XI. The Weight of Dignity

The dream drifted forward like a montage.

Perhaps days later, perhaps a month had already passed, I could not tell, but the scene returned to the bunker of the Sword and Shield Guild.

I, Milset, had finished training the attendants and lay down on my bed to rest. Beside my bed was a fifteen-inch slim display, a micro-computer. The attendants used it to post messages and chat on the Sword and Shield Guild server, and Milset was the administrator of this chat room, monitoring the attendants' posts.

Nili, whose forum handle was Jelly Dreamer, said: "After so much investigation, has the mastermind behind the last attack still not been found?"

Gao Zhi, posting under the handle Dream Chaser, made his intentions glaringly obvious: "Not yet. The higher-ups are definitely covering it up. They don't care about the lives of the attendants at all, let alone the slaves."

Milset issued a warning to Gao Zhi, who hurriedly apologized to Milset in private.

A user nicknamed Eunuch Yura said: "It's the 'Spy'! He must have been sent by the Black Coffin to harm us! He has been hiding this deeply all along."

One stone stirred a thousand ripples, and the forum erupted into chaos. The girls believed Salvador was a hero among them, while the boys treated him with the hostility one might reserve for a rival in romance.

Milset began warning the insolent commenters one by one, especially that "Eunuch Yura."

Eunuch Yura sent a private message: "Lord Viscount, he is far too suspicious. Don't you think his performance when facing the demons was simply too extraordinary? How long has he been studying blade-qi? Why is he already able to skillfully channel blade-qi through his swords and body? I refuse to believe he is a greater genius than you!"

Milset sighed. Indeed, Salvador's performance was excessively brilliant, far surpassing ordinary trainees. Even the most talented among them required three years of grueling practice to double the destructive power of their fists using blade-qi.

Salvador was a disciple of Master Hellsing. Milset had not witnessed Hellsing's trials firsthand, but he knew they must have been relentlessly arduous.

That crisis had nearly exposed Master Hellsing because of Salvador.

Men harbored a natural hostility toward men who were girl-magnets, regardless of whether that person was self-aware, what their morals were, or whether they contributed to the group.

Ever since coming here, Milset had experienced this profound truth. He consistently left the girls' affections unreturned not only because he could not forget Dalia, but also out of considerations like these.

Milset replied: "The matter is still under investigation. Please refrain from spreading rumors, or you will bear the consequences."

Eunuch Yura hastily admitted his mistake.

Milset turned off the display, closed his eyes, and lay back on the bed. Practitioners of blade-qi required ample rest and a cheerful, serene state of mind—these were words Sheska had once taught Milset.

The blade-qi practiced by the Sword and Shield Guild belonged to the "Judgment" branch, not the path of "Hatred." If Milset were filled with rage, everything he had learned previously would be severely compromised.

Rage.

Someone knocked on the door.

Milset said: "Please come in."

The person opening the door was the dark-skinned female slave they had rescued from the village last time. Her name was Ai. Following a thorough vetting process and proving her competence, she was now an apprentice of the Sword and Shield Guild.

Upon seeing Milset, she burst into tears.

Milset probed her with blade-qi, sensing that she had not come out of personal affection; she was terrified, frightened beyond measure.

Milset asked: "Child, what is wrong?"

Ai trembled as she grabbed Milset's hand and said: "Please come with me. You... you surely do not know about this."

Milset nodded. After a moment of thought, he took his scabbard and jogged down the corridor alongside Ai. Ai bit her lip, stubbornly refusing to tell Milset what had happened.

Had she discovered a clue regarding the previous attack?

They arrived at the slave pit. The caves here, stacked one above another like birdcages, were densely populated and in truth little better than their original village.

Milset felt as though he had entered a different dimension, a subterranean cavern of cavemen where everyone had their own isolated little hole, barely maintaining any semblance of privacy. Thousands of people lived here, comparable to a sizable town.

They reached a row of caves. This was a communal area, more spacious, but it was the deep of night, and no one slept here.

Ai pointed upward. Milset asked softly: "What on earth is going on?"

Ai's eyes held terror and fury as she said: "You'll understand once you see."

Milset climbed the ladder. Inside a large cavern, seven or eight people were present. The heavy breathing of men echoed, while the women muffled their sounds, crying with a bitter sorrow. Milset vaguely discerned human shadows overlapping, moving in a rhythmic cadence.

There was nothing to see here. Were slaves in the slave pits not entitled to private lives? Even if such chaotic private affairs—

Milset started to climb down, but then a man barked: "Which bastard is peeping?"

The voice belonged to Sheska.

Milset raised the illumination lamp in his hand and saw Sheska holding a longsword, pulling up his trousers.

There were also two other knights of the Sword and Shield Guild, along with several female slaves of the place, covering their bodies with their hands, the tear tracks on their faces starkly visible.

Milset had always believed the Sword and Shield Guild to be the saviors of this apocalyptic world, the bedrock and shield upon which these slaves could rely. Now, he suspected he had been mistaken; he suspected he was having a nightmare.

Knight Murray asked: "Is that Milset?"

Knight Kai said: "It's fine, it's one of us."

Milset asked: "What are you doing?"

Both Murray and Kai laughed. Murray said: "We're investigating a case." Kai said: "We're protecting the slaves."

Sheska walked toward Milset, grasped his wrist, and asked: "Want to join?"

Milset pulled his hand back, uttered not a word, and began to climb down. Sheska sighed, snatched up his jacket, and followed Milset.

Once on the ground, Sheska glanced at Ai and asked: "Was it you who told Milset?"

Ai retreated in fear against the wall and said: "Yes."

Milset pulled Ai to his side, shielding her.

Sheska said: "Child, you understand nothing. I never resort to violence against my comrades; that is my creed as a knight."

Milset demanded loudly: "Does a knight's creed permit you to do such things?"

Sheska replied: "Don't sound like a naive sissy. The guild rules state quite clearly that we have the right to dispose of slaves without masters."

Milset said: "They never said they should be disposed of like that."

Sheska laughed: "That is the ambiguity of the guild rules, but let me tell you, we have been doing this for a very long time, and we will continue to do so."

Milset felt that this was no longer the Sheska he knew. The old count he knew was a noble and upright man, a warm, generous, and courageous hero—a bosom friend who had comforted him and guided him out of despair when Milset lost his family and friends.

Reality in Milset's eyes was becoming unrecognizable.

Sheska said: "I knew you wouldn't be able to accept it, which is why I never asked you to join our activities. I didn't misjudge you, and I never will. You youngsters simply can't bear us treating women this way, can you? It's as if the moment we do this, we become heinous villains?"

Milset said: "The guild rules teach us not to commit evil deeds."

Sheska fished some paper currency from his pocket and said: "We pay them, allowing them to improve their lives. This is their work, and it is our duty." He patted Milset's shoulder and said: "Come, let's talk outside. The air in here is suffocating."

Leaving Ai behind in bewilderment, the two men walked to the open space outside the slave pit. Sheska lit a cigarette, blew out a cloud of smoke, and said: "Some of the children in the slave pit are mine. I can recognize them at a glance; regardless of skin color, they resemble me when I was young."

Milset clenched his fists in silence; the pain assured him this was no dream.

Sheska continued: "I provide regular financial support to these children. If they show talent, I let them study blade-qi and become attendants. They will never know I am their father, but if they ask, I will admit it. We need combat strength, Milset, and we also need to reproduce. What I am doing happens in dozens of slave pits across the underground city, and the upper levels know of it and secretly encourage us."

"Why?"

Sheska smiled: "We are improving the bloodline of these lowly slaves."

Milset stared at Sheska in shock, while Sheska merely smoked his cigarette, avoiding Milset's gaze.

Sheska said: "We who master blade-qi are noble. I am not boasting; it is simply the truth. Those who cannot comprehend blade-qi have inferior bloodlines—that is also a fact. I, along with Kai, Murray, and many brothers-in-arms, are offering our seed to give these women's futures hope. Otherwise... after all, they are merely slaves, slaves for a lifetime."

Milset said: "When we brought the slaves here, our promise to them was dignity and safety."

Sheska said: "They are safe. Their lives will not be shortened by food shortages or solar mutations. Their dignity? Once you involve such illusory concepts, reasoning becomes impossible. Tell me, Milset, how do you know their dignity was harmed?"

Milset said: "Because you forced them to do what they were unwilling to do, because they were crying."

Sheska burst into loud laughter and said: "I cry too. When I cry, I am even more pitiful than them. I have served for thirty years, lost family and brothers-in-arms, had my abdomen pierced by a demon's claws a mere few centimeters from my heart. I once thought my tears had completely run dry. What are their tears compared to that? Merely posturing. These women are thoroughly pretentious, my little brother. One day you will understand."

Milset said: "I am not your little brother."

Sheska suddenly flew into a rage, grabbed Milset by the throat, and shouted: "You are my brother! I am willing to lay down my life for you, and you would risk your life to save me. In my eyes, a thousand female slaves are not worth as much as you! You are my family, my friend, and those women are not! Now you tell me that because I slept with these insignificant female slaves, you are casting aside our brotherhood?"

Milset pushed Sheska away and said: "Are you willing to stop this from now on?"

Sheska flicked his cigarette away and said: "I once wanted to quit smoking, but after thirty years, I still can't. Face the reality, Milset. In the apocalyptic era, what we are doing is right. The genes of the strong have the right to propagate further. You are also strong, and you have that right and obligation."

Milset said coldly: "Then there is nothing more to discuss."

With that, he squared his shoulders and held his head high, as though even the Hand of God could not force him to submit. Without sparing Sheska another glance, he strode away, walking far into the distance.