Prev Next

Chapter 11 – The underground sewer’s ghost

The underground sewers—

The sewers extends everywhere throughout the capital and is rarely visited by people because of the monsters that live in it. Its entrance is normally closed and monitored by guards to prevent the monsters from leaving. For that reason, people only enter when the Adventurer’s Guild receives requests to undertake the subjugation of the monsters within, or when cleaning is necessary.

But if there are other reasons to enter the sewers other than the above, then it would be those whom people do not speak of—

The groups who have fallen. (TL: to become sinners.)

This is an excellent place for them because people rarely enter the sewers. There are no monsters who are at the extreme end of power and they also know the regular intervals when people enter, and they hide themselves and do not divulge their presence during then.

It is supposed to be that way. As long as there are no irregular events.

[Damn it. Today’s the day when the adventurers are coming in! Watch your surroundings well!]

A man appear beside the unconscious girl with chestnut hair and shouts angrily.

The men who captured another shabby-looking girl apologize with embarrassed faces.

[Aniki, what exactly are you going to do with this one?] (TL: To be exact, that person called him Aniki, common yakuza slang for older/senior ranks, or older brother. Also there are 2 girls here, one is their kidnapped slave, the other is the girl from the guild.)

The leader who is addressed by them as Aniki think for a while.

[It’s fortunate that no one else is with her, but we can’t leave her behind when she saw us, yeah. We’re bringing her along boys. If we stay here any longer we’re gonna get discovered by the adventurers. Don’t expose yourself when we return to the hideout, got it?]

[Got it…… Since we already got exposed to this girl can we get to enjoy ourselves with her?]

[Well—, do whatever you wish.]

[Hehe boss, I knew you would agree!]

The men cheered with vulgar smiles.

In order to prevent the girl from moving two men use ropes to bind and gag her. They then carry her off with glee.

It is fortunate that they have a complete selection of ‘goods’. Virgins are included as part of the goods as many customers desire for them, and the subordinates would lower the prices of such goods if they are sullied, so the leader denied them from laying their hands on the goods.

Therefore they are more or less dissatisfied.

The leader even judged that it will be good to let them vent their frustration by killing someone.

The girl with shabby looking clothes — Because she escaped from the hideout earlier the troublesome things have increased, but it is still in a state where they can recover from.

(We should get back to the hideout as soon as possible.) — He thought.

She is part of the goods kidnapped from the slums. In this particular era where the monsters are running rampant, there are quite a lot of children left behind because their guardians or parents died.

There are always children who have no relatives and are unemployed. While the orphanages accepts such children, there is a limit to how many they could take in. They are unable to save all of them because of limited budget and the number of children they can receive.

So what happens to the leftover children?

The bigger half was mostly hanging on by a thin thread and dying, while the others did bad things by getting involved with stealing. These orphans who had nowhere to go, would grow up in the slums and stay there. Hence — The kingdom which did not have a perfect management, was not able to detect if one or two child went missing.

In that sense, orphans are kidnapped and sold to customers as slaves— This is the work that these men were doing.

In order to ban slavery, the kingdom has deemed this trade illegal.

But demand exists.

There are those who used them as pure workers, those who used them as outlets for sex, and those who used them as sacrifices for evil rites or even alchemy materials…… And all sorts of gruesome things that are not meant for public eyes.

As long as there are customers, the business for these men is established and the children that are unknown in the slums are kidnapped and sold.

This time they are stockpiling and confining their goods in the hideout because their delivery date is getting closer.

They had gathered information earlier and knew the adventurers are going to the sewers, so they hid in their hideout obediently in order not to be found.

However, the confined children went on a rampage and a few of them escaped from the confusion. They quickly caught their goods back, but there was one girl who evaded their capture.

Finally they caught and restrained the girl near the spot where the girl with chestnut hair was — And now things had arrived to this point.

[Hold on, stop.]

The leader commanded his men and listened carefully. Apart from the water flowing into the sewers, there seemed to be something abnormal mixed into it, like someone’s footsteps approaching towards them.

(Perhaps comrades of the girl with chestnut hair? Or adventurers?) — The leader wondered.

They heard the footsteps clearly now from the insides of the narrow crossroads. It was still a distance to notice his men. It was a bad situation as they did not not know whether to catch that person or to let that person go past them. He decide to extinguish his lantern and hide in the dark, hoping for the person to leave in the other direction, but if he did not it would be good to attack him in the dark.

He makes that judgment and sent signs to his subordinates who understood his intentions and extinguish the lights and hide their presence.

The footsteps became closer and they waited with bated breaths.

Once the lights are extinguished, their eyes gradually got used to the dark and the leader focus his eyes. He is able to see the contours of their enemy slightly, and when he considered the footsteps as well, he thought it was only one person out there.

(Then it will be good if we attacked him —) The leader scoffed in his mind.

(…… Wait, something is wrong.) There was a question that rose in the leader’s mind.

The enemy only had a blurred outline but no appearance on him. It was difficult for them to move in the sewers for long distances without the aid of the lantern’s light. In this near darkness, his appearance was completely unreadable, meaning that he did not carry a lantern along with him.

(Impossible—) It was difficult for adventurers to enter so deeply without the use of a lantern.

It was normal to prepare to prepare a light in order to do their quest.

(Who’s this person? Why did he come here for? Or is it a monster?)

There were many humanoid-like monsters, but they have never heard something like that appearing in the sewers. The leader becomes confused at this strange figure. The subordinates also have uneasy looks with this atmosphere. The unknown figure came to the crossroads.

(Are you going to come to us or move off—) The men thought.

But their desires were in vain because the footsteps stopped. It seems like the figure stood there and did not move.

(Damn you, bastard! Did you lose your way or something? Quickly get lost now!) The leader shouted in his heart.

But the unknown figure is not even moving a little.

(Did you realize something is over here? Then why don’t you do something?) The leader had the color of impatience on him. He had no idea what that figure was thinking when he stopped there.

His sense of time is becoming dull. They felt like they are trapped where they stood for a long time, even though a short amount of time passed by, and desperately held their breaths which are becoming rough.

Some men even fall into a state where they ask themselves how they got into this situation.

That person, moves—

(No! He disappeared!)

(What the hell is going on—)

They fell into complete confusion. They did not know what that person’s intention was, and felt like they met something different from an undead, and more like a mysterious ghost.

There was no mistaking it, that unknown figure was gone.

[Oi, get the lanterns lit up now!] The leader demanded with a rough voice.

When they lit up the area they found nothing there. Their tension was gone and they exhaled with great relief.

Even though the area where they were at had putrid air and not fresh they simply needed take in air, even if just a little.

[In any case I don’t want to know or have anything to do with that. Let’s leave right now.]

Everyone agreed and went past the crossroad.

*Clank—*

A sound echoed from behind.

It was as if something was thrown from behind.

The men timidly turned around their backs.

There was a —. A person was there.

(Impossible, it can’t be. There was no presence just then. We just confirmed nothing was there earlier when we went past the crossroads!)

[Hiii—]

The person who was holding on to the lantern dropped it, and the area was once again shrouded in darkness. Everyone believed there was some unknown entity there, but this time it was different compared to before.

It was walking towards them.

[Shit!!!]

The leader throws his knife at the ghost. Even though he has not gotten used to the darkness yet and is not able to see the figure well, he is able to throw it roughly based on his position. There was also the fact that he could hear the footsteps in the water, so the knife should have struck it.

But the knife is cut down from the air.

The sound of the water being violently struck echoed against the walls, as though the figure had gotten angry from the thrown knife and is venting his anger by striking the water on the ground.

(No good, no matter how I look at it nothing’s going to work—)

The men shuddered with fear. The unidentified ghost has treated the knife as a hostile act. The slow footsteps from before immediately came at them at a quick pace.

— You have angered me. No mercy will be shown. —

This illusion presented itself before them.
(If we get caught— We’re going to die. There was no mistaking it, the unknown ghost was aiming for us. If we get caught we’re going to be turned into dreadful corpses.)

The men trembled with fear until their teeth were chattering. Someone took a step back, and as if they agreed to retreat together next, the rest of the men stepped back as well.

They were already in a state of complete panic.

[Uwaaaaa!]

Someone screamed while he fled. The terror spread and everyone starts running away as well. But the unknown ghost continued to chase them.

— I won’t let you escape. —

The men desperately run as fast as they can to escape from the demon. They do not know where they are running to because of the darkness and terror. But if they stop they will become prey to the ghost. Even though they understand how many misdeeds they have done and do not think they will have a decent ending , they do not wish to die in a place like this.

In any case they run blindly in order to distance themselves from the ghost.

(— How long did we run for?)

They can still hear footsteps in the water behind them. Their mental exhaustion had already reached its peak.

(I want to escape from the ghost and this darkness, what should I do—) These thoughts fill their minds.

[Boss, take a look in front of us!]

They see a place which is a little brighter from the distance. They wondered if it will help if they run to that place, and their desires come boiling up as they decide to clutch at this straw and run.

[Alright, let’s escape to that direction!]

At their leader’s command they run away with a final burst of strength.

They finally reach a bright place. After climbing up the stairs, they fall onto the ground at the same time because of their exhaustion. Their sweat came in streams and they keep breathing hard. They do not even have the strength to run anymore. But as a result of that, the ghost is no longer chasing them.

Everyone is relieved and even laugh as they got up.

[Ahh— I want to hear something from you lot.] A sudden voice enter their ears.

The men are startled as they thought it is the ghost which chased after them, but it is a medium-build man who called out to them.

They saw who it was and released their guard.

[That girl over there is a member of our guild. She was late in bringing back the adventurers so I came to search for her. But somehow she is with all of you, tied up and knocked out.]

The space behind the man is filled with adventurers.

[Do you understand your situation? Well then, can you give us an explanation that I can accept?]

The sullen man speaks with a voice that penetrated them like a freezing cold, and a new fear is carved into the men’s bodies.

Report error

If you found broken links, wrong episode or any other problems in a anime/cartoon, please tell us. We will try to solve them the first time.

Email:

SubmitCancel

Share