As we are lurking around the village like town, there are several men and women assembling between narrow gap between houses. 

"Let's eavesdrop."

We sneak to behind the nearest house.

"I can't stand this any longer. How long are we going to let the bandits do as they please?"

"Because even though……this place is out in the countryside, this is a good town without any wars or famine."

"We should have asked help from the capital of Dioral Kingdom."

"We tried. But the noble at the capital ignored us."

"Shh! Did you forget what happened to Lut when he did that last time!? He met a miserable end, but his wife and daughter was also sold into slavery……for now, we can only endure patiently."

"With even the chief guard on their side, we can’t sneak out of town……and even if we could, the whole territory is in chaos ever since the recent war. It’s doubtful anybody would bother with such a remote place."

"The local lord is gone. I heard his family and him had moved to Redcliffe.  His vacated house is now used as bandits hideout."

"If Hiro didn’t do what you did, the rule would have remained stable." Sekrit teases me.

One move can have such repercussions, huh?

I don’t regret anything, but I do feel bad.

"For that reason, let’s find the boss and the base. Once we identify them, we can finish the job with soldiers." Myla mulls.

"Let's leave." 

The girls follow me as I head to meet the boss.

He is talking with a man in uniform. He looks high ranked.

"You’re behind schedule. The war between Dioral and former Olga Federation has recently begun to subside and the eyes of the kingdom are on us. Don’t do your own thing and trouble me, the guard captain!"

"There was just a little slipup. I’ll just pay extra, no need to fuss."

The boss hands a gold coin to the knight.

" I’ll let you off this time. I won’t overlook it again, you hear!"

"Then you’re fine if I cancel that order you made for the black-haired boy younger than ten years old? Just shut up and accept the money."

The guard captain clears his throat, intimidating the subordinates, and stores the coin in his pocket.

"You guys know what will happen if this loss isn’t recovered, right?"

Boss glares at his men and walks through the gate with another click of his tongue.

The guards don’t stop him.

I pass through as well, trying not to stand out by rubbing Clementine’s ass.

The guard captain swears under his breath as he watches the row of people walk by.

He looks behind and notice us, "Good. You are here."

We enter a certain barn of a common farmer just outside of town.

The field is deserted and the main building doesn’t have signs of anybody living in it. 

The barn is lit up.

Revealed by the light are three men and five children who are gagged and have their hands bound.

There is one girl in her late teens and the others are actually children of indeterminate gender.

They must have been scolded harshly as they are silently sobbing.

"One, two, three……hey, there’s one missing."

Boss sends a death stare at the men, who awkwardly avert their eyes.

"Erm……that kid, he bit my finger and tried to escape……I got angry and well……"

The man taps his poor quality sword with a clink.

Myla unconsciously stands up, followed by Kurotsuchi who clings to her arm to restrain her.

But before she could do anything, boss grabs the man by the neck.

"Do you know how valuable a single kid is? A kid is worth no less than 20 gold. You butchered one just because your dirty finger was bitten?"

The direction of his anger is totally different, but seeing the scum argue calms me down.

"I-I’m sorry! But, you could see the bone."

"The one that was bitten――was it this one!?"

Boss pushes the man’s hand against the wall, then takes a broad-bladed knife lying around in the barn and chops off one finger.

His scream resounds.

The children with lifeless eyes cry loudly.

"The next time you scrap a product, I’ll rip your head off. The other two will also take a 20% cut. Any problems?"

I doubt anybody has the guts to rebel after being shown that.

The other men shake their heads vigorously.

"Then go get the next supply! With the physical strength you guys have, you should be able to kidnap a few brats so aim for some good ones."

The two men flee hastily, chased by the man who lost a finger.

"Useless, all of them. And you guys, why are you cowering!? Hurry and bring the products to the market. I’ll beat you to a pulp if you scratch any of them, and you’re all dead if you let any of them escape!"

The thugs pick up the children.

A little girl cries, but when slapped on the cheek and threatened by a man, she bites her lip.

The protector of justice, Myla Hyuutia seems at her limit. She no longer care about infiltrating, she just want to murder these bandits and save the children.

However, Kurotsuchi reads Myla's mood and whispers in her ear before she can take action.

"Even if you rampage here, you will only save five kids at most, and you will only stop a single leader and a few thugs. The trade route, the base, and the true boss remain unknown. The same thing will just happen a week later. Control yourself." Sekrit lectures Myla.

"……"

Myla exhales with enough force to blow away dust and strongly grasp her sword tilt to restrain herself.

Afterwards, the group continued to visit barns, dilapidated houses, and caves, picking up slaves.

The slaves’ backgrounds vary, though a majority of them were from the outer regions of the Dioral and former Olga Federation territory, and there are even some who are transported all the way from the Orlais.

Amber who has been silently observant speaks,

"How unexpected. I thought they were a small organization making money here and there near the northern border, but they’re actually operate on a broad scale."

Sekrit gives her commentary.

"The method of transporting the slaves is also clever. The high-risk, long-distance transportation is done by a number of underlings, who bring the slaves to a low-risk area where the governor has been bribed, and then the slaves are collected by the executive, who takes them to the market."

Sekrit continues.

"Even if the underlings are arrested, only the rendezvous point they know will be exposed. If the executive isn’t there, there is……no damage, huh?"

Sekrit adds,

"The number of slaves collected so far is roughly 30. I don’t think they want to carry this many over a long distance. They will want to head for the base where the market is to do their business."

I’m glad Myla didn’t go wild out of anger.

If we waste this opportunity, it will take considerable time to investigate again.

Myla interferes.

"Once we find out the base, the boss, and the captured spy, there’s no need to hold back. I’ll kill them all."

"No, this is an infiltration. It’s a plan where we inform allies to come with reinforcements!" Kurotsuchi grabs Myla's collar and raises her voice.

Myla simply tosses the smaller girl's hand away.

After retrieving a large number of slaves, we arrived at a small decaying abandoned fort.

"I didn’t know there was a fort here. I had no idea even though I was living in this region my entire life." Myla confesses.

Maybe she missed it because she never looked over the map of the northern area.

"This fort is not on maps anymore. It’s been abandoned for decades. It’s odd though."

Kurotsuchi’s sharp eyes survey the surroundings as she chases a nearby girl with a menacing glare.

"Even I know the best place for a bandit’s hideout is an abandoned fort. That’s why this kind of place should have been thoroughly investigated already."

Indeed, such a fort can be seen from afar.

It’s easy to be discovered if they set up a base here.

"You’re not stupid enough to think it’s this fort, right? It’s this way……blindfold the kids!"

Tracking boss’s coarse remark, my eyes lay upon a wayside shrine that is also rotten.

Boss violently kicks open the tattered shrine which is so run-down that I can’t tell who is being worshipped there.

With a deafening rattle, the ground near the shrine caves in, revealing a set of stairs leading underground.

Amber gulps audibly.

"The fort’s underground pantry――! I see, the fort was originally a headquarters for a large army, thus it makes sense for it to have an appropriately large food warehouse! It’s not the fort itself, this is the――mogah!!"

I stuff a hand in her mouth that unconsciously exclaims loudly out of excitement.

"……what are you doing?" Amber yells.

"You would look suspicious saying that." I warn the blushing Amber.

Boss turns to us,

"Your job is to act as this place’s guard. Business troubles are unending and the customers here aren’t decent people. If anybody complains, use the strength you’re proud of to beat them to pulps."

We reluctantly nod.