The Indomitable Martial King Chapter 201

Siris replied coldly, brushing off the hem of his clothes.

“I’m not weak enough to get hurt like this.”

‘That’s harsh.’

Iniya pouted. I don’t like that kid either!

At that time, a small knocking sound was heard from the other side of the back door of the auction house.

Knock! smart! Knock!

At the same time, the lock on the firmly locked back door opened, revealing a slender-looking elf woman.

She looked at Iniya, Siris, and the other elf slaves and gulped.

“excuse me… … It is called Arni. As promised, I am here to guide you… … .”

There were shackles around her neck, proving that she was a slave. This is evidence that they are not slaves raised in Elvenheim, but slaves officially sold abroad.

She did not infiltrate as a Zeppelin from the Kingdom of Antares like Iniya or Siris, but was an elf who originally lived here as a slave.

☆ ☆ ☆

The most troublesome part for Carol, who was doing various preliminary work to free the Zeppelin slaves, was the cross-race slaves outside the auction house.

Those gathered at the slave auction house can be brought out somehow. However, it was not easy for slaves who had already been sold abroad and had their own masters.

In order to save the slaves, the prerequisite was that they at least voluntarily followed the path to freedom. No matter how powerful the different races of the Antares Kingdom are, the number of Zeppelin slaves is too large, and it is impossible to forcibly control them all.

So, we encouraged internal response through various preliminary efforts. And it has paid off to some extent. Inside the auction house, there are many people in similar situations, but only for slaves whose owners have not been determined.

However, it is not easy to make slaves who have already been sold aware of their lives. In fact, when rescuing a small number of elf slaves, they all followed Siris with the feeling that they had met another master, and did not have any particular sense of freedom.

In order to plan such a large-scale liberation operation, each slave had to have at least the minimum awareness of wanting to overcome this situation. And that’s not something that can be done with a month or two of preliminary work.

“So, actually, I was giving up on that part… … Surprisingly, Mr. Reppenhardt did the preliminary work in advance, right?”

“huh? “What did I do?”

Repenhardt made a blank expression in response to Carol’s question filled with admiration. Then Carol also looked confused and asked.

“Wasn’t that method of educating slaves popularized by Mr. Reppenhardt? That’s what Siebold said… … .”

“Oh, that?”

Only then did Reppenhardt look like he understood.

Certainly, a few years ago, when I visited the Principality of Chatan, I rescued Siris and also rescued various elf slaves. He also subtly pressured Bolt to educate them for the future.

As expected from Reppenhardt, by educating those who were merely slaves, everyone became smarter and the number of uses they could exploit increased significantly.

From a merchant’s point of view, hiring an accountant costs a lot of money. However, if slaves can do the work, great profits can be made. Not only that, but in other fields as well, having slaves with various knowledge is much more helpful in reducing labor costs.

I was so busy with things that I had half forgotten about Reppenhardt, but after that, it became quite a trend within the Principality of Chatan, especially Zeppelin, to reduce labor costs by educating slaves. That was exactly what Carol was pointing out.

“I didn’t have much expectations, but after doing some background research, I found that the response from the slaves of different races within Zeppelin was higher than expected. There is already quite a bit of movement to secretly meet among ourselves and hope that something will change. Of course, there is no future if they just stand up among themselves, so it seems like they are still just gathering together and complaining to each other.”

Carl said that thanks to this, they too would be able to fully respond if an uprising broke out. It is said that correspondence is already being exchanged in secret, and a considerable number of like-minded Orc, Elf, and Dwarf slaves have gathered.

“With this, we can fully expect to rescue Zeppelin’s scattered slaves. Plus, we were able to solve other issues as well.”

The fact that those slaves voluntarily responded to the Kingdom of Antares does not simply mean that the number of slaves that can be rescued has increased.

“Thanks to this, we have many trustworthy allies within Zeppelin.”

There are limits to infiltrating troops from the Kingdom of Antares into Zeppelin. Even though Antares’ heterogeneous warriors are the most elite, not many of them are strong enough to fight against heavily armed soldiers without weapons or armor.

“There is no one better than these people as external personnel who can guide internal paths, understand the fluid situation, and take responsibility for arming those who have escaped.”

☆ ☆ ☆

Arni was originally one of the elf slaves who lived on Zeppelin’s famous upper level. Until a few years ago, she had to live a life as a simple maid, serving her mansion and being dragged into her master’s bedroom whenever he wanted.

But it was different now. Of course, she still had to go to the bedroom if her master wanted her to, but at least the job itself wasn’t just that of a maid.

Thanks to the strange trend that has recently come to Zeppelin, the trend of training slaves to make them useful, she is now a low-level accountant at Ratharun Merchant Marine and is also in charge of the warehouse goods manager.

Doing accounting work properly is not just about calculating numbers well. Since it is a job that involves dealing with people, it is necessary to learn all the basic general knowledge.

Thanks to this, Arni was able to receive proper education like a human despite being an elf. And as she lived such a changed life, questions began to come to mind little by little.

Anything a human can do, she could do.

She could feel everything that humans felt.

So why is she a slave and humans are not?

What is the difference between you, the slave, and those, the humans?

At first it was a very small question. A really small question about myself that comes to mind very occasionally when I lie down in bed exhausted from work.

The question that arose in my heart was the rumor of the Crovence Civil War.

A story about a people who live like elves from myths and legends.

Rumors of these people thinking and moving of their own will and standing proudly against humans made Arni more and more suspicious. She inadvertently shared her questions with another elf slave.

Why is she a slave and humans are not?

What is the difference between you, the slave, and those, the humans?

Surprisingly, Arni was not the only one who had such questions. The other elf slave she had asked her questions about, she too, had the same questions as Arni.

Arni was also able to know another fact.

There are quite a few slaves within Zeppelin who have questions like her. And that they were secretly meeting each other from time to time and building a friendship.

The elf slave that Arni spoke to was someone who, like her, had received education from another merchant and was engaged in goods management. It wasn’t exactly a coincidence. The ‘slave education craze’ that has recently spread throughout Zeppelin has become quite popular, and quite a few slaves are receiving basic education. At least within Zeppelin, it is now more difficult to find uneducated slaves.

Slaves who were properly educated and questioned reality.

They met whenever they could. Most of them were elves, but there were some orcs among them. Well, just because we had a meeting, we didn’t really do anything. Through education, they learned enough about reality to question it. I also learned how tightly structured this human-dominated world is.

Whether in a good or bad way, I came to know reality.

Realizing that their situation is wrong, being pessimistic about their situation, acknowledging that there is nothing they can do, and simply dreaming of a hope that does not exist in delusion. That’s all they can do.

Nonetheless, they continued the meeting. At least you can get psychological comfort by meeting someone in the same situation.

It was just a few days ago that a change came to them. An elf who secretly approached them, a person named Relhad, introduced himself as an elf from the Kingdom of Antares.

“This way!”

Arni quickly gestured as he ran down the alley. Following her hand gestures, dozens of dwarves move their short legs busily, cutting through the darkness.

The place Arni pointed to was the warehouse at the top where she belonged, the weapons warehouse she managed. As her dwarves gathered, Arni quickly picked her lock and opened her storeroom. A warehouse filled with numerous weapons appeared under the moonlight. The dwarves gleefully picked up weapons and armor.

“Wow, this is a pretty well-forged sword for a human.”

“Is this long sword pretty good?”

“But the armor doesn’t fit.”

“You can just discard the limbs and use only the shoulders and chest.”

The dwarves hurriedly armed themselves. Although there were almost a hundred people, there were enough weapons for everyone to be given weapons. In the first place, Arni deliberately set the numbers for this day.

‘The weapon was delivered properly! Now what’s next… … .’

Arni looked up at the sky and checked the moon’s position. Weapon warehouses were probably opening elsewhere by now. The other slaves she contacted would be leading her elves, orcs, and dwarves like her.

“Hehe, my blood boils for the first time in a long time since I picked up the sword.”

A heavily armed dwarf man smoothed his beard and his eyes lit up. He had such a lively attitude that it was hard to believe that he had been a slave just a moment ago. This was surprising to Arni, who had never seen a dwarf before. He said his heart was still beating like crazy.

After the dwarves finished arming themselves, they took to the streets. Arni hurriedly followed suit.

Red flames were already rising all over Zeppelin. Meanwhile, countless slaves were seen running toward freedom. No matter where I looked, there were only elves, orcs, and dwarves. It was surprising that there were so many slaves in Zeppelin City.

The dwarf man smiled warmly and beckoned towards Arni, who was standing blankly.

“Come on, let’s go too, elf wife.”

“yes!”

Arnie swallowed his saliva. It was spilled water anyway. She couldn’t turn back now.

And I had no intention of going back.

With both hope and fear for the future, Arni eagerly followed behind them with a red face.

☆ ☆ ☆

A little girl glances out the window at the noisy night street. Behind her, the mother woman dissuades the girl with her stern face and firmly closes her window.

“Mom, what’s going on?”

“Go into your room quickly!”

Zeppelin City was in chaos.

When the pillar of fire erupted from the palace, the citizens were curious, but there was no sign of fear or panic. But now it was a different story.

Crowds of people are running through the streets all over Zeppelin under the cover of darkness. They were all races that had been abused as slaves. Hundreds of Orcs, Elves, and Dwarves move in an orderly manner and run towards the outskirts of Zeppelin.

They don’t really yell or yell. However, if hundreds of footsteps, breathing, and small mumblings come together, it can become a huge roar.

Jump, jump, jump.

Buzz buzz buzz buzz.

A group of slaves surged in like a tidal wave amidst the turmoil.

That scene in the dark was truly a terrifying sight for the Zeppelin citizens.

Merchants all tried to protect their property and lives by building barricades in front of the doors and providing guards. The powerless ordinary citizens simply locked their doors, covered themselves with blankets, and shivered.

Even a layperson could immediately understand this situation.

Great escape!

The different races who had been living as slaves rose up all at once!

“Okay, everything is going well.”

Reppenhardt smiled happily while wearing his robe. The place where he was standing was on the roof of a merchant’s house a little away from the palace street. It was a fairly tall building in Zeppelin, so it had a panoramic view of the city.

Reppenhardt’s heart swelled as he looked at the endless river of torches.

It was a sight I had never seen in my previous life.

Orcs, elves, dwarves, and trolls from previous lives who passively gained freedom by relying solely on themselves.

But they were different. He got up from the bottom with his own hands and feet and ran to win his own freedom.

It was a moment when history changed.

“No matter how hard-headed they are, they can’t help but feel the change now, hahahaha!”

Reppenhardt, who was proudly looking down at Zeppelin City, heard a clear voice in his ears. It was Silan’s voice, and it was a voice transmitted through a voice spell that transmitted voices from a distance.

“Hey Mr. Leffen?”

Leffenhardt looked down at the roof. Below, he saw Cilan and Russ looking up at him with puzzled expressions. He probably used a voice spell because he couldn’t shout loudly.

Silan’s question continued.

“No, why are you giggling up there instead of just going to join us?”

Now they were crossing the Zeppelin cityscape to join the others as scheduled. But suddenly, Reppenhardt jumped up onto the roof of someone else’s house and began to look down at the night sky to get his bearings. I don’t know what it would be like for me, but for Silan, who was following me, it was a very strange sight.

Leppenhardt scratched his head as he looked down at the roof.

“huh? Ah, it’s just a habit… … .”

“How on earth should I live so that I can develop the habit of climbing onto other people’s roofs at night and giggling?”

“… … .”

Anyway, I wanted to indulge in some appreciation for a moment, so I came in right away. Frowning, Reppenhardt prepared to come down from the roof.

Then, suddenly, he turned his head and saw the Chatan Royal Palace in the distance, with fire spreading.

It looked like the demons were running rampant as expected.

‘At that rate, it will be difficult for the situation over there to calm down before tonight.’