Talent-Swallowing Magician - Chapter 269

Part 2 Episode 9

The evil clan

The evil clan.

Since the distant past, various speculations and inferences have always been made about them.

Although there were very few opinions that they were no different from ordinary people.

-A race so vicious that even demons abandoned it.

-In fact, they are monsters of the human world who hide their power and act as spies among humans.

Most of the thoughts directed at them were negative.

and.

It was also intertwined with various conspiracy theories.

-I heard that Hung’s clan is plotting a rebellion in the dark.

-Someone said that they saw the mastermind behind the serial murder case that occurred in the capital not long ago entering the house where Hyeong’s family was staying.

-It is said that whenever a territory war breaks out, Hung’s family acts as a war merchant and makes money.

Naturally, after such rumors spread, many people, especially those belonging to the Hung family or related to them, were hung on the scaffold.

discrimination.

contempt.

Oppression.

massacre.

The treatment of the Hung family was always the same.

Nothing much has changed even now that the era of instinct and barbarism has passed and the era of reason and rationality has arrived.

The Hungry clan is still an evil people who curse the village, summon demons, and kidnap virgins.

Because of this, the Hung clan had to live a wandering life without being able to settle down anywhere on the continent.

As a result, the majority of the Hung clan often chose merchants who moved from place to place as their occupation rather than farmers who lived a settled life.

The thing that the Hungry family, whose lives were threatened at every moment, chose for the minimum level of self-protection was ‘money’.

You had to have money to buy weapons, and you had to have money to hire mercenaries.

Therefore, their desire for survival naturally led to the desire for money.

The problem is that in the meantime, the number of people who open banks and engage in usury has increased significantly.

There were many people who borrowed money from them, ended up in debt, and ended up going bankrupt.

Among them were many nobles.

There were no legal problems.

However, the gaze of the ‘precious people’ was not at all like that.

Got a lot of debt?

If you are in debt to live extravagantly, there is no way to repay it. So naturally, there was only one way the nobles could do it.

Fraudulently accusing a creditor of an appropriate crime and then beheading him.

And furthermore, robbing that property.

Since they were an evil people to begin with, there would be no one to plead with them even if they were killed like that.

This method even had the justification of building an evil nation, so it was a great way to solidify one’s political position.

“…In fact, among the nobles who lined up for the 4th Prince in that way, there were quite a few who were heavily in debt to their clans and were on the verge of provisional seizure.”

“It’s an obvious story. “It also serves as a medium for faction unity, so it kills three birds with one stone.”

Elric felt a little tired from listening to his complaints.

‘I don’t think there is any connection between the Hungry clan and the Zeraitz.’

However, I kept it all in my memory because I thought there might be some useful information in his story.

Mord lowered his head, remembering the pitiful ecology of his clan that was nothing more than a means of use.

“It’s a medium… That’s right.”

Mephisto clicked his tongue lightly as he watched from the side.

『How did the evil clan get to that point? It would have been better a thousand years ago.』

[A thousand years ago?]

『Yes. At that time, the evil clan was a problem even for the demons. Because they were just very slutty guys. There were only those evil-minded people who thought they had to return two blows if they got hit once, so it was so annoying.』

Mephisto’s gaze towards Mord was not so kind.

『But now that guy… he looks like a sick chicken dying.』

[I guess it wasn’t much different back then than it is now?]

『Do you think human habits can be changed so easily?』

No, Mephisto’s gaze is probably not at Morde but at all humans. It might have been aimed at.

『Well, thanks to that, the Hungry clan stuck to our side and helped us a lot in growing our power. Those guys must have felt at ease back then, right?』

Elric nodded.

In fact, it was like a vicious cycle spinning around.

Blood becomes increasingly diluted as time passes.

Now it’s just a very weak magical power, no different from that of an ordinary person.

Meanwhile, the indelible stigma of being an evil people was placed on the entire clan.

The resentment that had been felt from the beginning was accelerated by usury.

As resentment builds up, it leads to oppression of the family, and oppression leads to obsession with money…

‘It seems like there weren’t that many people who actually became usurers.’

In fact, it doesn’t really matter whether the evil clan is evil or not.

What people need is just an easy target to blame and criticize.

The evil family was just unluckily branded as the target. Nobles and royal families also continue to instigate conflict between the people and the evil clans, and only take advantage of the conflict.

Everything is just a script with defined roles.

‘Actually, it would be best for me to just withdraw from here…’

It was a clan that had been persecuted for over a thousand years.

I felt like I would be in trouble if I accepted such an evil family now.

Especially because of my relationship with Chrome Hell.

It wasn’t something Elric was particularly hoping for at the moment, but in fact, he was classified as Cromhel’s closest confidant in the political world.

Now, not only is there no one who doesn’t know the close relationship between the two, but they also had a common denominator: their conflict with Zereitz.

‘Actually, the royal family members are trying their best to break things apart.’

Even after the success of the Star Wars, the rift continued.

At the same time, he was almost disillusioned with the imperial family, which freely used Mervinger’s name when it was needed.

‘But anyway, a relationship is a relationship. ‘You shouldn’t take it easy.’

Therefore, Elric’s worries could not help but deepen.

The burden on Elric’s shoulders was already too great to speak of social justice.

and.

Even if it wasn’t intentional, if you just turn a blind eye to this incident, the amount of beans will drop considerably.

But…

‘Fuck. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be a bully, right?’

It wouldn’t have mattered if I didn’t know before and didn’t know afterward, but I already knew the whole situation.

Moreover, if he later hears that Mord’s family is injured, he will no longer have the honor of meeting the Camellia God again.

More than anything.

He did not want to be an embarrassed grandson in front of his grandfather, who was a hero.

“So, since when did I start thinking about and considering everything one by one?”

There was nothing he wouldn’t do to establish a family, but in the end, Elric was a Mervinger.

When I decided to help, I felt much relieved.

Thanks to this, I remembered what I had to do first.

‘First of all, I’ll have to check it out with my own eyes because there might be something else I don’t know about yet.’

Elric thought as he glanced at Mord, who was hard at work driving the carriage.

* * *

A few days later.

Wow-

“We’ve arrived.”

A carriage led by Mord stopped in front of the village.

“This is…”

Elric burst out laughing when he saw the village scene seen beyond the carriage.

‘I’ve heard it a lot, but… it’s more serious than I thought.’

The place Mord guided us to was not just a slum.

The largest slum in the southeastern part of the empire.

It was a place called a slum for the poor, avoided even by the poor.

Runaways from the Kingdom Alliance, wounded soldiers who were forced to retire and become useless, prisoners who escaped, orphans, poor people, etc.

A holiday in a lawless area where various lower class people gather.

The name of this place was very famous even within the empire.

‘The place where all kinds of dissatisfied people in society gather the most. As a single region, it is the place where rebellions occur most frequently… I heard that the Empire has tried to clean up the area, but they have all failed, right?’

Elric narrowed his eyes.

‘A place like this would definitely be a good place to hide from persecution.’

Everything is collapsing. No, there were endless shabby houses that had already collapsed.

But there seemed to be an order of its own within it.

The houses that seemed to be in good condition or that had large square footage were occupied by men who looked like they were very strong.

Places that looked a little precarious were occupied by former soldiers or mercenaries who were missing some of their limbs.

But that only applies to those in the upper ranks.

People of lower rank, such as the elderly, women, and children, could not even get this, so they sat out on the streets or lived in groups of dozens in huts made of woven straw.

A city driven by a thorough logic of power.

It seems like it would be difficult to survive together. On the contrary, they were bullying each other more viciously.

‘It’s a mess, it’s a mess.’

Tsk.

Elric clicked his tongue. He thought it looked a lot like the current empire.

Then I glanced at Mord.

Sad eyes.

Mord pretended not to notice the look in Elric’s eyes and spoke as if making an excuse.

“Originally, when you hide a rotten apple, you have to hide it in a pile of rotten garbage so no one can find it.”

It was thought to be a reasonable enough statement.

“So, the entire Hung clan is staying here?”

“No, we don’t know how long the clan stays here. “To begin with, there are so many people living in society who lie about their social status…”

“So you’re saying that even you can’t figure out the exact number?”

“yes. Still, many people, including my family, live here. “This is also the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the Empire and the Union.”

“But you wouldn’t be able to make a living here?”

In a place like this wasteland where there was nothing left, there was no way there would be anything left even if we took things from each other.

“So people who go out send living expenses here every month. “The family has to make a living somehow.”

Mord continued speaking with a bitter smile as if he was embarrassed.

“Still, it is my precious hometown.”

Mord showed a strange sense of pride and affection for this place.

“Okay, well…”

Elric seemed shocked by that sight and didn’t say anything more.

“Oh, and there’s one thing I want to tell you… I hope you never move outside of the holidays without me or my family accompanying me.”

“why? “Are you afraid that someone will harm me?”

When Elric tilted his head, Mord looked at him as if he was dumbfounded.

“…If someone gets hit by Elric, they will get hit, but I don’t think Elric will get hit, right?”

“Then why me?”

“The situation here is a bit complicated…”

Mord continued his explanation with a very troubled expression.

Holidays were a lawless area where many criminals of all kinds gathered, so there was no security.

As a result, all kinds of prisoners began to gather together to survive.

Naturally, factions arose and there were many wars among themselves.

And in the case of new recruits coming in from outside, they were nothing more than fresh food.

Naturally, the moment Elric was walking around alone for the first time, he was likely to become a target.

And if that happens…

“Isn’t it clear that people in my hometown will be killed or injured?”

Elric responded in an absurd tone to Mord, who was worried about the attacker rather than the attacker.

“So you weren’t worried about me?”

“sorry. “Can you please understand?”

Elric nodded when Mord said this.

“Okay, I kind of know what you mean.”

Faaah!

Then he suddenly turned back, grabbed someone by the back, and lifted them up.

“Let go! Let go of this!”

A little child struggling to escape from Elric’s grasp.

“In the end, there are a lot of people like this, right?”

The child’s hand came out of Elric’s inner pocket.

It was a pickpocket.

Wizard who swallowed talent