Chapter 43: The escaped slave.
After having a discussion with Ryan regarding the upcoming mission of assisting Yllaner, the hybrid soon allowed his hero-slave to go back to taking care of Kyles. Just like Adela had correctly predicted, the hybrid did not seem to mind yet another detour to his goal of reaching his village. He was, in fact, looking forward to it. More foes to cut down means more experience , he thought to himself. He had leveled up greatly after fighting against Ryuu and the chaos infected-Prime Minister, but if he was to judge his progress, it was still far from what he had achieved during his first reincarnation. Granted, back then, it took him more than a hundred years to reach his pinnacle of strength, but now, he could not afford to wait since he knew the Harvest was approaching fast. If he were to use the great demon lord Gilga as a way to measure his power, one without the help of HaoS, he would not even last more than five minutes battling against her, much like how Carrion was when compared to either Millim or Guy. Was it my imagination or was she much stronger than some of the strongest individuals I have known during my time as Zaeryn? This was the question he has been asking himself for months now, after their first fateful meeting when she single-handedly subdued a weakened Creature of Chaos in front of his eyes. This was another reason he was weary of the great demon lord. He did not want to make her into his enemy, though on the other side, being subservient to her was also out of the question. There was a chance he had to deal with the demon lord when he carried out his plan to initiate the Harvest before the Astral could, but there was no point of worrying about it now.
「Kill him!」「Kill that filth!」「Kill that monster!」「Kill that little shit! He brought the calamity upon Lorian!」
The loud raging screams coming from a large gathering crowd jolted the hybrid from his deep thoughts about his future plan. Once he looked up, he realized he had strayed close toward the shadowy part of Lorian, where Arche had shown him during a reconstruction tour. The place had no official name since no one from the government wanted to acknowledge such lawless place existed within Lorian. It used to be located in the "slum" part of Lorian, but ever since the destruction of the capital, the "slum" had transformed into a field of trash and rubles. Even when most other parts of the capital have been actively rebuilt, none of the effort was put into rebuilding this place since Lance had intended to get rid of it for good. Sitting among the rubles and large, filthy smelling piles of garbage were equally filthy homeless and low-life criminals that called Lorian their home. Curious of what was happening, the hybrid skillfully jumped on top of a destroyed brick house, where he could observe the crowd without being noticed by them.
「... Isn't that?」the hybrid eyes widened. A sense of deja vu soon hit him as he noticed the discolored, beaten up boy, chained in his slave collar being dragged to the middle of the crowd while the attendants mercilessly kicked and spat on him. Some even hurled small stones at the defenseless boy, bloodied his head and exposed body. Despite the abuse, which had caused one of his eyes to be swollen shut, his other dark eye with red pupil was still glaring defiantly at the crowd. Kibadios was surprised at first since given how the boy was able to fend of hordes of monsters a few months back, he should have been strong enough to take on all these people gathering here but he was soon reminded of the slave collar the boy was wearing, which would have prevented him from injuring any humans. That was probably how they caught him again after he escaped , the hybrid thought. Now that I have gotten a much better look at him, it's no doubt he's a mutant.
「Yo!!! Thank you all for gathering today!」The man who dragged the boy finally spoke loudly to try to calm down the clamoring noises made by the crowd. 「Today is the day! Today, like we have promised, is the day we will finally execute this filthy mutant, which had attracted the Creature of Chaos to Lorian three months ago!」
… They still thought that mutants were born from Chaos' miasma?
「KILL HIM!!!」「If we let him live, we will be attacked by another
「Now, now, I can't have this, can I?」Kibadios shook his head. 「I can't let that little shit die after I have bothered to save him before. I guess I have to save him again this time.」
Before he could jump down onto the ground and confront the crowd; however, dozens of the Royal Knight timely showed up right before the execution was to be carried out. Detecting their presence, a few people from the crowd , which the hybrid correctly guessed to be wanted criminals, quickly sneaked away while most others were rounded up by the silvery armor cladded men. Leading the group was someone that the hybrid knew personally: Arche, the 1st Captain of the Royal Knight.
「Arche san!」The hybrid jumped down and greeted the knight once he finally finished directing his subordinate to disperse most of the crowd. Some unlucky slow moving criminals were handcuffed and lead away under the order of the captain.「How come you're here?」
「Kibadios dono!」Arche respectfully nodded at the hybrid. 「We are running an op to round up some criminals at large after the attack three months ago. We knew they would like to gather here today to carry out an execution of a mutant slave because they believe the slave caused the Chaos creature to attack Lorian.」
「Is that so? I'd thought they would try to hide rather than to attend some underground execution.」surprised the hybrid. 「I bet those criminals just want to feel better about themselves by punishing someone else like how inmates tend to beat up pedophiles in prisons back on earth.」
「Huh?」Arche donned a blank expression after hearing the hybrid's mumbles. 「What are you talking about?」
「No nothing. Don't mind me.」
「That reminds me, what are you doing here, Kibadios dono? I thought you were still talking to His Majesty, Gilga dono, and Yllaner dono?」
「Oh, our conversation ended a while ago. I was leaving and just lost in my thoughts when I stumbled upon this place. I heard some screaming noise so I wanted to check it out.」
「I see. I'm sorry for you to see such an unsightly crowd during your stay here in Lorian, Kibadios dono.」Arche was scratching his head with his one good arm while his prosthetic was still holding onto the hilt of his sword, ready for action like a well-trained knight.
「Don't worry. It's fine.」The hybrid's attention soon focused on the half dead boy lying on the ground. 「... What are you going to do with him?」
「... Truth to be told, I actually don't know.」hesitated Arche. 「On top of being a slave, he's a mutant. I doubt there is a future for him, given how the people in this kingdom are extremely angry at mutants right now because they thought mutants were attracting the chaos creature to Lorian. I did not think he'd still be alive after all this either. I feel bad for him, but… maybe, ending him here would be the best for him.」Arche slid his sword out from his scabbard, though the hybrid could clearly see his hesitation for his hand was slightly shaking.
「I can take him in.」suggested the hybrid. 「I was actually planning to intervene before you guys show up… and good thing that you did too because I don't want to injure those human, not when I'm being targeted by the animosity of the Oracle and some of the adventurers for supposedly stealing away the contribution of the heroes during our battle against that Chaos Creature.」
「You would? Are you sure? After all, he's a mutant. His power may go out of control any time...」
「I'm sure I'll be able to handle him.」
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「Eto...」Maia was taken aback at the sight of a beaten up boy her master was levitating with magic in mid air as if he was a lost puppy. 「Who's that, Master?」
「Rowan, can you help heal him?」asked Kibadios.
「Of… of course, master.」The teenager hurriedly walked to the hybrid and carried the half conscious boy away. 「Who is he? What happened to him?」
「He's the slave that I saved a few months back during the attack on Lorian. I just coincidentally found him earlier, right before a mob was going to execute him for being a mutant.」explained the hybrid. 「Long story short, I kind of promised Arche I'll look after him.」
「A mutant?」Maia was not familiar with the terminology, though it was expected since she had always been living in an isolated backwater village.
「Mutants are monsters, I mean, demihumans that were born with deviant characteristics that were not common for their races. One of the shared traits of mutants is the fact that they tend to accumulate and radiate Chaos miasma from their bodies, even without the presence of
「Yeah, they're like shiny pokemon, but corrupted.」added the hybrid.
「Shiny Pokemon?」
「No, nothing.」
「... Are you planning to add him into your harem, Master?」asked Ryuu while leaning against the backrest of the couch, studying the boy from head to toe.
「What? No.」denied Kibadios. The hybrid quickly looked at the boy, who was lying in a strangely erotic pose, covered with nothing but a thin sheet of white cloth on the floor while being treated by Rowan. Somehow, the erocity reminded the hybrid of a certain 7th prince from an isekai manga he read a long time ago. 「Don't get me wrong. I obtained him as a slave but it's just not for a sexual nature. After all, I have you guys to satisfy my need.」Somehow, Ryuu was filled with happiness at his master's comment. 「It's just if I did not take him in, Arche was going to end his life back then. That'd be a waste, especially after I bothered saving him before. I figured that if every badass needs a loli by his side so in place of a loli, I'd take in a shota.」
「「「Huh?」」」All three unisonly responded, fully confused.
「Again, never mind. I was just using references of my first life back on Earth.」dismissed the hybrid. 「Though, I called him a shota but in fact, he's older than me. I'm sure he's either 6 or 7 years old. And it doesn't matter if he's a mutant, for an ogre hybrid like myself, he should have looked much older than an appearance of a kid like this. In short, technically, he should be considered a legal shota.」... Despite being a true shota shota if we take his age literally as a human's age , the hybrid thought to himself. Man, this is confusing…
「He's an ogre hybrid?」asked Maia.「He doesn't look like one.」
「Yeah, he looks more like a Ghoul because of his discolored skin right?」agreed Kibadios. 「But no, since I'm also part ogre, I know for sure he's an ogre hybrid. His other half should be some sort of beastman races.」
「... Rabbit race.」confirmed Rowan while treating him.
「Huh? Really? You can tell? Though that probably explained his red pupils.」
「I wouldn't be able to tell just from his appearance...」said Rowan. 「But no matter how you look at them, these seem like what are left of a pair of rabbit-like ears to me」The healer spread the boy's hair apart on one side of his head, revealing a mutilated part of an ear.
「That's horrible!」cried out Maia.
「Hoh?」Ryuu paid some attention to the unconscious boy, not out of sympathy but curiosity since when it came to the dragonoid, the only person he would ever care for would be his one and only master, Kibadios.
「Hmm. I guess those slavers have done more than just beat him up.」The hybrid stared down at the boy. 「Anyways, I'll leave him in your care, Rowan. I'll go and take a bath for now.」
「I've drawn a bath for you, Master!」Ryuu excitedly pointed out, expecting to be able to wash the hybrid's back since it was now his turn.「I'll come with you.」
「I'm sorry Ryuu but I'd like some alone time to think」said the hybrid, causing the dragonoid's ears and wagging tails to droop down disappointedly.「... I promise next time I'll let you take a bath with me.」Noticing the sadness in Ryuu's expression, Kibadios quickly added while petting his head.
Although not taking a bath with one of his slaves and doing the "usual", Kibadios was still taking a fairly long time before he emerged from the bathroom almost half an hour later while drying his hair with a thick, warm towel prepared for him by Ryuu. Once he got out, he noticed the boy was now resting on the sofa where Ryuu used to be, covered with a large blanket that covered most of his body, saved for part of his head. He was still as dirty and stinky as when Kibadios first picked him up from the ground, with his dirt hairs entangled into lumps; though there was nothing Rowan could have done about it since bathing him while he was severely injured was out of the question.
「How is he?」
「I have healed up all of his open wounds, fractured ribs and head. Though there are a lot of old injuries, which aren't meant to be treated by healing magic so I asked Maia to synthesize some medicines for him to take.」Rowan looked at the boy with worrying eyes. 「But I don't think he'll wake up for a while so I guess he can start taking Maia's medicine tomorrow.」
「Good. Thanks, Rowan! You're the best!」complimented Kibadios, causing his slave to go doki doki all of the sudden as he was filled with happiness and unable to respond to his master.
「So Master, about Yllaner sama's situation, have you decided on our course of action?」Ryuu finally asked.
「Huh?」
「Isn't it why you need some time to think in the bath?」
「Right!」Kibadios nodded.「I have talked to Ryan and decided that we shall accompany Yllaner back to the Vernys Forest, just like the offer I made to her back in the audience chamber. Of course, we will try our best to help her but our main purpose is to protect her from any assassination attempts on her life instead of actively involve in the conflict.」
「But why?」Ryuu, a simpleton, was confused. 「I can just go out there and kill off her brother by myself. That should solve her problem.」
「It's not that simple, Ryuu chan.」Before the hybrid could explain his thought, Rowan already interrupted. 「In the current situation, Yllaner sama is already being checkmated by her brother so killing her brother would solve nothing.」
「Interesting… why don't you explain more to us what do you mean by "killing her brother would solve nothing"?」Kibadios was amused at his slave's comment while the dragonoid only gave the teenager a blank expression, not understanding any of his sayings.
「Am I wrong?」Rowan was hesitant for a moment before elaborating further 「Isn't it kinda evident? Her brother's goal is to assume control of the Shilna clan and the other three clans' goals are to be independent of the Shilna clan, which they all have already achieved. Princess Yllaner's goal, though, isn't just simply deposing her brother. If that's the case, killing him would work. But her main goal is to return her mother back to be the head of the clan and preserve the confederation. The latter, though, is the tricky part. If she kills her brother through underhanded means, such as having Master or Ryuu chan do it, the other three clans would fervently oppose her until the end. They would see her as their dreaded overlord that kills their "liberator" and would soon destroy their new found independence. Instead of bowing to the Shilna clan again, they would most likely band together to fight against the Shilna and a full scale civil war would break out. And I'm sure that's not something the Princess would like to see… not when the Yin Empire is looking for an opportunity to attack Vernys. On the other hand, since her brother's goals have already been achieved, he can simply assassinate the princess and he would have won this conflict.」
「Rowan's right.」Kibadios was pleasantly surprised at his slave's insight. Before having heard his slave speak, he could not have imagined a teenage boy like Rowan, who spent most of his life in an isolated village, would have understood the complicated political predicament that Yllaner was facing right now. 「That is the reason why instead of acting as her sword, we'll be her shield. She cannot simply rely on our strength to fight against her brother. She has to do it herself.」
「I see… But how can she deal with this mess without relying on our strength?」Asked Ryuu, concerningly.
「She's Sylvia's reincarnation, isn't she? We'll see.」smiled Kibadios since he was confident the Princess would emerge victorious.「To be honest, I know she most likely has a backup plan involving the Great Demon Lord Gilga… though I'm sure that'd only be her last resort.」
「Involving that Gilga?」
「Yes, though if she's anything like Sylvia, I dont think she will need it.」