by Aneko Yusagi
Unfazed by the explosion, Raphtalia spun around and sliced sideways with her katana.
“Whoa!”
The guy had a good eye, if nothing else. But he was forgetting something important.
“Unfortunately for you, you picked the wrong opponent. You just might have lived a long life if you hadn’t gone and done something as stupid as attacking the village under the protection of the Shield Hero.”
That’s right. He was forgetting that I was here. I grabbed the boss by the collar and pulled him to me.
“Argh . . . Let go!”
“Yeah right! There’s no running from this, you coward! This is the Shield Hero’s fight!”
I signaled to Raphtalia and Keel with my eyes.
“Here I go!”
Raphtalia sheathed her katana momentarily before drawing it once again, as if she were about to perform a finishing move.
“Instant Blade! Mist!”
“This is for everyone you hurt!”
Keel swung her sword and landed a direct hit immediately following Raphtalia’s skill.
“Arggghhhhh!”
Blood splattered all over me, but I couldn’t have cared less. The guy got what he deserved. The boss went limp and his armor was in shreds. I shoved him away and he fell to the ground.
“Ahhh!”
Having finally realized that they had picked a fight with the wrong person, the other slave hunters began screaming in fear. I may not have been using the Shield of Wrath, but I probably still looked like a monster to them.
“Come now, it’s time to confess your sins . . . and pay the price, you scumbags!”
The rest of the fight was completely one-sided, and we captured a ton of the slave hunters. The boss that Raphtalia had defeated was still alive, although just barely. I thought they had killed him, but apparently they stopped just short of it.
“You’re not going to finish him?”
“No . . .”
Raphtalia and the others apparently wanted to hand him over to the authorities and have him punished.
“Now then . . .”
I looked at the hordes of slave hunters tied up and scattered all across the village square. To think they had rounded up and brought so many . . . and the whole lot of them were lowlife trash.
“Damn! They’re monsters!” yelled one of the slave hunters.
“You told us we would be able to handle them regardless of their level advantage!”
The slave hunter subordinates were spouting off begrudging complaints at their leaders. That’s a lowlife for you—blaming it on his superiors when he fails.
“That’s just too bad for you, scumbags. You want the heroes to protect your world? Well, this is part of that.”
“Hmph . . .”
“We won . . . Everybody! We won!”
Keel and the rest of the slaves from the village let out a big hurrah in celebration of our victory. Imiya and some kid, who seemed to like monsters, looked like they were getting in on the celebration as well. It didn’t matter if they were originally from the village or not—they’d all experienced a similar kind of trauma. Their victory against the vile slave hunters would be good for them.
“Yes, we won. I think that this time, for sure . . . we took back the flag we lost that day,” whispered Raphtalia, while gripping her katana firmly and staring off into the distance.
“Flag, huh? You really want a flag that bad?”
“That’s not what I meant . . .”
“Raphtalia, this flag . . .”
Eclair interrupted before I could finish, speaking to Raphtalia with a remorseful look on her face.
“I’m sorry. This should have never happened while I was here . . .”
“Don’t worry about it, Eclair. But tell me, do you know if there was a flag flying in this village?”
“Huh? Umm, yes, it was a flag presented as a gift to the village by my father.”
Aha, so that’s the flag that Raphtalia had been talking about.
“Eclair, why don’t you fly that flag again as a reward for their victory?” I suggested.
“Mr. Naofumi?” Raphtalia exclaimed in surprise.
“All of the hard work that everyone has put in since coming back has finally paid off. Raphtalia, this is a new beginning for your village, is it not?”
Raphtalia closed her eyes for a moment as if she were reminiscing about the past, and then she opened them again and nodded.
“You’re right. I’d like that.”
Besides, Keel seemed to be oddly fixated on that flag, too. I’d made her that kid’s lunch with the flag on it on a whim once, and she had been completely ecstatic. She held on to the flag like it was a piece of treasure. Now I could see that the flag had special meaning for them.
“Alright then.”
I put the conversation with Raphtalia and Eclair on hold and looked over at the slave hunters we’d gathered up.
“What should we do about these scumbags?”
“Ordinarily they would be taken to the castle, where they would then receive a fitting punishment.”
“Hmm . . . But with this many of them working together in a coordinated effort . . . ?”
“Of course, it is a grievous crime, in my opinion. Most likely they will have their levels reset and then be held in involuntary servitude.”
“Not executed?”
“Normally the principal offenders would be, but . . .”
Eclair looked long and hard at the faces of the former soldiers, who would likely be categorized as the principal offenders.
“These men come from some of Melromarc’s more respectable families. Even if they were sentenced to death, it would most likely be a very lengthy process.”
“Meaning that if the queen forced it, there would be backlash from the nobility, putting her position at stake?”
Eclair nodded in response. I guess even monarchies had to deal with annoyances like this. Maybe that was why the former soldiers seemed to be taking the whole thing rather lightly. Those scumbags . . . Did they not realize the situation they were in?
“A great deal of emphasis is placed on lineage. If worse comes to worst, the queen could be replaced with someone of the same bloodline favored by the nobility. It’s not unthinkable, considering that the country is currently in a weakened state due to the Spirit Tortoise incident.”
“Meaning . . . a distant relative?”
That was probably it. It’s not like the queen’s two daughters would be the only royal family. There would be the head family, and then there would be branches and all of that. The nobility could just pick one of the relatives that aligned with their purposes and have them lead a revolt, seizing the castle and replacing the queen.
“The nobility would probably come up with some kind of pretext like ‘our poor soldiers that went missing because the country was a mess finally show up only to be apprehended based on unfounded accusations!’”
“Yeah, they would, even though they’re as guilty as can be. What a pain. Should we just kill them off and say that they struggled?”
The mere fact that they were alive would be a hazard with trash like this. I had absolutely no doubt that it would come back to bite us later. In that case, it would make way more sense to just have them take their leave from this world.
“If you used your authority as a hero, that could probably work. However, I would personally prefer that you abide by the country’s rules.”
“Even if it means a long, drawn-out process that ends up getting them involuntary servitude instead of a death sentence?”
And for something that happened on Eclair’s father’s territory, their victims would be turning in their graves.
“I get what you’re saying. I agree that their actions are unforgivable, but even so . . .”
“You would think that the nobility in charge of the area where the crime happened would get to decide how it was dealt with.”
“They would . . . normally. We could indeed decide the punishment of their subo
rdinates.”
“Execution, without question.”
There was no need to consult the queen.
“Why did so many slave hunters show up here in the first place? Death penalty or not, we need to make them talk—”
“About that . . . I needed to talk to the slaves, so this is the perfect chance. Everyone gather ’round!”
I went on to explain about how Lurolona slaves were being handled in Zeltoble.
“So in short . . . you’re saying that they were planning to capture the village slaves and sell them off in Zeltoble while the prices are high?!” Eclair was glaring at the slave hunters with an even more threatening look than before.
“No way . . . Does that mean that we can’t get everyone back?” Keel stared at me imploringly, with a look of worry in her eyes.
“Don’t worry. I’ll do whatever it takes to buy them back. The possibility of more of their kind showing up again is what we have to worry about.”
I guess problems like this came along with a sudden rise in prices. We had to figure out a way to put an end to the overvaluation of slaves from this village. I had a whole new set of annoyances to deal with now. In the meantime, I needed to prioritize toughening up the slaves. They still weren’t quite ready to class up.
“Bubba! If you’re going to compete in the coliseum, then let us compete, too!”
They must have been emboldened by their victory, because Keel and the other slaves who had shown a willingness to fight stepped forward.
“Hmm . . . We could have you compete, but it would be risky . . .”
That was a possibility. But taking them to Zeltoble and having someone figure out they were Lurolona slaves is what really worried me. If they ended up getting abducted in a crowded place like that, finding them would be difficult. Slaves could be tracked using the slave curse, but people weren’t stupid. They would probably overwrite the slave curses without hesitation.
I wanted to go all out—get the money and buy up all of the slaves in one fell swoop. This was a matter of urgency, and I had a feeling we were well past being able to raise the money by gradually working our way through the coliseum competitions. But we needed to gather enough money for a massive wager to make this plan work. There was no point if we couldn’t bet big.
Of course, it was a given that we wouldn’t lose, being a hero and his party. But too many wins would make the bet less lucrative. I had almost zero experience with horse racing or anything like that, but I knew that betting on a clear winner wouldn’t make you much money, because everyone else would be betting on it, too. That’s why you wanted to bet big and win big before the word spread.
We could sell something of value . . . If only we had a bunch of gold or something. As the thought crossed my mind, I looked at the slave hunters and suddenly it hit me.
“I just came up with a good idea.”
I had a big, mischievous grin on my face. Raphtalia must have noticed and had a good idea of what was coming, because she rolled her eyes.
“Mr. Naofumi, you’re going to try something crazy, aren’t you?”
“Yeah. I’m going to go fetch a certain someone. I’ll be back in about an hour, so wait here.”
I used my portal to teleport back to Zeltoble on my own. And then . . .
“Oh? Shield Hero, I thought you returned to the village? Yes sir.”
“I did, but something came up. I want you to come with me.”
Around an hour later, after the cool down expired on my portal skill, I returned to the village again with the slave trader and his flunky.
“Mr. Naofumi? Umm . . . where did you . . .”
Raphtalia was looking at the slave trader with her head cocked to the side in confusion. The other villagers were also watching, curious as to what was about to happen. Eclair and the soldiers were looking at the slave trader with their brows furrowed.
“Eclair. The responsibility for these scumbags technically hasn’t been given to the authorities yet, right?”
“That’s true, but . . . What are you planning to do, Mr. Iwatani?”
“Just be quiet and watch. I came up with the perfect way to take care of this.”
“Be careful, Eclair. This is where Mr. Naofumi usually says something completely outrageous.”
Hey, what happened to Raphtalia believing in me? Then again, I was well aware of the fact that I tended to do crazy things at times like these. She had winced when she heard about how I sold the spirit water. Kizuna had been really proud of the whole thing, though, so she’d just acted normal and didn’t say anything.
“You know what will happen to you if you even think about touching us, right?”
The slave hunter boss was trying to intimidate me. The scumbag probably thought he would get off easy, and he certainly didn’t think he was in danger of dying or anything. Surely we wouldn’t do anything that would endanger the queen’s position, right?
“Relax. I’m going to let you all live, just like you want.”
The underlings all showed visible signs of relief when they heard that. The boss, on the other hand, seemed perplexed. I guess he wasn’t as dumb as he looked.
“Slave trader, can you make these scumbags my slaves?”
“I can. Yes sir.”
“Surely you don’t intend on turning them into slaves and forcing them to help develop the territory or protect it from other slave hunters, do you?” Eclair suddenly chimed in.
Did Eclair really think I would do something so lax? Then again, it wasn’t a bad idea. I could use the slave curse to set harsh restrictions that would kill them if they disobeyed orders. But there was a fatal flaw in that plan.
“And just let them wait for a chance to have someone they know remove the curse? I’m not that dumb.”
Several of the slave hunters must have been thinking about doing exactly that, because they had been grinning slyly, but now they were looking confused.
“The reason I’m making them my slaves is to force them into my party and to make the next part of my plan easier.”
“Wh . . . what are you going to do?” Rishia asked, looking at me nervously.
Rishia was here? She had just kind of faded into the background for a while there.
“I’m going to take them to Zeltoble. And then I’m going to sell them. As slaves, of course.”
“Wha—”
Eclair was at a loss for words. Raphtalia sighed in dismay. That’s right. What we needed right now was a huge sum of money so that we could go all in and win big at the coliseum. Every little bit counted.
Of course, if we sold the slave hunters off as slaves, there would likely be some Melromarc nobility ready to rescue them by buying them back. There was even a risk of them getting away before that, if we weren’t careful. The slave hunters probably knew that, because they still didn’t look too worried. They probably figured that they wouldn’t fetch a very good price anyway. But I wasn’t going to let them off that easy.
“Slave trader. Do you happen to have any relatives in Siltvelt?”
“Of course. Yes sir.”
“Good. In that case, I want to sell these scumbags to those relatives. Let’s see . . . Tell them that they’re being offered by the Shield Hero and that they’re the slave hunters that captured the demi-human slaves originally from the Seaetto territory.”
The slave hunters’ faces suddenly grew pale. The slave trader, on the other hand, was looking at me with the biggest smile on his face that I had seen so far. First there was the fact that they were being offered by the Shield Hero, which would raise their value, since the country worshipped the Shield Hero. Then there was the fact that they were notorious criminals that had slaughtered or enslaved countless demi-humans from the Seaetto territory, which was supposed to be a symbol of friendship between Melromarc and Siltvelt.
How would the Siltvelt demi-humans view such people? It would be infuriating. The living embodiment of evil to them, I’m sure. If such a person showed up on the slave market and was pu
rchased . . . what would happen to them? It went without saying that they would be beaten and abused as a form of stress relief, just like Raphtalia and the other slaves from her village had been by the nobility in this country. This is what it meant to pay for something with your life.
“That . . . that’s not even funny! Selling us to Siltvelt?! That’s not something a hero would do!”
The slave hunter boss started raving.
“It’s not as bad as a country’s soldiers killing and selling off their own citizens. I’m sure you scumbags have a pretty good idea of the hell that these slaves have been through.”
“This is different! There’s no reason we should have to go through that!”
“So what . . . It’s okay to force it on them, but it’s not cool when it’s forced on you?”
I was at a loss for words. There’s always a chance that soldiers will die in war, yet the thought of being tortured and dying a painful death as a slave frightened these guys. Just how pathetic were they?
“Here’s a quote that I was relatively fond of back in my world, just for you scumbags: ‘Don’t shoot at people unless you’re ready to be shot.’”
It was something that some hard-boiled crime fiction detective had said. If you weren’t ready to suffer yourself, you had no place making anyone else suffer.
“Ridiculous! It only makes sense that demi-humans would suffer and die! You can’t compare civilized human beings like us to lowly demi-humans like—hrrmg!”
The guy was annoying me, so I gagged him to shut him up. The faces of these scumbags distorted with fear was a pretty glorious sight. It wasn’t quite as good as the time Trash and Bitch were forced to prostrate themselves before me, but still . . . These scumbags deserved at least this much. It was their fault that these demi-humans here ever became slaves in the first place. Now it was their turn to become slaves.
“Eclair, you’re a straight arrow, so you probably can’t condone this, but these scumbags need to be punished appropriately. And I’m going to use the money that I make from selling them to get the Lurolona villagers back.”
“Ugh . . .”
Eclair groaned ruefully but showed no signs of taking any further action. After all, she knew that if we turned them over to the authorities they might end up getting off easy.
