Master’s Smile

Chapter 2: Dark Guild Subjugation Squad 1

"Where are we headed again?"

"Huh?"

This guy came with us without even knowing that?

"If you don't even know that, why are you taking this job?"

"Well, that's because I'm broke."

"Huh? Didn't you tell me you made some money a while ago?"

"About that, I kind of spend it all on a slave."

The man stuck out his tongue and made a 'teehee' expression2. If a beautiful woman made such a gesture it would be quite a sight, but a man that commits crimes doing it makes one feel sick.

"You should be careful about discussing slaves. We are not alone on this job after all."

"Oops…"

After reminding him, he started looking around to make sure no one overheard us. Since slavery is "prohibited" in this country.

Even though it's prohibited, some people are "allowed" to have slaves. People such as aristocrats and soldiers that are indispensable for the country for example. And the people in the "gray" guilds just don't care about the law, so they usually have slaves as well.

"That's right. If you discuss something like that in front of the public, we will be forced to respond. So be a little more careful from now on."

Looks like someone overheard us. A man wearing a knight's armor approaches us and voices his stance on the matter. But that was all he did. The knights are apparently just as corrupt as the people from the gray guild.

"Well, I was just joking just now. I don't have a slave."

"No point in hiding it now."

A man seemingly familiar with the character of the knight starts laughing. Such a scene could never be shown to the public.

The men of a "gray" guild and the knights of a kingdom who are supposed to be protecting the nation and the citizens are working together. Moreover, it doesn't look like he's planning to question the man about having things like slaves. The man looked delighted, but I'm sure the general public would be abhorred by the situation.

"So, what are we going to do?"

"We are going to subdue the dark guild."

"Is that so… wait, seriously?!"

After hearing what the knight said, the comrade immediately bit his lip. Well, it's expected since it's about a dark guild.

Even guilds that commit crimes are still considered "gray". There are almost no guilds that are recognized as "dark" by the kingdom.

"Now I understand why the pay of this job was so high."

"Look properly next time."

Since it looks like a good opportunity, I decided to ask a few more questions.

"Will we be alright with this small amount of people against a dark guild? We do have some confidence in our arms, but still…"

"Hahaha. A guild filled with fighters and the knights of the kingdom are joining forces on this job. There is no need to worry. Besides, we're not the only ones that will work on subduing the dark guild. Other guilds and knights are heading towards the dark guild as well."

The knight responded with confidence. Looks like the kingdom and the guilds are taking this subjugation job seriously. While the man was pondering about it…

"Uncles, what are you doing here?"

"Waah?!"

The man was startled after hearing the childish high pitched but gentle voice. The group is deep inside a forest that is far from civilization and ordinary people never enter.

Even though it was already weird that they heard a voice not belonging to anyone to the group, it was even a child's voice. The man's companions and the knights were also surprised as they widened their eyes. Though the man didn't think that it was possible to find anyone in this forest, he still faced the direction of where the voice was heard…

"It's really a child after all…"

The child who has long light green hair was looking up at him in the quiet forest. A big impressive flower decorated her hair and drew your attention.

"Why are you here?"

"Probably for the same reason as you. Lala lives with her most important person nearby."

She returns the same tone and looks down on me the same way that I did to her earlier. She lets out a sigh as if she's talking to an idiot, but the expression on her face when she said "important person" looked very sexy.

Even though the men weren't interested in children, their hearts beats still accelerated after seeing that expression. However, the man was confused by the child's reply.

There shouldn't be a community such as a village nearby. So this child only lives together with her "important person"? As the man is looking for an answer, he turned his gaze towards a knight, since he is likely to be more familiar with the place.

"Most likely a stray person settled nearby. There are many people that can't live inside a village for whatever reasons."

The man nodded his head after hearing the knight's explanation. It was the most convincing explanation for now.

“Oh, you’re quite cute, aren’t you, kid?”

A companion of the man approached the child with a disgusting smile on his face and making a slurping sound with his tongue. The man got a weird feeling after hearing what the companion said.

"Hey, you can't be serious…"

"No, no, that's not what I meant! But with such a cute face she is bound to fetch a good price."

The man gave his comrade a bitter smile but is relieved that he doesn't have that kind of hobby. His companions were planning on selling the child as a slave. Well, the girl does have a cute face, so she should fetch a nice amount of money.

"If she was a little older, I would have made her mine. But I'm not a lolicon."

Any decent person would have sleepless nights about selling off such a small child, but these people are from gray guilds. People in gray guilds won't have such a commendable heart. Even though the man felt a little sorry for the kid, he won't stop his comrades.

"Don't do these types of things too much in my presence."

Even the knight of the kingdom who should protect the citizens only had this much of a response. Looks like the knights that are cooperating with the gray guilds to subjugate the dark guild are not decent people either.

"Uncles, what did you come here for?"

"Us uncles are righteous men that came to beat up a really bad guild that should be in this forest. Since it's dangerous, you should stay close to uncle."

One of the male companions responds to the girl's question with a suspicious smile. Though his persuasion was obviously for the sake of kidnapping her, the girl didn't look like she was going to run as she stood still.

Looks like the child has a low vigilance? While pondering about it, he remembered that his comrade would be selling the child as a slave.

If you sold her to an aristocrat with that kind of hobby, the price would be quite high. The man imagined drinking lots of sake after selling her.

"Whew~"

The man's comrade was already imagining the amount of money this kid would fetch. An evil smile was on the man's face.

"So that's how it is. Uncles came to pick a fight with Lala and her friends?"

"Eh…?"

That evil smile immediately froze after that.

Translation said it was a corps, but a corps is a full military group, the gray guild members are obviously not military. Something like this.