5 Chapter 5: Slave Trader

After giving the man he killed one last glance, Cairo moved his little legs to run as far as he can. Maybe because Cairo is just like the other townsmen that are already used at the sight of a dead body, that is why he wasn't bothered that much when he just killed someone

For him, killing the man is a must. His face was seen and he can be hunted down if he didn't kill his pursuer

Cairo used his mental map and turned in several forks on the road to flee. When he returned to where he usually spends his time, only then did he felt some security

The kid didn't waste any time and entered one of the trashcans. He removed the tattered robe he was wearing and stored it inside his spatial ring

Cairo is only wearing his worn out and dirty, t-shirt, and short now. He then took a bandage inside his ring and wrapped it on his thigh despite the narrow space he was in

Fortunately for Cairo, his small size today made this kind of 'hiding' possible. Although it was hard to bandage his thigh, he still succeeded in the end

After bandaging his thigh, Cairo wrapped more bandage to the knife that he stole and place it on his thigh. This will ensure that he won't be easily injured by the knife. And since the knife was placed near his hand, Cairo could grab it fast in times of danger

The youth exited the trashcan and changed his location again in fear that he will be discovered

----

June 5 Year 30,765

Five days have passed and although the sun already vanished in the sky, Cairo is still cultivating. The free mana in the surrounding was drawn to him and entered through the pores on his body

The more time that Cairo spent cultivating, the easier it is for him to absorb mana. His cultivation speed increases the more he cultivate

However, the increase would of course have limits. Cairo is not too used at absorbing mana and is still adjusting. After Cairo gained some mastery in cultivation, his speed will stay the same and it would be much harder to increase the speed again

Cairo's control of the sand rapidly increases along with the amount of mana on his body. More mana means that he can practice magic for a longer period of time

The youth focuses on his own world before screams of several people entered his ears

"HELP! AAHHKK!"

"ENEMIES ENEMIES!"

"RUN!"

"H-HELP ME PLEASE!"

Several cries of plea and warning entered Cairo's ears. His body immediately jolted in shock and he opened his eyes to see what is happening

As Cairo is cultivating and is in a more secluded part of the city, he was completely oblivious of what is happening. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the smoke that was being carried by the wind

The dark-colored fog from the burning houses in the town made the night darker than before

"W-what is happening?" Cairo gulped while watching the fire that is spreading in the town. The fire was still far from him but its crimson color was too glaring for him to not see it

The smell of burnt materials wafted in the air and the screams from the townsmen made the night eerier

When Cairo looked around him, he saw an unusual sight. There are several people running away from where the fire came from. Cairo never saw that much people in a single place before

As Cairo is completely clueless at what happened, he just goes with the flow and runs to where the townsmen are running

Soon, the group of humans arrived at the middle part of the town. There was a statue of the town's founder and around it was an empty space that is not so empty now due to how many people are there

Cairo tried his best to minimize his presence as the people he was following stopped running. Since he was short, he can't see the things happening in the front

"N-no! We are cornered!" One of the townsmen shouted in despair and the bodies of the people around shuddered

When Cairo realized the situation, it was already too late. He saw hundreds of muscular men were encircling the townsmen including him

When Cairo looked at the necks of those men, he saw tattoos of collars. The color on his face immediately drained at that sight

These muscular people are slaves! Since they are here, it can only mean a few things, and all those things are something that Cairo doesn't like

Slave traders will use slaves to earn more slaves! The process will continue until the slave trader grew their wealth and power. Slave traders occasionally abducting people from Blood Sand Town is not uncommon

However, they never fully conquered the whole town like this. It seems like the slave trader wants to enslave all the townsmen including Cairo

The muscular men parted and Cairo saw a middle-aged man wearing gold all over his body. Compared to the skinny townsmen this man looks like he was well fed

He wasn't too fat but he was a bit chubby. It can arouse the envy of the people around that were always worried whether they can eat for the day or not

"Son of a bitch! What do you think you are doing in my town ?!" From the crowd, a fat man walks towards the slave trader with a body trembling from anger

The slave trader wasn't the slightest bit bothered by the Town Chief's anger and even laugh with ridicule at his tone. "Hahaha sorry! Savage Sand Gang desperately needs cash. We need to sell tons of slaves!" The man answered as if selling people as slaves was the most natural thing to do

"Y-you! How dare you!" The fatty was angered even further and the fats on his body jiggled. If looks could kill, the slave trader would have already died several times

"Hahaha don't worry! You will be sold as a slave too. A peak Rank 1 Acolyte will fetch quite a high price!" The slave trader's words burst the Town Chief's patience and the latter immediately attacked the former

Sands rose from the ground and gathered on the fatty's hand. The town chief then holds out his hand in front of him and several bits of sands attacked the slave trader. It contained all of his anger

The Town Chief might only be the head of a small, poor, and weak town but that was enough for him to do what he wants! He has enough food for himself (while the townsmen are starving) and since he was the top in both authority and power, he can bully anyone he wants

The fatty simply has a good life compared to his citizens. How can he let himself be a slave? He won't allow his self to fall into such a lowly position

"Hmph! You are overestimating your ability!" With a wave of his hand, the slave trader made a wall of sands in front of him that easily blocked the town chief's attack. Since sand is abundant, a lot of mages here are sand type mages

Cairo's eyes trembled when he watched that exchange. He knew to himself that his control over the sand still paled a lot in comparison to the two. He yearned for the time that he will have the same power and even surpass the two

Too bad that with the current situation being like this, he is unsure of what kind of future he will have

The chief saw that he might not be a match for the slave trader and turned to look at his citizens that he did not care for before. "Help me kill them or all of you will become slaves! Being a slave will make our lives harder!" The chief shouted

It aroused the townsmen's anger and the courageous ones stepped out. Most of the townsmen are used to a hard life where killing is everywhere, it is easy to arouse their will to survive

The townsmen desperately tried their best to stay alive then you will turn them into slaves, how cruel would that be for them? Just imagine doing everything to stay alive just to be a slave one day, how could one not feel bitter?

The few that can use magic stepped out, most of them are sand type mages and more sand rose from the ground as the two sides clashed. The courageous non-mages also did their best and took out their weapons

Most of the townsmen are unwilling to become slaves but not all of them will have the courage. Cairo stayed behind the people that we're afraid and they mostly consisted of kids like him

Cairo wants to see how the situation will develop and was trying his best to think of what he can do if the townsmen were defeated

Looking at how muscular the slaves are, Cairo was pessimistic. He feels that Blood Sand Town does not have a chance of winning but when he watched the two sides clashed, the situation is not exactly like that

Sure, the townsmen are in a disadvantageous position but the slaves also need to kill as few people as possible. What's the use of conquering this town if all the people were killed?

The townsmen can attack as much as they want while the slave traders need to hold back and tried their best to only cause the 'merchandise' lose their consciousness

The town instantly turned chaotic as blood from both sides spilled on the ground. Cries of pain and anger were prevalent to the point that it was the only thing that one can hear

Cairo just watched the situation, he was terrified but is still doing his best to find a gap. The slave traders encircled around the townsmen and Cairo wants to flee as far away as possible

He doesn't like it here. He's scared that the life he wants to preserve will be gone tonight. Cairo doesn't want to die without achieving anything!

As Cairo was terrified, he just stood there in his original position. One of the slaves managed to get close to him. Cairo was about to run when he felt someone pushing him

Cairo was pushed closer to the slave and he saw that it was about to give him a punch. A single punch from that muscular man might already be enough to render him unconscious

Cairo is afraid that when he woke up, he's already a slave. Just like the usual, Cairo's blood boiled and his reaction speed increased

The youth raised his legs and kicked on the part where it will hurt a man the most. The sound of an egg cracking would be audible if only the place wasn't this noisy

Even Cairo felt his own balls tightened. It was a subconscious reaction when seeing a fellow man was kicked in the nuts

The slave immediately put his hands on his crotch and rolled on the sand in pain. Cairo bit his own tongue to remove his fears and he ran away from the man he kicked

He saw one of the townsmen looking at him in shock. Cairo immediately came to the conclusion that that was the person that pushed him to save himself

The youth was angered that he was almost punched to the face that might possibly be the reason why he will become a slave

Cairo doesn't know where the strength came from but his running speed increased until he reaches the person that pushed him to the abyss

The youth did the same thing that was done to him and pushed the man on one of the slaves. The slave immediately chopped the man's neck and another townsman lose consciousness

Cairo suddenly felt magic fluctuations and when he looked at the source, he saw that it came from the slave trader and the chief

The chief was currently spewing out hot fire from his mouth while the slave trader did the same but with a different element of water

Mages are not limited to only one element, they can use any element they want!