~ Chapter 86: The Mashat Town’s slaves ~

[Seryanna’s point of view]

 In my half-beast form, I flew through the clear sky, flapping my wings as I gained speed and with each passing moment, I got closer to Mashat Town. It was not long before the relliar settlement was in view, but if I had decided to travel here by carriage, I would have reached it in two days at best.

The bastards who took my fluffy ball of cuteness had probably already left this place, but I was not here to extend a courtesy call to the Akutan Empire. No, my goal was simple: find the human hideout, burn it to the ground, and rip the information out of the bastards who dared to kidnap the cute relliars of this country.

The Mashat Town itself was as big as a small city, extending towards the North with the lumber mills and to the South with cereal farms. A big wall surrounded the town’s important areas such as the market, the palace, and the noble residences. Outside of it were the commoner houses, which were left to defend themselves from monsters only with the help of a simple wooden wall.

I estimated the population to be at over 20.000 relliars. From above, they all looked like tiny insects. Normally, one would not think that such a settlement could house such high numbers. For all species with the exception of dragons this was a fact. Our cities were larger but had a small population when compared to the human ones. The same was true for our towns and villages.

The fact that the Lord ruling over this settlement didn’t try raise a sturdier wall around Mashat showed that either the surroundings lacked and highly dangerous monster population or that they were being kept at low numbers by the local adventurers. Whatever the case, I could not land outside the town’s walls and bother myself with going through customs.

When I flew above the town square, I folded my wings and let myself drop right in the middle of it. I spread my wings only for a brief moment before I touched the ground and cast an air spell to soften my landing.

My sudden appearance caused a stir among the local relliars, many of them running away in fear, while the guards unsheathed their weapons and formed a circle around me. I looked at them from afar without showing a change in my expression. I was searching with my gaze for the highest officer among them.

When I spotted him, I narrowed my eyes at him. He was a big relliar wearing a chain mail armor and holding a big mace in his hands.

“I’m here under King Kragarr’s permission as a delegate from the Albeyater Kingdom. I was given full authority to investigate a certain case. Are the knights commissioned by his majesty here?” I asked in the Sarakus Kingdom’s language.

There was no answer, so I decided to approach the leader of the relliars.

“Stop right there! Don’t move!” he shouted at me.

I was a suspicious person who arrived here in a very strange way. After all, it was quite rare to see my kind roaming around outside of the Dragon Continent.

“Should I repeat myself? I am here...” as I was about to say it again, the relliar with the highest authority here shouted at me.

“Stop spewing lies, you flying lizard! There’s no way...” he said and, in that split, second I moved in front of him.

By the time the relliar realized what was happening, I was standing at a palm away from him, looking down at him with my piercing gaze.

“HIII!” he screamed and fell back.

What a coward. I thought and then said “If I wanted to kill you or bring harm to any of you, I could have done so in a split second as you could see. I am here on important matters that concern both your nation and mine. If you do not want to be judged as traitors of the Sarakus Kingdom and enemies of the Albeyater Kingdom, I suggest you sheathe your weapons and fall back. NOW!” I demanded in a powerful firm tone of voice.

They looked at each other for a moment and gulped, not knowing what to do. Without any other proof, they could only take my word for it, but there was one individual here who could have them make up their mind. It was the highest officer among them, the relliar who was cowering before me.

“What say you? Will you stand in my way as I act upon your own King’s command, or will you tell your men to sheathe their swords?” I asked.

Not even for a moment did I let my piercing gaze and heavy presence relax.

“L-Lower your weapons!” he shouted.

“Good.” I nodded and then extended my hand to help him up.

The relliar gulped and took my hand, getting up on his feet.

“W-Why are you here?” he asked.

“I’m investigating the late relliar kidnappings. Do you have any leads?” I asked them, although I knew what to look for already.

This was just a small game to see if he was one of those corrupted by the humans. If I found him to be one of them, I would not mind breaking his limbs and then handing him over to some loyal knights. If even the Lord of this land was corrupted, then I was going to have a bit of fun breaking legs and scorching buildings.

He nodded.

“Yes... Actually, we believe there’s something fishy going on within the Church of the Pantheon of Zeus, but we weren’t permitted to look inside and investigate. We feared that if we tried, we’d anger the human delegates and might even start a war with them.” he said.

“Is that so?” I said and then looked at the guards, who after dispersing the crowd of bystanders decided to gather around us.

“Yes. And just two days ago, Bishop Marconium Bassar stopped by Mashat and then left together with a merchant convoy. I wanted to check their carriages, but I was reminded that I don’t have the authority to do so...” he looked down, furrowing his brow and clenching his fist.

He was frustrated because he wasn’t able to do something to stop them. The dreaded diplomatic immunity wasn’t something anyone could fight against. As acting representatives of another country, any harm done against them could lead to an act of war.

While this was true, in this case it was about the Akutan Empire, the farthest one from Albeyater Kingdom. It was a country that never agreed to the cease fire and even now were considered at war against us.

Looking at it from this political point of view, one could say that I had all the right to commit any number of acts of war against them.

“Take me to this church of theirs.” I demanded.

“B-But...” the relliar looked at me with big eyes.

No doubt that they feared the political repercussions that could result if they broke the agreement without any substantial proof to back their actions.

“I stand here today as a political member of the Albeyater Kingdom’s delegates, not Sarakus Kingdom.” I showed him a smile and through this, he understood what I wanted to say.

Ten minutes later, I arrived in front of the said church. It was a big building made from stone and looked far wealthier than any of the other temples and buildings around it. They either received a great amount of donations, or they were given a decent amount of funds from their home country.

“Are there many relliar believers in this town?” I asked.

“No... We believe their gods exist, but we have our own to pray to.” he replied.

“That’s good. Now stand back.” I told him and then walked towards the entrance.

Two human guards armed with a sword and shield and wearing heavy plate armors moved in front of me.

“No dragons allowed!” they called out.

I showed them a smirk and then unsheathed Drachenkrieg. With a single swing, I sent them flying into the walls of the church. The stone walls were cracked, and a crater formed where each of the two hit. The attacked knocked them out unconscious, and I made sure not to use the cutting edge. If I did, then these poor slobs would have ended up in pieces.

The doors were opened, so I did not bother to kick them down.

Inside, I saw a bunch of statues that represented the gods the humans worshiped, and right at the back, there was an altar with a priest sitting in front of it.

“Who is there?! What do you want from us?” he asked.

“Hm~ Just to check your basement~” I replied with a hum.

“Nonsense! We have an agreement that prevents the Sarakus Kingdom from doing so! Do you wish for an international conflict?!” he asked infuriated.

“Hm~? But our countries are already at war, aren’t they~?” I asked and showed him a smile as flames began to lick my blade.

“W-What?” he blinked surprised “Who are you?! Identify yourself!” he demanded.

“My name is Seryanna Draketerus! I am a duchess of the Albeyater Kingdom, and I have come by to take back what is mine!” I declared and then pushed myself towards him.

A gust of wind formed around me, and I struck the priest with my fist right in his stomach. He gasped for air and was sent flying into the wall. Like a lifeless corpse, he fell on the floor, showing the white of his eyes, but he was still alive.

“Now then!” I said and then looked for the staircase leading down.

At the basement, I was met with a big metal door, which I cut in half. Behind it was a scene taken out of a bandit’s hideout. A bunch of ruffian-looking humans were glaring at me with their weapons unsheathed. At the back, there were ten or so relliar women naked. They were trembling and had their ears flattened on the back of their heads. In the middle of the room were a couple of women with haggard breath and looking up towards me with empty eyes.

They were all wearing slave collars, and I did not need to look twice to understand that some of them had just been brutally raped. The savageness of these foul beings simply disgusted me. There was no way now that I was going to let them live, yet I still had to lie...

As the flames of my sword cut off their exit, I looked at them as though I was looking at garbage and told them in the Sarakus Language “Tell me where your boss is, where Bishop Marconium Bassar took the relliar slaves, and I may let you live.”

“This woman thinks she can order us?” one of them asked.

“Kill her!”

“Let us put a slave collar on them and then have our way with her! Women are meant to be used as men’s toys anyway!” one of them stated.

“Yeah! She will be sold good! Look at those breasts and hips!”

“Meh, I don’t like the wings. Let us cut those off.”

“Fool! She will be sold for more with them attached. You know there are nobles who prefer beasts more than humans!”

“True! True! Let us sell her! We can take her on! It’s just one woman against all of us!”

Each and every one of them revealed how stupid and foolish they were with the idiotic words that came out of their mouths. These human specimens were worse than garbage. They were worse than a virus, just meat puppets with a pole between their legs that needed to be cut off. They were even below savages.

I rushed towards the nearest one and cut him in half at the top of his head with Drachenkrieg. The next one I kick between the legs with my boot and slammed him into the ceiling. He was then decapitated as he dropped to the floor.

My eyes then fell on the one to my left, and I extended my hand towards him. I grabbed him by the face and then squeezed with all of my strength. His skull was crushed, and the insides spilled out like a disgusting bloody paste.

“Three down... in less than ten seconds.” I said as I gently touched the fourth one with the tip of my finger and set him on fire, causing him to start screaming in pain.

To make him unable to run around, I cut off his legs.

“Make that four.” I said with a gentle smile on my face as fires surrounded me like valiant knights guarding their princess.

“Hiii!” one of them screamed in fear.

“A m-monster!”

They fell into a panic and took a step away from me when they understood that they were no match for my power.

How foolish of them to think they could escape my wrath... I thought.

“W-Wait! If you move! I-I-I’ll kill HER!” one of them said as he lifted one of the slave women off the ground and placed his dirty sword at her neck.

I looked into his eyes, and he flinched.

In that split second, I moved in front of him and grabbed his sword with my hand.

“Who are you going to kill?” I asked as I pulled the sword out of his arm and then starting with the pummeled hilt, I made him eat it, smashing his teeth and ripping apart his flesh with it.

The man died in spasms of pain as his insides were crushed and cut by his own sword. Then I picked up his body and ripped it in half for all to see. I just had to make sure I had an [Air Barrier] activated so I wouldn’t get splattered by his blood.

“Now then...” I said as I threw his remains at the feet of these bandits. “The location of the Bishop. Who wants to live?” I asked and showed them a smile.

A moment later, all of them dropped their swords and told me what I needed to know, including the boss of this place, a man who looked no different from the rest of this scum.

What I gathered from them was that the Bishop had another drop off point located right in the middle of the Silvertooth Forest located between the Mashat and Donmar Port City. They had built a church there similar to this one. Next year, that place was supposed to be the start of a new human settlement right at the heart of the Sarakus Kingdom. More than that, it was supposed to be used as means of negotiations for handing down the entire area to the Akutan Empire.

This was the so-called passive invasion strategy. It was a way of conquering the enemy state without actually sending the troops over. If there was a high enough population there that wished to fight or split away from that kingdom, then there was no way of stopping them unless they sent armed forces to suppress the citizens. This, however, would end up looking very bad in the eyes of the regular citizens.

I knew of this tactic because Albeyater fell victim to it in the last war. If not for the actions of my husband at that time, that despicable dragon Draejan would have made the border settlements claim demand to become a part of the Embryger Empire. Making them give up on this idea was quite hard. The Queen herself had to send a message to the local leader and Kataryna paid more than one visit to the rebels within them.

The question now was what I was supposed to do with these bastards who were groveling at my feet and begging me to let them live. While killing them sounded like it should have been the best option, I did sort of promised to spare their lives. I was honestly hoping I would need to torture them a bit or kill them one by one, but fortunately for them, I never reached that point. I must have scared them enough by now.

 When I looked back at the remains of the other humans here, I remembered the relliars outside who were waiting for me to come out with the slaves. In theory, I could let these humans be handled by the official authorities here, but I feared that these poor slabs had a couple of the knights bribed and maybe even the local noble.

As I scratched the back of my head with my claws, I looked over at the slaves and then a smile appeared on my lips.

“You there!” I called out to them.

The slaves looked back at me with empty eyes. There was no emotion behind them, not even fear of the fire that could threaten to take their lives. Actually, some of them maybe would have welcomed such an end.

“I will give you the choice to change your destinies!” I declared as I walked closer to them.

Hearing my words, they just looked up as if in a daze. Maybe it was too hard for them to believe I spoke the truth, or maybe these kidnappers already used these lines at them and had them go through hellish experiences.

I looked at all of them. There was not even a single glimmer of hope in their eyes, yet I still wanted to see if maybe I could find it somewhere hidden deep within their souls.

Raising Drachenkrieg above my head, I then made three slashes at their iron cage. The metal bars fell on the floor with a loud clang and then I stepped back.

“Pick up the metal bars.” I told them.

The slaves obeyed without questioning my intentions. I then pointed at them with my sword at the bandits.

“Pick a target. If you wish to find revenge, kill them and let that be the end of your suffering. Then, from hence forth, do your best to find your happiness.” I declared in a loud firm tone of voice.

“W-What?” one of the men said surprised.

“Y-You didn’t say anything about this!” another shouted.

Looking back at this scum, I replied “What I promised was that I won’t kill you if you tell me what I was looking for, but I didn’t promise I won’t let others kill you.”

“W-What?”

Most of them were stumped, not knowing what to say, but then one of them began to laugh.

“If you give our lives to these slaves, then we’re saved! Hahaha! No way they will attack us! They are no better than meat bags for us to enjoy! Not as good as the women in the brothels, but good enough for a round or two!” he laughed.

When I looked at him, he was a sturdy man in his forties. His wore a broad smirk on his face and looked at the women in the cage like he would at something with little to no worth. He disgusted me.

My gaze moved towards the relliar slaves inside the now open cage.

Hm, I do not sense any Magic Energy coming from their slave collars, so I’m betting that instead of actual working ones, these are just for show until they reach the Human Continent. Besides the psychological fear, they should not have anything else stopping them from attacking these humans. I thought.

“Are you going to let him speak like that to you?” I asked the women inside the cage.

They did not reply.

Looking down and holding the bars in their hands, their eyes were empty, but after a moment had passed, I saw a small change in some of them. Tightening their fingers around the metal bars and clenching their teeth, they looked conflicted about what to do. There were just two or three among them who showed this change, yet the gaze in their eyes still lacked the energy to do the deed.

“Even if they will try to attack you in self-defense, I will stop them. You have my words for it.” I told them, giving them one last push.

In that moment, two of them looked at me with big eyes.

I nodded.

They did not say anything, but it felt like their silence was just the calm before the storm. The comments of these bandits did not even seem to register when looking at the inner turmoil all of these women were trying to get a hold on within themselves.

Will they do it? I asked myself.

Then, one of them looked at one of the bandits who was showing us a defiant look in his eyes. He felt saved or maybe in control now that he knew that I was not going to kill them myself.

The slave’s glare did not affect him in the slightest. Then another slave raised her eyes and aimed her glare at another one.

The two of them got out of the cage and approached the bandits. Their comments at this point were useless to listen to. All they knew to do was mock and insult the women who approached them in a menacing manner.

With the fur raised on their backs and baring their teeth at them, the relliars stopped at just a step away from them.

“You won’t do nothin’!” one of them said with a smug look on his face.

“These useless whores don’t know anything except opening their legs to us! Even their men gave up on them, right?” one said nudging his friend who was laughing.

“Yeah! Yeah!”

“H-How...” the relliar woman said in a low volume as she trembled with rage.

“Huh? Ya’ said somethin’?” the man she was glaring at asked.

“HOW DARE YOU MENTION MY MATE!” she shouted and then struck him with the metal bar on his head.

The man did not even had time to dodge and received the full blow. With his consciousness fading away, he fell before her, but the woman was not done yet.

“YOU RAPED ME IN FRONT OF HIM!” she shouted smashing the bar on his back. “YOU SOLD MY DAUGHTER!” she shouted bashing his head with the bar “YOU DESPICABLE BASTARD! YOU WORTHLESS SCUM!” she shouted as she continued to hit him until the man’s head was turned to paste.

The stunned humans watched horrified as their friend was killed in this brutal manner by the woman he had abused all this time.

Killing him like that was not enough, she continued to smash and destroy his body with an unrestrained rage.

“What of you?” I asked as I looked at the other women.

Seeing the scene and then clenching the metal bars in their hands, they too let out a vengeful roar and jumped on the humans.

“NO! STOP!” the men screamed, trying to run away.

“You think I’ll let myself get killed by a slave?” one of them shouted as he tried to defend himself, but I stopped him from reaching out to his weapon.

“I’m keeping my word. Although I won’t kill you, I can still break your arms and legs to keep you from fighting back against these women.” I said as I broke his arm in two places.

While he screamed in pain, I released him to face the wrath of the women he raped and abused like trapped animals.

Their shouts and begging filled the room. It was probably heard by those outside as well, but no one was going to come down here to help them. Even if someone did, I would not have let them stop these women from getting their revenge. If they didn’t do this, chances were they wouldn’t be able to return to a normal life and one day end up as the puppets of another man.

If my husband was here, he would have most likely agreed with my decision if he himself didn’t kill all of these human scum before they had a chance to spill out what they knew about the bishop. Then again, with his Luck, he would have found him if he had wondered around aimlessly by himself in less time than it took me to look for them by following this bread crumb trail.

 When I was certain that all of the bandits had either been killed or reduced to a state that made them unable to retaliate, I made my way out of that place.

Outside, the relliar guards were waiting for me.

“What happened in there?” asked their commander.

“Your presumptions about this place were correct. There are relliar slaves being kept underground. Be careful how you approach them, those women have lived through a real nightmare.” I said as I walked past them.

“We’ll make sure they are treated well. What of the humans?” he asked.

“Do with them however you see fit.” I replied as I spread my wings and took flight.

My next stop was the church in the middle of the Silvertooh Forest. The bandits probably thought that it would take me weeks or maybe months to comb through this entire place, but as a dragoness, I had the sky as my friend. What would take an army days, I could do in mere hours.