A Dragonslayer’s Peerless Regression – 167



Episode 167

Shadia’s expression changed slightly at the mention of the Northern Duke.

“For the northern part an additional fee will be added to the commission fee.”

“It doesn’t matter. Find out the situation of the surrounding lords who threaten the Northern Grand Duke.”

Shadia nodded and disappeared again.

Zik sat on his chair resting his chin on his hand and thought of Himonas.

‘Is it because it feels like home? I keep getting nervous.’

The image of the Northern Duke engraved beyond Zeke’s memories vaguely came to mind.

He tried to erase her image and got up from his seat.

‘This is not the time to wallow in my thoughts. I will take down Abel become the strongest on the continent and take over the Draker family.’

Zeke’s eyes sparkled as he recalled his goal again.

* * *

Zeke sent Boris and the members of the Syndicate Rose Knights to Heli first.

And Zeke himself headed to Argos not Heli.

There was a place to first get to in order to approach the Nostra Family.

He arrived in Argos via a portal from the terminal and donned a shape-shifting cloak to change his appearance.

Zeke disguised as a clumsy adventurer wandered into a dark alley in the city.

Argos had many bustling cities with many convenient facilities for adventurers but behind the scenes there was a lot of trafficking and crimes committed by outlaws.

The most common occurrence in Argos was human trafficking.

In his previous life Zeke also worked as a dungeon porter but was kidnapped and sold as a slave to the southern continent.

‘In a dungeon if someone disappears they’re probably dead. It’s the perfect place to kidnap people.’

The human trafficking that took place in Argos was much more systematic than was vaguely perceived from the outside.

The first thing to do was to select those who would disappear from the party of adventurers entering the dungeon without any regrets.

A human trafficking organization approaches a party tricks them into thinking there is a good dungeon there and then offers to be their guide.

In this way party members would fall into traps and enter dungeons and then they would be knocked out using potions or magic and then handed over to an intermediary distribution organization.

The distribution organization determines where to sell the kidnapped adventurers or porters after assessing their condition and grading them.

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In Zeke’s case he was a porter and was sold to the southern continent as a slave for cheap.

In the case of magicians and inspectors they are sometimes sold to empires that still practice slavery or supplied as consumables to underground arenas.

Dario Totlino was involved in many crimes as a member of the Nostra family one of which was human trafficking.

Under him were numerous middlemen who ran related businesses and collected dirty money.

The reason Zeke came to the back alleys of Argos in disguise was to shake up those nefarious organizations.

He entered the tavern with a dazed look on his face and was sipping a beer.

As expected a man suddenly sat down next to Zeke.

“Is this your first time in Argos?”

The man who looked like a seasoned adventurer blurted out words to Zeke.

Zeke who was drinking beer nodded his head with a flinch.

Then the man smirked and ordered two shots of Hwaryeongju pouring one of them into Zeke’s beer without asking for permission.

“If a handsome young master just sits here drinking beer some lynx-like guys will come running up to him and make him look like a rag doll.”

Zeke’s face hardened at the man’s words.

Then he asked in a small voice.

“Have you been an adventurer for a long time?”

Then the man spoke in a relaxed manner.

“It’s been almost 30 years since I last ate here. I started this job a little early.”

Zeke nodded with a look of admiration on his face.

The man chuckled and extended his hand to Zeke.

“Frank. My friends call me Spider Hand. What’s your name?”

“It’s Zeke. Zeke Murray.”

“Yeah Zeke. You don’t seem like someone who lives off adventure but what brings you all the way to Argos?”

Zick said with a frozen expression.

“That’s it. I have my own circumstances…”

“Well most of the guys here came here for a reason. They thought they could save their lives if they went into the dungeon and found at least one good artifact.”

Frank said with a sigh.

“I’m saying this because I think you should. Throw away such vain hopes. This is hell.”

Zeke clicked his tongue inwardly when he heard Frank’s words.

‘Why do all these scammers’ scripts always sound the same?’

He pretends to be an experienced adventurer and shakes the minds of seemingly naive beginners by telling them that this place is not like what they think: hell.

Then when the beginner becomes anxious he asks them to follow him as if he were doing them a favor.

I’ll introduce you to a dungeon that’s good for beginners so go in and see for yourself and decide.

There are some experienced adventurers who offer guidance with genuinely good intentions but nine out of ten are scammers.

If you can just get your equipment stolen and save your life that’s a good thing.

Most are sold into slavery or used as bait to lure monsters.

Frank who had been clearing his throat for several minutes said as if he was doing a favor.

“I guess I shouldn’t say it out loud. Okay I’ll save one life and include you in our party.”

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Then the bartender who was wiping the glasses shook his head and said.

“Spider Paws are acting up again. I heard that new recruits don’t know how to be thankful even when you take care of them like that.”

He said with a bitter smile.

“I’m not doing this to hear you thank you. It’s my belief.”

The bartender shook his head as if he couldn’t stop Frank.

‘They’re being ridiculous.’

In his previous life Zeke was kicked out of the academy and wandered around until he eventually ended up in Argos.

He was similar to the current Zig but he was foolish and fell for a fraudulent guide and ended up signing an unfair contract after which he suffered all kinds of hardships.

Frank motioned for Zeke to come into his office not knowing that he was secretly laughing at himself.

He followed Frank around like a lost puppy.

Frank took Zeke to a shabby building in a back alley and went into the basement.

It was a place with an old worn-out sofa and a desk chair.

Frank took some cheap whiskey from the office cupboard filled a chipped glass and handed it to Zeke.

“Have a drink and sleep here tonight. I’ll be going up to the dungeon at dawn tomorrow.”

“How many people are in your party?”

“We’re going to go light tomorrow so about five people will go up.”

Zeke drank the whiskey Frank gave him.

As he expected the whiskey was laced with drugs.

Frank chuckled as Zeke drank his whiskey and collapsed.

“You rascal. Sweet dreams. You’re going to have a hard time starting tomorrow.”

Frank got some rope tied Zeke’s hands and feet together and walked out of the office.

Zig left completely alone opened his eyes wide.

The rope wasn’t tied properly so when I pulled out my finger joints my wrist popped out right away.

“The way they handle things is a bit sloppy. Well there’s no way that people who traffic in people are decent people.”

Zeke searched Frank’s office for information about the organization.

When I opened the drawer I found transaction receipts scattered around crumpled and disorganized.

As Zeke looked at the receipts he realized that Frank was a subcontractor for a human trafficking ring.

‘It’s just a subcontract of a subcontract.’

As you go up you eventually find that the Nostra family is the one running it but because subcontractors are at the bottom it is difficult to grasp the overall scale of the organization.

That’s why Zeke came to Argos and planned to start from the lowest level of the organization and then move on to Heli.

Zeke put the ropes back on his hands and feet and waited for dawn.

After a few hours Frank entered the office with a few other men.

“Oh really. Please believe me. This time I’m telling you it’s top quality.”

“Stop talking nonsense you punk. I’ll see for myself and decide for myself.”

A large man with tattoos on his arms approached Zeke who was sprawled on the sofa.

The man nodded after examining Zeke’s face and body.

“Not bad for something a spider cub brought.”

“Look at that. You know I only bring reliable stuff.”

“Shut up. You know how much I broke the boss when I took the defective item last time.”

“No that’s… It’s not my fault. How would I know if he had tuberculosis or not I’m not a therapist.”

The tattooed man took a wad of bills from his pocket counted out four of them and gave them to Frank.

Then Frank opened his mouth urgently.

“For something like this you should have received ten copies! Don’t do that and spend a little more.”

The tattooed man made an annoyed expression then quickly added two more.

Frank put the bills in his pocket with a sad expression.

The tattooed man motioned for the other men to carry Zeke.

As Frank waited politely for them to leave the tattooed man spoke to Frank.

“Spider you too come with me. The boss is coming.”

“Huh? Why me boss?”

“There’s something big going on this time and you need to go there and be a guide.”

Frank smiled and rubbed his hands together repeatedly at the tattooed man’s words.

“As expected! The boss knows the person. When it comes to guides isn’t that Spider Hand!”

“Stop talking and follow me.”

The tattooed man drove the carriage carrying Zeke toward downtown a little away from the city of Argos.

It was a place where lawbreakers and soma addicts who had flowed in from the continent were stationed.

The carriage carrying Zig headed towards a building.

As the carriage arrived other members of the organization lowered the iron bars and completely blocked the entrance.

As the gang members got Zig out of the carriage the tattooed man spoke to them.

“Let’s drag him up. I need to show him to the boss and get a rank. Spider you come with me.”

As the man said the members of the organization carried the jigsaw and followed the tattooed man upstairs.

The tattooed man entered the room where the boss was.

The room was filled with cigarette smoke.

Frank entered the room with a nervous expression.

There was a large desk with an ashtray filled with cigarettes and behind it a gaunt old man was smoking a cigarette and looking over some papers.

The tattooed man approached the old man.

“I brought the boss.”

The old man looked up from his papers and stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray.

Frank stood before the old man with a nervous expression.

“It’s an honor to have you call me Boss.”

The old man winked at Frank and Frank understanding the meaning of the wink sat down on the sofa next to him.

He looked at the unconscious Zeke and asked the tattooed man.

“What is that?”

The tattooed man answered.

“I brought it here to show the boss and get his grade because the quality looks good.”

At the tattooed man’s words the old man got up and walked towards Zeke.

I lifted Zeke’s eyelids and checked his pupils then opened his mouth to check his teeth.

The old man nodded.

“Send it to the Baron. That pervert has his tastes.”

“All right.”

As the tattooed man nodded the gang members led Zeke out.

The old man returned to his seat and motioned to Frank.

He immediately approached me.

“Frank how many years have you been doing this?”

“This is my 15th year boss.”

“I heard you’re quite the mouth-opener.”

“I can do anything if you just leave it to me.”

The old man looked closely into Frank’s eyes then opened a drawer and took out a document.

Then he threw it in front of Frank.

“It’s a big deal. If it succeeds the rewards will be lucrative.”

Frank carefully unfolded the papers the old man had thrown at him and read them.

Soon his eyes began to waver.

“What is this…?”

It was a different request from the usual kidnapping cases.

It was a kind of fake assassination where those who entered the dungeon were lured to a place with high-risk monsters and killed.

The problem was that the target was a nobleman.

The old man lit a cigarette and the tattooed man lit it.

He blew out a puff of smoke and said.

“He’s a noble from the central region but he seems to be having some trouble with succession issues. He’s a noble from the countryside but he owns some land and mines so he’s quite wealthy. He recently received a request for work saying that his successor is coming to tour the dungeon.”

Frank said sweating profusely.

“Is it okay to just lure them into the dungeon?”

“We’ll work on the point so you approach the target and brag about a better dungeon. The guys below have no choice but to follow the high-ranking kid if he nags. Just bring the target to the point and it’s over.”

Frank swallowed hard.

If I refused to do it here it was obvious that the cold-hearted old man would kill himself and find another guide.

‘I was like why the hell are you calling me? Damn it.’

Even if you refuse you will die and even if you don’t refuse there is a high possibility that you will die later in the aftermath.

The only way to avoid death was to complete the mission take the money and leave this place.

It was at that moment that Frank who had been thinking hard was slowly opening his mouth.

puck!

There was a sound of someone collapsing outside. The boss nodded at the sound and the tattooed man went outside to check.

thud!

There was a loud noise again and the door slid open.

Then the tattooed man was seen lying on the ground bleeding.

Frank jumped up from his seat in surprise.

“What what!”

As Frank was horrified someone came into the room stepping on the fallen tattooed man.

It was the clumsy-looking young man who had come in as a product earlier.

He looked at the old man and said.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen that face Bloodsucker.”