The Genius Tamer of the Academy

Chapter 195

Clack, clack, clack.

The carriage rumbled as it gradually slowed down.

After taking the train to the village of Odryse, we had to travel quite a while further by carriage.

The Odryse Mountains were situated on the outskirts of the village, a place as bustling with commerce as the Arkenent Territory. Everywhere you looked, there was noise and lively energy—merchants were busy hauling their goods.

That was my first impression of the place.

“Thank you for the ride.”

I paid the fare and got off the carriage with Adela and Yoon Haul.

Adela kept looking around, clearly fascinated by the village, which had an entirely different atmosphere from the capital, while Yoon Haul, who had been nodding off, staggered out after us.

“Where’s Basilus… about here?”

Yoon Haul, now awake, glanced around, tilting her head.

Basilus, hidden under his invisibility cloak, was completely invisible to the eye but likely trailing close behind us.

With her keen sense, Yoon Haul seemed to have a rough idea of Basilus’ location.

She stood still, talking to the empty air.

“Hey, Basilus, you there?”

“Grr…!”

“Oops, not there. Maybe behind?”

“Grr?”

“Quiet, you.”

There were too many eyes around.

We couldn’t afford to draw unnecessary attention, so Yoon Haul got pulled away by Adela.

I clicked my tongue, watching the two of them.

“You both remember the cover story, right?”

“Yep!”

“Of course.”

They both nodded in unison.

We had rehearsed our story before coming here.

Our cover was that we were young villagers from the countryside near the Odryse Mountains who had come to the city to seek work.

Struggling to make ends meet, we were about to join a local guild as apprentices.

Though we might be naive, we were determined to prove ourselves through hard work.

Admittedly, we didn’t quite look the part of struggling villagers, but since no one seemed to be paying us much attention, it wasn’t a problem so far.

We had practiced our roles countless times to avoid any slip-ups. Now, it was time to put it all into action.

We made our way through the market to the end of a narrow alley where the employment office was located.

According to Lee Han’s prior research, this was the place where we could gather information about the guilds.

It seemed likely that entry into the guilds could also be arranged here. Despite being far from the capital, their system was surprisingly organized.

“This is the place, right?”

The employment office looked a bit shabby.

I knocked on the closed wooden door and called out.

“Is anyone there?”

Creak.

The sound of a chair scraping the floor was followed by a small window sliding open at the top, revealing a man’s face.

He stuck his head out and spoke in a rough voice.

“Looking for work?”

“Yes, we want to join a guild.”

“A guild?”

The man, sporting a scruffy beard, glanced at us with a skeptical expression.

He eyed me, Adela, and Yoon Haul one by one before rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

“The two behind you seem a bit young.”

“We can work hard!”

Yoon Haul responded with sparkling eyes.

“….”

The man stared at her suspiciously but didn’t say anything more.

Joining a guild as an apprentice didn’t require any extraordinary skills, so before he could refuse, I quickly added.

“We need money urgently. We’ve just arrived in Odryse and don’t even have the funds to find a place to stay. Can you recommend a reputable guild?”

“Apprentices are always welcome around here. The problem is that the work’s tough.”

Jobs were plentiful, but survival wasn’t easy.

“Have you given any thought to which guild you want to join?”

“Oh, no, we haven’t.”

“You need to choose carefully. You look like outsiders, so let me tell you—there are two major guilds here. But those two are at each other’s throats. If you pick the wrong side, you might end up getting stabbed.”

“Two guilds?”

“Yeah, the Cement Guild and the Freed Guild. If I remember right, they’ve been at each other’s throats for about five years now. So, make sure you pick the right side.”

The two major guilds controlled the Odryse Mountains.

Given that these guilds were large enough to be suppliers of obsidian, it was likely that either the Cement Guild, the Freed Guild, or perhaps both were involved in the obsidian trade.

We needed to infiltrate one of them, but to be safe, I cautiously asked.

“Which guild would you recommend?”

“The Freed Guild, definitely. They haven’t been around as long, but they have a good reputation with the locals. Even though they’re merchants, they’re generous and have some sense of ethics….”

“What about the Cement Guild?”

“They treat their apprentices like slaves. Actually, they really do use slaves. Last time, they kidnapped kids from the neighboring town… Tch. The lord turns a blind eye, so they act however they want.”

The Cement Guild’s reputation was clearly poor.

Even in a rural place like this, there were still clear social hierarchies, but in the capital, nobles didn’t go around openly enslaving people.

There were at least some minimal standards of decency, but from what I was hearing, the Cement Guild was far worse.

The man sighed deeply and lowered his voice.

“Even if you’re just a bunch of kids looking for work, I can’t in good conscience recommend the Cement Guild. They’re all shady characters….”

“Please help us join the Cement Guild.”

“…What?”

“The Cement Guild, please.”

“Were you not listening to a word I said?”

The man scratched his head, baffled, and looked at me as if I had lost my mind.

I repeated firmly, making sure there was no misunderstanding.

“Yes, please. Just get us in.”

“They’re seriously shady.”

“I’m shady too.”

“What the hell did you eat today to be this crazy in broad daylight?”

He muttered, eyeing me like I was a complete lunatic. Well, what could I say?

I had to dive into the shadiest place I could find.

He could just think of me as another madman.

I was hoping he’d simply arrange for us to get in as apprentices, following the normal procedures.

But then—

“…They don’t hire apprentices here.”

What?

“If they hire you the official way, they have to pay you, right?”

Excuse me?

“They’re too cheap for that.”

“What?”

“They just pick fights with people on the streets, use that as an excuse to drag them away, and work them to the bone.”

“As apprentices?”

“Didn’t I say they were shady?”

Damn it.

Adela looked at me with a flustered expression.

So… what now?

I knew it wouldn’t be easy to get a job, but I didn’t expect we’d need to cause a scene just to get in.

A different kind of challenge than I had anticipated.

“Jeez… Getting a job is harder than I thought…”

Hmm.

At least we’ve figured out what kind of “talent” they’re looking for.

I lowered my voice and leaned closer to the narrow crack in the door.

“Well, then…”

This was going to sound insane.

“Where exactly do we go to pick a fight?”

“…What?”

Now the guy was looking at me like I was completely out of my mind.

* * *

Whack.

A small child was sent flying by a sharp kick.

Right in the middle of the marketplace, despite the bustling crowd, the abuse continued unabated.

As soon as three thug-like men surrounded the kid, the child fell to their knees, trembling.

“I-I’m sorry…”

“We fed you, gave you a place to sleep, raised you, and now you think you’re too good for us? I should’ve broken your ankles so you’d never run.”

“I wasn’t trying to run away… I swear, it’s all a misunderstanding!”

“Grateful, huh? You should be. Not everyone would take in a useless brat like you.”

“Yes… yes, I am grateful…”

“You better be. You’re just a dog that bites its owner after growing up.”

The child’s head bobbed up and down, completely terrified.

Though they looked around for help, no one in the market even glanced their way.

The kid’s youthful face and pale, frightened expression said it all.

They looked even younger than us—maybe thirteen or fourteen.

“Those bastards.”

Adela, unable to contain her rage, muttered a curse.

I couldn’t agree more.

It wasn’t like we had to look hard.

We had barely set foot in the marketplace, one of Cement Guild’s main hubs, and this was the first thing we saw.

I scowled and said aloud.

“We came looking for a fight, and they’ve set it up nicely.”

Dragging children away with flimsy excuses and working them like slaves.

The rumors we’d heard at the employment office were clearly true.

One look and you could tell—no home, no family.

Just a powerless child.

The title of “apprentice” was nothing more than a thinly veiled excuse for this abuse.

Whack.

Another heavy thud echoed, but the beating didn’t stop, as if they hadn’t vented their anger enough.

“Argh! Stop!”

It was as if they weren’t delivering obsidian but eating it whole.

Their display of villainy was so blatant that it was almost cliché.

For regular people without any magical abilities, they sure packed a punch.

“Huff… huff…”

The kid, barely able to stand, desperately crawled forward.

It was a futile act of defiance.

Crunch.

“Aaaah!”

The large man crushed the child’s hand under his foot, a twisted grin on his face as he grabbed the kid by the hair. The child, unable to even resist, was dragged away.

It was a sickening sight that made onlookers frown, but everyone else in the marketplace carried on as if it were normal.

A town rotting from the inside out.

Maybe they were too obsessed with their work, too busy hauling goods to pay attention to anything else.

This place seemed more cursed than any place we’d encountered before.

And among us, there was one person who couldn’t stand by in the face of such evil.

“Those insane bastards…!”

Adela, having seen enough, charged forward, unable to restrain herself any longer.

“Stop.”

I stepped in front of her.

Raising my voice loud enough for those thugs to hear.

“Hey, you lowlifes.”

The air seemed to freeze, filled with tense silence.

“…Did I just hear that right?”

Thwack.

“Oof!”

One of the thugs, who had just kicked the kid in frustration, turned his head, glaring at me with deadly eyes.

“Did I hear that correctly?”

The thug scratched his ear and scowled, clearly displeased as he balanced on one leg.

He looked like a typical street thug—dangerous and intimidating.

Even though he wasn’t particularly tall, his massive build gave him an overwhelming presence.

But it was all just an act, really.

The thug’s heavy footsteps echoed as he walked toward me.

Swish.

I, too, rolled up my sleeves and stepped forward.

“Say that again?”

“What, you mean ‘lowlifes’? Or something harsher?”

“What’s wrong with you? What’s all this crap?”

“Everything I said was on point. If there’s something wrong, it’s not me—it’s you lot.”

“What?”

The thug’s face twisted as if he was ready to throw a punch.

I calmly observed the other thugs gathering around.

Until now, the marketplace had ignored the thugs’ blatant abuse, but the moment someone confronted them, they flocked together like a pack.

To see this kind of camaraderie now made me feel nothing but disgust.

I snickered, meeting their hostile stares head-on.

“It’s clear you’re all a bunch of bastards.”

“…What?”

“But even if you’re wearing human skins…”

If this were the sixteen-year-old Han Siha, these words wouldn’t have made a difference.

But now, as the twenty-eight-year-old Han Siha, I could say things that carried weight.

I nodded slightly, my tone cold.

“Don’t you think it’s a bit much to be trafficking kids?”