Bunauur Mountain – Matere Trading Company Kashiram Factory
“What? You want to work here?”
“Yes, please!”
“A girl… and a child… Just wait.”
A rusty iron fence was topped with an equally rusted door. Who would expect to find such a dangerous place along a mountain path where one could enjoy sunbathing if it weren’t for the monsters? Beyond the fence, several large buildings were surrounded by dull brown iron plates. I was astonished at how such a massive structure was necessary for weapon production. Hans’s workshop was so small, it made no sense at all. More importantly, there was Kurinka’s suggestion.
“Considering what that person said about it being abandoned, I don’t think this factory is a decent place. Do you really think we’ll get a proper answer about Tatarka-san here?”
Once again, Kurinka was right. Just getting close to this place had the guards shouting and drawing their weapons. It was Kurinka who stopped me from reflexively pulling out my own weapon, and I appreciated her awareness, especially after reflecting on my mistakes at Formas’s mansion.
“Hey, Kurinka. I don’t really know, but what does a factory do?”
“I think they make a lot of weapons. Hans-san’s workshop is just him, but I believe there are many people working over there.”
“Hey! Come over here!”
Suddenly, one of the guards shouted at us, and another guard returned from inside. Why are they so angry?
“This is the Factory Manager, Douma. Don’t be rude.”
The man introduced as the Factory Manager was even larger than the big man at Kashiram’s weapon shop. With an iron helmet, an iron mask, exposed muscles, and a loincloth, he looked more like a bandit than anything else. To top it off, his entire left arm was covered in a gauntlet, making it seem as if his left shoulder was made of iron.
“So, you’re the girl who wants to work. Are you in need of money?”
“Uh, yes.”
“…Well, fine. Then I’ll make sure you earn plenty. Plenty.”
“Ah, thank you!”
“Follow me.”
As we followed Douma, the guards watched us with unsettling grins, confirming Kurinka’s suspicion that this place might not be normal. To make matters worse, the door slammed shut with a loud metallic clang, almost as if to trap us inside.
Inside the Factory – Polishing Area
“You girls won’t be able to handle heavy labor. Therefore, you’ll be working here.”
It was a bizarre sight. Nearly a hundred people were lined up, all simultaneously rubbing swords or something similar. They placed the polished items on a platform, and another person would take them away. The items were then brought back to be polished again. Everyone was completely absorbed in their work. I tried to look for Tatarka among them, but there were too many people, and they all wore the same clothes, making it even harder to distinguish anyone.
“Don’t stop working! Your delays affect the entire operation! If production falls behind, it will become a matter of trust!”
Several men walked around with whips, shouting insults as they moved between the workers. Judging by the crossed swords emblem, they were probably from the Matere Trading Company. The workers, trembling in fear, continued their tasks. At this point, it was clear this was not a normal place.
“Shakuchi, new arrivals.”
“Well, well, Factory Manager… Understood.”
“Then, I’ll leave the rest to you.”
“Yes.”
This Shakuchi fellow also carried a coiled whip at his waist. He shot us a glance with a menacing look, then curtly ordered us to come.
“I’m Shakuchi, the chief of the polishing area. Here’s your work uniform; go change over there. Don’t dawdle, change within three minutes. Oh, and I almost forgot, hand over your weapons.”
“Uh, why?”
“What do you mean, why?! You thought you could bring weapons in here, you little brat?! Hand them over!”
My weapon was snatched away, and I was shoved toward the changing room with the uniform tossed at me. The changing area was a mess, with discarded clothes stuffed into shelves, making it clear that time was of the essence. If I took too long, I would probably be whipped. This felt more like slavery.
“We’ve ended up in a terrible place.”
“Kurinka suggested we come… Once we find Tatarka-san, let’s get out of here.”
“By the way, where could she be… If she’s a girl, I think she should be in this area.”
“I really don’t like it here. The Factory Manager and that Shakuchi guy are definitely not normal.”
“Hey! You’re chatting on your first day, huh? Hurry up!”
A sudden shout came from outside. Why are they so irritated? Is something wrong? After changing, I stepped outside, only to be met with another round of insults.
“This is your work area. Ask the person next to you about the work methods and where to sleep. And remember, don’t stop working until the end time!”
With that, Shakuchi left, continuing his tirade of insults. Each time he shouted, the workers seemed to tremble. It was a relief to be left alone, but even if they told us to work, I had no idea what to do. The person next to me was so engrossed in their task that they seemed to be deliberately ignoring us.
“Kurinka, how do we do this?”
“Um… Excuse me. How do we do this?”
The man next to us was not unaware of us; he was intentionally ignoring us. The slight turn of his face told me everything.
“This is a problem, Kurinka. For now, let’s try to mimic what they’re doing.”
“Hey! You there!”
A shrill voice echoed throughout the vast room as Shakuchi charged at us. Despite the bizarre situation, no one around us seemed to care and continued their work as if nothing was happening. We weren’t the type to be intimidated, but Shakuchi’s expression was undeniably unsettling.
“You think you can work like that? You’ll never finish! Don’t do whatever you please!”
“But no one is teaching us how to do it…”
“I told you to ask!”
“I’m sorry, I’ll teach you.”
The voice came from a different man next to us, one who looked frail and worn. His hair was messy, his cheeks sunken, and dark circles under his eyes made him appear far from healthy. Yet, there was something familiar about him.
“Make sure to teach them well.”
Shakuchi, who had reached for his whip, stomped away. If he had continued, I might have been whipped. That would have been excessive, even for a horse.
“That was unfortunate. I’m Hart. The work itself is simple, so you’ll get used to it quickly.”
“Thank you…”
The work was indeed simple. All we had to do was rub the weapons, like swords and axes, with a special stone. But the problem was that this went on for hours. We had to repeat the same motion endlessly. The more I thought about when it would end, the more painful it became. And if I stopped, those whip-wielding men would come for us.
I almost stood up when I saw someone get whipped, but Hart stopped me. He silently shook his head, clearly exhausted. Not just Hart; even the man who had ignored us looked completely drained.
Everyone was just moving mechanically, some even dozing off mid-task. But if they did that, the whip men would punish them.
“Kurinka, I’m already bored… Why do we have to do this?”
“I’m sorry… Even though we came here to find Tatarka-san, this isn’t the right way to go about it…”
As soon as we spoke, the whip man came rushing over, shrieking like a banshee. Even girls were mercilessly whipped. It didn’t hurt us, but I imagined it must be excruciating for them. I had seen people unable to move for a while after being struck.
“Today, you all seem to be slacking off! Have you forgotten your place?! You have no money, no strength, and no brains! Who do you think provided you with food, shelter, and work? Me? No! It was none other than the great Matere-sama! So, it’s only right that you work your fingers to the bone to repay that debt! Isn’t that right?!”
Shakuchi’s booming voice echoed through the space, contrasting sharply with the lifelessness of the workers. In this situation, there was no way to ask how many more hours we had to endure this. It had to have been several hours already. The sun had set, and it was dark outside; we needed to eat soon.
They took our weapons and wielded the whips against defenseless people. This was the Matere Trading Company.
“Hey, you there! How long are you going to keep polishing? Move on to the next one!”
“But, it’s not done yet…”
“It doesn’t matter!”
The whip-wielding man snatched the weapon I had been polishing and tossed it onto the table as if it were nothing. Was he planning to sell it just like that? The blade was dull, and more importantly, it was far too clumsy to handle. If things continued like this, we would only get scolded more and more. It was all about quantity over quality; we had to churn out as many as we could.
I wondered what Hans would think if he saw this situation. He might go into a rage and beat the whip man senseless, or perhaps he would confiscate all the weapons and reforge them himself. But then again, that seemed unlikely. And here I was, searching for his daughter while witnessing this. Was Tatarka really here? The factory looked vast from the outside, so perhaps she was in another area. Just as I was lost in thought, it happened.
“Hey! How long are you going to keep polishing? Move on to the next one already!”
“But, but the blade is too rounded, and this stone isn’t suitable for sharpening…”
“You were just as whiny the other day, weren’t you? Do you want to feel pain again?”
The girl who was responding to the whip man with a frail voice was still too far away for me to see clearly, but I had a feeling I recognized her.
“Alright! Work’s done! Eat and get some sleep! Tomorrow comes early!”
“Tch…”
At Shakuchi’s command, everyone stopped working at once. The whip man, who had been about to strike the girl I recognized, lowered his hand in frustration. Leaving the unfinished weapons behind, we all shuffled out with lifeless expressions, resembling zombies, forming a line toward the changing room.
“Good work today. Now, let’s head to our rooms.”
“Ah, Hart. Do you know who that girl was getting scolded over there?”
“Not a clue. Either way, you’ll see her in the room.”
Hart replied curtly and blended into the line. We weren’t the type to complain over such trivial matters, but I was undeniably exhausted. It was already late at night, and if I went to sleep now, morning would come all too soon.
◆ Kashiram Factory – Common Room ◆
Everyone slept in a large room that could accommodate dozens, meaning we all shared the floor. There were no beds, just a single thin blanket provided to each of us. It didn’t matter if you were male or female. The meals consisted solely of a soup with bits of dried meat and bread. It was despairingly tasteless.
The soup was a mix of saltiness and the stench of meat, barely drinkable, while the bread was hard and devoid of flavor. After all that hard work, this treatment felt utterly unjust.
“You must be surprised. This is the Matere Trading Company’s factory. I don’t know what brought you here, but there’s no way out now.”
Hart’s voice, thin and gaunt, carried no emotion. It wasn’t just him; some people had pulled their blankets over their heads, shutting themselves away from the world.
“Everyone here has their reasons. Some can’t do proper work due to physical issues, others have been cast aside for being useless, or they’re washed-up adventurers… They lure in people like us and work us like slaves for almost no pay. It’s actually cheaper than buying real slaves; Matere has come up with quite the clever scheme.”
“But this is the Kingdom of Kashiram, right?”
“Unless it’s a blatant crime like murder or robbery, they turn a blind eye. That’s how this country operates. Have you ever been to the royal capital? The market there is overflowing with people trying to sell counterfeit goods at exorbitant prices. The king’s favorite saying is that it’s fine for the strong and clever to rise to the top. So even if injuries and deaths occur from harsh labor, they just replace the slaves. We’re disposable, that’s all.”
“That’s insane! The king and this factory are both crazy! Why is everyone just sitting back and taking this?!”
“Many of the injured or dead were those who tried to revolt. You understand what that means, right? Killing is a no-go, but if word gets out, they’ll just call it an accident during work, and there won’t be any further investigation.”
When he added that Matere was providing some aid to the kingdom, I lost all desire to respond. This place was hell. The man sleeping next to me muttered sarcastically, “Welcome to hell.”
Hart had previously been in the furnace area but was brought to the polishing area because he couldn’t keep up. In the furnace area, they worked for over twenty hours in a heat hell without even being allowed to hydrate. Many had collapsed and disappeared, and it wasn’t just one or two people. After work, the sleep time was a mere three hours. There was no way anyone could survive like that.
“I retired from being an adventurer and ended up here without realizing it. Well, I guess it’s the perfect place for someone like me who couldn’t make it anywhere else… Haha.”
Even as he said it was perfect, the emotion I could read in his almost fading voice was nothing but resignation. This person, who had thrown everything away, felt familiar. The mention of retiring from being an adventurer struck a chord. Yes, I remembered him from that time.
“It’s pathetic that I was saved by Seigel only to end up like this…”
“Lua-chan, I brought someone.”
Over Hart’s fading murmur, Kurinka entered with a girl in tow. She wore nothing but a filthy shirt, and her sun-kissed skin bore the marks of lashes from a whip. It was a worn-out Tatarka. When she was with Formas, her skin had glowed, and her dance had captivated me, but now she was a shadow of her former self. Not only that, but there were signs of her being struck hard by something else. I didn’t know what had happened between her and Formas, but it was clear she was both physically and mentally scarred, utterly exhausted.
“I heard from Kurinka. We met during the A-Rank Promotion Exam, right? I’m sorry for laughing back then… I just couldn’t defy that person…”
Even in such dire circumstances, this girl was apologizing. Was she serious, or was she just trying to be polite? But perhaps I could judge her as not a bad person after all. To remain calm enough to say such things while being cornered like this was something to consider.
“Tatarka was beaten multiple times for defying that person over trivial matters and left here. And she didn’t leave because she hated taking over Hans’s blacksmithing work.”
“I loved my dad, who worked so hard, and I wanted to be like him. But when I started, he was so strict and never praised me… I was a bit interested in dancing too, and one day I lost my temper and fought with him, so I left home. In the end, the dance troupe’s leader told me I had no talent, and now I deeply regret it…”
“I see, so Tatarka actually loves blacksmithing.”
“This place is the worst! With such a poor sharpening stone, the blades get dull immediately, and sharpening is a proper skill! It’s not something amateurs should do so easily, yet they have us doing it in a mass production line… Thinking that those terrible weapons are being sold in the market…”
I felt an urge to apologize for doing it so carelessly. But now I understood. Tatarka’s passion for blacksmithing was no less than her father’s. In fact, she had even said she wanted to be like him. I had thought she left because she hated blacksmithing, but looking closely at her eyes, which burned with fervor, they were far from dead.
It was clear that this environment was suffocating that spark. Just being in a factory that denied the value of blacksmithing and produced weapons carelessly was unbearable. I couldn’t forgive Formas for locking her up here, but I couldn’t forgive this factory—or rather, the Matere Trading Company—for exploiting people’s weaknesses and working them to the bone.
We didn’t need to be here anymore. Before we were worked to death in this place, everyone must have things they truly wanted to do. Day after day, forced to work without freedom until we were exhausted and eventually collapsed. Could this really be called living? Living meant doing what you wanted and leading a fulfilling life, just like Amane from the Leopardess Guild.
“You say some interesting things, but it won’t work. We can’t do anything.”
It was Kurinka who brought up the idea of teaming up to take down those people, not me.
“W-Why not? That whip-wielding man doesn’t seem that strong…”
“Every day, we’re on the brink of collapse from heavy labor, and we’re unarmed. They took our weapons before we came in, right? That’s to prevent any revolts. Plus, those employees are quite the fighters within Matere, and the real kicker is the factory manager.”
“T-The big guy?”
“If he were just a brutish strongman, this factory would have collapsed long ago. No one can defeat Factory Manager Douma. Why? Because… let’s sleep. You all have an early day tomorrow, so get some rest.”
Just as he was about to say more, Hart collapsed onto his blanket as if the thread had snapped. He quickly fell into a deep sleep, and before I knew it, everyone else had already drifted off.
“Um, I appreciate your feelings, but there’s nothing we can do… Goodnight.”
Tatarka spread out his blanket and lay down on the ground. Kurinka and I exchanged glances.
“…That won’t do, Lua-chan. This is completely unacceptable.”
“Eh…?”
“Sure, we could easily free these people. But is that really enough? Even if we did, how will they live from now on? Can they survive with the scars of fear and submission weighing on their hearts?”
“I… I don’t know… That’s not like you, Kurinka. What’s wrong?”
“It’s the same with Tatarka. Just a single word, like ‘I want to be saved,’ would make a difference. But everyone, including Tatarka, has given up on everything. It’s understandable given the situation, but… Lua-chan, that’s where the problem lies.”
“Where is that?”
“All it takes is a small spark. Just a little effort to stand up again would be enough. Before I met you, Lua-chan, I was really on the verge of becoming like these people… If I had met you just a little later, I might have ended up like them. So…”
Suddenly, Kurinka stood up and surveyed the dozens of people lying still. She clenched her fists and raised her right arm.
“Let’s create that spark! It might be meddlesome, but I want these people to be able to live a little more joyfully!”
Kurinka seemed so reliable, so cute. But this wasn’t the time to be playful in my thoughts. She was right; nothing would start unless they decided to take action themselves. The only thing we could do for that was…
◆ Shin Report ◆
Craft, strike, grind, grind, and the weapon is complete.
Humans enslaving humans, creating weapons to slay monsters that harm humans. It’s a cruel irony, and yet, the foolish humans remain oblivious. From the perspective of a noble demon like Shin, it’s unbearable to witness such foolishness.
I thought Lua would destroy the factory in a fit of rage, but it seems that girl has matured a bit. What she will do next is a matter of concern.
Still, these guys reek terribly. No, it’s not just a bad smell; it’s absolutely foul! Ugh, it’s disgusting!
“Yikes!”