"Hello, Calika. I' m Laswin from the [Resonant Magic] Guild. Lady Lera sent me to help you."
Am I seeing things, or did her eyes look sad when Laswin mentioned Lady Lera?
"Um… thank you so much, Laswin. You came just in time."
What made her trustworthy was the [Resonant Magic] Guild emblem on Laswin' s clothes—a staff of a mage with three concentric circles of different sizes at its head.
"Have you found your sister yet?"
"Not yet. I don' t even know where to look anymore."
I' m so stressed I could tear my hair out.
"You haven' t searched the brothel yet, have you?"
"Right! How could I forget that place? How did you know, Laswin?"
"Because none of the people sent to deal with you were from the brothel. Let' s go. I' ve been wanting to destroy that place myself. But first—"
Laswin handed me a mask. It was a plain wooden mask with no patterns, just a strap for the head.
"Cover your face. The forces behind the brothel are far more dangerous than someone like you can handle."
"Um… what about you, Laswin?"
I asked because Laswin didn' t seem to plan on wearing a mask or hiding anything.
"My power can' t be concealed. Besides, they' ll assume I was hired by some noble lady. Your skin is flawless, and your clothes, though a bit dirty, are luxurious and expensive. Compared to the slum dwellers, you' re far too clean. No matter how they look at it, they' ll think you' re a noble' s daughter."
"But Laswin, are you sure you' ll be okay?"
"Don' t worry. Right now, several guilds have banded together to help find your sister. We' ll definitely raid the brothel. The difference is, if they do it, they might just search the place. But if I do it, I' ll wipe it out completely."
Laswin clenched her fists, her eyes burning with anger.
"If they have to choose between losing one branch of their operation or making enemies of multiple powerful guilds, they' ll pick the first option. I' ve got the [Resonant Magic] Guild backing me. Normally, we wouldn' t do something that impacts the guild like this, but right now, if I don' t let off some steam, I might lose my mind."
Her voice at the end sounded deeply sorrowful.
"By the way… which family should we pin the blame on?"
"They mistook me for someone from the Rosac family."
"…What did you just say?!"
Laswin shouted so loudly it startled me.
I explained how I' d randomly picked the Rosac family name after a slave trader misunderstood me.
"Talk about bad luck."
"Should I not have chosen that family?"
"No, the bad luck' s on the brothel. The Rosac family is one you never want as an enemy. This is perfect—I can go all out now."
"Capture Lady Forsythia! Kill the rest!"
"Oooohhh!"
The cultists, who' d been swept away earlier, regrouped and charged at me fearlessly, some crawling despite their injuries just to grab me.
"Let the earth be stained crimson!"
"Let the earth be stained crimson!"
As their leader chanted, every cultist stopped running, dropped their weapons, clasped their hands, and raised them above their heads in unison.
"Take a nap, you lot."
Laswin pressed her hand downward, and the slaves who' d stood to protect me were pinned to the ground by black winds.
Then she swept her hand forward.
A spiraling black wind formed into a drill and shot toward the cultists, who stood frozen as easy targets.
The moment it struck, their bodies were torn apart—arms, legs, blood, and organs scattered everywhere.
Seeing this massacre from a single spell, the enemy forces panicked instantly.
"I told you, it' s the Storm of Fury herself!"
"Run! Run! Run!"
"Hey, don' t push me!"
"We' re screwed! This place is done for!"
"Boss, don' t leave me!"
"Goddess, please save your child!"
Only the lowlife thugs thought to flee at this point.
The big players—assassins, debt collectors, even the notorious ones—had already bolted long ago.
Laswin reached out, grabbed the air, and pulled it toward her, releasing the spell that held the slaves down.
Black winds gathered chunks of ice into a massive pile.
"Calika, have two healers cast spells on this ice pile. The rest, go heal the other slaves."
"Got it."
Laswin then floated into the air with her black wind magic, unleashing the same drilling spell in every direction.
The black wind drills spun wildly, darting unpredictably, catching even the nimblest assassins off guard.
Destruction erupted in all directions.
Houses, objects, the ground, living beings—everything was shredded by the dark drills and flung aside like garbage.
What was once a crowded slum packed with shacks was now a pile of debris, as if a hurricane had just torn through.
But Laswin didn' t stop. She launched countless black wind drills into the sky.
*****
From a perspective Calika couldn' t see, but Laswin saw clearly:
Several of the black wind drills shot skyward intercepted the fleeing enemies.
They were forced to turn back as the drills chased and crushed them from the front.
Laswin controlled the drills to herd them into a tight group.
Trapped in the center, surrounded by circling black drills that slowly closed in, shrinking their space.
The criminals didn' t hesitate to kick or push the weaker ones into the drills as sacrifices, hoping to weaken them enough to break through.
A clash erupted from both sides.
But it was a one-sided slaughter. The big players easily cut down the lowlife thugs, who were no match.
The more bodies they threw or pushed into the drills, the more they were splattered with blood and mangled human remains.
Some couldn' t handle the sight, collapsing to vomit or starting to kill themselves in despair. Others prayed to the Goddess.
Laswin deliberately let the drills weaken, tricking them into thinking their plan was working.
Yet she kept tightening the space.
They began killing each other, even their own allies, in a frenzy.
Just as hope sparked from their ruthless slaughter, with the drills seemingly weakening—
Laswin dropped a massive black wind sphere into their midst.
The moment the dark sphere hit the ground, it sucked everything in, expanding rapidly.
CRRRUUUUMMM!
Everything caught was pulverized into mush. The sphere carved a hemispherical crater into the earth.
Laswin pulled her hand back, and the dark wind sphere rose above everyone' s heads.
*****
Calika Nehu
After the healers worked their magic on the ice pile, the chunks began moving, reassembling into ice soldiers, weapons and all, just like before.
"Amazing!"
But the numbers—why were there more? Weren' t there only 30? How did 20 more show up?
Before I could process it, the sunlight vanished. Looking up, I saw a terrifying sight.
A black wind sphere, over a kilometer wide, blocked the sun, casting a massive shadow.
Inside, countless black winds swirled furiously, as if searching for a way out.
The slaves, including me, could only swallow hard in fear. That' s when Laswin floated down.
"Don' t worry, it won' t fall on you. Have you gathered the dead?"
"Done."
I answered for those who' d lined up the bodies.
"I, Laswin, without a family name, send your souls to the embrace of the Goddess."
The slaves tasked with lighting the fire burned the bodies one by one, using their clothes as fuel, while Laswin controlled the wind to make the flames roar.
Everyone stood in silence, mourning. The slaves were so moved they wept, as few would perform a soul-sending ritual for slaves.
It meant that if they died, Laswin would do the same for them.
Once again, every heart shared the same thought: if they had to be slaves, they wanted Calika as their master forever.
After the bodies were reduced to ash, Laswin led everyone to the [Moaning Maiden] brothel to find Elda.
I ordered the ice soldiers to spread out and protect the group, leaving three to guard me at their insistence.
As we searched, we realized there was no need to fight anymore.
The moment Laswin spotted an enemy, the giant wind sphere shot out black drills.
The targeted area turned to gore and debris in an instant.
We barely stopped to engage enemies even once.
Along the way, Laswin explained that the [Moaning Maiden] brothel in the slums was just a minor branch. The city branch treated its girls better.
The slum branch was the worst—practically the end for any woman.
Every girl there was a slave bought cheaply. Some were gravely ill, others near death. As slaves, they couldn' t resist.
The brothel focused on quick turnover for low-paying clients, unlike the pricier city branch.
When someone died, they' d just buy a replacement. They used women like objects—when one broke, they got a new one.
The more I heard, the more I realized how vile the nobles were.
I, who' d only thought about surviving day to day, knew nothing about this.
Then we reached the place called the brothel.
Honestly, it looked like a stable, just much smaller—barely big enough for two people to lie side by side, with no roof to shield from sun or rain.
There were two rows, each with 10 stalls.
In each stall, a naked woman was chained by the neck to the wall, lying on rough straw.
Their conditions were so pitiful I could hardly bear to look. Some had stopped breathing, yet they were still being sold.
At each stall, workers collected money from men lined up to use the services.
Each stall had at least 20 men waiting, with more arriving.
When they saw our large group, the clients panicked, unlike the overseers, who stood smugly, unafraid.
"If you' re here to sell yourselves, strip already. We need replacements for the broken ones."
"Hold on, the black- and blonde-haired ones need to be tested before we let customers use them."
"Haha, agreed!"
"Strip and crawl over here!"
"Behave, and we won' t get rough."
"Think carefully, you idiots. Our boss is scarier than you can imagine."
But Laswin replied simply:
"The Rosac family sent Lady Forsythia to wipe you out."
The moment the name Rosac left her lips, the clients who knew the family fled for their lives. Some, still in the stalls, abandoned their clothes and ran shamelessly.
The overseers hesitated.
Laswin ordered the attack.
Two wind drills shot out, clearing the workers and clients at the stalls in an instant.
"Free them all. Give them clothes to wear."
I gave the order and rushed to check each stall, praying I wouldn' t find Elda.
To my relief, she wasn' t there.
"Gather the ones who didn' t make it. We' ll send their souls."
Laswin clenched her fists, glaring toward the noble district with rage-filled eyes as black winds swirled around her.
No one knew the depth of Laswin' s hatred for the nobles.