Swan Hunter(4)

In the end, I didn't make it difficult for her and gave her a thick black veil to cover her face with. She happily complied. What a good girl she was.

I even patted her head to congratulate her, to which she shrank back again. Was I really so scary? I even gave the slave an opportunity to change her fate, which evil profit-centered person would do that?

Hiding her face like an animal turned out to be a wise choice. I wasn't pestered by the thirsty righteous champion toads at all.

We stayed in obscure inns and taverns and always left quietly after paying our share. I didn't have to fight anyone either.

This way, the first leg of our journey was completed peacefully.

The next leg though was bound to be far more dangerous, because we had to pass through a kingdom where the slave trade was prohibited. So, if I was caught by the strong guards or administrators in one of the cities of that Kingdom, I would either be executed after a trial or put in a prison where life would be gloomier than death.

I warned my little companion to co-operate again, this time using my kindest words. I even patted her head to appreciate her co-operation till now but all I heard from her side in response were muffled sobs.

I could feel her body shivering and her eyes tearing up again. And so I did what I learned to do in such difficult situations.

When in doubt, use a slap instead of a shout.

It worked magically, after two slaps, she was stiff and silent as a log of wood, just as I wanted her.

To reach my location, I had to pass through 11 cities of the Kingdom that prohibited slavery. I already had a little practice of talking to the guards, the key was just to look as miserable and poor as you could and then present them a bribe with shivering hands and they would happily ignore any fault they found.

Using that trick, I was easily able to bypass the security of the first 9 cities. Just as I had begun to lose my cautious attitude a little, tragedy struck.

It was when I was passing through the 10th city, the capital city of that Kingdom. It was supposed to be the center of trade and power of the Kingdom, and therefore there were a lot of Aristocrats and Nobles.

Naturally, there were also a lot of second-generation arrogant young masters running around and establishing their dominance over the weak, playing with them to feel a false sense of certainty.

I was very low-key throughout the journey. Usually, when passing by a city, I would pay someone to park my empty carriage with wheat hay to the other side while I traversed on foot along with my lovely and cooperative companion.

This time, I had done the same. I was walking along with her in a crowded marketplace when suddenly, the sound of an aggressive horse came from behind me. Since carriages weren't allowed in the market in the first place, I was quite confused by their arrival.

By the time I heard the panicked shouts of,

"MOVE ASIDE! It's the carriage of the Dong family."

"Oh sh*t, it must be that dam*ed young mistress, again."

"I hadn't even had my first sale today and now I have to close, what bad luck!"

"MOVE ASIDE, YOUNG MAN,"

A whip came flying out of the carriage in an attempt to strike me out of the way. Now, usually, I don't get angered easily because I have a lot of experience in taking beatings but this was just something else.

Even if I moved out of the way, my little companion would still be struck. Now, if that happened, it would cause me a lot of trouble, not because it would hurt my heart or something, but because damaging the quality of the good would compromise its quality and depreciate its value.

Yes, this was how I had hypnotized myself to think like that. It was a prerequisite to the job I was doing, to think of people as merely objects you were trading... and however wild it may sound, it did ease my conscience a little.

So, when that whip came flying at me, I grabbed it hard and yanked it with all my strength.

According to what the exposition said, this was supposed to be some young mistress of this city. Therefore, as soon as I decided to grab that whip, I also prepared my next plan of action, which was much more dangerous than just delivering my goods to the slave trainers.

When I yanked the whip, a little beauty that looked to be around 18-years-old was pulled out of it along with the whip.

The momentum of the beastly horse galloping in front of the carriage made it such that she couldn't jump on top of it, which led to the striking scene of her falling to the side of the road while the rear wheel of the carriage went over her.

She let out a nasty shriek, but like the night in shining armor that I was, I quickly jumped at the damsel in distress and held her up by the throat.

She wanted to scream and hurl abuses at me, I could see it from her eyes, but I didn't give her that opportunity.

Tearing off the leather strapping and the ropes tieing the horse, I jumped on top of it while grabbing Swan A by the waist in one hand and Swan B by the throat in the other.

I looked around at the crowd and saw that most of them were silent, some of them even secretly giving me a thumbs up. I didn't let my fans down and waved my hands at them, of course, while holding the throat of Swan B, which choked her a little.

After that, I didn't waste any time and left the place, leaving behind the dumbfounded crowd, for a perilous journey ahead.