SWNOVELXO Chapter 95
Episode 3-b. The Dark Sorcerer’s Subjugation.
To put it simply, I took Eileen to the gambling den, saying I wanted to annoy her a little before going.
So Eileen, excited, ran off and enjoyed a few rounds of gambling.
I didn’t have any particular interest in gambling, so I thought I’d just watch her.
However.
“Eileen, that’s enough gambling for now; we should start heading to the rendezvous point.”
“Yes, yes, Asha! Just let me finish this round!”
Eileen merely nodded at my words as if entranced by something and busied herself with the game.
“Eileen, you said just one round.”
“Did I say that? By the way, Asha, could you lend me some money? I promise I’ll win it back quickly!”
“….”
While her words were clearly articulated, it was as if she had plugged her ears and was only spouting her own thoughts, diving back into gambling.
“Eileen.”
“Yes, yes! Don’t worry, I’ll win this round!”
“Eileen.”
“Come on, come on, 6! I need a 6!”
And I figured this was definitely an unusual reaction.
Eileen, who knew I was ash gray (an emotionless state), wouldn’t dare test my patience.
With a sudden motion—
I channeled my mana into my hand and slapped Eileen’s cheek with all my strength.
“Ugh…! A-Asha? Why did you suddenly slap me? Ouch…!”
“Get a grip.”
“I-I don’t understand what you mean….”
“Are you still wanting to gamble?”
“Because—ouch, my cheek hurts so much that I can’t think….”
Still, the fact that she didn’t outright say she wanted to continue gambling indicated that the unknown magic was at least lifted for now.
It seemed there was a spell causing her to gradually become absorbed in the act of gambling itself.
I had misjudged her stubbornness as merely foolishness and realized it too late, unfortunately.
So I explained to Eileen, who was looking at me with teary eyes, why I had done that.
“I saw you were enchanted and only wanted to gamble, so I broke the spell myself.”
“Ugh… thank you…. But did you really have to slap me?”
“No. That’s not how it works. I just found it annoying that you were ignoring me.”
“…, then please be gentle next time….”
She pouted, looking wronged.
I found it absurd and subtly raised my hand, causing her lips to pucker instantly.
Indeed.
As Ain had told me long ago, a little bit of punishment goes a long way in most cases.
Anyway.
Although we wasted some time, Eileen and I stepped into the murky streets.
An artificial darkness and red lights of the brothel district.
The sight of scantily clad prostitutes tempting men was unsettling even in this situation.
Men who seemed not to participate in the subjugation were lured inside the establishments, and soon the wretched sounds of their misdeeds filled the air.
There was also a peculiar, musty stench present.
Perhaps that’s why I had a foreboding feeling creeping in.
“…a brothel.”
Surely, Ain wouldn’t have done something so absurd as to mess around with a prostitute in a place like this.
It’s said that men are weak against their sexual desires, but at least Ain wouldn’t succumb to that.
So I trust him.
“Ain.”
For now, I will not question him.
“…”
I have urgent matters to handle, so I will trust him and plan to investigate later once everything is settled.
Trust and faith stem from concrete proof, after all.
“A-Asha! Th-the ash powder…! It’s leaking out…!!”
“….”
With Eileen desperately clutching the hem of my robe and breathing heavily, I made several deep breaths as we headed to the rendezvous point.
As I saw one of the scantily clad prostitutes approach me and lightly touch my robe, once again, bad thoughts began to surface in my mind.
“Please, Asha!! There’s so many people!”
“Huh….”
Although I had to calm myself first, I looked at Eileen, who was flailing her hands around in shock at the sprouting ash powder.
My lips were curled like Eileen’s and kept murmuring until we reached the rendezvous.
Then.
We finally arrived at the rendezvous point, but having arrived a little late, the subjugation team had already begun their entry.
Boom—
Crash—
Creating such sounds, the large walls of the brothel had been torn apart.
I watched the backs of those charging in, led by the knights and sorcerers I had seen in the square.
They looked quite formidable.
Though perhaps a bit weaker than the imperial knights and sorcerers I had once secretly admired as a child. Nevertheless, they were still quite skilled.
Amidst this, sighs could be heard around us.
“Sigh… we won’t be able to get any scraps now. What kind of knights and sorcerers just come in like this… tsk.”
“They said we’d receive a small reward just for participating, but what do we do? We’ll have to just drink that.”
There were those expressing certainty that their turn would never come.
“It’s a shame. The city that never sees night will finally see it.”
“Indeed. Even the phrase ‘city of tourism’ will fade away once this blessing ends.”
They seemed to bemoan the arrival of night, believing the subjugation of dark sorcerers was an inevitable future.
“Hehe, finally, I can escape… finally, finally from this hellhole…”
The voices of slum dwellers, half-mad and in shabby clothes, reached my ears.
Moreover, perhaps Eileen heard it too as she tugged at my clothing and whispered.
“Asha, what will happen to our reward if it’s resolved like this?”
She probably thought the same way while observing the knights and sorcerers charging resolutely and hearing the murmurs of the weak around us.
However.
“Eileen, why do you think it will be resolved so easily at their hands?”
“What? Well, with people like that, the dark sorcerers will be dealt with quickly…”
My thoughts were somewhat different.
“One hundred years is a span that even a human may struggle to reach in a lifetime.”
“Uh, why is that?”
“During that time, the dark sorcerers have been scheming below. What do you think lies in their territory for you to think it would be so simple?”
“…oh.”
It’s often said.
Sorcerers are those who prepare.
The stronghold of sorcerers is akin to a fortress, requiring engagement with the many complex, buried magical signals.
The mana and magic accumulated over a long time will pour out endlessly, and no one can afford to dismiss it carelessly.
And.
Everyone seemed to be overly complacent, but the same was true for the dark sorcerers.
Despite having had time, they had not fled and remained hidden underground.
It seems the dark sorcerers had completed their preparations after being discovered, and their continued hiding indicates they must have steeled themselves.
Boom—
“Uh…? A-Asha?”
“Look.”
If I were among those dark sorcerers,
The moment those foolish and ambiguous knights and sorcerers, wasting energy while being overly complacent, step into my territory,
Whoooom—
“A-Asha…!”
Boom—
I would annihilate them all with a powerful magic prepared long ago.
And true to my words, the vast brothel building disintegrated in a strong explosion.
Whether those who had gone in first were truly dead is still unknown, but at the very least, the murmurs of the people who had been bustling around also vanished.
“Are you still thinking the same way?”
“W-Well, we won’t die, right…?”
“I’ll protect you, just don’t stray from my side.”
“Y-yes…! I’ll only trust you, Asha…!”
I said that, then pushed away several people who were backing away in fear and advanced forward.
Around me, instead of sighs filled with certainty, all manner of curses filled the air.
Complaints erupted from vagrants and weak adventurers, crying out about how we could possibly take down something like that.
The dark and sinister mana that had been hidden for a hundred years began to overflow from the brothel’s basement.
To be honest, I wondered if I could jump in there without being noticed as ash gray.
However, if it was to obtain something Ain wished for, I was more than prepared to deal with getting burned.
“Eileen, hold onto my waist.”
“Wh-what…?”
I jumped down into the large pit, maneuvering through the hesitant people.
“Ahhh!!! Asha…!!”
“You’ll die if you let go. Hold on tight.”
I scraped the walls with my mana to slow down as I headed into the deep, dark underground.