Kuro no Maou

The 22nd of the month of frozen earth.

"Mmm-hmm."

And I snuggle my upbeat toddler, Lily, and walk through the town of Rockwell today.

I'm not a wacko playing. Finally tomorrow the ship, the Greater Atlas III, sails for Carlamara. By the end of the day, I will have completely replenished things I forgot to buy, consumables, etc.

Well, I'm taking Lily out for the two of us, which also means like a half date. Yesterday, yesterday, there was also Fiona's meat jaga shock, so I was almost just dealing with her.

In doing so, Lily was in a bad mood, which may sound bad, but she's definitely with Lily today anyway.

Lily is in a good mood, wearing a petal-like white cape, which Sariel was recommended in a brand store yesterday. Of course, it's my present.

Pretty pricey piece of stuff, but don't lick the financial power of a Rank 5 adventurer. And I'm sure Lily, who owns the spaceship Shangri-La, will also have personal assets far beyond me.

"Chrono, I went that way next time -"

"All right, let's go."

As they say, I walk with the princess in my arms.

For the past three days, I've learned a little bit about the streets thanks to walking out of Rockwell. But the main thing is only a stand-up street for inns and guilds.

Speaking of which, I think on my way to the neighborhood that Lily's indicated was never here yet.

That should certainly have been a more general commercial compartment.

We, the Rank 5 Adventurers, basically use high-ranking luxury stores and so on. I don't mean to be expensive, but if you have enough money, it's normal to use the right store.

Service is good, of course, and extra trouble rarely happens in places like this. Safety and security is something worth paying for.

It was such a wack that I never bothered to stop by because there was no particular errand in the place where shops for the general public stood. But if it's purely about enjoying exotic feelings, then places like this would also be ants at all.

I can feel more like the country's sense of life or the air than a small, beautiful place for the rich's leftovers. I also have an image of veteran travelers seeking that way of enjoying themselves.

I don't have that much focus on me, but, well, sometimes this is a good idea.

With that in mind, he stepped into a more cluttered commercial compartment.

Outdoor shops and markets spread disorderly, while also increasing the number of people. Yeah, the lewdness of realizing that the harbor street was pretty classy.

"It's a dig from Carla Mara! If you miss this opportunity, you won't get it anymore!

"Ugh, you're not selling crap!

"Oh, my God. Cora!

To an obnoxious calling, an anger of quarrel. Is it a daily tea thing here, to the extent that the bloody men have started beating each other up, no one makes a scene. To the extent that you don't die, to the extent that you don't have any sequelae, the more you will enjoy the fight.

If we're not killing each other, I don't need to be particularly concerned. But the noise of frequent fights still doesn't calm you down very much.

"Haha, it's really just crap"

In addition to the outdoor stores that are the starting point of the fight, there are many other stores that deal with items that say they were excavated from the dungeons of Carla Mara. From me, it just looks like a broken earthenware or a broken mechanical part, and I don't know which one is worth it.

"Does Lily know which is better?

"Nah, ah, I'm a storm rifle magazine, so I can use it for a bit! But Shangri-La is full, so you don't have to buy it."

If you look closely, there's a familiar rectangular part. I see, is this kind of mixed up too?

"Maybe we really have some digging to do"

In a slight treasure hunting mood, hold Lily and explore the open air.

He spurred a wave of people, thrust through obnoxious discounts, thru frigid beggars, thrilled back sleds, and went around the market for about two hours while experiencing considerable insecurity.

Well, the achievement...

"Hmm, you're brilliantly full of crap"

"But the material is fine."

I couldn't find any magic equipment (magic items) with great ancient power, but even crap that I couldn't use, I found and bought a few things made of quality materials.

A small metal rusty box containing, albeit in small quantities, Divine Iron (Orihalcon). Something like a dull piece of glass is an artificial crystal with high magic conductivity. The object on the stuck mysterious disc of the prominent parts in red blue and yellow can be this and each part is all a real demon stone.

Like that, it's a crap that doesn't do any good on its own, but the material itself bought a few things that contained rare things.

Of course, it's all due to Lily's eyesight. I had no idea.

"Is it time for lunch?

"Shh!

It's time for lunch. Walk back to the front street from here and it will be just in time.

So it was just then that I started walking.

"Mi, water......"

In a blurred voice, a fluttering footed boy reached out to me and grabbed a feathered blue cape.

It doesn't look like a sleigh. The boy looks naughty, and his face and coarse clothes wrapped around him are thinly dirty.

"Hey, are you okay? You want some water?

She also looks pale and doesn't look very healthy. This temperature-resistant sun and dehydration may be on the verge. Then you should just give it a glass of water, rather than worrying.

Sorry I almost drank it, but the water just in the water bottle in the skin bag still leaves more than half, so I'll give it to him as it is.

"Oh, oh... thank you, thank you"

When the boy received the water bottle I offered him, he said a word of thanks with an irresistible smile, at that moment.

"What the fuck, you fucking kid!!

Gatsun, and made a blunt noise, and the boy was beaten from behind.

The momentum has fallen, the water bottle in my hand has tumbled down, and water is pouring out of my open mouth.

"I'm sorry. Ah! Don't you have dirt on your clothes, sir?"

The man who beat the boy down wore an instantly mesmerizing smile mask and rolled out a blunt-headed apology before asking what I was.

Hey, seriously, what is this? I can't swallow the situation...... no, maybe I just didn't want to know.

"I'm really sorry, with something that escaped into a slightly gazed gap. Please, this is one convenience."

"Yeah, 'cause I get it. You can go now."

"Hey, thank you, lady!

If Lily's words are uninteresting and peppered with a hellish smile, the man grabs the collar of the fallen boy and makes him stand strong.

"Hey Cora, I'm sorry, I made you go through so much trouble, you know that!

A man who exasperates with ghostly shapes. But to that extent in this place, no one pays attention.

The man stays and drags away with no one to flatter him, empowering the boy.

"Hey, wait -"

"No, Chrono"

The word of restraint was blocked by Lily.

Why, why not.

Why shouldn't you go into a halt when you're shown abuse like an example.

"Because I'm a slave"

I knew it. The truth is, from the first glance at that miserable boy, I suspected it would be.

You can't possibly not notice. Because the hand of the boy who received the water bottle was fitted with rusty shackles.

An escaped slave called out to me on the way. The slave director I've been chasing sees me and Lily in good shape, thinks it's going to matter if something happens, and I apologize desperately. How much of that anger was caused by the fact that even the escape would not be tolerated, but was about to develop into extra trouble?

It's not hard to imagine what that boy who was brought back will see. If you're not toothed to too much anger, then worst of all, dying, too.

"Damn......"

I couldn't do anything, knowing that much. Already, the figure of the boy slave taken is nowhere to be seen anymore by disappearing into the crowd.

But if I helped you on the spot, what would it be? What do we do then? If we only help him, will that end?

What should I have done, what was the right thing to do - do nothing, is the right thing to do. 'Cause Lily didn't stop, did she?

"Chrono, let's go! Lily, I'm hungry."

Lily, pulling my hand with an innocent smile, as if nothing had happened, must have thought it was normal in this world, not ruthless.

Bright white, palace-like beautiful interior. The dishes served are all first-class items in hand. What kind of magic can you eat fresh fish when you say it's such a desert?

Looking to the right, a fine white costume, like an Arab royalty, with a family dressed in golden ornaments, is pounding its tongue on the dish while bickering.

Looking to the left, I felt like I was getting out of a prom, and three ladies in flashy dresses gathered to gracefully swallow chatter.

"This is so delicious!

And before me there's an adorable fairy princess with an innocent grin and a whitefish chew.

"Oh, yeah"

I also deliberately cut and eat with a knife and fork for elegance.

Delicious. Admittedly, it has the right flavor for the price - but it didn't bother me what it tasted like.

This place is as different from the sights I've just seen as the heavens and the earth. Yet not a kilometer away.

Those who enjoy luxurious, elaborate delicacies and those who seek only a sip of water. Where the hell was the difference between the two born?

Maybe since birth, no.

"... Chrono, you're not well"

"No, that's not true"

"So much, do you care about slaves?

You're an idiot, I am. You can't possibly hide something from Lily.

"Think about it, because I'd never seen a slave treated so blatantly badly. Well, he was a kid."

"Right. Spartans treated me like I was illegal."

Nevertheless, no matter how well the law was in place, the eyes of 100% surveillance are not good. Even that seemingly peaceful sparda must have several places to torture child slavery in a harsh environment.

It's just that even the table never seemed to see that.

"Hey, I know. Carla Mara says there are many slaves in Pandora. Looks like she'll be on the last flight today."

"Really?"

"If Chrono really wants to... you can go help that slave."

Lily's gaze at me for saying so is filled with pure kindness everywhere.

I'm sure even if I said, "I want to help him," you'd cooperate without making it bitter.

"I'm not going to say that much, Wagamama."

In this other world, slavery is publicly recognized, bringing modern Japanese values intact and saying, "Wrong!" There's no point in shouting. Well, it's just a criminal act to use the power you can have to forcibly free a slave.

Slaves are the property of their owners. Whatever the reason, it's not good for someone else in red to take the liberty of it.

But that's just rhetoric.

If that slave was not a strange boy, but the same Japanese... I might have helped, without really thinking later.

Yes, I mean, I had the option of helping him, but I just abandoned him of my own free will.

"It's okay, you don't have to be shy. If you let me grip even two of those slaves, gold coins, I'd be happy to give them away."

"Sure, if you buy it, you can officially pick it up. But then what?"

"Come on, you can let it go around there, or you can keep it at Sparda's Mansion or Shangri-La."

Keeping, huh? It's not a good word to use against people.

But you're right. Interpretation, I'm just self-satisfied to have people.

"... hey Lily, I know it's me too. So much so that if you only help that kid, that doesn't solve everything."

"Well, I'm gonna run out of kiri."

Help the poor slave child out.

Excellent behavior. Even the fantasy novels I once read were a common development. Well, it's just a beautiful girl in an elf, a pretty girl in a cat, and a cute girl to help. That's how I wrote it, too.

But if you see reality, you know who it is. Too many poor slave children to help.

On the way back from that commercial block to this restaurant, I saw three Gamal trucks packed with child slaves. It is imported into Carla Mara.

Formal deal, not smuggling. For a hundred or a thousand, it's a very unfavourable number. Help out one or two of them, and what the hell will it be?

Then it would be more satisfying to buy even cute girls of your choice thoughtfully.

"Still, should I help...?

Hypocrisy to do, rather than good to not do. If I buy that kid out, at least, he'll be the only one saved. I won't be beaten unreasonably anymore, and I won't make you thirsty for just one glass of water.

There's no point in doing that.

"Why? If you can save one person, then..."

"Because Chrono's heart is something he can't save. Hehe, Chrono is sweet, so if you ever do it that way, I'm sure you can't break it off. There are still a lot of kids who want help, and that's why I know that no matter how many people I help, they won't be filled."

Well, yeah. I saved one person, so I don't care about the rest. Instead, when one begins to help, the desire to help more is determined.

"So you can't. Chrono should not suffer and should not be bothered by that"

"That's what I said."

"Saving hundreds of slaves at best or stopping the Crusaders from invading...... which one does Chrono choose?

"Knock..."

Lily, who cuts and throws away the child slavery issue as "that," isn't cold. It's just that she simply understands that things are a priority.

I was about to forget even that obvious when I saw that pathetic boy slave situation.

"Still, if Chrono wants to give priority to helping slaves, I'll work with him."

"Stop... I know I have something to do, even this"

I must fight the Crusaders. We must defeat the Apostle. Because there's nothing more to protect this Pandora continent than to protect my precious place.

And as long as there's that mission, there's no room for anything else.

I can't help a slave now...

"Ugh, don't be so depressed. I can't help you right now, but still, maybe one day we can get rid of the slaves."

"If Lily says so, I really feel like I can"

Slavery is a deeply rooted custom, a law and a system of domination in this world. I don't think it's that easy to abolish.

I don't think so, but it shouldn't be impossible. Anyway, on Earth, slavery has become a far past.

"Yeah, let me handle it. I'm sure one day I'll make a country where kids won't be slaves, like Krono wants them to."

"That's good. That's what I want to do when I get Keri with the Crusaders."

If I didn't think so, I'd hate myself.

But if Lily can create a "country where children don't become slaves," that's not a cheap consolation, it's also going to make it believable.

"Thanks. It's a little easier."

"Because Chrono is too kind. If you look at me like that, you'll care."

"I don't mean to be special or naïve."

But if you have Japanese sensibility, there's nothing you can do about it.

"Yeah, that's a nice thing about Chrono, including that."

Lily, with a graceful grin, even glared at me.