Chapter 37.2. Modern-day Slavery

-???’s POV-

“Sacrifice the others. Our mana is not infinite. If we kill a certain number of them, we will return. That way, we would spare the survivors.”

The man tells the children, who are still young enough about the devil’s choice. There was no guilt on his face, only amusement.

Of course, it was a lie. The men do not plan to return until they have used up all the children. They are eager to see the look on the children’s faces when they realize that they have nothing left but despair at the end of their ugly struggle.

He was a man of bad character, like the devil himself. As if to drive home the point, the man kept repeating.

“What is certain is that you will awaken to mana. Awaken to mana and defeat the monsters with a single blow! Then you will be one of us! I  have awakened to mana, defeated the monsters with a single blow, and am now the chief of this place. I don’t have to worry about money or women. You guys can do the same.”

He says this to give the children hope, but it is a lie. The man came from a noble family and was disowned by his parents for his debauchery, but he was still a magician. With his power, he is making his way into this slum.

He also knows the children in front of him don’t have the chance to awaken their mana. The children are genuine commoners, acquired from the poor through loans and purchases. The adults are too big to be swallowed whole by the mithril eaters.

The man has a good laugh at the children’s foolish struggle to awaken their mana until they are about to be swallowed whole by the mithril eaters.

“Oh, aniki. I feel a little sorry for you. At least don’t give them any hope.”

“Shut up.”

The man waved his hand lightly with a bored look as his younger brother interrupted him, feeling sorry for him.

[Storm Wind Blade]

“Gyaa!”

Several blades of materialized wind are released from his waved arm, becoming huge and transforming like the blade of a guillotine. The blades easily sliced the body of the surprised younger brother and turned him into a piece of meat on the floor, rolling him to death. Those without magical power have no resistance and can be easily cut. The younger brother showed proof of this with his death.

“Who the hell do you think you are, interrupting my fun? What! You talk nonsense. You’re making me feel funny.”

The head of the younger brother rolled off, and a large amount of blood flowed from the piece of meat, causing a puddle of blood to spread out. The man not bothered by the sight of the blood kicked the head away with a look of abhorrence.

The man’s men no longer laugh and keep their mouths shut. The other magicians, too, stand speechless at the insane behavior.

The children are trembling, their faces no longer pale. They were shaking with fear, and it was doubtful if they could walk.

The man sees the situation and smiles. Being feared like this, he thought, if you have the ability. You should be treated well by your superiors.

In the underworld, you should keep a powerful and dangerous man in your pocket. The man had no intention of ending up as a dungeon manager.

So, for all practical purposes, he would beat up the children and show them his strength. A brother without magic power is worthless. He could use him to score points for himself.

What is needed is a magician. To rise to the top, he wasn’t serious but was trying to do so through madness and death.

Above all, it was fun. The man laughs, showing his face of madness, saying that this sense of enjoyment is incomparable to anything else.

“Well, you guys go in as elite adventurers. Don’t worry. We’ll protect you until the mithril eaters show up. The rest depends on your luck and strength.”

Some children curled up in a ball, unable to move out of fear, but the man pulled with all his might on the chain without concern. The children are being dragged along by the man’s reinforced arm strength.

“It’s all right. The future is here, and you can get rich from here. The path of your dreams awaits you. Go ahead with joy.”

Laughing at the children’s cries, which he thought were a pleasant song, the man turned to step into the dungeon’s entrance and said to the children.

“You go!”

He received a hard blow on his back and rolled on the floor as if he were going to be blown away.

“W-What? What happened? What the hell is this?”

The man stands up, hurriedly enduring the pain, and there’s a man in a robe with their kicking leg still out. Their face was obscured by a hood, a cloth mask, and sunglasses, but they were as small as a child.

“What is it? I’ve never seen a guy with such a rotten nature.”

A voice trembling with anger, like the ringing of a beautiful bell, could be recognized as a girl’s voice. The girl’s shaking with anger and exuding an air of her anger.

“Oh, dear. Aren’t you a bit quick-tempered?”

Beside her, a shabby old man appeared before he knew it, and laughed funnily.

“You’re from another territory, aren’t you? You know us, don’t you?”

These two were magicians, and the man, wary, called up mana from within his body and circulated it through his clothes. The mana flows through the clothes, transforming them into chainmail and giving them a pale aura of mana.

“I don’t know. What are you? Are you slumlords?”

“Huh! If it’s a bullet, you probably don’t know about it. We’re Chimera! We’re the group that controls this area and shuts up crying children! I’m Baphomet!”

“Chimera, huh? Then it’s a monster. I’ll take care of it.”

“That’s fun. Let’s try it!”

The man who calls himself Baphomet activates his mana to see if he can make a difference.