Chapter 43

Just before the captain shouted, the slave trader Grokakos was making his rounds, checking on the slaves.

The slaves, exposed to deplorable conditions and abuse, harbored a volcano of anger and resentment that could erupt at any moment. Normally, these were suppressed by whips and chains, but there was no guarantee they wouldn't explode at some point.

The unexpected attack by the Zoans was more than enough to trigger it.

No matter how silent they remained, the slaves would realize something was amiss in the town when they heard the horns and the sound of wooden boards being struck echoing through the streets.

To prevent the slaves from acting rashly, Grokakos tried to deter them by showing the presence of slave overseers with whips.

Accompanied by the overseers, Grokakos walked through the cages with a particularly nonchalant attitude, when a voice was thrown at him.

"Hey, what's going on?"

Grokakos was surprised to be suddenly addressed. There shouldn't be anyone who would speak to him, the master of this estate, in such a haughty manner.

Looking around to see who it was, Grokakos noticed a dwarf staring at him from inside one of the cages where the slaves were kept.

"...Dovarrin?"

It was the dwarf slave entrusted to him by a boy named Soma.

"This has nothing to do with you worms! You just need to stay quiet!"

Grokakos's anger was met with Dovarrin jingling the chains on his wrists and rubbing his beard, then saying calmly,

"Let me guess what's happening. ...Right. The Zoans must be attacking the town, haven't they?"

Grokakos furrowed his brow.

He sensed something ominous in Dovarrin's tone.

"...What are you trying to say?"

"Who knows? A great man like you should be able to figure it out, shouldn't you?"

"You worm. Do you think I won't whip the slaves I've been entrusted with?"

Grokakos laughed through his nose.

"You worms have been acting awfully big-headed since yesterday. Don't get too cocky! Even if they're entrusted to me, if I say I'm going to discipline a disrespectful slave, no one will complain, even if I get a bit rough."

However, Dovarrin in the cage didn't stop his smirking. This attitude made Gorkakos's blood boil.

"You worm! If you want the whip so badly, I'll give it to you!"

Grokakos ordered an overseer to drag Dovarrin out of the cage. Then, after chaining Dovarrin to a tree in the square, he picked up the whip that had struck the bodies of many slaves.

"How about it, worm? I'm being generous. If you crawl and lick my boots and beg for forgiveness, I might just let you off, you know?"

Though he had no intention of doing so, Grokakos pretended to be generous, trying to make Dovarrin beg for mercy. Then, by giving him a taste of the whip after giving him a glimmer of hope, he would make him feel even deeper despair and pain. Imagining the scene, Grokakos laughed sadistically and waited for Dovarrin's reaction.

However, Dovarrin's reaction was different from what Grokakos had expected.

"Trying to handle a warrior like me with your puny thing, which is as useless as your own, is just a laughing matter. At best, it might give me a good laugh and a sore stomach."

The unexpected insult left Grokakos more stunned than angry.

After a while, when he finally realized he had been insulted, Grokakos's face turned from red to dark red with rage.

"A warrior?! You, a mere slave?!"

The tip of the whip, slicing through the air, struck flesh with a loud crack.

Not only Grokakos, who had wielded the whip, but also the overseers who had been watching with lecherous grins, all gaped in shock.

"Look, it's just as useless as your puny thing, isn't it?"

The whip that Grokakos had swung was firmly grasped in Dovarrin's right hand.

The manacles that should have been on his hands had fallen to the ground at his feet.

Dovarrin pulled the whip with his thick arm, and Grokakos, who had been standing there in shock, was dragged toward Dovarrin as if he were being pulled by the whip.

Grabbing Grokakos by the collar, Dovarrin delivered a powerful right hook to his nose.

Letting out a scream like a strangled pig, blood streaming from both nostrils, Grokakos shouted,

"W-Why?! The manacles? How? Why?!"

Dovarrin spat in Grokakos's face.

The solid object mixed with the spit hit his cheek and fell to the ground. Looking down, Grokakos saw a bent wire shining with saliva.

"We dwarves are dexterous. With a single wire, we can pick locks in our sleep, you know."

Dovarrin punched Grokakos in the face again.

By then, the overseers had finally realized what was happening and tried to beat Dovarrin down with the sticks they held. However, they shrank back at a war cry from behind.

From the cage where Dovarrin had been, other dwarf slaves, having freed themselves from their manacles and chains, were emerging. They swung the wooden manacles and chains that had bound them and attacked the overseers.

"Seize the keys! Free your comrades!"

Following Dovarrin's orders, the dwarves took the keys from the fallen overseers and began to open the cages and free the other dwarf slaves.

"Come on, warriors! It's time to fight!"

The suddenly freed slaves, unsure of what to do, were anxious and confused. But when they heard Dovarrin's cry, they finally realized they were free.

"Uuuuuhhhh!!"

The former slaves let out a roar from the depths of their bellies, a mix of joy at their liberation and anger from the past.

"Ahiii!!"

Grokakos and the overseers screamed.

However, this only drew the attention of the former slaves. With indescribable roars and curses, they all attacked Grokakos and the overseers. Grokakos and the overseers would pay for the cruelty they had inflicted on the slaves.

Dovarrin, having witnessed this brutal act of revenge, walked to a cage that had yet to be opened and called out to those inside.

"Hey, you dinosaurs. We're about to cause some trouble with the humans. What will you do?"

In response to Dovarrin's words, a massive figure stood up in the cage, the heavy chains clanking.

"Free us, dwarf. I have been bored as well."

◆◇◆◇◆

"W-What's happening?!"

The captain saw flames rising from one of the grandest estates in the town and the thick black smoke billowing from it. Looking more closely, he could see a large number of people fleeing the estate, shouting.

At first, the captain thought that the residents, panicked by the news of the Zoan attack, had started a fire by accident. However, he soon realized the situation was more serious when the people coming out of the estate did not try to put out the fire but instead began to destroy the small stalls on the sides of the road as they moved through the town.

Just then, a messenger from a squad leader, who had been sent to forcibly recruit residents, arrived.

"A slave revolt?!"

The captain felt a shock as if the ground had crumbled beneath his feet.

A slave revolt on top of the worst-case scenario of a Zoan attack. The captain felt like tearing his hair out.

"If the Zoans outside respond to this, it will be a disaster! Lead a squad and suppress it quickly!"

Following the captain's order, one of the squad leaders gathered his men and descended from the town wall.

Soon, the soldiers charged into the group of rebelling slaves, shouting war cries. In an instant, screams and blood flew as many slaves were cut down.

However, the soldiers' advantage was short-lived, and soon the slaves, regaining their momentum, began to take down the soldiers one by one, a scene visible even from the town wall.

"Those cowards! What are they doing?!"

Frustrated, the captain stomped his feet. A soldier ran up the stairs of the town wall.

"Message! Message!"

The soldier, panting heavily, knelt before the captain and saluted.

"The slaves' resistance is fierce, and they cannot be easily suppressed! They are requesting reinforcements!"

The captain couldn't help but shout back.

"Are you kidding me?! What are you struggling with a mere slave revolt for?! Are you even soldiers of Holmea?!"

No matter how many there were, they were just slaves who had taken advantage of the chaos. It was unacceptable for fully armed soldiers to be outmatched by slaves armed with nothing more than fire pokers and farming tools.

However, the next words from the messenger left the captain speechless.

"The slaves have somehow obtained weapons, such as swords and spears. Unaware of this, the soldiers charged in and suffered many casualties!"

The captain had expected that the slaves might have taken weapons from the guards or soldiers who had been forcibly recruiting residents. However, from the messenger's tone, it seemed the number of weapons the slaves had was far beyond that.

The captain was confused, unable to imagine where they had obtained so many weapons.

If he had known that the slaves had bribed the guards at the East Gate to smuggle in weapons, the captain would have been so enraged that he would have gone to kill the guards himself.

"Captain! The Zoans are on the move!"

Looking back at the outside of the town, the Zoans, who had been just drumming and making noise, were now moving in unison. Kicking up dust, the Zoans were heading towards the north side of the town.

The captain harbored a faint hope that they were giving up on capturing the town and returning to the plains.

However, the Zoans, upon reaching the north side of the town, began to jump into the river one after another, trying to swim across.

Seeing this, the captain finally understood the Zoans' intention.

"Are they trying to circle around to the east side of the town?! W-Why?!"

A terrifying thought flashed through the captain's mind.

Looking back at the town, he quickly surveyed the scene of the slave revolt.

The revolt, which had started at the estate of the slave trader Grokakos, had spread by attacking other slave traders' estates, destroying nearby houses, and heading east.

Despite some of the estates they attacked being close to the West Gate, the rebelling slaves had ignored it and were heading for the East Gate.

"...! Could it be that they are not just responding to the Zoans but are already in league with them?!"

Most of the soldiers in the town were concentrated on the west side. There were probably no more than a hundred guarding the east side.

If they were attacked from both inside and outside the East Gate, it wouldn't last long.

Considering an immediate rescue of the East Gate, the captain realized that the rebelling slaves were already swarming towards it like ants to sugar.

Judging that the East Gate could not be defended, the captain decided to abandon the town.

"All units, move to the lord's residence! It was once a fortress. Even if the town falls, we can hold out there until reinforcements arrive!"

"What about the town's residents?!"

"It's impossible, give up!"

The captain cut off the residents with a shout.

"The town is doomed!"

◆◇◆◇◆

"Why did you go to the trouble of attacking the East Gate?"

Shemul tilted her head in wonder and asked Soma.

The river that ran through the center of the town made it necessary to cross it to travel between the east and west sides. This time, they had to cross the river at night, stage a diversion on the west side, and then cross the river again to attack the East Gate, which was a lot of extra work. It was a natural question to wonder why they didn't stage a diversion on the east side and attack the West Gate.

"We entered the town through the East Gate with Mr. Hopkins."

Soma's answer made Shemul think that the East Gate was easier to attack, and she was satisfied.

However, Soma's reason for attacking the East Gate was entirely different.

His purpose was to kill all the soldiers guarding the East Gate.

Even if they had been forced to cooperate by being taken hostage, if it became known that they had helped capture the town, Hopkins's position would be compromised. While he had promised to give Hopkins a substantial reward to leave this land and start anew in another country, that alone was not enough.

The interests of the collaborator must be thoroughly protected.

If not, they would lose a valuable collaborator. However, if they protected the collaborator's interests, it would not only earn their trust but also make it easier to gain new collaborators.

Protecting the collaborator's interests ultimately benefited them as well.

However, a dark feeling welled up in Soma's chest.

To capture the town, one of the gates on either the east or west side had to be opened, which also meant killing the soldiers guarding that gate.

In making the ultimate choice of which gate to attack, they had considered their own interests.

To Soma, it felt like weighing human lives on a scale and placing gold coins on the other side, a despicable act.

A sinister voice whispered in Soma's ear.

"Oh, my despicable Soma. Are you now belittling yourself, pitying yourself, and despising yourself to feel better? How ugly. How despicable. You seem to have gotten a bit carried away and forgotten your resolve, my dear Soma."

Soma turned around in terror, as if his heart had been pierced by a long needle from behind.

"What? What's wrong, Soma?"

But behind him was only Shemul.

Was the girl's voice he just heard a hallucination?

Soma thought that his guilt had manifested as a non-existent girl's voice, pointing out his weakness, but he couldn't shake off an inexplicable unease.

Soma was brought back to his senses by Shemul pointing to the sky and shouting.

"Look, Soma! Flames are rising!"

As Shemul said, black smoke was rising from near the center of the town.

Soma put the hallucination out of his mind and focused on the current situation.

"Dovarrin couldn't control everyone!"

While he had resigned himself to the fact that the slave traders, who had many enemies among the slaves, would be targeted, Soma wanted to avoid harming other residents of the town.

Therefore, he had strongly instructed Dovarrin not only to avoid attacking the residents but also to have the slaves shout loudly that the Zoans were their allies and to open the East Gate as quickly as possible to bring the Zoans into the town, in order to direct the slaves' attention away from the residents and towards the East Gate.

However, with the fire and the screams of the residents audible from a distance, Soma bitterly regretted underestimating the slaves' hatred.

"Shemul! I'm going to the East Gate too!"

"You're crazy! That's where the freed slaves are rioting. If you, a human, go there, you won't come out unscathed!"

Shemul, realizing that the riot of freed slaves was not part of Soma's plan, was hesitant to take him there.

"Still, I have to go! I need to meet up with Garam and Zugg as soon as possible."

With a face on the verge of tears from regret and anxiety, Soma pleaded, and Shemul sensed his vulnerability.

A few days ago, when Soma found a small red fruit-bearing plant on the plain, he was very curious about the various things in this world and had been observing the plant with great interest.

However, the red fruit was extremely toxic and could be fatal if eaten, so Shemul warned Soma. Soma, who had been observing the plant with his nose almost touching it, jumped back in a panic and refused to go near it, saying that it would be fine as long as he didn't eat it.

In this way, Soma was surprisingly insensitive to danger. However, this was because he was unaware of the dangers of this world or too trusting of people. When it came to obvious dangers, he was overly cautious, to the point of being timid.

So, it was unusual for him to want to go to a clearly dangerous place where freed slaves were rioting.

However, Shemul had an idea why Soma wanted to go.

It was the battle later known as the "Battle of Hognairea Hill."

Due to the use of fire to burn eight hundred enemy soldiers in that battle, Soma had suffered from severe "warrior's cold" and was feared to be mentally broken.

Perhaps Soma was extremely afraid of people dying in a fire he had caused. He might be driven by a desire to prevent this and join Garam and the others to do something about it, regardless of his own safety.

Shemul was conflicted.

Soma was essential to the Zoans' counterattack plan. It was unacceptable to put him in danger.

Shemul slumped her shoulders and sighed dramatically.

"Really, Soma is so stubborn. To get through the place where the slaves, who hate humans, are rioting and reach his comrades