TOWL 10

Chapter 10

I couldn’t even speak. Seriously.

I knew slavery existed. I knew there was a slave market too.
But I never imagined slaves would be living inside storage cages like actual goods.

I fell silent at the sight in front of me.

Along the seaside, iron cages were stacked like shipping containers at a dockyard. And inside them… were people. People!

There had to be hundreds of them, crammed into those narrow cages.

“Philip…!”

A woman who recognized him crawled forward and reached out through the bars. Her thin arm slipped through the cold iron.

I walked up beside Philip and placed my hand on one of the cages.

Clang—.

In an instant, every cage door swung open.

But contrary to what I expected, no one moved.

Only the sound of waves filled the silence. Even Rosaline couldn’t step out of her open cage, looking at Philip with confused eyes.

In the end, I spoke to Rosaline.

“Let’s get out of here first and talk.”

Rosaline looked between me and Philip, then hesitantly stepped out.

Once she did, others who had been watching cautiously began to come out one by one. We had already taken care of the guards before coming here, so there was no danger.

But… that was it.

The freed slaves, now outside by accident, didn’t know where to go and just wandered around the dock. Some even went back into their cages on their own.

Philip stood in front of Rosaline’s cage, taking it all in. His fists were clenched so tightly that veins bulged on the back of his hands.

“It’s useless,” Philip said in a low voice that pierced my ear.

“They’ll just get captured again, and sold once more.”

“Even so, we can’t just stand by and watch.”

Instead of answering, Philip walked toward the gathered people and shouted.

“Everyone, please go back inside!”

The crowd flinched. But no one moved in either direction.

“Where would you go? The coast? The mountains? How would you survive in a place full of monsters? In the end, you’d return to a village. And we’ll become targets again. Even if it’s not this slave group, another one will catch us.”

Philip looked around at them.

“And even if we somehow manage to settle somewhere, is that the end? Once we leave these cages, someone else will fill them again.”

The people listened in silence. In the still dawn, his resolute voice echoed sharply in their minds.

“Leaving these cages isn’t freedom. If you never want to return here again, then you have to destroy the place itself. We have to fight this slave market.”

To be honest, they had no choice but to listen to Philip.

They wanted to run, desperately—but they didn’t know how to survive out there. Even if they left, they had no confidence they wouldn’t die.

All they could do was wait for someone to save them.

“Please wait a little longer. It won’t take long. I’ll find a way to destroy this market and come back. Please fight with us. If you truly want to change your lives, don’t run—fight.”

Philip finished speaking.

But no one moved. They only stared at him.

Thud.

A woman stepped back into her cage first. Seeing her, a few others followed. Most, after hesitating, decided to follow suit and returned inside.

But not everyone did. Some ran off into the darkness.

Soon, only Philip, Rosaline, and I were left.

Philip looked at me.

“Lady Laila, I’m sorry, but could you close the cages?”

It was a polite request—but the meaning behind it was clearly a firm command.

Feeling strangely compelled by his changed demeanor, I quickly closed the doors.

Then I asked carefully,

“What are you going to do now?”

“I will negotiate with the slave traders.”

“You’re going to buy the people?”

Philip shook his head.

“With the rise of mana stones, the demand for slaves is decreasing. Machines powered by mana stones are replacing human labor. It’s only natural.”

He looked around and continued.

“I plan to propose that the slave traders acquire a mana stone mine. Demand for mana stones is increasing, so they won’t refuse. And if they send slaves to the mines, labor costs will be minimal.”

“That makes sense…”

“The problem is funding. None of the southern slave trading groups have enough money to buy a mine.”

“So what will you do?”

“I’ll go to the bank to secure cash. Then I’ll offer them low-interest loans in gold coins. In return, I’ll take the entire slave trade network as collateral.”

“But if we start using these people in the mines, won’t their lives become even more painful?”

I protested in shock.

Philip replied calmly.

“Work is painful everywhere. The problem is when people are used like disposable tools without proper compensation. If they’re paid fairly, they can endure it.”

He glanced at the imprisoned people.

“Either way, they need jobs. If we start a new mana stone mining industry, there will be enough work for all of them.”

“They’re not going to pay them properly,” Rosaline interjected cautiously.

Philip answered more steadily, as if convincing her.

“They won’t have to. Because they won’t be able to take the mana stone mines.”

His eyes gleamed dangerously.

“The mana stone mines will belong to us.”

Rosaline turned pale.

“You mean the mines in the Hesen Mountains? There are dangerous monsters there. People could die.”

“Before mining begins, we’ll clear the monsters in the Hebon Mountains first.”

“How?”

“With the help of pirates.”

At the sudden mention of pirates, I jumped in.

“Pirates? What help could pirates possibly give?”

The two of them finally turned to me.

Didn’t they say there had been a battle with pirates on the ship? They were supposed to be enemies—so what help?

“Pirates aren’t afraid of sea monsters. That’s not just bravery. They must have some secret that keeps monsters away. I intend to buy that secret from them.”

A chill ran down my spine.

Philip was far smarter than I had thought.

I didn’t know much about pirates in this world. But I did know about items that could control monsters. Helen had once used something like that to operate the Hebon mana stone mine.

And Philip had deduced its existence just from observing pirates’ behavior.

He stepped closer to me. Moonlight slanted across his face, half of it swallowed in shadow.

In that sharp contrast, he looked like a living blade.

“Meeting you today was the greatest fortune of my life. You gave courage to someone who only knew how to run away. I will never forget this kindness.”

His determined gaze made me feel strangely embarrassed.

I had the power to change the world—but I had never once cared about it. My only concern had been my own happiness.

But the more time I spent with Philip, the more my half-joking intention began to change.

I… truly wanted to help him.

Building a bank was easy.

In this world, there was no central bank controlled by a nation, so anyone could open a bank and handle financial transactions.

Because of that, there were no interest rate regulations either. The financial market was, in short, chaos.

Now I understood deeply why Shakespeare wrote The Merchant of Venice.

Everything defied my common sense. Some lenders even demanded a man’s youngest daughter as collateral, or even entire mountain ranges.

Even though such reckless lending existed everywhere, banks often collapsed. Credit ratings meant nothing; the bank owner’s mood determined loans. In a way, it was inevitable.

I looked up at the moss-covered abandoned building. The pale light of dawn made it look ominous.

Inside was even worse.

Someone had ripped out candlesticks, leaving holes in the walls. Curtains hung halfway torn from the ceiling like strips of flesh.

It looked like the bones of a devoured beast left behind.

Creak.

Inside the vault, piles of documents lay scattered on the floor.

All the iron doors and wooden drawers had been stolen, but the parchment papers remained.

In a world with low literacy, documents weren’t considered valuable.

There were various loan and deposit records on the ground.

These could be useful templates when I run a bank later.

Rustle.

I picked up a few documents and skimmed them. Each one bore a noble family seal.

House Gyrion, House Austin—mostly famous southern count families.

Then I found one I didn’t recognize. A seal shaped like a wolf’s face.

House Lawrence, a baron family.

I examined a loan document stamped with that seal. It had been issued five years ago, with a coastal castle used as collateral.

The loan amount was enormous—greater than the value of the castle itself.

What situation had led to this? Was it related to the sea war Philip mentioned?

A faint bitterness rose in my chest.

The bank owner must have extended the loan out of misplaced kindness toward Baron Lawrence. And that same kindness ultimately led to his bankruptcy.

Is it impossible to build a world where good people prosper?