Chapter 5 / Slave
Naofumi felt like he was going nowhere.
A week passed since the trial happened and Naofumi spent most of his time hanging around the capital. There was very little he could do by himself as the Shield Hero.
Everyday felt the same. Going out to fields, picking out herbs and materials he could gather without fighting monsters, and seeing if he could sell them for a decent price. He couldn't sell all of them because he was still hopeful in unlocking something through his strengthening methods, which required materials to use outside of the ones that required combat.
The only progress was discovering that he could unlock more shields through absorbing materials to unlock corresponding weapons, but even that was limited in how useful it was.
"Hey, Shield Kid."
A voice called out to him as he was walking down the street. It was the blacksmith from last week. "I heard about what happened. I was meaning to throw you a punch for what you tried to do to your friend. Hold still."
Naofumi bitterly frowned. It felt like no one believed in him. Everywhere he went, people would always try to make him go away. To be made a punching bag of society, it made him sick to the stomach.
He said nothing from sheer defeatness. If no one else would give him a few words, he might as well let Erhart strike him and be done with it. He may have braced himself for the attack, it never came.
When Naofumi glanced up, he noticed that the blacksmith never took up any stance to indicate he wanted a punch. His arms were relaxed, his muscles weren't being tensed up.
"Things have been tough, I take it?"
"Weren't you going to punch me?"
Erhart sighed before opening his store's door. "Do you want to come in for a bit? I was really keeping an eye out for you during the entire week, but you haven't been around these parts of the capital lately. I only said that I was going to punch you to see how you would respond."
"Huh?"
"Hurry it up. I don't have to open up yet for about half an hour, but I can't be wasting that time standing around like this."
Naofumi recluntantly entered the shop with Erhart.
He went into the back, telling Naofumi to stay at the counter. Naofumi himself wasn't sure what was going on, even when the blacksmith returned with a bag and some leather armor.
"These are for you. Considering what you're looking like right now, you're never going to survive the wave of destruction when that comes around. You're still planning on fighting it, right?"
Naofumi widened his eyes. "W-why are you giving me this?"
"I don't think you did what the rumors claimed you did." Erhart sat down behind the counter.
"You don't believe them?"
"I don't think you're the type of person to take advantage of your friend like that, especially when you were willing to cover for another."
Naofumi felt his heart get a bit lighter. To be honest, it had been a while since the tension on his shoulders were relieved, even if it was a single moment.
"You're giving these things to me for free?"
"Who said I was giving them to you?"
"O-oh, so you just want me to pay you back when I get enough money?" It was still a long way until he could pay a bundle like that back at his rate. "You're probably going to be waiting a while if that's the case. Sorry about—"
"That's not it either. These things have already been paid for. The only thing left to do is to give them to the person that they're for, which is you."
Naofumi furrowed his eyebrows. "Excuse me?"
"Last week on the day that your trial took place," Erhart chuckled, "two little heroes came into my shop, desperately trying to look for you. I'm not sure what their context was, but it seemed like they were flipping the entire capital over, trying to find you."
"Two little heroes?" Judging from that mere description, Naofumi could only assume that he was talking about Ren and Itsuki.
"They asked me if you've been around after the trial, but I wasn't able to point them in your direction. However, the Sword Boy decided to leave a little present for you here, just in the chance that you would ever return back to a blacksmith that you were familiar with." Erhart patted his hand against the armor. "They both pitched in to buy this for you."
"Ren, Itsuki…" Naofumi didn't know it, but Erhart found himself smiling seeing that the lost expression that the Shield Hero was wearing slowly turned into a soft smile.
Naofumi slowly reached out for the bag and opened it up. There were some accessories inside and better clothing that he could wear in order to strengthen himself. The entire attire must have been carefully picked out.
"Why don't you take a back room to change? I'm sure they would be happy to know that their present finally reached the proper recipient."
Naofumi nodded, taking the stuff around and doing as what was suggested. Putting on leather armor felt different than chainmail, but his skin felt somewhat thicker. Despite being made from less harder materials, the defense rating looked to be almost the same; all while having strengths in different use. Chainmail armor might have been more resistant to attacks, but this leather armor bestowed him with some fleet footworking.
There was also an amulet, a cape, two arm bracers and shin pads. As well as a belt. And a helmet. And… a good-luck charm? Naofumi didn't know what half of the things in the bag were, much less if they were supposed to be used for combat purposes or not. Wasn't Erhart only a blacksmith!?
Looking at it all laid out, Naofumi wasn't sure if he needed all of this, but he should at least take it along with him for his journey. His appreciation couldn't be conveyed in mere words for what Ren and Itsuki did here, so he had to at least take them all.
Although, he did try wearing it all to see if it would be good, but he just looked really stupid.
He settled on having the cape, the neck amulet, and a single arm bracer. He took up the change of clothes as well, giving him a more composed appearance compared to the rugged image he was wearing before. Glancing at a mirror, he was definitely better than he had been in the entire week.
"Now, a certain somebody is looking more like a hero."
"I'd barely pass as an adventurer."
"Don't be so humble. You've got a world to save, but you're up against some tough times." Erhart bumped his fist against Naofumi's shoulder. "Hang in there, Shield Kid. You have some people that believe in you right? Then for now, it should be enough that you fight for their sake."
"Yeah." Naofumi couldn't deny that. He was wearing the proof right now. "Thanks for everything, Erhart."
"No need to thank me. I didn't do anything, so save your thanks for the ones that deserve it."
Naofumi left the store and headed off on his way.
With his new equipment, he wasn't going to be killing monsters quicker by any big margin, but the motivation he was given gave him enough spirit to charge on through.
Later in the afternoon, he came back to the city to sell his materials. He came over to see a porty merchant finish up a purchase from an adventurer. He managed to overhear that the adventurer was paid at a cost of one bronze piece per two balloon skins.
Once the adventurer left, Naofumi stepped up.
"I'm here to sell some materials."
A merchant had such a dismissive smirk. "Make it quick."
"I got some balloon skins."
"Then how about one bronze for every ten skins?"
Because of the cape he received on his friends' behalf, he was able to sneak in some balloons past the knights at the gates. They seemed to be delighted to stay on Naofumi like that, but the merchant was less delighted to see them here.
"How about what you offered to the person before me?"
"I-I…"
Naofumi didn't break his scary smile.
"I'm not asking for much. Just a fair price, or else I might throw in one of these balloon skins for free." Naofumi felt a bit dirty in threatening the merchant, but if he was being ripped off, he needed to stand his ground. He'd just hope that this wouldn't turn into a habit.
"Just buy my materials slightly below market price and I'll accept it."
"F-fine, if it's just that…"
The exchange was finished, giving Naofumi more than what he saw the entire week.
"Good," Naofumi commented. "It would definitely be a shame to hear of a merchant who was trying to scam his customers, right?"
"It would be a shame if news spread about somebody threatening merchants with monsters, right?" the merchant smugly replied.
"Let that news spread then." Naofumi collected his money and pocketed it, heading off to the nearest restaurant. "It'll be much easier for me in the long run to get straight to the point."
-/IV/-
A few days passed and that was the cycle Naofumi found himself at. He still took a long time to kill a balloon monster, but he gained a single level since then.
He would just have to make sure the merchant he was working with to buy off the materials had known about his little threat. Naofumi even had to let one of the monsters bite one merchant to let them know it wasn't a bluff. The word were certainly spreading that there was a man that was using monsters in order to get what he wanted from merchants.
Then again, he already had rumors over his head as someone who tried to rape his party member. What's another one to his shoulder?
"You again?" The merchant raised his eyebrow. "Alright, it'll be the same price as always."
"Good to hear."
"You still only have balloon skins?"
"Yeah, nothing else for you. Sorry."
"Gathering herbs is somewhat of a valid option too." Naofumi was slightly surprised that the merchant was giving him suggestions. "It's also helpful if you know how to make medicine from those herbs. You can never get enough of those things."
"R-right…" It was something to keep in mind, but he remembered unlocking a shield that might have helped with something like that. "Anyways, here you go."
As the merchant handed him his well-earned money, a boisterous cry came from the side.
"You're the one threatening the merchants around these parts!" It seemed like someone heard about the rumors and decided to put a stop to whatever madness that he had heard.
However, the voice sounded… awfully familiar.
"This won't go unnoticed! I demand that you change your ways and meet… your… justice…" His words slowed down as Naofumi turned over to the direction of the voice.
A silence roamed the area as they looked at each other.
"I-Itsuki?"
"N-Naofumi?" His friend's mouth dropped open. "D-don't tell me that you're the one that's…?"
However, Itsuki hadn't been alone. Behind him, there were the three party members that were provided to him from the week before. One guy was dressed in a mage's cloak, keeping his hood up. One person wore a red bandana and kept herself well covered with a fighter's outfit. The last person was relatively bigger, having thick layers of armor and a mustache.
It was the last one that disrupted the confusion between the two friends.
"As it should have been suspected!" the armored man scoffed. "Of course, the culprit had been the Shield Demon all along! Only he would be doing terrible things like this to the merchants of the capital! Sir Itsuki, we should apprehend this monster and hand him over to the—!"
"I'll handle this, Mald. Leave this matter to be settled between the heroes. Take Welst and Kojeel with you. I'll get to the bottom of this."
"Are you sure about this, Sir Itsuki? This is the Shield Demon that we're talking about. He's a dangerous criminal! He should be locked up in the prison cells like the thug he is."
"I said I'll handle it. Are you doubting my abilities to do so?"
"N-no. Apologies, Sir Itsuki. I'm simply saying you should take the proper precautions to—"
"I know that already. Leave me to deal with this now."
Mald and his other party members left Itsuki to deal with Naofumi, but even before he could lose sight of them, Itsuki walked right by him.
"Come with me, Naofumi."
His voice was serious. This wasn't the type of reunion that Naofumi was imagining. Was it possible that Itsuki actually never believed in his innocence to begin with?
Naofumi started to get worried, but as they went down an alleyway for privacy, Itsuki made a relieved sigh. He turned around with a huge smile. He then hung a fist bump into the air lightly and playfully, prompting Naofumi to knock his own fist against it.
It seemed like he was worried for nothing.
"You're looking pretty good, Naofumi!"
"A certain pair of heroes helped me out," Naofumi chuckled. "Thanks for that, by the way."
"Yeah, it was the most we could think of at the time," Itsuki sighed. "We couldn't find you anywhere. We figured that you weren't going out of the capital anytime soon, so we left that for you."
"Where were you guys this entire time?"
"We didn't exactly have the luxury of staying around the capital. Ren and I had adventurers in our party, so they suggested that we take requests from the guild. If we denied that to go on and look for you, that would have been suspicious. We already had targets on our heads, so leaving the capital might have been a good idea."
"Targets?" Naofumi didn't like the sound of that. "Wait, what?"
Itsuki flinched, realizing that he allowed that to slip out. "I, uh, guess you have the right to know, since that was the whole reason why we missed your trial last week."
Itsuki started to explain the assassination attempt on their lives by the Church of Three Heroes. There hadn't been much to it, but judging from Naofumi's horrified confusion, he decided to part with the information of the Church itself and how they saw the Shield Hero as a demon.
It was entirely possible that Ren and Itsuki were attacked because they believed the Sword Hero and the Bow Hero were both allied with the Shield Hero.
"I-I'm sorry." Naofumi bowed after hearing Itsuki's thoughts.
"What are you apologizing for?"
"It's because you guys were wrapped up with me that they decided to attack you, right?"
"If I was looking for an apology from something like that, something tells me that we would have stopped being friends a long time ago," Itsuki snickered. "Justice always prevails in the end, right?"
"I guess you're right," Naofumi said, laughing it off.
"That aside, want to tell me what happened with all these rumors with the merchants?"
Naofumi started to explain the whole incident with the balloon monsters.
"Ah, but at the very least, the usual people that you've been doing business with seemed to have softened up. Business is still business in their eyes."
"Money is a universal language, after all."
"In that case, you've been selling off most of your materials to get through the days, right? I can only imagine how tough most of that could have been." Itsuki pondered for a second his eyes glanced forwards. It didn't look like he was looking straight at Naofumi, but his Status Magic screen instead. "Oh, nice. Looks like I have some extra materials from my expedition."
Itsuki held out his hand and out of thin air, a bag appeared. It surprised Naofumi. "Since you've been selling off your materials, I don't think you would have the chance to use any of them for your strengthening methods. I think using these materials might help in—"
"H-how did you do that?"
Itsuki stared blankly. Silence filled the air for about a few seconds as Itsuki tried to figure out what Naofumi was talking about; he gave up afterwards.
"Do what?"
"Get that bag? You just pulled it out from nowhere!"
"N-no? I was just using the inventory to—" Itsuki's glances suddenly shifted to being worried. "N-Naofumi? Did you not realize you had an inventory?"
"An inventory? Like a place to store all my stuff, right?"
"Y-yeah…?" Itsuki slowly nodded. "Have you been carrying your materials this entire time!?"
"Of course! I even had to carry around the bag with all the extra stuff you gave to me through Erhart, mainly because I couldn't exactly wear it all at once!"
"You weren't supposed to wear them all! You were supposed to equip the things that fit the situation and leave the rest in your inventory!"
"Well, it's right here!" Naofumi lifted the cape and showed Itsuki the bag with all the stuff inside. "Are you telling me that I could have just stuffed that into an inventory!?"
Itsuki simply stared at where Naofumi was pointing, but that wasn't the thing Itsuki was worried about. "You know, they said that the man was using monsters to threaten merchants," Itsuki croaked onwards, tilting his head, "but I never really expected to see something like that."
Naofumi frowned, completely forgetting about the five balloon monsters munching away at his body. Out of embarrassment, he dropped his cape and shook his head.
"Forget about that for now."
"I don't think I can."
"Anyways, you were talking about the materials!?" Naofumi exclaimed, trying to tear their way apart from this tangeanted topic. "L-let me hear about that!"
Itsuki raised the bag of materials and reluctantly dropped it into Naofumi's hand. "A-anyways, these are extra materials. Use them to make your shields stronger with the strengthening methods. I'm certain that you've at least figured out about [Weapon Unlock] through material absorbing and [Weapon Copy] through scanning pre-existing weapons. Please tell me I'm right."
"Hey, I knew at least that much!"
"Just making sure."
Naofumi opened up the bag of materials to see such items he never thought about having this early on. There were wolf fangs, bat wings, some animal hide, and even some mineral ores here and there.
"Are you sure about this?"
"We're friends, aren't we? I feel like you would do the same if the roles were reversed."
Naofumi smiled. Motoyasu said that a hero shouldn't be receiving pity, but this was certainly not it. It was through the worries and the good faith of his friends that he was receiving the help. He simply hoped that he would be able to repay this debt to them eventually.
"I really appreciate this, Itsuki."
"No problem. You must have been going through some tough times during the week."
Was it so easily written on his face? Or had it been the assumption from how the news of his trial had spread? Even if he were to use the strengthening methods with these materials, he might not have been good enough to get himself out of the capital anytime soon.
There was only so much he could do by himself.
"Yeah, but I think I can handle it."
The hesitation in Naofumi's voice didn't sit right with Itsuki.
"Tell me what level you're at right now. Immediately."
Naofumi hesitated for a bit, thinking about lying for a brief moment.
"I-I… only reached LV2 the other day."
"Figures. I'm already hitting LV15 by now."
"Already!?"
"It's the reverse. It's not that I've hit LV15 already; it's about time that I hit LV15. I imagine that compared to Ren, he'd already be peaking over LV20 by now. And I'm sure that Motoyasu is somewhere between that range as well, if he isn't busy fooling around. You're the only one that's in the outlier."
"No way…" Naofumi didn't realize how slow it had been without having someone to kill the monsters for him. Itsuki merely made him open his eyes to that reality.
"Naofumi? Are you sure you'll be fine?" Itsuki's voice loomed with concern. It made Naofumi very doubtful of even himself.
"I'm… I'm sorry for making you worry."
"Don't just apologize, you idiot."
"It's just… it's been hard, but I don't know what else to do. It feels like I'm stuck in an endless cycle. I hate the fact that I got stuck with the shield. I can't do anything noteworthy except taking hits, but if there's no one to protect, there's no reason to be this strong in defense anyways."
Naofumi transferred the bag of materials, along his gear, into his inventory. His body certainly felt a little lighter, but the weight of his problems only fell harder.
"I don't know what to do."
"Then perhaps I could lend myself to your assistance."
Itsuki and Naofumi snapped their heads down the alleyway from the unexpected voice. They didn't hear a single footstep and even as the source of the voice came closer, their steps were so careful and precise, it was like they weren't even there.
A short man approached wearing a silk top hat akin to a ringmaster, paired with the proper tuxedo and black pants. His mustache had almost been as half as long as his mouth as he kept a sinister, omnipresent grin as his expression. Even though Naofumi couldn't see his eyes behind those glasses, he felt like they were observing Naofumi rather closely, all while he slyly stroked the mustache.
Itsuki started to sweat a bit. "Who the hell are you?"
"It does not matter as to who I am to you," the stout man chuckled. "If you're willing to forgive me, I have overheard your little conversation here and being the kind man that I am, I thought of helping out in whatever way I can."
His smile grew creepily as he tapped his cane in front of him.
"That is why I have intruded with a recommendation, a suggestion and perhaps, an invitation." His glasses glinted in the darkness. "You need people, Shield Hero. You need people to help you out."
"Naofumi, this guy is suspicious as hell," his friend whispered to him. "Let's get out of here before we get caught up with him. He's probably planning something."
Naofumi was still hung up. Even if the way that the man said it was chilling, it didn't change the fact that what he said was true. "If he has something in mind…"
"You can't possibly trust this guy!"
"Fufufu…"
The man giggled a bit before taking a few steps forwards. It caused Naofumi to falter, taking the same amount of steps back, but that action caused Itsuki to release his tension and finally pull out his bow and aimed it at the man.
"Stay back, bastard. Do you really think we would be playing along with someone like you?"
"Oh, but that's quite a shame! Indeed, it is!" The man's smile grew. "Since I do have a way to solve the Shield Hero's problem!"
"Like we would believe you."
"Oh no, oh no, no, no." The man wagged a finger so delicately, so whimsically. "I never asked for your trust. All I asked for was your curiosity. Trust is not needed for there to be business. Simply two people that know what they want, that is all that is needed."
Naofumi definitely had a bad feeling about this, but even with that chill running down his spine, he thought with a deep breath. He walked up next to Itsuki, staring at the mysterious man.
"What do you have to offer?"
"Naofumi!? You can't be serious!"
"I am, and from the sounds of it, it seems like this guy is just as serious as I am. I think I should at least see what he has in store."
"Fufufu…" The stout man scanned Naofumi from top to bottom behind his fogged glasses, so much so that it was making him anxious about what he was looking at. "My, oh my. It seems like you would have been the perfect customer if you had been pushed just a little further."
His eyes glanced over to Itsuki for the briefest moment.
"Are you going to tell me what you want to say or not?" Naofumi grumbled. "If you keep talking around like this, I'll leave right now."
"Your interest flatters me." The mysterious man turned at the clack of his cane and walked further down into the shadows. "If you wish to know, then please follow me. I shall bring you to where your problems will be solved and our business shall be made."
As Naofumi instinctively took one step, Itsuki grabbed his arm. "Naofumi, wait. I'm coming with you, just in case things get messy. It's up to you to do whatever you want to do, but I'm not going to leave my friend in the hands of a suspicious person."
"Thanks, Itsuki."
Without any further words, both Itsuki and Naofumi headed down the alleyway, being devoured by the shadows that escaped from the light.
-/IV/-
After going through the labyrinth of alleyways upon the underside of the capital, Naofumi saw that there was a wide opening. Within the center was a wide circus tent. Naofumi would have never guessed something like this was in the capital.
The pudgy man opened up the entrance for them with a devious smile.
"Fufufu… Right this way, my potential customer."
"Potential customer…?"
With a deep breath, he walked in front of Itsuki into the tent. Now that he thought about it, it didn't register yet as to what type of business needed to be hidden away in such places of the capital that were concerned with providing people to customers.
When he found out, he slowly froze.
"Gah! Crap!" Itsuki's face dove into Naofumi's back. "Why did you stop all of a sudden!?"
Even though he knew what the word was, he didn't want to say it out loud. His friend was rubbing his nose and finally walked around.
"Ugh, hey. What the hell's going—?"
That was when he knew Itsuki had seen for himself.
"Shit. You've got to be kidding me…"
Before them were cages among cages within the dreary darkness, alight only by a few flickering torches. Bodies within each and every one that he could see as their eyes wandered towards the apparent customers. It was clear what this was and it was just as clear how repulsed Naofumi felt on the mere instinct and thought of it. His heart was pounding, but he bit down on his teeth, trying to calm his nerves as the short man walked past both of them in their utterly profound expressions.
"Welcome, Shield Hero." He spun to them and opened his arms, almost whimsically. "Allow me to formally introduce myself. My name is Beloukas. And this is what I'm offering to you."
His smile only grew, seeing the bewilderment on their faces.
"I deal in slavery."
Naofumi's head turned to see those who were imprisoned and sold as merchandise, but realized something on closer inspection. What was inside these cages hadn't been human.
"A slave will listen to your orders. A slave will never betray you," he announced. "A slave is incapable of doing otherwise. They are products, intended to follow their master's every word if needed. They're placed under strong binding curses and if they choose to misbehave, the curse will activate. Depending on the severity that you wish, it can take their very lives for simply thinking they can—"
"Shut up."
Itsuki's hands tightened. He had already heard more than enough.
"Shut the hell up! Slavery!?" Almost instantly, Itsuki drew his bow and this time, his weapon was loaded with arrows pointing towards Beloukas' head. "Are you serious!? You're offering slaves to the heroes right now!? Do you think this is some type of joke!?"
Beloukas tipped his hat, not bothered by Itsuki's threats. "I do regret to inform you that I am a man of many things, but I am not a jester. I am a mere businessman, looking to do business. I take this service with the utmost pride and provide customers with desired products with the utmost care."
"This isn't business! This is abuse of the lives of other people!"
"Business is defined by the exchange of goods on a mutual agreement. How could I not call it for what it is? I provide products. Customers provide currency. This is a legal practice, Bow Hero."
"You're lying!"
"I am a man of many things, but a liar, I am not. I do not think I need to have your trust, should I remind you. Indeed, you are the only person that you can truly believe in, so you should come to your own conclusions. Allow me to point out a few things."
Beloukas turned his head slightly to some of the slaves. "Take a good look at them."
Itsuki glanced at the corner of his eyes, but Naofumi already noticed it. It wasn't simply the one or few cages that held the unhuman slaves. It was all of them. There was a term used for them from Odin Spirit that he remembered for those with that appearance.
"Demi-humans."
"Fufufu. Indeed, they are," Beloukas nodded. "Melromarc believes humans are of a higher race to other species. Why is it that you could only find humans living freely in the capital, but only demi-humans within these cages?"
Itsuki clicked his tongue.
"Enough. Let them go."
"I cannot do that, Bow Hero. That is the equivalent of asking me to burn up my business. I may have a front on dealing with tamed monsters, but you could only go so far with those little exchanges."
"You're more of a monster than anything I could find out in the wild. Nothing's stopping me from firing an arrow right through your head."
"Does the strong truly have the final say in what is right or wrong? If what I do is legal, then I am merely innocent. And what would happen if you were to kill an innocent fellow like myself? Would you not be the guilty culprit?"
"Bullshit! You're as guilty as they come!"
As Itsuki was about to let go of his arrow, Naofumi moved his hand, throwing it out to grab Itsuki's arrow before it could be shot outwards. Being stunned, Itsuki widened his eyes, slowly turning his head to Naofumi.
"N-Naofumi…?" Itsuki's arms were shaking, seeing his friend stop him, but Naofumi's arms were shaking too. "Why are you stopping me!? That guy should die for treating the lives of these people like trash!"
"It pisses me off too, but whatever Beloukas has been saying…" He glared over to the supposed merchant. "I think he's right. I think this is the only option I have here."
"What are you saying!?"
"Without someone to fight and kill monsters quickly in my stead, I won't be ready by the time the wave of destruction comes. The more time I waste without a partner to do damage, the more I become a deadweight when we meet each other again for the wave. It's already difficult enough as it is for me."
Naofumi kept telling himself that he could persevere and frankly, he believed that he could after being given the good will of his friends through the new equipment. However, that wasn't going to last him for long. He realized that when Itsuki revealed his level and gave to him the materials that he could only expect in his dreams.
"I have to do this. Even if I'm betraying my morals, I can't keep relying on you guys. Buying a slave is going to be my safest option for a partner, whether I want to accept it or not."
Itsuki knew he was serious. It was difficult to argue against him. Going against the evil of this society was what had been the right thing to do, but it clearly wasn't always the correct option to make. Naofumi seemed to have made his resolve to see through this, but Itsuki wasn't ready to watch over his shoulder here.
"I'm sorry, Itsuki."
"Don't… apologize." Itsuki lowered his weapon. "You did nothing wrong."
Itsuki kept himself quiet, but Naofumi didn't know what else to say to make it less awkward. The silence consumed his ears, leaving a grumble to rise a bit in his friend's mouth.
"This place is making me sick," he scowled, closing his eyes. "Let's get this over with quickly and be done with this mess."
Beloukas tipped his top hat. "Have you two finished up your decision? I always allow my customers to take their time, but be careful when pushing it." Naofumi's solemn expression appeared when he turned to the slave trader, masking up his emotions "Oh?"
"Hurry up and show us what you have."
"Fufufu… As you wish, Shield Hero."
-/IV/-
"Beast-men are quite useful for what you're looking for." When it boiled down to it, it felt like Beloukas truly wanted the best for his customers, going out of his way to explain a few things for them. "Most of my clients seek out the stronger beast-men in my they look rather monstrous, it is for a good reason. Their natural combat abilities are typically higher and for that, they are mostly used as bodyguards or arena fighting. They will prove to be helpful in your particular case."
Itsuki never dared to look over his shoulder. He was already holding himself back quite a bit to satisfy Naofumi's demands.
"Demi-humans, on the other hand, are much more versatile in their uses. The same ones that you may know of already, considering you knew the terminology for it. Despite their appearances, they have as much monster blood in them as beast-men do. For humans, they certainly are better for the visual appeal for those who cannot stand the sight of beast-men. The males may be useful for manual labor, whereas the females…"
"What are you trying to say here?" Itsuki growled. "I thought you said that you weren't a jester."
"I don't believe I was going to make a joke."
"He didn't do it. He would never."
"His intentions are not my business. I'm merely giving him the options."
As Naofumi looked around through instinct, he noticed an odd sight.
For all the cages that were present in the tent, they were all lined up to form a type of makeshift-hallway. To present products as such, it was an obvious thing to do, but there was one lone cage off the beaten path that was covered in a tarp.
He stopped, staring at the covered cage. It caused Beloukas and Itsuki to stop as well, looking over to what caught the Shield Hero's attention with such vivid curiosity.
As he came closer, he started hearing hoarse and weak coughing.
His hand reached out slowly to the tarp, but he couldn't find the strength to pull on it. Something told him he didn't want to see what was underneath this tarp. Suddenly, he felt another presence next to him, grabbing onto the other side.
"If you're going to get some resolve to do this," Itsuki said, "you better see it until the end."
"Yeah." Naofumi took a deep breath. "I know."
On the silent count, the two friends pulled on the tarp at the same time to reveal what Naofumi was afraid of seeing. He knew he should have expected this outcome the moment that he was made aware that slavery was part of this world's current reality, but it was another experience to see it before his eyes.
It did not make it any less disgusting.
Under the tarp, staying within the darkness—
—there was a young girl who didn't even look past the age of ten.
It was a girl with brown hair, ruffled with dirt as if it wasn't brushed in a long time. Two round ears on her head twitched weakly as she breathed raspfully. She slowly gazed upwards at the people who gave a dim light over her cage, only for her to quickly avert her gaze out of fear. Her body was shaking nervously; her voice was barely audible.
This was the first time they had ever come across a child that was being mistreated in such a way. She was practically skin and bones, malnourished past the point where it was safe. It was obvious that she was on the verge of dying in this dark cage.
"I would advise that you should not be tending to slaves that are underneath tarps." Beloukas walked over, calling to them. "Those slaves are to be disposed of since they are becoming unsellable to customers for one reason or another. For what my suggestion is worth, please do not concern yourselves with this product. I have a standard for what I sell to my customers."
Naofumi didn't hear what Beloukas said. His lips moved before he could think.
"How much is she worth?"
"As I said, she is not for sale. It is against my policy to allow customers to buy slaves in their poorest condition."
"Where were you even leading us anyways?" Naofumi leered at the slave trader at the corner of his eyes. "Were you trying to lead me over to some of your best slaves for me to see?"
"Are you not interested in my best?"
"Your best would coincidentally be your most expensive. Would it not?" Naofumi looked back to the young girl. "I could never afford them, but I'm guessing you already knew that."
Beloukas let an amused chuckle out. "It appears that you have a fine eye for these types of details. I'm in anguish that you weren't pushed to the edge a little further than your current state."
"I don't care about that. I'm looking for someone cheap and affordable. You said that she was in poor condition, right? I suppose you wouldn't mind if I took her off your hands."
"Are you sure about that?" Beloukas glanced over to the young girl as well. "She has issues with her health, alongside the constant panic attacks she suffers during the night. I fear that she may not even live long enough for you to receive worthwhile usage out of her. My professionals say that she has a week or two to live at most."
"Even so…"
"She's not great in combat or manual labor, both of which would be important to serve your needs. Once again, this is not the slave I would be showing you. I have a lizardman and a rabbit demi-human that would best fit the description of what you need."
"That's not necessary. All that you said just told me that she'll be quite the cheap slave."
"And you're willing to take her off my hands? She is still one of the products, mind you. I will still charge my normal price."
Naofumi tried to count how many coins he even had in his pocket. He was praying that he somehow had enough as he counted his total.
As Naofumi was counting his coins, Itsuki knelt down to see the little girl somewhat closer. He kept his distance to make sure she wasn't scared so suddenly, but he noticed something.
"She has some pretty heavy bruises and scars. These wounds were recent."
"Her previous owner was someone who loved torture. He would buy slaves in order to—"
"I didn't ask. So shut up."
His intense glare was met with a mere chuckle from the slave trader.
"How much for her?" Naofumi asked, finishing his count.
"For a slave in this condition, I can only lower it to forty silver pieces. There are other factors that increase the average value of a slave, one of which is their gender. Regardless if she is on the verge of death, she is still female."
Naofumi clicked his tongue. That was more than double the amount that he had on him right now.
How much of his stuff would he need to sell in order to buy this girl out from her cage? How much time would that even take? He needed to get her out of there as soon as possible.
However—
"He'll take her."
Itsuki spoke up for Naofumi, surprising him.
"Are you sure about this?" Beloukas tapped his cane against the cage, causing her to turn skittish. "Even for forty silver coins, I don't think she will be best suited for the Shield Hero."
"She'll do fine," Itsuki answered, almost in a scarily calm manner.
"Itsuki, I don't have enough for—"
"Don't worry about it."
Naofumi was a bit puzzled and frankly, he was afraid of what Itsuki might be thinking.
As Beloukas nodded to their decision, he opened up the cage and tried to grab the girl's chain, tugging it lightly. Out of fear, she refused, but when he tugged harder, she ended up silently following the slave trader.
Naofumi and Itsuki kept their eyes on the slave trader, to see if he would do anything suspicious about the transaction, but it simply led to them arriving into a cleaner room within the tent where there was a type of station prepared. A few of his men managed it.
"For the transaction to be completed, I'm obligated to provide you with registration in the form of a slave crest for your product." One of his men provided Beloukas with a pen-knife which was passed on to Naofumi alongside a small dish that had some ink inside already.
Naofumi took the pen-knife and gazed at the dish. "Is there something I should sign here?"
"No, nothing like that. Please drop some of your blood into the ink. It's how we can ensure that she'll listen to you and only yourself."
Naofumi pulled out the sharp extension and pricked his finger, letting a few drops drip into the ink. He was a bit surprised that a knife would be able to make him bleed like that opposed to the balloon monsters that couldn't bite through his skin, but he wasn't in combat right now.
It might have made some sense if he thought about it.
The workers then took a brush and mixed the red color into the black before they went over to the little girl, painting some type of circle on her chest. It then sparked into a purple color the moment the brush left her skin.
"G-Gah…! AAHHHH!"
A dry scream called out to them, causing the friends to flinch in the noise. Beloukas stood by to stop them from moving in, notioning that this was part of the normal procedure. He could only hope that the slave could forgive him for forcing her through that curling pain. Itsuki, on the other hand, was clenching his fist. He had been doing everything in his power to not kill everyone else in the room right now from the casual mood they held.
Once it finished and her screaming died down, a notification popped up before Naofumi's eyes.
[Attention]
[Slave acquired. Conditions have been added to the menu.]
He quickly saw through the follow-up, noting that it was simply a set of rules of what the slave can and can't do, but nowhere did it really restrict his own actions onto the slave.
One more thing popped up.
[Attention]
[Slave A joined the party.]
Naofumi blinked. "Do we normally get a notification of party members joining us?"
"Yeah. You didn't know that?"
Naofumi never saw such a thing before, but Myne had been enlisted with him as a party member before. The difference started to grow when he noticed that he could see the slave's health subsetted underneath his own. He never saw any health bars underneath when Myne was with him.
Was all of the kills that Myne was taking being given to only her? Naofumi's heart churned, realizing that her betrayal wasn't a spur of the moment, but pre-meditative.
And it was that woman that had her hands on Motoyasu.
"And with that, it is almost all finished."
Beloukas pulled the slave over and turned to the heroes.
"Your payment, please."
Before Naofumi could say anything, Itsuki stepped forwards.
"Here. Take your dumb money."
"Much appreciated."
As much as Itsuki screamed about hating the business of slavery, he was the one to ironically engage in the transaction in Naofumi's place. "Thanks, Itsuki."
"Don't mention it."
"How can I repa—"
"No, I'm serious. Don't ever mention this again."
Naofumi straightened up. "I-I understand."
Beloukas nodded after counting the coins and allowed the slave to go to Naofumi's side.
"Pleasure doing business. I hope to see you again."
"The next time we meet, you might not be so lucky," Itsuki spat. "We're getting the hell out, Naofumi."
Naofumi beckoned the slave to follow, but she was a bit slow and reluctant. They left the tent and traveled through the alleyways back to the main streets without much issue, but Itsuki stopped before they had to split up from each other. He glanced back at the slave and grimaced, seeing her make such a miserable expression.
The Status Magic called her Slave A, but Naofumi was certain that wasn't her name.
"My name's Naofumi," he introduced himself. "What's your name?"
She remained quiet, but he tried smiling to boost her comfort.
"I'm sure it's a nice one."
She turned away and didn't answer.
Naofumi sighed, thinking that it would be best to take this slowly, but Itsuki suddenly walked up to the slave and reached out for her. Instinctively, she winced, but Itsuki wasn't going to hurt her.
"Her hair is a mess. You'll get her cleaned up soon, right?"
"Yeah. She's not dying on my watch." Naofumi's words were fierce and filled with compassion.
Itsuki brushed the slave's hair with his fingers, trying to get some of the bigger clumps of dirt out. She realized how gentle he was doing it and eased up, looking at both of them.
"We're not going to hurt you." Itsuki's voice was quiet. "Your new master really needs your help. He's in some trouble and even though he had the choice of picking someone else better suited for the job, he wanted to save you."
Itsuki's hand escaped her hair as he knelt down to her eye level.
"That's why I'm counting on you to help him out. Because of the circumstance that stands, I can't be the one to help him. The ones that believe in him can't be the ones to help him. That's why I'm asking you to do something simple for me. For him."
He lowered his head down. Naofumi was surprised by how far Itsuki was going, not to mention that the slave's mouth was wide open.
"Please," Itsuki whispered. "Please help my friend out. I'm begging you."
Itsuki kept his posture for a few seconds, being prepared to stay here as long as he needed to, before the girl managed to find her voice again. Although it was sore, she made a small and unsure sound.
"I… I will."
"Thank you. That's all I ask from you."
As Itsuki stood back up, Naofumi wryly smiled at them. He felt like Itsuki's method cracked the ice a bit between them, but he was glad that it worked more than he thought as she spoke up a bit louder.
"R-Raphtalia… T-That's… my name…"
"It's Raphtalia?"
She nodded.
"My name's Itsuki. It's nice to meet you, Raphtalia."
Suddenly, Naofumi's menu that held her name as Slave A was converted to her proper name.
"I'll be heading off now," Itsuki said. "Take care. The next time we meet, I want to be able to be confused as to who's fighting by your side."
"You didn't need to mention that. I would have done it regardless."
"Good luck, Naofumi."
"You too, Itsuki."
Itsuki started walking past him and raised his hand. Naofumi promptly did the same as they crossed each other, they high-fived with a confident hit. Itsuki didn't slow down and continued his way into the streets. Despite what happened, he felt like humming a nice tune.
Naofumi glanced over to Raphtalia and extended his hand to her, but her stomach growled.
"You must be starving after being locked in that cage. Let's find some proper food for you."
Raphtalia slowly took his hand as the master and slave walked out to the streets together. He knew it was a bit bad to be thinking like this, but his mind felt refreshed, even more than when he received his armor from Erhart. All pretenses that loomed over his head disappeared in the moment. Seeing this light starting to glow, he couldn't help himself to wonder—
—perhaps this was where his journey truly began for him.
[SKIT 021 : Faring Friends]
[Naofumi] : "I know I'm in no position to think this, but I'm about the others."
[Naofumi] : "Ren and Itsuki didn't show up to the trial at all last week and I haven't seen them ever since..."
[Naofumi] : "Don't tell me that they also don't believe in me..."
[Naofumi] : "No... I can't think like that. Especially when I know Motoyasu wasn't intending for things to end up like that."
[Naofumi] : "Every passing day though, I can't help myself to give it some thought..."
[Naofumi] : "You guys..."
[SKIT 022 : Childhood Friends]
[Naofumi] : "You sound like you were busy!"
[Itsuki] : "Yeah, well, that's what happens on guild requests. Accept a mission, and go out to complete it. On the way there and back, I run into various monsters that I normally don't see around the capital. One day, you'll be able to see them yourself."
[Naofumi] : "I'm assuming Ren's on a guild request right now?"
[Itsuki] : "I'm not sure. The last thing he told me was that he was going to be investigating the Church of Three Heroes on his own time, but he didn't elaborate any further than that. I figured that it might be good to let him do whatever he wants."
[Naofumi] : "Not even the infamous childhood friend knows?"
[Itsuki] : "Hey, I'm a childhood friend! I'm not an mind-reading ESPer!"
[SKIT 023 : Ringleader Outfit]
[Itsuki] : "I don't want to judge people on their appearances, but..."
[Naofumi] : "Don't worry. I'm thinking the same thing."
[Itsuki] : "Yeah. I can't shake off how suspicious that man might be, solely based on his outfit alone. No normal person would be wearing such things in dreary alleyways and the fact that he mysteriously showed up behind us doesn't help his case. I'm telling you, Naofumi. This guy has bad news written all over him."
[Naofumi] : "... Okay, we are not thinking the same thing."
[Itsuki] : "Huh? What were you thinking?"
[Naofumi] : "That he looks like a penguin."
[Itsuki] : "... C-come again?"
[SKIT 024 : Slave Trader's Tent]
[Itsuki] : "I hate ALL of this! Why does a place like this exist in Melromarc!?"
[Naofumi] : "Whether we like it or not, this isn't irregular for a fantasy setting. In light novels, the mention of slaves are not an uncommon trope. I only hoped that this world didn't have any references of that, but I was wrong."
[Itsuki] : "Naofumi! Why don't we plan a breakout to save everyone here!? We can't leave them to suffer like this!"
[Naofumi] : "I don't think we have the power to do anything of substance."
[Itsuki] : "Of course we do! We're the Cardinal Heroes!"
[Naofumi] : "I mean that if we do something about the slave trader's tent here, we're not going to be able to stop the rest of it. I'm certain that there's a large grid in play here and if we do something about this place, it's only going to repair itself elsewhere. We're only two people against the entire system, Itsuki. You might be able to save these slaves, but you won't be able to save the people who replace them."
[Itsuki] : "I... Grah, damn it..."
[Naofumi] : "I know. It's frustrating."
[SKIT 025 : Getting to Know Each Other]
[Naofumi] : (It's a bit awkward, walking down the streets.)
[Naofumi] : (Itsuki might have broken the ice for us to know her name, but it's right back to silence.)
[Raphtalia] : "..."
[Naofumi] : (Maybe I should start with a random topic?)
[Naofumi] : "Raphtalia? Is there any preference of food that you want?"
[Raphtalia] : "... N-no."
[Naofumi] : "..."
[Raphtalia] : "..."
[Naofumi] : (This is going to be harder than I thought.)
