The Failure Marquis Is A Genius [EN]: Chapter 68

Chapter 9: The Smelly Scoundrel

“You’re the ones who are trapped, not me.”

In this confined space, my only ally was Zion.

I confidently declared this in a 2 vs. 50 situation. The Twilight Church members, led by Alfredo, exchanged glances and then chuckled.

“He’s definitely lost it.”

“I’ve seen guys like him before. They can’t accept their impending death and deny reality. Usually, a few stabs set them straight.”

They were overconfident, relying solely on their numbers.

I decided to show them what true reality was.

“I’ll show you something amazing.”

Whoooom!!

Silver-green light erupted powerfully from the Heavenly Demon Sword.

Having recently reached Expert Intermediate level, and with a mana sword infused with dragon blood, it exuded an intense aura.

“!!!”

“Could it be… no way?”

They were the ones denying reality.

The atmosphere grew uneasy.

Sword users might not understand, but Experts were skilled enough to make numbers meaningless.

“What are you so afraid of! We have Experts on our side too.”

Mana soared from Alfredo’s sword.

However, its light was much fainter than mine, and the mana itself flickered unsteadily, failing to solidify on the blade.

It was clear that he was a top-tier User trying to force out a mana sword to appear like an Expert.

“See! It’s a mana sword! Anyone who knows a bit about swords can do it, so there’s nothing to fear.”

“Oh yeah? Then how about this?”

Fwoooosh!!!

Deep purple light erupted from behind.

This time, it was Zion’s turn.

From the two daggers she held in reverse grip, thick, distinct sword energy flickered like a snake’s tongue.

Not one, but two Experts.

The Twilight Church members were starting to realize something was wrong.

“Let’s retreat for now.”

The eyes of the Twilight Church members, who were slowly backing away, turned towards the iron door, their only escape route.

Seeing the metal bar twisted and blocking the handle, despair finally crept into their eyes.

“Damn it.”

“Since it’s come to this, let’s just destroy everything!”

“Aaaaargh!!!”

Moths throwing themselves into a bright flame.

The Twilight Church members went wild.

In an instant, the gray iron door was covered in bright red bloodstains.

Zion weaved through the weapon-wielding men with graceful steps.

Her movements resembled a work of art rather than a fight.

Enemies caught in her S-shaped path had holes in their hearts or throats.

On the other hand, I moved methodically.

I didn’t even need to use Druid abilities.

I systematically dealt with the approaching enemies using the swordsmanship taught by the Heavenly Demon, and then stabbed the fleeing ones in the back.

The curves of the blade, filling every direction, cut off the opponent’s breath.

In an instant, 2 vs. 50 became 2 vs. 1.

Alfredo, covered in blood, leaned against the wall, panting heavily, and looked at Zion and me with fearful eyes.

The man, his fighting spirit broken, soon lowered his sword.

“Who are you people?”

His tone was polite, unlike before.

Indeed, strong force is a sure way to instill manners.

“Why should a guy who’s about to become fish food need to know my identity?”

I repeated Alfredo’s words back to him. Alfredo dropped his sword and knelt down.

“Please, spare me.”

“If you were me, would you spare me?”

“The underwater cave is quite large and the paths are complex. If you spare me, I will guide you and even show you the treasure vault stored in the auction house.”

A tempting offer.

Zion’s sword tip wavered slightly.

“Master, what do you want to do?”

“If what he says is true, he might be worth sparing.”

Alfredo’s eyes filled with joy at the mention of sparing him.

“Thank you! I will never forget this favor!”

“Isn’t it too early to be grateful? Because it doesn’t necessarily have to be you who gets spared.”

“…Yes?”

Alfredo wore a blank expression.

I fixed my gaze on the rabbit-masked woman who had guided me at the auction house.

She was lying face down, pretending to be dead, but she couldn’t escape my keen eyes.

“So, what do you think? If only one of you can live, will you yield your life to Alfredo?”

“No! Please spare me!”

The rabbit-masked woman, realizing she had been discovered, jumped up and begged for her life.

“I know everything. From the slave warehouse to the location of the auction house treasures that old man has embezzled. So please, spare me instead of him!”

Hearing the rabbit-masked woman’s words, Alfredo was furious and denounced her.

“You dirty bitch! How dare you betray me!”

“Shut up! What does it matter when I’m about to die!”

“You impudent wench. I should have killed you sooner.”

“I’m tired of catering to your flamboyant temper anyway, so it’s a good thing. Please, kill that man!”

The two engaged in a chaotic dogfight.

Zion and I made eye contact, and she shrugged.

It was a silent gesture that she would leave the decision to me.

The decision was not difficult.

If they both knew the same amount of information, it was easier to keep the rabbit-masked woman, who had significantly less power, than a skilled fighter who might try to escape.

Swoosh!!

Alfredo’s head fell.

The rabbit-masked woman, realizing she was alive, sighed in relief and began to spill everything she knew.

“Guide us to the slave storage first. I want to see the slaves.”

“Understood.”

She led us to the slave storage.

When we arrived, it was such a terrible environment that it was hard to tell whether it was a barn or a prison.

“This is terrible.”

Even Zion, who had seen all sorts of things, covered her mouth and grimaced.

Narrow iron bars were closely spaced, and inside, slaves, barely covering their vital parts, were chained and unable to move.

The excrement of the slaves flowed down some of the iron bars and dripped onto the floor.

“What about these slaves here?”

“This is where slaves who are not sold at auction or secured through spies are temporarily stored.”

“Are these slaves being sent to Greed?”

“How did you know…?”

“Just answer.”

“Yes.”

I watched the slaves with a lost look in their eyes and murmured softly.

“Open the iron doors.”

“…Yes?”

“Are you deaf? Open the iron doors.”

“Even if they are discarded goods, they are worth enough to make a profit if sold…”

“Do you want to die here?”

Zion said briefly, and the rabbit-masked woman hurriedly opened the entrances to the iron bars one by one.

There were only a hundred slaves gathered.

The emaciated slaves were quiet, unsure of how to react to the sudden situation.

They should have run away, but it seemed they had learned that resisting would result in beatings, which made me feel bitter.

“You must be wondering what’s going on.”

I stepped forward for those slaves.

“The people in charge here are all dead. In other words, you are free.”

At first, people were skeptical.

However, after persuading them several times and explaining the situation in detail, they finally realized that freedom had come and shed tears of joy.

“Hee hee hee!!”

“Thank you! Thank you so much!”

“Oh, God!”

Each person expressed it differently, but it was clear that everyone was happy.

I gave them two options, like the slave Yuchal I had rescued last time.

The first was to leave the underwater cave and take some travel expenses to find their hometown or acquaintances.

The second was to cross the Northern Goblin Sea to Albus Territory and become a member of the Blue Hawk Mercenary.

About fifty people chose the former, and twenty chose the latter.

And the remaining thirty presented a new third alternative instead of the options I had suggested.

“We want revenge.”

They were people who had already lost the driving force to sustain their lives in the process of becoming slaves.

All that remained was infinite animosity towards those who had made them this way, and the evil and grit to carry it out.

Looking at the thirty slaves with bloodshot eyes, I realized how to use them.

“Actually, I know the culprit who made you like this. It’s Greed, the Twilight’s chief executive. I’m planning to catch that cunning weasel tomorrow, and if you want, I’ll include you in the operation.”

They couldn’t refuse.

Those whose only goal in life was revenge decided to follow me.

It was a good thing for me, as I needed disguised slaves to deceive Greed.

* * *

After finishing the slave cleanup.

The rabbit-masked woman then showed me the auction item warehouse that Alfredo had secretly embezzled.

Apparently, this woman was something like Alfredo’s concubine, so she knew about such a warehouse.

It wasn’t very important information.

The golden feast spread out before my eyes completely captivated my attention.

“My goodness, I don’t know how he hid so many auction items, trying to dispose of them.”

Zion also clicked her tongue.

Even I thought it was too much.

With that much wealth, Alfredo, who was middle-aged, wouldn’t have been able to spend it all before he died.

“Let’s take it first.”

A portrait by a famous painter.

Porcelain by a top-notch potter.

A royal flag from hundreds of years ago.

Ultra-expensive magical artifacts.

Nearly a million gold worth of prized possessions all went into the subspace gourd. Looking at it, the height of the golden mountain became a little higher than when I first saw it. I came to the auction house to spend money, but somehow my wealth has increased even more.

The rabbit-masked woman was startled when the treasure that had been piled up in front of her disappeared into thin air and flailed her arms.

“Where did it all go?”

“Is that important now? Guide us to the exit first.”

At my cold tone, the rabbit-masked woman felt her life threatened and began to guide us.

Behind us, the rescued slaves followed in two rows, like playing a train.

Finally, I could smell the sea.

We had returned to the southern bay of Liang.

The slaves, breathing in the fresh air, were moved and knelt down, sobbing.

As I watched them, the rabbit-masked woman, who had approached me, leaned her body excessively close.

Then, she cooed in a nasal voice and acted cute.

“I kept all my promises as you told me to. Hehe. So, I can go now, right?”

She certainly kept her promises.

She guided us, released the slaves, and showed us Alfredo’s secret warehouse.

So, I decided to give her a reward for it.

“Yes, you can go. Go to the afterlife.”

Stab!!

Zion, who had been exuding killing intent since the rabbit-masked woman rubbed her body against me, seized the opportunity and drew her sword, stabbing her heart like lightning.

The woman, realizing she had been deceived, distorted her face like a demon, spat out blood, and cursed.

“Damn you… you look decent, but you act like a scoundrel… Keugh…”

“I’ve heard the word scoundrel so many times that it’s nothing new. Repent for your sins in death.”

“Damn it…”

From the beginning, I had no intention of sparing the Twilight Church members who had dealt with slaves.

With the last Twilight Church member guarding the underwater cave gone, the Liang slave market came to an end.

* * *

Before sunrise, I hurriedly led the slaves to the association building where Tom was waiting.

When we arrived at the building, Campbell, who was bored and twisting his body, ran up to me and hugged me tightly.

His huge body hugged me with all his might, making it hard to breathe for a moment.

“Let go of this.”

“Vice-Captain! Why did it take you so long? I was so bored I thought I was going to die.”

“It hasn’t even been a day since I left.”

“Take me with you next time. I can’t stand being still here.”

“I will.”

Then I met Tom.

I reported the events that happened in the market to Tom in detail.

Then Tom wanted to meet the high elf Sasha first.

Sasha, who had been taken out of the slave storage, had been abandoned by her tribe and had such an outstanding appearance that she was too special to be among humans, so I brought her along with the slaves who wanted revenge.

With her silver hair swaying, she still wore a mysterious expression and stared blankly into the air with unfocused eyes.

“She’s a real high elf. A pureblood, too.”

Tom was impressed.

“How could an elf like Sasha be abandoned by her tribe? As far as I know, the elf race blindly protects their leaders, the high elves.”

I don’t have any idea either.

However, one thing I learned while taking the Golden Branch test was that elves are not much different from humans.

They also had power struggles when they disagreed with each other, were greedy to get what they wanted, and discriminated against the weak who had different points from them.

“Each has their own circumstances. Anyway, I’m worried about what to do with Sasha.”

Greed had mentioned her separately, so Sasha was absolutely necessary to deceive him.

But I was also concerned about taking a pitiful girl who had just escaped from slavery to an operation where life and death were at stake.

As I was wondering what to do, Sasha suddenly stood up and walked somewhere.

Everyone watched her with curious expressions, as she had not shown any particular movement until now.

Surprisingly, Sasha came to me.

She looked up at me intently.

Suddenly, she jumped up and hugged my waist tightly!

Tom and Campbell, who had not expected her sudden action, gaped, and Zion’s eyes widened as if she was dumbfounded.

I couldn’t even react and my body stiffened.

Sasha rubbed her head against my chest and said.

“You smell nice, mister.”