Episode 445 Celia’s Slave Trader, Justice’s Slave Trader (1)
As soon as the day dawned, Ray prepared to leave the Saint’s Village.
Thanks to the help of the villagers, food was sufficient.
“Are you really dying already? You can stay a little longer…”
The village chief said as if he was sorry, but Ray politely declined.
I stayed long enough to stay in the village.
Time wasn’t that tight, but there was no time to relax.
They drove the wagon while receiving enthusiastic send-off from the villagers.
Of course, Sunbok sat in the driver’s seat.
After being beaten to the point of blood, he was thoroughly cold.
– older brother. Stop being angry. I never thought that there would be things I couldn’t do on my own, even if I became the best.
“Shut up and stop talking, Soonbok.”
– yes.
After saving the village of saints, he luckily found out about the movement of the Black Army to advance into the Lessian Empire.
The old man and the chaeju weren’t very trustworthy, but just in case, he told Lesian to protect the woman’s territory, so it would be helpful in an emergency.
Now he intended to go to Celia and make as many slaves as possible to attack the black room in his place.
Instead of destroying branches, they make them collapse on their own.
If that happens, no matter how much information and secrecy the black room has, it will be hit hard.
Mien, who was staring at the scenery beyond the window, asked if she had a lot of thoughts after riding the carriage for the first time in a while.
“What can we do in Celia Kingdom?”
Good question.
Even so, Soonbok and Mien had something to do.
“Find people with sentences similar to your slave coat of arms. Celia is a kingdom where slaves are prohibited, so it won’t be easy to find. Try to move as unobtrusively as possible.”
“all right.”
Heukbang is developing a slave crest.
Just looking at Mien’s slave sentence, it was easy to infer that much.
It’s a magic circle he’s never seen before.
It was a magic circle that was so developed that it was unreasonable to invest in effectively capturing just one slave.
The funds used to develop the magic circle were astronomical.
A level that could not even be dreamed of with the income of ordinary upper ranks.
In other words, the magic circle was developed by a force that had a lot of money and completely avoided the eyes of others and repeated research.
And those forces were only about the coalition and the black room except for some kingdoms of Lesian and Seongguk.
I don’t know what the hell they’re up to, but it was said that they didn’t see the kingdom of Sillia as an enemy if it was enough to bring out an artificially created saint from the front yard of the Celia kingdom.
‘Besides, if I had succeeded in conciliating even the captain of the knights, Celia would have been quite corrupt internally as well.’
The future seemed a little bleak.
* * *
As the forces of the coalition approached and camped right in front of them, the tension in Celia increased day by day.
A faction was divided into a faction that insisted on driving them out and a faction that insisted on observing the situation a little longer.
The 7th Knight Commander, Ronel, insists on driving them out.
The days continued as we sat around a round table and held meetings over and over again.
A meeting was also called today to decide how to respond to the Coalition.
Ronel commented calmly.
“As your Majesty the King has always advised, we must drive them out. Even though they haven’t crossed the border, aren’t they threatening the kingdom with armed troops? The public sentiment of the people is getting more and more ferocious day by day. Your Majesty must make the right decision.”
As they approached with the word ‘popular sentiment’, King Celia drool.
The count of the opposing faction shook his head and objected.
“No, Your Majesty! We don’t know what the Coalition is thinking, so it’s best to step back and wait! Even if we win the Alliance, the surrounding kingdoms will not let Celia, who is weakened by the war, stand still! War should always be considered as a last resort!”
The Count’s words were the right theory.
Even if you think about it a little bit, war is a choice that has more harm than good.
However, as the surrounding nobles supported Ronel’s words, the opinion of the relatively weak count seemed to be ignored.
“It’s a tough decision. Do you have any opinions different from these two?”
The nobles who expressed their neutrality at King Deogard’s words shook their heads.
If you get involved in a struggle for no reason, the whole family can be destroyed.
They wanted to live long and thin.
“We will hold another meeting tomorrow. Let’s wait for the good opinions of the Lords.”
In the end, when opinions did not narrow, the meeting came to a close again.
* * *
Arriving in Celia, Ray did not delay and ordered Soonbok and Mien to find the slaves.
I’m worried about Mien wandering around alone, but with Soonbok by my side, it’ll be fine.
After parting with them, Ray headed to the royal castle.
I already know that the 7th Knight Commander is a dog in the black room.
Interrogating him will undoubtedly lead to other paths.
When he reached the entrance of the royal castle, he took off the white robe he always wore.
The guards became nervous as the unusual-looking young man approached the castle gate.
Those who would normally have dismissed them based only on their appearance cautiously asked.
“Excuse me, but would it be all right if I asked your name?”
Guards should be wary of outsiders and push them beyond a certain distance, but even the spearhead in their hand was moved farther outside.
“I am a saint from the Holy Land. I would like to have an audience with His Majesty the King for a while.”
When he introduced himself as a saint, a guard stared at him for a moment, then swallowed his breath and lowered his head.
“Meet the Holy Son!”
The guard who used to guard the banquet hall had seen the saint once from a distance.
And the young man in front of him matched exactly the appearance of the saint of that day.
The guards beckoned and the huge gate opened.
Unexpectedly, things turned out so easily that Ray grinned.
“thank you.”
“ha ha ha. Although I have sworn allegiance to the kingdom of Celia now, I was also a believer in Goddess Gaia in the past. It is the honor of a lifetime to see the Holy Son. Please wait here for a while. I will send a message to His Majesty the King right now.”
As the guard bowed his head and retreated, Ray decided to wait for a while.
Maybe ten minutes passed.
The guards who ran out of breath guided Ray.
“Huh! Huh! Follow me.”
I could have come a little slower.
He seems to have considered it a great disrespect to keep the saint waiting for a long time.
The place where I arrived after being guided by the guards was a huge conference room.
“His Majesty the King is here.”
After leaving his words, the guard bowed his head again and left.
Ray tilted his head.
“What meeting is it?”
In addition, the inside and outside of the door were encased in magic so that no sound leaked out.
Ray opened the door.
Then, the eyes of the aristocrats who had voiced their opinions in the meeting room gathered on him.
“saint?”
“Why is the saint here…”
is what he wants to ask.
Why the hell did he ask to see the king, and he seemed to be attending a meeting?
King Deogard personally stood up from his seat and offered Ray a chair.
“Welcome, saint. Please sit down first.”
“….”
Ray looked around and sat down looking for a seat.
Then Deogard asked at once.
“Did you ask to see the wine? I am very curious about what happened, but since the matter is urgent, I will let the widow ask the question first even though I know it is disrespectful.”
It seems that his mouth is itching to talk about a topic he has been very curious about.
As soon as Ray entered Daejeon, he saw the king about to ask a question and wondered how urgent the matter was.
Blowing his face, King Theogard spoke first.
“Some time ago, the forces of the Small Kingdom Alliance began to gather across the borders of this kingdom. Although it is across the border, it is not pleasant to see armed troops wandering around as if surrounded. What would a saint do in this situation?”
Without even thinking about it, the answer came simply.
If it were him, he would have wiped out all the things that bothered him, but that wouldn’t be the answer the king wanted.
After pretending to be worried for a moment, Ray put his index finger in his mouth and answered.
“If it were me, I’d probably be keeping an eye on it rather than moving for nothing.”
At those words, the count’s complexion greatly improved.
“Ha ha ha ha ha. The saint knows the art of war! You said that the more veteran you are, the more you avoid fights that can be avoided! Seeing the saint, I felt that what he said was not a lie!”
Conversely, the Ronel faction stood up at Ray’s words.
“Nonsense! Enemy forces were stationed right in front of the border, and they would just suck their fingers and watch! His Majesty the Holy One is now trying to endanger Celia!”
I asked and answered, but now they frame people.
By this point, Ray was getting annoyed.
“Silia will survive the war with the Union. Celia can’t even last two weeks with the current coalition forces. Don’t the people who lead the Knights even think about that much?”
At his words, the knight commanders of the Ronel faction blushed.
As the atmosphere was about to turn violent, King Theogarde clapped his hands once and concentrated on the surroundings.
“I was just asking out of curiosity. You react too sensitively.”
“your majesty. We must immediately mobilize our forces to eliminate the threat beyond our borders. The number of people who are thinking about moving to another country is increasing little by little. If we don’t get it right here, big things will happen.”
Ronel said with earnest eyes as if giving sincere advice.
“You must not be afraid of war. You have to show them that Celia is still alive and well.”
Even as he leaned down to speak, King Deogard seemed to fall for him.
Ray laughed lightly at those words.
“I don’t know who really wants to endanger Celia.”
“The saint speaks harshly. Do you think I, who leads the Seventh Knights, will drive Celia to ruin?”
seventh?
At Ronell’s words, Ray’s head jerked.
“Are you the 7th Knight Commander?”
“exactly. As a leader of a valiant knights, how can you be afraid of war? Even if there is a war with the Alliance, I will never avoid it and will fight on the front line.”
When he said that he would voluntarily stand in the vanguard, who could easily become a cannon fodder on the battlefield, most of the nobles, including King Theogard, looked at him in surprise.