Chapter 179 – Tragedy
Content warning: depictions of graphic violence and s.e.xual violence.
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The boat Mine and Elsa were on appeared to have gone about third of the way across the river.
Suddenly, Mr. Ferry, the ferryman, stopped rowing the boat. The boat ceased moving forwards, and began to drift downstream with the current. Although, the current in River Torres was slow. It was only a fourth or so of a person’s walking speed.
“What is the matter?”
Mine looked puzzled and asked,
“Hehehehe…”
The ferryman had a filthy look on his face. Mine had a bad feeling about it and unintentionally gripped Elsa’s shoulder harder.
“!?”
Elsa was then suddenly bent backwards. Mine looked, and it appeared that in the boat there was another man hiding, who crammed something in Elsa’s mouth.
“Young lady!”
“Hehehe, this lady seems like a magic user, so. If she can’t chant then she ain’t no different.”
“W-why you!”
Mine took out a knife hidden in her bosom.
“Uh-oh, that’s dangerous.”
But the ferryman struck Mine’s hand with his paddle.
“Ouch!”
The hit caused Mine to drop the knife. Her wrist was bent and dangling. The bone seemed to have broken.
“The old lady can go to sleep.”
The ferryman again took the paddle and hit Mine’s head. There was a dull sound and,
“Young…la…dy.”
Right after those words Mine lost consciousness.
“!!!!”
Elsa tried to raise her muted voice and struggle, but on top of being unable to chant magical invocation because of the rag stuffed in her mouth, her hands were twisted behind her back, and because of the pain struggling became impossible.
“Hoheheh, that went well, don’t it?”
“Right, I said tonight’s guest is a n.o.ble’s daughter, so she’s some quality we ain’t had in a long time.”
The ferryman didn’t just secretly bring people across the river, sometimes he kidnapped them like this and sold them off somewhere. Elsa was today’s spoils.
“How about we first get a taste ourselves.”
“Yeah, it ain’t often you get a chance like this.”
The man who was twisting Elsa’s arm used something like handcuffs to fix Elsa’s arms where they were.
Elsa moaned from the pain of her twisted shoulder and elbow. But the men only grinned and looked down on her.
“Hehehe, how does it feel to be done in by the commoners you normally make light of, miss n.o.ble?”
“Even commoners can amount to this much, ya know.”
(That’s not it, I don’t make light of commoners.)
Even though Elsa wanted to say so, she could not.
The ferryman came over and grabbed hold of Elsa’s b.r.e.a.s.t.s.
(That feels, bad.)
Elsa tried to turn her body to escape from his hands but,
“Don’t struggle too much or ye’ll fall off the boat.”
He said and the other man straddled on top of Elsa’s stomach.
(Agh, it, hurts.)
Without being able to push over the weight of a grown man, and having even her breathing become agonizing, Elsa’s resistance gradually weakened.
“Oh? Ye done resisting already? In that case, let’s get down to business now.”
The ferryman said and licked his lips.
(No, someone, help, me.)
Elsa desperately yelled, but due to the rag stuffed in her mouth what came out were only moans.
“Uhehe, still growing aren’t they, these b.r.e.a.s.t.s.”
While saying so, the ferryman reached for Elsa’s b.r.e.a.s.t.s.
(Rai, nii…Jin, kun…)
They who usually saved Elsa weren’t around anymore. Because she had run away from them.
“Elsa!”
At that moment, Mine who had woken up b.u.mped into the ferryman with all of her weight, the ferryman fell inside the boat, and Elsa felt relieved.
“Tch, she’s already awake, huh.”
The other man who was straddling Elsa said annoyedly and picked up the knife Mine had dropped some time ago. The knife’s edge shone in the moonlight.
(Don’t tell me? Mine, run!)
Elsa who wanted to say so but couldn’t was only able to watch as the knife was plunged into Mine’s abdomen.
(No, no, Mine…)
“Ugh, ah…Ergh, I…”
Mine slowly collapsed.
“After I toss her into the river I can take you on nice and slow, right miss Elsa?”
The ferryman said and gripped Mine’s legs, and threw her into the river off the side of the boat.
(No, no, no…)
Elsa despaired, and at that moment.
“Uh!?”
Suddenly a light was shined on the men.
“T, this can’t be!”
“A black patrol boat?”
It was this river’s high-speed boat, the so-called patrol boat. It had three golems operating its oars, while normal boats had one. It could go five times faster than them.
The ferryman hadn’t noticed its pitch-black hull at all. For that reason he hadn’t noticed them come close, he thought. However, the truth was that it had been because of [Hide] magic.
“P-please forgive us.”
“T-that’s right! Didn’t you promise us you’d overlook up to five people a month!?”
It appeared that the ferryman had some kind of a backroom deal with the Celuroa Kingdom’s guards, and he desperately talked about it, but the people on board the black patrol boat maintained their silence. Looking closely, they were all wearing black clothes and black masks.
“H-hey, is it ‘cuz messing with n.o.bles is forbidden? I ain’t done nothing! I didn’t screw her yet! So please forgiv”
That’s where it neded. For an instant there was the glint of a blade, and the ferryman’s head separated from his shoulders and fell into the river.
“!”
As blood spewed in front of her, Elsa closed her eyes.
“M-me too? No! Nooo!”
The man who was straddling Elsa yelled while he was about to jump into the river to escape.
His back was struck by the wind-type magic [Wind Slash].
“Ugh, ah…”
Having his back cut open all the way to his spine, the man fell off the boat into the river just like that.
“…”
The tragedy that occurred in front of her was far too graphic, Elsa didn’t at all get the feeling that she had been saved.
However, the masked people of the black patrol boat silently moved Elsa from the small boat to the patrol boat, then released her hands from the device restraining them.
Elsa who was finally freed from the arm pain was about to take out the rag in her mouth herself.
“Hold on, before you do that let’s put this on you.”
The first time they spoke was accompanied with a ruthless act.
“Eh?”
Something like a choker was clasped around Elsa’s neck, and as soon as she heard the metallic clank she realized that in spite of having taken out the rag, she still could not speak.
“…!”
“Hm, a little tight, is it? Hold on a bit. …How about now?”
The man in front of her appeared to have done something, and she became able to speak, although it was difficult.
“Who, are, you? Didn’t, you, save, me?”
Elsa said after great pains, then the man in front of her grinned widely enough that it was visible beyond the mask and,
“We did save you, Miss Elsa. As long as you cooperate with us, we can have you get more comfortable.”
He said. After hearing that Elsa frowned. But, then she remembered Mine.
“Mine! Sa, ve, Mine.”
She asked them.
“Mine? Ah, you mean that turncoat of a maid.”
The man looked around the small boat, but Mine was nowhere to be seen on the river.
“Drifted away, or sunk. In either case we’re better off without a someone disloyal enough to run away with their master’s daughter. Ignore her.”
He said, giving orders to his subordinates.
“Yes sir.”
Hearing that Elsa went white as a sheet and,
“N-no, p, lea, se, I, beg, you.”
She begged with a strained voice. However, the man ignored Elsa and her pleas. Furthermore, he had Elsa’s hands and legs restrained once more.
“If we stay stopped in these waters for too long the guards will find us and it’ll be a problem. We’ve achieved our goal. Let’s withdraw.”
The man who appeared to be the leader ordered, and the black patrol boat left the place at high speed.
Left behind was only the small boat with the ferryman’s headless corpse in it.