Then, one man stood by Aki and Masato to watch them as the other man approached Miharu. The man looked at her with perverted eyes and let out a jovial whistle, then reached for Miharu’s body with a lecherous movement, when —
“****! *** ****, *** ****!” The leader yelled angrily, making the man retract his hand in a hurry. With a click of his tongue, he snatched Miharu’s schoolbag and tied her hands in an impersonal manner.
Miharu froze as her body shook with an indescribable fear. The thudding in her heart didn’t cease, but when she made eye contact with a worried Aki and Masato, she forced a smile onto her face. Then, Miharu was dragged to the horses and tied to the saddle just like Aki and Masato.
...Was this the right choice? Miharu thought as she saw the despair in Aki and Masato’s expressions.
If Aki and Masato had tried to run earlier, the men might have killed one of them, and that was something she couldn’t allow. While being alive didn’t mean having hope, dying was most certainly the end.
“**** ***!” The leader gave a new order, and the men swiftly mounted their horses.
Miharu and the others were pulled along by the rope attached to the horse saddles and taken to the main party the men belonged to.
◇◇◇
Miharu and the others were taken to a run-down road that was clearly not maintained. On it were over ten wagons with horses that formed a line of two rows; they were surrounded by armed men who were protecting their contents.
Most of the wagons had their covers rolled up, exposing their interior platform to the open. However, the framework was made of a metal as sturdy as a jail cell, and inside were countless numbers of people in raggedy clothes.
For Miharu and the other two, who were raised in modern society, it was clear at this point that this was a different world. They could see the clear division of worlds between the imposingly armed men surrounding the wagon and the lifeless people inside the wagon. Miharu, Aki, and Masato could practically feel and see the bizarre aura hanging in the air about the group.
When the men — those who had broken off from the group to retrieve Miharu and the other two — returned, all the attention turned to them. The three were clearly wearing outfits that were out of place, drawing suspicious looks from the men. However, once the attention on their odd clothing died down, the men’s gazes were gradually drawn to Miharu’s appearance.
With her outfit and physical features (like her hair color, for instance), it was clear to the men that she was a foreigner. Her face was cute, with beautifully refined features, and her feminine body was truly charming — she was slender, but well-balanced. From her soft aura that managed to be both graceful and meek, her upbringing seemed to be on par with the nobility of this world.
A deceivingly gentle wind blew, ruffling both her checker-pleated skirt and glossy black hair that extended down her back. The men’s eyes widened at the sight.
Miharu could keenly feel the presumptuous gazes glued to her, and she stirred uncomfortably, averting her eyes.
“****?” A well-dressed man who had appeared from nowhere addressed the men who had taken the youngsters with a question. His eyes landed on their bindings and narrowed sharply.
“**********. ******, ****, *******? ********.” The leader looked at the three as he said something boastfully to the well-dressed man, then showed him the schoolbags that they’d been carrying.
“**, *******.” The well-dressed man took the schoolbags and inspected them, before voicing an impressed grunt.
He looked at the three of them, and with a gloating grin, he approached them with an appraising look in his eye. He examined their clothes fixedly from point-blank range, touching each of the fabrics and widening his eyes at the quality.
Next, the man set his eyes on the group, before he moved right before Miharu. When he saw her fearful face, a sadistic smile flashed across his own. “****, ******?” he asked, but Miharu couldn’t understand his words and only tilted her head timidly. In response, the well-dressed man put on a vulgar smile.
“*******. **********.” He pointed at Miharu, and jerked his chin at the men around him to follow his order; they jumped to respond promptly.
They pulled Miharu’s bound hands by the rope, leading her away. The wagon she was led to was of better quality than the others, having a proper cover that could serve as shelter from the elements.
Unable to bear the sight of Miharu being dragged away, Aki screamed. “Miharu, wait!”
“Aki-chan, I’ll be fine. You too, Masato-kun... Kya?!”
Miharu had turned around while being led away to smile at Aki and Masato, but the rope was violently yanked, making her lose her balance and nearly trip.
“Miharu!” Aki shouted in a panic.
“Kya?!”
“Whoa!!”
A sharp cracking sound echoed forth, making Aki and Masato shrink in on themselves. The source of the sound was from a whip, which the well-dressed man was controlling skilfully with his overweight body. He continued to swing the whip as a threat toward Aki and Masato.
“Uhh...” Aki had shriveled up completely.
“****. ** **** ***** *******.” The well-dressed man looked at Aki and Masato’s fearfulness and huffed through his nose with satisfaction, lowering his whip, then giving the men nearby an order.
The armed men stirred into action, this time dragging Aki and Masato to a wagon that was different than the one Miharu had been taken to.
With no other choice, Aki and Masato boarded the wagon; it had its platform exposed, and there were hordes of boys and girls around the age of ten gathered on board.
“M-Miharu... What should we do, Masato? What should we do...” Aki asked Masato. She stood in the wagon and grabbed the metal lattice, extremely upset.
“A-Aki, I know how you’re feeling, but it might be better to stay quiet,” Masato whispered to her, worried about their surroundings.
“What are you talking about...” Aki started to object in a sullen tone when she realized the other children on the wagon were glaring at them. She promptly shut her mouth.
There wasn’t an ounce of energy in their faces, but it was clear that they were admonishing Aki and Masato. Perhaps they wanted to tell them not to make a fuss and anger the guards.
“Let’s just sit down quietly for now. We don’t know what they’ll do if we cause a racket,” Masato whispered in her ear, before reading the situation and sitting down in the wagon. With that, Aki had no choice but to sit down next to Masato and hang her head in gloom.
Not long after that, the wagons that Miharu, Aki, and Masato were on departed. However, in no time at all, an uproar ensued. One of the guards at the side of the wagons pointed off the road and yelled something.
“...What?” Aki murmured, raising her head.
She nervously looked around the outside of the wagon and listened carefully. While she couldn’t understand their words, she figured some kind of disturbance had happened; at the same time, she felt a faint tinge of hope that she could use this chance to escape, despite the fact the door of the wagon was locked.
At that moment, Aki saw a figure approach from the side of the road, just next to the wagon where Miharu was. The figure looked to be a boy in his mid-teens.
“...Huh?”
The boy was dressed in an overcoat that she imagined served as travel gear in this world, but when the boy’s face entered her field of view, Aki gasped. His hair was gray, and he had an extremely refined face, but Aki’s attention wasn’t drawn to him because of that.
She had gasped because he seemed the closest to her — racially — than anyone else she had encountered in this world thus far. If she had to describe it, he looked like he was half-Asian.
The aforementioned boy came up to the wagon and started to say something to the guards. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the men were clearly being cautious around him.
Soon after that, the well-dressed man appeared to see what was going on. The boy said
something, to which the well-dressed man shook his head bluntly. They seemed to be arguing about something.
The gray-haired boy then briefly cast his eyes over the convoy of wagons, and the well-dressed man looked over at the wagon Aki and Masato were on. He soon looked away again, but his eyes had met with Aki’s for a second.
Did he come here to save us? Aki thought to herself hopefully, a strange uneasiness in her chest. The hope that sprouted in the midst of such a desperate situation might have only been that of pure optimism, but it was growing at an accelerating pace.
Aki was staring at the boy with a yearning gaze when, suddenly, the men around them hurriedly began to lower the cover of the exposed wagons. The cover of the wagon Aki and Masato were on was also lowered.
Why are they hiding us?
Aki felt a strong sense of suspicion. Should she take action and seek help? What if she had misread this situation? Doing so could cause her to face dire consequences later.
Would he even believe her circumstances to begin with? She didn’t know.
However, this could be the turning point in their destiny — the last possible chance for them to be saved. If that was the case, she couldn’t just sit around and wait.
Unable to withstand it any longer, Aki stood up with great vigor. “H-Help us!” she cried out desperately, seeking help from the boy.
The boy’s gaze met Aki’s eyes, and a beat later, the cover of the wagon was lowered before Aki.
Chapter 3: Meeting You In This World
This is...
A little while before the situation with Aki seeking help unfolded, Rio had been flying close to the ground, following the faint traces of footsteps, when he discovered grass that had been heavily trodden on by numerous horses. He came to a stop before the road and immediately deduced that three people had encountered others on horseback. Next, he followed the footsteps with his gaze, then spotted a large convoy of wagons far down the road. The convoy of wagons had stopped, but were about to depart at any moment.
Several exposed wagon loads caught Rio’s eyes. They had several people gathered together on them — slaves, most likely — with swarms of mercenary-like guards surrounding the wagons.
...Slave merchants, huh. This might be bad.
An unpleasant feeling settled in Rio’s chest.
He aborted his flight arts and landed on the ground, before bursting into a sprint toward the wagons, using his enhanced physical abilities. However, he couldn’t just attack them straight away simply because of an unpleasant feeling he had, so he decreased his speed once he had somewhat closed the distance between them. That was when one of the guards noticed Rio.
“Hey, someone’s approaching from the side of the road!” A guard yelled loudly when he noticed Rio, stirring the caution of those around him. Several of the guards immediately drew their weapons and took on a formation to protect the wagons.
“Stop right there!” One of the guards yelled.
Rio decided to demonstrate that he had no hostile intentions, for now. “I’m searching for some people. Three of them. They came from the same direction I did just now.” He explained his intentions without drawing his weapon, staying exactly where he was, as ordered.
The air around the mercenaries changed slightly. They looked at each other, before they all turned to look at a man who was probably the highest-ranked one amongst them.
“...Someone call the boss and the captain over here. Quickly.” The man who was turned to — the leader-like man that Miharu, Masato, and Aki had encountered — said with irritation. Less than half a minute later, a well-dressed man appeared, accompanied by another bulky guard.
“Hmm. So, you’re the one who appeared out of nowhere. What do you want?” he asked unhappily, looking over Rio’s cloaked figure.
“...Forgive me for my rudeness. My name is Hans — you may have heard from your bodyguards already, but I am in search of some individuals. Three people should have appeared from the side of the road a short while ago... Have you seen them?” Rio asked, purposefully choosing to take on a courteous tone toward the haughty man.
However, it was clear that his tone was only for show, as he had given him a fake name he had made up on a whim in case things took a turn for the worst.
“Oh? And here I was, thinking you were but a mere hoodlum...” The well-dressed man muttered, narrowing his eyes.
“No clue. Unfortunately, we’re in a rush. If you’re done here, then leave,” he said with a curt shake of his head.
He had considered the possibility that he was talking to a noble based on Rio’s educated form of speech, but he ultimately decided to feign ignorance.
“I would, but I found the footprints of several people in the grasslands a small distance away from the road. There were signs that the grass had been trampled by horses — fairly recently, too,” Rio said with a troubled smile.
“...Are you accusing us of kidnapping those people?” The well-dressed man asked Rio with an emotionless look.
“Oh, no. Of course not. I was simply hoping you would drop the pretenses and open yourself up to discussion if they really were in your care.” Rio shook his head, wearing a poker face as he selected his words carefully. He had already given them the idea that he was fairly confident, so he tried to make it seem as though he was willing to settle things peacefully by making a roundabout offer to ignore any shady business that they were involved in.
At the same time, he made a show of looking over the wagons that stood behind the man. Unfortunately, there were large numbers of slaves on every wagon; he didn’t know what the people he was searching for looked like to begin with, so all he could do was pass his eyes over each and every one.
“...I’d like to ask you to refrain from staring at my precious cargo so intently. There are many slaves who start feeling a false sense of hope from interacting with outsiders,” the well-dressed man said, glancing at the wagons behind him. He shot the large guard standing next to him a look that said to lower the covers on the wagons. At that, the bulky man and several of his subordinates began to promptly move about.
“H-Help us!” The voice of a young girl echoed from one of the wagons — it was Aki. Nearly everyone present had no idea what Aki had said and what the words meant. Almost everyone, except...
Help... us? Is that... Japanese?
Rio had heard it and understood it. A voice seeking help... But he hesitated for a moment, wondering if he had mistakenly heard wrong. After all, those words shouldn’t have existed in this world.
However, when he turned his gaze toward the wagon that the voice came from, he became certain that he hadn’t misheard.
There, inside the wagon, stood Aki with her East Asian facial characteristics.
“Tch. Cover the cargo already.”
While Rio stood bewildered, the well-dressed man clicked his tongue and quietly ordered his guards to hide the contents of the wagons. He had run out of patience.
Eventually, the covers of the wagons were fully lowered over the interior platforms.
“Now look at what you’ve done. The slaves are making a fuss because of you,” the well-dressed man said, still trying to feign ignorance. On top of that, his words were blunt in order to place the blame on Rio.
“...Please, hold on a moment. The girl who called out just now was one of the people I’m searching for. She was asking for help... Could you explain what’s going on here?” Rio asked in a composed tone after calming down and returning to his senses. He wasn’t going to back down, either.
The well-dressed man’s expressions twisted in displeasure. “What a bother. Enough already. Kill him,” he ordered the bulky guard next to him in irritation.
“You heard the boss, people! We’re going with the simplest and easiest way of silencing someone. Form up!”
With a grin, the guard stirred up the men surrounding them. The mercenaries got in formation gleefully and enclosed Rio in an instant.
Their movements were a fine show of lea
dership — the skill of a mercenary group varied dramatically depending on the abilities of their commander, but all the mercenaries here seemed to be quite experienced in group combat. “You’ve mistaken foolishness for bravery, as there’s a time and place for this kind of thing. This isn’t it. Any last words? If you beg for your life and agree to become a slave, then I may be willing to spare you. You do have a nice face, after all... Any interest in selling your body?” The well-dressed man asked in triumphant arrogance, obviously feeling assured in his overwhelmingly advantageous position.
“...How repulsive. You should have just handed over the people you kidnapped without a fuss while you could. However, if this is what you want, I won’t hold back, either,” Rio said in a calm but deadly tone, shaking his head in annoyance.
The man reacted to the bloodlust directed toward him. “E-Enough. Kill him!” he ordered in a high-pitched voice.
“Get him!” The bulky commander of the mercenary squad ordered the soldiers surrounding Rio.
The mercenaries thrust their spears at Rio from every direction as they protected themselves with their shields, but Rio gracefully leaped into the air and out of the circle of attack with ease.
“Wha...?!” The mercenaries were taken aback in spite of themselves, staring after Rio dumbfoundedly as he cleared their heads with a light jump.
“Eek?!” Rio pulled the dagger hidden under his overcoat out while mid-air, equipped it in his left hand, then stabbed at the legs of the mercenaries nearby without hesitation as soon as he landed. The men who had been stabbed let out a scream.
Will they lose their fighting edge, now? Rio thought. Then, suddenly —
“Photon Projectilis!” The commander of the mercenary squad fired offensive magic toward Rio. A magic circle floated before the left hand he had held up toward Rio, his magic essence turning into high-speed bullets of light energy that shot forth in rapid succession.
Rio dashed to the side and evaded the attack.
Eternal You (Premium) Page 5