Chapter 6: Light and Shadow Part 6 – translated by Azakura
One hundred gold? Everyone in the room was completely shocked. One by one, they turned to face the one who had shouted. Silvester was no exception. He stared straight at that person and was pleasantly surprised as he shouted, “Red Cloak!”
An extremely bold red cloak appeared at the door. The overly dramatic entrance made everyone in the room momentarily confused about what had happened. Only the host of the auction, the fatty, was slightly alarmed by the situation because he was well acquainted with any and all people who would come to purchase slaves from him. Yet he did not know the fellow wearing the red cloak.
The fatty swept through the room in a circle. There were indeed a few n.o.ble families who were absent from the scene, some of them being families that he definitely could not afford to offend. What if he was someone employed by one of those families? He did not dare to provoke the other party even in the slightest, so he continued to speak in a fairly respectful tone.
“Might I ask if you have your invitation, sir?”
Red Cloak stretched out his hand and pulled open the ribbon holding his cloak closed, allowing his cloak to slip off and fall to the floor. His true colors were thus revealed.
He had a tall and slender figure with long legs and a thin waist. His bodily proportions, contrary to what one would expect, resembled those of a woman except that there were no particularly distinct curves around the chest area, so it very well could have been either a flat-chested woman or a man with some pectoral muscles. However, because of his oval face and features that were smaller and more delicate than those of an average male, an overwhelming majority would probably guess that the person before them was a woman… if not for that pair of eyes.
His pair of black eyes which was burning with a fearful murderous spirit did not resemble the eyes of a woman in the least. On the contrary, they were more akin to those of a veteran army general who had murdered countless men. Once one had met those eyes; size, body proportions, oval face, and delicate facial features were entirely forgotten. That pair of black eyes was sufficient to make people think that he was male.
“Breaking the law by selling slaves in private and even forcefully arresting some of the common folk to sell off, have you no conscience, city lord?”
When he was done speaking in an icy cold tone, the color of everyone’s faces had changed, and the fatty… no, he should be addressed as the city lord now. His face was as white as a sheet. He tried to defend himself as vigorously as he could, “W-Who are you? Don’t try to influence others with your venomous slander! We’re only gathered here to exchange the slaves we already own amongst each other!”
The slaves immediately caused a commotion, one after another refuting the city lord’s words.
“Of course not!”
“We were kidnapped and brought here!”
“We are not slaves!”
The city lord promptly exclaimed, “There are many aristocrats present in this room, and I am even the lord of this city. Are you going to believe what we say, or would you actually go so far as to listen to the words of those lowly peons?”
Red Cloak simply paid no attention to him. He pointed towards Silvester and said, “You, tell us what has happened thus far.”
Upon witnessing this situation, astonishment flashed through Cale’s mind. He had a rough idea of what was going on so his eyes no longer held any animosity when he looked at Silvester. Instead, there was a trace of amus.e.m.e.nt in his expression… An undercover agent this useless is truly very rarely seen.
Silvester spoke, br.i.m.m.i.n.g with confidence, “They captured people who were not willing to be sold off as slaves for this auction!”
The look on the city lord’s face was so bad that it could not possibly become any worse. However, he still tried hard to squeeze out a smile as he said, “That slave is actually very disobedient which is why his owner wanted to bring him here to exchange for a slightly more obedient one—”
“He is one of mine,” Red Cloak coldly interrupted him mid-sentence, “But he was captured by the likes of you, making me search for him for two whole days!”
The city lord was shocked. He growled, “So this was all just a blatant attempt to take a slave home for free!”
Red Cloak ignored the accusation and instead turned to face Silvester. He said in a commanding tone, “Take out your insignia for them to see!”
Insignia? Silvester stared blankly, but since he only had a single insignia on him, he fished it out from an inner pocket in his clothes at once, and that was the imperial bard’s white rose insignia!
Everyone was dumbstruck and could only stare at that rose insignia. For a moment, n.o.body dared to believe that the Holy King’s white rose insignia would actually appear in a place like this.
The city lord was standing right beside Silvester, so he could see it the clearest. The engravings on the rose insignia were so exquisite and graceful that it looked nothing like a fake.
Come to think of it, when I was captured earlier, I would have been able to free myself if I had just taken out this insignia, right? As he watched the emotions in the room turn from astonishment to dread, Silvester suddenly felt that he might be a little stupid.
At this point, the city lord feared that it was impossible to plead his innocence any longer. With shifty eyes, he saw the crowd on the floor looking around in all directions, trying to find an exit, as if they wanted to run away. After all, if any of them managed to escape, no one would be in power to convict them of any crimes. In the end, only the city lord himself had nowhere to run!
The city lord turned to face the city patrol captain and shouted, “If the Holy King hears of this, we are all dead! He’s only one person, so killing him off will solve the problem! Patrol team, attack!”
If the man was killed, everyone present would have no choice but to help conceal the crime. The city lord thought he had the perfect plan— if they were to survive, they would survive together. If they were going down, they were going to go down together.
Purchasing slaves was one thing. Watching without acting when one of the Holy King’s men was killed was another thing altogether. As long as the two people involved with the insignia died, no one in the room would be free of guilt!
The patrol captain had his mouth agape and was at his wit’s end. Helping capture people and pa.s.sing them off as slaves to sell did give him a good commission, so he was more than happy to do that. However, he definitely did not have the guts to actually kill the holder of a white rose insignia.
“I said attack!” The city lord’s mouth distorted from his rage. He furiously berated the patrol captain, “If they get away from here, we won’t be able to live any longer! A death sentence for all!”
Death sentence… Upon hearing those two words, the patrol captain immediately mustered up his courage. If I kill him, I will probably die. If I don’t kill him, I also have to die… Might as well risk my life!
The patrol captain turned to bellow at his subordinates, “Hear that?! Aren’t you going to attack? If each person lands a strike, no one would be able to escape!”
At this point, Cale promptly rushed towards Silvester and knocked him off the stage. He then shouted to the slaves, “Quickly, protect the two of them! If they are to die, we will definitely be silenced as well!”
Evidently, the slaves were very obedient towards Cale. Once they heard him speak, every one of them gathered around desperately to obstruct Silvester from view. However, as Red Cloak was farther away and the city patrol had long since charged over toward him, everyone could only helplessly watch as sword after sword struck in Red Cloak’s direction.
Cale was so worried that he had nearly stopped breathing, but when he turned to look, he noticed Silvester was unexpectedly not worried in the least bit and was wearing an excited expression on his face instead, as if he was looking forward to something that was about to happen… While Cale’s entire mind was racing, he could still understand one thing; the man who was wearing a red cloak was perhaps not that easy to do away with.
Hurry up! Hurry up and charge over! Red Cloak will beat you all into a painful pulp without a doubt! Silvester was so happy that the city patrol guards were about to be faced with misfortune that he nearly opened his mouth to cheer!
A sword was about to cut the top of Red Cloak’s head. However, he did not even spare it a glance and extended his hand to grab the guard’s sword hand. He then proceeded to use his other hand to punch the guard’s stomach. It was so fast that the punch was practically invisible, and the other party had already flown back before anyone noticed.
Although there were tens of opponents who were each armed with a sword, Red Cloak looked as if he did not mind it at all. If someone charged at him, he delivered a fist right back and sent them flying away battered, as if doing so was as relaxing as drinking a sip of water.
As Cale watched this, he felt as if his eyeb.a.l.l.s were about to pop out. What kind of strength is this?
“What…”
Cale glanced sideways toward Silvester. He more or less understood what Silvester was going to say. What tremendous skill, what a miraculous move, what an unimaginable amount of strength, or something along these lines, right?
“What a boring fighting style!” Silvester said in an extremely disappointed manner.
He thought that he would be able to see Red Cloak’s giant strength and G.o.dly powers. With his blade quick as lightning, each slash making ‘shua shua shua’ sounds and sending people flying, and finally an explosion of battle aura so strong that it would shake the room and collapse the entire building… But in the end, Red Cloak did not care for the pride of the guards and settled the fight with his fists, and there was not even any trick to it. He simply grabbed the sword hand and then sent his enemy flying with a punch. It was boring to the extreme.
“Boring?” Cale found it hard to believe as he said, “Have you got it wrong? His fighting style is simple and effective. It’s basically a killing technique!”
“Killing technique?” Silvester asked curiously.
Cale nodded and said, “If there were weapons in his hands, and he struck with a weapon instead of his fists, every strike by that weapon would be a life lost! That person has to be part of the military, right?”
Of course! And he also holds the highest rank in the entire military! Red Cloak is the Warrior Queen who led an army to defeat the demon race after all!
Being the only one who knew Red Cloak’s true ident.i.ty, Silvester felt an endless amount of pride in his heart. He had long forgotten that Red Cloak never even admitted to being the Warrior Queen.
By the time Red Cloak sent the fifth or sixth guard flying— and this was only over a span of a few seconds— the other guards no longer dared to charge forward. Even the guards attacking the slaves had stopped, as they feared that an a.s.sault on any of the slaves would provoke the terrifying guy who had settled each guard with a single punch.
While everyone was silently staring at Red Cloak, and no one dared budge an inch, Red Cloak shouted a line that no one expected.
“Bard, let’s go!”
Silvester stared blankly at him. We’re going now? But how can that be so? I was still looking forward to…
Red Cloak looked furious when he charged over to face the city lord directly and shouted, “I am the Warrior Queen! How audacious of you, actually daring to try and lay a finger on me?”
Upon hearing this, the city lord was so scared that he fell to his knees and cried out, “You… No, Milady, you’re the Warrior Queen? The brilliantly famed Warrior Queen who warded off the demon race?”
Red Cloak… No, she should be addressed as the Warrior Queen. She laughed coldly and said, “That’s me!”
The city lord shrieked, “I went so far as to launch an attack on the Warrior Queen… My crime can only be paid with ten thousand deaths!” He then fainted and fell to the floor.
The Warrior Queen disdained watching the city lord, so she subsequently turned to face Silvester. The expression on her face was much gentler now, and she even changed to a warm tone when speaking.
“Silvester, it’s all thanks to you risking your life to return as an undercover spy that we are able to arrest him on the spot. Otherwise, the city lord may have very well escaped.”
“It was no big deal!” Silvester smiled humbly and said in an elegant manner unmatched by anyone else, “Don’t mention it, it’s such a small matter. If it’s a request from the Warrior Queen, I’d brave through the burning flames and rushing currents. I, Silvester, will absolutely never decline any…
“Aaaaaah! Ouch ouch ouuuccchhh!”
When Silvester had come back to his senses, Red Cloak retracted her two fingers. From her expression and stance, she looked as if she had done nothing at all, as if she hadn’t just pinched someone’s cheek.
“Why did you pinch me?” Silvester felt so extremely aggrieved that two tears fell from his eyes, and his cheek felt as if it would drop off.
“It’s time to go. Someone will come to clear up this mess later.” Of course, Red Cloak would not speak of the actual reason, that his expression made her want to hit him. She simply shot a glance at him and said, “You can stay here if you want to.”
“N-no! I’m coming with you!” Silvester spoke hurriedly. He was truly afraid that Red Cloak would abandon him and leave. He really did not know how many years it would take to find her again.
Oh yeah! Silvester turned his head to face Cale. No matter how much he thought, he could not figure out what to say to the other party. In the end, he simply said, “Goodbye Cale, see you around!”
Cale stared at Silvester. He then abruptly turned around and ran, slipping away faster than Red Cloak and Silvester.
At this moment, something that sounded like uniform footsteps came from the outside. It did not resemble the footsteps of a bunch of common folk at all.
Red Cloak fished Silvester up in one swoop and then jumped out the window to escape in a flash.
At this point, the remaining people in the room regained their senses and wanted to run away as well, but it was too late for them. The front door was kicked down and…
“The law enforcement division is here to handle this case. No one is allowed to move, and anyone who dares to run away will be killed without question!”