Chapter 1 – Zenith, town of scoundrels

Zenith, a town of bad people.

A sort of phantom town, that isn’t listed in any map found in this world.

If one person dies in the capital, it’s talked about in the next morning’s newspaper. But here, the guy you met at a bar yesterday could very well not be alive today. Death is literally an everyday occurrence here, and while someone’s breathing, someone else might be dying.

So why does this town still exist? Because this world is full of bad people. Even today, someone’s knocking at the front gate of Zenith. It’s all pretty boring.

And in this town that’s as close to hell as you can get while still in this realm, slavery is a thriving business.

Something that would warrant an immediate death penalty in the capital is a popular business here. And the ‘products’ are openly displayed on the street like they’re selling fruit or something.

Some lost their parents, some were born to slaves, some never had parents to begin with. There’s little happiness to be found there, but misery comes in many shapes.

Slaves’ eyes are painted with many colors of despair. It might seem strange to someone from out of town, how they’re sitting on the stone pavement with their necks linked by chains. Some might even be inclined to want to save them.

But I don’t feel anything. After all, I live in this town too.

“…Ahn?”

And here I am like usual, walking around aimlessly and looking around to see if I can find anything interesting.

I look towards a back alley, and see an eight year old kid that was apparently caught stealing, and is now being beaten half to death by a bald, muscular man. No, not half to death.

Those fists are hitting pretty deep in his mid-section. He’s definitely dead.

There’s no reason for me to pay attention to that, because it’s nothing out of the ordinary around here.

That’s not why I raised my voice. There are elf kids lined up just ahead, looking to be about four or five years old. They’re being sold by a slaver I know, named Gess.

“…Wait, isn’t that a high elf? No way, why is a high elf being sold in Zenith? I didn’t even know they were real!”

High elves. A superior variant of elves that’s said to have existed a long time ago.

Most people don’t know about them. Their characteristics are only described in high level magic history books, and they’re generally only talked about in fairy-tales.

They’re said to be a race that went extinct a long time ago, but could use all kinds of magic that exists in this world.

But since their existence has never been proven outside of literature, most scholars don’t really care, and don’t really pay attention to their descriptions.

High elves have two big distinctive features.

Elves usually have green hair, but high elves have beautiful, pale blue hair. Also, the tips of their ears are very thin. Not in a smooth way, it’s like their ears spike upwards.

This was explained in a picture I saw in a history book back in the capital. At the time I thought that was a waste of space in the book, but now I’m glad they decided to include it.

“Hey Gess. You have your hands full today. What happened?”

I say as I approach him, and he turns his ugly face to me. The slaves wearing nothing but a rag each don’t react to me at all, and keep facing forward with blank looks on their faces.

“…Oh, it’s you bro, Weiss! Why are you here so early?”

I’ve drank with Gess in a bar a few times. I’m kind of popular around here, so a lot of people respectfully call me bro. And of course, Gess is one of them.

“Just walking around. But why do you have five elf kids?”

The difference between selling slaves and fruit is that slaves don’t sell as well. It’s a good day for slavers if they can sell even just one. And since they can’t let them die from emaciation, they have to give them at least the minimum amount of food necessary for them to live. And they need a place to keep the slaves at night.

Keeping five is very inefficient, and Gess should know that better than anyone.

“Bro, listen to this.”

He says while laughing, not caring one bit about exposing his yellow teeth to the world.

“You know how the people living in that house on the hill were all killed?”

“Yes.”

Of course I do, I did it. Those nobles looked like good people on the surface, but they were managing a human trafficking operation. That’s why they died.

“There was actually a basement where they kept slaves in cells. And a whole bunch of them too.”

“…Really…”

I didn’t notice that, because I was there to kill. But I don’t have any regrets, like thinking they wouldn’t have to become slaves if I did notice.

I’m just surprised, but I keep that to myself.

“A looter that went in after the fact found them. But those slaves were too much for just one person, so a few of us agreed to share them.”

“…And that gets us here.”

I say while looking at the slaves on the ground.

“Yes… It’s a problem really. I can’t just sell all this right away. And they made me take a defective one too.”

He says while looking at the high elf.

“I don’t have a lot of trouble finding takers for beautiful elf kids, but this one’s no good. Her hair’s a weird color, and her ears are deformed too. I don’t know if the people of that house were sadists, or if they did experiments on her or what.”

Gess keeps talking, and it’s all off the mark. But then again, there’s no way this guy that’s been crawling on the ground since the day he was born would know about high elves.

“So? What are you going to do?”

I ask while pointing to the high elf with my chin, and Gess dejectedly sighs.

“If I can’t sell her, I’ll have to dump her somewhere. Maybe I’ll feed her to some wild dogs. Well, maybe that’s for the best with her.”

He says while laughing loudly. I don’t see what’s so funny, so I don’t laugh along.

I think it’s time to get down to business.

“How much are you asking for her?”

“…Ah? You want to buy her, bro?”

“Depends on the price.”

I’m willing to pay up to ten million zeni, but if I tell him that, he’s going to rack up the price for sure.

Here in Zenith, you try to get as much money as possible out of everyone, even people you know.

“Well… Don’t take this the wrong way, but you should just go with a normal one. There’s no reason to buy a defective one.”

I don’t know what’s gotten into Gess, but it sounds like he’s ruining this sale for himself. None of these slaves would get a drop of that kindness if they asked for it, so I don’t know what brought that on.

“…I was thinking before that I want to help you with your business, so I’ll take that elf you won’t be able to sell.”

Gess starts tearing up upon hearing my touching words that are made up of one hundred percent pure lies.

“B-bro… You moved poor old Gess here! Go ahead then, thanks for taking her!”

Gess bows deeply, while still sitting down.

“So, how much?”

I ask while looking at the high elf, not Gess. I hear him respond with a drawn out voice, like he’s thinking.

“Regular elf girls usually go for three hundred zeni… Well, considering her condition, let’s make it two hundred and fifty. No, for you bro, two hundred and thirty. How’s that?”

Two hundred and thirty… That’s not enough to feed a regular family for a day in the capital. And yet here in Zenith, you can buy and sell lives for that pittance.

It’s like two different worlds, but that’s reality.

“That’s fine, make it three hundred.”

I take out three copper coins from my pocket, and throw them near the high elf. The slaves don’t react to it at all. I guess they’ve given up on everything.

“Bro… Seriously, thank you! You really are the best guy…”

“Don’t worship me too much. Just take the chains off her.”

“Yes, hold on a second.”

Gess takes out his keys, looks for the right one, and puts it in her collar. And with a heavy clanking sound, the collar and the chains binding her to the others hit the ground.

She’s saved, but the high elf is still facing down, not reacting at all. Maybe she has no idea what’s happening to her.

“Let’s go.”

I take her hand and make her get up, and turn my back to Gess while walking away. The high elf doesn’t grab my hand back, she just walks along.

I hear Gess’ unpleasant voice saying come again, and I walk through the same main street as always.