Master and Slaves

I looked at Azret’s face. He smiled wryly and nodded.

"Then, with that."

"Got it. I will place the order at once."

Maybe he had switched his feelings. When I nodded, he answered with an oddly refreshed face.

I changed my impression of this shopkeeper from craftsman to merchant.

Anyway, the great war scythe Gejia wanted would take about half a month, and once it was done he would contact Freit’s place.

And as for Lilli...

"Hey, look, look. There are gems on the sheath, and they sparkle and shine, pretty, right? This is good, right?"

"No. Choose something more practical."

"Then how about this? The gem on the hilt is bigger than the blade..."

"Rejected."

"Then this? It is all made of gold. It probably does not cut well, but it shines."

"Rejected. Hey. Are you listening?"

"Eh? But it is pretty. Look, it sparkles, it shines."

With her own eyes sparkling and a dreamy face, she gazed at a decorative short dagger like what a noble would wear.

Somehow it felt like a child wanting a toy.

"Hah. Which one do you want?"

Gejia’s weapon had dropped quite a bit in price, so if this one was expensive too, better not to buy it.

For now I thought I would ask the price.

"I want all of them, but no?"

"No. Make it one of them."

"Hmm, then this one."

Saying that, what she took in hand was an ordinary short dagger with no decoration.

"As I thought, this one is the easiest to use."

Lilli drew the short dagger in her hand and made it dance skillfully on her palm.

"The balance is even, and the weight is just right."

Then she returned it to the sheath with a click.

Hah. I had wanted her to pick that from the start.

"Please. Ehe."

I took the short dagger from the smiling Lilli.

"Hm. This is one silver coin."

I showed it to the shopkeeper and paid the asking price.

This time Azret said nothing.

"Now then, let us go to the next."

We bid farewell to the sullen shopkeeper and headed for the last destination.

Today’s most important thing, looking for a house.

Pass through the gate that continued to the East District, and we came out in a quiet residential area.

Well-dressed people came and went along the street.

"Around here is close to the Central District, so there are many noble villas and houses of wealthy merchants."

Azret looked around and explained to me.

Which meant, further out, there were more ordinary people?

"Around here... ah, that."

Azret, who had been looking around as if searching for something in that block of many large mansions, muttered and pointed, maybe having found it.

I thought he had found the house he would show us, but it seemed he had only found a landmark for turning off the street.

The street we were walking now was a main street running outward from the Central District, and we turned onto a side street somewhat smaller than that main street, but wide enough for carriages to pass each other.

Go a little along that road, and a rather small mansion stood.

"Here."

Azret stopped in front of the gate of that mansion.

Maybe it was not locked. He opened the gate doors and went in.

Rather small was compared to the large mansions facing the main street. It was plenty wide.

That, I felt all the more once inside.

In the front garden there was space enough to stop two six-horse carriages, and space enough to stop several guest carriages as well.

There was also a stable for horses, wide enough to keep more than ten.

The mansion was three stories, and inside there was a wide hall open up to the third floor.

No furnishings were set, but from the entrance to the grand staircase in front, a fluffy carpet was laid.

We looked around the rooms, and everywhere was cleanly swept.

Several toilets were set on the first floor too.

What made me glad was that there was a bath.

There seemed to be a place to burn a fire, so even if one could not use magic, one could soak in hot water.

"The one who built this seemed to like cleanliness, and had a large bath made like this. If you ask me, the height of waste."

Azret said that, but to me it was welcome.

Looked at overall, the scale was a little narrower than the mansion we had lived in in Torrestia, but the facilities were not inferior.

No. For having a bath, this side was overwhelmingly better.

"This is Freit’s top recommendation, I am told. Close to the Central District too, and the price is quite cheap, with a reason."

I was told that, but I looked at the other houses too.

We left the mansion and were shown the other properties.

By evening we had seen three vacant houses, but none of them had anything to decide on.

Size and price were similar, and the first mansion felt narrow for the part that was the vast bath.

To someone like Azret, who thought a bath was a wasted place, it might feel overpriced.

But to me it was attractive.

Besides the mansions we saw today there seemed to be vacant houses, but they would be quite small houses, I was told.

So I thought the mansion with the bath that we saw first would be fine.

"What do you think?"

I asked the Dules, and Muriel, Gejia, and Tiria were negative.

Muriel and Tiria, former noble and former royalty, seemed to feel this bath was waste after all.

Gejia was probably because she disliked water.

Hearing that a full amount of water would be stored here, she got goosebumps and shuddered.

The other Dules agreed, but I thought it was only because it was rare.

As a result of worrying, I decided on the mansion with the large bath.

A bath was great after all.

For the purchase of something expensive, I had decided too easily, but I thought timing mattered for this sort of thing.

"So, I decided on here."

"Are you not deciding too fast??"

Azret cut in, but I only returned a wry smile.

Among the Dules there were those with mouths hanging open in surprise, and those amazed, but most had given up, and only sighed.

"...Understood. For now, that ends today’s plan. Then let us return to Freit’s house."

Azret declared that, looking unsatisfied somehow, but as if the work was done.

But he was forgetting one thing.

"No, before that we have to go pick up Ito..."

"Ah, that is right. Then, there."

When I pointed it out, Azret scratched his head, laughed, and dodged it.

...

"Hey, Ito. Is it really all right?"

"Yes. You saved my life. Please use this life as you wish, Lord Hiroyuki."

With a solemn face, she set both hands to it and respectfully handed me the ring.

When we went to The Merciful Shepherd, the slave merchant Enrico’s shop, Ito, fully recovered, greeted us having become a Ze-Dule.

At that time she had asked to be made an A-Dule.

"But I was not the one who saved you."

Thinking it was pointless to say, I still said it.

The ones who actually saved her were Rosina and the others, and I had only watched.

But they would say that what my Dules did was what I did.

The Dules must not do such a thing on their own without asking the master’s permission.

As expected, Ito would not listen, saying it was all thanks to me.

I looked at the Dules, troubled, and they nodded alike, as if that was right.

"Got it. For now, let’s go home. The talk can be after that."

I left room for a choice and started back toward the Freit house.

On the way, there was something I wanted to ask Ito, so I asked her.

"Hey, Ito. What is Tenshou Shin-sama?"