Calika Nehu
In the slums, a girl like me has to memorize details and always avoid houses or areas where dangerous people lurk.
Without Ice Soldiers, even a single teenage thug would force me to hide and take the longest detour possible.
I' ve seen it with my own eyes—kids who carelessly wandered into dangerous zones and never came back.
Days or months later, we might see that kid floating bloated in the canal, in a pitiful state.
That' s why I know Yuaz' s house and can get there without anyone guiding me.
It' s a wooden structure like others, but patched with multiple layers of wood, leaving no gaps.
I sent a soldier to enter the house and searched every nook and cranny myself.
Nothing. Maybe Elda threw the bucket, shouted something, and ran off.
Where did she go? I climbed onto a soldier' s back and set off to find Elda again.
Stress started to cloud my mind.
Elda, in this slum, I don' t know where to look for you.
Please, come back to me, Elda.
What happened to Sister Tiara is already more than I can bear.
Goddess, please, don' t let anything happen to her.
Ignoring the crashing sounds behind me, I pressed on with the search.
*****
Yuaz, a lowlife thug who bullies the weak in a few alleys but loves to brag he' s the biggest in the slum.
After losing my bucket, I intimidated an old, defenseless person to take theirs.
I filled it with water and limped back home.
Last night, after that brat shouted, I thought someone was coming for me, so I grabbed an iron rod to fight.
If there were many, I' d have fled, but it was just two, and one ran past. Easy pickings. Their clothes and gear looked nice—beat them to a pulp and sell it all.
But who' d have thought they were adventurers from outside the slum? They beat me senseless and slashed me with a knife, leaving multiple wounds.
If I hadn' t played dead while they rushed off, I' d be done for.
Thinking of this, I swore in my heart:
"You little brats, if I ever find you, I' ll make you and your sister my wives!"
When I reached home, I dropped the bucket instantly. My house was nothing but a pile of wooden rubble on the ground.
"My house!"
*****
Roja, leader of the butchering team, Unit 5, [Radiant Fang] Guild.
"What do we do, Roja?"
I reached into my coat pocket and tossed two coin pouches forward. The first had 300 silver coins, the second 500.
"The first pouch is for the injuries I accidentally caused. The second is for picking some goods. Whether I get them or not, I won' t ask for the money back."
The guy I kicked down crawled to check both pouches. Seeing the heap of silver, he quickly pocketed them and signaled his group to stop attacking.
Taking them out wouldn' t be hard, and I didn' t waste time letting their reinforcements gather.
But they' re the Rat Ghosts—a vengeful group that loves retaliation.
They' re weak, no need to fear them, but there are many. They fight guerrilla-style, constantly nipping at you.
Low-ranking guild members would be miserable.
If too many jobs go wrong, Lord Jaigia will start digging for the cause, and it' ll trace back to me.
I' d be blamed for not wiping them out and letting them disrespect Jaigia' s guild.
I know I' m not as great as Jaigia, so I chose this compromise instead.
"Who were you asking about earlier?"
Once he got the money, his attitude flipped fast.
"The Nehu family."
"Not sure, but if they' re good-looking, we grab them all. Come check the goods this way."
The Rat Ghosts sheathed their swords and went back to pretending to be beggars.
My group followed, but he turned and raised a hand to stop us.
"Only paying customers get to enter."
I nodded for everyone to wait and followed him alone.
He led me into an old sewer pipe. It was dark, damp, and reeked of their waste. I had to light a torch to see.
There was another odd smell, like salt, but I ignored it.
After a while, he stopped and shone a light on the kids they' d captured.
Over 40 kids, all chained by hands, feet, and necks, lined up in rows. Two burly male slaves with whips guarded them, iron collars on their necks.
"Pick what you want. If you' re not satisfied, wait until sunset. More goods will arrive. But the first batch—if you don' t buy before dawn, you' ll miss out."
So they ship the goods to other kingdoms every night.
I glanced over them. I wouldn' t recognize the Nehus anyway, and I' m guessing that kid claiming to be Elda lied to me.
"Anyone with the surname Nehu, step forward."
The seller who led me here covered his mouth to stifle a laugh.
The reason? Every single kid stepped forward, claiming to be a Nehu.
I got it. If it' s a choice between being sold to an unknown place or bought by someone in this city, they' d pick the latter.
If they escape their buyer, they' d at least know where to run and how.
No choice.
"I' ll ask again. Anyone who knows them, step forward. If more than one does, I' ll pick randomly and ask questions about the Nehus. If the answers don' t match, I' ll slit throats right here until I find someone who knows the truth."
"You can pick five, but some cost more than 100 silver coins, so…"
I showed him a gold coin.
"Oh, pick as many as you want, sir! But some are pricier than one gold coin."
"Shut up."
"Yes, sir."
He bowed and stepped back respectfully, but his eyes stayed glued to the gold coin.
I turned back to the kids. This time, three stepped forward.
I drew my knife, twirled it, and slowly approached them.
Step by step.
One kid backed away in fear, leaving two—a boy and a girl.
I went for the boy since he was closer, pressing the knife to his throat and digging it in slightly.
"Who are the Nehus? How many?"
"Th-three, sir. There' s Tiara, Calika, and… uh… uh… Elda. The last one' s Elda."
"Describe them."
"I don' t know Tiara, sir. Calika always wears a hood, so I don' t know her face either. Elda' s really dirty, can' t make out her face because her hair' s all tangled and messy."
"Do you know their house?"
"…No… sir."
"But I do," the girl piped up. "I saw Calika fetching water to a house. It' s gotta be theirs."
"Then I' ll take these two."
I pulled the knife from the boy' s throat and sheathed it.
"Not picking more, eh? Heh heh."
"No change needed."
He stopped probing and turned to order the slaves.
"Alright! Oi, release them already, you slow bastards! I' ll make you drink canal water instead of piss if you keep this up!"
A burly slave with the keys rushed over, unlocked the chains from the wall, and handed them to me.
"Remove everything but the neck collars."
"Hurry up, you deaf idiots! Didn' t you hear the customer?"
The leader kicked and stomped the slave, clearly enjoying the abuse more than punishing the delay.
As I led the kids out, he kept whipping the slave relentlessly.
After rejoining my team, I handed the chains to someone else and ordered the kids to lead the way.
One to guide us to the house, the other to identify them.
*****
Calika Nehu
I searched every house, even those that long-time slum kids know to avoid at all costs.
The houses of the child-snatchers.
I found signs of a fight outside one of them.
I ordered all soldiers to surround it and sent a swordsman to scout inside.
"Who' s that?!"
The moment we stepped in, the thieves swarmed out. Seeing the Ice Soldiers, the six of them immediately slashed with their swords.
The Ice Soldier raised his shield, and the blades bounced off instantly.
"Hard as hell!"
While they were confused, the Ice Soldier swung his sword at their legs, leaving deep gashes. Three thieves collapsed, screaming.
The remaining three spread out to attack from all sides, but two were shot in the legs by an archer, unable to fight further.
"Die, you bastard!"
The last one circled behind, slashing at the soldier' s neck. On a normal person, it' d be a crippling or fatal blow.
But with their ice-hardened bodies, the blade recoiled, flying from the thief' s hand.
After taking the hit, the Ice Soldier spun, slamming an elbow into the thief' s gut, dropping him to the ground, winded.
The thieves were then pinned by the Ice Soldiers, weapons held to their throats to keep them still.
"Did you take Elda? A girl, smaller than me, short tangled black hair, same eye color, covered in dirt, wearing a single tattered rag."
"D-don' t know."
"Never seen her."
"Me neither."
"The ones we grabbed don' t match your description, miss."
"There might be some in the basement. Go check."
I ordered the Ice Soldiers to search inside and bring out any kids they found.
Soon, they returned with a line of nearly ten kids, chained together in a row.
No fighting broke out, meaning no one else was guarding them.
Strange. From eavesdropping to gather info about dangerous spots, scary people, or where to find food, I' d heard that child-snatcher hideouts usually have ten to twenty guards.
But never mind that. I scanned the kids for Elda but was disappointed.
I ordered the Ice Soldiers to unlock and free all the kids.
Many ran off immediately, likely slum kids.
About four stayed, too scared to move, glancing around nervously.
But one walked up, stopping in front of the Ice Soldier I was riding, and pointed at me.
"What' s your name?"
A boy with golden hair, eyes matching his hair, about my age. His arrogant demeanor and pale, chubby body suggested he was a noble' s son.
"Dania."
"No manners, huh? Give me your family name too."
I don' t have time for this.
"None."
"A family-less slum rat, huh? Fitting. Fine, take me to the Celalius family and serve as my personal attendant. That' s an order."
I had no time to humor this brat, so I ignored him and ordered the soldiers to keep searching for Elda.
"Dania! Why aren' t you obeying me? Are you stupid? If you take me home, my father will reward you handsomely! I' m even kindly offering to hire you as my personal servant! How dare you turn away!"
The kid followed, yapping and shrieking at me until I snapped.
"Shut up! I' m looking for my sister! I don' t care about your money or stupid titles! I want my sister! If you can' t give me that, get lost!"
"You… you… you pretty little wench! Stop right now!"
Insult me all you want, I don' t care. I ordered the Ice Soldiers to carry the loudmouthed brat and the four kids too scared to move out of the slum.
The rest can fend for themselves. If they can' t get home, that' s their problem.
"How dare you! No one' s ever insulted me like this! You' ll pay, Daniaaaaaaa!" Thwack!
An Ice Soldier smacked the brat' s head, knocking him out, then gave me a thumbs-up.
Hey, I didn' t order that! I nodded back at the soldier and resumed the search for Elda.
*****
Unbeknownst to Calika, too focused on searching houses for Elda, the thieves she' d left behind were crawling away to report her.
But then, another group of Ice Soldiers emerged from a hidden spot, swiftly killed the thieves, hid their bodies, and followed Calika from a distance.
*****
After the Ice Soldiers searched every house near the child-snatchers' hideout, we found bodies—likely from the same group—stashed in various houses.
It seemed the thieves hid the bodies in a rush before heading somewhere else.
We didn' t find Elda in this area.
So, I decided to head straight to the next child-snatcher hideout instead of searching aimlessly.