Death… and me

Chapter 554: Decadence Region

Roan never had the intention of letting the guy go. First of all, it was pretty obvious what he thought about humans. 

“Now, then. Let’s hear a little bit more about the country and the rest. Have you ever gone to other Empires to see if humans are treated the same way there?”

Frandin couldn’t help but ask.

“Why should I talk if you don’t intend to leave me alive anyway?”

Roan then lifted a finger as Dark Element gathered there. He only needed to send a little bit of it into Frandin’s body for the guy to start screaming in pain. With his cultivation mostly sealed, he couldn’t protect his body against it.

Malaka and Calina were more or less used to Roan’s methods. However, Qia still looked away when she heard the guy begging for mercy. As for Agis, he narrowed his eyes. He wasn’t a soft-hearted person, but even he didn’t know if he could torture someone to that extent.

“Stop! I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you!”

Rean smiled and took back his Dark Element. 

“That’s what I want to hear.”

Frandin looked at Roan with fear in his eyes. He never felt such pain before. He was a young master in Danve City. However, his father made sure to give him rigorous training, so he wasn’t a weakling when it came to pain. However, Roan’s methods were definitely beyond his tolerance.

“I-I don’t know much about the things that happen outside of our Danve City’s territory, so I’ll only be able to give you the basics. That’s because our world is mostly covered in ice all year round, so travel and information sharing are very hard in this environment.”

Roan nodded, not minding it too much.

“So, as I mentioned before, we are in the Palif Empire. This country is called Tasman, which is located on the west side halfway to the border. The country is managed by the Kurian Family. As you can imagine, they are part of our Zasfin Race with very pure bloodlines. They report directly to the Palif Empire’s Capital.”

“I went to the Country’s Capital once five years ago. It’s located slightly north of the country’s center. You better be careful there since they’re very harsh to humans. Your race’s presence there would be considered the same as tarnishing the Capital’s soil, so any human is rarely allowed inside there unless someone with power does so.”

Rean then asked something else.

“What’s this situation with humans? For some reason, it seems like your Zasfin Race hates us quite a lot. It’s not just a problem of strength, or so I think.”

Frandin nodded as he let out a bit of cold sweat while Roan kept his eyes on him.

“This is just something I heard about. I have no way to prove it, though. Anyway, it’s stated that far back in the past, both races lived together. However, the human race betrayed us and tried to take the world for itself, forcing us into slavery. They ambushed our leaders and put us in dire straights.”

“However, they greatly underestimated our Zasfin Race’s Soul connection power. By using our abilities to our favor, we were able to slowly revert the situation until, finally, the human race lost the war. Even though we were at a disadvantage, our bloodline superiority still prevailed. From then on, the Zasfin Race imposed the same rules on the humans who wanted to make us their slaves. Of course, this is just what the legend said. Even my father doesn’t know how many thousands of years in the past it had happened or if it happened at all. All we know is that humans must never be left to run amok ever again.”

Rean and the others fell into silence. Surprisingly, none of them found it difficult to believe that legend. After all, they were all humans, and they knew very well how greedy humans can become. Back in Sunkan Planet, slavery was quite a rare sight. Very few countries in the Sasamil Empire used it. Nevertheless, humans were able to do it with other humans, let alone others.

Roan then mentioned.

“Of course, this is only one side of the story. Frandin, as far as I can see, your Zasfin Race doesn’t look very amicable either. I doubt that you would act all compassionate if humans and Zasfins didn’t have this status between them.”

Frandin nodded, not daring to deny Roan’s words.

“As I said, it was just what the legend said. We simply don’t even waste our time thinking whether it was true or not. Our society is already used to use humans as their workers, pets, dummies, etc. It might make you all angry, but I doubt it will ever change. At the very least, it definitely won’t change any time soon.”

Everyone nodded. Culture couldn’t be changed in a day or two. Rean himself had human history to back his beliefs. Just how long did humans of Earth use slavery on their own people? In a certain way, slavery was only over because Earth’s people marched into the modern era extremely fast. Otherwise, chances were that it would be happening even to this day. Let alone a medieval world like this one where every inch of land was harsh on its people.

Malaka then asked Frandin.

“Could it be that all the Zasfin Race think that way? Is there really no safe place for humans to live in this world?”

Frandin shook his head as he replied.

“There is one place.”

“What is it?”

Frandin continued.

“My father told me once that there’s this one country located at the borders of the Palif, Gorea, and Usuk Empires. It’s also known as the Decadence Region. It’s a very small region, like a single star in the skies at night. However, he told me that this is a country where humans can roam free… errr… No, not exactly free…”

Rean’s group had puzzled expressions on their face. With that, Rean asked.

“What do you mean?”

Frandin narrowed his eyes and continued.

“It would be more correct to say that they’re prisoners. There are no laws in that place, so humans can show their true horrible selves there. This is a world where the strong rule. However, the humans brought this rule a step further in that place. Anyone there can literally die for the smallest of issues… or so my father said and a few of my clan elders. It’s something about leaving that place intact as an example so that the Zasfin Race will never become so wretched like that.”

Agis pondered for a bit about those words.

“In other words, the humans in that place can never leave that country. But as long as you’re strong enough, you can live there however you like.”

Frandin nodded.

“That’s how I heard it was. From the looks of it, humans are sent to that country every time their numbers go down because of the killing. Also, the borders are tightly guarded by all three countries. Once you enter, you can’t leave anymore.”

Roan narrowed his eyes.

“Are you telling us we should spend our lives imprisoned there?”

Frandin let out cold sweat once more when he heard Roan’s voice.

“I-It’s just that with your cultivation, I thought you would be one of the rulers there. A-After all, the rest of the world will never allow your presence.”

Everyone fell into deep thought at that moment. Would it be a good thing to go to such a place?