The man laughed viciously after grabbing the boy's collar.
The boy struggled to get out of his hold but he couldn't shake off the man's hold.
Just he was about to move his hand to bite the man's wrist. The other man gave him a tight slap.
Tashhhhh...
A loud sound rang on his ears, on getting a slap and he fell on the ground with a thud.
"Brat did you take me as a fool, do you think your trick will work twice".
The man raised his leg to kick the boy but before he could kick, a dagger tearing the air passed right through his hand bursting his head like a watermelon.
The other man was horrified unable to comprehend the situation, that happened in a split of a few seconds.
The dagger hovered in the air after killing the other man and its direction reversed, now aiming towards him.
Both of them were measly 1-Star. He knew he had no chance of defending if, he was attacked like that.
What horrified him more, was the possibility that the dagger was either controlled by someone who had an invisibility ability.
He shivered in fear thinking of the possibility.
The boy opened his eyes stunned to see blood spilt on his body with a headless man lying in front of him.
The boy was already used to seeing people getting killed so it doesn't have any impact on him but what surprised him was the dagger hovering in the mid-air.
While the man was staring at the dagger someone appeared on his back and punched his head.
Bang.Bang.Bang.
The unknown man punched him ruthlessly without any care of killing him until he was knocked unconscious.
The unknown man turned towards the boy, though his face was hidden by the darkness of the night, still, it was unable to contain the shine of the golden eyes that looked bright even in the night.
Bending his knee, Lucas looked straight into the boy's eyes.
The boy moved back a few steps seeing Lucas in fear.
" What is your name and why are they chasing you".Lucas asked as he observed the boy before him.
"I...I" The boy was very much frightened, unable to utter a word and his stomach was making sound, indicating he was hungry.
Lucas looked at the boy with pity. The boy was really in pitiful condition.
Lucas took out a piece of bread from his storage ring and handed it to the boy.
He looked at the bread then at Lucas and pounced on the bread hungrily. He looked as if he hadn't eaten for many days.
He swallowed the bread at once. Lucas gave him some more bread asking him to take it easy.
"Thank you, mister, for saving my life and giving me food." He bowed down in front of Lucas.
Lucas took off the scarf after surveying their area and asked him some questions.
Seeing his miserable condition Lucas didn't want to take advantage of him but still, he had to do it and the time was perfect for him to make the boy agree to his condition.
Listening to the boy's story, he spoke"Listen you can speak everything about yourself and what do you want to do now. You can follow me for now or stay mum and can go wherever you want. You are free to do what you want." Lucas stood up waiting for his answer.
The boy looked at him as if he was his last ray of hope.
Hugging Lucas's legs the boy cried" Please help me. I am a slave and I ran away from the slave traders. Those men wanted to catch me and bring me back."
Lucas can at least infer this even without the boy saying as there is a slave collar on his neck.
Anger started to boil in him. Lucas's plan was just to save this boy and take him under his wing, unlike Frederick who destroyed the place where illegal slave trading was going on in anger.
But now, looking at the things before him. He decided to burn down that place.
Lucas raised his hand and rubbed the boy patted the boy's head" I can help you but you have abode by my two conditions."
The boy didn't wait for his condition and fell on his knees"You have already saved me once. I am willing to do anything to repay you. I will be happy to do anything you want."
Lucas nodded.
"First I want you to be my butler and second I want you to get stronger, so much stronger than you can take revenge on those who have wronged you."
" But if you chose to follow me, I promise I will treat you nicely and help you achieve your goal".
The boy looked at Lucas to search for any sign of falsity but he couldn't find any. He can feel the sincerity in Lucas's words.
"My. My name is Jay" Jay tried to stand up holding Lucas's hand.
Lucas looked at the unconscious man beside him.
"Let's take this fellow".
In the bar, everyone was worried after Lucas's sudden disappearance. He had left for quite some time now. They even searched nearby the bar but they couldn't find Lucas.
After searching for some time Fredrick got a message from Lucas.
After some time Lucas came back with a man on his back with a boy walking beside it.
Everyone's eyes hardened seeing the boy's condition.
" Lucas. What did you do?"Fredrick asked unable to comprehend the situation.
"Let's find a place to talk".Lucas spoke
" Follow me, I know a place".Parth signalled the old man. The old man took them towards an underground room where they tied the man and inquired about the boy.
Jay could see the people in front of him were not. bad compared to the people he had met before.
He started narrating his story.
"I lived in the outskirts of Zhenris fiefdom. One day a dungeon appeared near our village. Our village head reported to Zhenris city asking for their help but they turned a blind eye towards us. After the dungeon breakout happened, my parents tried to defend and make time for us to leave. But after someday some men from the county came and killed the monster".
" The one that survived was forcefully locked up by them and those men sold us to the slave traders".Jay shed tears near the end
Everyone frowned listening to the story.
"Those men may not be from the county. They should be some bastard impersonating them" Parth asked.
"No, the count must have known this. He must have a hand in it. He must have earned quite a fortune by selling them".Fredrick spoke with anger in. his eyes.
" Isn't slavery illegal?" Roan asked angrily.
"Slavery might be illegal not banned.".
" What's the difference ".
" Slavery still prevails here. But you need certain conditions. For example, prisoners of war can be used as slaves. Another is rebellion. If there is rebellion in kingdoms or one's territory it's entirely in the hand of the lord how he treats them. He can use the leftover of the rebellions as slaves or sell them. Still, that doesn't mean there are no slave markets that operate illegally.".Fredrick explained shaking his head in pity.
"That bastard count must have used the excuse of them being rebels to sell them".Parth snorted.
Jay sat on the corner listening to the discussion. His face was devoid of any expression on hearing all this. As a victim with neither power nor backing, what else can he do after all?
Lucas stared at Jay and then looked at the others.
" We can't make any move against the county. We all are just powerless kids. But that doesn't mean we can let this slide."Lucas suggested.
"Lucas. You mean" Fredrick raised his brow as if realising something.
"Let's burn down the place from where Jay escaped and save those who have been captured. We can inform the city bureau about it after we have some fun. But I don't want to depend on those bastards. That's why first we will act then report"Lucas chuckled after speaking
But all those present shivered to see him smile which looked like a devil smile.
Even the old man can't help but look at these kids in a new light.
The old man is already past a hundred. During his childhood, one has gone on the war with or against his will if you are awakened. But in a time of peace, these kids all are muddle-headed and don't take things seriously.
But these boys wanting to do something dangerous, even if they can just turn a blind eye, really made him admire them.
" Lucas you are right. But we don't know who are our enemies and how strong are they. We can't dive in without knowing anything."Fredrick spoke.
Lucas facepalmed listening to Fredrick's speech. He thought Fredrick will take it from here as it was originally his idea to dive in. But seeing him being cautious, he doesn't know what went wrong. He saved them instead of him has somehow changed his behaviour.
Lucas doesn't know the impact will be good or bad for future development but as he had started all this, he had to see it through to the end.
Lucas pointed at the unconscious man on the chair.
" Why do you think, I let him live?"Lucas spoke.
Everybody looked at the unconscious man whose face was swollen like a pig with a big horn on his head.
Parth was frightened seeing his condition. He cant imagine Lucas would be this violent.
He took note of this incident and decided not to anger him in the future.
