Aman, who was left alone with the unnamed president of Noru Trading.

"No, no! Please... please!!!"

Aman frowned at the man's desperate cry.

"You really do cherish them, don't you? You're making a real scene."

The man under Aman's cold gaze was staring into the air and constantly shouting something.

Illusion magic. It was a high-level magic that could show a more vivid illusion to the victim as the circle increased.

The man was now watching an illusion and shouting desperately. To please save his family, not to kill them.

"Gaaah! Chris! No!!!"

"Is this enough?"

In fact, there was no need to go this far with the man.

But considering the atrocities the man had committed so far, it was a relief that he had not actually done anything bad to his family.

"Khuk... please... w-where am I?"

As the illusion magic was lifted, the man's focus slowly returned, and his gaze turned to Aman.

"Peek-a-boo! Surprised?!"

"!!!"

Aman, who smiled brightly with his palms wide open. The man's face, who faced that scene, was turning pale.

"So~ why did you do it? Huh?"

"Khuk... please, I'll tell you anything, so please spare my family... I'm... I'm begging you..."

The man with his limbs pierced forgot his pain and begged, prostrating himself at Aman's feet.

"I know. That you'll tell me everything."

"T-then why in the world..."

"Then why did you do it? You took innocent children and did such a thing. Huh? The immigrants you captured were sold as slaves who didn't even know how they were being used."

Aman slowly bent down to the man.

"Why did you do it? Huh? Because of this?"

-Clink! Clatter!

The gold coins that had appeared in Aman's hand poured down on the man's head.

"Humans... are so cruel. This isn't even alive."

"..."

"But you'd do such a thing for a mere stone like this. And this... has no ability. It's much less valuable than a mana stone... you can buy mana stones with this~ and a house. Huh?"

Aman turned a gold coin over and over and shrugged his shoulders as if he didn't understand.

"But you didn't do this alone, did you? Right?"

"T-that's..."

"Ah, I'm really getting angry now. No more slurring your words from now on. If you do it again..."

"...?"

"The illusion you just saw will become a reality."

Aman, who smiled brightly with his eyes closed, pointed to the portrait with his chin.

"That. Do you want to use it as a group memorial portrait?"

"N-no, that will never happen. I will tell you everything without leaving anything out from now on! Everything!"

"Right, you should. Now, explain everything without leaving anything out."

"Yes. The Noru Trading Company has sponsors."

The man, who had swallowed once, began his story.

***

-Flash!

Lucas turned his head at the short sound of light bursting out.

"I'm back!"

There stood Aman, smiling brightly and waving his hand.

"Right."

"The children are still sleeping. I've cast a detoxification magic on them, so they'll gradually get better over time."

As Aman said, the children's breathing was much more stable than before.

"More importantly, did you handle the work well?"

"Of course!"

-Thud!

A thick file that came out of Aman's arms was placed on the table.

"What is this?"

"It's a list of the Noru Trading Company's sponsors."

"A sponsor... list?"

"Yes. I asked that guy, and it turns out there were sponsors behind the Noru Trading Company. It seems that they were able to gradually drive out the existing members because of their sponsorship."

"Continue."

Aman, who had gathered his hands demurely, cleared his throat once and continued.

"Ahem! It was planned from the very beginning. As you'll see when you look at the list later... most of them are central nobles, and besides that, there are also the Raskan Kingdom, Esna, and the Morain Kingdom. In a word, there are sponsors in all the kingdoms in the central continent."

"Ha, in all the kingdoms?"

"That's right. The beginning was at the Arant Empire's New Year's party about ten years ago."

He was at a loss for words. To think that there were sponsors spread evenly across the four countries in the central continent? Did that even make sense?

Lucas barely managed to hold back the 'how?' that was about to come out of his mouth several times.

"Exactly! It was around the time the Rodrigo County was driven out to Citata. The nobles were gathered in small groups and were joking about how good the old slavery system was, and the Grisco Barony came up with this brilliant idea."

"...To use the powerless Citata as a base and commit evil deeds?"

"That's right!"

"Ha..."

Lucas was at a loss for words. He could understand the atrocities they had committed, as it was something that could happen among humans, with a hundred concessions.

But the problem was his own father, who had supported the Noru Trading Company for ten years without knowing anything.

'He's too soft, too soft. He's so foolish.'

Worries began to pile up like a mountain in an instant.

"I know what you're thinking. So I have a plan that I've thought of."

"...Tell me."

Aman, who was talking excitedly as if to prove that he had handled the work well. If it were his usual self, he would have said something right away, but now his head was so complicated that there was no room for that.

"The biggest worry, the problem of who is behind it, is already here!"

Aman pointed to the file with his hand.

"It's all written down, when, to whom, how much, and what kind of slaves were handed over, and even what their preferences are."

"...Well done."

"And the organizational chart of these people is also all written down in here. The president, who was a coward, had recorded everything in case something happened to him. For. Black. Mail!"

Aman, who emphasized the word 'blackmail'.

"So you're saying... we should blackmail them too?"

"That's right. In any case, we can't do anything about the slaves or immigrants who have already died, can we? We can't go to the celestial realm and bring them back."

He was right. There was no way to bring back those who had already been sacrificed.

"So we have to solve the problem of the worried county, don't we? So let's blackmail them. Of course, we have to pretend that the county has nothing to do with it."

This was also right. As Aman kept spouting out the right words like a flowing stream, Lucas's head became even more complicated.

"What are you going to do?"

"Haha! Lord, really... what is blackmail?"

The corner of Aman's mouth, who had swept his silver-blue hair behind his ear, seemed to be arrogant for a moment, but it must have been his imagination.

"...?"

"Isn't it about scaring them?"

Lucas frowned at Aman's sudden self-questioning and self-answering.

"There are thousands and tens of thousands of ways to scare them, aren't there! And it's so easy to scare humans. Just! trust this Aman!"

He really wanted to. As he looked at Aman, who was puffing out his chest.

"I don't trust you."

Damn it. His head was so complicated that the words he had intended to think to himself had come out without him realizing it.

Aman's expression instantly hardened at the thunderbolt-like words that Lucas had uttered carelessly, and Lucas's expression was also distorting.

"T-that's not it. It's not that I don't trust you, but, r-right! This file! I don't trust this file, that's what I mean!"

"...Don't lie. Didn't you say that after I told you to trust me!"

"I-I'm serious, you know? Don't you know? That I'm not good at lying. L-look! How can this be a lie? S-so... this is..."

Lucas's pupils were shaking uncontrollably, and Aman's pupils were also losing focus.

"S-so... huh? Don't make that face."

Aman's head shook violently as he stared blankly at the fidgeting Lucas.

"No? Never mind. I'll take this opportunity to make sure the Lord never says he can't trust me again. Then that's it, right?"

"...Huh?"

"Yes. This Aman will show you. What... work handling is."

Aman's eyes suddenly burned with a fighting spirit.

***

Lucas and Aman decided to first find the immigrants who were being held as slaves.

"I'm at a loss for words. To think that the first thing they did was to smuggle out the slaves."

"That's what I'm saying. They even left the children behind on purpose. To smuggle out the expensive slaves while their eyes were on the children."

He felt like throwing up. He was disgusted by their cruelty, which measured the value of a life only by the size of money.

"Is that the boat?"

"Yes. There's the Noru flag."

As they arrived at the port, a boat that had just departed with a Noru flag on its mast came into their eyes.

"Let's hide. Until they reach the middle of the sea."

Lucas also agreed. It was clear that it would be tiring to make a mess of a boat that had just left the port.

-Saaah

As Aman cast a transparency magic, their figures were cleanly erased as if they had never been there from the beginning.

"Let's go."

-Flash!

The first thing that came into their eyes as they teleported onto the departing boat was the three men they had met in Citata.

"Khaha! Did you see how naive those bastards were?"

"Khukuk... that's what I'm saying. I was scared for nothing."

The men were standing on the deck and seemed to be talking about what had just happened.

"Lante is the only one to be pitied. Why did he have to rush in like that... tsk"

"I always told Lante! To kill that temper of his. That he would get into trouble someday! And what happened today? Huh?"

The red-haired man urged the other men for an answer.

"Didn't I always say that? You have to be careful with that mouth of yours! It's not the first or second time that what you said has come true!"

The man with the bushy beard shouted, pointing at the red-haired man's mouth.

"No, did I say it as a curse? I was just telling him to be careful. And you guys, don't just believe what you see in that situation. Huh? What if those bastards put a tracking magic on us and are chasing us?"

Aman let out a small exclamation at the red-haired man's words. It was truly amazing, as if the man had the power of foresight.

"Are you still saying that? I told you to be careful with that mouth of yours!"

Aman, who was watching the men bickering, pulled Lucas's arm.

"...?"

"Lord... to the underground..."

Aman, who was whispering quietly. It was better to walk to a place where they didn't know who was there than to teleport.

"Right..."

Lucas also whispered quietly into Aman's back.

It was not difficult to go to the underground. The sailors had left the door to the inside of the boat wide open, and all the sailors were moving around busily because it had not been long since they had departed.

As they entered the underground, a musty smell mixed with the salty smell of the sea wafted over them.

The scale of the boat was considerable. Even from the outside, it was a huge size comparable to a royal trading ship, but when they went inside, the scale was enormous.

On the first basement floor, there were rooms where the sailors rested, including a food warehouse, and when they went down to the second basement floor, various cargo was piled up.

The third basement floor. As they came down to the lowest part of the boat, a different smell began to waft, mixed with the previous one.

As they went a little further inside, an unbelievable, and something they didn't want to believe, scene unfolded.

(End of Chapter)