Chapter. 18. Railed (12)
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Tribal law. or tribal customary law.
It is not a particularly binding law, but can be seen as a type of customary law that was created following the great unification of the species after the Mute Race War.
For example, if you try to put a dwarf on a horse, a fight will break out, or if you talk about the softness of the fur of a beastman, you will be praised, but if you talk about the shine of the fur, you will be treated as sexual harassment, etc. It is like a guideline for taboos that arise from the characteristics of each race.
If you look at it this way, you’ll think, ‘Ah, humanity has made quite an effort to narrow the gap between races!’ You can see that.
“Do you want me to undergo ‘dwarven-style hard labor’?”
“exactly! Your son hurt our comrade! “As much as we lost by Gary missing, this professor should take his place!”
“There are quite a few dwarves living in our city too. “I didn’t know there was such a custom.”
“It’s a tradition of the Blackfoot clan! “Rather than cutting off one’s hands or feet, it is something that makes one repent for one’s sins through sacred labor and sweat!”
“I heard that the name of the injured dwarf was ‘Gary Coralhand.’”
“Hey, adopted son! I’m Blackfoot! “This is the guy I took in and raised!”
I gulped at the sight of the matriarch looking down at the two dwarven father and son (Gary Coralhand/Bout Blackfoot – drinking buddies) with a cold face.
As you can see, words are not a tribal custom, just an earring if worn on the ear, and a nose ring if worn on the nose. It is a Nailong culture.
Actually, it is. People from the Teldrat Empire and the Western Empire have completely different cultures, so do dwarves and elves all have the same culture? Dwarves even live scattered in villages, and greenskins are divided into tribes?
Even today’s April World is a world where exchanges between cities are quite limited. If you insist that it is the culture of another race, it will be difficult for those who do not know it to refute it. They say it’s their tribe’s culture. What are you going to do?
Naelda, an elf, said, ‘I’ve been attacked, so I have to marry her!’ The reason he insisted on this was because of his prejudice against the elf race and his adherence to this ambiguous position.
Of course, because they are so diverse, they only make it difficult to refute them and have no real effect, which is also a tribal customary law.
“Labor rehabilitation…. How long does it take?”
“Uh… the kid became sick due to magic addiction, so at least a year!”
“No! Since it’s one year as a dwarf’s labor, a nine-year-old human child’s labor should be enough for eight years! cancer!”
“Have you ever seen parents who gave up their son for eight years just because they were so unreasonable?”
“If you don’t like it, quit! Instead, Fortress Fardau will be rumored to be a fortress full of snipers targeting engineer drivers!”
“Are you threatening me? “On top of being a magic train worker, Delphiad Brastol, the owner of the Brastol family?”
“It’s not a tongue-in-cheek threat, it’s the truth! “We got shot at and that’s Fort Fardau Station!”
“Reporters already saw that professor shooting a gun in front of the station and causing a commotion! Everyone is probably wondering about the second gunshot, but if we say anything-” “
….Stop.”
The tribal law is just an excuse to put me on the train.
What actually puts pressure on the Brastall family is the fact that ‘a shooting occurred at the fortified city station’.
Right in front of you, there is a dwarf lying down after being shot, and the person who claims to have shot him also says, ‘I shot him!’ ‘Let’s kill the pests!’ And you confessed?
From the Brastol family’s point of view, even if they send Aoji instead of reforming labor, they have no choice but to give it up.
“…I will talk to my vassals.”
“Oh, I don’t want to hear it! What are you talking about with the drivers who have to leave tomorrow? Give it to me! “I’m going to go do some work!”
“Just as you have a tribal culture, we humans also have a thing called discipline.”
“Oh, we don’t want to listen! What kind of meeting is this when they say that a crazy kid who shot a gun with obvious murderous intent will be sent back after teaching him for a few years? “I can’t just bow down and say thank you!”
“Trust me and leave it to me! “We’ll put this young bastard’s rotten spirit into the engine and revitalize it!”
Rumors that will dry up the fortress city for at least a few months and the shame of a family that was raised with a living high-quality contract.
The outcome of what the head of the household would choose was decided from the beginning.
“Five years! Not below that! “It will take well over 4 years just to learn the job!”
“I will do that. Instead, it can be announced to the outside world that my son is boarding the train himself to perform his noble duties.”
“I wonder if you can handle that. If it’s okay, we’ll take this guy away!”
‘It worked out well.’
5 years. I received exactly the number of years I talked about at the station. From the head of the family’s perspective, he would have agreed to a 5-year period because he could use it to marry into another family if he got it back before he turned 15, when he became an adult.
Of course, I have no intention of sitting idle for five years, so by then I should have gained enough strength to be free from my family’s orders.
Now, all I have to do is get out safely and have a riding party with the Rail Ship people…
“Oh, before I take you away. Can I talk to the child for a moment? “You are a parent in name, but you will give me time to talk to my son who will be away for several years, right?”
“That’s it… whatever. We can’t stop you until that point – jiuuuuuuuuck!”
‘You idiots! I told you to just say that you [don’t intend to hear] anything other than what was discussed in advance!’
I tried to stop him by pinching his calf hard, but the answer had already come out.
Contrary to the content, the voice is extremely cold. It looks like no one has any intention of telling a warm story like a parent would tell their child, but the dwarves seem to have relaxed, perhaps because they thought things were going well.
“This is a story within the family, so I hope outsiders will wait outside.”
“Uh… Now that I think about it, Master Brastol, our dwarven racial law is-”
“Professor, come here. Thank you for your understanding. Harbus? “Please at least give the guests a tour of the mansion.”
“Yes, matriarch. “I will take you there, driver.”
“Uh uhuh….”
The dwarves caught my attention and tried to control it, but the atmosphere was already gone.
thud.
The office door closes and the head of the house
slams
with a heavy sigh,
“Fuuuu-” !
“If it’s useless, you should know how to kill yourself. “You probably don’t know that you’ve gone beyond your limits just by being alive, right?”
The true face of matriarch Delphiad Brastol has been revealed.
‘Well, I expected him to be this kind of person.’
A typical nobleman with nothing special. Moreover, in such an isolated environment, being the lord of a region is no different from being a king without responsibility.
When the kid who passed out woke up and his face wasn’t even visible, I expected to think, ‘This is such a bastard.’
‘….hmm?’
The expression on the face of the matriarch who suddenly slapped me was a bit strange.
An expression that is a mixture of contempt, annoyance, and annoyance… and a strange sense of interest.
“Still, Sam has proven that he is at least half of Brastol’s blood.”
“yes?”
“Isn’t it disgusting? It’s like a pest that imitates humans and is claiming its rights based on its petty popularity. Just because they take good care of their livestock doesn’t mean the owner respects them, but they don’t know that.”
“If I had known it would be like this, I would have taught you how to use a gun. “If I had shot him, I would have killed him.”
what?
The head of the house was showing me a little favor.
This is the feeling that the character ‘Professor Brastol’ has been longing for for the past 9 years.
What is this?
Why all of a sudden.
me?
Tick tick tick-
ding!
‘This is a bad boy! ‘I gained favor through the passive effect!’
[Evil Energy Lv.3] Good-oriented people become hostile towards me for no reason, and on the contrary, evil-oriented people become slightly attracted to me.
Thanks to you, I feel a strange sense of kinship. Huh? The bastard who was locked in the warehouse went out and shot the dwarf? You said you just wanted to kill me without any reason?
“For someone with dirty blood, you have quite a big head. “If you see that you know how to think properly.”
This was something that the head of the family, Delphiad Brastol, who was a true racist, liked very much.
‘Uh… is it good? Now that we’ve finished talking about my treatment, my train departure is confirmed…’
“Follow me. Since you pretend to be a member of the family, I guess I should give you a chance. “It just so happens that when it comes to rail ships, our family is working on something.”
The head of the family was trying to add something to a job that had ended well.
“Uh um…”
“Don’t just stand there stupidly, move. “There must be a limit to the butler’s ability to keep pests outside.”
“yep.”
I don’t know what it is, but I need to check what they are doing with the rail ship that will be my future residence.
The matriarch was urging me on as she entered the hidden passage behind the bookshelf.
“however. When did you start thinking like that? “Not long ago, he was no different from an animal, throwing things and squealing.”
“Uh… I heard you started crying the moment you just happened to meet me?”
“That’s great. It probably means that you are old enough to think properly. “It’s almost an instinct to be disgusted by cockroaches.”
“You said it was work, but do you get paid for it?”
“Conservative. “Do you think that someone like you is worthy of making demands on me?”
“No, since I have to live in a dirty place for 5 years, I thought I would take a maid with me-”
“If you need a woman, just say so. If you do this job well, I’ll give you a maid. “I think I can use it even after 5 years, but it would be a shame if it turns into a wild person in the meantime.”
Tap, tap, tap.
Ta-bak-ta-bak.
‘…Why? Why does it fit well?’
For some reason, everything I said seemed to fit right in. During the short time we went down to the family’s basement, the matriarch’s eyes were looking at me even more greedily.
‘It seems like we’ve come down quite a bit… I guess this is about the second basement level?’
This is a basement made by carving out granite-level rock in an era where there was no reinforced concrete. My guess is about 7 to 8 meters underground. Judging from the distance traveled up the stairs, it appeared to be in the basement, not directly underneath the mansion, but some distance away.
Even the topography of the secret passage leading from the head of the family’s office seemed suspicious, and at what appeared to be the end of the stairs, fully armed private soldiers were prepared.
“…Matriarch. “What do you want me to do?”
Step by step. Step by step.
Sweet.
end of the stairs. In front of the door illuminated by the dull blue light of a magic light, the matriarch smiled as vaguely as the magic light.
“You look scared. “What do you think is in here?”
‘I don’t know what it is, but it doesn’t seem very good.’
Retreat. A single straight staircase made of granite that cannot be bypassed.
The three closest friendly ground dwarves. Combat power is ambiguous.
Predictable distractions Eight heavily armed noble privates. In addition to the rifle-type arcane shooter, it appears to have melee weapons and other things.
‘If anything goes wrong, they take the gun, start shooting at the light, and then fly away.’
The advantage of magic engineering guns is that they have low recoil, so even a child can roughly handle them.
As soon as I stood in front of the door, I looked for it.
Because inside the tightly closed door, I could feel the scent of blood so thick that it was impossible to mistake it.
‘Black magic? pseudo-religion? Is this the type you saw before starting? Whatever it is, I don’t think it’s a facility that lets just anyone in.’
Thump-
ugh.
While I was regaining my senses, two privates standing in front of the head of the family opened the heavy stone door.
Unlike the strong scent of blood, the interior is bright and refreshing.
People moving around wearing dark robes and colorful and beautiful jewels filling one wall of the basement.
“That’s…”
“I heard the reason for going out today was to see the Shard Knight. “You’re interested in that?”
The matriarch crossed the basement and stood in front of the carefully stored jewels.
“me too. “These fragments are the future of our family and the strength that will become humanity’s last hope!”
About twenty fragments lined up on one wall. Some fragments were being handled carefully on some kind of test bench, and on the other side…
Sugaak!
Suddenly!
Toad!
Likewise, the sound of people wearing robes cutting flesh with cool sword techniques was heard.
“Matriarch, what is this place…”
“Didn’t you say it earlier? The things that live up there are just livestock. Things that are fed well, raised, raised, coaxed, milked, and produce their own value.”
“This place is just a place to slaughter the livestock raised that way.”
Only then was I able to recall the geography of the city that I had vaguely familiarized myself with during the day.
A track running through the center. The outskirts of a lively city with a mix of markets and industrial stations.
The city’s public crematorium stood out and stood out.
Those wearing robes added to their confidence by putting the mutilated corpse into the kiln.
“Are you collecting fragments from people in the city?”
“Gathering is equivalent to wild resources. Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to call this a harvest?”
“Collecting is what I will ask you to do from now on.”
The matriarch approached me in shock and placed a small package in my hand.
Through the thick leather, I could feel a lump of faint magical energy.
“Aboard the railship is a Shard Knight named Volteus. “You probably know the name.”
“Hide this in his bedroom. “As close to him as possible.”
“What is this?”
“It’s a trap. A trap to catch a beast that only uses the family name and neglects its duties. “This has already been discussed with Straug.”
The matriarch smiled brightly and placed the pouch in my hand.
“A soul mage’s treasure. “It is a piece of bone that goes into the soul jar.”
It was only then that I felt that the clattering pieces in my hand felt strangely familiar.
The magic power of those wearing dark robes is similar to the magic power of someone from a long time ago.
“With it you will retrieve the fragment of Volteus.”
“If things go well, the rail ship will return to the Straug family and the fragments of Voltaeus will return to our hands. “If you kill all the remaining insects, you will no longer have to labor for five years for lower creatures.”
“Aren’t you happy? What opportunity has come to make up for your mistakes and at the same time become a member of the family? “This is how nobles handle their affairs.”
“Ha haha…. Yes. “I am very happy about this.”
I also showed a bright smile to the matriarch, who had a dark smile on her face.
It wasn’t a lie. First of all, I feel pretty good right now.
‘I could completely destroy the Brastol family from its roots.’
I became part of a conspiracy to rip out the rail ship that would become my new home, starting from the pillars.
You can’t help but use it, right?
“Hahaha, I want to kill them all quickly.”
“I understand because you suffered that humiliation. “If you rush and make a mistake, you will be the one who dies.”
While admiring the satisfied look of the head of the family, I began to hear about the rest of the situation from the wizard responsible for this matter.
“It is said that Gilder is a soul mage.”
“A soul mage…”
Now that I think about it, when talking about attributes in Rail Ship, I said that among the mainstream wizards, a soul mage is included.
“So…all the wizards here are soul magicians?”
“Then do you think that handling fragments can be done without a soul mage?”
“aha.”
It seemed like there were a lot of stories that needed to be heard.
While being treated as an ally before being killed indiscriminately.
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