After a little bit of this, a little bit of that, I was rescued and returned to Leon’s estate. Having arrived earlier, Aira and Palmira were waiting for me, alongside the slaves who had probably been rescued with them.
When the two of them saw me, they ran up to me and pulled me into a hug.
“B–Big Sisteeeeeeer!”
“I’m glad you’re safe.”
Welcoming me back in their respective fashions, they buried their faces against my chest and stomach.
Well, it couldn’t be helped.
I gently stroked their heads.
Still, where were they found?
Sure, our part of the work was done.
Now that Aira and Palmira had calmed down, I asked them, “So where’d you end up?”
“By the time we noticed, we were in a completely unfamiliar room…”
“Looking around, it was full of slaves.”
To summarize, it seemed they were teleported into a holding pen prepared ahead of time on the suspect ship.
I was surprised. I hadn’t expected the door to be a one-way trip straight into the holding pen. How should I put it, that operation really stressed efficiency.
Anyway, while they were panicking because I’d been left behind and they couldn’t reach me, they contacted Irene with their position. Apparently waiting in the area on standby, Rupert and the Second Platoon quickly stormed the ship. That was how they were rescued.
I thought back calmly. If I hadn’t resisted so conspicuously back then, I might have been sent with them and saved myself some pain.
…What’s done is done. I decided not to dwell too much on it.
“Oh yeah, have you guys seen Leon? Leon — ”
The other slaves were clearly in a weaker state than us, their expressions half joyful, half anxious. Watching the soldiers and maids lead them into the mansion in groups, I suddenly remembered about Leon, and I turned to the other two.
And that was all, so in the end, I didn’t see Leon either.
Now that I thought about it, it wasn’t just Leon, but Leopard and Regnum too. Contact with Irene had been voice-only; she wasn’t around either.
“I don’t see him around here.”
Palmira shook her head.
“But with all the commotion going on, he might have been here.”
Basically, she was saying she didn’t really know.
…Nah, well, what can you do, right?
“You three, please come inside too!”
Before I knew it, the transfer of the other slaves was basically finished.
For now, it was all over… A lot had happened.
“Well… I did my best. You guys too. With this, our work here is done.”
Bap. I settled my hands on their shoulders as I spoke.
The two looked relieved by my words, and they both gave me small nods.
“Okay then, shall we?”
I didn’t know how long I’d stay, but even though I hadn’t spent more than two days here, I felt that it was a place I could go home to.
And so, when I passed through the foyer at the maid’s urging, the thought came to me. ‘I managed to come home safely.’ I felt it from the bottom of my heart.
–
–
Herded into the baths with the other slaves, I scrubbed myself clean again.
Nothing I could do about that.
After all, the lavish spread we had was meant for guests. So considering our social position, rather than modest, this was a luxurious feast.
Given the lives we, too, had led until yesterday, it wasn’t as if I thought of this as a step down. So the meal, perfectly appetizing by normal standards, I finished without complaint.
After that, bedtime.
Unsurprisingly, it was nowhere near as comfortable as the bed I slept in yesterday, but even so, it was no problem at all.
About that — I’d probably be leaving this place tomorrow, or possibly the day after, and get back to my life.
Rather, it was better this way; it meant leaving no attachments behind.
It’s just, I want to see Leon one more time so I can tell him all my grievances against him.
Well, I’ll be able to sooner or later. I haven’t collected my pay yet.
Not worrying about it too much, I covered myself with the blanket and slipped into darkness.
–
–
“…Alright, what the hell.”
Waking up, that was the first thing out of my mouth.
When my thoughts got that far, I sat up in the bed.
Then, I turned to look there.
“Good morning.”
“…Yeah, mornin’.”
As I should probably have expected, Leon was sitting in his usual seat as if his presence was totally normal. Looking a little tired, he greeted me brightly.
Then, I sat cross-legged, turned to Leon, and began to interrogate him.
“…First of all, how about you kindly explain to me why I’m sleeping here?”
I wasn’t going to ask him the dumb question ‘Why are you here?’ anymore.
But even so, Leon had a slightly surprised look on his face, as if my question came out of nowhere.
“Oh. I was so sure that you’d ask why you were left to sleep in a place like that.”
In other words, it was like this:
It seemed that yesterday, the maids simply made a mistake and treated us like the other slaves. Then, as a result of increasing miscommunications, things played out the way they did.
In particular, he wanted to make it up to us, but it wasn’t like we got a cold reception. From that point of view, you could even say that we were the ones taking unfair advantage.
“You three played the most crucial roles in this operation in the first place. There’s no reason to treat you that way.”
“You say that, but the fact is, we got treated that way. So it couldn’t be helped, I guess.” 2
“I certainly owe you an apology for that… However, it wouldn’t hurt to have a little more faith in me.”
It wasn’t as if I didn’t understand the feeling, but it would take a lot of guts to be the only ones there who would ask a ridiculous question like ‘Why are you treating us like this’, I think.
The other slaves were there, and they didn’t know our situation in the first place.
“When you put it that way, I see your point… You truly have my deepest apologies. I didn’t show enough forethought.”
Leon honestly apologized.
Well, that might have been unavoidable too. Considering how busy yesterday must have been for him, even he would lose track of a few arrangements here and there.
“It’s not really that big a deal. The food was tasty too.”
Since it really didn’t bother me, I said that for now.
About that last bit I tacked on — honestly, half of it was good. The meat half. I can say that much, can’t I?
“No, I am truly sorry. As breakfast has already been prepared, why don’t we go together?”
‘With the other two, of course,’ he added.
I figured that for now, even if I bullied Leon some more, it wouldn’t accomplish anything. So I obediently nodded and got out of bed.
–
–
“Ahh, somehow, it seems like we won’t be able to go back to how things used to be.”
Because ‘the weather’s good’ and other assorted reasons, we had breakfast on the terrace.
And of course they were all first-class, worlds away from the food I had the night before. After Aira ate more than her fill, her musings slipped out.
Her expression all but said ‘I’m satisfied!’, and there wasn’t a trace of anxiety on her face.
“If you can eat, eat. It’s principle.”
Palmira turned completely serious, still chewing away.
In the end, it was better not to think too deeply about it.
All of this could simply be chalked up to luck.
Of course, even if I thought about such things, there was nothing I could do about it; even if I worried, it couldn’t be helped.
Rising from my seat, I leaned against the terrace railing and looked down at the city.
I could see tiny soldiers busily boarding and disembarking.
“Hey, what’re you going to do with that?”
Sensing a presence behind me, I posed the question without turning my face.
“Mm, well… For the time being, we’ll recover all the evidence on board, seize the ship, and get her back out on the water. We’ll deal with the crew over time.”
Leon’s voice came from behind me.
Because honestly, I didn’t have much interest. I just wanted to ask because it had some relation to me, more or less.
Still, thinking it through, it could be considered quite severe treatment. 3
“And the lord of the city?”
Turning my gaze, I saw the mansion where we had been held yesterday.
I wasn’t surprised to find that from this distance, I couldn’t see what was going on over there. But I was sure, all the same, that either Vyde or Rupert was leading the men in a similar task.
“At present, Guibenague has been summoned to the imperial capital. His status as a noble has been revoked. For now, that’s the extent of his punishment. How the rest will go depends on his home country.”
So Guibenague didn’t die…?
Was it a good thing that he didn’t die, or would it have been better if he had? That was up to the person in question. Frankly, I didn’t care either way.
Not even particularly for my rear end, which was still swollen today. It simply made me realize how sturdy this body was all over again.
If I didn’t tell anyone these things, not one person would know. And I had no intention of telling anyone.
“A support force of three thousand from the capital will be arriving in the next few days. The city lord’s private army has been placed under restrictions, so for the time being, the support force will maintain public order. The new lord will come after.”
“And those slaves?”
Ignoring Leon’s unsolicited information, I looked last at the barracks and asked about how the slaves would be handled.
Because we’d shared the same lot with each other, however briefly, their fate weighed on my mind.
“Ah, that’s right. If they have a place to return to, we will make the necessary arrangements. If not, we may assist them in finding employment in this city. The Lord’s mansion is short-staffed, so it might be good to place them there for a while.”
“Oh? You’re handling it pretty well.”
“Having rescued them, we’ll take responsibility for their welfare.”
At those words, I finally turned around to face Leon.
Even if it were a lie, there weren’t many out there who could declare that they’d take responsibility.
The higher the position, the greater the weight of those words.
So I made my decision.
“So, right now — ”
Leon, Aira, Palmira. I looked at each of them in turn.
” — as I promised, how about I tell you my story?”
Footnotes
2. そうは言うが、実際そーいう扱いされたのだからしょうが無いだろ ↵
3. Confused by the reasoning. Is property seizure that severe for the crime of slavery? I couldn’t parse the first half, is that what I’m missing? それでも少し踏み込んで考えると、結構苛烈な処置だと言える ↵