Master and Slaves

"So, please."

"Alright."

I held Cathy’s hand and supported her shoulder, lifting her chest.

Cathy kept her eyes closed and endured it.

Falco placed his hand on Cathy’s left chest and checked the mark.

"It’s definitely Hiroyuki-dono’s mark. Good, now the young lady."

Falco turned to Tiria this time and said.

"Eh? You’re not checking the second mark?"

I asked Falco with a smirk.

At the royal capital we checked all the marks, but here....

"Hm? Ah, if I checked every little thing it would take too long. Here, as long as I know whose it is, it’s fine."

Is that so?

"Alright, I’ll check the young lady’s."

Tiria nodded and stood tall.

Falco checked Tiria’s mark the same way as Cathy’s.

"Alright, the young lady is also Hiroyuki-dono’s Dule."

When the inspection was over, Tiria bowed her head, ran to my side, and clung to my right arm.

"Hahaha, you’re so cute. I’m jealous."

Well, neither of them were the ones I originally wanted, but I was satisfied, and just looking at them from the side, it was probably envy-worthy.

"That’s the end of the inspection. Please give my regards to Freit."

"Yes. Thank you very much, Captain Falco."

"Thank you."

We thanked Falco and entered the city.

......

As expected of a city called a merchant city, the inside was bustling with energy.

Along the main road from the gate to the center, stalls were lined up like a market.

And there, everything from fresh vegetables to weapons and armor was placed and sold.

But what surprised me was that there were men and women walking around topless as usual.

"Most of them are A-Dules. Probably come from their masters for errands."

When I looked surprised, Helene explained.

In other words, here Helene and Cathy didn’t stand out that much.

Tiria was still eye-catching, though.

"Hey, Helene. Aren’t there any To-Dules in this city?"

"Hm~ there should be some. But probably fewer than ten."

In other words, fewer than ten people.

Then Tiria was really eye-catching.

I had to be careful.

"Wow~ those fruits look delicious~ What kind of taste does that one have?"

Cathy walked around looking around curiously.

Apparently she wasn’t bothered by the gazes.

If she was enjoying herself, that was better than anything.

"You! What are you doing! Stand up immediately!"

"Noisy human-like thing!"

"What did you say, a slave’s place! This! This!"

Suddenly a furious shout broke through the market commotion.

It seemed there was a fight in a corner of the market.

"Hiroyuki-sama, shall we go see?"

"Eh? Ah, yes."

Helene, full of curiosity, pushed through the crowd like a natural gawk.

I followed behind Helene with a wry smile.

"Guh... ugh..."

"Stop! What are you doing to the woman!"

"Are you also going to resist! You’ll do this!"

"Ugaaaaah!!"

When I went forward, I saw a tall woman protecting a woman lying on the ground from a plump man.

From the gawkers’ whispers, the two women were slaves, the one lying down had been kicked by the slave merchant man because she had resisted, and the tall woman had protected her.

The tall woman was holding her head and groaning.

When I saw the slave merchant man putting magic into a ring, the pain he was giving this woman was from that man.

Then this woman must be a Ze-Dule, as Mateus had said.

"It’s not over yet. Here."

"Guaaaaaah!!!"

The tall woman crouched while holding her head.

Isn’t it enough already?

"Stop, that person has nothing to do with it!"

The crowd wasn’t stopping, and I was about to intervene when the lying woman raised her face and shouted at the man.

"Ah!"

When I and Helene saw that woman’s face, we both cried out.

"That elf from that time!"

Helene rushed to the lying elf and grabbed her chest, shaking her.

"You, how do you lift that curse! Tell me!"

I held Cathy’s hand, checked on Tiria, pulled the lead, and moved closer to the elf.

"You two... what were you doing at the ruins?"

The elf looked confused, her eyes spinning.

"What? Who are you two?"

The slave merchant man, who had been staring blankly without putting magic into the ring because of the suddenness, jumped in surprise and confronted us.

"She is someone I know. Please sell her to me."

I thought the same as Helene—that this elf could be the key to lifting the curse.

"Sell? How much?"

Um, it meant "please sell for free," right?

"Ah~ how much for selling?"

I didn’t know the slave price.

That was why I asked.

"I don’t know."

The slave merchant grinned at me.

This guy was planning to look at my feet.

"Hm~ I think twenty gold coins."

"Tw-Twenty gold coins? Too high!?"

Helene raised her voice.

Was it that high?

Twenty gold coins was... about two hundred million?

...Buying someone’s life like this wasn’t right.

I peeked into the pouch.

It was stuffed with rune gold coins.

There were probably around a hundred.

I remembered almost fainting when I first saw them.

...For now, should I give this?

I took two rune gold coins from the pouch and dropped them at the slave merchant’s feet.

"Is this okay?"

"Wh-What!?"

"Hi-Hiroyuki-sama!"

The slave merchant and Helene both cried out in surprise.

The two slaves and my Dules also had their eyes wide open.

The first one to recover from the shock was the slave merchant.

He hurriedly picked up the two rune gold coins and checked if they were real.

"Ugh... real. No no no no, thank you for buying! That’s top quality. Customer, excellent purchase. By the way, what about this slave too?"

When the slave merchant realized the rune gold coins were real, his waist dropped as if turning his palm over, and he started sales pitch while rubbing his hands.

The product was the tall female slave who had been protecting the elf.

She was probably around eighteen, not yet twenty.

Even though she was tall, for a woman she was only a bit tall.

Maybe slightly shorter than me.

Her straight, long, beautiful black hair was impressive.

Because she wore a loose tunic up to her knees, it was hard to tell, but at least her breasts were quite large.

I didn’t plan to buy her as a slave, but, well, maybe it was fate.

"Alright, I’ll buy her."

I took two more rune gold coins from the pouch and dropped them at the slave merchant’s feet.

Everyone around me, even the gawkers, was dumbfounded.

"No, in front of so many people you can’t be that flashy. You’ll be targeted."

Helene whispered a warning to me.

Of course she was right.

If I casually dropped billions on the roadside, I would be targeted.

Feeling intense regret, the slave merchant who had picked up the rune gold coins approached me.

He took off the ring from his finger and held it out.

"Thank you. With this, you are the Master of these slaves."

I accepted the ring that was offered.

"Why, why me...? You weren’t aiming for this elf, right?"

The tall woman pushed the slave merchant aside and confronted me.

"Hm? Ah, well, it was by chance?"

"By chance for such a huge sum...."

It really was by chance.

"...What are you going to do with me?"

"Hm?"

"Are you going to use me as a toy?"

She smiled self-mockingly.

"Hm~"

I hadn’t thought about what to do.

What should I do?

"...Helene. What happens if I break this ring?"

"The Dule contract will be voided, but... no way...."

"Then, I’ll break it."

I dropped the ring on the ground and tried to stomp on it.

"Wait! Stop!"

The tall woman was the one who stopped me.

She stopped me even though breaking it would make her no longer a Dule?

"Hm? What’s wrong?"

"Ah, no, um, wait a moment. You bought me even though it cost such a huge sum, so please let me work for you in return."

"Work in return...."

Slaves working... that’s it, right?

But I was already having two hands full.

On my left arm, frightened Cathy clung to me, and on my right, anxious Tiria leaned in.

"Even if you say work...."

"I am a former knight. I can do at least escort duty. I want to repay your kindness. Please."

The tall woman bowed her head.

It seemed my intuition was wrong.

Well, there was Helene too, so it was fine.

But because of the curse, my current state wasn’t allowing me to move much, so it was worrying.

Cathy and Tiria also needed protecting.

If that was the case, a former knight’s escort duty would be reliable.

But Helene and this woman, this world has quite a lot of female knights.

"I understand. Then, I’ll rely on you for escort."

"Thank you! My name is Muriel."

"I am Hiroyuki Asahi. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you."

The former knight who called herself Muriel gripped the hand I offered with both hands and shook it vigorously.

As a former knight, she had quite a bit of strength.

"Fufu fufu fufu, we’re honored to be favored. I run a slave specialty store called ’Mercy Sheepherder’ ahead. My name is Enrico Palorini. Please visit our store when you need anything."

A slave merchant called out from the side.

As expected, a merchant.

He was enthusiastic about sales.

But the name "Mercy Sheepherder" had... odd naming sense.

"Ah, ah. I understand."

While holding back my laughter, I casually responded.

And....

"You waited."

I called to the elf woman.

But Helene seemed to be the one advancing the conversation.

"Hiroyuki-sama, apparently there is a way to lift the curse at the ruins. If there is a way to lift the curse, it would be more reliable to do it there rather than at the temple. It also costs money. Of course, only if this elf is not lying."

"I will guide you. Is that okay?"

The elf woman seemed to be coming with us.

"I understand. Please."

"I understand. Until then, I am also your slave."

"No, you don’t have to be a slave. It’s not like we’re bound by a contract."

"But you spent a huge sum to save me. I also want to repay you. I don’t want to be thought of as someone who doesn’t repay her debts."

The elf woman smiled.

Looking at her this way, she had a beautiful face that didn’t seem to belong to this world at all.

Was this an elf?

"I understand."

"Is it okay? Hiroyuki-sama. To make me, an elf whose bones aren’t even known, your slave."

"Noisy! Human-like thing!"

"What! Hiroyuki-sama is also human!"

"This person is different!"

Helene brought up a point at the elf woman, the elf woman countered, and they started arguing.

"St-stop! Quiet. Calm down."

"Calm down? I’m not a horse!"

I somehow stopped Helene and the elf woman’s argument, then asked Helene.

"Ah, I understand. I understand, so. More importantly, Helene, is it okay to turn back from the ruins now?"