Master and Slaves

"Ah, there’s a village over there."

As we approached the downhill road, Muriel raised her voice and pointed ahead.

I looked in the direction Muriel indicated, toward the carriage’s destination.

Indeed, scattered houses lined up here and there, giving the impression of a place where people lived.

And on the right, deeper in the distance, on a slightly higher hill, stood a grand mansion.

"That must be the town, right?"

Muriel muttered.

"Hm? What’s the difference between a village and a town?"

"Um, towns are ruled by nobles or have lords dispatched from the country. Villages are autonomous. The elder or village chief of the village represents it."

"I see."

True, Rade Village had a village chief and elder.

"That building over there is probably the lord’s mansion. So it’s not a village, it’s a town."

Does that mean there’s no "town chief"?

"Um, Master, what will you do?"

"Hm? Ah, ah. Cathy, is Helma in that town?"

"Yes, I’m sure of it."

"I see. Then let’s go. Anyway, it’s almost evening, so we need to book an inn."

We continued our carriage toward the town.

...

It was a tranquil, peaceful town.

Women were having conversations at the well, and children were playing by the roadside.

We left the carriage at the town’s entrance and, with no time to enjoy the scenery, began searching for Helma.

We showed the townspeople Ilma’s face and asked if they had seen a girl who looked the same. When they saw that Muriel and the others were dressed as Dules, their expressions became suspicious.

It seemed they thought I was some kind of slave merchant or something.

And my greatsword Destroyer hanging at my side was clearly scaring them.

Of course a suspicious man searching for a girl would raise suspicions.

"Um, Master, we’ll search. Please book an inn, Master?"

Muriel asked me hesitantly.

It seemed they were in the way.

It would be better to leave this to Muriel and the others.

"Got it. Ah, one condition. We all have to move together. No separating. All right?"

""""Yes.""""

"Ah, Master, here."

Muriel handed me a leather pouch.

Inside were various coins packed tightly.

The money I had borrowed from Helene before we left her house.

The coins I had been holding when I was petrified had all been stolen.

It was logical, but somehow it stung.

"Good. Then let’s book an inn... wait. How are we going to reunite?"

Dangerous, dangerous.

I had forgotten the most important thing.

In my previous world, I had had a phone, so I had never thought of this.

"I’ll use the telepathy spell to ask where you are."

"Heh, Muriel can use that kind of magic."

"Yes. I’ve commanded an army before."

"I see. Then please. Also, if anything happens, contact me immediately."

"Yes, understood. Master, please rest well. That will help your mana recover faster too."

"I see."

"Then we’ll be off."

Muriel, Cathy, Tiria, and Ilma bowed to me, turned the corner of the street, and left.

Muriel was carrying Ilma, and Cathy was leading Tiria.

Looking at it objectively... it felt... unrealistic somehow.

No, no, let’s find the inn first. I walked straight down the main street.

Where’s the inn?

...

The inn was decided immediately.

Apparently there were only two inns in this town.

One of them had an unusually high room rate.

It must be a good inn, but since I was borrowing money, I couldn’t be extravagant.

So I chose the cheaper one.

"Five people, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then five copper coins."

Five copper coins... about 5,000 yen?

The expensive one was five silver coins... 500,000 yen, so this was much cheaper.

Even so, 500,000 yen was way too much.

Yet almost no rooms were empty, so the service on that side must be excellent, or ours was bad.

Either way, we had no choice.

"Yes."

I took five copper coins from the gold pouch and handed them to the innkeeper.

"Ooh, the back room on the second floor."

"Thank you."

I thanked the taciturn innkeeper, went up the side stairs, and reached the room at the end of the narrow corridor.

When I opened the door, six beds were lined up side by side.

The room itself was neat, and the sheets were clean.

I leaned Destroyer against the wall and sat on one of the beds.

"Hah."

I hadn’t been alone like this in a long time.

Since I had no memory of the time I was petrified, it had been about a month since the last time.

There had always been someone with me.

Come to think of it, there had been one time.

During that horrible incident.

At that time, I had been alone in bed.

Thinking about it suddenly made me worry about Muriel and the others.

Even if I wanted to contact them, I couldn’t, so it only made me more anxious.

"..."

I stood up from the bed and left the room.

Without any particular purpose, I went downstairs.

"Ooh, sorry about earlier. How about something to eat?"

The innkeeper called out to me.

It was the same as the previous inn: a dining hall and tavern on the first floor.

There, in the shadow of the kitchen entrance, a woman was looking our way.

She had the build and atmosphere of a lady boss.

Probably, no, definitely the woman who had scolded me earlier.

Was she the landlady?

Although the gaze wasn’t directed at me, it still felt unpleasant around my neck.

"No, I’m...."

I had wanted to have dinner with Muriel and the others after they reunited with me... but...

The heavy atmosphere grew even heavier.

The innkeeper, who was actually thin, leaned toward me while sweating large amounts of fat.

"Please! If I don’t feed you, I’ll be killed. I’m asking because I think you can help me!"

He twisted his ugly face as pitifully as possible and bowed his head to me.

Of course, he was blocking the landlady’s line of sight.

Thanks to that, my back took the full brunt of the landlady’s gaze, and I felt a chill run down my spine.

"Hehe, y, yeah, sure. Yeah."

I also sweated a lot like the innkeeper and accepted his offer.

With a creaking sound, I turned only my neck.

There stood the landlady, smiling brightly, arms crossed.

...

"Yes, welcome."

A girl carrying a large plate with both hands brought it to my table.

"This is a thank-you from Mom."