I can’t help but grunt annoyedly. “Eyes ahead if you want to keep them.” I don’t like them staring at her… but I bought the gear for her, fully aware that it was going to happen sooner or later. Well, they can stare at her from a distance if they really want. I won’t create a scene just for this.
When a man’s partner begins turning lots of heads while fully knowing that she is completely loyal to him and him only is a great ego booster for sure.
“… Yes!” He replies and instantly snaps her head away.
“Calm down, Quinlan…” Ayame whispers worriedly while holding onto the gauntlet of my armor that has the sealed saber in it. She isn’t worried that I would get in trouble, she just doesn’t want me to pounce on the innocent kid.
He would have to do more than this to actually make me kill him… This gorgeous girl thinks I’m some cruel brute it seems. “Don’t worry about it.” I calm her nerves.
“Hey! Anna, don’t you dare-!” A man begins arguing with his female companion.
“Shut up, you better leave the two of us alone, scumbags!” She shuts him down with great fury, then glances at the rest of her team, seemingly consisting of 2 girls and 4 boys, all with their pitchforks and sickles. These, too, are young farmers who wish to turn their lives around like the one who eyed Blossom.
It’s good to dream big, but most of these people always end up dying unceremoniously. Even a level one monster poses an existential threat to them, and a single mistake tends to mean the end of the road. At least they had the brains to form a big enough group. With so many numbers they can just overwhelm the first floor, as each chamber consists of only one monster. The boss, on the other hand…
Good luck. I expect half of them to drop dead minimum. Why on earth do they bring sandals to a boss fight…?
“I agree! You can’t just abandon us like this!” Another male grunts with evident frustration. “We had a deal!”
Instead of responding verbally, the peasant named Anna ignored the men, grabbed onto the hand of the other woman, and began rushing towards us with great panic while dragging her confused teammate along. “Come, Beatrice! We have to try our luck or we are finished for good!”
What a strange development. I can’t help but be a bit intrigued. The first few floors are boring now for a strong guy like me, so a bit of drama is welcome to liven up the wait to get to the boss’s room.
Once they reach us, the two girls observe us- mostly the one named Anna- and their eyes settle on me after a short while. I’m still in my Assassin’s Creed style badass armor, with my hood and everything, so I must be a rather unsettling sight to these farmhands. My pitch-black saber that has an extremely menacing look probably doesn’t help much either.
Anna gulps nervously, then bows by ninety degrees towards me specifically. Looks like they decided that I’m the leader of this party. “Please help us!” Beatrice looks at the woman for a second before replicating her exact motions. “Please help us!”
Huh?
Do I look like some agent of justice to these girls? I’m in my murder machine getup.
The pair appears to be almost identical, most likely being twins if I had to guess. They are teens, likely around 15-16 years old, both having shoulder-long brunette hair, brown eyes and a few freckles here and there.
Seeing the development their four male teammates also leave the queue and walk towards us. Their gazes are uncertain, most certainly because they are afraid of us. If we weren’t looking to be so threatening I can tell that they would’ve dragged the pair back already.
“What’s going on?” I inquire nonchalantly. I don’t really care enough to go out of my way to help these twins, whatever their issue may be. I have better things to do.
“… We beg you, please protect us against these men!
Our father had sold us to their village gang, and we have to make enough money in the labyrinth to meet the 50 bronze coin quota they set out for us to reach every day… or…” Anna began sobbing, her next words coming out with great emotional pain; “they’ll force us to ‘earn our keep’ while working at their brothel!” After which Beatrice began tearing up again, creating a very pitiful image.
“Aren’t you too young to even work as such?” Ayame inquired in shock.
You are way too pure still, my samurai. No one will care if they are illegal workers in this rotten place. Lucille quickly informed the oriental woman for me, “a lot of girls work in similar circumstances, often from a much younger age than these two.”
Ayame’s features contort from sheer disgust. I guess someone like a duke is way too important to be faced by such facts. They just treat their citizens like numbers on a paper. If a couple thousand girls get sold into such a life, then so be it. In the grand scheme of things nothing changes for the duke. Though, I might be wrong.
Maybe her family really was clueless about the way the criminal side of the world works.
“That’s right… Our friend had a similar fate when she was much younger… She isn’t alive any longer…” Beatrice whispered amid her sobs.
“So why don’t you just go clear the boss room and start again? With all six of you, you should be able to do it. A few runs a day and you’re good.” I state, though I already know the answer. It was more of a probing question. Plus, what I said is entirely false. They would die well before they finish a few runs, let alone do that every day.
“They charge for their assistance… We will barely make 5 bronze coins with each run… And we are civilians, not fighters… We hate fighting!
What’s more, I just know that even if we were about to be freed from the debt hanging above our heads, they would act against us in the end, so that we get injured, become unable to fight, and get sent to the brothel anyways!” Anna shouts with a voice full of spite as she gets a bit of liveliness back into her body by the end.
“I see. That’s very sad to hear, but did you really glance at me, and thought, ‘yeah, this guy’s such a loser that his heart will melt away after hearing our tragic story. He is our dashing prince who will save us from the bad guys!’ Do I seriously look that soft to you?” I ask with a mix of annoyance and amusement.
Both bit into their lips in desperation- and frustration. “We came to you because we saw your companions…! If you save us we will work for you in whatever capacity you need, as long as you let us keep our chastity!”
“Beatrice! Anna! Get back here right now!” A guy shouts angrily, pitchfork aimed right at their backs.
“We won’t ask again!”
“Your father had signed the contract! That’s just how it is. You gotta deal with it.”