The Boss of the Slums
I was currently walking through the slums, carrying the equipment of three people. A man holding three sets of equipment looked suspicious, to say the least.
I was nervous even when passing through the gates.
Al said everything would be fine, but I couldn’t help but worry. In the end, my worries were for nothing. I was allowed through the gates without any issues.
It seems that adventurers often bring back the equipment of their fallen comrades. Even if it’s clear that the equipment doesn’t belong to their comrades, the guards won’t stop them.
The guards don’t get involved in disputes between adventurers. If it’s equipment from a fallen comrade, it’s simply processed that way. Al called it a “lost cause” or a “wasted death.”
There are also special rules and unspoken agreements among the adventurers of Rock Cliff. Al told me about these after I was officially recognized as a comrade.
One of the rules is that any equipment from a dead comrade should be sold to a buy-back shop in the slums.
It’s sold for a lower price than in town, but it prevents any future disputes. Of course, it’s just a formality; nothing actually happens.
Even if adventurers seek revenge for a fallen comrade, the slums won’t get involved.
It’s simply a way to take advantage of the adventurers. However, if you ignore this and try to sell the equipment at a weapons shop in town, you’ll mysteriously disappear one day.
The ones in charge of the slums deal with anyone who breaks the rules as a public example.
I asked Al, “Do the wild adventurers just stay silent about this?”
He replied that those who didn’t stay quiet disappeared without a trace.
That’s terrifying.
I couldn’t understand why the slums would have such strength. I always thought it was just a collection of small-time thugs or people who couldn’t work anymore. But when I asked Al, he said it wasn’t always that way.
Until a few years ago, the slums were like that. But then the current boss arrived from the Megad Empire, and everything changed.
The man was a high-ranking member of a notorious underground guild in the Megad Empire, like a mafia in our world, who had lost a power struggle and fled to Rock Cliff.
When the man came to Rock Cliff, many people thought of him as a loser, a man who had fallen from grace.
Even when reckless adventurers and thugs mocked him and hurled insults at him, the man said nothing. Without changing his expression, he ignored them and left.
Because he didn’t fight back, people started looking down on him and taking a condescending attitude.
Then, just a few days later, everyone who had mocked him disappeared without a trace. Adventurers, thugs, merchants, even officials.
There were no bodies, no signs of murder, but within days, all the people who had insulted him had completely disappeared.
Before long, the slums were under his control. All the leaders of the various factions in the slums had disappeared, and the remaining ones all fell under his rule.
A magistrate, enraged that his officials had been killed, sent guards into the slums to find the man. But no matter how hard they searched, they couldn’t find him.
The captain of the guard, who was leading the search, and his family went missing as well. The same happened to the next commander sent in. They all vanished with their families.
No one wanted to join the search party anymore, and the investigation stalled. When the lord returned from the capital, the man appeared and requested a meeting with him.
After their discussion, an agreement was reached. The slums would hand over criminals and pay a fixed amount of money to the lord every year.
In exchange, the laws of the lord’s domain would not apply to the slums. The slums would operate under their own rules. Even the guards would not be safe if they stepped into the slums.
In the end, it seemed as though the town had been sliced off. Still, the lord likely felt that it was enough to receive money from the slums, even though he couldn’t collect taxes from them.
It wasn’t considered a “tax.” The slums would pay directly to the lord, and the money wouldn’t be traceable to its source. It must have been useful for the power struggles in the capital.
Perhaps the lord didn’t want to mess with the man either.
Killing someone without leaving a trace is incredibly difficult. To do that quickly, and ensure no one, regardless of their status, could do anything about it, the man showed, through his actions, what happens to anyone who underestimates him.
No one in this town dares oppose him.
Everyone has learned the hard way. He was once a high-ranking member of the infamous underground guild of the Megad Empire, the largest human kingdom. Even though he lost his power struggle and had to flee, he is still a man with terrifying abilities…
The residents of Rock Cliff understood this, etched into their hearts along with their fear.
Since the meeting with the lord, the boss of the slums disappeared from the public eye. He left the work to several subordinates who had come with him from the Megad Empire.
It’s said that he disappeared to avoid assassins sent by the Megad Empire’s underground guild. But that’s just rumor.
When I heard this from Al, I made a firm decision—I would never go against the boss of the slums. I would follow the rules and take the equipment to the buy-back shop in the slums.
Even though they offer a lower price, it’s only about 10 or 20% less than what you’d get at the town’s weapons shop. I wouldn’t argue over the price. I don’t want to end up missing.
The equipment from the adventurer who attacked me sold for a pretty good price. Weapons tend to go for a higher price, since their base value is higher.
I’ve been doing small gathering jobs over the past week. Even after adding up the rewards from all those jobs, the total still doesn’t even come close to what I just earned.
I took the money, looking at the larger sum than I expected with joy. But when I thought about how I had earned it by killing three people, it felt painfully cheap.
I felt an indescribable emotion.
Even though it was in self-defense, the money I had earned by killing someone. I had killed a person, taken their equipment, and sold it. Was it really right to be happy with that money? That thought crossed my mind.
This is how the adventurers of Rock Cliff live. If I had made one wrong move, I might have ended up as a naked corpse, eaten by wild animals in the forest.
Throw away those naive thoughts! If you show any weird sympathy or weakness, you’ll be eaten alive. I firmly reminded myself of that.
I returned to the Adventurers’ Guild and told Al about the attack.
When I explained how I had turned the tables and sold the equipment at the buy-back shop in the slums, he responded casually.
“I see. Well, good thing you didn’t die.”
This must be the mentality of adventurers in Rock Cliff. His response was so indifferent that I was stunned.
While I was frozen in shock, Gonz spoke up.
“You turned the tables on them, sold the gear, huh? Looks like you got yourself some easy money.”
Gonz said this with a grin.
What the hell? Is this guy trying to mooch off the money I earned with my life on the line? What a bastard, this dynamic-hip-swinging jerk! I thought to myself.
I wanted to throw some insults his way, but the moment I did, an axe would probably fly at my head. I swallowed my words and forced myself to hold back.
When I thought about it again, it wasn’t so bad. I mean, I kind of wanted to use this unexpected windfall to make everyone else an accomplice.
I didn’t want to be ambushed again, but as long as I kept being an adventurer in Rock Cliff, the same thing would probably happen again.
Eventually, I’d get used to it, and I might stop feeling anything about the money I made from killing and selling the stolen gear. But right now, it was different. It was hard to carry the weight of how cheap those lives had been, all on my own.
“Everyone, I got some easy money, so let’s go wild! I’ll treat you all!”
“Ohh, Yajin, you get it, don’t you!”
To distract myself from the discomfort in my chest, I joined in the noisy celebration with Gonz and the others.