A young man's voice sounded from nowhere.
'Phew, thank God they went back. Why were they even chasing me, ridiculous humans? They were supposed to chase that guy who chained me up, not me. {By the way, why was that place crowded by many soldiers? That's completely new. There are always 2 or 3 soldiers, guards actually, but today, there are soldiers. I wonder where to go because they'll start chasing me if they spot me again. By the way, how did I burn that chain?'
Ohhh, it's Akirion! He started remembering what happened to him when he woke up. He started crying, but when he saw the chain, he remembered the way the whole place exploded. He then tried something; without his concern, his hands became hot and red, and the chains fell down. He managed to move the trader's luggage without making a sound. Lucky him, he successfully got out of the wagon.
'Haa, so I got magic. That's cute, but how can I use it? I used it by mistake inside that wagon, so how can I do it? Hiiiiiiii!' He tried to use his magic, but he failed.
'So, how did the mission progress? Anything interesting?' Haruto asked, expecting a wonderful answer.
'No sir, sorry!' Mika replied.
'By the way, I didn't see you during the meeting last night; where were you?
'Ahh, I—I ran to where the sound was coming from to search for the cause, but I found nothing.'
'Wow, you are as fast as always; that's good. Keep up the good work.'
'Thank you, sir. By the way, there is a house that got attacked by monsters last night too, and I believe that was the house of the hero's heir.
'Intriguing and also disappointing. So there were no survivors?
'No sir, they were all killed.'
'So the 5-year mission came to an end, huh?'
'Yeah, I guess so.'
They both had some gloomy faces because the echoes of fate came up; it felt like they lost something important. (Comment that something important, if you have the idea.)
'So what tripped the alarm?' a curious and tired soldier asked.
'Wasted our valuable time; can't even imagine it was a false alarm.'
'Those Xylonian things are fake. I knew it from the beginning; it's ridiculous.'
'But that's the best new technology ever made in a short period of time. In a blink of an eye actually, because the monster problem started 5 years ago.'
'Wait, did you even hear yourself? Does your eye blink for 5 years? I mean, in one blink?'
'Aww, come on, man, I was trying to express the idea of fast!'
'But 5 years is a long period of time; you can't say it is a short period of time?'
'Just forget it; I thought maybe we were going to see a monster today!'
'Don't worry, you will see it soon enough, and when you see it, you will regret the day you were born!'
'Stop scaring me, dude; they are just some pests that need to be taken care of, so wonder how will it be like spraying them away?'
'Phwahaha, are you for real, bro? Kwahaha, do you even think of listening to stories about things that are happening around the world?'
'Ahh, what's so funny? They are monsters, we are humans, we will take good care of them, and why did you ask me about news stories? I'm not interested in politics.'
Bwahaha, can't stop… Kekeke, bwahaha, who told you that those stories are all about kingships and more? You should try and research about them; it's rare for a normal human to defeat those monsters.'
'HEY EVERYONE, THERE'S NOTHING HERE. LET'S MOVE OUT. IT'S A FAILED MISSION, SO LET'S GO.' One of the army commanders called off the search.
They all embarrassingly moved out, with their heads low.
In a dark prison room, there was a man, a slave trader actually, who got arrested earlier in the story and was surprisingly taken by the underground society.
'Hey, tell us your story now!'
'I got nothing to say; I'm just a traveler, that's all.'
'Hey, don't waste our time if you don't tell me the full story... Have you ever heard of torturing? I'll start that process.'
'No no no, I'll tell you everything, I swear, everything!'
'That's good to hear, so shoot.'
'Okay, I'm a traveler; I always come and g….'
'Hey, I don't want to hear your personal story; I want to know why you were screaming like that.'
'So that's why you arrested me?'
'Of course, additionally, you were spotted hitting your wagon in anger after you told us that you were happy. So would you mind telling me before I get the burdizzo and start the castration process?'
'W-w-wait, I'm a human, not an animal. You can't do that to me; I got some human rights too!'
'Not in Elysia, and if you tell me the whole story, I'll let you go without using a burdizzo.'
'Okay, I'll tell you. When I looked into my cart, I realized that I forgot something important, so I didn't hold myself, so that's why I screamed like that. As for hitting the cart, it was because I was blaming myself for forgetting.'
'Wow, your story is temptingly good. Yo bro, bring me the burdizzo and start the castration process.'
'HUH?! I TOLD YOU EVERYTHING. W W WHY ARE YOU...?'
'SHHHH, Tell me the whole story; I don't want lies. Hurry up!'
The slave trader started shaking, sweating like he was in a 60°C hot room.
'Hey, wassup, you are sweating instead of talking?'
'The other guy came with a big scary burdizzor, and the slave trader lost his control over the underwater, and he got his pants wet.'
'Now tell me.'
'Okay, okay, I'll tell you; please don't hurt me' (he cried like a baby). '{Oh dear, I'm finished. How did they figure out that I was lying? Ridiculous agency! Seems like my mission failed; now I have no other option.} I'm a very poor man; I always try to make a life by trading some goods. So when I was on my way here, I saw a small young kid, 10 years maybe, lying around in the middle of nowhere, and the place looked like ruins, so I took the kid. I came up with an idea of making money using the kid. I'm a trader, so I thought of trading the kid for money, but it looks like I failed….'
'So this is the meaning of these chains?'
'{huh? That's why he didn't believe my story; I'm doomed.} Yes, the kid escaped; I don't know how, and I screamed because I lost a lot of money that I thought I had.'
'That's good to hear. You are under arrest for doing human trafficking!'