The Genius Son-in-law of the Swordmaster Household—Blessed by Authority

Chapter 155 : Liberation of Luminari (3)

Liberation of Luminari (3)

Supervisor-in-chief Albedo.

For him, this slave management job was truly his calling.

The groans of slaves in agony, the looks of fear as they watched his every move.

All of it was Albedo's amusement and pleasure.

Today as well, he worked the Luminari slaves hard with his whip, squeezing every last drop out of them and playing with them at his whim.

No matter how much he tormented them every day, he never got bored.

He wondered how much more fun tomorrow would bring.

With such expectations, he had just lain down on his bed, about to drift into a deep sleep.

― Bang!

Albedo jumped up at the sound of the door crashing open.

"W-What is it?!"

Looking toward the door, he saw his subordinate demonic human panting for breath.

"S-Sir!"

"What is it?!"

"I-It's an emergency!"

"Just spit it out! What is it?!"

In his twenty years of experience, not once had a subordinate barged into his room at such a late hour in this manner.

"A s-slave! One of the slaves is rampaging like a wild beast! He's fighting the overseers!"

"Huh?"

Albedo's face twisted into a look of disbelief.

"A slave? Just one is rampaging?"

"Y-Yes! Just one, but it's strange...! Already two have gone down, and three barely managed to pin him down, but now, even they might not be alright! Sir, you have to come!"

"Ha... pathetic!"

― Slap!

Albedo jumped out of bed and smacked his subordinate across the cheek.

"Argh!"

"There are five of you and you wake me because you can't handle a single slave?! What are you even here for?!"

"S-sorry, sir!"

"Enough. Let's finish this quickly. Lead the way!"

"Y-Yes, sir!"

The subordinate hurried ahead, and the supervisor-in-chief followed in quick, angry strides.

'But still...'

As he walked down the hallway, albedo pondered.

'Who the hell is it? A slave causing a scene at night? There wasn't any rough type in this sector... Hm. Ah. Could it be the one who arrived today?'

Suddenly a memory flickered through the supervisor's mind.

Among the slaves who arrived this morning, there was a particularly noticeable man.

Gray hair, muscular build. Eyes that had a fierce, wild look.

"Hey."

Albedo called out to his leading subordinate.

"Yes?"

"The one rampaging—is it that gray-haired muscle pile who came in today?"

"Gasp! H-How did you know? Yes, that's him!"

"Just as I thought."

Albedo scoffed.

'His face didn't look like a slave's from the start. He looked like a beast that's tasted plenty of blood.'

He had worked for the Great Cult of Sins, managing slaves as supervisor-in-chief, for twenty years.

By now, he could tell at a glance which slaves would cause trouble and which ones could be tamed easily.

'But still...'

An arrogant brat.

No matter how wild a beast, he was now just a beast with all its fangs pulled out.

Wasn't it the case that the guy was a knight expelled from his territory? And it was said that even his dantian was shattered upon exile.

No matter how skilled he had been, with his dantian shattered, he was nothing but Swordsmanship trash now.

"Hey, you!"

The supervisor-in-chief smacked his subordinate on the back of the head.

― Thwack!

"Argh!"

"Can't you move faster?! You're wasting my sleep!"

"A-ah, yes, sir!"

The subordinate quickened his pace.

Albedo chased him right on his heels, thinking.

'Well, maybe this is a good thing.'

When he looked at that guy's face, he knew the guy would blow up with trouble sooner or later anyway.

He'd need an excuse to beat him to a pulp or use a blade—and now that he's causing a scene, that gives him just the pretext.

'He's already put two overseers out of commission? Heh, idiot.'

At that level, cutting off an arm wouldn't even need justification.

The owner—unit leader—wouldn't blame him.

He could say it was necessary for management.

'Let's cripple a leg, too. I'll break it into pieces, twist it up like a pretzel, and splint it so he stays a lame for life.'

And as for the severed arm... he'd toss it to the other slaves for meat.

That would make an effective example for the slaves and a fun show for the overseers.

'Hehehe... this is why I love this job.'

Just thinking sadistically, they kept walking.

It felt like they'd come a long way, but the subordinate showed no sign of stopping.

"Hey."

"Yes?"

"How far is this slave rampaging? Have we walked this far?"

Albedo was growing annoyed at being so far from his quarters.

Just then, the demonic human subordinate stopped abruptly.

"Well. I think we've arrived."

"What?"

Albedo looked around.

There was no one.

Only darkness.

Not even the sound of a rat scurrying could be heard...

― Bzzzzzt!!

"Hu-urk!!"

Suddenly a sharp pain stabbed into the back of Albedo's neck.

His legs gave way and he collapsed before he knew it.

"W-What?!"

Clutching his nape and turning around in a panic—

"Huh?"

His four demonic human subordinates were now standing over him, each holding a long electric shock spear.

Those shock spears were demon artifacts, specially used to subdue the stronger slaves.

Did they just jab his nape with those? Did those guys do it?

"Y-you... What did you just do?!"

Before Albedo could fully grasp the situation, a man appeared, pushing through the group of subordinates.

"Y-You!?"

The same man he'd seen that morning. The gray-haired, muscular fellow.

Slave number 1784. Ian Greysel.

"W-What is this?!"

The supervisor-in-chief's jaw trembled with shock.

What kind of situation was this?

His subordinates weren't loyal, but they were always cowards who feared him.

Never ones who would dare defy him.

But now, they had stabbed his nape with electric shock spears.

'And...'

And what about that guy?

Just a mere slave, yet he was standing there... as if...

Standing and reigning among those subordinates like their leader.

While the supervisor-in-chief was still speechless in confusion and shock, Ian spoke first.

"Get him up."

"Yes."

At Ian's order, the subordinates responded crisply and raised the supervisor-in-chief to his feet.

"W-What do you think you're doing?!"

As the supervisor-in-chief struggled wildly to free himself with both arms,

― Thud!

Ian drove the demon sword of confusion into Albedo's forehead.

"U-Urk!"

Albedo's eyes rolled back white in an instant.

It was at that moment that Ian seized control of a sector of the excavation site.

'Three sectors left.'

At most, it wouldn't take more than two days to deal with the rest.

* * *

Two days later.

The deepest underground of the ruins.

A prison thick with the damp odor of mold and rusted iron.

"Heheheh. Beautiful. Truly satisfying, every time I look."

The Archbishop of Envy, Greenyolf, looked hungrily into the iron bars.

Inside was a woman bound by chains.

Skin white as snow, hair as smooth as silk and black as night.

Set in her forehead was a jewel, much larger and more lustrous than any ordinary Luminari—proof of her status as a High Luminari.

The life jewel.

"I can't even count how much time I've spent trying to extract that gem..."

Greenyolf smacked his lips and walked over to the table piled with experimental tools.

He picked up a grotesque mechanical device, shaped like an enormous leech.

"Until now, there was no way to extract it safely."

Removing the jewel wasn't the problem—it could be gouged out with a knife, after all.

But extracting it intact, preserving its function, had proven impossible so far.

The gemstone embedded in a Luminari's forehead was a powerful magic power core, but if separated from the body, it turned instantly into a mere rock.

Because the Luminari's core functioned only when within a living Luminari body.

To operate ancient Luminari golems, that life jewel was essential—but if it turned into an ordinary stone, it was a vexing problem.

"But now, it's different."

Greenyolf stroked the grotesque device.

― Snap!

The leech's maw at the end of the device opened wide, revealing sharp fangs.

"This extractor was made by dissecting a demonic beast from the demon realm. With this, I can extract your life jewel intact. Can you guess how many Luminari skulls I drilled to make this? Hehehe..."

"...!"

The High Luminari trapped in the cell, Nayuta, high priestess of the Silvani tribe, trembled violently.

"V-Vile monster...! You dog, you would dare...! S-Stay away!"

Nayuta rattled the chain around her neck, scooting back.

But she was quickly blocked by the wall—there was nowhere left to go.

Greenyolf licked his lips lecherously.

"Don't worry. It won't hurt. You might even feel ecstasy. That's how the demonic beast this thing was made from hunted its prey. Drives its catch into rapture with venom, then in an instant..."

"U-Urgh...!"

― Buzz!

Greenyolf cranked the device to full power.

― Wriggle, wriggle!

The extractor's maw trembled like an enraged serpent.

Grabbing the wriggling head of the extractor, Greenyolf crept slowly toward Nayuta.

"S-Stop! Don't!"

Nayuta screamed, her face pale as death.

But Greenyolf's steps never stopped.

'Ahh...! Mother of the Moon...!'

Nayuta clenched her eyes shut and prayed to the tribal Goddess.

But in this deep and dark underground prison, her prayer would never reach the moon.

There was no one who could save her now.

The guardians who once protected her, the elders of her tribe—they were all dead or enslaved.

― Vvvvvmm...!

"Kyaaa!"

As the extractor's mouth neared, the life jewel on Nayuta's forehead began to quiver violently, as if overheating.

Swallowing her scream, Nayuta squeezed her eyes shut.

An ominous, bloody light blazed madly atop her brow.

― Snap!

Sharp teeth shot out of the extractor's leech-like mouth.

The moment of cruel extraction, to gouge the life jewel from her forehead, was upon her.

Right then—

― Bang!!

The door to the underground chamber exploded off its hinges.

"...?"

Greenyolf and Nayuta both turned wide-eyed.

Out of the swirling dust, a man emerged silently.

A towering figure, over two meters tall.

A body hardened by muscle.

Thick, grey hair.

Ian Greysel.

He had arrived.

"W-Who are you?!"

Greenyolf shouted in alarm.

Rather than answer, Ian slammed his foot to the ground.

― Boom!

It was as if a bomb had gone off in the underground; a deafening roar and the ground shook.

"Gu—Argh!"

All at once, Ian grasped Greenyolf's throat.

"Ke-Kegh!"

Greenyolf's feet floated in the air.

"... Ah?"

Nayuta let out an involuntary gasp.

Just moments ago, archbishop Greenyolf had threatened her with eyes blazing with madness.

Now his body dangled in the air.

Caught by a mysterious man, held aloft by the throat with a single hand.

'He—He handled Greenyolf so easily!'

Nayuta stared up at Ian in a daze.

A face she had never seen before.

But this man carried an aura as mighty as a mountain.

It was a moment of salvation.