Chapter 43.2

“stop if you don’t want to get stabbed by a tan slave while you sleep well at night.”

the man clasped the shrieking merchant’s shoulder and slammed him on the wall.

“what! who’s the owner of this slave?” he demanded.

perhaps because of the man’s ferocious spirit, or because of the merchant’s behavior of torturing slaves so early in the morning, people couldn’t easily intervene.

“you won’t see it coming, you know. tan’s grudge runs deep.”

the man overpowered the merchant in an instant and tapped his bald head. the merchant, struggling to get out of his grip, started screaming.

“what are you doing? catch him, guards! guards!”

but no one came forward to help. as the kingdom didn’t have any security forces, it seemed to be a trend to protect one’s own life on your own. of course, at times it would get too bloody for anyone to see.

“soldier! call soldiers! i’ll give a reward for bringing them in…!”

in the end, passers-by turned away and left the alley only after the merchant offered money. however, when the slow-moving merchant soldiers finally arrived at the alley, the man and i, as well as the fallen slave had already disappeared.

* * *

“gu… gu… thank you…! thank you so much!”

the slave man, who had his head stuck to the ground, showed tears of gratitude as he thanked us. i scratched the back of my head because i was embarrassed as i didn’t really do anything for him.

“what? i didn’t do anything.”

“didn’t you use your combat slave to save me? i will never forget this grace!”

i blinked slowly at his words. it turned out that shamua had a strange system called ‘slave taking’.

‘slave taking’ was a system in which a person who won a one-on-one duel could take a slave from the losing party.

the type of weapon used in such duels weren’t restricted, as it is, it was possible to use combat slaves instead.

the aristocratic society of slaves was so small that it seemed not to be a prevalent system since there were many things to consider, but anyway, thanks to that, i was able to safely and legally save a man’s life.

“well, would you really not mind releasing me? you don’t want to get paid?”

thinking he’d have to serve me instead of the merchant, he stammered and touched his neck in disbelief when i released his leash.

“yes. as you can see, i have a lot of people with me,” i said.

two was already too many. i didn’t have the money to feed another.

“oh, you already have great slaves,” he nodded as he saw adrian and the nameless slave.

“my name is luke. if you happen to visit the eastern coastal village, alancas, please come visit me.”

the man who introduced himself as luke searched his pocket and even took out his business card. i checked his card, whose edges were all worn out and my eyes widened with shock.

“you have a name?”

“yes. i wasn’t originally a slave… i was in such a position because i couldn’t pay back the debt that accumulated due to my business failure.”

luke explained his situation briefly, then bowed politely as he got up. then, he bowed to the slave standing behind me.

“thank you for saving me.”

“i think i’ve done enough for my master.”

luke smiled kindly and offered something to him, even though he had a demeaning attitude.

“still, i’d like to thank you for saving my life.”

“a slave who knows manners…” he said with hanging words, “then a master who feels sorry for slavery, too. i see a lot of strange things these days.”

“there are days like this in life, right?”

he frowned at luke’s words, but didn’t reject what he gave.

originally, slaves couldn’t own anything, so i had to take that item but also didn’t want to touch what he got from luke in return.

i guess that was the cause of the trouble.

“…hmmm.”

waking up from a sound sleep the next day, i found a cold sofa as if no one had slept on it the night before and scratched my cheek.

luke’s face smiling sadly came to mind. to hit a person in the back so casually, i wondered if he became a slave not because his business failed, but because of fraud.

i didn’t know that what luke gave to the nameless slave was a tool that destroyed the location tracker.

today was the day to return him… the man i should be returning has run away.

bang! bang! bang!

“hey, lady! are you in there?!”

bang! bang! bang!

the harsh knocking of the slave trader who came to visit me hit the back of my ear.