to take over the capital, I wanted to return home, life in the capital is too expensive for someone as humble as me."

"Hahahahaha, don't fool me you liar, you ran out of funds didn't you? You went back home to sell a few locals."

"...It's as you say, sorry."

"You're welcome, as long as some of those girls are a worthy beauty to me, you'll always have the help of the Great Avrora Empire."

The viscount was glad to hear that.

"Oh. As expected from His Majesty the Emperor. He is so benevolent and wise."

"Hahahaha, flattering me will only make you increase your funds hahahaha."

"Back to the topic of the new faction. No chance of crushing the royal family? I still can't believe that ungrateful brat turned down one of my sons to be the incubator for the future imperial prince."

"No. I'm afraid that as long as 'they' are in the capital, it will be impossible to overthrow the royal family."

"Hmph. This wouldn't happen if you knew how to properly educate your women, we intensely educate our wives and daughters to be worthy of us."

"This went on too long. I am sleepy, let me know when you are going to send those girls to me."

"Yes. Don't worry."

"In that case, goodbye."

The fat man with a moustache who was the emperor of the Avrora empire took his leave.

The viscount yawned in relaxation.

"It's finally over. I hate dealing with important people, if it wasn't that my family are slavers who always sell quality goods to the southern empire, I wouldn't negotiate with that guy."

The chief butler entered, a man wearing servant's clothes, long grey hair, glasses and a thin moustache handed him a letter.

"My lord, you have mail, it's from the other emperor."

"That's right, that guy..."

He took the letter and after opening it read its contents without interest.

"Tell those idiots to hurry, the western empire wants slaves as soon as possible."

"On order."

Again he sighed.

"Being the head of a Viscount territory is very troublesome."

◇◇◇

"Listen up bitches. We've been informed that the bigwigs want you to be there as soon as possible."

"Strip down and line up for your review."

In the basement of the mansion, the kidnappers ordered the girls to strip, they were all panicking, again Mary faced them.

"Fuck you, we're not getting naked to be raped!"

"Hah?"

One of them snapped angrily.

"This bitch is so haughty, I should rape her in front of all of them to show them that they should be docile."

He started to pull down his pants as a dagger went down his neck.

"Pull your pants back up, do you want to die? All these girls are products, if you want to use your little sausage so bad go to a brothel."

Their leader spoke to all the girls honestly.

"Listen well, you are going to get undressed to check your bodies, if you have any imperfection, deformity, lack of limb and even if you are no longer virgins, all that will be checked."

"If you don't come in what is necessary to lower the price, well, my boys will have fun with you. If you pass, congratulations, you'll be some rich man's mistress from the [Xerxes Empire] of the west."

"If you won't listen, well, do you want me to tell you what will happen to you?"

After that threat, with pain in their gazes and frustration in their mouths, the girls, including Mary who was holding back the urge to cry, began to undress to be classified as mere pieces of meat.

◇

After hearing Shannon, this thought was planted in my mind.

Why do I care about Mary?

She means nothing to me.

She is a stranger.

Tomorrow she could die and I'd be the same.

I have a mission and she's just a hindrance.

That's what I'd like to say.

But it makes my blood boil just knowing that Mary might be crying right now.

Why do I care so much about her?

I don't know, I have no idea and I don't want to know.

I just want to get her out of that place as soon as possible.

"I'm telling you to stop!"

I was suddenly stopped by Russell who jumped on me.

"Get off me! I have to rescue Mary!"

"You idiot, you're going to die! Don't you remember what I told you? No one survives if you mess with the Black Rose!"

"I don't give a shit about that!"

"I give a shit about living!"

Suddenly we were shouting at each other.

Drops of his hair were falling on my face, the feel of the mud in my hair didn't make me angry with the exception of knowing that every second I waste, Mary may be being abused.

"I'm coming to rescue Mary! You must come too, or else you'll die for staying away from me!"

"That's not what I mean you idiot! I want to save the girl too."

"Really? A criminal like you?"

That took me aback.

"Calling me a criminal all the time makes me want to hit you. Yes, I was a bandit, but why life made me take that path!"

"If I had had a choice as a child, I would have been a teacher or a doctor or whatever. But I became a criminal because life is not pleasant with those who live overshadowed by the powerful."

"I understand the landlady's frustration. Just seeing her cry for her daughter makes me so angry, but that's why you can't go to a place like this without a plan."

"What are you going to do when you get there? Fight to the death? You don't even know if there are mages or high-level swordsmen inside, it's suicide to get carried away by anger at a time like this."

"You... Why the hell are you right?"

It was frustrating that this bearded old man was right.

He stood up and then held out his hand to me.

"We must make a plan, devise a way to save her as well as the other girls and then avoid being killed. We're talking about a nobleman."

"If it wasn't for the fact that this country also judges nobles, guys like the noble viscount would be doing their thing in broad daylight."

"What are you suggesting?"

"Proof of his crime. Contact someone who can call the knights and show the evidence."

"Evidence?"

I remembered something as I thought about killing that viscount.

I saw him talking to the guild master, that means he knows something.

"The guild may be collaborating with them?"

"Maybe. But, if so, it makes this mission much more dangerous than we thought."

"Even if it does. I know someone who can definitely help us, after all. She always shows how much concern she has for me."

I smiled knowing that there is a reliable person in the guild.

◇◇◇

The adventurer's guild opens its doors from 5 in the morning and closes them at 10 at night.

Usually the guild master is responsible for this, but he was not responsible either, so he gave this task to the most responsible person among the workers.

"I finished today's report, my back hurts so much."

Jessica was putting on her coat.

"I hate it when everyone says they have things to do and they leave all the work to me. Do they think I have nothing better to do?"

"What do they think, I don't!"

She hurried out and locked the place with her keys.

"I don't have a boyfriend to take me in and I only have one cat, I'm only 22 and my co-workers treat me like I'm 30 and an old woman forever... Ugh, I want holidays."

"I haven't had a holiday since I started working!"

"Your holiday can wait, we need your help."

"Kyah!"

She shouted after hearing a voice and from her bag she pulled out something similar to a small long box, which upon sending a bit of magical power reacted and the tip could electrify someone.

As Regulus was behind Russell, he was the one affected by the shock.

"Ah. Are you alright?"

Russell didn't answer as he writhed on the ground.

"That's not important. Jessica, we need your help."

She eyed them both suspiciously.

"It's too late to want to go on a mission, come back tomorrow."

She was about to lock up when she stopped at Regulus' words.

"We're sure the viscount is kidnapping girls to sell."

"Why would you think that? Don't you know it's illegal to slander someone without proof?"

She answered him without even turning to look at him.

"I know... a little. But that doesn't matter now."

"We are sure that the viscount is linked to the black rose and they are responsible for the abductions of those girls, but we have no proof of that so we come looking for your help."

"My help? What do you want my help for?"

"You are the most responsible and skilled person in this place, the guild master trusts you, you must have something to prove that this guy is linked to them."

Jessica stood thinking without turning to look at them.

She looked up at the sky, the moonlight was shining on her face.

"In the hypothetical case that I had such information, what would you do? Would you go to fight a nobleman? Knowing that a dangerous criminal group is backing him."

"Are you idiots or are you suicide squad?"

"Neither. I only wish to save Mary. She..."

Regulus stood for a moment wondering what he was going to say, but decided to say what he thought was his true feelings.

"She is an important person to me, because she is my friend."

(I have the knowledge of the word "friend" but I never thought I had one.)

Placing her hands behind her back, Jessica told them something curious.

"I grew up in this city, my parents live in the capital and I was left in the care of an acquaintance, the guild master."

"He always protected me, he was very overprotective. One day, the viscount bumped into me as I was cleaning the entrance, he told me that, if I wanted to work in a place and earn good money, I was about to say sure when the master came demanding that I retire, I could eavesdrop on what they were saying."

"I can only say, to keep the peace of this place, sacrifices must be made, a stained hand will always be dirty. I can understand why he hides all his dark deeds."

"If it comes to light, he won't be the only one to pay, many will, a territory like this is far from the capital, it wouldn't be strange if one day it suddenly disappears."

"Even once, a female colleague of mine tried to rat out the governor who was exercising the temporary role of the feudal lord, to this day we still don't hear from her, but I will always know that flower she always carried on her head appeared on my desk for a reason."

She turned away, Russell who was getting up saw Jessica's tear-streaked face.

"Those who have no power must bow their heads and do as they are told. For years we have known what they do on the down low, they use the guild as a cover for their dealings as they use adventurers to kidnap female travelers and even from villages outside the viscount's territory."

"It fills me with helplessness to know that there are innocent girls suffering every day and all I can do is keep quiet because if I try to say anything they will disappear me too. I hate this with every fiber of my being."

Regulus walked over to her and grabbed her shoulders.

"It is for that reason that you must trust me. One day I will be the most renowned man in the world, if I can't fix this problem, I won't be able to fix a worse one."

"Jessica, please give us the evidence to catch this son of a bitch and make him pay for his crimes."

She was still crying, she had no hope for him.

"No... you will die too, you are not the first adventurers to meet them. I've seen a lot of guys wanting to be justice guys and never seeing the light again, besides, in the case you make it, do you think the black rose will stand passively aside?"

"Who cares!"

Regulus burst out in anger.

"I'll go rescue Mary whether you want me to or not. I'll kick that viscount's ass and then I'll come and rub it in your face."

"My ambition is not a game. I really will one day be the Sword God, and this moment is just the first step in my odyssey."

"If you don't want to help me, fine, I'll get the evidence out of him after killing every pawn he has."

Regulus turned and before Russell could stop him, Jessica spoke to him.

"In the case that you succeed, just in that case, I'll have all the evidence ready. So you can make all the scandal you want, but the viscount will have to be alive."

Regulus was exalted after his resolution was accepted.

"Of course I will! You'll see, you damned octopus!"

"Hold on, brat. Regulus!"

Russell went after him.

They were both heading for a slaughterhouse where despair was guaranteed and hope buried.

◇◇◇

After stripping and being touched to check various things, the girls were returned to their cells.

"Hold on there you."

Except Mary who was detained.

She was still crying, covering her breasts and private parts with her hands.

The leader of the kidnappers stopped her by placing his hand on her shoulder.

"W-what's wrong?"

Being in a more submissive state, Mary replied.

The leader smiled.

"You see, I expected there to be a large number of girls used, but it's amazing that none of them have had any experience. That's why I decided to make a sacrifice."

He turned to his companions and spoke words that stole Mary's life force.

"You bastards, I'll give you a gift that equals a nobleman's daughter!"

"We'll have fun with this girl! Ah, since I was the one who thought of it, I'll be the first to try it."

The man began to pull down his pants as the kidnappers jumped for joy.

"I hate virgins as they bleed a lot, but I am very partial to big breasts and you fall into that category."

"Don't worry, I know very well how to treat and stick it to chaste girls like you."

"No..."

"Mom... Somebody help me!"

Mary's cries of despair could not be heard by anyone but the local souls in pain.

________________

Clarification: You may wonder why the word "octopus", right? Well that word is in fact a reference to the classic anime villains which were bald bearded, being similar to octopuses, that's where the word came from, which implies that it's a joke of a generic villain.

Instead of being fanservice I'll leave the viscount's face, now I'll do things this way so I don't put them in as characters.

https://91-days.fandom.com/wiki/Testa_Lagusa