Anagin Chronicles

Chapter 050. Guiding the Way (1)

“Hmm-hmm-hmm~”

Tanned brown skin, thick curly hair, and a beard.

Procrustes, the owner of the Bed Inn, hummed cheerfully as he checked the magic circle in his room.

It was a magic circle that showed the status of the inn at a glance.

According to it, the sleeping smoke prepared for the guests who had just arrived had finished spreading into their room.

“The sun must be rising in the west tomorrow.”

Procrustes said mischievously, as if he couldn't believe it.

That’s because his stupid servant had lured in prey in broad daylight. And not just any prey, ones who looked quite wealthy.

Having spent decades as a bandit, Procrustes could tell at a glance whether someone was rich or poor.

“As I thought, I definitely picked the right place to settle.”

Stas Polis, the city built on the border between Hellas and Anapik.

Countless people came and went every day, and as the number of people increased, so did the number of people with bulging purses.

Thanks to that, Procrustes was earning money more comfortably now than at any other time in his 40 years of life.

All he had to do was trick and bring in people who let their guard down inside the city, put them to sleep, strip them of everything they wore, and sell the rest of the contents to the Thieves’ Guild inside the city.

Killing two birds with one stone, catching crayfish while dredging the ditch.

No more camping hardships like the old days, no more ambushes at mountain passes, no need to spill blood.

And the income was several times higher than in the past. Sometimes, he wondered if making money this easily was really okay.

‘No! No! There’s no guarantee that there will continue to be many people visiting the city, so I must earn as diligently as possible.’

Procrustes stood up, as if uprooting the seed of laziness sprouting in his mind. His “inn bandit business” was seasonal work. He had to make the most of the season.

Returning to his status as a diligent bandit, Procrustes stepped out of the room and went upstairs.

“Master! Are they all asleep?”

“Yes? Then, bring the rope and come.”

“I already prepared them.”

The once-useless servant had already prepared the ropes.

To see the formerly worthless brat starting to be useful—it was oddly moving.

“I brought them in, and they’re a jackpot. The man looks young and healthy, there are two children and one woman. They are all people who will sell for a high price.”

Stas Polis, with its heavy traffic of people, was currently one of the major hubs for human trafficking.

Because of this, a fixed price for people was always set, and among them, women and children sold for the highest price.

In particular, the more beautiful a woman was and the fairer her skin, the more expensive she sold for. In that sense, the female guest who came today was a bit disappointing.

The woman seemed beautiful with bright blonde hair, but her brown skin was a flaw. She might be popular with some minorities, but her price could easily be lowered.

“Shall I open it?”

They had reached the upstairs room.

Procrustes focused on the task at hand and nodded. That was the signal to open the door.

The servant nervously opened it.

At that sight, Procrustes internally cursed the servant for being a foolish coward. They must be asleep, intoxicated by the sleeping smoke, so why be afraid—

—Thud!

The moment the door opened, something flew out and stabbed into the servant’s leg.

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH—!!”

He screamed in agony.

When Procrustes looked to see what hit him, it was a piece of a tray from the guest's room, split in half.

The other half flew toward Procrustes, but unlike the servant, Procrustes did not suffer the horrific fate of having the tray fragment lodged in his body.

The magical tool around his wrist had acted as an invisible hand and caught the incoming shard.

As proof, unlike the servant who collapsed without even managing a proper scream, Procrustes still stood firmly on both legs.

“Oh, is that bracelet a magical tool?”

* * *

The smoke, thick and gray, obscured the view.

It was annoying, but Anagin instinctively sensed that it was only meant to put them to sleep, so he simply sat on the bed and waited.

Oh, he did get up for a moment to grab the tray from the table before sitting back down.

Then he snapped the tray in half, making two pieces, and waited.

A moment later, the door opened. Anagin immediately threw the tray pieces.

Toward the two human shapes visible through the door crack.

—Thud!

But what was this? He threw two pieces, yet only one sound followed.

The piece thrown at the innkeeper stopped in midair, as if an invisible hand had intervened.

“Oh, is that bracelet a magical tool?”

Anagin asked as the bracelet caught his eye.

Maybe because he had spent so much time with the mage Pinku-Pinku, he instinctively understood that the bracelet was a magical tool.

And judging by the innkeeper’s reaction, he wasn’t wrong. The man didn’t deny it, he simply stood there, shocked.

“H-How…?”

‘Thanks to my damn master, that’s how.’

Anagin answered inwardly.

Because of the countless poisons his master had made him ingest, sleeping agents like this didn’t work on him at all.

But he didn’t bother saying that aloud, because he had no intention of making conversation.

Anagin rose from the bed and walked toward the innkeeper.

Judging from that bracelet, it seemed to be a tool that blocked incoming objects, so all he had to do was walk up and beat the man directly.

Whether from fear or something else, the innkeeper remained frozen in place.

Then he twisted his lips into an unpleasant smile.

“You’re a Gigant, aren’t you?”

Procrustes, the innkeeper, had deduced that Anagin was a Gigant.

Only someone with a giant’s power could shrug off sleeping smoke and kill someone with a shard of a tray.

It wasn’t an impressive deduction. What mattered was that even knowing Anagin was a Gigant, Procrustes didn’t run.

It wasn’t simply that his knees had given out. He clearly had something he was confident in.

Anagin noticed that and soon understood exactly what the man was relying on.

[Bind him and restrain him]

Procrustes extended his hand toward Anagin and spoke a command.

For a moment, Anagin wondered what he meant, but then realized the words weren’t directed at him.

They were directed at the bed behind him.

Clatterrrrr—!

At Procrustes’ command, iron chains sprang out from the four corners of the bed where Anagin had been sitting. Four chains, flying like living snakes, intended to bind Anagin.

At that moment, Anagin swept his hand wide and snatched all the flying chains. The four chains coiled tightly around Anagin’s forearm, like a close-enough substitute for their intended target.

In a sense, it was a successful defense, but Procrustes only burst into laughter.

“Hahahaha! Got you!”

“This crap…….”

Anagin tried to break the chains as if they were nothing.

To someone who could uproot trees, crush boulders, and kill beasts with his bare hands, chains shouldn’t have been much.

But they did not break as easily as he expected.

“That bed is a Giant’s Bed! It’s sturdy enough for a giant to use! And so are the chains attached to it! The moment you were caught, it was already over for you!”

Perhaps drunk on victory, Procrustes had begun explaining the name and function of the magical tool even though nobody had asked.

‘A bed sturdy enough for a giant, and the chains are a bonus…’

Not bad.

Anagin himself had been curious what this thing was that was squeezing his arm so tightly, and the explanation was rather helpful.

Creak—creeaak…!

Anagin planted his feet and held firm, refusing to be dragged toward the bed.

“Give up. A Giant’s Bed is strong enough to bind even a Gigant!”

It didn’t seem to be an empty boast.

The pressure from the chains tightening around Anagin’s arm was no joke. At first, they merely squeezed, but the more he resisted, the more they seemed ready to crush him.

The strengthened chains pulled harder and harder, and the bed—bolted to the floor—screamed under the tension with shrill creaking noises.

“Lucky me! To catch a Gigant today of all days! Gigants are worth the most mo—”

—Crack!

Procrustes was shouting excitedly when a sharp sound echoed—like thick wood breaking.

It was the sound of the floorboards beneath the bolted bed being torn up.

The bed might have been strong enough for a giant, but the floor was not. The bed that had been dragging Anagin began to be dragged by Anagin instead.

And with the four chains wrapped around one of his arms like a handle, Anagin swung the entire bed like a massive flail.

Straight toward the excitedly babbling Procrustes.

The Giant’s Bed and Procrustes collided violently.

* * *

“He, heeek…!”

The servant, who had been screaming with a tray shard stuck in his leg, let out another shriek when he saw his master, crushed and mangled by the bed, lying in a heap.

For years, his master had subdued not only ordinary people, but even Gigants and mages through all sorts of strange magical tools. That such a man would be defeated this easily…

“Kuhuk…! Kkeooohh……”

Procrustes, his limbs broken and his body bent out of shape, let out a deflating wheeze as he stretched a hand toward his servant. As if begging to be helped.

But the servant could not help him.

Anagin was approaching—what could he possibly do against that?

“Ah…! Aaah…!”

Seeing Anagin coming closer, the servant tried to crawl away. But with a tray shard lodged deeply in his leg, he couldn’t walk.

He tried to push himself up, but collapsed immediately from the pain.

“Don’t move.”

Just as the servant was about to crawl, Anagin warned him.

Whether it was because of the pain in his leg or the calm, murderous tone in Anagin’s voice, the servant froze in place.

Anagin approached Procrustes and pulled the magical tool off his broken wrist.

“Kkeuk… w-wait……”

Whether because his precious magical tool was being taken or simply because his shattered wrist hurt, Procrustes screamed and begged as he tried to say something.

But Anagin didn’t care. He tossed the bracelet to Sphinx.

“What do you think? Is it a magical tool? Does it look broken?”

Sphinx, who had endured the sleeping gas by purifying it with her robe, caught the bracelet and examined it.

“Mm, it’s definitely a magical tool, and… yeah, looks like it’s broken.”

“Damn.”

“It’s nothing serious, though. It only broke because it tried to block that flying bed. I can fix it.”

“You can?”

Sphinx made an ‘oh no’ face. She had instinctively admitted it—realizing too late that she had just created work for herself.

But she couldn’t take it back now.

So Sphinx admitted she could repair it.

“Good. Fix it and either keep it yourself or give it to the kids.”

“Is that really okay?”

Sphinx asked, surprised.

It wasn’t out of character for Anagin, but it was still unexpected.

A magical tool that could block projectiles, despite its limitations, was incredibly useful. It made more sense for Anagin to keep it.

But the man in question waved dismissively.

“I don’t need it. I found something I like better.”

Anagin lifted the Giant’s Bed—which had fallen to the floor after colliding with Procrustes—and slung it over his shoulder.

Seeing Anagin with a massive bed—large enough for a grown adult to lie on comfortably—hoisted like a club made him look like a giant carrying a boulder. It looked menacing.

“I have a few questions, and I don’t need two mouths explaining things. So, raise your hand if you think you can explain my questions better.”

Calm words yet utterly chilling.

Procrustes, broken and crumpled, and the servant, with a tray shard in his leg, looked at each other.

Their eyes spoke the same thing.

A moment later…

The servant raised his hand slightly faster.

* * *

The servant explained about Procrustes.

“Procrustes is a bandit who uses various magical tools to conduct inn robberies. Normally, he puts his victims to sleep with sleeping gas, but sometimes, for those it doesn’t work on, he subdues them with magical tools.”

“The guests he subdues this way… he strips them of everything they’re wearing and sells them to the Thieves’ Guild.”

“Thieves’ Guild?”

“Yes, recently they expanded their business to human trafficking…. Ah! A-and I was just following orders by force! They happened to need an extra hand…”

The servant, who had been explaining so thoroughly, suddenly realized his mistake and stammered, desperately trying to justify himself.

He had been terrified of Anagin, who had slammed Procrustes onto the bed without hesitation.

Anagin merely nodded.

“I understand.”

“Y-You understand?”

“No, I wasn’t listening to your circumstances. I don’t care about that.”

The servant’s expression twisted.

But there was nothing he could do. Anagin really didn’t care.

What mattered to him now was something else.

“How many ‘Giant Beds’ are there in the inn?”

Anagin wanted to know if there were more of the giant beds that had interfered with him.

The servant answered obediently.

“Just that one. I-I swear.”

“Only one, huh…”

Anagin sounded disappointed, though he had expected it. Well, having more than one of such a valuable item would have been strange anyway. Especially since it was free.

“Where are the other magical tools?”

The servant couldn’t even lie and led him to Procrustes’ room.

Inside were two bags.

“Both are Interspatial Bags. One contains magical tools, and the other…”

The servant trailed off.

Anagin had a pretty good guess.

It must be filled with valuables taken from the guests they’d kidnapped over time.

“A good haul.”

He grabbed the Interspatial Bags and tossed them to Sphinx.

Thanks to quick reflexes, Sphinx caught them perfectly.

“For now, you take care of them.”

“Me?”

Sphinx asked as if unsure.

One bag held immense wealth, and the other contained rare magical tools. Even if Anagin and Sphinx had developed a bond, these weren’t things you’d entrust so easily. The Interspatial Bags themselves were precious.

But to Anagin, they didn’t matter. Right now, something more important demanded his attention.

“Hey.”

“Y-Yes!”

“Where is the Thieves’ Guild?”

“I-I don’t know. I don’t know the exact location either…”

“You traffic people, and you don’t know where it is?”

“I-I really don’t know.”

The servant’s voice trembled as he answered.

When Anagin raised his hand, he shouted almost in panic.

“I-I really don’t know! I swear!! They come to get them! Y-Yes! They come! Mostly at night…!!”

Judging by his reaction, it seemed he was telling the truth.

Anagin thought for a moment, then spoke one last time.

“Are they coming tonight?”

* * *

Stas Polis was bustling every day with countless people coming and going.

However, even such a Stas Polis grew quiet at night.

Because most of the city’s people were asleep.

But the fact that most were asleep meant there were still those who were not.

The prime examples were thieves and the city guards.

Thieves worked at night, while the city guards were there to catch them.

Clang. Clang.

In the back alley of the Bed Inn, one of the large figures who had brought a carriage pulled the rope to ring the inn’s bell.

Normally, he would have pounded on the door, but the inn’s owner was a major client of the guild—someone even the boss could not cross—so he rang the bell politely.

Yet, something felt off.

Normally, a servant working there would have come out immediately, but now no one appeared.

Just as he began to wonder if something had happened—

Thump. Thump….

Footsteps echoed.

“Ah, he’s finally coming out.”

For a moment, a bad feeling flickered through him, but the large man relaxed.

However, something else was strange. The footsteps were very strong and heavy—

Bang!

Just as he was noticing the oddity, something burst through the door and sent him flying.

He crashed into the opposite wall, blood streaming from his head from the sudden calamity.

Yet, there was no time to worry about that, because…

“You’re from the Thieves’ Guild, aren’t you?”

A madman stood there, carrying a bed on his shoulders.

“You’ll have to show me the way.”