No Longer The Hero | TBATE

Chapter 7 | Unfortunate Encounter

{3rd POV}

"Someone— please hel- ahhh"

"Damn, can someone shut her up!"

In the middle of Elshire forest a young elven girl tried to call for help as slave trades gaged her mouth with a rag to prevent her from attracting attention.

Smack!*

As the girl continued to resist her capture, one of the slave trades who were watching decided to step in and slapped her, resulting in her struggling to stop as well as a red handprint that began to form on her cheek as tears formed on the corners of her eyes.

However unbeknownst to them, their commotion awoke a young white haired boy who was resting upon a tree branch just a few dozen meters above them, causing him to open his now golden eyes and stared down at them with curiosity.

{Arthur POV}

'Slave traders.'

Despite the fact that I was separated from my family because of them, I didn't really resent the profession as a whole because of the fact that in the current world I saw them as a necessary evil.

In the current world where large scale labor forces for tasks other than fighting hadn't been developed, most large scale architectural or landscaping projects were either done by mages or slaves, and of those options slaves are much cheaper and more affordable.

However just because of the fact that I didn't dislike the profession as a whole didn't mean that I agreed with the practice of kidnapping and selling sex-slaves, even more so when said slaves are children. So even though I tolerated the existence of the profession that didn't mean I had to tolerate the act in front of me.

'Sigh... how troublesome.'

As I made up my mind to kill the slave trades before me, I also considered keeping at least one of the forest hounds alive so I used them to lead me out of Elshire forest.

'Well there's no time like the present.'

Seeing as I was currently directly above the slave traders as they started to prepare to leave the forest, I decided that killing off a few of them with the element of surprise and then taking out the remaining ones would be the fastest and most efficient way to deal with them.

'Three. Two. One...'

Since just the act of pushing myself into a standing position could alert them of my position I simply learned sideways, allowing myself to fall naturally towards the one who I deemed the leader and likely the strongest.

As my body fell, I reinforced my body with mana and formed a small blade at my fingertips, as I clicked my tongue to draw his attention. The small amount of noise I made alerted him of my foreign presence causing him to look up at me with an exposed neck.

Thud!*

As my feet touched the ground I didn't bother with the leader's now severed head and reinforced my legs as I dashed towards the next slave trader who had his back turned as he fed the hounds. Since he was only a few meters away I was able to quickly reach his position before he heard the leaders body falling to the ground and reformed the mana blade with my hand.

Shlingg!*

With one swift motion my mana sword swiftly decapitated him as I withdrew my mana from my hand and took a moment to catch his head before it hit the ground.

"What the— wait who are yo-"

'Shit.'

Dropping the second guy's head I turned back towards a bald man who watched me with a questioning look before smirking.