章 100: Punishment for the Losing Company

After five minutes, the slave stopped moving and died.

In the end, he had died due to his transformation, not by Yale's sword, although he had been injured by it before. Thus, he wasn't cursed.

However, even if he managed to reincarnate, he would be an ordinary beast without intellect or any relation to his past life as a human. All the memories about having been a human were erased when he lost his humanity.

That was enough curse to that slave. Yale felt that there was no need to risking his life to finish the slave with the sword.

The young man who was laughing before and wanted to turn Oscro into a half-beast had his mouth open in disbelief as Yale won the battle. He wasn't able to believe that he had lost and turned into a slave.

Oscro and Julie jumped into the arena and hugged Yale, who had returned to the floor exhausted after the battle. Both of them had been really scared when Yale was crushed.

After that moment of happiness, Oscro had decided what to do.

"All our new slaves come here!"

Oscro was angered at the other party's actions before, so he wanted to humiliate them publicly.

All the present members from the loser company went down to the arena in silence. They were unable to disobey Oscro's commands. They had signed a contract when agreeing to do the challenge, so they turned into slaves when Yale won, a single word of Yale or Oscro could kill them.

The same would have applied to Oscro if Yale had lost, that kind of contracts were scary, but Yale didn't fear them because he couldn't be affected by them.

The contracts affected the soul, and the Last Wish System was part of Yale's soul. The system had confirmed to him that no one would be able to enslave him. That was one of his main preoccupations before the challenge. He feared that even winning the battle, the other party would try something to enslave him.

There were fifteen new slaves kneeled in a row in front of them, including the young man from before.

"You were the ones who provoked this situation. I won't pity you. Furthermore, you give me a good idea before."

Oscro looked at the young man while taking a small bottle from his spatial artifact, that was also monster blood, but it was only from Rank 1.

Drops of monster blood were useful to concoct body strengthening pills, so it was usual that merchants have some in stock. However, having some Rank 2 monster's blood like the young man wasn't normal for an unranked company.

Even if the blood's strength was weaker than the one the dead slave had drunk before, the young man was only at the 9-star Mortal Rank. He was still weaker than the blood Oscro had taken out, so if Oscro forced him to drink enough, he would be corrupted by it.

Oscro forced the young man to drink the whole bottle. He didn't mind losing the blood because seeing the young man's suffering was all he wanted at that moment.

"Stop there! He is my little brother!"

Another man similar to the one who was drinking the blood jumped to the scene attacking Oscro, he was one of the gold rank company owners who had recommended the other company.

That man was at the 5-star Novice Warrior, no one in Yale's group could stop him.

However, that man's attack never reached them because an old man appeared and crushed the man's head without effort.

"I tolerated your shamelessness in the challenge due to having been accepted by some corrupted fellows in the association, and the rules say that if the challenge is accepted, only the involved parties can change the terms of it. However, I won't tolerate any other act that tarnishes the name of the merchant association."

That old man was one of the elders of the merchant association. Some of them were seeing the challenge because it was an official challenge issued inside the merchant association, and they had detected something shady about it. However, they followed the rules and didn't act, despite their desire to stop the battle after Yale drew his sword.

Yale was shocked while seeing the old man because that was the same old man who taught him the basics about smithing.

While that happened, the young man couldn't be called a young man anymore. He had managed to not lose the control because the blood's level wasn't too high, but he didn't avoid turning into a half-beast.

Moreover, the blood he drank was from a pig monster, so he obtained a pig face, and his whole body, which was previously slim, had fattened, turning more similar into a pig's round shape. Even a small tail had appeared in his body.

The transformation he had wasn't one of the best ones a human could have when turning into a half-beast. Usually, the more human the half-beast seems, the better potential for the future and fewer restrictions in training. However, given the pork aspect he obtained, he would be considered a low class even in a half-beast kingdom like the Anpaes Kingdom.

Oscro laughed. That was his revenge for the young man's previous comments.

"You look better with that appearance. It reflects your personality and internal beauty."

The other slaves were scared after seeing the scene. They didn't want to turn into half-beasts. However, since all of the others were subordinates and didn't say any threatening words before, Oscro didn't plan to waste more beast's blood.

The old man neared Yale's group to talk with them, but someone else interrupted again. It was another man, but that one wasn't trying to attack, although his strength was at least in Rank 2.

"Sorry, elder. You just killed my companion due to his disrespectful acts, so it was his fault. However, I need to ask you to force those trashes to free those slaves that they have obtained. This isn't the correct outcome for the challenge. There are some important interests behind this. You should know that important people are backing me. Even though you are an elder, you can't protect these kids from me. They shall pay for disturbing our plans."

The man seemed confident in his words after seeing that the elder didn't say anything.

"They will immediately free all the slaves. Then, they have to be crippled, turned into half-beasts, and be sold as slaves in compensation for our losses. See, this is my identification token. Since you know who I am, you should understand the situation. Compared to people without any background like them, you should know what to do for the biggest benefit."

As Yale had feared, the other party didn't give up only because they lost, and the scheme seemed more profound than what it seemed at first sight. It was clear that for that man, Wyba wasn't important, and their real objective was different from the one stated by the unranked company. Yale didn't have time to think anymore because the elder snorted.

"Fool. This guy you tried to kill in the challenge should receive the same level of respect as an elder in the merchant association. You didn't only try to kill him in a manipulated challenge bribing some members of the association. You also want to sell him as a half-beast slave after he managed to win despite the unfair conditions. Your acts are unforgivable. Your punishment is death. Disappear!"

The man was engulfed by fire and turned into ashes before being able to reply to the elder.

Oscro and Julie were shocked by the development of the situation, they feared for their fates if the elder agreed to the man's words, but the elder unexpectedly for them, had killed the man without a second thought. Furthermore, both wanted to ask the same question, but they didn't dare for fear of angering the elder.

"Since when should Yale be treated like an elder of the association?"

The elder had killed both founders of a gold rank company in a fluke. To him, a gold rank company was nothing.

"That company turned ownerless with those two dead, half of their resources shall go to the Thousand Roses Company as the challenge prize, while the other ownerless half can go to the Frost Wolf Company as an apology for the problems provoked by our corrupted members."

Oscro couldn't believe the elder's words. He was still trying to process why Yale had to be respected as if he was an elder from the merchant association, and the old man had gifted them half the fortune of a gold rank company.

The elder neared Yale, and that time no one interrupted him.

"We meet again. I didn't expect that the kid I taught some smithing would be the one the Zuatania Merchant Association has been waiting for generations."

The audience couldn't hear the conversation, but Julie and Oscro could, and they were unable to understand it. Yale was turning even more mysterious than before in their eyes.

Yale found normal that the elder discovered his identity because the golems he had used in the battle were the same ones he turned into the shape of tools before. Moreover, Yale was able to change his body shape, but he was still unable to change his voice, so as he had spoken some words in the battle, the elder should have recognized him even without the golems.