Chapter 1605: Seriously?

Piles of weapons littered the ground outside the house tree. Cabinets filled with herbs, treasure, or pills were stacked at the edges of the space, or hanging from vines in the central tree's crown. Some still had parts of wall attached, where they had been ripped from their fixtures.

There were also a couple of peculiar flying vessels hung in the tree crown; the blacksmith had yet to look into them to see how they worked. There was also a stack of pill cauldrons and one of the artifact furnaces. Seth wanted to look through them once he had time.

Legion's Space was a mess after Seth and the golems had haphazardly looted the ruins of the Silk River Sect. It was a shame that currency was not part of the loot. He had instructed the golems to look for spirit stones, but they found nothing.

As disappointed as he was at the time, he could come up with a couple of reasons to console himself. The invasion of Urth was not cheap, so maybe it they had used their fortune on that. Another was that they used them up like mana potions during the battle.

Lastly, he had a sack the size of a potato sack, filled with spatial rings and pouches of varying quality he couldn't access. The biggest part of the wealth left in the Silk River sect was probably in there, but there had been no time to give it a serious look.

He had the golems check on them, but most were apparently locked by spiritual sense or something. To open those, he would need the help of someone like Master Mountain, but he didn't get to ask the man himself before their departure. So they just sat there, untouched for now.

Surrounded by all of these unrealized gains was a single chair. Strapped to it was a bloody figure, dripping crimson life juice onto the grassy ground. The figure was surrounded by three people who had spent the past hour giving them hell.

Honeymoon was officially paused. Some chores had crept up that had to be finished first before they could enjoy vacation. The three lovers were standing inside Legion's space, ready for a little war.

The mercenary leader choked on a mouthful of blood, looking wildly between the two of them. "You... you monsters... Who are you? Do you have any idea who you're messing with? I am a squad leader of the Doushi City Guard! The Iron Claw will have your heads for this!"

Seth could have used music to hypnotize the guard captain, but they had time. Instead, they had kept beating him to the brink of death, only for Fin to heal him back to full. It also helped release some pent-up resentment; even if this guy may have been the wrong target, it was definitely a deserving one.

“You kept on whining about the Iron Claw Syndicate and the City Guard for a while, but they don't even know who we are. You know, they are the ones with a target on their back,” the bard said in an almost friendly voice, yet it sent cold shivers up and down the man's spine. Even without the <Voice of Seth>, the blacksmith's words were dripping with malice; the skill just helped really drive the point home.

“Why are you doing this? It's just a bunch of worthless wretches; why go to such lengths?” the guard wheezed, realizing that there was no thigh he could hug, big enough to intimidate these people.

“We came to this city for a vacation, you know? Instead, we find a kiddie pool of rivaling sects ruining our trip and a city guard helping to traffic people,” Seth leaned forward, cupping the gruff man's face with both hands to force him to look the bard deep in the eyes.

“Do you get it?” he asked, his nails painfully digging into the guard's face. “ If you wanted us to stay out of it, you should have done a better job hiding from us, instead of smuggling people on the fucking highway!” the blacksmith exclaimed, ending the intense eye contact with a ringing bitch slap that split the guard's cheek, bursting with blood.

"We didn't have a choice..." the captain whined, panic finally overtaking him as the glowing ropes tightened. "It's not our fault! The Southern Blade Sect used to handle this shit! They had the hunters, the hidden routes, the manpower! They kept the Syndicate's business happy and hidden!" It finally broke out of him.

Seth stared at him. Of course, it was interesting news that the Southern Blade Sect were the main supplier of the slave trade, but the blacksmith stared at him for a different reason. He gave him another slap; the other cheek was ripped open by his rings.

“I'm not fucking blaming you for getting caught! I'm blaming you for doing it in the first place, you rotten piece of shit!” he exclaimed, before straightening his robes and continuing a little calmer.

“Tell us exactly what is going on right now,” the bard commanded vaguely.

"When the Southern Blade Sect was wiped out, the slave supply completely vanished overnight. The Syndicate's ongoing operations have a massive turnover, so the Iron Claw started panic-snatching locals and refugees from Doushi's streets to supply their operations,” he spoke hurriedly.

The trio exchanged a long, complicated look. The ironic truth was that by wiping out the Southern Blade Sect, Minas Mar had inadvertently forced the local underworld into a corner, driving the Iron Claw to target the innocent citizens of Doushi out of pure desperation.

~Maybe we should have had the honeymoon before wiping out the Southern Sect Alliance, -Mina lamented through the <Marriage Bond>

~Our way here might have been better, but I bet we would have run into more problems because of those guys. -Seth argued. After all, the Southern Blade Sect was actively hunting people for the illegal slave trade in secret. Maybe they would have targeted them, too?

~ Yeah, in the end, it's not our fault these assholes dabble in the slave trade. We just weren't thorough enough.- Fin commented.

“Things are especially strained right now, because of the Grand Auction! They are stocking up the better goods for the auction, so they need even more supply to keep up regular business. I'm sorry. Please, spare me!" The squad leader wailed, his voice cracking.

Interrupting their conversation brought the trio back to the topic at hand, and the bloodied captive among them. Right, they were not thorough enough. That could be fixed.

“They are selling illegal slaves at the Grand Auction?” Seth asked, surprised. The clerk of the alchemy pavilion had talked about it as an auction for the great and wealthy; he didn't expect illegal slaves to make an appearance at something so high-profile.

Their captive shook his head.

“N-no, it's an exclusive secret auction right after the regular one. Some of the richest buyers from across the province are already arriving, so the syndicate is on high alert,” the man whimpered.

“Such people come for a secret slave auction after the regular grand auction?” Mina mumbled doubtfully.

“The syndicate has ties all across the southern region and even past the provincial borders. It's not just slaves, but also illegal contraband and banned goods you cannot get above board in XiGuang,” the squad leader explained.

In a place like the Voracious Cloud Continent where cursed swords and mind-control bugs seemed normal, what was illegal contraband? Well, the bugs probably were, and Seth knew that stuff like drugs created from people were also among them.

“How can we join that auction?” Seth asked. He asked for two reasons. He was interested in the merchandise other than the slaves, but most importantly, they could uproot the whole problem in one go by crashing the auction.

~Wouldn't it be better to get the location of their headquarters, or where they are holding the slaves? We could go there straight away,- Fin suggested.

~You said we were not thorough enough. Even if we get rid of the supplier, as long as there is demand, a new one will rise. We have to hit the customers, too,” the blacksmith pointed out.

“T-there is a secret code the participants of the auction have to utter to the concierge; then they will be given a special program that will allow them to return to the venue one hour after the Grand Auction,” the squad leader revealed, his eyes filled with fear.

“And that code is?” Seth prompted him to continue.

"I can't!" the man gasped, his eyes wide with terror. "They'll kill me! The Syndicate's inner ring has connections to the highest levels of the Merchant Council—" Seth's hand covered his mouth.

“You are facing a choice here. Tell us and take your chance with the syndicate, or... don't tell us and see what I'm capable of doing to you right now.”

As he said so, <Soul Capture> began pulling on the edges of the man's very soul. He was just lv.51, barely in the foundation establishment realm. With the Soul Robbery-Perk, the spirit blacksmith could snatch his soul even if he was at full health.

“I-It's 'The Spread Maw', please stop - please!” the man begged for mercy.

Seth stopped, but he squinted at him. Something was wrong with those words, with the translation... this was...

“Broadbill? The password is Swordfish?! Are you serious?!”