Chapter 28: The smell of tears from the unsold ‘goods’
“Iya, unexpectedly it was quite enjoyable. Since the entrance fee was high, I was getting disappointed after thinking of the various possibilities.” [Jirou]
“I-It’s Marina’s first time experiencing something that enjoyable too.” [Marina]
“If that’s the case then I’m happy too. What about Diana?” [Jirou]
“……Thank you very much, goshuujin-sama. Even though we’re just slaves, you have allowed us to enjoy something like this. It was my first time watching a magic performance directly but it was truly a wonderful experience.” [Diana]
“What are you saying there all of the sudden……Diana, are you possibly fabricating your character? Your tone sounds strange too.” [Jirou]
“Character? What is that? And I don’t really have any strange tone. For some reason goshuujin-sama is always harsh to me.” [Diana]
“I’m not being harsh in particular…… Diana is really well-informed so I am relying on you.” [Jirou]
“T-Then it’s good. Goshuujin-sama…..it’s fine to rely more on me, alright?” [Diana]
“O-Ou…..I will do so from now on….I’ll be depending on the two of you.” [Jirou]
“M-Marina will do her best too so she’ll not be a hindrance!” [Marina]
“…..By the way, is goshuujin-sama’s vocation a magician? I have always thought goshuujin-sama’s vocation to be a merchant……. so I was really surprised a while ago.” [Diana]
“Vocation? I have both merchant and magician as my vocations. Also a jewellery scholar.” [Jirou]
“Triple jobs!?” [Diana]
“Oh, my liege has three vocations?” [Marina]
“More or less yeah. I have just received the blessings recently. It’s merely a form of vocation. Come to think of it, what’s Diana’s vocation? I haven’t heard it from you yet.” [Jirou]
“……….” [Diana]
“Nn? What’s wrong?” [Jirou]
“…..It’s not established yet.” [Diana]
“What?” [Jirou]
“…..That’s what I’ve said. My vocation has yet to be established.” [Diana]
“Eh? Could you explain it in detail?” [Jirou]
“…….I didn’t really want to say anything since there was already the matter with regards to the contract the other day. You might think that it’s bias again but…….High Elves have the freedom to choose their own vocation. I haven’t decided yet so I do not have a vocation currently.” [Diana]
“Seriously? So you can choose 『magician』 or even 『swordsman』 if you want to? Ah, can you choose the inherent job as well?” [Jirou]
“As expected even I can’t choose an inherent job but I can decide on any occupation as long as they are well-known. Goshuujin-sama, what vocation would be good for you? Since I am goshuujin-sama’s slave….I would like you to decide it for me.” [Diana]
“Nn? Vocation is something that you will be living with throughout your life, isn’t it? Regardless of what the circumstances is, I don’t think I should be the one deciding on something like this….. Diana should also have an objective that you’re aiming for, don’t you?” [Jirou]
“……Ariosshii…….even slaves…..” [Diana]
(Rinkage: アリオッシィ)
“?” [Jirou]
“I-I…..no….that’s right. The thought about vocation has not come to my mind so far.” [Diana]
“I see. Well you shouldn’t rush into it. Just take your time deciding it for yourself. Besides, Diana needs to prioritize the said guidance first, don’t you? If there is anything that I can do then I’ll help you accordingly.” [Jirou]
“No, the guidance is currently at a point whereby we can’t advance hastily anymore, goshuujin-sama. So you don’t need to worry about it. ” [Diana]
“Is that so? Then I guess it’ll be fine to deal with your vocation and guidance slowly.” [Jirou]
“Yes…..it’ll be good to go slowly. Slowly.” [Diana]
After coming out from the magician’s booth, I felt slightly hungry so we decided to take a short respite at a teahouse nearby.
Based on the conversation we had at the magician’s booth, it appears that Diana, or rather High Elves have the freedom to choose their own vocation. It sounded like some kind of cheat to me………..No, since their life span is considerably long, could it be part of the spirit’s affection in allowing them to choose their own vocation so they will not suffer? Although that might not be it…….
Nevertheless, I will be troubled if she were to ask me to choose that vocation for her.
…….well it did come across my mind to have Diana acquire a vocation that will make it easier for me to live here from now on. However the reason Diana became my slave was due to the guidance. So once she achieved the guidance, she will be returning to her own country. In other words, considering that I’m just her temporary master, I will not be able to feel at ease choosing something that she will be carrying with her for her entire life………
Diana certainly did say that I can choose for her so it should be fine even if I do so….. but how should I put it…..It might be harsh to transfer your feelings to someone else.
“………………….” [Jirou]
“…..Aa my liege, are you listening?” [Marina]
“…..Eh? Ah, sorry about it. I didn’t hear that. What was it again?” [Jirou]
“P-Please give Marina a job. Even though Marina is a slave, what I have done all this while was just eating………My liege has gone through the trouble in choosing Marina so I would like to do something to repay my liege back.” [Marina]
It’s really commendable.
Or are all slaves like this? If that’s the case then I should save up money and get another slave. But Marina did say it herself that she’s a good-for-nothing and she doesn’t seem to be popular in this world too. Hence there is a possibility that she was overthinking it when someone bought her…….
“You don’t need to deprecate yourself that much Marina. I don’t have any job to give you now but I’ll be counting on you with various tasks soon. For the time being, just take your time to relax and deepen our friendship like this.” [Jirou]
“My liege is being too kind to a slave……I-I have never expected to be told something like that…….Th-This is no good. It will be too much of a blessing……” [Marina]
She has never been treated that kindly by anyone before? When I bought her the hairclip earlier, she was being abnormally thankful about it too……
Will it be better for me to declare it clearly to her now?
“I’ll be frank about this, Marina. I have bought Marina with the intention of making you happy from the beginning. The thought of buying you just to make you unhappy has never crossed my mind at all. And we will be also sleeping in the same futon together from now on.” [Jirou]
………
Ahh–!! I blurted out my real intention by accident! This is bad! There is a limit to what I should declare out! After all the trouble I have been through in making today an operation to raise their impression of me! Even if I had managed raised any flag today, I might have broken it now! My flag is broken!!
“Heu…y-you’re teasing a stupid slave like me once again. M-Marina is stupid so I might end up taking it seriously.” [Marina]
Alright! My flag doesn’t seem to be broken.
But, Marina is really cute.
…..However, she can be truly foolish at times so I might need to educate her…..she looks like the type who will easily be deceived by bad people…….Somehow I don’t like this. It sounds like a father-like sexual love now.
“M-Marina already belongs to my liege from the beginning. I do not dislike it…..when my liege says that I am cute, I was really happy…..” [Marina]
“I see…..but didn’t Marina first swore loyalty to Diana?” [Jirou]
“T-That was because princess is a princess so I got confused……A-At that time, I got nervous so I blurted out something strange….Just when I thought it was over, princess asked me to swear allegiance to her. I had always longed to be a knight-sama so I ended up thinking if I can really be one……” [Marina]
“Calm down Marina. Just calm down.” [Jirou]
“Marina, has been an unsold ‘goods’ for a long time. I received knight as my vocation but I was told that a woman can’t be a knight. Mother has also died. I’ve always been alone. Day after day I have waited but no one bought me. If this goes on, I was threatened by them to go to the mountain. But I can’t do anything at all…….” [Marina]
Words flowed out from her continuously like a broken dam.
No matter how nonchalant one might be, they will never be able to remain at ease when they are sold as slaves…… They wouldn’t know what kind of people who will be buying them. Nor would they know what will be done to them….. I don’t really understand what she meant by ‘go to the mountain’ but her mind was wearing off for a long time.
“Calm down, Marina……. I will not let anyone hurt you anymore. You have me and Diana as well. We are…that’s right. I thought it might be good for us to become something like a family. That’s why, it’ll be alright for you to live on peacefully from now.” [Jirou]
“M-My liege….really? For me to….” [Marina]
Tears flowed out of her eyes as she started sobbing without minding the public’s eye.
Diana who has been watching me quietly since just now started stroking Marina’s head. It must be a rare sight for an elf to comfort someone from the Turk tribe. We ended up attracting the attention of all the other customers. I guess I’m used to it now.
Well Diana aside, I bought Marina on my own free will so I did not intend to cast her out midway. I will do my best to make her happy…..I am still not sure how I can go about it yet but I guess I should start by making sure she can live without excess and deficiency.
There is no other choice but to be more serious in it now.
Once Marina has calmed down, we left the store after a short while.
We should return to the inn and rest up for today.
“My liege, I apologize for losing my composure a while ago.” [Marina]
“No, I was happy to hear Marina’s feelings. My best regards from now on, Marina.” [Jirou]
“Y-Yes-! I will be serving my liege for as long as I live!” [Marina]
Marina’s eyes were slightly red, possibly due to all the crying earlier. However the smile that she gave me was the best one I’ve ever seen.
There are no modern people in existence who will not fall in love with that smile…..
As soon as we returned to the inn, the first thing that Diana said was, “I will be sleeping with goshuujin-sama too. I will not allow you to sleep with Marina alone………………that was what Rebecca said.” [Diana]
Are you serious?…….