Chapter 118
The plan Aurora proposed to Leon just before they entered the underground.
It was an infiltration mission in disguise.
Aurora as a young lady escorted by Carl, Leon as a runaway slave from somewhere.
Infiltration was indeed a good plan.
If they could figure out the layout inside, it would help them protect the kidnapped young ladies and identify the organization's escape routes.
There was, however, one question.
“Why am I the only one who's not in disguise, just a slave?”
“But slaves can't hide their status. Still, a slave and a runaway slave are different, right?”
What exactly is different about that?
Leon wanted to argue that, but he couldn't bring himself to.
This plan was the way for both Leon and Aurora to slip underground without causing a fuss.
They planned it out and carried it through.
While Aurora spoke to Bran at the front gate, Leon went around to the other side.
If there was an underground, there ought to be a path leading downward too.
Heightening his senses to the maximum, he read the air currents and found an abandoned water conduit with no guards, then slipped inside.
The passage was blocked by a pile of rocks, but breaking through it was no trouble at all.
After that, he joined up with Aurora, who had come in through the front gate. That was how Leon ended up begging in front of her.
Aurora met Leon's gaze, then calmly started acting.
“Who is that?”
“He looks like a runaway slave. Now and then, one of them sneaks down into the underground.”
Bran sized Leon up.
He had a handsome face.
For a slave, his clothes were neat, and he didn't look starved at all.
He didn't even have the roughness typical of a slave worn down by labor, so he was probably some rich lady's plaything.
A slave kept close to the bedroom and groomed to look good.
Thinking that way made his overly tidy face and neat clothes understandable.
“And you?”
“I was hoping I could get something to eat... Please, I'm begging you. Please help me.”
“This little shit looks like he's been eating better than me, and he's begging? You want to die? I'm busy, so don't get in my way and get lost!”
Bran shoved Leon away coldly.
Then he clung to the hem of Aurora's skirt instead.
“Miss, would you spare some charity for this poor slave who suffered like hell under an absolutely rotten, mean-tempered master and barely managed to escape?”
Aurora's brows twitched.
“How bad was your master?”
“It's hard to explain in words. He keeps threatening to make me write things for him every day and whatnot... Ugh, does he not have hands or feet? I really thought I was going to lose my mind.”
“...He really was an awful master. People like that should be punished.”
“Exactly. I'm so glad I escaped.”
Seeing his chance, Leon casually tossed out words that could've been serious or a joke.
Aurora ground her teeth silently.
“This bastard, seriously.”
Bran, who had been listening quietly beside them, scowled.
Just as he was about to kick Leon, Aurora reacted first.
“Wait a second.”
“Why? You should chase off little mosquito pests like him.”
Aurora paid no mind to Bran's racket beside her.
She rummaged inside her robes and took out a small coin.
“Here.”
It was a copper coin.
Leon looked back and forth between the copper coin and Aurora's face.
“If you're going to give me something, can't you give me more?”
“More?”
“Yes.”
Even if it was just acting, one lousy copper coin was a bit much. With people watching, it stung his pride a little.
It felt like jokingly asking a lover for their phone number, only to get shut down.
A playful smile curved Aurora's lips.
“Then say, 'Noona, you're so pretty.'”
“…Huh?”
“Noona, you're so pretty. You're the most beautiful in the world. Say that, and I'll give this to you.”
What she pulled out as she said that was a gold coin.
Bran's eyes went wide. Murmurs broke out among the onlookers.
A gold coin was far too much to give a slave as charity.
‘This woman is for real.’
Leon ended up in an awkward spot too.
Normally, he'd have kicked away that kind of tyranny from a vicious master trying to buy favor with money.
But the money was too much to refuse. It was the kind of amount a slave had to accept no matter what humiliation came with it.
If Leon let his pride show here, the whole scene would look wrong. It would draw suspicion.
It was all according to Aurora's plan.
Aurora waved the gold coin, her eyes smiling like crescents.
‘Aren't you going to do it? People will think it's strange.’
That was the look in her eyes.
Aurora was the one in trouble because she couldn't rescue the young ladies, but she wasn't the only one in a bind.
The more Leon had to please Aurora, his master, the better his chances of freedom became, even if only a little.
Whether Aurora knew that or not, this time she showed no sign of backing down.
“…You're really pretty.”
Leon had no choice but to give in this time.
After all, he had been the one to start the bickering by calling her a nasty-tempered master and the like.
“Mm? What was that? I can't hear you well.”
“Noona, you're really pretty.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“More beautiful than Lady Edelheid?”
“…What?”
Leon froze for a moment when, at such an odd time, the name of a completely unexpected person suddenly popped out.
Because Aurora and Renoa had absolutely no connection whatsoever.
He wondered if she'd misspoken, but the fact that she was waiting for an answer made it seem like a sincere question.
‘Who is prettier, huh...’
If he seriously thought it over, it was hard to tell which one came out on top.
Renoa was the proud, haughty cool-beauty type who lived off her own looks.
She had the charisma of a queen, coolly spitting venom with a blank expression.
The sort of type that would be wildly popular with people who had that fetish.
On the other hand, Aurora.
A playful, soft-feeling older-sister-next-door type.
She was older and an imperial princess, but had absolutely no charisma, so being with her was annoying yet strangely comforting.
If you asked which was prettier, honestly, all he could say was that it came down to taste.
“You're taking a while to answer...?”
But whatever his taste, there was only one correct answer in this situation.
“Noona, you're prettier.”
“Really?”
“Yes. You're the most beautiful in the world.”
“Hehe.”
Aurora only then looked satisfied and handed the gold coin to Leon.
“Here, it's a gift from the world's most beautiful noona. Buy something tasty with it.”
“…….”
“Shall we go?”
Aurora and Bran moved again.
Bran turned his head and glanced back at Leon.
“Why did you give him a gold coin? If you let those kinds of guys have a taste once, they cling to you forever.”
Aurora shrugged and answered indifferently.
“Because he's cute.”
“What?”
“His face is my type. I was already smitten from the first time I saw him.”
“…….”
Bran was momentarily speechless.
She gave him a gold coin just because his face was her type?
Meanwhile, someone else had been abandoned even by his own mother just for being ugly.
‘What a fucked-up world.’
But that anger didn't last long.
His resentment toward this unfair world would be handled by comrades in the same boat.
“Phew.”
Once Aurora had gotten some distance away, Leon, who had been crouching on the floor, slowly stood up.
The gold coin glittered in his hand.
In a way, it was the first money he had earned since coming to this other world.
He never would have expected to make money by flattery instead of labor.
-ting.
Leon flicked the gold coin, then caught it as it spun.
‘You're dead when you get home.’
How dare the master bully the slave?
He'd have to take revenge somehow.
-ting.
Leon flicked the gold coin once more.
The scenery around him was reflected on the gleaming surface of the gold coin.
A group of shadows approached Leon.
“Hey.”
A rough voice scraped out, as if tearing at the throat.
Leon slowly turned around with the gold coin in hand.
“A slave punk carrying something nice? Don't even think about hiding it. We saw you get it from that lady just now.”
“Count yourself lucky. We'll take care of it for you.”
This was an underground den where the capital's criminals and vagrants, especially the most vicious among them, ended up.
In a place like that, a mere slave had received a gold coin in full view of everyone.
That was neither luck nor mercy. It was just a mark that hastened death.
So, as if they had agreed beforehand, they all approached with their greed laid bare.
That was why Bran had left so readily.
“Phew.”
Leon let out another sigh.
“I'm busy today, so don't touch me and just go away.”
“Did that slave punk get a gold coin and lose his mind or something? What are you talking about?”
“I'm a knight, you know. Just leave and I'll let it slide.”
The men looked at each other's faces and burst out laughing.
“Hey! This bastard's gone crazy. Beat him up until he comes to his senses!”
The thugs came charging at him, each with a knife.
Leon had shown mercy in his own way, but unfortunately, a slave can't hide their status.
‘Then there's no helping it.’
Then I guess I'll have to beat them to a pulp.
***
Aurora went with Bran into the deepest part of the underground den.
She hadn't seen Leon since they parted earlier, but from what had happened before, she knew there was no need to worry.
Above all, the people who viewed young ladies as mere merchandise would never hurt her.
If she got hurt, her value would drop.
As they made their way deeper without incident, the atmosphere began to change in a strange way.
The smell of alcohol, too.
The rowdy laughter, too.
All of it receded.
Aurora unknowingly slowed her pace. She could tell instinctively.
‘So this is it.’
The place where the young ladies were being held.
When Aurora slowed, Bran turned around to look back.
“What's wrong?”
“I'm a little scared. I feel like we've gone too deep.”
Bran snorted a laugh.
It was a dry laugh that seemed to say, 'Now you realize that?'
“Don't worry. If you've come this far, you're actually safer.”
“Is that so?”
“Of course. Outsiders can't get in carelessly, and the people inside won't touch you.”
“…….”
“We're here.”
Bran stopped in front of the iron door at the end of the old brick passage.
Two armed men stood on either side of the iron door. They were nothing like the thugs Aurora had seen on the underground streets.
They were much rougher, their presence far sharper and more vicious.
If you maxed out the Evil stat required for knight recruitment, wouldn't this be exactly the vibe?
Just looking at them was enough to make her feel strangely intimidated.
“New merchandise?”
One of the men guarding the iron door asked in a low, weighty voice.
“Yeah. This'll probably be the last one.”
“Hmm.”
The man's gaze went to Aurora.
He checked her from head to toe.
As if checking the condition of a piece of merchandise.
“Top-grade, huh.”
“Right?”
“Caught on the very last day, no less. What awful luck for a woman.”
The man looked down at Aurora and asked,
“Name.”
“I'm Lora.”
“House?”
“That...”
Aurora trailed off.
It was fine to hide her identity, but it was hard to time when to reveal it.
Now?
Or should she hold out a little longer?
“Forget it. We don't have time. Let's check inside.”
While Aurora was thinking, the time to reveal her identity passed.
-thunk, thunk.
The man knocked on the iron door.
A moment later, they heard the bolt being drawn back from inside, and the door opened.
The musty smell peculiar to the underground.
And faintly mixed in among it was the scent of perfume oil.
It was a scent favored by aristocratic young ladies.
Aurora's grip tightened.
“Go in.”
Aurora slowly stepped inside the iron door.
She followed the long passage straight down.
The scene that appeared not long after made Aurora's mind go blank for a moment.
Iron bars stretched long to the left and right.
Confinement spaces built with iron bars, like animal cages.
“Th-this...”
There were more than several dozen women locked up there.