Green Skin

"Strength, Wisdom and Honor…"

"Strength, Wisdom and Honor."

Storm Shadow looked over with in a joyful manner. As if he was truly delighted, the corners of his lips raised slightly.

The first time Goff and I had met him, I recognised that he didn’t respond well with any sort of expression. He definitely is one of those kinds of green skin who didn’t express his emotions so well. But hearing his slightly high-toned voice, there was no mistake that he was delighted by our arrival.

"What business do you have in the East, Blood Dagger and Black Spear?"

Though he asked, it felt like he already was aware of everything. Considering such a thing at this time, I felt that it would be prudent to satisfy him with what he wanted.

"I wish to settle in the East."

"That is welcoming news, Blood Dagger. How about it? Did you obtain what you wanted through Green Goblin?"

"Sufficiently…"

"Many Green Skins are reluctant to come towards the East. But, this place is also quite a nice location to live in."

"Is that so…"

Though those words felt a bit untrustworthy, I decided to respond to it. Actually, I had no thought of living here for all of my lifetime, but noticing his expression, I felt that it was best not to add anything unnecessary.

The guy who continued to talk then s.h.i.+fted his gaze over to the six captured Humans. Feeling the gaze of Storm Shadow, I spoke up.

"It’s a gift. We caught these Humans along the way here. Please take these three people, we will take the other three."

"Very good. Very good…"

He was extremely delighted as the Humans who had now regained consciousness were completely silent. It was certain that they would be flabbergasted at being dragged to the village of Storm Shadow after leaving for a simple Goblin hunt. Their lips and body were trembling unconditionally, but of course, there was no compa.s.sion for them. They were just trophies at best after all.

"Anyhow, it is proper to welcome the guests."

After leaving the west, the second banquet had begun. After receiving the welcome of the Big Ogre Clan, I had some expectations in antic.i.p.ation of this banquet, but the party of the Storm Shadow Clan was extremely boring.

"………………………………………….."

"…………………."

Everyone was engaged in low whispers while feasting on the food displayed, but not much conversations arose otherwise. Gark and Hark were silently talking with one another, and the lively personality which is Mev was wiping away the cold sweat. Storm Shadow nodded and began to speak some ordinary stories. Mentally, I had wished for this banquet to end as quickly as possible, and fortunately, it ended much quicker than that of the Ogres.

Then I entered my tent. We had decided to reside in the small sector of the village provide by Storm Shadow, so we set up our flags and quickly built up our tents.

Once we completed the tents, contrary to the expectation of Hayeon, I was accompanied by Ragia as she brought forth the three captured Humans. Throwing them roughly on the ground in front of me so I could now obtain some information.

"Somorah…"

The moment I spoke, they immediately replied.

"Ho…how do you know our language…"

"You do not need to be concerned with that."

I beckoned to Ragia, the guys slowly began to approach. In that somewhat short time, if there was anything that I had realized,

it was that Ragia’s torture was quite effective. No, rather than effective, she looked like a professional at it. Though I wasn’t sure exactly what position they were in at Somorah, but knowing that even such trivial information could become a great weapon, I was determined to extract every single piece of detail.

"Can we start?"

I nodded from Ragia’s voice. The reason why she was able to deal with such matters effectively was that she did not become agitated. In the case of Hark, Gark, and Hayeon, they would quickly kill the Humans, but she knew how to coldly execute her role.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhk! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhk!"

From that noise, I frowned, and immediately Ragia put a cloth in his mouth and began to continue her work.

After a bit more time, he was shedding tears. It was then that he finally realized that he had made a mistake.

‘I had wasted my time.’

These guys had no sense of belonging or justice. Rather, they were just guys that moved for their own benefits. Even if I hadn’t tortured them, it was certain they would have replied to me.

I raised my hand and soon Ragia took out the cloth from his mouth and allowed us to start our conversation.

"Name."

"Lee…Lee Wanyong."

"Age."

"Thirty-eight… I am thirty-eight years old…"

"Do you belong to a guild or a clan?"

"Yes…yes. Bl…black Thorn Guild."

How lucky. Though I had thought that I would be able to capture one since the guild was quite large, but I hadn’t imagined that I would capture a guy from the Black Thorn Guild the moment I arrived within the swamps.

"What good luck."

"Yes…Yes?"

"I was looking for you…"

Once I finished, the face of the guy brightened as he began to think that there might be a way to secure his life.

"From this moment forth, I will not weigh everything that you say. About the city, the state of affairs in the East, and lastly… news regarding the slaves, I want you to speak about everything… Literally."

"Yes…Yes!"

The reason why I told him I wouldn’t mind what he said was because I didn’t want him to be reluctant on speaking about the slaves to me. Though I knew the truth that Orcs and Goblins were enslaved by Somorah city, but it would be difficult to evaluate the current situation if he were to hide some details due to fear.

Of course, there was a strange curiosity in his face of how I knew about slaves. If he was as quick-witted as Hayeon, he would soon realize that I was originally Human. But he did not inquire further as he knew that he should not cross past the permitted line.

"Ugh…where to start…"

"Talk comfortably. It’s alright to start with you and go forth from there."

Since the night was long, there was lots of time. I looked over Ragia, and she quickly moved over to my side.

"I…I was summoned here about… twelve years ago…or…originally…. I was summoned in the West. It has been four years since I moved into Somorah."

"I see…"

"As soon as I moved here, I was accepted into the Black Thorn Guild officially, but it was then…sl…sl..slave hunt… it was not my intention. I had no choice…."

He was trembling, but I roughly knew this would happen. Since our races were different, he wouldn’t have a sliver or remorse in conscience, but he was being wary of my presence as much as possible. It was the fact that I was a monster why he was like that, so I had no choice but to speak out.

"I think I told you not to speak of any useless facts. Tell the truth as it is. This is the last warning."

"Yes…yes."

Understanding what I wanted, he began to talk without hesitation. From what he reported, the majority of the Humans that resided in Somorah were official guild members, mostly did business to those who came from outside.

It wasn’t a legitimate business, as the majority that did come came to buy slaves illegally, or to use of the Black Market, or even request a.s.sa.s.sinations. There was even a show made that showed monsters killing humans for visitors to watch.

The fact that there was even prost.i.tution for monsters, I couldn’t help but notice how rotten Somorah actually was.

"But what’s more serious is that…there is a limited number of people that can work. Though on the outside, it looks like a city that is more developed for the night life…but most transactions and business happen underground. I…I’m still a low rank, so I don’t know in detail…"

In other words, on the outside it was a nightlife and slave city.

"Where and how do you obtain your slaves?"

"In the case of mon…monsters, we target Goblins and Orcs who have strayed away from the groups. For humans… we capture civilians without any combat ability or those from small clans. Usually, the people of the cities that have lost in war against us would all be captured and made into slaves. In truth, the majority of Human slaves are civilians… and there are a few that are Murderers as well."

The more I heard, the more flabbergasted I was. It was because the parts I knew of was very minimal compared to what the internal state of the city actually was.

Not only that, like I had suspected, all of the authorities of the cities in the East all had some sort of relations with the Black Thorn Guild and it’s guild master; Yoon Jungsoo and he even mentioned how there were some people that came from the desert cities of the South to meet him.

In other words, Somorah was a trash can for people to come and expose all of their desires. For those that tried to be clean, it was a much needed trash can. Grasping the situation of Somorah a bit, I asked another question.

"Do you know anything about Spider and Hound clan?"

After pondering a bit, he replied not long after.

"If you’re inquiring about the Murderer Clans…that…that aspect, I know nothing. Though guild members suspected about that relations.h.i.+p, but it’s just a minor speculation… I…"

"Is there anyone here that knows more than you?"

"There…is none here."

I then glanced over and saw the two who were trembling. As expected, the guy in front of me had the highest position amongst them. The ones in the back seemed like they wanted to show some usefulness like Lee Wanyong, but realizing that it wasn’t the atmosphere to speak out, they remained silent.

"I’m also curious if the executives go out from time to time…"

"Yes…Yes. Of course. The guild executives move directly when they travel to deliver slaves towards the larger cities."