Arestia Empire'S World Domination
Alternation 1: The Lean Mission

...—District Mining Field, Kingdom Lethiel—...

...—18 November 1238—...

Moonlight shone in the darkness of the rain forest that was on the border of the Lethiel Kingdom Region with the former Natrehn Kingdom Region.

Early in the day, the air felt very fresh. There were some howls of wolves and owls from the depths of the forest.

However, the sounds of human activity can be heard. Being at the foot of the mountains, many humans are directing hoes and some other heavy equipment to dig deeper.

Their necks are black necklaces, so tight that they feel suffocating if they move too much. Not only that, accompanied by a heavy weight chained each of their left legs, long chains connected the black necklace from one to the other, as if they were connected to each other.

Criminal slave.

Ares ordered the excavation of some ore veins to be carried out by slaves who had committed criminal acts, whether it was from inside or outside his country.

In fact, some of them could be considered as illegal slaves for having entered the Arestia— Empire within the Lethiel— Kingdom without the slightest inspection by an official knight whose family had been recognized by the state.

Even so, through black market transactions, Ares certainly has known about it. Not only can they be easily owned, their purchase price is very low. Moreover, Ares did not feel the need to give the criminal slaves such kindness as sufficient food for them.

Just a piece of stale bread and a glass of water was enough to meet their daily needs. Not only that, mine accidents have a high probability of befalling them.

Ares decided that was not without reason. For Ares, such ill-treatment serves as a reward for the heinous behavior they have committed in the past.

Some of them were members of dark guilds whose organization had been destroyed. Some were people who kidnapped the children of a village and sold them as slaves.

In fact, despite being a very small minority, some of them are mutilators as well as madmen who have committed various crimes that never even once caught in the mind of the Emperor.

Aided only by the minimal lighting of the dim lantern, one of the big burly men dredged. No different from his over 2 meter tall body, the look on his face was filled with huge incision scars.

Both of his eyes were glaring, completely intimidating if an ordinary person met him.

CRUST!

Whatisit?

Once again dredging, the tip of the hoe feels about a hard object. The burly man drew his face closer to the source of the voice, looking carefully at the origin of the cause after confirming that the inspectors had not paid attention to him.

The other miners did not pay attention to the man. They must have felt, until the hot iron jab would have hit their naked bodies if they had stopped moving.

Directing the tip of the hoe a little further, the man managed to dredge a large yellowish chunk, about 8 to 11 cm in diameter.

Both corners of his lips slowly lifted. Seeing that there was a sparkle emanating from the metal, his heart was immediately filled with great pleasure.

Peering, glancing around, the ever-tight guard somehow felt empty. In fact, some of the places where supervisors used to be on guard, there were none of them.

Are they on a break?

If so, it's time for me to run away!

"What do you want to do, you idiot?!" One of the other slaves questioned his actions with a loud shout.

Both hands of the burly man had firmly grasped the necklace that restrained him with the other criminal slaves, trying to damage the necklace until it is destroyed so that he can escape and bring along a large chunk of gold that feels very big in front of him.

"I can't stand being here anymore, you idiot!" The burly man replied in annoyance, not one bit ignoring the slave while still pulling the necklace around his neck.

"Damn it! If you try to find trouble, not only will you die!" Another criminal slave who was hoeing right next to him gave a warning, both his hands had been detached from his job and tried to hit the burly man's head.

It was not because of those who could not break the necklaces and chains that bound their necks, but the punishment for such deeds was something they feared.

The slaves who had been working for more than a month certainly knew the horrors of that night, where slaves who defied the rules of the mine were thrown into the cages of starving wolves right before the eyes of the other criminal slaves.

Of course, it was not only these punishments that awaited them. Crate with hundreds of nails that will hit people in it, into the food of hundreds of black rats, to insects such as cockroaches to centipedes that will be forcibly inserted into their mouths.

CRUST!

The slave necklace had been destroyed, the burly man's neck was now freed, making the other slaves try to hold him back immediately so that the man did not launch his action.

However, the heavy weight binding the left leg of each of the slaves caused them to be unable to catch up.

"Let the new kid." An old man with a shabby, curly black-haired face stared lazily at the other slaves, "Quick connect the severed chains before the supervisor sees this."

"okay."

"true."

Agreeing to the old man's proposal, each of the slaves helped to piece together the two ends of the broken chain and disguise the necklace of the broken slave.

The view of the forest that looks brighter is now in view, pride meets the feelings due to the success of the man conquering the mine.

His expression was bright, not expecting his two legs to once again be able to feel the grass he had not stepped on for the past week.

JLB!

Slowly, his eyes grew blurred. The heat from the pain immediately radiated from behind his back.

His right hand stretched out, looking for the cause of the pain that attacked him. The burly man found a dart—lermul poison even though he did not know— who had stuck strong on his skin.

BRUK!

In just a moment, the burly man staggered, fell hard and lay on the ground. No longer conscious.

Taps.

Taps.

Taps.

From the depths of the forest, the figure of a gray-haired youth who seemed to be in a mess stepped closer. Dressed in casual clothes, the look of both of his ordinary gray eyes, did not in the least give the impression of a third best assassin possessed by the Cornwall Clan.

"This mushroom is absolutely incredible..." Despite having used it for more than a month, Lean once again looked in admiration at the bow she was in her grasp.

Unlike the Zarrex Bow— Arcana—-class crusher that Lean used to use, the bow that Lean uses today is a common—class Common— bow even though it is made by the best craftsmen in the Capital of Excelia.

However, the location of the difference is not something that causes the ability to shoot the bow to increase, the bow in his grasp is a new type of bow, a long bow inspired by "Welsh's Longbow" the Medieval England.

"Well, it's time to take some pocket money." Lean stepped up, approaching the burly man she had just shot.

TUBS!

To the unconscious body, Lean nonchalantly kicked her stomach, causing her lower clothes that exposed the golden chunk to open.

Looking at the huge golden chunk that was within his grasp, Lean heard the faint sound of footsteps moving closer to him. Although he seemed to do nothing, Lean was ready to give a quick counterattack to him if the person came to attack him.

"Lean, you're really despicable." Gale's annoyed expression made Lean lower her vigilance.

Lean turned around, looking in wonder at Gale as she stuffed the golden chunk into her small bag, "What do you mean, Gale?"

"When I have trouble completing missions, you have fun and rob mines! Also, isn't the gold you just picked up Your Majesty's property?!" Gale revealed his frustration.

"Hm? His Majesty just ordered me to eliminate anyone suspicious and release me to take his property, you know?" Lean defended herself, her tone seemed lazy.

"Tap—but, you should have done that to the intruders!" timpal Gale is upset.

"Hm?" Glancing at the expression of Gale whose face was irritatedly flushed red, Lean let out a light sigh, taking back the golden chunk she had just picked up, "Do you want to?"

A moment of silence from embarrassment, Gale revealed her wish, "I—iya..."

Sir.

Lean threw the gold in her hand, which Gale immediately caught and stuffed into her leather bag.

"Thank you..." Gale endured the embarrassment, his face flushed red, so memorable as a girl.

"No problem, I have as much gold as 4 big leather bags" Lean said, moving back into the forest.

"Did?!" Gale was dumbfounded, his two eyes involuntarily glaring, "Ba—how did you get it?!"

"Hm? Like this." Lean pointed at the burly man lying down.

"Then you, Lean! Wasn't he the slave of this mine?!" timpal Gale's.

"Eh? No." Lean pretended not to know it, turning her face the other way because of her guilt, "You didn't find anything like a necklace and chain on her, did you?"

Hearing such an irresponsible answer, one of Gale's petals twitched, "After all, isn't it strange that a miner can escape the supervisor just like that?!"

"Well..." Lean recalled something, "It seems, I should give this Mine Chief my half as gratitude."

"Eh? What did you do to her?" gale asked, a little confused by Lean's words.

With a wry smile that looked a little scared, Lean turned to Gale, "Forging his signature so that the supervisors don't keep watch at this door."

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