by Aneko Yusagi
“I’m glad to hear that.”
Atla seemed exhausted. She returned to her resting position. The medicine was working, but it was clear she was still sick. It only made sense she would be exhausted.
“I’m feeling a bit sleepy.”
“The trip back to the village will be over in an instant. Then you can get plenty of rest.”
“We’ll all go fwoooosh and then we’ll be there! I prefer running, but this is fun, too, so I’m sure you’ll like it!”
Like always, Filo was terrible at explaining things, but I guess that was her way of describing my portal skill.
“The bird that pulls carriages is full of energy and . . . I sense a pure, untainted power within her. This bird . . . Her strength rivals even your own, does it not, Mr. Naofumi?”
Atla pointed in Filo’s direction. Impressive. Her description of Filo was spot-on. She may have been blind, but it was clear that she was still sensing her surroundings somehow.
“What is it, Master?”
“This new slave that I just bought—Atla—is blind, but she says she can still tell that you’re strong.”
“Tee hee hee. I got a compliment!”
“It’s clear that you spared no kindness in raising her, Mr. Naofumi.”
“Yup!”
Filo puffed up her chest feathers proudly when she responded. Kindness? Me being kind to Filo? What was this girl going on about?
And then the time had come.
“Okay, my portal cool down has expired. It’s about time we head back.”
“Understood. We finally get to return at last,” said Raphtalia.
“Yeah. That said, I’m going to have the slave traders continue to search for Lurolona slaves, so we’ll probably end up coming back to Zeltoble from time to time.”
“The prices have stopped rising, but slaves . . . claiming to be from Lurolona are still being traded at high prices, after all.”
I liked to think we had recovered the vast majority of them, but I couldn’t say for certain that there were none left to be found. That’s why we were continuing to search. It wasn’t very likely, but it was always possible that a few had escaped slavery to become mercenaries or something. There could be other slaves out there that Sadeena hadn’t been able to acquire. I never imagined that making certain none were left would be so difficult.
“Portal Shield!”
I used my skill to teleport us back to the village. I recognized the smell of the village instantly. It smelled like the sea. It was partly a fishing village, after all.
“So this . . . is Mr. Naofumi’s village.”
Despite being blind, Atla looked around the village.
“Can you see now?” I asked.
“No. But I can sense things . . .”
Sense things, huh? It was pretty impressive how little she seemed to be inhibited by her blindness.
“Anyway, you’re still sick. We’ll have you stay at the village infirmary. Fohl, take her to that building over there.”
I pointed at the building that we were using for the infirmary. We’d built it so that we would have a place to treat the slaves’ wounds.
“G . . . got it.”
Fohl put Atla on his back and began walking away.
“I’d like to talk with you again, Mr. Naofumi.”
“I’ll come check on you later, so just rest for now.”
“Understood. Let’s go, Brother.”
“Okay.”
Fohl eyed his surroundings nervously as he walked off toward the building with Atla on his back.
“Oh! Imiya!”
“Uncle! And everyone else, too!”
Imiya hugged her uncle, clearly happy to be reunited with family. I’d heard that her parents had been killed, so it was nice that she got to be reunited with her uncle.
It looked like the new slaves had already begun rekindling old friendships on their own. We’d just kicked off a little party at the village to welcome the new slaves. I decided to treat them all to some of my cooking for a bit of extra motivation. Before I knew it, the day had ended.
We began training the new slaves and monsters the next day. For the first few days, we just did a minimal amount of leveling while they got used to the village. I’d put Keel, Rishia, and Raphtalia in charge of the new slaves, and they were keeping them all busy with various tasks. Sadeena was helping level them, too. Despite how I felt about her at times, she was still ridiculously strong, after all. I’d heard that her group had been attacked by a bunch of monsters once and Sadeena had swiftly wiped them out with a magical attack.
Two days had passed since our return.
Chapter Three: Alps
It was night. I’d come to the village infirmary to continue Atla’s treatment. She was complaining of itchiness, which probably meant the medicine was working.
“Mr. Naofumi . . . Umm . . . I’m sorry to ask this of you, but could you please change my bandages?”
“I can do that!”
Fohl jumped in front of me. There was that sister complex again.
“I have an ointment for skin diseases that we could apply, too. My hero abilities will make it more effective if I’m the one that applies it, but it’s up to you.”
“I’d like you to do it, Mr. Naofumi.”
“Ugh . . .”
Fohl backed down upon hearing Atla’s decision, so I stepped forward to treat her.
“Oh? The patches of skin that looked like burns before seem to be growing back new.”
“Wh . . . what?!”
Fohl was staring at Atla’s skin in amazement. Was it really that astonishing? I mean, she did seem to be healing surprisingly quickly, but still . . . I removed the bandages from her face to see if there was any change.
“Oh my!”
Raphtalia had been watching and gasped in response, clearly startled. I had expected there to be improvement, but even I was amazed when I saw Atla’s face. Let’s just say the result was more impressive than I had imagined.
The Atla I was looking at now was easily one of the most attractive among the village slaves. Her hair was shiny, and she had clear, pale white skin that seemed unfitting for a slave. Her brother looked like he might be 12 or 13 years old, so I’d figured she was even younger, but once the bandages were removed she looked even smaller than before. She was around the same size as Melty, I guess.
The slave trader’s suggestion had certainly been evil, but with a slave this attractive he could’ve gone a whole different direction of evil and really cashed in. That was assuming her skin condition healed completely, of course. Still, I was at a loss for words. I could objectively say that Raphtalia and Filo would be considered attractive, but Atla’s beauty belonged to a different category. She had a childish look, and yet there was a delicateness to her that reminded me of a fragile glass sculpture or something.
Fohl looked like he was crying.
“That feels much better. Thank you, Mr. Naofumi. Please apply the ointment whenever you’re ready.”
“Oh! You’ve grown into such a beautiful, young girl, Atla! How time flies!” Fohl exclaimed.
He sounded like a father parting with his daughter before her wedding.
“Your progress is better than expected. I think we can skip the ointment.”
“Is that so?”
The blind Atla placed her hands on her own face.
“My skin is smooth now.”
“It looks that way.”
“This is all thanks to you, Mr. Naofumi. Thank you.”
Atla gave a small nod of appreciation.
“No problem.”
Some of the other slaves were peeking in from behind the infirmary door. I could hear them whispering something about Atla being beautiful. Wherever the action was, those slaves could smell it from a mile away.
“Little Naofumi! Drinky time! Let’s all get festive while looking at the cute girl!”
Not Sadeena, too!
“So there you are, Fohl. You know what this m
eans, right?” I said.
“Yeah . . .”
Fohl snapped back to reality at the sound of my voice and gave me a regretful nod. I’d taken his younger sister from the verge of death to this. I was going to work him like a horse.
“Mr. Naofumi.”
“What?”
“I’d like you to talk to me. I want to know more about the village. What is everyone doing here?”
Hmm . . .
“I’m making soldiers out of the villagers. Soldiers that will blindly follow my every command. In due time, you and your brother, too, will happily charge forth into the jaws of dea—”
“Mr. Naofumi!”
Raphtalia ruined the moment. I just wanted to shake Atla up a little bit. Raphtalia never seemed to enjoy my malicious shenanigans. Then again, I couldn’t help but think my past behavior gave her good reason to be that way.
“The village, you say?”
I told Atla about all of the people in the village, and then Raphtalia helped me tell her about our plans for the future.
It may not have seemed like much, but having been able to bring a dying young girl back to good health made me glad that I had learned how to compound medicines.
We continued talking for a while until I realized quite some time had passed.
“Alright, let’s call it here for today.”
“Already? I want to talk some more.”
“Don’t be selfish, Atla,” said Fohl.
Reluctant to part ways, Atla reached out to me quickly when I stood up. Fohl lovingly intercepted her hand. But Atla had reached out so forcefully you would think she had been trying to leap at me, so when Fohl caught her hand she lost her balance and tumbled off the bed . . . and then caught herself on her feet.
“. . .”
“Oh?”
Even Atla herself let out a gasp of surprise.
“And up . . . we go!” she said.
Using Fohl to help support herself, Atla then . . . stood up.
“Wow . . . So this is what it’s like to stand up,” she said.
“A . . . Atla! Atla is standing!” screamed Fohl.
It was like a scene straight out of Heidi. I was imagining Fohl in the Alps. Oh, damn. If I didn’t already know Fohl’s name, I probably would have ended up calling him that in my head. Kind of like Trash #2.
Atla slowly began walking with shaky legs, and then smiled.
“Thank you, Mr. Naofumi. Brother.”
Fohl snuffled.
“Keep getting better, Atla!”
“I will, Brother.”
To think she had gone from being a complete invalid to this in a matter of days . . .
“That’s . . . amazing. That medicine of yours is amazing, Mr. Naofumi.”
“I’ve cured your illnesses before, too, Raphtalia, so it’s not that crazy.”
“That’s true, but still . . .”
But yeah, a young girl on the verge of death and who had never before stood in her life was walking now, right in front of our eyes. The Elixir of Yggdrasil really was something. First it was the old lady, and now Atla.
“Now then . . . What should the two of us do, Mr. Naofumi?”
“Well, I plan to have your brother fight for me. Fohl, you’re leveling up with the others, right?”
“Yeah, that’s my job.”
“So he says,” Atla poked.
“What do you want to do, Atla?”
Even if she could walk now, she was still pretty helpless.
“I would like to learn how to fight, as well.”
“Atla! You don’t need to fight!”
Fohl, a.k.a. Alps, blurted out in protest. I guess it only made sense that he would be opposed to his beloved younger sister wanting to fight.
“Even so . . . I’ve felt this way for quite some time now. I decided long ago that if I was ever able to move freely, I wanted to be able to protect others rather than always relying on others to protect me.”
“B . . . but . . .”
Alps was having a hard time defying Atla’s sense of determination. Hmm . . . If I kept calling him Alps in my head I was probably going to end up blurting it out eventually. I decided I’d better stick with Fohl.
“So, please, Mr. Naofumi . . . Teach me how to fight. Send me out with the others to level.”
Hmm . . . It seemed like things weren’t going to turn out quite like I had imagined, but that might not be a bad thing. After all, Atla was a hakuko, which meant she should be able to reach level 120.
“Alright. What about you, Fohl?”
“I’ll fight, too! It’s my job to protect Atla!”
“I like that eagerness. In that case, I have a proposition. Being the slave of a hero comes with all sorts of special benefits . . .”
I told Fohl and Atla about all of the boosts for slaves that came from being a hero. Ultimately, starting over from level 1 would likely result in being stronger in the end. Fohl had already gained a few levels and was level 34 now, so it might feel a bit like wasted time. But considering all of the little advantages, it was probably worth it.
“Oh? In that case, maybe I should start over, too?”
The drunkard woman butted in while leaning in through the window.
“You’re strong enough already.”
Where in the world did she even get that alcohol in her hand?
Sadeena was supposedly level 98 already. Raphtalia was level 87 now, by the way. Sadeena was strong to start out with, so there was no point in starting over for her. No, I couldn’t actually say that. I had to admit I was curious to see how strong she would end up with all of my slave boosts, considering how formidable she was without them. But . . . the thought of an even stronger Sadeena making sexual advances—in a literal, physical sense—scared me.
“I want to be stronger, too! Let me start over, too, little Naofumi!”
Then again . . . Who knew what kind of trouble we might end up in if we started slacking. If it meant being stronger, she should probably do it.
“If you’re that set on it, then why not? Alright then, I guess we’ll reset your level sometime in the next few days.”
“Let’s do it!” she replied.
“There you have it, Fohl. If you really do want to be stronger, you should reset your level, too. What do you want to do?”
“I . . . I . . .”
“Atla might end up stronger than you in no time on just the boosts alone . . .”
I gave him a bit of a nudge. It would probably take Sadeena a while to get back to her current level, but that wasn’t true for Fohl. I could just throw him on Filo’s back and have her run around killing monsters and he’d be back to where he was now in no time.
“I’d like to beat Brother.”
“Ugh . . .”
Fohl looked over at Atla while trying to make up his mind. It would be pretty embarrassing if his precious little sister beat him to a pulp. He might never recover from that one.
“Fine. I’ll reset my level, too.”
“Alright. Now then, it’s getting late. Go back to your assigned residence and get some rest. Atla, if you can walk then you can go with Fohl.”
“Already? I would like to talk with you some more, Mr. Naofumi.”
“It’s night already. Go get some sleep so that you’ll have plenty of energy tomorrow.”
I couldn’t rule out the possibility that Atla might only be able to walk while the medicine was in her system. It was probably best if she didn’t overexert herself right now.
“Atla, I’ll take you to our residence. We’ll go slowly, so let’s . . . walk together.”
Fohl had a look of pure bliss on his face as he grinned and tugged at Atla’s hand.
“But Mr. Naofumi! Brother! Let go! Let go of my hand! I want to get better acquainted with Mr. Naofumi!”
These siblings were on completely different wavelengths. I sure hoped this didn’t turn into a problem.
“Off you go! You’re cutting into my nightly quality time with little N
aofumi!”
“You go help Raphtalia put the other slaves to bed, woman!”
“Let’s go, Sadeena. Some of the children still get scared at night, so we need to help make them feel comfortable.”
“Rafu!”
Raph-chan jumped up on Raphtalia’s shoulder and waved goodbye. I thought about how I hadn’t been playing with Raph-chan nearly enough lately as I headed back to my own place.
Chapter Four: A Shield to Protect the Shield
Filo had gone to see Melty, and Rishia was in her own room trying to decipher the manuscripts we’d gotten from Kizuna and the others. I had the night to myself. Having some peace and quiet felt nice. I started compounding medicines to sell later, and after several moments there was a knock on my door.
“What is it?”
The door opened and standing there in the doorway was Atla. Yes, the same Atla that had just been practically dragged off by her brother to their residence.
“I, umm . . . I want to sleep with you.”
“What happened to your brother?”
Knowing him, I’d never hear the end of it if he found Atla sleeping with me. That was not something I wanted to deal with.
“Brother is out cold. So . . . I’d like someone to talk with while falling asleep. Please, Mr. Naofumi.”
Out cold ? That spaz? Don’t tell me she had actually physically knocked him out . . . No, surely not. She seemed far too innocent to do something like that. It was nice that she seemed to like me, but I wasn’t sure I liked the thought of her sleeping in my bed. Having my blanket stolen once was more than enough. I knew I probably needed to let that go already, but I still didn’t feel like sharing my bed, regardless.
“No.”
“Fine. I’ll sleep in front of your house, then.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because I don’t want to sleep anywhere else.”
What was with this kid? Was she going to be Sadeena #2? She showed no sign of giving up.
“Okay, fine. You can sleep in Raphtalia’s bed.”
“Understood.”
I decided to take advantage of the fact that Raphtalia wasn’t here and motioned for Atla to come in. I couldn’t help but wonder if Fohl was alright. I’d go check on him after Atla fell asleep. Once Atla came into the room, I showed her to Raphtalia’s bed and helped her get tucked in.
