The establishments are filled with noise, no doubt revelry, and enjoyment centered around the district who folks of every background would partake with gambling, drinking, and other actions that fulfill their debased worldly needs. 

In one particular building, the Joker's Enterprise, people are witnessed to be gambling to their heart's content inside. Every table is occupied with patrons who waste their gold coins in their respective table games for a chance to earn even more in return. 

Although the patrons' fun was suddenly interrupted when they all heard someone barging in at the door. They were all instantly baffled upon seeing the renowned Guard Captain herself with a squadron of her fellow guards making themselves known. Additionally, the intense serious look of the beautiful captain herself spoke a mult.i.tude of volumes that she truly meant business here in this establishment that everyone found themselves in. No doubt, things are going to get rather hectic around here with the guards' presence.

Guard Captain Madeleine cleared her throat loudly to catch everyone's attention as she made her announcement. "As per authority by the good Count of Flocaster, I want everyone to kindly vacate the premises immediately. We have clear pieces of evidence that this establishment that all of you are frequenting on also deal in slavery."

Defiance is definitely not an option for the civilians as they all got up and immediately left the building. They all very much know the consequences of challenging the authority of the guards and thought it would be best to comply with their orders without question. That, and the slavery statement caught the civilians off-guard, knowing that slavery is highly frowned upon in Whitemoor and was tantamount to a life sentence in the dark dungeons where the offender would never get to witness the light of the sun ever again.

The occupants of the gambling den quickly departed, not wanting to stay here any longer now that the truth has finally come out. Of course, some people opted to be uncooperative and stayed, like the proprietor of the establishment together with his band of mercenaries who he has summoned and eventually surrounded the guards in the whole proximity.

"What's the meaning of this captain!?"

A dwarf made his presence known as he was seen on top of the second floor near the stair railings that overlooked the entirety of the guards below him. He was clad in greyscale mail armor. What's rather unique about the dwarf is his one blinded eye on the right with a scar, a clear mark of injury that he has attained in one of his past battles. In short, the dwarven warrior figure appeared to be menacing and won't hesitate to go down without a fight, guard, or not. 

The rest of the mercenaries are equipped with various kinds of equipment, ranging from leather armors to chainmail. Three of them from the group are witnessed to be also dressed in robes, showcasing the mercenary mages who are right beside the dwarf above, ready to unleash their spell with a single word from their commander.

"Iron-eye," Madeleine uttered the slaver dwarf's name with disdain as she set her gazes above. "We have sufficient proof that you and your cohorts of goons have been dealing with the slavery business here in town. By the authority of the Count, I hereby arrest you and anyone who is a.s.sociated with charges of slavery. Come with us in peace, and you shall be treated with the humane rights of a prisoner."

Iron-eye

Level 28

Health: 3,741 / 3,741

Stamina: 2,214 / 2,214

Mana: 400 / 400

"Slavery, you say?" Iron-eye chuckled in amus.e.m.e.nt. "On what basis if I may ask? If this evidence that you speak of is simply about the baseless rumors that circulate around me here in town, that I'm afraid that you are making a huge mistake in this pointless venture of yours."

"Oh, we have the evidence, alright." Madeleine crossed her arms with a scowl, very much unfitting indeed to her attractive face. "We have been tipped by someone extremely reliable of your dishonorable affairs around a month ago. As a result, I have dispatched some agents to investigate and spy on you and this establishment of yours for the said period. Indeed, what we found is quite disturbing, and justice demands that you surrender yourself this instant."

"Is that so?" Iron-eye was not even fazed off, displaying remarkable deadly calmness amidst the pressure of lawful authority. "Then it appears that we have nothing further to talk about. I suppose that it's all that fool Stephen's fault for this predicament of mine now, is it? After all, that insufferable n.o.ble b.a.s.t.a.r.d has been the bane of my existence and wanted nothing more than my downfall."

"It matters not who it is," Madeleine answered. "Choose your next words wisely Iron-eye, it may either spell your doom or trial, the latter choice I highly suggest since you'll still be leaving with your life intact. Better than nothing."

"Heh, and if you think that I'll be giving up easily just like that, then you are horribly mistaken, Captain," Iron-eye stated with opposition. Shortly after, he quickly gave the signal to his mercenaries to attack.

Madeleine and the guards instantly reacted as the three mages of Iron-eye all readied their respective projectile spells to blast the guards to smithereens. Of course, Madeleine, thanks to her extensive preparations for this operation, antic.i.p.ated magic in this scenery. As a result, she also brought a squad of Mages with her. The City guard of Flocaster also employed magic within their ranks to counter criminals who resorted to the same method. There are only a few of them, these magic-users are also trained in close combat quarters, similar to their Warrior counterparts, and are wearing a robed variant of the normal guard armor. The Guard Mages compromising five of them are seen within the squadron and two of them who are u003cElementalistsu003e cast a defensive lightning barrier to counter-initiate the offensive spell of the Mercenary Mages. 

Guard-Mages are only a few in numbers in any guard organizations is because Mages prefer to seclude themselves in tomes and magic activities rather than perform the normal guard duties that are quite physically unfitting for them. After all, being an official Mage at the University is what most magic-users dream and not being a common city guard. 

After the initial attack, the Guard-Mages turned the barrier off as it's Mana consuming on their part. And with that, the mercenaries all charged in with their respective weaponry to fight off the city guards. 

The sound of steel clas.h.i.+ng loudly with one another can now be heard as the skirmish of guards and mercenaries began. Different Magic attacks were traded between Mages of both sides while the physical fighters all fought fiercely with weapon to weapon. Both forces appeared to be almost equal in battle skill, having an average level of twenty. The guards outnumbered the mercenaries by one is to three though, so it will only be a matter of time before the mercenaries will eventually succ.u.mb to defeat.

Nevertheless, this is not the main issue.

Madeleine gritted her teeth in frustration at this as a random mercenary came to her and initiated a sword fight with her. As the Guard Captain, she is more than capable of fending herself off against an average fighter and emerging victorious. Meaning the mercenary that she's now dealing with is of no concern. The real issue however is Iron-eye himself as Madeleine saw the dwarf retreating down at the eastern staircase, making his way into a door that's located on the first floor. No doubt, Iron-eye's intention is to use his men as a cover for his get-away.

"That slippery little wh.o.r.eson!!" Madeleine swiftly bashed the mercenary's skull with her kite s.h.i.+eld, sending the poor sod down for the count due to the impact. She then faced two of the closest guards in her vicinity. "You two, with me!!"

"Yes, Captain!!" One of the guards spoke as he and his partner complied with their superior officer and accompanied her in capturing Iron-eye.

The trio of guards is now in pursuit of the Slaver leader, swatting out any adversaries who dared to stop them. Madeleine's prowess with the sword and s.h.i.+eld is exceptional in this part, pus.h.i.+ng away the mercenaries with powerful pummel blows. 

Entering the door where Iron-eye entered, Madeleine and her two guards saw the dwarf himself running away from her and going to a staircase that was leading down. Beside the staircase on both directions are additional two mercenaries who opted to fight the guards off to ensure Iron-eye's successful escape.

The two mercenaries gripped their blades as they dashed forth into the guard trio. Madeleine's two guards instantly reacted as they met their respective adversaries with their very own swords to take up the mercenaries' challenge.

"Captain, we'll deal with them, we can't let that dwarven cur escape!!" One of the guards told Madeleine as he and his mercenary opponent are in a combat stalemate of sword clas.h.i.+ng. 

Madeleine simply nodded in understanding as she left her two faithful guards and went alone downstairs to perform the deed personally of catching Iron-eye. Hopefully, the dwarf has not gone too far.

Descending by the stairs, Madeleine eventually found herself deeper until she reached what it seemed to be a huge bas.e.m.e.nt. She deduced that this must be the slave den where Iron-eye would keep his mortal merchandise in his sick business.

Madeleine kept on going nonstop forward until she saw something that made her blood boil with intense rage. 

Numerous individuals of diverse races are seen to be chained and restricted in many cages in Madeleine's vicinity. Their clothing deprived them of any basic rights, consisted of dirty ragged attires that downgraded them in every way possible. The most notable feature is a metal collar seen in their necks. The collar is engraved with magic runes, and Madeleine's eyes widened with surprise as she recognized the demeaning accessories that they wore.

'The Collar of Subjugation.' Madeleine's anger skyrocket even higher at this mortifying sight. 'A magical collar use to ensure unwavering subjection to the one wearing it. Whenever a slave would defy its master's orders, he or she would be tormented with unimaginable pain and suffering with the form of agonizing electrocution. Iron-eye is definitely a heartless b.a.s.t.a.r.d, and if I had my way, painful death is a fitting punishment for sc.u.m like him.'

[+2 CHAOS], [+1 GOOD]

The slaves all looked at Madeleine with wary behind their cages. Madeleine understood their fear and asked them calmly. "I am with the city guard and here to arrest your slaver, Iron-eye. Do you know where he is?"

Upon hearing Madeleine's statement, the slaves thankfully had their fears subsided as they breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that they'll be rescued anytime soon. Despite the slaves' relieved reaction, they still did not answer the captain's question as another kind of fear rose up to entangled them like how a spider would trap its prey before devouring them.

"I see." Madeleine appeared to recognize the slaves' predicament quickly. "You can't answer because Iron-eye ordered you to not reveal his escape route in any way. Tsk, He's even more cunning than I thought."

"I hate to break it up to you, madame, but Iron-eye already most likely made his escape by now." One of the slaves, an old human male, spoke up with a weak voice. "I can't reveal where he is exactly due to the collar that binds us like animals, but all I know is that the bas.e.m.e.nt here has hidden switches that opened up a secret pa.s.sage to the outskirts of town. I know this because I overheard some mercenaries talking about it in the past."

"d.a.m.n it!!" Madeleine clicked her tongue in utter frustration at failing to catch the mastermind in the end. Thankfully, not all is lost since she managed to secure the slaves and rescue them from their grim fate. "At least all of you are safe. I'll bring down my men here so that we can free you, right after we deal with the mercenaries."

Thankfully, the old slave who revealed the information was not subjected to a shocking torment because he technically told Madeleine only about the structure of the bas.e.m.e.nt, and that's it. Meaning, the collar is not exactly that complex in handing out its punishment unless the slaver or master chose to do so in the form of an order.

The guards may not have caught Iron-eye tonight, but at the very least, the slavery operation has put to an indefinite halt here in Flocaster, which is still significant progress in the path to spreading justice in all of Whitemoor.

***

"C-commander!!!"

The very next day early in the morning, Madeleine herself came barging in at her superior's office with a flabbergasted look, causing the man himself to wonder what this is all about that caused the usually serious Guard captain to act all riled up like this.

"Captain." The commander, a man in his early fifties with black hair, answered. "What's wrong?"

"I-it's Iron-eye, sir." Madeleine stuttered a bit on her tone, rather unbecoming of her. 

"Ah, so you have finally caught him, then? That was fast, right after you reported such failure yesterday." The commander responded with intrigue.

"No, sir, but it would be best that I show you instead, right at the town square," Madeleine said with a severe expression.

When the commander now saw Madeleine's appearance turned extremely grave, he knew that such matter that she is currently reporting bear no humor and bulls.h.i.+t. He immediately complied with his subordinate's request and followed her to the town square as they made their way outside of the headquarters, going to Trade Town where the place is located. 

When both guards arrived at the town square, they also witnessed a huge crowd at their proximity, no doubt here for whatever interesting sight that has in store for them.

As the commander saw what the ruckus is actually all about, what greeted him definitely has caught him off-guard, a sight that is not considered pleasant to see, especially in the presence of the children around.

It was the decapitated bloodied head of none other than Iron-eye himself stabbed into a pike that's standing tall right at the very center of the town square.