Chapter 35: 18

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Sapphiras Perfectio, 2nd son of the Earl of Aldridge

Percival Belisario, 3rd son of Margrave of Vanderwall on the Eastern Frontier

Earl of Aldridge, advisor of the Royal Order of Magicians

Gilliam Anderson, son of Marquess of Spencer

 

I was awakened by a rumbling, grating sound. It hurt as my body hits the wooden floor with thumps.

What the hell is going on? I tried to get up, but my wrists and legs were tied behind my back and I couldn’t move properly. That’s when I finally realised that the situation was a bit unusual.

I’ve probably been put on the back of a wagon or something, and I’m being moved somewhere.

Wait a minute, why is this happening?

At any rate, I frantically trawled through my memories from before I woke up. I remember taking a hot bath in the communal shower room and returning to my room. Even if I groan and think about it, I couldn’t remember anything beyond that point.

“How did this happen?”

When I voiced out, I realised that my neck felt strange. Something is attached to the neck, it’s probably a curse tool that blocks the magician’s chanting.

“I bet it’s something like this.”

No matter what kind of great magician I am, I’m still human. If I am stabbed while defenceless, I will die, and if I am poisoned, I will die. Of course, if I get sick, I will die. Moreover, Sapphiras is powerless, so he has more chances to die than others. This time I’m just being transported somewhere, but if I was careless, I would have been killed. If I had died, the goddess would have complained again that I came back too soon. I have the blessing of good luck, so I don’t think I will die so easily in this life, but I must be careful because I may not have a third life.

However, I finally understood the meaning of the Duke’s enthusiastic recommendation that I should move to a dormitory for high-ranking nobles. To put it bluntly, it is no exaggeration to say that the security in the fourth dormitory building is like a bucket with holes in it, eaten by insects.

For starters, the academy takes care of the children of aristocrats, so it has a security system in place to prevent outside intruders from entering. However, inside the academy, security is mainly based on the principle of good faith.

The security system is based on the idea that the sons and daughters of  noble families would not behave in an unbecoming manner in a sacred school building as a student of the academy. However, it is quite different when it comes to the dormitories of high-ranking nobles.

There are four dormitories in the academy, and the first and second dormitory wings, where high-ranking nobles and royalty are housed, are quite well guarded. After all, there are even guards on every floor. There is now a second prince, a duke’s heir and other people of different rank from the lower nobility, so basically you need the permission of the person you have business with to enter the dormitories, and they make you write down your name when you enter and leave the dormitories. It is absolutely impossible for a stranger to enter a room without permission. There is even a bathroom in every room.

In contrast, my room in the fourth dormitory block can be locked, but it’s as if it isn’t there. Even if I lose the key, I can open the door with a wire, and anyone can come and go as they please. In the first place, I had nothing to worry about being stolen, so I was also defenceless in terms of crime prevention. I never thought that I, myself, would be the target of theft. I must reflect on the fact that I was conceited.

Now. I could just go back to my room and live as if nothing had happened, but I’m very curious about who did this to me. I can always go back to the dormitory any time, so for the time being I have decided to go along. However, this position is somewhat painful, so I should make myself comfortable until someone comes to unload.

I magically removed the bindings from my hands and feet and scratched my crossed legs. I decided to leave the curse tool on my alone as that would be troublesome to put back on again. This kind of thing can’t seal my magic, and as I breathed through my nose, a sweet smell grazed my nose. Oh? I thought as I grabbed my shirt by the chest and sniffed it, and the unpleasantly sweet smell made me frown. This is sleeping incense.

I can’t believe that I didn’t realise until I opened the door to the room that the incense was burning so strongly that the smell was ingrained in the room. I’m sure there must have been a seal on the door, but I’m pretty slow because I didn’t notice anything after all that’s been done to me.

How much time has passed since I was brought in? I tried to listen carefully to pick up the sounds coming from the coachman’s stand, hoping to get some confirmation of the situation, but the rattling was too noisy and I stopped listening soon.

The vibrations were terrible, I did well to have slept defencelessly in these conditions.

I looked at the shackles I had removed and saw that they were made of heavy wood and metal, the same shackles used on slaves. It’s not something you can easily remove. And they are so heavy that if I had these on my wrists, I wouldn’t be able to raise my arms normally.

“Restraint for slaves, they’ve prepared something extreme huh.”

Come to think of it, the first time I met Byron the Beastman was in a certain city market.

At that time, Byron was on a rampage in the city market. There was a great commotion and the military police came and tried to seize him. No matter how strong the beastmen are, he seemed to be at a disadvantage. Above all, he seemed to be holding back so as not to cause serious injury against the humans.

I didn’t really know what’s going on, but I instantly decided which side I was going to take.

Of course, it was the beastman.

Amidst being outnumbered, I assisted the lone beastman fighting with magic from behind. If I become an ally, the match will be set in no time.

After an overwhelming victory, Byron and I laughed and bumped fists.

However, Byron and I, who messed up the market, were about to be caught for causing a disturbance, so we ran away with all our strength while carrying the girl we saved.

“So why were you fighting?”

Byron looked surprised when I asked this in a calm place.

“What, you didn’t know what was going on and you gave me a hand? You’re a daft one.”

When I asked him again, he said that the merchant had been violent with a young beastman girl. When Byron tried to stop him, he told him that the girl was his property and it was up to him how he wanted to treat her.

At that time, there were terrible people who kidnapped young beastmen and made them slaves. It is difficult to capture an adult beastman, but it is easy to catch a child. When they were too young to resist, they were trained to be obedient and sold as slaves. Such inhumane acts were carried out semi-openly.

It was a child who was kidnapped from the start. So he thought that the merchant could not complain if he snatched the child away, beating the merchant up. If he did so, the guards hired by the merchant would not keep quiet. If the commotion gets too loud, the military police will come. Byron beat them up as they tried to seize him. That’s the kind of situation I encountered.

That happened, and afterwards, we both sent the girl we saved back to her family.

I was remembering the old days fondly and it suddenly struck me.

……Eh? Does that mean I’m about to be sold into slavery?

Kidnapping an academy student and selling them into slavery is audacious, but it’s not like I can’t think of anyone at all. Either the Earl of Aldridge did it using my former brother, or Gilliam went berserk.

As I was thinking about this, the carriage slowed down. I hurriedly put my shackles back on, lay down and pretended to be unconscious. Soon, the presence of someone approached me and climbed into the back of the wagon. I opened my eyes and looked at the person, but it was too dark to make out much. Judging from his physique, he must be a man. He carried me on his shoulder like luggage and got off the carriage. This time I open my eyes and look around me. It appears to be in the forest. I couldn’t see the front, so I didn’t know what was going on, but the man went into a dimly lit stone building. I wondered if there were any companions there, but it was unoccupied. The room was empty and deserted. A few old tables and crates were piled up. The man moves the crates with familiarity, opens what appears to be a hidden door and descends towards the basement.

He must have been preparing to carry me in beforehand. The place, illuminated by an old western style lamp that had already been lit, smelled of dampness and mould, indicating that it had not been used for a very long time.

The place where I was brought to was a dungeon. There seemed to be several empty cells in a row, but it was too dark to get a full picture. I was trying to sort out the situation when I was suddenly thrown into the cell.

Uwah! No way, hey!

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I quickly used magic to cushion the impact, but the cold stone floor was somehow damp and uncomfortable.

“Damn, I can’t even taste such a fine gem. Such a boring job.”

The man grumbled to himself and left, violently closing the iron-grated door behind him. The sound of the man’s footsteps on the stairs faded away and the sound of the door slamming shut echoed through the basement. The man’s presence disappeared completely, and I got up, removing my shackles.

“He’s a rough one, isn’t he? If he hits me the wrong way, I could get seriously hurt……”

I looked around and saw solid stone walls and iron bars. There is also an empty cell opposite. It looks like there’s something whitish lying around, but……I didn’t see anything. If you think about what that is, you lose.

Judging from its antiquity, it was probably used by the old slavers to lock up their slaves and keep them there. There’s a sorry wooden bed by the wall, with a flimsy sheet hanging over it. It’s a kindness I don’t need.

“Well, the main criminal will be here soon, so I guess I’ll just sleep and wait.”

I lay down on the wooden bed, and in no time at all, I was in a dream world. Of course, I had spread some barrier magic under the bed so that no one could get close to it. I had learnt my lesson.

When I woke up, it was pitch black in the prison. Apparently the oil in the western style lamp had burned out. In the end, no one came. After using magic to light up the surroundings, I got off my bed and stretched out.

But how long had I slept? It’s pitch dark, so I don’t know, but the fact that the oil ran out meant that it is at least dawn.

Let’s go outside once.

When I got out of the dungeon by transfer, I found myself outside in the forest, just as I had confirmed last night. I looked up at the sky, but the trees were in the way and I couldn’t make out the position of the sun. But from the brightness, it was probably just crossing the meridian.

There were several carriage wheel marks on the ground. There are also some footprints. It seems that someone or something is using this place as a stronghold. Looking back, the stone building is a small, plain, one-storey structure. It is entangled in ivy, with only the frames of the windows remaining, showing the years of neglect.

“Sure enough, this is a former slave trader’s hideout.”

I wandered around the building, looking for any sign of the kidnappers, but found nothing in particular. Still, it’s a bit rude to kidnap someone and leave them there overnight. Or maybe he was planning to let me starve to death in this dungeon. If the other party was the Earl, that’s conceivable. But if that was his intention, he could have let the man from last night rape me. But that man said something as if he shouldn’t put his hand on me.

So, is Gilliam the culprit?

“……Well, never mind. I’m hungry, so I’ll go back to the dormitory once. Hopefully in time for lunch.”

I casually returned to my dorm room with the intention of satisfying my hunger, but for some reason there were knights and academy guards in my small room.

“Eh?”

“!!”

I was surprised, and so were they.

“Eh! Eh! What? What? What’s going on!”

“……That’s, my line. Are you Sapphiras kun?”

“Eh? Yes, I am but?”

As expected of the Royal Order of Knights. Although he was surprised by my sudden appearance in the room, he seemed to quickly regain his composure. I still can’t get my heart to calm down. What on earth are these people doing in my room?

“The principal has reported you missing. There was sleeping incense in the room and someone had tampered with the door, but was this your own doing?”

“No, I did not.”

The knight’s gaze stopped at my neck, and his eyebrows instantly leapt up.

“That is……”

Aah, the cursed tool? I’ve taken off the shackles, but this one was still on.

“May I ask you to explain what happened?’

When I nodded, I was escorted by a knight to the principal’s office.

This is the second time I’ve been here. But this time I didn’t do anything myself. Before I knew it, I was taken to a place I didn’t know.

When I was prompted to enter the principal’s office, the principal was waiting for me with a stern look on her face. And when she saw the curse tool attached to my neck, her expression became even harsher. Well, curse tools are remnants of the past slavery era, and it is against humanity to begin with. I heard that in rare cases, they are used on criminals who are violent magicians.

“I’m glad you’re okay. I know you’re tired, but can you explain what happened?”

I gave a brief account of what happened last night.

I have no recollection of what happened since I returned to my room after taking a hot bath. When I woke up, I was restrained and put on the back of a covered wagon. Being locked in a dungeon where I was taken.

Then, when I told the knight and the principal that I had returned anyway because I was hungry, the secretary of the Duke of Bloomfield appeared.

“I have been informed that Sapphiras dono has been found.”

It seems that the Duke was informed of my disappearance. I didn’t think it was such a big deal. If you think about it, if a student of the academy suddenly disappears, you’d wonder what happened. I didn’t think anyone would care if I was gone, but I should have at least told Percival about the situation.

“Yes, he came back safe and sound. Let me explain the situation up to this point. First of all, a meal for Sapphiras san.”

I moved to another room, where I finally got a meal. It was my first meal since last night. As I was gratefully savouring my meal, Percival came running into the room with a grim look on his face. It was unusual for him, who is always so calm.

“Sapphiras! Are you all right?”

“Percival, I’m sorry. It looks like I’ve worried you.”

“As long as you’re fine…….I’m glad”

He must have lost his tension when he saw me eating casually. Percival relaxed his expression.

I didn’t show up at breakfast time, so Percival apparently came all the way to my room. He knocked but got no answer, so he opened the door on some kind of hunch and found the room deserted. Moreover, there was a sweet smell in the air. Percival immediately reported the obviously strange state of the room to the principal. The guards and teachers checked the room, and found that the door had been weather sealed. From the fact that sleeping incense was burning, they decided that I had been taken away and called in the kingdom knights.

Something that shouldn’t have happened happened at the academy that took care of the sons and daughters of aristocrats. It seems that the fact that I was kidnapped is hidden from the academy students, but since the knights are coming and going, they must have sensed that something has happened.

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