What? I Actually Reincarnated As Stepping Stone In Another World?

Arthur, with the little girl in his arms—which was Elena—and with bodyguards guarding his front and back, walked down the dark underground passage.

The hallway was quite long and dark, and at the end of it there were many metal doors.

"Young Master, this is where the slaves are imprisoned by the black market merchants."

One of the guards walking in front of Arthur said so respectfully.

Hearing this, Arthur nodded and put Elena on the ground first.

He looked at Elena's face full of wounds, now gone completely.

However, her face was still pale, and it could be seen from her current condition that it would probably take one to two days for her to wake up.

Arthur pinched her cheek with a gentle smile that appeared on his face and immediately stood up to look at the two guards behind him.

"Please take care of her; I will check on the prisoners there," Arthur said in a serious tone, as if it happened to Elena, the two guards would pay a heavy price.

"Don't worry, young master; leave it to us." The two guards replied confidently.

They knew that this little girl was probably the purpose of the young master going this time.

Moreover, seeing the actions of the young master, who seemed very careful with the little girl, how could they dare?

"Alright, I'll leave it to you guys," Arthur replied lightly, and he immediately walked to the door.

Of course, he had two purposes for wanting to come to the slaves' holding cell.

The first was to rescue these slaves; after all, this was an illegal business, and the slave trade was not legal.

So he had an obligation to save them as the future heirs to Duke Asvold's mansion.

And secondly, it was of course his most important goal to find the key character in the story!

In addition to Elena, another significant character in the novel was also captured and held by the same slave trader.

This character is not only important in Abel's growth, but very important!

This character's name is Lucia Balka, the first princess of the Balka Empire.!

Towards the end of the arc of the Balka Empire, Abel was finally able to take control of the Balka Empire, thanks to Lucia's intervention!

Lucia plays a crucial role in helping Abel take over the Balka Empire towards the end of the arc.

Also, Lucia, who is the heroine in addition to her sister Alicia Asvold, is an important help to Abel.

Arthur knew this because, in the novel, Lucia had mentioned it when she was with Abel.

She said that when she was five years old, slave traders abducted her and kept her imprisoned in a dark room for over two weeks.

Incidentally, when he killed the bald fat man, he saw a dark black sun symbol in his left pocket, which was a badge.

This also made him immediately recall Lucia's story in the novel.

This made Arthur decide to try his luck—if the person who kidnapped Lucia was the same as the fat bald man, wouldn't he hit the jackpot?

Gain the favor of the future Empress of the Balka Empire!

And how did Lucia, who was guarded by the mighty ones of the Balka Empire, end up being kidnapped?

The drama that previously existed in his world was, of course, a murderous plot.

And the person behind all of Lucia's kidnapping schemes was Emperor Balka's second wife.

Emperor Balka, who lavished attention on Lucia and paid no attention to the second daughter—her daughter—left her feeling unsatisfied.

In addition, Emperor Balka, who had no sons from his three marriages, determined right away that Lucia would be the heir to the throne and planned to make the news when she was seven years old—two years from then!

However, Arthur knew that it all had a hidden purpose and Emperor Balka's affection for Lucia was false!

Arthur was frightened, though, as he was aware of how false Emperor Balka's affection for Lucia was.

Because this is all a pretty deep lie that is finally discovered by Lucia at the end of the arc.

It is said that Lucia had the opportunity that Emperor Balka so desperately wanted in the story.

The novel does not specify what Emperor Balka's motives were for believing that Lucia had the opportunity, but it is implied that he did so for his own benefit and to launch an attack on the Supreme Elemental Realm.

In a way, he's the ultimate villain and final boss in this arc.

Even Arthur in the novel is a cunning mastermind one level below Emperor Balka.

It's not surprising that someone in the top position in this world would be cunning and ruthless.

This includes Emperor Balka himself, who is known for being very cunning and cruel in the novel.

Soon, Arthur walked and looked inside the door of the holding cell where the slaves were held, and he was immediately surprised that the slaves were not only of the human race but also of various races!

Elves, and even monster races too!

It was amazing that these slave traders had such a powerful force to acquire them.

It's not for nothing that the continents are so far apart!

Even a person of Elemental Saint level would take more than a year with their space leaping power.

After all, at the stage of the Elemental saint, using the power of space was still very limited.

However, it would be different if it were someone with a special core element, namely the space element attribute.

A person with a space element core can easily control space, as if the power of space were his own.

In fact, even without being at the Elemental Saint level, a person with a space core could tear through space and teleport like a person in the Elemental Saint realm!

This shows how terrifying a person with a space core can be.

However, a person with a space core was extremely rare and could even be said to only exist in fairy tales due to the rarity of space cores.

Immediately, Arthur noticed the slaves, who wore sad faces as if they could die at any moment.

Their necks were in chains, and there were many wounds from the torture of the group of criminals.

Seeing this, Arthur frowned and decided to free them first.

Although he could be said to be quite cruel to his enemies, he still had a soft heart.

"You immediately open this prisoner's door and free the slaves inside."

"Also, return them to where they came from, and for the prisoners who are of a different race to us, we will gather them at my mansion beforehand."

"Do it at midnight; after that, wait for my next order." Arthur looked at the two guards behind him and spoke sharply.

After all, non-human races were heavily discriminated against on the human continent, and he did not want non-human slaves to attract unwanted attention in public, which could cause trouble for him.

Therefore, he was unwilling to reveal them.

This made him completely unwilling to do so.

"As you command, young master!" The guard bowed respectfully, and he immediately walked towards the prisoner's door.

*Boom!

He suddenly mobilized his aura and punched the door, which caused the door to shatter and caused a huge noise.

Smoke was also scattered everywhere in the hallway.

Seeing this, Arthur, who had walked to the corner, could not help but twitch his mouth slightly, but he did not care.

The slaves who had been looking dead-eyed also immediately turned their eyes towards the explosion and were shocked.

"Everyone!"

"Don't worry!"

"I've come to save you!"

The guard entered the prisoner's room and shouted loudly.

Hearing the word "free" caused them all to go crazy with excitement.

Their dead eyes also gained a sparkle.

"We're free!"

"We can finally be free!"

The shouts of the few slaves also made the other slaves, who were still shocked, come to their senses, and tears appeared in their eyes—tears of joy!

"We are finally free!"

"Mother, father! I will return to you soon!"

"Wooo! Free!"

The slaves shouted hysterically, and Arthur, who witnessed this, also smiled gently.

Somehow, seeing this made him very happy in his heart.

Sure enough, his gentle heart had not changed at all from his previous life.

Soon the slaves walked out in a daze, and there was still disbelief in their eyes.

However, for those who did not belong to the human race, their joy was not too great because they were captured and taken to a place they did not know where they were, let alone to the human continent where their existence would be discriminated against!

Soon all the slaves bowed respectfully to the guard.

"Thank you!"

"We will always remember your kindness." The slaves bowed very low.

Seeing this, the guard smiled awkwardly, and his eyes looked at Arthur, who was hiding at the end of the hall so that his figure was completely invisible to the slaves.

Arthur nodded lightly as if to say, "Do as planned."

And the guard nodded in understanding and began to organize according to Arthur's plan.

Arthur walked over to the two guards guarding the unconscious Elena.

"You guys help him and ask him what to do since I already told him."

The two guards nodded and walked over to help their partner organize the slaves.

Arthur quickly picked up Elena, who was still unconscious, and began to observe if there was a little girl with blonde hair that matched Lucia's description in the novel.

However, unfortunately, he did not find her in the crowd of slaves.

"Was I wrong?" Arthur muttered in his heart, and he was a little unwilling.

Because Lucia was a great help and it was a very good thing for him to attack the Balka empire.

Immediately, he noticed a room hidden in the gap between the two doors, and his eyes sharpened as he gazed in that direction.

He then asked inwardly, "Is it...?"

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By the way, the monster race here is in human form because it is said that at a certain age, they can change their appearance to become human-like, and the chains that bind them have the ability to seal their mana.

Hoam I was exhausted right now~