<Duke's Perspective>
Yet another peaceful day at the human trafficking guild.
In a huge building located right in the middle of the city, slave hunters sold the people they had captured.
Then the guild members began categorizing the people.
Elves with handsome faces were mainly headed to brothels,
dwarves who were fine with going underground were headed to the coal mines,
and strong, good-fighting beastmen were headed to the arenas.
The guild members categorized the ein as if they were merchants sorting fruit at the marketplace.
Through this entire process, neither the guild employees nor the slave merchants showed any remorse.
According to the culture that began 100 years ago with the empire that once ruled this land, it was perfectly normal for pure humans to treat the ein as slaves.
If they were unhappy with the situation, the ein could always go back to their own territory, or become strong enough that humans couldn’t touch them.
In other words, weakness was the crime.
Most of the people in this place genuinely believed that.
And to be fair, these people weren’t doing this out of any particular hatred for the ein.
As proof…
“Yes, I’ve confirmed that you’re a pureblood human. If you wait in that line over there, someone will process you.”
They were simply doing this for the money.
Whether someone was ein or human was not particularly important.
They just sold anything that was weak, easy to handle, and held some value.
People who treated this place where humans were bought and sold as just another ordinary day.
Then, someone special arrived today.
“Sound the alarm! We’re under attack! We’re under attack!!”
BANG!
The guards, bursting through the front door in a panic and rushing inside.
Just as everyone in the place was looking around in confusion, a knight entered the room, sword in hand.
His body was completely covered in a suit of old, battered armor, and he wore a dented helmet.
When the people in the room saw the limp, red feather atop the knight’s head, they were all struck with utter shock.
“Shit! Why is that monster here!”
“Bad luck! Run!!”
The human trafficking guild had descended into total chaos, and yet the red-feathered knight—our protagonist Duke—simply inhaled deeply.
“Hmph. The smell of weasel-like criminals.”
Buying and selling humans, huh?
Their karma count had likely dipped into the negative long ago.
In other words, Duke could do virtually anything to these people and remain blameless.
But that wasn’t why he had come here in the first place.
‘This is the guild where the mad scientist receives his test subjects.’
This scientist, classified as a magus but simply referred to as a scientist by Duke.
‘Who cares what the classification is?’
Having arbitrarily defined someone else’s identity, Duke returned to reality and reviewed his plan.
First, he was supposed to be captured as a slave so that he could become an experiment subject for this scientist.
But because of the reputation he had built up as the wandering knight Duke Erwick, he couldn’t simply be captured without a fight.
At the very least, he needed to be captured after a valiant fight for justice, to make the narrative work and to avoid raising suspicion among others.
Duke cleared his throat and spoke with an imposing voice after a hundred years of practice, fully aware of his authority.
“Your sins have ultimately led me here.”
Duke waited for the reactions of the slave merchants.
Whether they resisted him, hurled insults, or made any other reaction, he was confident he could handle it.
But all that came back was silence.
‘Uh… Did I sound too cheesy?’
While the Knight of Justice, Duke, was wondering in his helmet what had happened, finally, one of the slave merchants broke the silence.
“HEEEEEK! Save me! Mommyaaa!!!”
“…”
With that slave merchant breaking the silence, fear began to spread.
“Security! SECURITY!! Damn it, run!”
“I’d rather die than fall into his hands… Sorry boss! GURK.”
“The Guild Master is fleeing!”
As Duke watched the chaotic scene unfold before him, he couldn’t help but stiffen his expression in surprise.
Just by making an appearance, people were either running away or committing suicide—his situation was so perplexing.
‘Crime doesn’t pay, these guys have no guts.’
Duke sighed deeply in his heart and then initiated Plan B.
Plan B – A cornered rat will bite the cat.
Duke signaled with his hand to block all the exits of the building.
He destroyed the emergency exits and blocked the windows with desks or chairs.
This was his way of declaring that no one could leave this place.
Only then did the rats finally begin to show their teeth.
“Shit! Release the bees!”
“Will it work?”
“Since there’s no other way, might as well try this before we die!”
Listening to the conversation between the Guild Master and his close associates, Duke smirked from beneath his helmet.
The rumors he had spread for several years specifically for this day were effective.
Duke was, in fact, allergic to bee venom.
The criminals seemed to thoroughly believe this.
‘Finally, we’re getting somewhere.’
At last, Duke began to fight in earnest.
He swung his old sword and cut down the guards and security rushing toward him.
He evaded a spear aimed at his side, and then seized it to throw it.
POW!
Without paying any attention to the three men pierced and pinned to the wall, Duke continued his rampage.
Meanwhile, the summoners had released the bees, but Duke acted as if he had no opportunity to deal with them.
As the swarm of bees approached him,
‘Now!’
To avoid the bees getting caught in his armor, Duke ducked his head just enough for the greatsword swinging at his neck to graze his helmet.
ZZZIIING!
The helmet neatly fell off.
Immediately afterward, Duke extended the joint of his left gauntlet to the incoming ice spikes.
The pieces of armor fell off with a clang.
“Got him!”
While the security guards cheered that they had finally removed his armor, Duke did his best to maintain his composure.
He smiled freely beneath his helmet, but now that he was without a helmet, acting his role in this scenario was important.
Soon enough, the exposed bees began to sting him.
Of course, he didn’t allow himself to be stung easily, and for the sake of probability, he staged the situation where his magical protective barrier had a hole poked into it while he fought.
“Kkk…”
Duke complained about the pain of being stung by the bees.
He had initially swung his sword without any regard, but now he was clearly more wary of the bees than the people.
Five minutes later, his movements began to noticeably slow down.
“It’s working!”
The triumphant shouts of the slave merchants.
Duke also rejoiced in his heart.
And so, for about half an hour, Duke put on a devastating show.
‘Slowly running out of options with my sword.’
In other words, it was time to execute his planned performance.
He dashed toward a massive axe-wielding warrior he had been observing all this time.
Upon seeing him charge, the hammer-wielding warrior who was the axe warrior’s partner slammed his hammer down from beside Duke.
Duke awkwardly blocked the hammer with his sword,
KLANG!
and the sword, at its limit, finally shattered.
Now with only his bare hands, Duke turned his attention to the axe warrior who took advantage of the situation and plunged the axe into Duke’s chest.
‘Only to this depth!’
Just before the axe plunged, Duke concentrated mana on his sternum while leaving the rest of the flesh and muscle untouched.
A huge wound, like one that would be fatal, was carved into his chest, but it wouldn’t critically affect his life.
“Chuckle…”
By biting on a hidden blood pouch and spitting out blood, Duke rose again.
He stared at the criminals with an expression filled with malice and caught sight of the Guild Master, who had been watching from a safe place.
Eventually, the Knight of Justice gathered his final resolution and began to run towards the Guild Master, the source of all evil.
Many spells were hurled, arrows pierced him, and guards and security tried to stop him, but they were meaningless in front of the knight’s determination.
Breaking through the barriers, Duke reached right up to the Guild Master.
The Guild Master, turning pale, drew his musket pistol.
“I am Duke!!”
Like a knight charging at a windmill, Duke roared at the Guild Master and ran towards him.
The Guild Master stepped back as far as possible and pulled the trigger.
“EEEEK!”
BANG!
The bullet shattered through Duke’s chest.
That one shot halted Duke’s final charge.
And just as his hand was about to snap the Guild Master’s neck-
PLUNK.
The knight, in the end, succumbed to reality and collapsed.
“Grunt… Grunt…”
The Guild Master sat down right there and caught his breath.
Duke, lying down, closed his eyes and faintly smiled.
‘Good performance.’
With that, Duke’s plan to naturally become a slave had been successfully executed.
Then the Guild Master, loosening his tie as if feeling tightness, looked at Duke lying there.
“Did we take him down?”
‘Hey, don’t say that kind of line. I want to get up now.’
Hardly holding back his impulses, Duke maintained his unconscious state until the iron bracelet was clasped around his neck.
News that Duke had become a slave spread rapidly through the underworld.
To those who bore grudges against him or found him interesting, they rushed to purchase him.
But this wasn’t a situation Duke desired.
His goal was to be bought by the scientist.
Thus, he initiated the next phase of his plan.
It wasn’t too difficult.
– “Grunt! Trying to escape!”
– “Bring the bees! BEES!!!”
Until the scientist arrived, he just had to remain unsold.
If he seemed likely to be sold during an auction, he’d stage an escape act. If someone ended up purchasing him despite that, he would simply crush their spine.
‘Strength solves everything.’
If it didn’t, then it simply meant his strength was insufficient.
After repeating this around eleven times, Duke had become a cliché character one might see in a novel.
High value, difficult to handle, and thus a bad deal—his price began to drop.
And about six months after he’d been captured, his operation finally came to fruition.
A scientist who had been attending auctions for months finally purchased Duke, likely having finally met his budget.
‘Got it!’
When he calculated, there was still half a year until he would meet the protagonist.
Now all he had to do was straightforward.
He just had to endure the scientist’s experiments for half a year.
It wasn’t a dangerous or difficult task.
He would withstand experiments he could endure and if he thought it was truly going to be beneficial, he’d stage an escape for show.
Deeply moved by the achievement of his long buildup, Duke looked up at the ceiling.
‘You see? Sky? I did it!’
Sending a full-satisfaction-filled gaze towards the non-existent deity, Duke cleared his throat.
It was now time for the knight’s trademark line since he was being sold off.
“Even though my body may be bound, my conviction will not falter.”
Most knights would say this when they were captured.
Its sister-line, “Kill me,” existed but was female-exclusive, so Duke didn’t use it.
‘Alright! Bring on any experiment you want!’
With an excited heart, Duke waited for the scientist’s reaction.
However, the scientist’s actions that followed were completely unexpected.
CLICK.
The cuffs and neck collar unlocked easily with a turn of the key, without resistance.
“???”
To the bewildered Duke, the scientist, Retor, spoke.
“With this, you’re free.”
“???”
“Would you mind helping me out if your heart is feeling uneasy.”
The scientist smiled through his lined face.
Retor was a somewhat more exceptional but not entirely reckless scientist.
He was someone who didn’t hesitate to sacrifice a little for the betterment of the common average of human realms.
If a drug that could enhance the potential of millions of children to be born in the future could be developed, a hundred sacrifices now could certainly be forgiven.
If a method to break through the ceiling that the superhumans have hit against could be found, he would willingly part the bellies of thousands of ordinary people.
If he could find a way to reverse aging by discovering the technique to return an aging body to its glory days, it would be rational to use the elderly from a village as material since they were going to die anyway.
Under this conviction, he had done everything and steadily shared his achievements with other superhumans.
To such a researcher, the item named Duke that suddenly appeared one day was an offer he couldn’t refuse.
‘If I manage to dissect this man’s genes, mana, and soul, humanity might take a step forward.’
The wandering knight who had traveled kingdoms far and wide to create numerous legends and heroic tales.
Understanding the knight’s secrets might indeed allow humanity to progress further.
Even fate was on Retor’s side.
Duke was far too expensive for Retor’s budget.
But thanks to repeated escape attempts and murdering potential buyers, his price had sufficiently dropped.
‘This is a sign.’
Believing with certainty that it was a divine revelation, Retor purchased Duke.
– “Even though my body may be bound, my conviction will not falter.”
After being purchased, Duke glared at Retor.
Instantly, Retor was flooded with memories of Duke’s past actions.
The man who tore the wicked noble and his security guards in half at the auction.
As a chill ran down his spine, Retor maintained his composure.
‘The methods of those before me are dangerous.’
He refused to repeat the mistakes of the less fortunate who went before him.
Retor was a rational enough scientist; instead, he chose another path.
‘Treat him as an equal collaborator.’
He had never intended to cut open Duke’s belly or split his head in the first place.
Why cut open the belly of a goose laying golden eggs?
Damaging Duke would be a loss for humanity.
Rather than killing him, obtaining his blood, mana, and fragments of his soul on a regular basis would greatly benefit the research.
As his first step, Retor aimed to establish trust.
“With this, you’re free.”
“…”
“Would you mind helping me out if your heart is feeling uneasy?”
Faced with Retor’s question, Duke remained silent.
Under a veil of anxiety, Retor awaited Duke’s response.
‘What is he thinking?’
Meanwhile, Duke was pondering something different.
‘You’re not this kind of person. You didn’t become compassionate. This isn’t about not killing me…’
Duke had never prepared a space for Retor in his laundry machine.
Unaware of this, Retor mistook it for a positive sign and led him to the laboratory.
Several months later.
Duke finally awaited the encounter with the original protagonist – Rex – who arrived in the neighboring room.
