Parallel Story New Beginning Chapter 21: And That Was It

Edward walked through the streets of Zinder.

This place was quite curious. The downtown area was filled with a few one or two-story buildings and some weapon or armor stores.

There were also a few blacksmith shops staffed by craftsmen and alchemists present.

Living in Africa was a risk and more so in this place, but it was also possible to obtain great benefits.

Adventurers, militiamen and mercenaries were present buying the necessary items to prepare for their missions.

Edward walked to an open-air bar where there was a projection where different missions were marked.

Whatever a blacksmith, alchemist or private buyer needed or wanted, was asked for the other to get with those quests.

There were no adventurers or mercenary guild and that meant they had to fend for themselves.

Watching on the television the news about the European-demon war, Edward only shook his head when he saw what news from America appeared.

South American countries were in shaken states and looked like powder kegs ready to explode.

From Argentina, which was days away from a civil war because of its slowly escalating outbursts and rulers who were doing nothing to improve the situation of their people, to the other countries where social movements against corruption were spreading.

There were very few countries that were stable, such as in Chile, where an SS rank was its guardian or in the north where another SS rank was intervening in the Colombian government.

One sought stability and the other seemed to seek control, yet both acted like what they were... powerful and authoritative individuals who did as they wished.

It hadn’t been too long since Malik Zamora had ended up dead, but the situation was still changing horribly.

Edward sighed again and stopped thinking about it.

A similar situation was found in this place... Edward didn’t need to walk too far to start noticing the difficulty of the local inhabitants.

While those skill users or knowledgeable individuals could make a slightly pleasant living for themselves, other people were having too hard a time.

The locals were in a pretty poor condition, poverty was quite high and the problems it entailed as well.

Only the ‘rich’ people had the services of the city and the others lacked such services.

The more he walked the streets, the more he noticed the situation and his expression became more and more serious.

They were the example of the cruelty of malnutrition and it was not something as easy as ‘striving’ to get out of that position... In this place it did not have the conditions for people to strive.

There was no school, no laws and they were at the mercy of militiamen.

His expression relaxed when he reached the busy street, but immediately changed for the worse.

Stores sold drugs of all kinds and next to it was an open brothel, while its ‘workers’ were out on the street, inviting the locals in.

However, there was something that made her expression freeze completely.

“Come! Come! Today we have two excellent products on offer and if you don’t want them, we also have other types. For work, for housewife or for them to warm your bed,” a man exclaimed with a charismatic smile.

Edward blinked thinking he misheard, and when he looked at that place closely, his expression turned cold.

Between the drugstore and the brothel, there was another, larger store.

Some workers were bringing out cages in which humans were kept.

Those in the worst condition were in the cages as if they were some kind of animal for sale, while those in the best ‘condition’ were brought in with collars and ropes tied around their necks.

There were beautiful, dark-skinned and white women and even children among them and a couple of malnourished and tired men.

Most of them had blank stares, as if they had accepted the cruel reality in which they found themselves and gave the impression that they had no hope of survival.

Those who were in the vicinity looked as if this was usual and stayed away shopping in the different stores without getting involved.

These deals would probably be conducted with greater secrecy and Edward didn’t know what the reason was that they were revealing it now, but he moved.

His master was a hero and while he wasn’t the right person to say he had high values and it was hard to say he would save everyone, standing by and watching wasn’t his style.

And no matter how indifferent he was, there were times he would not hesitate to act and more so in these situations, he could not let go.

“Oh, boy do you want something?” the seller asked with a friendly smile and taking a woman by the necklace, he pulled her and questioned. “She’s cute, isn’t she? Despite her youth, she’s developed well. She’ll be excellent for warming up your evenings.”

Edward was not embarrassed by such words and only stopped midway.

The person to whom the salesman was speaking was a young girl who was no more than her fifteenth year and they were covered by revealing clothes that barely covered her body

It was noticeable that she was the ‘product’ he had spoken of first.

However, Edward’s attention was focused on the men in the drugstore and brothel, along with the guards who kept the ‘merchandise’ guarded.

There were six of them in all, two A-ranks counting the salesman who spoke and the others were B-ranks.

“Who allowed this business?” Edward asked fearlessly.

The enemy formation was just beginning, but he wasn’t going to be scared by some old men... He wasn’t someone weak and he showed it when his lightning bolts began to circle his hands.

Those guards raised their weapons, but their domineering and amused smiles let it be seen that they didn’t expect much from him.

At seventeen he was an A-rank... It was quite possible that they thought he was still in high school.

That last part was true, but they didn’t know he was the apprentice of an SS rank.

“You’re new, aren’t you?” The salesman asked with a smile and nodding to himself, he commented. “Surely you’re one of those who came with that caravan. Perhaps guided by those... ‘Protectors of Zerzura’ rumored to be.”

Some let out a few chuckles at the way he spoke of that title... Mocking and dismissive. The vendor was revealing those emotions as the guards began to surround him.

Edward prepared his spells carefully, as there were people in the metal cages.

“You’d better set them free,” Edward warned seriously.

He was being surrounded and from his training, he could tell that the other party was experienced for such confrontations.

He couldn’t win. There was no doubt about it... He had moved recklessly.

However, not winning did not mean not losing and even though he was at a disadvantage in not wanting to harm innocents, he was not afraid.

“Will you buy our goods?” the salesman asked and with a sinister look as he saw him motionless, he declared. “If you won’t, then shut up! This is Africa! These are our lands and we are the rulers!”

His gaze grew colder and haughtier.

“This place is not the wasteland where you people settled and here, no matter the rules!” Announced the vendor giving the order to attack.

That they were carrying out illegal acts here was to give a message, not to him, but to the person running everything... Edward realized it late and now he was the target so they could show their ‘might’.

The one who moved first was the fighter who tried to throw a punch, but Edward only dropped a lightning bolt on his body, getting the fighter to stop.

Backing up quickly, he spread lightning across his feet and managed to electrocute the B-ranked swordsman, and at the same time threw a powerful lightning at the one with the sledgehammer and electrocuted him.

“Bastard!”

Hearing the shout of those individuals, Edward used his personal barrier to avoid the sword of a swordsman and took the opportunity to retreat.

He needed as much distance as possible, not from his enemies, but from those in those metal cages.

His spells would work better if he had free space to cast them.

It was for that reason that when he saw that the water mage and the archer moved to close his path with their attacks; he decided to take the attack of one of them at his own risk.

*BOOM*

Throwing a small lightning bolt at the water sphere, he made it explode by destabilizing the spell and then used his barrier, slightly weakened by the swordsman, to receive the arrow.

“Ugh...”

Gritting his teeth, the arrow cut the side of his stomach shallowly.

Still, looking at the group that was slightly at a distance, he readied his spells with a smile.

They underestimated his strength and because of their stupidity received several of his attacks, though not lethal, enough to keep them vigilant... Edward had a huge source of magical energy and that meant his spells had greater potency.

Electrocuting a B-rank to death was easy for him.

“¿¡!?”

Silently preparing deadly spells, his leg trembled, and he felt that his body wasn’t responding as it should.

“They’re paralyzing arrows. Quite effective against A-rank and for mages, they are lethal,” revealed the salesman with a big smile.

Edward frowned immediately.

He had let his guard down and had been caught by surprise, but his complexion only darkened for a moment and when he saw two B-ranks approaching, he cast his spell.

“GAAAAA!”

“GHRAAA!”

“Ugh...”

A huge lightning bolt struck above him, electrocuting and burning those two B-ranks as he himself let his lightning enter his body.

Being his own magic, it didn’t hurt him that much, but this time it pushed his lightning to reactivate his nerves, which made him groan subtly due to the secondary damage.

Still, it was a shudder that managed to get his body to be able to react and allow him to push himself back.

The smell of burning came from those two B-ranks that had not yet died and the next moment, he sensed danger.

*BOOM*

The A rank fighter had used ‘blink’ to hit him and when Edward noticed the fist coming, another body got in the way.

When he stabilized his position, he could see that it was Makeba who took the punch from that A-ranked fighter.

No words were needed for the fight to begin.

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

The two began exchanging punches with the ferocity that the fighters were renowned for and neither wanted to back down.

Each punch carried a powerful force behind it and they both landed blows and also landed blows without fleeing or taking distance.

Edward quickly drank an antidote and his eyes were filled with coldness as he watched those B-ranks.

“How useless,” said the salesman and unsheathing his sword, he performed a slash with his sword aura.

He was an A rank and that meant that his sword aura hadn’t taken shape, but that didn’t mean he was weak.

However, that aura didn’t extend very far when a bluish aura intercepted it on the way.

“...” At the silence of the group, Aurora and Alice descended from the sky and landed in the middle of the fight.

Aurora had a drawn sword in her hands and although there was a subtle tremor in her hand, the next moment she remained steady, while her eyes were filled with coldness.

The fighter and Makeba distanced themselves as both groups readied themselves with a high alertness.

Edward also braced himself as Aurora looked at the people locked in cages and those with slave collars.

Her gaze only grew colder, very different from Alice, who remained indifferent from the start.

“Black hair and eyes being quite young... Both have similar features and both are beauties... So, you are the ‘Protectors of Zerzura’?” The salesman asked and with a laugh, added. “There are rumors that you killed the ‘Great Khan’. An idiot with wet dreams.”

His last words were dismissive and mocking, but his gaze only grew increasingly serious.

“However, we are not in Chad here... These are not your lands and we are not like that, asshole. If we want we do the business we want and the way we want,” said the seller and looking at his merchandise, he pointed. “He sold for money, I don’t know for whom... That one was sold to eat and this girl was sold by her parents to feed their other children. We help too!”

He had been pointing to the ‘merchandise’ and detailing the circumstances to end with a joke that made the others laugh at such words.

“We can buy and sell to whomever we want, all because we have the ability to do so.” Declared the seller and drawing his sword, all the others followed suit, but he gave a smile as he fiddled with his sword and announced. “This is Africa. We are the rules and our guild pays the higher ups enough and we won’t let some idiots come in here now to hassle and steal our merchandise.”

Merchandise... Edward realized the reason why they moved and acted this way, laying their business bare.

Zerzura had come to this place to take the refugees elsewhere and to them, this action was like stealing ‘good merchandise’ from them that could be sold at a high price.

There was much poverty in this land, but even people in the worst conditions could be changed to become high quality ‘merchandise’ with attentive care.

This place was crueler than everyone had expected, and Edward bit his lips as he realized the reality.

That they were paying off the local ruler meant that whoever controlled the city knew everything and turned a blind eye.

On the other hand, that they were members of a guild and could show themselves now made it clear that they were strong.

Perhaps it was a medium-sized guild with an S-rank leader.

Aurora averted her gaze to Abdellah, who had appeared distorting space.

“Yes, go away. This is no place to play hero, girl,” said the salesman with a smirk of superiority.

Edward’s expression turned colder as he saw Aurora taking a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment... For him, she was about to withdraw, and he was having a hard time making that decision.

Still...

“Can you make the children not see?” Aurora asked, looking at Abdellah.

That Archmage narrowed his eyes, but the next moment he snapped his fingers, creating a distortion around all the slaves and children, taking him to his side.

And that was it.

“...”

Edward had never seen a sword unsheathed so quickly... And now he couldn’t see it either.

He only caught an invisible line, splitting everything in its path and the salesman gave a smile, believing she had missed. Then the salesman’s body fell to the ground with his stomach cut open.

Blood and organs spilled out onto the floor and Aurora approached, walking slowly.

“GAA!”

The fighter threw a punch and Aurora slashed the arm with the sword and then pushed him towards Alice, who was waiting for him.

“Ugh!”

From Alice’s back, about ten black arms came out and caught the fighter, and even though the poor man tried to resist because of the spikes coming out of the arms.

Alice was quick, but bloody, and showed him directly in front of everyone.

And that was just the beginning of the massacre.

“No! No!”

A swordsman tried to cut off a black arm, but couldn’t because of the thickness and hardness of that arm that ended up trapping him from the head. The hand grew and then crushed the head, even though the swordsman was trying to escape.

The other swordsman was impaled in the stomach and the spear that had pierced him lifted him four meters from the sky and showed him to all present.

Aurora, unlike Alice, was quick, and she slashed the stomach of the man using the mace and then extended two red slashes to the water mage and the archer, cutting off their heads with simplicity.

Only the fighter was an A rank and, being caught by surprise, he had no time to react, as for the other B ranks... In front of two S ranks, they were nothing.

And that was them.

“...” The salesman reacted as he realized what was happening and tried to crawl back, but as he saw the organs coming out of his stomach, his expression was filled with fear and horror.

A horror that increased as Alice threw the corpses on the floor as if she was throwing garbage and Aurora walked towards the man who was kept alive by the various artifacts he was carrying.

A simple and calm walk as his sword dripped blood, and the scent wafted in the distance.

Aurora’s expression was cold from start to finish and there was no mistaking her movements... She was an automated killing machine, and she was extremely good at it.

“If you kill me... The Oak Guild will attack and make you pay,” said the vendor as he tried to back away.

The vendor was resilient and the artifacts that kept him alive, despite him practically bleeding out, gave him a chance to speak, but he didn’t beg for his life. He threatened them.

One of the artifacts kept the body alive despite how bad the wound was and if one thought about the value of those artifacts, then it was clear that he had been in the business of selling human beings for a long time.

Aurora was not interested in either the artifact, the threat, or the fear it showed and walked until she was close to the man.

“The name was all I needed from you.” Aurora said and with her sword she pierced the salesman’s heart and the sword went deep into the flesh and came out the other side sticking into the ground.

“...”

Aurora, as she finished her work, drew her sword slowly and looked at the crowd that witnessed the one sided massacre.

The crowd had not fled, perhaps because they were used to battle or perhaps being shocked at the ease of this combat. Likewise, they looked at Aurora without daring to flee or speak.

Edward, who had been tense, saw the seriousness of these people. Regardless of whether they were mercenaries, militiamen or adventurers, they were all silent and the only ones who moved were those who lived in these lands and looking at the corpses spat on the ground.

“If I ever found out that anyone has ever been trafficking innocents, selling or forcibly using them... I will come and cut their throats,” Aurora announced, letting her aura and presence free.

Pallor spread among those present as the strength of an S rank was fully revealed.

It was the presence that gave the feeling of a heavy affiliated sword blade capable of cutting everything in its path and now it was bloody... Making it clear that whoever emanated such a powerful presence would not hesitate to kill for their beliefs.

Edward turned slightly pale even though it was not directed at him and shivered unconsciously.

“Makeba, take it upon yourself to check the area and rescue anyone in need,” Aurora ordered in a simple tone and then walked away with the mission leaders and her friend.

All while her feet left blood marks in their wake