Chapter 19

Trigger warning: implied sexual slavery, implied torture

Please proceed with caution!

“It’s darkest under the lamp, huh?1”

“Even though we’ve been passing through here on a daily basis, we hadn’t noticed at all.”

Pyo-ro-ro-ro…

The cry of a mountain bird. At that moment, Lion and Theo were in the village at the foot of the mountain, the place where Lion met Theo and Emma for the first time. All the villagers had fled the area, and it was deserted except for Lion and Theo. The two of them were hiding in the shadows of a tattered old barn and stealing glances towards the entrance of a house. Since the village was a little removed from the main mountain road that led to the border, people rarely passed through it without a specific purpose.

The entrance in question was the wooden door of that house, the one that Orthros showed an abnormal interest in when Lion first arrived at the village.

I did notice that Orthros was snooping around that area, but to think that someone is really inside the house…

The two-headed black dog restlessly sniffed around the ground in front of the wooden door and then shook its tail and looked in the direction Lion was hiding in, as if to say: ‘This is the place!’ Afterwards, Orthros cheerfully tippy-tapped back to its owner and kept rubbing its two heads against Lion, asking to be praised.

“There, there, good job! But if you noticed that there were people inside from the start, you should have just told me that,you dummy!”

Although there were summoning beasts that could talk, Orthros couldn’t speak. Moreover, even if it had known from the start that people were being held there, Lion would probably just have gotten confused. He vigorously petted the two big heads, mussing up Orthros’ fur.

“The kidnapped girls are likely inside that house, but…what should we do, Mister Lion? Should we sneak in and make sure?”

”

”

“No, there are probably people guarding them in there too, so it’s better to tell the garrison guards about it.”

“The men at the garrison are busy dealing with all the harm the demons have been causing, so they won’t take us seriously. We don’t even have any proof.”

On his third day staying in Gironde, Lion decided to take on Theo and Emma’s commision–to search for the missing girls–and immediately made a suggestion. He told them that he might be able to follow the scent of Emma’s missing friend. Among summoning beasts, there were even dog type ones, and their sense of smell was tens of thousands of times stronger than that of a human, so they were well suited for searches. Orthros was perfectly qualified for the job.

Emma carried a hand-knitted plushie that her missing friend had given her. From this, they made Orthros learn her scent, then released the beast and the two-headed dog immediately broke into a run leading them to the uninhabited village at the bottom of the mountain. Emma wanted to follow Orthros, but they persuaded her to stay behind in Gironde.

And so, at present, Lion was quietly whispering to Theo in the shadows of the barn.

“If the kidnapped girls are being held inside that house, they have to supply them with food and water, so they must come into contact with someone from the outside at some point. Let’s stay and watch for a while longer. There’s only two of us, so going inside is dangerous.”

“But, Mister Lion, you’re a summoner, right? And summoning beasts are amazing, right? Can’t you just go ‘bam!’ and do a summoning and then beat up the guards and stuff?”

“…With my abilities, I can only summon one beast a day. Since I’ve already summoned Orthros, I can’t summon any other beasts.”

“Huh, really? I had no idea! But, that black dog also looks pretty strong, so looking around a little should be…”

Theo lived a life completely unrelated to fighting,so he wasn’t really grasping reality. If Orthros got separated from Lion, Lion would end up virtually defenseless. Also, if Lion was injured and fell unconscious, his summoning beast would vanish. His abilities were limited in that aspect as well, and it was something Lion lamented over, too.

“Either way, let’s report it to the garrison at least once. And let’s look for people from the village who could help us out, too.”

“I see, so it’s a no-no after all… Got it. Let’s just try and go to the garrison as is, then?”

However, the garrison, located at the foot of the mountain, did exactly as Theo had predicted. They told them that, because of the damages caused by demons, there were too many reports of missing persons, and they couldn’t do anything when there wasn’t even proof of a possibility that the girls had been abducted by a criminal organization to begin with.

Trudgingly, they returned to Gironde. It seemed that Theo and Emma’s parents were managing the inn for the day.

“Brother! Why didn’t you save her?! With Mister Lion with you, couldn’t you have done something using summoning beasts?!”

“No, they probably had guards reinforcing the place from every direction, so…”

When they conveyed to her the outcome of that day, Emma cried out in indignation, both Lion and Theo flinched in response.

“I’m sure that the ex-hero administrator…Raphael Guerlain, was it?…also put up guards there. If just the three of us march in there, we’lll only get hurt. If the garrison won’t help us, I think we should get as many people as possible with us at least.”

Lion desperately tried to get this through to Emma. While the voltage of Emma’s anger didn’t lower at all, she still went to talk to her friends and acquaintances, even though it was already night. However, apparently everyone had their hands full dealing with their own families, and they weren’t in a situation that allowed them to lend them a hand. Lion met up with the siblings, insisting that they shouldn’t give up and should keep asking for help.

Despite that, early in the morning, Emma disappeared.

“Argh! She definitely went into that house! She’s the kind to act without considering the consequences, she’s always been like that!”

Theo summed up the situation for their parents, and after talking to them, he leapt outside. Having no other choice, Lion followed after Theo, too. If the ex-hero Raphael was involved in these kidnappings, he was sure to have planned out his crimes with suitable caution. If a single village girl went in to save the girls, it was obvious that she too, would be captured.

Lion hadn’t realized that an ordinary person who didn’t know anything about fighting could behave so recklessly.

When he descended down the mountain path, looking up at the morning sun, Lion was panting heavily and a thin layer of sweat covered his forehead, despite being enveloped in the chill, so abnormal for this time of year.

He summoned Orthros, and they found their way all the way to the village at the foot of the mountain, finally arriving nearby that one house. It was unbelievably quiet, and it didn’t look like there were abducted people confined inside at all. However, when Orthros approached the house, it began to growl. That meant that there were hostile people inside.

“What do we do, Mister Lion? They might have already caught Emma… I’ll go take a look, so could you please act as my back up?”

When Theo quickly approached the house, Lion could hear the spiritless cry of a bird.

Pyo-ro-ro-ro…

He had definitely heard it before.

Just where did I hear it? This bird’s cry …when I was a child, in Mauser…

It was during his studies to become a summoner, when he was learning to recognize different demons’ special traits. Thinking about it, he was certain that there was a warning bird that was responsible for letting its owner know when suspicious people got near.

“Stop, Theo! They already know about us!”

At that moment, a shadowy figure suddenly approached Theo from the shadow of a tree. Theo let out a muffled ‘Gah!’ and his body crumpled to the ground.

“Orthros!”

When Lion reflexively called out to it, the summoning beast that was sniffing around the house rushed over with terrific speed and bit the shadowy figure that had attacked Theo. Orthros didn’t have any elemental powers, so it didn’t possess any special attack magic. However, it was very agile and its direct attacks were very powerful. The strength of its jaw was especially formidable, and once Orthros caught its prey, it wouldn’t let go.

“Gaaaah!”

With a loud scream, the shadow was easily dragged down onto the ground. Three men jumped out of the tree’s shadow after that and headed towards Lion, running furiously. Orthros reacted and bit the arms and legs of the three people, protecting its owner. No one was able to lay their hands on Lion.

However…

“Stop that summoning beast! Or I’ll kill your friend!!”

One of the men held up a knife to Theo’s neck, who was still unconscious. The way he was holding it showed that he was, without a doubt, a man used to killing people. If only Lion were able to summon more summoning beasts simultaneously, he would be able to suppress him. But Lion couldn’t do that.

Sensing Lion’s hesitation, the smart two-headed beast stopped attacking. It spotted a shadow approaching its owner, so Orthros rushed over, but, before it could reach Lion, the shadow struck Lion mercilessly.

There was a thump, and fireworks burst before Lion’s eyes. Then, he felt a terrible heat at the back of his neck, and everything went black… His consciousness was swallowed by darkness.

“Hey! Wake up!”

Lion’s back shook from a dull impact. When he opened his eyes, splintered wooden floor boards came into view. His head hurt as well as his shoulders. Also, he was cold. His hands had been bound behind his back, and he had been thrown into a dim room.

When he turned to look towards his back, twisting uncomfortably, a tall, muscular man was sitting there. He was the one who had kicked Lion on the back.

“Boss said that he has some business with you.”

A sloppy smirk gracing his face, the man grabbed Lion’s restrained arms and forced him to get up. Lion staggered upright and quickly surveyed the room.

“Theo!”

Not too far away, Theo was lying down on the floor, his hands bound behind his back the same way Lion’s were. His chest was rising and falling minutely, so he was probably just unconscious. However, there was blood on his forehead. Lion immediately stepped forward to check if he was alright, but he was pulled back by the muscular man.

And then he noticed-

There were several more people inside the dark room. There were three small-framed individuals on top of a bed, and there were three more in the corner of the room as well…All of them, gagged and bound, were young girls. One of the girls in the corner was thrashing about wildly.

It was Emma!

Her hair was tousled, but her clothes weren’t too dishevelled. She opened her green eyes wide, and was staring at Theo and Lion.

I’m so relieved… it doesn’t look like she’s injured.

“We’re going to discipline you girls later, so stay put! Hey, you’re going this way.”

Dragged along, Lion was forced to leave the room.

“Since they requested virgins this time, I can’t put my hands on them at all, huh…Tsk, that’s no fun.” the muscular man grumbled.

Apparently they had experience with selling abducted girls as slaves in the past.

Since the previous room was underground, Lion had to walk up the stairs before being dragged along to a spacious room. All of the windows were covered by curtains, and the room was only faintly illuminated by the light. There was one bed. Tables and sofas chaotically cluttered the room and, on top of the table, there was some half-eaten meat and a bottle of alcohol.

There were five muscular men and one fat one sitting down.

“I brought him.”

Lion received a hard push and he ended up crashing against the hard floor shoulder-first. The tips of two leather shoes entered his field of vision. When he lifted his eyes, an obese man, dressed in a high quality dress shirt that was bursting at the seams as it clung to his belly, was standing above Lion, looking down at him. His light brown hair was streaked with grey, and he had green eyes. He might have been born around the region. It would be hard to say that he was handsome, even to flatter him, and the fat covered his whole body hazaphardly.

“So you’re that summoner that was sneaking around. On whose orders?”

All the other men in the room stepped back. So did that mean that this man was the administrator, the former hero Raphael Guerlain?

“… I’m not here on anyone’s orders. I was looking for Emma from the Gironde village and found my way here.”

“You’re lying. You’ve probably been sent here on reconnaissance. Are you a spy from the garrison? …Were you able to just summon one summoning beast? Then you must still be an apprentice. Sending a mere apprentice to poke his nose in our business… we’re being looked down upon, aren’t we?”

Lion heard condescending laughter coming from the other men.

The hand where he had the summoning patterns drawn was bound tightly, and he wasn’t able to move it. But, most importantly, since Orthros had disappeared because he had lost consciousness, it was impossible for Lion to summon again today.

“What do you intend to do with Emma… with the girls? I’m sure you already know that that’s a crime! It’s not too late yet, let them go!

“You’re young, aren’t you?”

With a thump, a leather shoe kicked Lion’s head. Once again, fireworks burst before his eyes.

“Everyone, give him a proper beating and make him spit out who he’s working for.”

Lion heard several men’s voices respond: “Yes, sir!” and Raphael sat himself down onto the most luxurious sofa. The smirking muscular men approached him. They were men used to violence against the weak.

Chills ran down Lion’s spine.

That day became an especially painful one in his life.

Thank you so much for reading! The author sure doesn’t have the nicest things in store for Lion… he deserves at least ten puppy hugs.

Orthros is absolutely adorable though!

Footnotes

It means that people tend to neglect or not notice what is right under their nose. Strangely enough, this saying exists in my native language but not in English, lol!