Haring heard the details along the way. They had proposed an on-site inspection of the slave incident to Mirka, which allowed for Haring to be temporarily released. They would have to return him before the deadline lest they suffer heavy penalties themselves.
And...Haring also understood why Yuri had said he needed him. It was—
“Good of you to come here, eh Haring?”
He heard a sticky voice from the shadows. Navie the Tormentor appeared, raising the corners of his lips.
“I wasn’t expecting you, you know? Aren’t you supposed to be in the slammer?”
“...It ain’t anythin’ special. See, I’m leavin’ the city anyway, so I just asked a nice receptionist for permission to pack my bags,” Haring replied as he lowered the cloth bag slung over his shoulder to the ground.
They were currently on the first floor of the purgatory district’s forest dungeon.
Unless they were from a nocturnal race, it was rare for duelists to enter the dungeons at night. If they ran into monsters while visibility was limited, even the weaker ones could prove to be a threat. Additionally, hardly anyone stopped to hunt or collect resources on the very first floor, and there was no point in anyone setting up camp there. As the monsters were already hunted thin by the duelists who pressed on, there would be nothing to get between them.
That was why Haring had designated the dungeon to call Navie out.
“Oh really... So you want me to help you get your things in order?” Navie directed a spiteful look at Haring’s bag.
Haring made sure he was looking before opening it. Glistening brilliantly in the dark—a mountain of gold coins.
“This is everythin’ I own, everythin’ I’ve managed to save up. It should be more than enough; now you fulfill your end of the bargain.”
“Bargain? Did we have something like that?”
Haring could feel his anger flare up as he watched Navie play dumb, but he calmly kept his emotions in check.
“Those kids you still have under contract—I’m buyin’ the lot of them.”
The moment he heard those words, Navie could bear it no longer and burst into laughter.
“Hya—hahahahah! Oi, seriously? You really got it!? I was sure it was impossible for you, so I threw out a ridiculous ten million, but you really got it!? Even I’m surprised!” Navie held his stomach as he stared at the fortune placed before him.
Haring had definitely done some unreasonable things to gather this money. He trudged through the dungeon collecting materials day in and day out, and if he saw any duelist with anything valuable, he would challenge them, no matter who they were. Naturally, this pitted him against duelists far stronger than himself, and it was thanks to this that he had lost his rank before.
Haring threw out another bag. “And these here are the materials I got back from the brat who lashed out at you... It’s stuffed full of magic ores from the bottom floor. I know you ain’t an honest man, but all this together puts me at twenty million. Feel like sellin’ yet?”
“I see... If you’re going that far, you leave me with no choice but to hear you out.”
A gurgling giggle at the back of his throat, Navie spread his arms in an exaggerated display.
“To be honest, Haring, I had a pretty high opinion of you. I caught wind of a guy who would do anything for money, and the rumors didn’t lie. You really would do aaaanything. You cheated other duelists, you ambushed them in the dungeon at night, and you snatched all their materials... And when it came to watching those kids, you know?”
Navie was right. When Haring first came to the duel city, he needed money no matter what. A young girl who was practically family to him fought for his sake. He needed the money to treat her...and would do whatever it took to get it.
He used other duelists as stepping stones. He knowingly carried out the jobs from Navie without hesitation. Once, he put the abducted children to work, circulating their handicrafts to swindlers to rake in money from the sightseeing district. Once, he drove all the duelists from a floor so the kids could harvest materials for days without rest. That was his job, so he would fulfill his duty.
“That’s why I didn’t put you under contract. You’d do what I said as long as I paid, and you were always exceeding my expectations. I didn’t want to ruin what we had.”
Navie’s followers all exchanged a contract which stated they were “forbidden from taking any actions that will prove disadvantageous to Navie Ionesca.” It was unclear whether this was carried out through negotiation or threats, but it was because of this contract that Navie’s men followed his every word.
“I know a few things happened between us, okay. When you let that bitch get away, I’ll be honest, I was thinking up all sorts of ways to murder you, but...you didn’t say a word about me. That’s why I let you do as you please.”
After Haring let a girl get away, he didn’t offer a word of testimony. He knew that even if he did say something, a man as cautious as Navie wouldn’t leave a shred of evidence. And he knew if Navie ever learned of his testimony, the man would either force him into a contract or use every means at his disposal to seal his mouth.
He had...already seen those who lost their lives to keep their lips tight. That was why Haring refused to say a thing. He had to, if he wanted to honor his promise.
“If you join me again, I wouldn’t mind saving you,” Navie proposed with a chuckle.
But Haring knew him too well for that. “That’s what you said...when you killed her brother, isn’t it?”
The captured girl once had a little brother. They were determined to become duelists, both brother and sister, and came to the duel city together. That’s what she told him. Despite being placed in a bad situation, they endured it by supporting and encouraging one another.
But, one day, when they returned from a dungeon...the brother was gone. Only the sister stood, stock still, her mind not quite there.
“Oh...I think there was a kid like that? You weren’t around, so I took them to the dungeon myself, and they just kept bleating all sorts of annoying noises...”
He had heard the details from the girl. Having been forced to work without rest, the children were at their limit. Seeing the girl collapse, the boy begged Navie to give her some rest.