Future Knight [EN]: Chapter 72

From the moment Kang Chan and his group entered the restaurant, a man who had been eyeing them lecherously licked his lips and muttered,

“Heh heh… to find not just one, but four top-grade ‘goods’ like that in a place like this.”

Judging by the way he objectified people and referred to them as ‘goods,’ it seemed he was no stranger to human trafficking.

The man sitting next to him was equally excited.

“M-Master! One of them is an Elf! An Elf!”

Elves were a reclusive race that lived almost exclusively in forests, making them incredibly rare.

And because they generally despised humans, it was unusual to see an Elf openly associating with them.

The assumption was that she was an Elf who had been exiled from her forest home.

“I see it too. Heh heh heh…”

“Judging by their demeanor, they seem like some naive young nobles.”

Indeed, the clothes that Jikyon and Loki were wearing were far beyond the means of commoners.

In these times of rampant murder, looting, and rape, fueled by war-torn public sentiment and weakened security, their carefree appearance and lack of luggage made them look like walking gold bars.

“Hmm, seeing as they’re traveling without a carriage, they don’t seem to be from a particularly prominent family.”

It was almost unheard of for children from well-known families to travel without a proper escort and carriage.

“I’ll make them realize firsthand that this world isn’t as forgiving as they think.”

Although Elves were naturally stronger than humans, he commanded 100 mercenaries and, more importantly, two Sword Expert-level knights—a rare and formidable asset.

With that much power, subduing an Elf would be relatively easy.

The leader’s cruel smile morphed into a lecherous one.

His mind was already painting vivid pictures of the Elf beneath him, moaning in his grasp.

‘Ugh! Just imagining it is making my blood rush south.’

The leader, jolted back to reality from his crude fantasies, ordered his subordinate with a predatory glint in his eyes.

“Get rid of them by any means necessary, today…”

“Yes, Master! I’ll see it done immediately!”

The man called leader was named Schucrim De Gaulle Gabed.

Despite his somewhat comical name, he was the eldest son of Schucrim De Gaulle Shabed, the owner of the infamous Schucrim Merchant Guild, and the leader in charge of the western region.

His primary reason for being here was to buy up the highest quality weapons produced in the Dwarf villages nestled around the Montana Mountains and resell them at a hefty profit on the battlefields.

At the same time, they ran a lucrative side business of human trafficking, and they had already kidnapped dozens of men and women on this trip.

It was hard to make a living these days, and you had to do what you had to do to survive… but their ‘side business’ was an act that completely abandoned any semblance of humanity.

As an unusual tension filled the restaurant, Kang Chan, sensing the shift in atmosphere, locked eyes with the rough-looking mercenaries at the other tables.

“There’s something strange in the air, isn’t there?”

“Yeah, looks like we’re about to have some fun, whether we like it or not.”

Jikyon was smiling with an excited glint in her eyes, a stark contrast to her previous sulky expression.

Just as a dark hand was about to reach out to the four individuals with beauty comparable to Elves, a woman approached Kang Chan and his group.

A striking beauty with black hair that framed her face perfectly. She exuded a strength that was no less imposing than a man’s.

“What’s the matter?”

The woman spoke in a hushed voice, careful not to be overheard.

“Run away right now.”

“Pardon?”

“Are you people out of your minds? Or are you just plain stupid?”

Kang Chan was taken aback by the woman’s sudden appearance and her blunt warning, treating them as if they were fools.

“What’s your reason for saying that?”

The black-haired woman sighed heavily at Kang Chan’s question.

“Hoo… do you even know who those people over there are before you decided to eat here?”

“Why would we care who they are?”

“Why would you care? They’re the infamous Schucrim Merchant Guild, known for their terrible reputation across the continent.”

“Schucrim? What does that have to do with us?”

“They’re a shameless guild that snatches up people like you… no, people with good looks, and sells them off as slaves.”

The black-haired woman glanced at Kang Chan and blushed slightly.

His face was even more handsome up close.

Not only him, but the other members of his group were as beautiful as figures from a royal painting.

Indeed, Schucrim had every reason to covet them.

As someone deeply involved in the business world, she estimated their collective value to be worth at least a castle.

Especially that Elf woman. Her value was probably equivalent to a luxurious mansion.

The value of an Elf was, quite literally, whatever someone was willing to pay, and it would start at a minimum of 10,000 gold at auction.

Moreover, there was the green-haired woman with beauty that rivaled her own.

If it weren’t for the fact that she was human, she would be considered even more ‘high-grade’ than the Elf.

The value of that voluptuous green-haired woman would also be considerable.

She could probably fetch at least 5,000 gold for her.

And then there was the sickly-looking boy next to her.

It was hard to tell whether he was a boy or a girl, and he was even wearing girl’s clothes, which made it even more confusing, but she knew at a glance that Loki was a boy.

If he was well-packaged and sold on the slave market, there would be a line of perverted noblewomen eager to buy him.

And finally, the man facing her…

He exuded a mysterious aura that was distinctly different from the people of this continent.

Jet-black hair, black eyes, a cold demeanor, and a chilling gaze. But his features were as beautiful and delicate as a woman’s…

He was so captivating that even she felt a fleeting urge to abandon her morals and kidnap him herself.

“Who are you to say all that?”

The woman, realizing she hadn’t introduced herself in her haste, finally offered her name.

“Ah, I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Mu Kalina, the leader of the Kalina Merchant Guild.”

“So you’re also someone who belongs to a guild.”

There was a subtle barb in Kang Chan’s words.

Because she was also a merchant, she might be feigning concern while secretly plotting to exploit them.

But she, a merchant skilled in reading people, couldn’t have missed Kang Chan’s suspicion.

“Certainly, I am also a person who leads a guild, but our guild would never engage in anything as vile as human trafficking, which completely abandons humanity.”

She made it clear that she had not approached them with malicious intent. But Kang Chan remained impassive.

“Thank you for your concern, but you don’t have to worry about us.”

“I’m not worried, I’m warning you.”

“Then let’s just leave it at that.”

“…”

Mu Kalina felt she had wasted her time on this man who was neither surprised nor nervous, and she returned to her seat.

‘I don’t know where he gets that confidence, but it’s none of my business what happens now… he was a man I liked after a long time, and his group became the target of the Schucrim Merchant Guild…’

Mu Kalina felt a pang of regret. But now she had no choice but to distance herself from them.

She couldn’t risk endangering her entire guild by going up against the Schucrim Merchant Guild for the sake of unknown travelers.

The size of the guild she had brought this time was less than half the size of the Schucrim Merchant Guild, and their intentions were already hostile because of the Dwarf-made weapons they had purchased first.

They were likely looking for any excuse to cause trouble.

The Schucrim Merchant Guild, boasting two Sword Experts while her guild had only one, might easily transform into masked bandits at any moment.

In this precarious situation, trying to protect the unfortunate travelers would only provide them with the pretext they needed to start a fight.

The travelers in front of her simply weren’t worth that much risk.

‘Still, I hope you somehow make it through…’

Mu Kalina, turning away and pretending not to notice, silently prayed for the safety of the man who had stirred her heart.

“Hey, don’t trust her. They’re all the same.”

“But what that woman, Mu Kalina, said seemed genuine.”

“You don’t know anything about merchants.”

While Jikyon and Kang Chan were discussing merchants, a waiter approached and handed them four glasses of fresh fruit juice.

It was top-grade fruit juice, made with fresh ingredients that you wouldn’t expect to find in such a rundown inn, and even contained cold ice.

Even Elika, an Elf with a deep love for fruit, couldn’t help but swallow her saliva.

But Kang Chan, who hadn’t ordered any fruit juice, questioned the waiter.

“We didn’t order this?”

“This is from the gentleman over there.”

The group turned their heads to where the waiter was pointing, and Pedro, Schucrim’s right-hand man, smiled kindly and slightly raised his hand to acknowledge that he had sent the fruit juice.

In terms of appearance alone, he exuded nobility from head to toe, and his face was the picture of benevolence.

He certainly had the perfect face for a merchant.

Kang Chan, politely bowing his head in acknowledgment, said to Jikyon.

“Check it.”

“Oh, just a moment.”

Jikyon dipped her little finger into the fruit juice and tasted it, then smiled brightly and said.

“Bingo! Enough to knock an ordinary human out for three days straight? It’s quite a potent sleeping draught.”

A dark murderous intent settled in Kang Chan’s eyes.

“Those bastards dare to think I’m an easy target!”

As Kang Chan’s hand instinctively moved towards his sword, Jikyon stopped him.

“Hey! Wait a minute!”

“Why?”

“It’s no fun if we just kill them outright, right?”

“Then?”

“The fact that there’s sleeping pills in the fruit juice means there’s definitely an accomplice inside the inn, and there must be other victims being held captive besides us.”

“You mean?”

“Root and branch!”

“Root and branch?”

“Yeah, let’s pretend to be fooled for now and uproot them completely…”

Jikyon’s eyes were now filled with as much murderous intent as Kang Chan’s. Kang Chan smiled softly as he looked at her.

“That’s the first thing I’ve liked in a while?”

“First thing in a while? You’re going to get it.”

Jikyon glared at Kang Chan and then looked at Loki and Elika, saying,

“Okay, gather around. We’re going into a strategy meeting now.”

“Yes.”

Thus, Jikyon’s emergency strategy meeting began, and the other three couldn’t help but shudder at her ingenious and cruel ideas.

After a while, all preparations were complete. Now all that was left was to put their plan into action.

“Okay, let’s start phase one of the operation!”

“Yes!”

At the signal for the start of phase one of the operation, everyone naturally began to drink the fruit juice.

Of course, the fruit juice had already been detoxified by Jikyon’s magic.

Soon, the four of them pretended to be sleepy and staggered, feigning drowsiness one by one.

“Ahem! Why am I so sleepy?”

“Snore… snore…”

Pedro, who was watching from afar, cheered inwardly.

“Nice! You idiots, you actually drank it!”

Pedro hadn’t truly expected them to fall for it.

In a world as dangerous as this, he didn’t believe that these apparent noble children, who clearly weren’t starving farmers, would readily accept and drink something given to them by a stranger.

But as it turned out, they were truly naive noble children.

He was a little disappointed that he couldn’t use the next move he had prepared, but with the heart of a fisherman who had just landed a big catch, he carefully moved Kang Chan and his group outside with the help of his subordinates.

Pedro was already savoring the thought of the riches that would come his way from this job.

“Here! Thanks for your hard work.”

“Hehehe, thank you, sir.”

Kang Chan, who had been squinting his eyes, caught sight of the employee receiving a money bag from Pedro and gritted his teeth inwardly.

‘That bastard… yeah, laugh now…’

The employee, who rushed to the kitchen as soon as his task was complete and opened the money bag, couldn’t contain his excitement at the dazzling gleam of the gold coins.

It was enough money to spend a month rolling around with a barmaid.

“You stupid bastard, you should have been more generous with the tips. Hehehe! Wait for me, Maria… I’m coming! Hehehe!”

The employee’s face was flushed with anticipation at the thought of running to Maria and indulging in a month of revelry, and he couldn’t help but whistle.

However, he was about to receive an unexpected ‘tip’ from Kang Chan tonight.

A tip called death.

“I even went out of my way to warn them, but they readily accepted it!”

Mu Kalina couldn’t help but be shocked as she watched Kang Chan and his group being dragged out by the Schucrim Merchant Guild’s mercenaries while seemingly under the influence of sleeping pills.

However, she couldn’t bring herself to intervene, even after seeing them being dragged away.

Because Schucrim was watching her from afar, gesturing for her to keep her mouth shut and stay out of it.