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The Uncle and the Slave Merchant (part 3)
Several days later, thanks to the slave merchant, I was casually looking into the cage at Jinwen, whose back was turned to me.
“Hewang! What did you come here for? Bendaye doesn’t want to see you!”
“I also didn’t feel like coming to see you, this kind of person without any determination.”
“Th-then just get out, now!”
Although he said that, his little tail was hanging down sadly.
I casually pulled out a chair to sit on. The slave merchant had already been sent out to wait.
“So? Why did you leave without saying goodbye?”
I already knew the answer to the question, but Jinwen firmly tossed back his head:
“That has nothing to do with you!”
“There is a relationship.”
I said.
“Because those clothes are something I made for a friend.”
“Ben-bendaye isn’t your friend! Leave me alone!”
“Because you lost in battle you became a slave. Who taught you this system of beliefs? Is it because you’re a dog type that you can easily become someone’s lackey[1]?”
“Because I’m weak! Weak people should obey the strong. Isn’t that obvious? Bendaye doesn’t want to see you again!”
I looked at Little Jinwen’s back without saying a word.
His tail was sadly swinging back and forth over a small area, and his ears were drooped dispirited and downcast on his head.
So what you’re saying is that you don’t want to obey other people, no?
But losing is losing. Because your mistake made your entire race suffer the slaughter of the Expedition Regiment. In the face of such absolute strength disparity, you acknowledged your own weakness and chose to surrender. The first time you saw me, you said something like, “Are you a member of the Expedition Regiment?”
Accepting the system of values of humans, is like putting the reins on a wild horse. You turn into a domesticated animal of humans.
But.
But if it’s like that.
Little Jinwen.
“Why are you crying then?”
I said nonchalantly.
“Huwang! Bendaye, bendaye isn’t crying!”
While rubbing at his tears, he spoke in an unwilling voice.
Even if I couldn’t directly see his expression, I could imagine Little Jinwen’s crying appearance.
I used my index finger to likely poke Jinwen’s head.
“It’s fine. If you lose, then you just have to win next time.”
Jinwen turned around, his tears ceaselessly falling down. His two little hands tightly grabbed onto my index finger, burying his face in my finger. It was a velvet-soft feeling.
“But, but……”
Jinwen suddenly froze.
“Uncle, I hear something.”
“What do you hear?”
“The voices of Expedition Regiment members.”
“What are they saying?”
“They’re saying that they’re going to burn down the residential area tonight.”
“Really?”
“No, wait a sec……”
Little Jinwen grabbed his head as he crouched down. Two suspicious people, one tall and one short, were masked by cloaks as they sneakily approached from the door.
“I heard it!! Their true target is the inn. Uncle, quickly go back and tell Elan jiejie and the others that they should escape!”
Jinwen bore a flustered expression.
It could be said that his fear of the Expedition Regiment was a deep-rooted problem.
Okay, now it was up to me to resolve it.
“You did very well, Jinwen. Thanks to you, I became aware of this matter. You saw through the false information from members of the Expedition Regiment. You have become stronger. Now, just watch, okay?”
I wouldn’t just so easily let go of this opportunity. I quietly pulled apart the iron bar of the cage and created a gap.
“What happens next is your doing. For people who break the law, I have no tolerance for them.”
“But, that is an Expedition Regiment Member……”
“You only have to listen well. No matter if it’s an Expedition Regiment Member or anyone else, I can beat them all.”
Stepping on the brick red tiles made a guchiguchi sound. The left over snow remaining in the cracks had already frozen into ice.
“How is it going, do you hear anything?”
I asked Little Jinwen, who was perched on my shoulder.
“Number one is on the third floor spreading flammable substances and will be finished soon.”
“Got it.”
I jumped down from the fifth floor, and grabbed onto the guardrail of the third floor and flipped over it, catching the enemy unprepared. The short expedition regiment member hurried tried to attack, but was tripped up by the cloak and fell to the ground. Struggling up, the Expedition Regiment Member launched a punch, but I easily dodged it. The Expedition Regiment member fell onto the ground, motionless, having exhausted their abilities to its limits.
“Careful, Uncle! From the front!”
With a bang, a whole appeared in the ceiling from the top floor, and the tall Expedition Regiment member dropped down from the sky. Immediately, I slid from where I was standing to dodge the head-on sword strike. I then took advantage of the opponent’s unsteady footing and used a hand knife chop to rap their head and knock them over.
“Your plan has been foiled, pack up and go home!”
I crossed my hands over my chest, looking down on the two people lying on the ground.
“No doubt it’s Mast…….no doubt it’s Lord Masked Hero, that name is not for show!”
“But how could you see through our plan?”
The short person sent out the question.
“Of course it’s because of the work of the person standing on my shoulder.”
Jinwen proudly stuck out his chest.
“That’s right, your evil plan was seen through by bendaye!”
“Dammit, just you wait!”
The two people had expressions like they suddenly realized something and then escaped promptly.
I jumped back onto the roof, and took of the scarf to show my face.
“It’s our victory, Little Jinwen.”
“That’s right, bendaye did it!”
The slave merchant was angrily shouting something at us from the floor below.
“How is it, do you want to go back?”
“I don’t want to go back. Bendaye is not a slave anymore.”
Little Jinwen, breaking off his collar,grabbed onto the fringe of my cloak as he smiled happily.
Little Elan and Carolina were waiting for us, waving on the floor below.
Everything is fine.
The night before, I had gone alone to see the slave merchant, agreeing to meet at a distant place.
“How much is the price for that Little Person race and Beast Race hybrid slave?”
“Fifteen gold coins. That’s top quality goods.”
If I were to compare that price with my original world, ten gold coins is almost 1,670,000 yuan.[2]
I came to this world two years ago, and I’ve earned almost twice that amount. A one-time loss of half of my wealth is not that big of a deal to me, but right now, I don’t have that much money on me.
“But his personality is very bad, so there’s no one buying him. If he runs away again, you will never get a cent of my money.”
“Then what’s your price.”
“Ten gold coins, no higher.”
“……fine. I’ll let you off this time. Do you want the goods tonight?”
“No, you need to accompany me in a performance.”
“What is that, depending on the circumstances I need to charge an additional fee.”
“In summary, it’s to let my two companions play the bad guys, and let Little Jinwen play the hero. I won’t skimp on paying you.”
“Okay.”
Like that it was agreed on. Although I lost a lot of money, I didn’t’ really care about that.
If I could us money to buy something that money couldn’t buy, as far as I was concerned, it was quite the bargain.
I gazed at the broad sky.
The events of this time had been resolved perfectly.
While I was thinking this, I felt my vision go black.
A momentary image had turned blurry, afterwards, I became aware of a strong attack at my chest.
I spewed out a mouthful of blood, and fell down from upstairs.
Little Jinwen was forcefully blown away.
I tried my hardest to catch the person who attacked me, but I could only see a fuzzy afterimage.
There was an incomparably clear voice by mear, like there was someone whispering into my ear:
——I found you.
——Hero Leon.
[1] The joke is here that 走狗 contains the word for dog. It literally means “running dog”, which is a lackey.
[2] For comparison, that’s $240,000 USD.
Thank you!!!!
Damn it, I was at least hoping that the MC wasn’t going to buy a slave like so many others do in these reincarnate into a different world stories. Even if you do so to free, if you buy, you are contributing to a horrible system.
It would have been much more morale to simply kill the slave trader, free his captives, and walk off with the small one. Cheaper too.