A/N
I noticed something strange with my story. Sometimes, when I update a chapter, the updated date does not change, even though the chapter successfully uploads. Does anyone else have this problem?
Eh, it doesn't really matter I guess. On with the story.
XXX
Merlin walked down the central road of the capital, admiring the large and magnificent houses. While they weren't nearly as impressive as Silver Castle, they were among the best he had seen in this world. Eventually, he arrived at his destination. It was a place with three towers, each five stories tall, surrounded by several narrow two-story buildings, all of which were surrounded by wide walls.
This was the headquarters of the Kingdom's Magician's Guild.
"Although Theo did describe it, seeing it in person is something else."
Musing to himself, he approached a sturdy looking door flanked by numerous guards. One of the guards stopped him before he could enter the building and asked if he had business here. Without saying a word, Merlin produced a sealed envelope and handed it to the guard. The guard took a quick look at the envelope and went into the building.
The envelope he had given the guard was addressed to the guildmaster of the magician's guild. It was a letter of recommendation from Theo Rakesheer. After a few minutes had passed, the guard returned to escort him to the guildmasters room. Merlin looked forward to discussing magic with this new acquaintance.
XXX
Sachiko walked down the winding roads somewhere in the capital. Merlin had gone to visit the magician's guild and Moe said he wanted to try the cuisine of this city. Curly and Larry decided to stay at the house Merlin had purchased. It was quite spacious and was two stories tall, but relatively cheap, as it was far from the city center and not well furnished. Merlin had teleported to Silver Castle to get a few additional pieces of furniture, but it was still quite lacking.
As Sachiko continued deeper into the city, she noticed the streets started to become dirty and a stench permeated the air. She wanted to see what this city was really like, away from the main roads where everything seemed nice. She had expected it to be bad, but not this bad.
As the sun started to set, Sachiko decided that she had seen enough and it was time to head back. As the turned around, a heavy iron door slowly opened up around the corner of one of the alleyways. After a man emerged and looked around, a heavy sack was flung out the door just as Sachiko turned the corner. As she passed the sack, she saw a small, bony hand emerge from it. Slightly startled, Sachiko inspected the bag and discovered a girl with blonde hair that was clearly beaten and malnourished.
"Hey, are you alright?"
The girl did not answer. Sachiko decided to heal the girl, but before she could, a voice called out to her.
"Hey, where did you come from?'
A large man appeared in the doorway. He held a lantern that gave off a red light and stared at Sachiko with hostility.
"What are you looking at lady? Get lost, if you leave now I'll let you go."
"Would you tell me what's going on here? Why is this girl in this state?"
"That's nothing you need to know, this girl is our employee and she has nothing to do with you.
"I'll decide if she has anything to do with me."
"Why you little..."
The man reached out to grab Sachiko, but she intercepted and grabbed his hand by the wrist. Silently putting pressure on the man's wrist, she glared at him with hostility. Sachiko may have been a healer, but she was still level 100 and possessed strength far out of reach of ordinary people in this world.
"Aah"
Realizing that he had bitten off more than he could chew, the man quickly changed his tone.
"Forgive me, there is nothing that you need to do here. This girl is sick, so I was going to take her to the temple."
"I see"
Releasing the man, Sachiko turned to the girl on the ground.
[Middle Cure Wounds]
A light glow briefly enveloped the girl and her breathing steadied.
"Well, that should stop her from dying for now, but she should still go to the temple. I will take her there for you."
The man seemed surprised. He squeezed out his next words.
"There's no guarantee that you'll take her there."
"Indeed, I intend to take her to my residence in the capital first in order to heal her. If I'm not mistaken, temples charge for healing and she doesn't look like she has any money."
"You're a worker"
The man came to this incorrect conclusion. Sachiko didn't bother correcting him.
"If you wish, you could accompany us, it shouldn't take that long."
"I'm busy right now so I can't. I'll take her to the temple later. Besides, that's legally ours. If you take her with you then it's kidnapping."
"It's not kidnapping if the person in question requests it."
"The guards won't see it that way."
"Well, if they have a problem, then they can discuss it with me later."
Seeing that this was going nowhere, the man changed tactics.
"Hey, listen lady, it's going to be a huge problem if you take that girl. Don't you know about Eight Fingers?"
Naturally, Sachiko had never heard of them before. The man was shocked to see that she hadn't.
"What! How could you not have heard of them? Especially since you're a worker!"
"I am not from around here. Either way, I'll be taking this girl with me."
"Don't be stupid, just pretend that you didn't see anything. If you take her, they'll come after you and punish me for screwing up."
"Even so, I can't just turn a blind eye to this situation."
"Please don't, I'll be a dead man!"
"That is your problem. Do something about it. Call for help, flee, I don't care."
Sachiko wished to help those in need, but knew that she couldn't help everyone. The man had made his own choices, so he would have to live with the consequences of those choices.
Leaving behind the stunned man, Sachiko gently carried the sack with the girl and headed back to the house.
XXX
By the time Sachiko returned to the house, the others were all there as well. Sachiko informed them of the situation and it was decided that they would shelter the girl for one night and take her to the temple tomorrow. Although this seemed to be somewhat heartless given her situation, the five of them decided they couldn't afford to offer her any more aid, as they had business to take care of. Sachiko took the girl to a spare room and healed her. She had a short conversation with her and learned about her situation. Her name was Lilia, and her family had sold her back when slavery was still legal in the Kingdom.
Deciding to let her sleep in a room upstairs, Sachiko went to the main room downstairs. As she didn't need to sleep thanks to her ring, she considered going on another walk around the city but decided against it. Eventually, dawn broke and it was time to take Lilia to the temple. However, before they were ready to leave, someone knocked at the door. Larry went to greet their guests and brought in three men. One had wide shoulders and was somewhat fat, reminding one of an over privileged noble, and the other two seemed to be solders of the Kingdom. The first man introduced himself as patrol officer Stafan Hevish and asked to meet with the people in the house. The three of them were brought into the main room and met with Larry, Merlin and Sachiko. The two soldiers stood by the wall and let Stafan handle the discussion. He claimed to be investigating a kidnapping and possible violation of the law banning slavery.
"Well, we followed the trail and it led back to this residence. I believe that the lady sitting there is the culprit in this crime."
"To my knowledge, I have committed no crime here. I did assist a young lady in need, perhaps that was mistaken as a kidnapping?"
Sachiko told Stafan what Lilia had told her. Stafan looked completely disinterested in the story.
"We cannot trust testimony from a single source, besides I am not here to investigate the shop. The fact remains that you took the girl and that must be investigated."
"Well, high lord Fresh Face did say one must help those they can. The wisdom of the lords should not be ignored."
Stafan gave Sachiko a confused look, but before he could say anything Larry interjected.
"Of course, sometimes their words are confusing."
Merlin and Sachiko suddenly turned to Larry
"What are you saying Larry, the lords and high lords words are what guide us."
"I know, Merlin, but some of them are confusing. Didn't high lord 7seven7 always like to say 'screw the rules, I have money'. Do you know what that means?"
"Yes, that is indeed quite confusing, I understand the words, but there must be a hidden meaning. Now that I think about it, there are many of their words that I do not understand. For example, I believe lord Starman had an unusual battle-cry, I believe it was something like …"
"Leeroy Jenkins"
"Yes, thank you, Sachiko. It still baffles me why the other lords would get angry at him when he used it though."
"Excuse me, but can we get back on topic?"
Slightly irritated at being ignored, Stafan interrupted their conversation.
"Ah, I apologize, we were reminiscing about the past. Now, where were we?
"About that, a report has already been made on this incident, so I have to arrest you people and investigate as soon as possible, by force if necessary. Of course, if you settle with the store, this matter can be handled quietly"
"I see, however, we are not citizens here, but merely visitors. We are on a diplomatic mission to establish ties with this country and therefore as of yet do not recognize any of your laws."
Slightly taken aback, Stafan hesitated for a moment before responding.
"What do you mean? Everyone in the city is bound by its laws."
"Not us, at least not yet anyway. You may consider us foreign ambassadors. It would be quite troublesome for both if us if this escalated, but we have no intention of backing down."
"Do you want me to bring the whole squad here to haul you off to prison?"
Merlin and the others didn't flinch at this outburst. They knew quite well just how powerful they were compared to the average human in this world.
"You may do so if you wish, but we would be obliged to resist. I do not wish to cause an incident, but it cannot be helped if this continues. I am willing to solve this diplomatically, but I will not be bullied."
Stafan began foaming at the mouth. He knew that there was no point in continuing this discussion. Deciding to withdraw for now, he shouted a threat as he left.
"This isn't over yet!"
XXX
Lilia is not an OC, she is mentioned in the LN. I think she's only mentioned one time though. I originally intended to use an OC in her place but while I was skimming the LN, I saw her mentioned and thought I might as well use her.
Also, I know that this far into the future, they would have new memes. Sadly, I don't have a time machine, so I can't find out what they are. For this story, I just used the ones we had today.
Just to let you know, the events I have planned in this arc happen some time before the corresponding arc in the LN.
