Smuggling the limbless slavers back to their home proved rather easy, as no one questioned why Adventurers would be walking around with a very large, lumpy and blood stained bag. Everyone assumed it was a Demonic Beast that they had recently killed and was awaiting skinning. A few people even stopped them in the streets to offer their services to help dismaintal the kill. One of the perks that came with the job.
After they managed to get home, they woke the Slavers up and started to squeeze every drop of information they could out of the men. [Support Magic] and [Healing Magic] once again showing their worth by keeping the men alive no matter how much they were tortured, and reinforcing their pain receptors, making it all feel ten times worse. There was also the fear of being carved open by a magical talking sword with unknown powers. That had loosened some tongues, as did Art dropping her [Racial Mimicry] before starting to talk about eating the blue one.
...Archer wasn't sure if that was a line he was ready to cross. …Though he saw the logic of it. Higher level human-likes had by far the most stats-per-pound out of anything he had seen thus far… and he was a slaver.
Surprisingly, it was Fran who shot the idea down, saying it wasn't good for Art to eat crap.
At first, he had tried to insist that Fran and Art stay out of the room while he did the interrogation, but they assured him that was unnecessary. After all, they were just slavers. It wasn't like they were butchering people. And they were used to seeing people getting cut and healed over and over again in their sparring sessions, so this wasn't really anything new to them.
...Archer was a horrible influence.
The men spilt their guts, literally, under the loving attention of Archer and his little demons. And through a mixture of threats, pain, horror, and some good old fashioned Magecraft hypnosis, they learned everything they wanted to about the local black market slave trade, including its location, dealings, its inside men in the City Knights and Guards, and its connections with cells in other city, including a port town in the south which smuggled kidnapped women and children out of the country. This Archer made careful note of.
Originally, he had been planning to take the girls through the mountains on route to their next destination, as the open sea carried dangers to one blessed by chaos. But with the introduction of a slave market to dismantle, the southern path became more appealing.
The country of Reidos would also be a name to remember, as it made a habit of kidnapping people from other lands to be used as slaves. It was a good target for the future, once Fran had evolved and they were ready to start bringing down entire kingdoms. Though that was still above their weight class at the moment.
Gathering everything they needed, they shoved the bastards in a closet and used [Wind Magic] to silence them, just in case the information proved incomplete, and in no way because Archer didn't feel like they had suffered enough yet. Laying there for hours, waiting to find out what would happen, how their lives would come to an end, giving their imaginations a chance to run wild while they screamed their lungs out, praying for a salvation that would never come… that Archer refused to give them.
They left to act upon the information, leaving the trio alone. It wasn't like they were going anywhere. They didn't have any limbs. The worst they could do is bite off their own tongues, and even if one or two of them did that, nothing would be lost. Cleaning up the mess wouldn't even take a moment.
To Fran and Art's surprise, their night time excursion didn't start with the Slaver's hideout. That would be their second stop.
No, you had to make sure to hit high first, dealing with the head rat before targeting the nest, otherwise they would just scurry away and make a new infestation elsewhere.
Their first target that night would be Vice Captain of the City Knights, Augusto Alsund.
How does one sleep at night knowing they use the powers gifted to them by noble birth and Gods to betray their country and its innocent people to criminal elements working for a foriegn power?
The answer is simply, they use the money they made from the various bribes and blackmarket dealings to buy themselves the largest and most comfortable bed money can buy. Then they take their pick of the most elegant of the young women they had wrongly accused of crimes in order to brand them as slaves to help warm said bed when it gets too cold.
Was he a disgusting pig and a liar? Perhaps. But the entire world was full of liars, and no one knew that better than he. He had always known when people lied, as his [Principle of an Element(Falsehood)] would tell him so. Everyone was a liar. The nobles were liars. The peasants were liars. The knights were all liars. The Adventurers were liars. So in a world where everyone was a disgusting liar, why would he not make himself king of the liars. After all, he was only making full use of the gifts that the Gods had given him, was that so wrong?
Sadly, that night he was too busy to invite any of his 'criminal' slaves into his bedchambers. He had to write his report to the Reidosian spy, telling him that their plans were going well and that the mole they planted inside of the Adventurer's Guild had managed to smuggle the Magic Food into the Cobwebs Dungeon. There was already evidence of evolution occurring.
By the time the Adventurer's Guild found out, the place would be over ran with higher-breed Trick Spiders and even Trickster Spiders. And when their Adventuring teams are slaughtered during their promotion exams, it will be all the proof of incompetence that Augusto needed in order to take away control of the Dungeons from that filthy elf. After that, it will be easy to make use of his connections to steal as much Mana Crystals as Reidos could possibly buy. Who cares if they were using the stuff for their weapons of war, it wasn't Augusto's problem. If they ever attacked, he would be the first to defect, and if they didn't he could continue his work for them.
He just needed to make sure that they knew just how invaluable he we was to their blackmarket slave trade, and how many of the countries secrets he could share with them.
Having completed his letter, Augusto sealed it in an envelope… Then he felt something strike him in the back, through his chair.
Augusto had just enough time to look down at the blade that was sticking out of his chest before his head managed to process the fact that he was dead.
[What a disgusting creature.] Archer said as he looked over the fat noblemen with distaste, especially his [Principle of an Element(Falsehood)].
If Archer's [Principle of an Element(Sword)] made him a man with the soul of a weapon, he could only imagine how fucked up a man with the [Principle of an Element(Falsehood)] would be. What do you get when you make a man whose soul is made of lies?
Well, apparently you get the kind of filth that participates in human trafficking and good old fashion murder for profit.
Floating around to the pig's desk, he looked over the letter then man had been writing, using [Structural Analysis] to read it through the envelope. [How lucky can you get? We caught him right in the middle of writing his confession. The old elf is going to love this.] Archer said as he pocketed the papers into his pocket dimension.
(Wow, mom this bed is amazing!) Art said as she and Fran were testing out the now dead man's king sized bed, laying flat on their backs and making angels on the covers. (It's so soft! It's like laying on a cloud!)
(Nn! Keeping it!) Fran agreed.
[...Well, I don't see why not.] Archer said as he looked around the room, inspecting the nice furnishings. It would be a shame for them to go to waste. It wasn't like other people would see it and recognize it as belonging to the Vice Captain. Or rather, the former Vice Captain.
Fran and Art started to sort through the man's things, trying to decide what they would loot. The pair cheered when they found his personal safe, but their marryment was short lived as inside they found several hundred thousand in gold coins and a dozen… slave contracts. The two immediately destroyed the contracts in order to set the people free. Meanwhile, Archer checked to see if the man had any other incriminating evidence lying around.
Once he found some, he left it on the man's body before righting "Treason" on the wall in the man's blood. With a job well done they left the scene of the crime, setting fire to a shrubbery he had in his front lawn as they went in order to draw the authorities, before turning their attention to the next item on the list.
The next target was a warehouse that acted as the headquarters for a local mercenary group. No one seemingly questioning why there was a local mercenary group in such a peaceful area with such an overstaffed Adventurer's Guild and its own City Knights. If Archer had ever come across the place, he would have immediately marked it as suspicious.
Using [Earth Magic], they identified the underground basement where the slaves were kept. [Remember, secure the prisoners before they can be used as hostages, then systematically clear out the area of anyone who can sound the alarm until you make a safe passage for them to escape.]
"Mom, how many times have you done this kind of thing?"
[...Good question. I don't actually remember. A few dozen, maybe?] Archer said. He vaguely remembered the jobs he took as a mercenary assassin, but just like most other things in his life before dead, it was all muddied, none of the names and places feeling distinct enough to put his thumb on them.
"Archer: Professional." Fran nodded her head before placing one hand on the ground and starting to chant. While being careful not to disturb the nearby area, she began to dig her tunnel, compressing the walls into hardened stone in order to support the weight above them as they moved towards their target.
Normally, Fran would have probably enjoyed the work, using her magic in new and creative ways to solve difficult problems. But the idea of what she was about to see made her quiet. [Fran, you don't have to do this.] Archer said quietly to the girl. [If it is too much, Art and I can handle it.]
(No. Have to do this.) Fran insisted before pushing forward.
When they were a mere two feet away from the basement, they paused, carving a thin hole to allow the air to flow, allowing them to cast [Wind Magic] into the room to muffle the sound. After which, they opened the tunnel wide and stormed into the basement.
Their first priority was immediately the guards, the two girls rushing the three men who were standing near the stair with looks of shock. All three were decapitated before they had the chance to make a sound. Even there heads and bodies fell into Archer's dimensional storage, rather than hitting the floor. "[Silence]" Fran asked over the staircase, as the people in the cages were starting to make noise. "Check for others." Fran instructed Art.
"You got it." The Demoness said as she moved to make sure that the downstairs was secure. Fran approached the cages where four children, three girls and a boy, their ages ranging from eight to fourteen were huddled together.
"Who… who are you?" One of the oldest asked.
"Hero." Fran said in her curt manner. Archer felt a twinge and had the urge to smile.
[Fran, hold me close to the keyhole so that I can analyze the lo...] Archer was cut short when Fran simply used him to cut the bars to pieces with a pair of excellent swings.
(This way faster.) Fran said as she walked over the bars and up to the slave children. Her eyes passed over the collars around their necks and Archer could feel her grip on him tightening.
[Fran, are you alright?] Archer checked on her.
"Nn." She said with a nod before lifting her hand to the collar of the smallest of the children. Using their maxed level [Contract Magic] Fran completely stripped the magic contract that bound the child, causing the collar to unlock and fall to the ground. The other children gasped in shock as Fran repeated the process three more times, removing the other collars just as easily. "Hole in the wall. Leave and go to the Adventurer's Guild for shelter." Fran said pointing them to the way out.
"Huh? B...but what about you?" One of the children stammered.
"Going to exterminate slavers." Fran said coolie. "Go. Passage is safe."
Art came back around, dragging the body of a fourth man who had been using a toilet in the far side of the basement, which Archer disposed of into his [Dimensional Storage].
After that, they started to head up the stairs.
Was everyone in that building knowingly involved with illegal slavery? Who knows. For safety's sake, they would only kill those with the [Capture], [Kidnap] and [Smuggling] skills, the rest can be rendered unconscious with [Dark Magic] and processed by whatever authorities get involved in the clean up.
The moment before they exited the basement, Art cast a [Darkest Viel] spell over the entire building. The sudden loss of their sense of sight cause panic in the occupants, but Fran and Art were still able to locate their targets in the darkness, and Archer wasn't completely unaffected by the loss of vision, firing off projected swords at everyone who had the aforementioned skills while the girls cast [Steal Thought] on everyone they could find, rendering them unconscious.
...You know, Archer had been expecting a challenge, for the [Blessing of the Chaos Goddess] to simply cause an A-rank threat to materialize out of nowhere, pushing the three of them to their limits just to stay alive and teaching Fran and Art a valuable lesson about never underestimating their enemies… Only there wasn't one.
In fact, all of the slavers were, to be frank, extremely weak. Weaker than your average high school boxer back on Earth.
It was actually disheartening. Fran and Art seemed equally disappointed at the anticlimax, when after ten seconds had elapsed and they were left standing in the room large with thirty incapasitated or dead criminals.
"That's it?" Fran said, pouting slightly as she lowered Archer to the ground.
[I'm not sensing anyone, so… I guess.] Archer said, checking and double checking their surroundings.
"Huh… So, where are we hitting up next?" Art asked as she lowered the viel and sheathed her weapon.
[First we need to search for any documentation that might point towards others who were involved. Normally we would be going to the guard barrack after that. Once we compare the exit times of the Slavers to the guard's patrols, we should know who the corrupted elements are. After that, the trades office to find out who has been issuing the permits to these people. But that is stuff probably best left to the Guild Master. So I guess we should just escort the children back to the Guild Hall and then call it a day.]
"Seriously? No big fight? What a rip." "Nn. Let down." Art and Fran grumbled, but they went to work searching for needed papers.
The three were gone before anyone even arrived to investigate the dark cloud that had appeared around the building.
"I see." Klimt said as he looked over the letter that Fran and Art had… procured for him. It connected a lot of extremely valuable and dangerous information. Things that could have caused huge problems for both the guild and the country in the future.
Well, he supposed he could scratch the idea of the two girls being foreign spies off of his list… unless they were playing the long game.
The children had tracked him down as he was leaving the scene of Augusto Alsund's dead body, and showed him the documents that they had stolen from the crime scene. Very important documents related to the guild itself, with not only revealed a plan to sabotage the Dungeon but also named a spy that had been among them, someone that Klimt himself had already had his eyes on, but lacked the evidence needed to confront.
"So, we now have undeniable evidence that Augusto Alsund had been working to undermine the country. It is almost enough to make me wish that he was still alive, just so that I could break him with it." Klimt said, looking from the document to the children. "Sadly, because of the delicate nature of the events, I can't credit you for them without causing trouble for you. Even if he was treasonous scum, he was still a noble with high connections. But the Guild is used to dealing with things like this. I will arrange for you to be accredited with completing a vague C-rank mission and see what I can do about a reward. The two of you certainly deserve one."
"More interested in breakfast." Fran admitted.
"Yeah, breakfast does sound good." Art agreed, rubbing her stomach.
Klimt's mouth twitched. Most other D-rank Adventurers would be cheering at the news that they would be getting a free C-rank mission added to their record, as 10 were needed if one wanted to rank up to being a C-rank Adventurer. But the girls didn't seem to care. He wondered if anyone ever even told them what the normal route was for earning promotions in the Guild.
Strictly speaking, Klimt had broken the rules when he had promoted the two girls up to D-rank, as there was supposed to be baseline mission requirements to the rank. But Klimt had been a Guild Master longer than most of the other Guild Masters had been alive, so his recommendation carried enough weight to raise the two up to D-rank. But in order to promote further, they would have to complete missions like everyone else.
Really, his motivation for promoting them hadn't been just because of their skill. While having more skilled hands on deck to join in on the harder missions was nice, the real reason for shooting them up in the ranks faster than anyone else in history lay more in his desire to keep them in the spotlight. To make sure that all the other Guild Masters out there knew that there was something different about the two and that they needed to be handled carefully and to never let them out of their sight for a moment.
While only playing around, they had psychologically damaged a good deal of Klimt's men. When upset, they had gone on a vendetta capable of bringing down an entire blackmarket that had been alluding capture for years, with connections going all the way up to the top, in a single night. Heaven forbid that anyone do something to earn an actual grudge from the pair. It would likely end with the destruction of an entire city.
"Freed slaves: what's going to happen?" Fran asked, seeming concerned.
"You don't need to worry. Our Guild isn't the kind to just throw them out onto the streets. Amanda would kill us if we did." Klimt chuckled, causing the two girls to flinch. "We will do our best to get the children back to their families, and for those who don't have families to return to, we are in close relations with the local orphanage. I can assure you that they will be well cared for."
"That's good. Happily ever after and all." Art said, throwing up her arms and giving a long yawn. "Come on Fran, lets go back home and get some sleep. I want to test out that new bed."
"Nn!"
The two girls started to walk towards the door, when it was thrown violently open. "Klimt, I'm here to give my report!" Amanda said quickly, as if in a hurry.
"Amanda, what have I said about knocking? And it is three in the morning, can't your report wait until tomorrow? ...Actually, weren't you not scheduled to come back for another three days?" Klimt said, rubbing his temple as the local A-rank Adventurer burst into the room. It was too early in the day for him to be dealing with this shit.
However, Amanda wasn't listening to him, she was just looking straight at the little girls who were about to be one there way out, the two looking back at her with shock and perhaps fear.
"Fran!" Amanda squealed, launching herself at the Black Catkin girl with arms spread wide, the girl giving a squeak of terror as the woman drew her into a tight hug.
"Let go of her you crazy lady!" Art shouted as she jumped onto Amanda back, trying to drag the woman off of her friend, to no avail.
Klimt just watched, not sure what he was seeing, before giving a long sigh.
It was really too early in the day for this shit.