A Snake’s Life Ch 87

Chapter 87

 

The wall I had broken through turned out to be the wall of the auction house.

On stage, a woman dressed in clothes barely more than scraps was trembling. The auctioneer stoked the nobles’ competitiveness, urging them to raise their bids for her. The nobles shouted over each other, each determined to buy her. But the moment we appeared, all actions came to a halt.

The auctioneer and nobles all looked at us in shock. Questions from the nobles mixed with the startled voices of the announcers echoed through the microphone.

“A s-slave?”

“What?”

Even the merchant watching the auction was momentarily dumbfounded by the absurd scene before him. Then, springing to his feet, he shouted while trembling.

“Don’t just stand there—capture the slaves!”

The auctioneer, also shocked, shouted into the mic to catch them, his voice resounding through the venue. In response, some burly men, who must have heard the commotion, stormed in. They began subduing people without mercy. I conjured a massive mass of water, but even just holding off the attackers coming at me was overwhelming.

“M-Magic?”

As I created the water mass, the nobles, mistaking me for a mage, raised their voices in excitement, each insisting they would buy me. Seeing this, the merchant quickly pointed at me and spoke, as if having done all the calculations in his head within seconds.

“Everyone except that slave—eliminate them!”

The auctioneer, suddenly composed, soothed the nobles and instead began introducing me.

“Please calm down, everyone. It’s merely the desperate struggle of a few slaves. I now present to you a slave who was not originally scheduled to appear. A water mage—undoubtedly worth collecting.”

“Collecting value?” The words were absurd. Then I heard screams from behind. The perimeter must’ve been breached—women and children were being mercilessly thrown to the ground. The hired guards, heeding the merchant’s orders, drew their swords and threatened people into submission, saying they’d die if they resisted.

Unarmed civilians, terrified by the blades, had no choice but to collapse in fear.

“Kyaaah!!”

A piercing scream suddenly rang out. One of the guards had swung his sword to stop a slave from escaping. The sight of the sword caused panic—driven by fear of death, people broke from the formation and ran wildly. The guards, of course, didn’t stand idly by.

My calls for them to stay in formation seemed to fall on deaf ears—they ran only toward empty corridors. Nobles trying to flee collided with guards in the chaos. Some guards chased fleeing people to the bitter end. Others, consumed by despair, fell to their knees.

I stood there, dazed, watching people get overpowered. My teeth clenched in anger. What enraged me even more was the merchant, now standing behind me, patting my shoulder as if urging me to accept my fate. Wearing a crooked smile, he said:

“You did well—but this is the end of the road. Seems I’m really quite lucky.”

“Is that so… Are you sure you’re lucky?”

I glared at him. He flinched briefly but then, thinking he was safe, told me to stop struggling. I took in the sight of the wounded people lying in pools of blood. Lava-like rage boiled inside me. At the same time, a blue aura began to swirl around me.

“Why are you doing this? For money?”

“What?”

The slave merchant, failing to grasp the situation, still acted arrogantly. I took a step closer to him. Inside, I told myself over and over to calm down, but my emotions were swinging like a seesaw.

“Do you think it’s okay to do anything for money? Buying and selling people like objects?”

“Aren’t we actually offering them a better life? Living pampered under noble care? Shouldn’t they be grateful?”

“Ah… I see.”

“Just give up and accept your fate now.”

“How ridiculous… You and the nobles are beyond saving. Trash that won’t burn should be thrown away, don’t you think?”

As I smiled faintly, he finally seemed to sense something was wrong and backed away—but it was already too late. A strange voice echoed in my mind. A voice that seemed to tempt me. The more I listened, the more I felt like losing my reason and surrendering to rage.

[…Are you really going to just stand there? No, right? You should get revenge. Isn’t that right?]

I answered the whispering voice.

“Of course.”

At that moment, an explosive force surged from within me.

“What is that?”

“T-The building’s collapsing!”

A loud rumble was heard as a pillar of water shot up through the ceiling of a building. It drew all eyes. It soared high into the sky, shattering the ceiling and causing debris to rain down. The pillar of water was visible even from far away. Soon, storm clouds began to gather above the capital, and rain started pouring down. Thunder crashed down near the building.

Even Wol, who had been diligently following my location via the tracker Ian had given, saw the water pillar clearly. The knights, too, were sure Shuiren was there.

“There!”

The knights searching for Shuiren moved in unison, rushing toward the location where the water pillar had appeared.

The merchant was panicking. Why was the Divine Envoy* in front of him?

Gone was his former bravado—he now looked like a man who had aged twenty years in an instant.

Shuiren’s hood had been blown off by the explosive force, and blue lights danced around him. The swirling water pillar lashed out like a whip, sending people flying. It surged with increasing intensity, resonating with his emotions. The merchant could only stare blankly as his hired men fell one after another, chaos erupting around him.

Shaking with fear, the merchant’s legs trembled as if shocked with electricity. His body wobbled precariously, barely keeping its balance. His lips trembled uncontrollably. He couldn’t even think about how the auction would be explained or how the marquis would punish him.

“H-How did you…”

Of course. Not only had the slave trade been discovered, but the witness was Shuiren.

When he considered who stood behind Shuiren, the color drained from his face. He would be killed by the crown prince before even reaching the marquis! That’s how strictly slavery was forbidden. In the face of such despair, the merchant collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

The merchant knelt, his expression filled with despair as he looked at me. My head buzzed. Someone was whispering to me. Do as you wish. Do what you want. The voice rang in my head, eerie and relentless.

I…

I closed my eyes and thought. What I truly wanted was a life of peace. A world of peace, not one soaked in blood and filth. I didn’t want to see people dying or suffering. I hated seeing the innocent suffer under the selfish. A long stream of water whipped through the enemies around me. Like a living thing, it moved freely, catching even those trying to flee.

The water was my will made manifest.

“P-Please, have mercy!”

The merchant, now groveling, begged for forgiveness with hands pressed together. He dropped flat on the ground, hoping my anger would subside, banging his forehead on the floor repeatedly. Blood began to seep from his forehead, but my anger did not subside. No one could compensate for the pain endured by the enslaved.

I slowly walked and healed the wounded lying in blood. Small droplets of water seeped into their injuries. As the water entered their wounds, it began to glow and heal them. The people who had been writhing in pain stared blankly as their wounds closed.

“L-Lord Divine Envoy?”

“Lord Divine Envoy has come to save us!”

The people began bowing to me deeply, different from the merchant. They thanked me, expressing their gratitude for helping and saving them. Though I hadn’t intended it, the shock of earlier had blown off half the building. I pointed toward where the wall had collapsed, now open to the outside.

“…If you’re going to escape, do it now. Your families are waiting at home.”

Tears welled in the people’s eyes, and they began to sob. Those who hadn’t known what was happening also began gathering, curious about the destruction.

Looking up, I could see space warping. The broken wall revealed a shabby little house, but the inside of the building I was in was tall and spacious. Inside and outside were clearly different. As proof, I could see rain falling through storm clouds in my field of vision, but not a single drop touched my face. The rain outside didn’t reach inside. It was as if we were sealed inside some kind of barrier.

“They really went all out with the preparations.”

I walked past the merchant, still lying flat and trembling. The nobles, seeing me, suddenly shut their once noisy mouths.

“What? Why aren’t you talking? Weren’t you the ones saying you wanted to buy me?”

The nobles, their faces turning pale, tried to flee in panic, crying for their lives. I let out a cold laugh. Now they run? Pathetic.

“Where do you think you’re going? Because of you, the master can’t even rest!!”

The so-called nobles were the ones who incited slavery and used the people as if they were property… A massive wave rose behind me. With a flick of my hand, the tidal wave swept through the auction house. The nobles, engulfed in the water, had no way to escape.

I ignored their desperate cries for mercy as the water swallowed them. When the water receded, countless nobles lay unconscious. Their drenched, rat-like appearances made me snort in disgust.

My head was burning—maybe from anger, maybe from overexertion. My body wobbled, and I clutched at the aching center of my brow. My mind felt strangely hazy.

[It’s not over yet. You can do more, can’t you?]

Be quiet already… That voice—strangely—wouldn’t stop pushing me forward. As I crouched down, holding my head, Paul and Wol came running, shouting with other knights in tow. Their arrival was just a little too late.