“Mr. Raven, do you have any questions for Mr. Ash?” Emelia asked after Ash finished his story.
“Yes,” Raven said as he stood from his seat and walked toward where Ash was seated. “Ash, you said that I had you challenged to a contest where Yuki was the prize. Are there any witnesses to this alleged challenge?”
“Yes,” Ash said and Raven raised his eyebrows. “My master Zelan of the Seven Swords Guild witnessed it, as well as a few guards from the duchess’s manor.”
“Mr. Raven, do you wish to question Mr. Zelan on this matter or my personal guards?”
“No your grace, that won’t be necessary,” Raven said and from the look on his face even Ash felt a bit of pity for him.
“Slave trader Rorian, please take the stand,” Emelia said and Ash was quickly replaced by the slave trader he had first met in the Tellamor mansion. “Mr. Rorian, please let us know your knowledge of the events in question.”
“Yes your grace,” the man replied nervously. “I was called by sir Tellamor late in the evening. I thought it odd to request the slave transfer so late at night, but I just figured that he was busy at other times so I didn’t pay it much mind. After arriving at the manor I found the slave tied up on the ground and was handed the transfer papers. After receiving them, I started to proceed with the transfer but because the blood on the paper was not that of the master, it pushed against my efforts. Before I could raise a question about the problem, Sir Ash appeared and suddenly I had a sword pointed at my throat. Since he was the true master of the slave, I expected that it was just someone selling a stolen slave, but when I learned that Sir Tellamor knew that Ash was the rightful owner and that the paper was forged, I reported it to my superiors. We tracked down the owner of the blood and found that it belonged to an adventurer who claimed no knowledge of the forged slave documents.”
“Mr. Raven, do you have any questions for the Mr. Rorian?”
“Yes your grace,” Tellamor said while approaching the stand again. “Mr. Rorian, did the salve trader’s guild find any evidence that I had the documents forged or that the man in question that’s blood was found on the document was not lying?”
“No, he is still within the slave trader’s cell but has so far only proclaimed his innocence. We have called for a truth seeker from the main guild hall, but it will be weeks more before she arrives.”
When the salve trader said this, Raven let out a sinister smile and returned to his seat.
“Last to the stand for the evidence of wrongdoing is Allice Gretian.”
When the name was called, a young women in her late teen years with tear streaked eyes was brought into the court room in chains. After she was seated in the chair, the guard who had brought her in stood next to her. “Miss Allice, you understand why you are here?”
“Y-yes mi-lady,” Alice said stuttering.
“Please enlighten the rest of the court,” Emelia said in a prompting tone.
“I work at the rose bakery at the edge of the market district. Last week a man came buy and paid me a full gold coin just to pour a little liquid on a passing beast girl’s food the next time she ordered. I didn’t mean any harm…But my brother…” the lady said crying again.
“Please continue. The reasons for your crimes have already been discussed at your own trial and have no place within this courtroom,” Emelia said coldly.
“Y-yes. I did as I was told and as soon as the girl drifted off to sleep, another man picked her up.”
“Did you know any of the men?”
“N-no, but Mr. Ash showed me some drawings of the guards under the command of Mr. Tellamor and the guy who picked her up was one of them.”
“Mr. Raven, do you have any questions for Miss Allice?”
“No,” he said calmly.
“Mr. Raven, do you have anyone to call in your defense or anything to say?”
“If I may your grace,” the man in the gaudy robe said, getting to his feet.
“The court recognizes Sir Fren Tellamor.”
“So far the evidence against my cousin is lacking. It cannot be proven that he willingly tried to steal the slave Yuki. That aside, it is evident that he was involved in some wrong doing. I and my family would be gracious if you take that into consideration. Having a person wearing the Tellamor name reduced to a slave is something we would like to avoid.”
“Sir Tellamor, there is undeniable proof that Mr. Raven knew the true owner of the slave Yuki. He also tried to get her on another occasion that can be testified by my own guards. This evidence alone is enough to show that he willingly tried to unlawfully obtain the slave. What would you have me do when the evidence is so stacked against him?”
“I simply ask that you and the accuser think of the crime and the punishment involved. He has only been accused of trying to steal a simple beast girl whose value cannot amount to more than a single gold. For that, he is being threatened with the loss of all his goods as well as twelve years as a slave.”
“I see, Mr. Ash and Mr. Rorian as the wronged party, what do you think of this matter?” Emelia asked with a slightly worried expression.
“As the Representative of the slave trader’s guild, we would be happy with a token punishment so that others do not follow in Mr. Raven’s example,” Rorian said while looking at the older gentleman.
“And you Sir Ash?” Emelia asked again her face showing worry.
Looking at Emelia, Ash knew that the man speaking up for Raven must be connected with the main Tellamor family that she had warned him about. If he chose to press the issue, Emelia would have no choice but to punish Raven to the full extent and that would cause trouble with the Tellamor family. He knew that if possible, that was something she wanted to avoid. Ash knew Emelia’s problem, but still he wanted Raven to be punished. As he was thinking, something occurred to Ash.
“Sir Tellamor, the main thing you wish to avoid is Raven being reduced to a slave. Is that true?”
“Yes that is true,” the man replied, his eyes looking coldly at Ash.
“Your grace, I will gladly ask that the court take pity on Mr. Raven and remove the punishment of slavery,” Ash said, turning back to Emelia.
Emelia didn’t smile, but she stood from her seat with a more relaxed expression.
“Mr. Raven, please stand for your judgement,” Emelia said. Raven did as he was ordered and stood while looking nervously around the room. “Raven Tellamor, you have been found guilty on all three counts brought before this court. For the crime of theft, all your assets will be seized and turned over to Sir Ash. I warn you now that should you try to hide or transfer ownership of any property, you will find yourself spending the rest of your life as a slave in the iron mines. For the crime of falsifying a slave contract, you are ordered to pay a fine of one hundred gold coins. Since all your assets have been confiscated, you will have a term of five years to pay the debt, but there is a 10% interest on the amount due assessed yearly. For the crime of damage to goods, you will pay reparations in the amount of ten gold to Sir Ash. The fine must be paid within a year. This is the decree of the court. Do you understand the terms of the sentencing?”
“Yes your grace,” Raven said in a defeated tone.
“Then you have seventy-two hours to turn over all property to Sir Ash. At the same time, you will turn over a list of all property to my offices so that they can be accounted for,” Emelia said before turning and leaving the courtroom.
“Father…What does that mean?” Gin asked with a puzzled look on his face.
“Boy, it means that your idiot of a father gets to keep his freedom, but nothing else,” the older man said with a sneer at Raven.
“Sir Ash, you have my thanks for setting aside your personal feelings in this case,” the man said, pushing past Raven to stand in front of Ash. “Here is the ten gold that is owed you and you have my word that everything that this idiot owns will be passed on without delay. My men will personally watch over him to make sure nothing goes amiss.”
�
��Thank you,” Ash said in a slight bow.
“Is everything going to be ok master?” Yuki asked as she watched Raven and the other two leave.
“It should be,” Ash said patting Yuki’s head. “Still, be careful on your way to and from school. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
After leaving the courtroom, Ash and the other two started to leave the building when Emelia called out to him. “Ash, I need to speak with you in my chambers,” She said in a serious tone that she only used when there was something important to discuss.
“You two go ahead and wait for me outside of the building, I will be along soon,” Ash said though neither Yuki nor Shina wanted to let him go alone. In the end, they had to give up when Emelia glared at them from the other end of the hall.
Emelia didn’t say anything as Ash followed her into a large room with a massive desk. In the room, other than Emelia and Ash was the young girl Allice and the guard that had escorted her into the courtroom.
“Ash, as you know this young lady is Allice. She is the one who poisoned Yuki and allowed her to be taken. Unlike Raven, she is an orphan who takes care of her little brother. She was given the same fine of ten gold coins for her crime. That said, since there is no way for her to pay, she will be sold into slavery until her debt is paid. As is normal, you will be given the choice of having ownership or to have her sold off until she can pay her debt.”
Ash looked at the young girl who was indecently looking back at him with tear filled eyes. “Can I just pay her fine?” Ash asked as he lifted the bag of gold that he had been given on a few moments before.
“No, I can’t allow that,” Emelia said, shaking her head. “She has already been fined and been sentenced to slavery until she herself pays off the debt with work. At the current rate, she has to work for a total of fifty years. Even if her brother were to come up with the gold, it wouldn’t change the sentence that she has been given.”
“I see, then I will take her in as a slave,” Ash said, feeling bad that she had been dragged into this mess.
“But my brother,” the young girl said nearly crying.
“Is it alright if she brings him along with her?” Ash asked, not understanding what was and was not allowed.
“That would be fine. You could hire him to work at your new home,” Emelia said after a few moments of thought.
“Then we should get the slave contract over with so that she can go gather her belongings and her brother as well,” Ash said thoughtfully.
Hearing this, Emelia went to the door and opened it and called for the slaver who had been in the trial earlier. “I thought that would be your decision, so I had Mr. Rorian stick around. Though even if you decided against it, she would still need to be branded.”
Rorian didn’t say anything, he simply walked over to Allice and slipped the straps of her patchwork dress to the side, exposing her upper chest. Allice quickly covered her chest but not before Ash saw far more than he had expected, but not once did she protest. Rorian’s hand started to glow and Allice let out a small groan. Slowly a small glowing symbol appeared on Allice’s shoulder.
Ash was handed a small needle and as before he pierced his finger and let a single drop of blood hit the slave mark. With a blue flash, the slave contract was finished and Allice let out an exhausted sigh as she slumped in her chair from holding in the pain.
While waiting for the girl to regain her composure, Ash and Emelia talked. Ash would be getting his own residence soon and that meant that he would be leaving Emelia’s house. Emelia didn’t protest him leaving, but wanted him to promise to come visit at least five times a week. After arguing a bit, Ash was able to bring it down to three times a week. However, Emelia was not overly pleased with the agreement.
Once Allice came around, Ash told her that she had the day to gather her belonging and her brother if she wished and was to present herself to the duchess’s manor. Ash tried to reassure the girl she would be well taken care of, but from the look on her face, she didn’t seem to believe him. As she left, she kept her head down while quietly sobbing to herself.
5-2
Later that night, Allice arrived at the manor with a small bag with everything she owned in it, along with an eight year old boy with the same dirty blonde hair as she had.
Ash didn’t meet them since it was late and he was already in the study reading with Emelia. Instead, they were greeted by Shina and shown their temporary room while they stayed in Emelia’s manor.
After spending some time with Emelia, Ash wanted to check on the two kids, but he was stopped by Shina who told him that they were already asleep. Hearing that, Ash didn’t want to wake them so instead he headed back to his own room where Yuki was already waiting on him while oiling her own sword.
Though he hadn’t used it, Ash still went through the motions of taking care of his weapons along with Yuki who snuggled closely to him while she worked. Every now and then Ash felt Yuki rub her head against his shoulder, but he didn’t mind it. After they were done, Yuki tried to stay in the room to sleep, but Ash forced her out of the room, ignoring her protests.
That night as he lay down to sleep, Ash thought about what had happened throughout the day. Raven had been found guilty, but he was still around. He didn’t know if he would seek revenge, but a part of him doubted that this was the end of the trouble Raven would cause him. Even with his mind cluttered with thoughts, Ash easily fell asleep peacefully.
The next morning after eating and dressing, Ash had planned to go to the labyrinth, but he was stopped by Emelia. “Yesterday evening I received a letter stating that Raven Tellamor was ready to turn over his belongings as well as a full accounting to me and would be arriving at the manor sometimes this morning so that they could go over all the details to make sure that nothing is amiss…I gave them three days, why did they have to get it done so fast?” Emelia whispered the last part so quietly Ash was only barely able picked it up.
Ash didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as he watched the war of emotions on Emelia’s face. He truly enjoyed his time spent with Emelia, but the thought of having a place to call his own excited him.
With nothing else to do while waiting on Raven, Ash waited with Emelia in the study as she went through reports. Summer was coming to an end and harvest reports were coming in. Most of the time low level workers went through the reports, but since it was the first year since she had taken control, Emelia was worried that some of the reports might have been fixed so that the lesser nobles could hold onto extra profits this year.
“I don’t get it,” Emelia said, throwing the stack of papers down while rubbing her eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Ash asked as he picked up the stack of papers lying on the floor.
“I was never good at working with numbers,” Emelia admitted. “Father always said that it was one of the most important things for a lord to learn, but I am not good at what I am not good at.”
“Can I give it a look?” Ash asked as he spread out the papers on the desk.
“Go ahead,” Emelia said without a second thought. “The papers have the year on the top right hand corner. I was trying to match what they harvested last year with this year and compare it to it with the others.”
Ash grabbed a spare piece of parchment from the small table on the right as well as a quill and inkwell. It was simple enough as each set of documents were for a single noble’s land. The nobles even went as far as to have the harvests separated by crop and amount collected. Ash read through the first report while comparing the amount harvested last year. It looked as if this year was slightly worse than last year. Most the crops had about a 5-10% decrease in production compared to last year.
Setting aside the first group of papers, Ash shuffled though the parchments until he found the next matching group. Ash continued this for more than an hour and only managed to get through five of the twenty nobles holdings when Emelia stopped him.
“What do these numbers mean?” Emelia asked pointing to the pe
rcentages Ash had put next to each noble’s name.
“They tell the differences in the amount harvested from this year to last. Overall, all the nobles are showing a small decrease of about five percent. That is except Baron Hallien who had a twenty percent drop in production this year in his iron mines.”
“What is a percent?” Emelia asked, tilting her head cutely to the side.
“Ummm…It’s hard to explain,” Ash said as he thought of how his teacher explained it. “A percent is a part of a whole. 1% of 100 is one while 1% of a thousand is ten. See last year Earl Jardes lands were able to harvest a total of 873 bundles of wheat. This year though, they were only able to harvest 841 bundles. That is a difference of 32 bundles. A one percent change is 8.73 so 32 would be a little over 3.6% change from last year. Though I said that, I am not sure if I am doing it right, but it still gives us an idea of the change.”
“I understand what the numbers mean now, but I don’t understand how to do it,” Emelia said with a confused look on her face. “Other than the iron mines, did the baron have other decreases in production?”
“Yes,” Ash said looking at the paper. “He had an overall decrease in production this year of 14.6%.”
“And is that a large difference between the other nobles that you have looked at so far?”
“Yes. Out of the five I have looked at, three had a change of 4.2% to 5.5%. Ritter Gall had a decrease of 6.1%, but he only had two products coming out of his land.”
Seeing the numbers Emelia gave a pensive look then suddenly she grabbed Ash’s shoulders. “Do you want a job?” She asked, her eyes going wide.
“A job?” Ash asked looking confused.
“Yes…I don’t have many ministers that I can trust. If it’s you that takes the place of tax minister, then I won’t have to worry about bribes and the duchies being cheated. Please…I will pay well,” Emelia said, her face only inches from Ash’s.
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