Former General Is Undead Knight

Volume 3, Chapter 5: Kidnapping Incident④

「Please, please spare her! My life will lost its meaning without her!」

Altie’s father prostrated in front of the pale-faced sorcerer.

Although Altie didn’t seem to understand the situation, she was shivering behind her father. Maybe she could feel the enmity from the soldiers in front of them.

「Viscount Le Gael himself never had bad intentions for doing this. These are the rules created for your sake, too. Currently, for the citizens living in the eighth district appointed to Viscount Le Gael, it isn’t a suitable environment for raising children. That was why 80% of children in the eighth district died before they were five years old. Even the citizens of the eighth district who paid special tax were exempted so that they’d have some leeway to protect their children, and yet… You aren’t paying the tax, right? Would you rather watch that girl die without doing anything, or leave her in the custody of Viscount Le Gael where her safety is guaranteed?」

The sorcerer spoke using jargon that no one in the slums would understand.

「I don’t believe that shi*t! Where are you going to take Altie?!」

「Kay, kay, understand. I’m not a demon. I don’t like using force to settle things. If you don’t understand, then I’ll persuade you until you understand. Now let me to explain Viscount Le Gael’s orders one-by-one until you understand.」

The sorcerer nodded deeply which somewhat felt unnatural.

「Compensation bag.」

「Yes, Forben-sama!」

The sorcerer spoke to the soldier who stood behind him.

The soldier then gave a jute bag to the sorcerer called Forben.

‘It’s… silver coins, huh.’

Lambert caught a glimpse of a silver coin from inside the jute bag.

Maybe that wasn’t the only thing given to Altie’s father.

It seemed to be a case of forced equivalent exchange of children for money from the very beginning.

「What’s the meaning of this? Didn’t you hear what I said just no—」

Altie’s father was clearly confused.

His reaction was natural. Just when the other party said that he would explain until he understood, he suddenly took out a pouch of money out of nowhere, which left Altie’s father in a completely bewildered situation.

Forben nodded once and then stretched his arm forward without waiting for Altie’s father to finish his sentence.

He rummaged through his robes, taking out three gold coins, and put them into the jute bag filled with silver coins.

「Ha… EH, HAH?」

Altie’s father became even more bewildered upon seeing that.

「This should be enough, right? Just think about it—how many days you’ve to work while cutting down the amount of food you eat and your sleep to gather this much?」

Forben laughed as he said that.

The soldiers behind him were also laughing along with him.

「Lookie, lookie, you want this money, right? Look, there’s a LOT OF MONEY, you know!」

They were shaking the bag as if to show off.

And then, they turned the bag upside-down.

The fallen coins struck on the head of Altie’s father who was still prostating on the ground.

「Now then, pick it up. It’s yours! KAKAKAKAKA! No matter how much you try to show off, this is the only thing that a beggar like you wants, right? KAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKA! Yeah, I never get bored of this!」

Altie’s father trembled for a while, but he quickly gathered the fallen coins.

The sorcerer and the soldiers laughed even louder than before upon seeing that.

「Now then, we shall take your daughter. And be happy, Viscount Le Gael-sama is more than happy to receive such a healthy child.」

Forben bowed as he spoke.

Altie’s father, whose hands were filled with the money that fell on the ground a while ago, pushed the money back toward Forben.

「This money is useless without my daughter… please, please… spare her. That’s my only wish for you. I know that Altie… will never be happy if I entrust her to you people…」

「Haah? What’s wrong with your head?」

Forben was slouching forward, bringing his head closer as he spoke with a completely different tone. His pale face was looking at Altie’s father from point-blank range.

「That’s the best I can do to prevent more unpleasant rumors from spreading, but DON’T GET COCKY! Look, you want to exchange your troublesome brat for MONEY, right? What are you waiting for? Oh forget it, kill the man and take the girl.」

The three soldiers in the back moved forward as soon as they heard Forben’s instruction.

「You should say from the very beginning that you don’t need money.」

「Yeah, because you’re not talking at all to Ruruck-sama. He thought that you wanted money.」

Altie’s father started to look flustered now.

Altie was looking at Lambert with a pleading gaze while grabbing her father’s hand.

「I kept my silence for a while since I wanted to know the situation clearly. But I guess this is plenty enough. No need to watch the situation any longer.」

Lambert spoke as he unsheathed his greatsword.

「No matter how much you try to gloss over it, you people are nothing more than filthy slave traders. Now take this.」

One soldier laughed upon seeing Lambert pointing his greatsword toward them.

「Unfortunately for you, man with outdated armor from the ancient era, you’ll die here. You can blame the fact you saw something you shouldn’t have seen.」

At the next moment, a single, vertical crimson line ran along the armor of the soldier.

His body blew back as blood spurted out from his body.

His body only stopped after crashing against the wall behind him, crushing the wall in the process as his body fell down and revealing his entrails from the vertical cross-section.

「Let me correct your statement. This is the proof of a swordsman, protector of Regios Kingdom, an armor of the legendary demon general, Regionix Orgaziera Armor. It’s definitely not outdated armor from an ancient era since no one could ever pierce this armor until now.」

But then, even if he wanted to correct that soldier’s mistake, it wasn’t possible anymore.

The said soldier spat blood from his mouth; his eyes that already lost their light were looking at the sky.

It was obvious that the said soldier had already died.

The remaining two soldiers could only look at their comrade’s state with a dumbfounded look on their faces.

They knew that the huge man in full-plate armor was slashing at their comrades with his greatsword.

But none of them could see his slashes.

They knew with a single glance that their opponent’s weapon boasted the greatest power and mass amongst all weapons. Yet, their opponent’s swinging speed made it look as if his sword was just a small, light branch.

「Now, all of you, come at once.」

Lambert declared this with overwhelming confidence.

Although there was no way to know what kind of expression he made due to Forben’s extremely pale face, his shoulders were trembling nonstop.

He was clearly shaken after seeing Lambert’s sword art.