Chapter 19, Disturbance ~ 08
The next morning.
As soon as he woke up, Satoru lazily approached the tub, made the minimal "water ball" he had become accustomed to using, filled the tub with water, rinsed his mouth, and washed his face. He heard that he was going to take a bite out of a branch of a terrorist tree to brush his teeth, which made him feel uncomfortable without a toothbrush, but it couldn't be helped.
He plugged his cell phone into the solar charger, a habit he had since he was in Japan, and sat in a daze for about two minutes, waiting for his brain to kick in.
After that, he went downstairs and asked for breakfast, which was brought to him by the owner. He ate his breakfast right away. Satoru was happy to see that there was a large amount of breakfast.
After he finished eating, he put the dishes on a tray, grabbed all his luggage, and went downstairs. He was also carrying a large sword, the Giant Slayer. It wasn't because he was worried about it being stolen. It was to intimidate someone to avoid any unnecessary trouble such as a fight by carrying the big sword on his back.
When he put the tray down at the reception desk, the nervous-looking owner glanced at Satoru and said, "Thank you".
「Old man. Is there a place in this town that sells measuring beads?」
At Satoru's question, the owner looked a little surprised.
「Measuring beads? Are you looking for something rare?」
Nowadays, there is not much demand for measuring beads.
「Do they exist or not?」
Even though Satoru's question became a little stern, the owner did not waver, but put his hand on his chin and thought.
「Perhaps the magic guild has some in stock.」
「I understand. Where is it?」
「Do you have a map of this place?」
In response to the owner's question, Satoru unfolded the map he had purchased at the information center yesterday. The owner's brow clouded.
「Where did you buy that?」
「At the information desk.」
At Satoru's reply, the owner let out a blatant sigh.
「No, right? The guards are in collusion with the thieves' guild. If you go to the town hall, you can buy that map for 2d, actually ......」
Satoru was dismayed at how shoddy the business was. Satoru paid 15d for the map, including the information fee. The original cost was 2d for the map and 1d for the information, so he paid five times that. As expected, Satoru's guts were half-boiled.
Satoru's upbringing was such that he had a tendency to be poor. However, he is not stingy. He believes that what is worth paying for should be paid for appropriately, and he doesn't spare even the necessary parts. However, five times the price is just too exorbitant.
Since the head of the guild was replaced about a year ago, the owner of the guild has been complaining about the shady business practices, violent outbursts, and persistent demands for payment.
「Well, I'm sure they won't fight with someone who walks around with a big sword on his back like you.」
「I hope so.」
It's the same on Earth, but when a country's discipline is lax, the bigger the city, the more likely it is that security will be lax. It seems that Galhassan is no exception to this rule. It would be a small price to pay if he could prevent this from happening by carrying a single large sword on his back.
He thanked the owner, told him he would be staying another night, paid the slightly discounted rate for staying two nights in a row, and set out for the city of Galhassan, where the chaos was increasing.
The magic guild he was aiming for was located in the center of the city, close to the castle. The castle is not particularly impressive, and it is small enough to be the castle of a royal family. If it were a castle in Japan, it would be a small, flat castle. Satoru was more than a little disappointed.
But even so, the area was crowded with people and showed a certain amount of activity. Even though it was not well governed, people still had to build a society and make a living to survive.
Also, being in a city with so many people, he could understand why people say that he's tall. The average height here is probably in the low 150cm, and Satoru, at 177cm, is more than a head taller.
Even though Japanese people have become taller as a result of westernization, he never thought he would see the day when a Japanese person could be considered tall. Satoru was strangely moved.
「Mother! That big brother is really big!」
「Shh! Don't look at him! He must be the son of an ogre!」
That's not possible!, He thought to himself, but he couldn't help but smile at the child who looked at him.
「Gah!」
He jokingly threatened the child with a "Gah!" and he really cried, which made me feel sad.
――And.
「Oops. Sorry.」
A girl wearing a short cloak similar to a poncho bumped into Satoru. The girl ran dexterously through the crowd without looking back at Satoru.
『My Lord』
「I know」
Satoru didn't need to listen to the advice from the shadows, he immediately chased after the girl.
A pickpocket.
The girl bumped into Satoru and stole the bag from his waist.
It was a brilliant move that would have gone unnoticed under normal circumstances. The way she blended into the crowd so quickly was brilliant.
But now, Satoru's senses were sharpened.
It was difficult for his large frame to handle the crowd, but he still kept his eyes focused on the pickpocket girl. Perhaps, as usual, the magic power was following up his eyesight on its own.
But still.
「She's fast」
The gap between him and the girl was quickly closing. He can still keep her in his sight because he can see around him thanks to his height, but if she enters the alley, he's out.
『It's probably the art of equilibrium called "light work" and the art of fast movement called "contraction. The principle is the same as my Lord's healthy legs. By the way, I had already used the "distant vision" art to capture it in her field of vision, so if you lose sight of her, don't worry.』
Leia's response was superb. She may be an idiot by nature, but she is also a top-notch talent in that she can control and master a wide variety of magic.
「Keep an eye on her.......Then here's what I'll do.」
Satoru jumped into the alleyway, measured the distance, and jumped lightly.
＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊
The girl gave him plenty of distance and then walked into the alley with a sly and familiar look. In her hand, she was playing with the sachet that Satoru had been holding. While looking around, she looked into the bag. There were quite a few coins. The girl couldn't help but whistle as she saw several large gold coins.
「...... Wow, even gold coins. There's quite a bit in there.」
With one gold coin, she can play for 20 days. There's a rule that half of the proceeds are taken as payment, but even if you keep half, it's enough to play for a season. The girl was now impressed by the fact that her big appearance was not a lie. That's how much money she was making. No one but her would complain if she took a little bit of the money.
She tucked the sachet into her pants pocket and turned around and was startled. There was a large young man with a huge sword on his back.
「OI」
「W-what it is」
There was no sign of anyone else, so she could clearly tell that the young man was talking to the girl. But after replying, the girl thought that she had made a mistake. It's too late now to bite your navel and say, "I should have just kept my mouth shut and pretended to be something else".
「I'd like you to give me back what you took from me.」
The young man's voice startled the girl. She was surprised that he had noticed that she had been picked off, and that he had caught up with her in this unfamiliar town, where she was so quick on her feet.
「What are you talking about?」
「If you're not going to tell me. Then fine. I'll force you to give it back.」
The young man braced himself and the girl took a step backwards.
「.......Let's see if you can catch, me!」
The girl said and dashed down the alley at a ridiculous speed. She kicked the wall of a house, leaped repeatedly, and fluttered down to the roof of a house she didn't know who lived there. Feeling that there was no way he could keep up with this movement, that she had escaped, the girl turned around and was surprised for the third time.
The young man had only made a light leap, but he had landed on the same roof as her.
(...... No way!?)
She was expecting him to be mainly a "hard" user since he had such a big sword, but he was surprised to find out that he had mastered not only "contraction" but also "light work".
The girl got serious. She ran from roof to roof at breakneck speed, sometimes landing on the ground and kicking the walls of houses, and ran around the town relying on her knowledge of the land. A normal person can barely follow her speed with their eyes... but.
(No way!? I can't believe he's still following me!)
The girl's magical power itself was not that great. But when it comes to agility and physical skills, she was confident that she was superior. There was no one who had been able to catch up with her as she ran away in earnest until now. The pattern had been to give up on the chase in the blink of an eye.
The young man approaching from behind the girl does not seem to have lost his breath. In spite of the fact that she was running away at a speed that exceeded her limit, he was chasing her without any sign of impatience.
The girl was indeed upset.
「...!」
Her impatience made her choose the wrong foothold. She placed her foot too close to the edge of the roof, and the tiles collapsed with a rattling sound. She tried to balance herself with her "light work," but it was too late. Just before she stumbled and crashed headlong, she was caught by her right ankle.
「I got you!」
Hanging in midair, she hurriedly restrained her jacket from being pulled up to expose her breasts underneath, and barked at the man who had grabbed her ankle.
「P-put me down!」
「Give my sachet back first.」
Her head was down, so naturally blood rushed to her head. The girl didn't hesitate to use the dark weapon that she had hidden behind her waist against the young man who had made an unbelievable move.
「Tsk!」
She twisted her body while being grabbed by the ankle and tried to thrust three throwing needles into the young man's armpit.
――Clang-clang!
With a high-pitched sound, the needle bounced back without piercing, making a sound as if it had been hammered into metal.
「!?」
（What the hell with this guy!? Did he put a plate in his armpit!?)
The girl's heart was filled with astonishment. The next moment.
「Agh, Agagagaga!!」
The right ankle caught by the young man made an unpleasant noise as he grabbed it. It was an unbelievable grip, and the sound of her bones snapping reached her brain with intense pain.
The young man――Satoru, heard Leia's voice echoing in his brain, as if in a panic.
『Ah, my Lord-my Lord! You'll shatter her legs!』
Satoru suddenly came back to himself. He realized that his anger at the girl who had attacked him after her pickpocketing had made his grip tighter than it needed to be. The grip on his right hand, which had been breaking the girl's ankle, loosened... The next moment, the girl kicked Satoru's right wrist with her left leg, freeing herself, and then swung her body around and jumped down, sending herself flying into the underground canal.
It didn't take long. And the underground waterway that the girl had escaped into was far too narrow for Satoru to enter.
And.
「Leave it to me!」
A girl with pale skin crawled out from the Satoru's shadow.
Those who bring harm to her Lord cannot be forgiven. Before Satoru could say anything, Leia also jumped into the underground canal.
＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊
Dragging her aching feet, the girl wandered through the underground canal.
It was the first time she had used this underground canal to escape. Just because it was the first time she had used it to escape, it didn't mean she couldn't get lost in the maze of canals, with unique markings at every turn that any member of the Thieves' Guild would recognize.
The girl clicked her tongue and held her ankle. It was probably cracked. It throbbed and hurt dully. Even though it was a ridiculous opponent who could crack a person's bones with his grip, what a screw-up... The girl clicks her tongue again.
Until now, there was no one who could keep up with the girl's speed. If she's in a stamina or magic contest with a monster or animal outside of town, she may be surprised to learn that there are people who can keep up with her in town. Moreover, It wasn't like he was equipped to excel in the agility system at all.
The humiliation of having her pride torn to shreds caused the girl to click her tongue for the umpteenth time.
「Tsk.......What the hell was that man?」
「That's my Lord.」
The pickpocket girl shivered at the sound of the girl's voice suddenly echoing in the dark sewer ditch.
「..!」
「It's too late. "Freeze!"」
The girl's feet instantly froze as she tried to perform a "contraction" to escape, robbing her of her leg strength.
「Ahzuu!」(TLN: あっヅ！)
The girl screamed as her cracked right leg hurt from being trapped in the ice. To the girl who could not move, a being who exercised magic approached from the other side of the shadow, slowly making a cracking sound of water. The light coming from above illuminated the face of the being.
「......!!」
The girl gasped.
It was a beautiful girl with striking red hair on her face.
However, even though her small body was wrapped in a cloak, her face and her thin arms that extended from the cloak had pale skin - the natural enemy of mankind. This is because the skin color is that of the Immortal Family, which even skilled adventurers avoid dealing with.
The Immortal King Leia put her hands on her hips and coldly called out to the trapped girl.
「Little girl. You know who am I, don't you?」
「The, [The Immortal Family] ......」
Leia mocked, humming, in response to girl trembling voice.
「Yes. I am the [Immortal Family]. I am is their king, the so-called "Immortal King".」
「..!」
The girl's face showed a hint of despair.
There are low class vampires such as zombies and skeletons, medium class vampires such as necromancers and wraiths, and high class vampires. And even higher. Legendary beings that have only been heard about in fairy tales and folklore are now right in front of her. With immortality, the ability to regenerate, absorb life force, and powerful magic power, the "Immortal King" is said to be a man that no one can defeat, but why――!?
Leia saw the change in the girl's color and gave a small, mean smile.
「Hohou, you seem to know what you're doing. Yes, if I touch you, you will die in just a few moments.」
The Immortal King's voice became cold, and her eyes narrowed into a bewitching smile. It is the eyes of a hunter who enjoys shaking people.
「Do you want to try and see how many you can last until you count to ......?」
「EEekkkkk!」
The girl tried to run away from the twisted fingertips. But her foothold was still frozen, so she couldn't move. The bones in her feet cracked and hurt, and she lost her balance backwards and sat down.
There were two splashing noises.
One was the sound of the girl falling on her bottom. The other was.
「Leave it there, Leia.」
Satoru, the victim of a pickpocket, cracked a bone just by grabbing the girl's leg. He opened the heavy iron lid leading to the sewer and jumped down with a flutter.
Just wondering where Leia had gone, he got a sense of where she was. Leia hadn't fully explained the perks of being a slave and a master of servitude, the art of exploration. They could sense the other's location. According to his senses, the place where Satoru came down was right on time.
The being that the Immortal King calls Lord...
The girl shivered. The roots of her teeth would not come together. Finally, the girl realized her own stupidity.
She realized that she had dealt with a terrible monster.
At the sound of Satoru's voice, Leia raised her voice in blatant frustration.
「Why, my Lord? She's a scoundrel, isn't she? I don't see the need to forgive her.」
「I don't think I need to forgive her, but then again, neither do you, for trying to deceive me.」
Ugh, Leia was at a loss for a response.
Satoru gave a glance to the pickpocket girl, who was on her buttocks and looking at him with a frightened expression. She had more meat on her than Leia, but her body was slimmer overall. Her skin color was hard to tell because of the darkness, but it looked like a healthy brown skin, the opposite of Leia's. And she has the capacity to be a thief.
「...... In the meantime, what happens if I turn her in to the authorities?」
The pickpocket girl's shoulders responded with a twitch.
Leia put her index finger to her chin and thought.
「Laws vary from country to country, but in this country, as I recall, the fingers of the dominant hand are cut off for the first offense, and burn the wounds so they don't regenerate as easily.」
Satoru frowned at the thought. It's gross. It's only theft, but it's still theft. In this world, where human rights are not guaranteed by criminal law, and where detention centers and prisons are less organized than in modern Japan, such simple and severe punishments are the norm. Depending on the environment, the punishment for the crime of stealing was even immediate death.
「By the way, what happens if it's the second time?」
「Mostly, slavery or forced labor until death.」
After answering smoothly, Leia noticed Satoru's strange expression and let out an "Ahh".
「The relationship between me and my Lord is slightly different from that of a slave in this case. I'll explain later.」
It seems that slaves and such are not only contracted through magic. There is a difference, apparently. Satoru glanced at the pickpocket girl's hands as Leia said, "Later," while he thought to himself that slavery existed.
「By the way, my Lord, this is the second time she had done this. Her two fingers of the right hand have scars at the base of them that cannot be hidden.」
Satoru huffed at Leia's point. The fact that she had fingers meant that she must have regenerated them with some kind of art. Well, he knew it wasn't her first offense from her movements and tricks, but she had already been caught and punished once.
「In other words, if I turned this girl in to the authorities, would she fall into slavery or work forced labor?」
The pickpocket girl turned her face down and did not respond.
Leia folded her arms and thought.
「Hmmm... ...... She's still young and has a good look, so she's probably become a comfort woman. She'll work as comfort dolls for the soldiers, and if she's lucky, she will be released in about 30 years.」
Satoru's frown became even deeper and more bitter.
He can't say it's only stealing. But Satoru's mood became even darker as he realized that her future would be bleak if she continued like this.
Thirty years or so, Leia said, but it didn't seem like there was any prison time. In other words, there was a possibility that she would be pardoned and released when she was no longer useful as a comfort woman.
「What if she is not released?」
「That's when she will be killed.」
She tapped her own neck with her handknife. Underneath her words, he could see through her awareness that there were far more of them than this.
「Then let her go」
The pickpocket girl looked up in surprise.
Satoru just barely didn't say that it was too much trouble, but his expression showed it. Most of all, though, the pickpocket girl didn't get it.
Leia was about to argue, but stopped. In fact, the quickest way to get rid of a pickpocket who has done such a cunning thing would be to chop off her head with a single blow and dry her out with her own "life force absorption".
However, she should avoid the folly of ignoring her Lord's compassion and handing down punishment on her own.
Leia is Satoru's magical slave.
But of course, she can't just let her go like this.
「........Can you at least allow me to force her to keep her mouth shut about us? It's not safe to leave her like this.」
「Fine.」
Satoru doesn't know what the "compulsion" art is. However, from the wording, he can tell that it is a art to prevent people from talking about it. There is no problem if that is the case.
Normally, Satoru knows there is a problem with acquittal. It's just that he didn't want to make things more complicated than they had to be. If he turned her in to the authorities, it would take a long time to deal with it. On the other hand, he didn't feel good about handling it himself.
「Wait a minute.」
The girl who had been silent up to this point interrupted for the first time.
＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊
In the end, they couldn't do any shopping, and Leia crawled out of the shadows as soon as they returned to the Honeypot Pavilion.
「First, let me explain about slaves first.」
The slaves are divided into two categories: slaves as a system, that is, as a status, and slaves as a magic, that is, as a contract. The slaves as a status are called servant slaves, and the slaves as a contract are called magical slaves, but they are not often used as a term, Leia explained.
In the basic structure of the country, the king contracts with his wife and the heads of both the government and the army to be his slaves, or magical slaves, but the term magical slave is only used in special cases at a high level.
The reason is simple.
「The art of "slavery" itself is difficult and consumes a lot of magic power」
The art of "slavery" belongs to holy magic, and is said to be the gateway to success for advanced holy magicians. It is not a art that is used easily, and the number of slaves is small. There is also an intermediate art called "subjugation," which is a subordinate art to "slavery," but it has no effect on humans, and is used to subjugate animals and monsters that are less intelligent than humans.
So I am who can easily use the "subjugation" art is amazing. Leia said, stretching her small breasts.
In case you're wondering, servant slaves have the same rules as magical slaves, only they are not bound by magic. In addition, they are branded on their shoulders and are not allowed to hide them, and if they must, they must wear a collar.
This is ethically unfamiliar to Satoru, who has lived in modern Japan, but considering the level of culture in this world, it is not so strange. The idea of basic human rights must be rare.
There is also a way for slaves to be emancipated by having their branding marks removed in a temple through a process called "regeneration," and then finally being freed by registering as a new resident and obtaining a family register. However, both of these procedures cost a certain amount of money, and it is not possible to be released overnight.
「In addition, there is a spiritual magic called "compulsion". It is a art where a single command is given, and if the command is disobeyed, the pain will be similar to that of slavery. However, the command must be simple, and it cannot be an order to ignore the other person's life.」
「I see. So you were going to use that art on her?」
「That's right. I was going to "force" her not to talk about us.」
In front of their eyes, there was a girl who was pickpocketing Satoru. Her skin is brown, almost coffee-colored, her amber hair is cut short, and her eyes are black. She is a moderately beautiful girl with a somewhat strong-willed face. She is probably in her late teens. She is also in Satoru's strike zone.
The story returns to the past.
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