Chapter 89: A man of gold and silver
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I decided to visit the dungeon first. I'm going to need some time to mentally prepare myself before dealing with elves again.

For some reason, Nera and Xania are also coming along with me and Arana, I guess they have nothing better to do. We had to walk all the way to the other side of the castle to go down some stairs in a small hallway, now I understand why Arana didn't find this place earlier.

"Ugh. This place is completely flooded."

Xania complains about the ankle-deep water we're having to walk through. Nera doesn't seem bothered at all, I think that she likes water in general.

The leaks around here are even worse than in my room. But since there are no buckets, it's all evenly flooded... Mmm, what an interesting strategy.

"Luna, stop thinking about dumb things and focus. The prisoners are over there." It's a bit rude of Arana to just assume that I was thinking of something dumb. Yeah, she's right, but still...

I can see 17 demons of various races chained inside the cells. They don't seem to be in very good shape, even from here I can see some injuries.

"Are you sure that I should go in? They don't seem very friendly."

"So what?"

"Is it really safe for a girl to go alone into a cell full of dangerous prisoners? What if I get attacked?"

"..."

All three of my companions stare at me with blank expressions.

"Hey! So just because my level is a bit high I'm not allowed to worry about my safety?"

"Don't worry Luna, I'm sure that you'll be fine."

At least Nera is trying to support me, even if she doesn't seem to be taking this seriously either.

"Also, Ara, you said that I need to separate the real criminals from those that were imprisoned unjustly. But how am I supposed to do that?"

"That's easy, just look into their eyes and ask them why they are here."

"I don't really have time for jokes right now."

"I'm not joking. I'm certain that you can make anyone confess by staring at them hard enough."

That can't be true, right? If that's all it takes to make someone confess no criminals would be free.

I guess I'll give it a shot... Let's start with that orc over there. He's all covered in scars, also, there's a wound on his stomach that seems to have gotten infected...

"W-what do you want?"

Why does such a tough-looking guy look so scared just from me getting closer to him?

"Why did they lock you in here for?"

"I didn't do anything! I think that master Garerg just doesn't like me for some reason."

Garerg... I think that I've heard that name before. Mmm, it was probably not anyone important. Also, I get the feeling that he's lying to me. I do as Arana told me and stare into his eyes.

"What are you trying to hide?"

"W-well... Maybe the reason he doesn't like me has something to do with me trying to stab him on the back that one time..."

Oh, so he's here for attempted murder. That does seem like a good reason to lock someone up I guess. But I should still heal that nasty wound he has.

"Alright, let's get this over with."

"NO! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!!"

When he sees me place my hand on his stomach while getting ready to use my magic, he starts shaking his head around like crazy. I still managed to heal him easily, but he knocked himself out by hitting his head on the wall...

"Next one."

All the prisoners stop breathing for a moment when they hear me say that. Seriously, why is everyone so tense?


 

After interrogating the rest of the prisoners, I found out that only 7 of them were here for a good reason. The others were just imprisoned for not going along with Kalroth's rule. There were also two gray demons that were here just for being Xania's subordinates.

There's only one prisoner left. He didn't seem to be as scared as the others so I left him for last.

He appears to be a rock demon, but he seems different from the others. Instead of being covered by the usual most common rocks, he looks like he's covered by gold and silver.

"So, why are you-"

"You won't get a single coin from me!"

"Eh?!"

Before I have time to process what I just heard, Xania steps forward.

"Hey, I know this guy. You're mister Oron, right?"

"I remember you. I believe that I did business with you once, correct?"

"Uh, Xania. Do you know this man?"

"Yes, he's a merchant that became rich by trading between the demon wasteland and the surrounding countries. Since I'm something similar to the leader of the gray demons, he came to make some deals with me."

"Then why is he here?"

"Some subordinates of that Kalroth guy caught me while I was traveling. They have been torturing me so that I would tell them where I've hidden my fortune."

"They tortured you?!"

Now that he mentions it, the layer of gold and silver covering his body is cracked in several places, and I can see traces of many small injuries that have been recently healed with light magic. That was probably Arana's doing.

"I didn't give them anything, of course."

"Why not? Isn't your life is more important than your money?"

"No, it's not." He says as if that was the most obvious thing in the world.

"It's not?!"

"And I'm not going to give anything to you either!"

"I'm not trying to steal your money!"

"Aren't you the queen of darkness? I heard that you once stole candy from a baby and then forced the baby to buy it back for two gold coins."

"What kind of rumor is that?! That's too stupid to possibly be true!"

What's wrong with this guy? Why does he care so much about money?

"Hey, Luna," Arana whispers into my ear. "You should try to recruit this guy. We'll need someone who knows how to make money once you become queen. And he looks like he might even be able to balance you out."

"Balance what out? And why are you assuming that I'll become the queen?"

"The queen? Are you planning to become the queen of this wasteland?" Oron asks with sudden interest.

"I don't know, I have not decided yet."

"Why not? Do you have something else that can make you more money than becoming the queen?"

"Uh? No, I don't."

"Then what are you having doubts about?"

"I don't want to become queen to get money! I'm just trying to figure out if this place will be better off with or without me."

"That's also easy to answer. Just look at what happens to merchants trying to get some profit around here. If you were the queen you might be able to do something about it."

"He's right, you know." Now Xania speaks up. "Thanks to him we were able to get medicine and food that's not normally possible to obtain in the wasteland. He even sold rice to us, I've never eaten rice before."

"I see. Now I understand why you want me to become the queen, you wanted to get more rice!"

"It's not just for that!"

"There are many resources that can only be found here in the demon wasteland, but there are no other merchants doing business in this place. I was able to make a fortune because I was the only one willing to take the risk."

"What risk are you- Oh, right."

At this point, I don't think that there's any good reason to keep this man imprisoned, so I remove the chains and finish healing his injuries.

"Still, I'm not a merchant. I am only considering becoming queen to help in solving the various problems of the demon wasteland, and hopefully, make everybody else stop seeing the demons that live here as the bad guys. I'm not doing this for the money."

"Don't talk as if those things were mutually exclusive. After all, there's no such thing as a problem that cannot be solved with money."

"I can probably think of a few!"

"Being from the demon wasteland myself, I was also met with mistrust when I first started working as a merchant in the surrounding nations. But everyone changed their minds really fast when they realized just how much they stood to win by doing business with me. When I got enough money to create my own company, I even got several humans and beastkin as my subordinates. As long as the pay was good, none of them seemed to have any problem working for a demon from the wasteland."

"I see... So if I had enough money, I could pay people to not be afraid of me? I had never considered that option!"

"I don't think that's really viable, it would be WAY too expensive." Arana destroys my hopes once again.

Oron takes out a silver coin he had hidden in his shoe. He turns around and I can hear him whispering something. What is he doing?

"Mmm, you don't seem to have much money, but I'm being told that you might be a decent person after all. If you are willing to do some proper business instead of stealing everything by force like those demon lords this wasteland has been cursed with, I would be willing to help you."

"Oh, thank you."

He's being told that I might be a decent person? Who's telling him that?

"Well Luna, now that we are done with the prisoners it's time to go meet the elves." Arana reminds me. Even if I didn't want her to.

"Sure... Anyway, it was nice to meet you, mister Oron."

"The feeling is mutual."

As we leave, I can hear him mumbling something again. Am I imagining things or is he... praying to his coin? What?

No, that can't be, I must have heard wrong.

I wonder when I'll be able to write more often again...

I could barely fit half of the stuff about Oron in this chapter. I guess I'll have to finish introducing him later.

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