Ephemeral: A Journey To Find The Meaning Of Life

Chapter 10: Amfordia

I'm with Caris right now, we split the group in two. To find an adventurer with a red headband.

"Luke, look at that." Caris told me to look at an Elf wearing a slave necklace who was following its owner from behind. A slave necklace is a necklace that gives the user complete control over who wears it. Caris looked very angry and sad to see this.

"Now you understand it, right?" Caris asked.

"Yes..."

I slightly understood the reason why the Elves hated the human race. Slavery was common among the nobility. They used the slaves to be guards, servants, indulge in lust, even the object of torture. Sometimes a human does not reflect the word "human".

Focusing on the purpose of this mission, we are still looking for the adventurer. But there have been a few things on my mind since. Why are there so many slaves in this kingdom? Was there someone who sold these slaves to the nobles?

The interest in knowing about it grew in me. I want to investigate this, Caris is also interested in doing it with me.

I'm really curious about what happened. I will apologize after this to them, hopefully they find the adventurer first than us.

I'm trying to find information about it. They said that I better ask the nobles who have slaves. It is not too difficult to find nobles around here, they say that the slave traders are in the east, the edge of the kingdom.

A house with white color that has a small size. Previously, the noble said we could enter immediately, because the place had become a public secret among people who were used to buying a slave.

After opening the door of the house, I found a door that seemed to lead to the basement. Before I went in there, I asked Caris if she wanted to come with me or wait. I'm afraid Caris can't hold back her anger when she sees things in there.

"I'll come with you!" Caris answered with great confidence.

Actually, it's up to him to come along or not. But I felt an unpleasant air from down there, hopefully just my feelings.

I opened the door and went into the basement. The first look I saw were the slaves who were in brackets. Most of them are half-human animal race. The faces that looked extremely depressed and desperate, this place was truly terrifying.

"Welcome here! Do you want to buy something?" Ask a man with a thick mustache.

"No-no, I just want to look around" I said.

He was a little surprised to hear that. "I'm sorry about that. My name is Bermund, I am the owner of this place. Let's go around first, maybe you'll be a little interested in this"

I followed him from behind as he led our way in this place. Half-human types are very much in this place, including children as well. They screamed for help from inside the cage. I can hold this, but Caris?

Caris was really furious this time, the aura he released was extremely sinister. If he did not control it, this situation would be extremely bad.

"Caris, hold yourself!" Whisper me to him.

He could be a little more calm after that. Bermund tells that a lot of nobles who came to this place and bought a slave. Slaves with female sex are more salable than men.

"Come, I want to show you something"

Bermund leads to a beautiful Elf who does not wear clothes. He told me to hit the Elf with a whip, but I refused. So he himself did that.

Oh no! This is bad, did he see it?!

When I looked at Caris, there were no other words I could say anymore. His anger was almost at its peak and seemed like it was going to explode in a moment.

"Oh yeah.we have business after this, can we go?" My speech.

Thank goodness there was no problem. We managed to get out without making a fuss, next time I have to be more careful if I want to bring Caris to a place like this. Caris apologized for almost getting carried away by her emotions. I understood what he was feeling, I was also annoyed to see that.

"Hey, you're aware of that, right?" Ask Bermund to one of his subordinates. "If so, do it as usual." Bermund told his subordinates to do something.

Meanwhile, Jorgun and Gorris are carrying out their mission...

"This is the best place to look for it, adventurer guild!" Jorgun.

The two of them entered the guild in search of the adventurer. Jorgun who had met once with the adventurer could easily find him. The clue for the tree was given by the adventurer, the adventurer said we should be more wary of the people around this kingdom, especially the members of the black market organization. If they find out that Jorgun, Gorris and Caris are Elves, we will be in very big trouble.

The adventurer also reminded about this one important thing in the Kingdom of Amfordia. "Never be a little careless. Once you're caught, no one will help you. That's Amfordia.

Jorgun and Gorris return home after receiving the clue. When I saw it, the clue contained a path to the tree. I felt that there was something strange about this mission, but I didn't pay much attention to it. Plans will be carried out tomorrow, we have to rest faster than usual tonight. Because before a lot of people wake up, we'll go straight to look for those clues.

......................

The sun has not yet risen, but we are already preparing to continue this mission. The sooner the better, that's what Jorgun told me. This clue says that the position of the tree is to the west of this kingdom. We immediately rushed to our destination, not a single person as we walked out of this kingdom.

The mission to the place went very smoothly, there were no obstacles at all. But all we found was a big tree. Suddenly there were a lot of people wearing masks with knives. It seems like they are assassins.

As I suspected from the beginning, something was not right with this mission. For what does a human provide information about the Elf tree?

They attacked us without saying anything. Because of this surprise attack, we became divided. Although their number was only six, they had quite good fighting experience for an assassin. Caris was attacked by three people at once, she could not fight them. Caris loses and is eventually taken away by the assassins.

The killers left after getting Caris. We couldn't catch up because of the injuries we had. This situation made me very desperate, I was thinking what we could do after this. Gorris collapsed due to severe bleeding in her back. Jorgun lost one of his hands. It's so bad, my brain really can't think.

I used a healing potion to stop the bleeding of Gorris and Jorgun, fortunately I still had time to give it. But still, the potion could not cure them completely. Me and Jorgun who were still in a conscious state brought Gorris to a place a little far from the kingdom. We both rested while waiting for Gorris to wake up.

"Damn it! I shouldn't have let my guard down, it's my fault." Jorgun had been blaming himself ever since. His current mental state was completely chaotic.

"It's not entirely your fault, Jorgun." Jorgun fell silent and looked at me.

"I've realized there's something odd about this mission from the start. But I didn't even say that to you and made things worse. The one to blame for this is me."

Jorgun replied that I did nothing wrong. He explained that there are indeed very strange things in this mission, prevention has really been done all this time. But he didn't expect it to be like this. When Gorris awakens, Jorgun plans to return home to the village and report what is really happening right now.

"Are we leaving Caris?" I asked them.

"This is a mission. Sacrifice is common when you do this." Jorgun.

"You're really sure you don't want to save him?" I asked once more.

He was silent for a moment. As she looked me in the eye with confidence, I could confirm the answer. We will counterattack them.

I don't care about anything. I'm gonna unpack all this. Although the chances of success are very small, I will still try it. Wait for me, Caris! I'll come get you.

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