But that was only an official stance. There were many ways to become a slave in Sandora. Some forced others into debt, or tricked them into crime in order to make them slaves. Others simply kidnapped people and put them into market circulation.
Once you’re a slave, your opinion isn’t valid. Nobody would listen to you. Even if you made a fuss about being tricked or kidnapped, you’d be ignored.
The problem was the fact that Sandora’s government never spoke about it. Their king and nobles all had slaves as well. They worked slaves until they expired, then simply replaced them with new ones. In Sandora, the life of a slave wasn’t really seen as a life at all.
“Come on! Pick up the pace!” Overbite yanked at Lop’s rope and dragged them all along.
All four of them were brought down to the lowest deck of the ship. There were two jails, divided by sex. There were three men and seven women there. The kidnapped adventurers. Lop’s party was split up by sex as well.
After overbite had left, the four of them turned to ask the names of their fellow captives.
The names matched those of the missing adventurers, so that was good.
They seemed weak due to lack of nutrition, but they hadn’t been abused otherwise.
“Seems they’re all fine... I can pull up a [Gate] right now and sort it out, then.”
“You should let those children get some experience first.”
“Hm... I guess a ship escape would be good for them.”
“Quite. It’s an important lesson in stealth and perception. Wouldn’t you agree?” Leen smiled as she spoke. She was certainly right.
Lop’s party began preparing their escape. I was prepared for this kind of situation, so I’d given them two particular items.
The first was a tiny knife that folded. It had a 5cm blade. Naturally, it wasn’t a standard knife, either. It was forged of Phrasium, and could cut through anything at all. Escaping wouldn’t be an issue at all so long as they used them wisely.
The second item was a measuring tape. It was about a meter long. I’d enchanted it with [Paralysis] so they could stretch it out and use it as a whip.
There were slaves built for battle aboard the ship. Those kids definitely couldn’t win if they fought fairly. Plus, their enemies would mostly be fellow slaves anyway.
Lop’s party cut their bindings apart and quietly escaped from their cells.
“Guess I better get going too, huh. I’ll make it a little easier for the kids.”
“Have fun, Touya.” I deactivated the mouse’s live feed and Leen saw me off as I exited the forest. I stood facing their ship, Brunhild in my hand. Then, I loaded the thing with [Explosion] bullets, though I took care to load the low-yield versions.
“Let’s dance...” With a grin on my face, I aimed my gun at the ship’s mast... and pulled the trigger.
The blast immediately made the thing collapse. It creaked and groaned, and then snapped under its own weight. Every man on deck started freaking out. Only natural, since part of their ship had just toppled into the sea.
“Wh-What happened?!”
“I-I don’t know... There was an explosion of some kind!” Javert stormed out of the main cabin and demanded an explanation. It was at this point that I landed myself on the ship and revealed myself by the light of the moon.
“Wh— Who?!”
“I’m Mochizuki Touya. Touya’s my given name. The brilliant grand duke of Brunhild at your service.” Everyone on deck was completely speechless. The merchant didn’t look as happy as he had before, his eyes filled with dread and confusion. He was completely and utterly flustered, which meant he was aware of his position.
“This island is Brunhild’s territory. I’ve come to put an end to your illicit activity.”
“I-Illicit?!”
“Don’t take me for a fool, tubby. I know what you’ve been doing with the rookie adventurers from the nearby dungeons.” He stood there, mortified. His jaw was slack. Sweat began to bead on his brow. He really didn’t seem all that innocent.
“To be fair, we’re a pretty small nation. I get it. We don’t have a lot of laws established properly yet. But you know, we don’t have many bad people in Brunhild. The worst we get is the occasional rough-housing traveler. Your actions have made me think a little bit harder about crime and punishment.”
If I hadn’t come to the dungeon today, it wouldn’t have just ended with Lop’s party been taken away. There would’ve been countless more victims afterward... I have no idea how long it would’ve even taken me to realize what was happening.
Punishment was the deterrent to crime, and I’d become lazy due to my personal lifestyle. I kept thinking about how things would be fine, so I closed my eyes to the cruelty of the world. Plus, I had Yumina and her Mystic Eye around, so I was mostly surrounded by legitimately good people.
Either way, crimes needed to be punished. And I needed to make that clear.
I had to draft a bunch of laws, and fast. I decided to reference Belfast’s legal system before noting down my own later.
A lot of people had come to Brunhild after the dungeons were made, and they brought with them a litany of their own issues. Either way, what was important to think about at that moment was dealing with the slavers.
Huh? I can see four little boats escaping the shift... Damn, Lop. You work fast. Guess there’s no need to hold back now.
“Hrmph. A grand duke has no business here! Deal with him!” Javert gave his order, and three burly slaves came running at me, curved swords at the ready.
“[Slip].” All three of them thudded on to the deck. Their swords ended up stuck in the wooden flooring.
They tried to stand, but found themselves falling down again. It seemed like my slipping spell had a slightly extended effect... I distinctly remembered it affecting a smaller area and not lasting as long when I’d first used it. I wondered if this was an effect of my own inner divinity growing.
“Wh-What are you fools doing?! Get rid of him!” Javert screamed, and the slaves all started clutching their heads in pain. He was using their collars to torture them.
I used Brunhild to fire a shot at the chubby jerk’s feet. A weak explosive force threw the man off his feet.
“Whoa!!!” Chubby old Javert fell to the ground, blood dribbling from his nose.
“A-Augh! F-Forgive me! I-It was just uhm... m-my culture!”
“Then your culture normalizes abuse. If degrading people and turning them into slaves is your idea of the regular old thing to do, then do you really think you’re worth forgiving?”
“H-Help me, you bastards...”
“Do you think the people you collared are going to rescue you?” I had no idea about this man or the life he’d been leading to this point, but I had no doubt in my mind that he was scum.
Speaking to him was pointless. I loaded some paralyzing bullets into Brunhild and shot them down at him.
He screamed out awkwardly, and then stopped moving.
I paralyzed the slipping slaves as well. They were probably being forced to co-operate, but they were still accomplices... It was some morally grey legal ground. I guess it would depend on whether or not they were enjoying it. It was a little more annoying to deal with than Javert. I didn’t know if they’d been enslaved for criminal behavior, so I didn’t know if it was okay or not to free them.
I also paralyzed all the remaining men on deck.
“Run search. Anyone remaining below deck.”
“Searching... Search complete. Three individuals. All paralyzed and collapsed.”
Hm... Lop’s party must have dealt with them. So that should be everyone. Twenty in total, eh... Half of them seemed to be slaves.
Wait, that reminds me... Where’s overbite?
“Gah!” I heard a shriek from the shore. Then, I used [Long Sense] to check on the shore. Overbite was collapsed in a smoldering heap, and Leen was waving over at me. Seemed like he’d escaped at some point. Leen had it handled though, so I wasn’t worried.
I warped everyone from the ship over to the beach, just in time to see some of my own knight order making their way out from the forest.
I took Javert, his workers, and his slaves to the knights. Restrained, of course. We decided to lock them in the castle jail for the time being. I’d talk to Kousaka about them later on.
“All’s well that ends well, eh?”
“Well, we’ll still have to follow it up a bit.” I casually replied to Leen as we walked along the beach. I looked back at the slaver ship, thinking to myself. Should I confiscate it as Brunhild property...? Eh... The mast is broken.
“U-Uhm, Your Majesty! The kidnapped adventurers are all good!” Lop came and reported in, but I pretty much saw the whole thing unfold through the eyes of the mouse anyway. I cast [Refresh] on the weary adventurers and took them all to the Silver Moon. There, I rented rooms for each of them. It was the least I could do.
I was planning on giving Lop’s party about ten potions for their trouble. It’d be worthwhile for them to hold on to that stuff. Then, deciding that more detailed investigation would happen another day, I bid everyone involved farewell.
After that, I went over to the guild and informed Relisha of the finer details. I also asked her to return the guild cards of the people who were presumed to be dead.
“The guild regrets that this incident occurred. However, the guild is only a service mediator between clients and freelancers, so we cannot punish them. Other than revoking their memberships, there is little we can do... Officially, at least.”
“Officially?”
“...Keep this just between us, but... in cases where we feel harm has been done to the image of our guild, we mobilize our Black Operatives. It’s not necessary, however, in this case. You have meted out punishment enough.”
Black Ops, huh... What, like an assassination corps? That’s kinda scary, to be honest... From what I understand, the guild exists all over the world. There are Guildmasters like Relisha that govern different regions, but there is actually one sole leader. I’ve heard they don’t want to be in the public eye, though.
I entrusted the guild with following up on the kidnapped adventurers. After that, I left with Leen.
It had gotten really late, so I took out my smartphone to look at the time. It was way past midnight...
I was getting really hungry, and I knew it would be unreasonable to ask Crea to make something when she was sleeping. I did have some grilled skewers in my [Storage]... and the guild’s bar was right next door.
“Hey Leen, want me to treat you to some food?”
“Aha... I shall take you up on that venerable honor. I haven’t eaten out in quite some time.” I took Leen and Paula with me into the guild’s bar. I put on a coat and hood just in case there were those that recognized me there.
It was a pretty big room, and I noticed a free table for four a little bit away, so we headed over there.
I ordered fried chicken and some fruit juice. No alcohol for me. Leen ordered a pasta, some salad, and a little glass of wine.
It wasn’t long before the waitress brought our food over, and we began greedily chowing down. The food was great. I’d eaten at the Silver Moon a few times, but dining out at a bar seemed quite fun as well.
All the adventurers were laughing, cheering, and making merry.
It seemed like the bar had gained a lot more patrons since the dungeons were opened. It was hard to dislike the atmosphere here, even if the occasional drunkard ruined the fun.
We left the bar after our meal. I checked again, and it was still extremely late... Or, early. Matter of perspective. Most of the shops had closed down. There wasn’t any kind of entertainment district in Brunhild’s castle town, either. My country had nice, peaceful evenings.
Old man Naito relayed propositions from merchants and contractors to build casinos and brothels, but I left those executive decisions to him. I personally didn’t see the need to have such gaudy venues. If they ended up coming in and causing trouble for my people, I’d close them down.
I needed to keep a watchful eye out, too. I didn’t want any shady businesses setting up shop. It’d be beyond a joke if Brunhild became a breeding ground for trouble under my nose.
I remember hearing that some slaves were forced to work in brothels over in Sandora, too... I didn’t want any of that going on here.
“Is it a pointless dream to wish slavery could be abolished?”
“I’m pretty sure it’d go if you smashed the hell out of Sandora. Pfftahaha...”
“N-No, that’s not really what I meant...” I glanced over at Leen with curious eyes. Her cheeks were flushed... She almost looked drunk.
I heard that slavery was gradually being phased out around the world through social change anyway. Yulong had been a great advocate of slavery, so even if Sandora remained, it was nice that at least one of them was gone.
Yulong didn’t use the obedience collars, though. They just drew up contracts and enforced indentured servitude. They didn’t treat slaves nearly as badly as the people of Sandora did. Which was funny, given the country was awful in every other aspect.
“Sandora was founded by the chief of a desert tribe built by slaves. They used slavery to build a great force and wipe out or assimilate the other tribes in the area. The first king of Sandora was known as the Slave King.” The Slave King, huh...? Doesn’t that name kind of give off the vibe of him being a slave himself? Maybe he actually was one to begin with. Still, if that was the case, he could’ve done something nice and abolished slavery after founding the nation...
I mused that abolishing slavery in a place like Sandora would be pretty rough if it was so deeply ingrained in their society.
Leen wanted to feel the evening breeze on her skin, so we strolled home together. She was definitely drunk. She casually swayed side to side and then clung to my arm. Her cheeks were dyed red, and so were mine... but not because of booze. I attempted to compose myself and walked down the road with her.
There were four knights guarding the castle, but they stood down once they saw us. They were wary at first, but once we came into the light they seemed happy and waved us off.
After nodding to the guards, we entered the castle. Suddenly, we came face to face with Ripple. She was an artifact creature that operated as our very own security camera. When she saw me with Leen on my arm, she jumped right out of her painting and started screaming.
《Danger! Danger! Master, you’re in danger! You need to be careful, it’s almost too late! Hurry, prepare yourself f— Oh no... I wasn’t fast enough...》
“Wh-What the heck?!” Ripple smiled wryly and then vanished on the spot. I had no idea what she was trying to warn me about, but it almost felt like she whispered “Good luck” before fading away. What the hell was that?
“Welcome home, Touya... You’re rather late.”
“Ah, Yumina... I’m... home...” My voice became quieter as I looked up and realized what I was faced with.
Yumina, Lu, Elze, Linze, Yae, and Hilde were all standing there, gazing at us. If Sue had been there, it would’ve been a full gathering of fiancees.
They were smiling, but their eyes projected danger. I felt anger emanating from their forms for some reason.
“U-Uh... Is something wrong?”
“We’ve a teeny tiny matter to discuss... This way. You too, Leen.”
“Huh? Uh... Sure.” Leen casually answered, but I didn’t think she understood the threat. Yae and Hilde descended the stairs and grabbed me from either side.
Wh-What the hell...? You don’t need to forcibly escort me!
“Right this way, Touya. This is the right course of action.”
“Good grief, Touya-dono... Resign yourself to fate. It is far easier this way, it is.”
“No, nooo! I didn’t do anything wrong!!!” I internally and externally screamed for mercy as my mind filled with nothin
g but question marks. They dragged me away and completely ignored my pleas.
What the hell did I do now?!
◇ ◇ ◇
“Don’t think we haven’t noticed things have changed between you two recently.” The girls sat at the table, and Yumina began to talk. Leen was seated with my fiancees, but I was made to sit on the floor. This is a little cruel, isn’t it...? But I guess I’m kinda used to it at this point... Haaah... It seemed that being forced to the ground by these girls was becoming a more common occurrence. “Leen. You love Touya, isn’t that right?”
“...I can safely say that I do. My passion isn’t quite on your level, but he is a man that I find suitable to my needs. I would be happy to be married to him until one or both of us die.”
“I see... Well—”
“I’m not interested in him for Babylon’s legacy, or his status as Grand Duke of Brunhild. I simply like him for who he is. He’s charming, and kind. That’s all there is to it.” Leen interjected as Yumina spoke up again, clarifying her intentions. After she finished speaking, she stared Yumina in the eyes.
After a while, Yumina’s expression became a little more gentle, and she smiled.
“Very well, then. You have my approval, Leen. I think you’d make a wonderful bride for Touya. What do you all think?” Yumina looked to my other fiancees. Yae raised her hand.
“I do not have any problems with this, I do not.”
“I-I don’t have a problem either...” Muttered Linze.
“Nope, no real problem here.” Grinned Elze. The two sisters raised their hands as they spoke. Seeing their actions, the other two quickly put their hands up as well.
“I cannot say I object, either.”
“N-No, me neither!” Hilde and Lu hadn’t spoken with Leen much. But they still had a good enough grasp on her personality to read her as a person, scant as their interaction was.
Leen had been involved with me for longer than they were anyway... But even I couldn’t have seen the situation developing like this. I was dumbstruck.
“I also don’t believe Sue would oppose this if she were here, either. Speaking on her behalf as her cousin, I’d like to welcome you into the fold. Congratulations, Leen.”
In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 8 Page 12
