CHAPTER 85: CHAPTER 85- BARON CHETAK

"This doesn’t make sense. Slavery is banned in Solaris by Her Majesty the Queen. Anyone found dealing or even having a connection with such an abominable act is given capital punishment," The high ranking knights argued.

"You are not completely right."

STEP... STEP... Footsteps sounded out, and everyone turned around only to find the Duke slowly walking towards them. Raymond was here.

"It is indeed true that Her Majesty has banned buying and selling of slaves. However, a movement that great takes time and human desires is not something that can easily be contained. I had been receiving some reports of people being sold at some underground auction for some time now. Who knew their ugly hands would reach us this fast".

What he said made sense. Slavery might have been banned publicly; however, there might be certain people or groups who still refuse to heed orders and set free their slaves. They might still be conducting this act, just not openly in front of the public.

Karina nodded her head in agreement and continued with her report. There was no doubt now that the adventurers’ guild was also in the mix since the average level of the kidnappers was quite high to just rule them as thugs.

That said, the story didn’t end there. When Karina pursued the kidnappers to see where they were taking the demi humans, she found herself arriving at the underground cellar of a noble. The kidnappers were keeping the captured demi humans there.

"Frankly, when I saw the condition of the cellars and the rooms that reflected the hobby of the noble there, I felt a deep disgust and killing intent welling up from the pits of my stomach."

According to her, there was one or more noblemen involved in this matter. With this, all the dots were connected. The adventurer guilds wouldn’t just issue missions to capture demi humans without any profit; they had to be backed by some noble or an organisation.

Everyone thought that they finally understood the full picture of the story. However, there was still a few parts remaining.

Karina looked at the subordinate beside her, who nodded their head and unfolded a map.

"This is..." As all eyes fell on the map, they were quickly able to figure out what the map was of.

"Isn’t this Baron Chevos’ territory? Don’t tell me that he is the person responsible for this event?"...

"But how can that be? From what I know, Baron Chetak is an upright man who is loved by his people. The city he manages is quickly becoming one of the biggest trade hubs in the kingdom"...

The knights argued as if unable to believe that Baron Chevos would have anything to do with such deplorable acts.

Karina gestured for the subordinate to continue—

"On Miss Karina’s order, I have been tracking the movements of Baron Chetak. As the latter is always surrounded by many powerful knights and assassins, I had to be extra cautious with my approach."

His finger pointed at the Map "At first, his movements were all within the confines of his mansion. However, for some reason, he suddenly had to leave his mansion and go down to the city. When I followed him around, I found him quickly disappearing inside a building"...

"I waited outside for a while, seeing that he showed no signs of coming out, I disguised myself as one of the employees and snuck in. As I observed around, I quickly realised that the building was a gambling den with nothing unusual. However, searched as I much, I couldn’t find Baron Chetak anymore, which was unusual because the building only had one entrance and exit. If Baron Chetak came out of the building, I would have noticed".

Everyone quickly understood what he was pointing at.

"This building is just a front, it has an underground pathway that leads to the dark side of the city, the underground slave market".

This.... Reinhardt glanced at Raymond only to find the same glint of shock in the other’s eyes. The information that the subordinate provided was too big, so big that if it were true, it changes the scale of things entirely.

If it was just Baron Chetak kidnapping Demi Humans for his personal interest in his underground cellar, then they could have easily solved it by taking him down. However, if there really was a slave market under the city, then it meant that there was more than just one or two nobles involved in this.

Given the scale, there might even be involvement of a high noble or a secret group nobody knew about.

"Are you sure of this?" Raymond asked. They needed to be absolutely certain of this.

"Yes, my lord, I have an ability that allows me to change the shape of my body in any way possible. Using this skill, I can pass through any crevice and gap, no matter how small it is. I was able to find their underground pathway and the slave market using this skill."

The assassin demonstrated his ability. With clear demonstration and reliable information in their hand, they could no longer not believe it.

"Well done, your efforts shall be rewarded later" Raymond announced.

The ability of the assassins of their household shocked even Reinhardt. As expected of a duke’s household, they had many reliable retainers.

With the full picture now in their hands, all eyes moved towards him. As the Commander of the Order of Light, it was up to him to make the decision.

Reinhardt thought for a while, the Barony of Chetak was not under their jurisdiction. If he brought his knight order there, a clash with the baron’s forces and the local knight order there, was inevitable.

While he was not afraid of his order losing to some knight order that was not even on the seven great knight rankings, he still had to consider the image of his order and the position they were in currently.

Right now, the image of the Order of the Temple of light was at the lowest of the low. In such a situation, if he did something reckless and didn’t get any returns from it, then the Council of Elders would find another excuse to snatch the order from his hands.