Was supposed to be working on Din tonight but my head feels heavy now due to my sudden migraine…this chapter was done last night actually so will try to concentrate on Din series after this x__x;;
Episode 20: The slave escort has the smell of an outcast
The contents of the agreement that Jephthah has decided with Diana were,?Diana must obey Jirou"s order (anything s.e.xual is excluded). Only Jirou has the right to annul the contract. Jirou must take care of Diana"s daily basic needs of food, clothing and shelter. The party who breached the contract will lose the blessing of the spirit?. That was supposed to be the actual decided contract. Strictly speaking there were finer details included but these are the rough idea of it……but now…….
Even though the one carrying out the spirit contract was the elf guy, he swore that he has not altered any part of contract details at all.
Or rather, the purpose of holding hands when the spirit magic was used was actually to prevent the alteration of the content from being carried out. Even if there happened to be any falsification during the contract magic, if the other party whom you are holding the hand with does not accept the content, the magic will be repelled too.
However, it was just like what Jephthah had mentioned. When we make a spirit contract with a High Elf, even though it was not the intention of the High Elf herself, the spirit will still arbitrarily make changes to the content making it more advantageous to the High Elf.
In addition, this event only occurs with a High Elf but not with an ordinary elf…… I wonder if this was actually the biggest reason why he wasn"t able to sell off this fellow to those people under reservations……..
Well, in the end, I wasn"t able to obtain anything that will be useful for my future plans in this other world but was forced to carry more unnecessary burdens on my back instead.
Once I get used to seeing that tattoo it might look cute soon and it does kind of portray an auspicious looking colour presently. Although, I wasn"t able to feel honestly happy about it even when I have finally obtained my long awaited elf somehow.
But, why did this special guidance choose me of all the people…….
I had a feeling that I was totally cheated by Jephthah too.
After all I"m just a NEET here so a full-fledged bargaining is impossible for me.
That was supposed to be the case….
But, I have a feeling that I wouldn"t be satisfied if I don"t make that guy suffer a little loss too. I wonder if I can come up with a good idea……..
….Well for the time being I"ll just confirm all the minor details then look for a breakthrough plan from there!
“Jephthah-san. The contract content aside, my contact with Diansan has been completed but Solo house"s agreement to cooperate with Diansan"s guidance is still in effect, am I right?” [Ayase]
“Yes. Naturally until the guidance has been achieved we will be providing the backups.” [Jephthah]
The backup seems to be still in effect.
If I do not make use of this backup as much as I can, my blessing will be in danger.
?To ensure that Diana can live without excess and deficiency?. I do own a house for the time being but I don"t have anything else. I don"t have much money now too.
For the most part, I"ve been staying at Sh.e.l.lo-san"s house the entire time in this other world……..I haven"t even stayed at the inn yet……
“……Then would you be able to accommodate us with slave that would be able to act as our escort?…. Diansan, try asking him too.” [Ayase]
“Goshujinsama is being too formal there. It"s fine even if you do not attach -san to my name, isn"t it?” [Diana]
Diana said with upturned eyes.
Don"t give that cute look. We"re still considered as strangers on emotional level! If you don"t ask him personally, I wouldn"t be able to tell him that it"s a necessity for Diana!
“Aa…..come to think of it, you did tell me that you were looking for a slave as escort when we first met. I completely forgot about it after due to the shock when you told me that you wanted an elf.” [Jephthah]
After the contract is completed, Jephthah has become questionably frank all of the sudden…….well it"s fine either way.
“Yes. I do want one previously for the sake of my business but currently I think that it"s a necessity as an escort for Diansan too. So how about it?” [Ayase]
“I hope to ask your help on this too, Jephthah. Goshujinsama doesn"t have any resourcefulness currently.” [Diana]
This child just casually threw the poison out. I"ll definitely punish her later. I will definitely do so!
“Yeah, I don"t mind it if it"s just the matter about the slaves for escort. We"re at the slave trading house now anyway.” [Jephthah]
“……You seemed to have given your consent fairly fast. Although I did say I wanted a slave for escort, aren"t they actually quite expensive?” [Ayase]
“They are definitely not cheap but it couldn"t be helped if it"s necessary…… Above all Jirou-san has been the one working hard this time. I"ll feel bad if I"m the only one gaining from this so please think of this as a service.” [Jephthah]
Each and every words of his seemed to p.i.s.s me off!
But I wonder why I couldn"t get myself to hate him completely till now. Could it be the natural impression from a bonbon? Rather than being devious, I had a feeling that Jephthah is more on the mischievous side.
But how do I put it, as the both of us are also the youngest child, the intuition kept coming in intensely. This will certainly not go along well.
“Then I"ll try asking the proprietor of this place for a while. Although since there is not much demand for slaves as escort, you might not have much selections.” [Jephthah]
Jephthah said so as he left the room.
Slave as escort……is it. If I were to make a contract with another new slave here, I would also have to earn more for an additional person.
I wonder if I had completely swapped to this other world by making this as base now and was just forced to move along without any procurement…….
After confirming that Jephthah has left the room, Rebeccsan who has been watching the course of events in silence all this while finally spoke out.
“Hey…..Jirou, are you alright? If you want to annul the contract with that child, I will try to find a way to do something about it. If there is a mutual agreement from both sides you will be able to annul the contract, am I right? I am unrelated to the contract but…….I do know a few ?methods to make someone do as told obediently?.” [Rebecca]
Rebeccsan was looking at Diana with a really brutal gaze that hasn"t been seen before till now.
Wa, scary.
Even the seemingly naturally air-headed Diana who wasn"t timid ended up averting her gaze.
“……..Thank you very much Rebeccsan. But, I have given a thought about it myself. I was thinking if I could try doing my best without overexerting myself this time. At the very least, this girl would do her part and work in moderation as well….right?” [Ayase]
“I-I will definitely do my work properly! The spirit was the one who changed the contract arbitrarily so it wasn"t my fault.” [Diana]
“Fuun~…..that"s true. Well, it"s my principle to not interfere with a man"s work as much as possible. But……Jirou, if you"re ever in trouble just let me know alright?” [Rebecca]
“Yes. Thank you very much.” [Ayase]
Rebeccsan is so dependable……But being too dependable at any time makes me feel like depending on her more……
Jephthah returned after a while and told us that the escort slaves were gathered in another room so we were asked to go there instead to have a look.
I who was in a complete sobered up state then went to see the collection of slaves. Events that couldn"t have happened during the modern days in j.a.pan now began to happen one right after another……
Moreover, I would be purchasing one person from there……..
It"s the other world, it"s the other world! I might have been in a strangely high spirit all of the sudden……… Although, even if I were to say that this is a different world, this situation felt really insolent since we will be purchasing someone"s whole life with money.
If I were a hero here, I might fight to eradicate all the slavery in this world. I wonder if there might have been these choices too………
But well, in the end I"m just a turkey after all…….
(TL:???turkey = a loser)
……Well now! Let"s be practical and buy a busty slave girl! Yeah!
This is the place. The proprietor"s trading house office is a roughly about 20 tatami mats in size with a really high ceiling. Several people who appeared to be slaves could be seen lined up together connected by a long rope inside.
Ah c.r.a.p.
It"s supposed to be natural but these, are seriously what slaves are like.
They were tied up with a rope, have similar dark gloomy eyes and wore the same pretty plain white clothing that look similar to tunics.
The races for each of the slaves are different but all of them are men. There are not only human slaves but also dwarves and beast people.
Heavy……..
*smile* “How is it? If you are fine with it, I can even explain each of their vocation and escort experience in depth for you?” The owner of the trading house began explaining the comparison in detail making the atmosphere even heavier for me.
I seriously have the urge to just select any of them and escape as soon as I can but they are all male slaves there.
I wonder if the existence of a [young strong girl] only happens in the fantasy world. I suddenly started hating this other world that kept shattering people"s dream!
“What would you be doing, Jirou-san? If you are looking for escorts, you could probably select the one who is skilled in close combat, or the one who has past experience as a mercenary or even those who have registered themselves with the Hunter Guild. Those might be a good choice too. If anything I would recommend the dwarf there. He has an unusual vocation as ?Warrior? too.” [Jephthah]
So what should I do.
[Actually I prefer having female slaves]. It would be too embarra.s.sing for me to say this now. […..are you sane?] If I do voice my preference, he might say the same thing to me again.
Well, I"ll try to think of a good excuse then…
My eyes met Diana"s unexpectedly and I was. .h.i.t by an idea. That"s it!
“Let"s see. To be honest, there is a first condition that must be met that as an escort……I require the escort to take care of this child too so it would be better for the slave to be a female of similar age to her if possible. As one would expect, it would be hard for robust looking men like them to be taking care of a young woman like her. So to somewhat compromise it, it would be fine as long as the female slave has a combat related experience. May I know if there are any that matches the criteria?” [Ayase]
Alright, a perfect logical reason! I"m even charmed by it myself.
On hearing my explanation, the owner of the slave trading house replied, “Ah is that so?” but for some reason Jephthah could be seen trying to suppress his laughter. It feels unpleasant. d.a.m.n, I don"t care what to think of this guy anymore!
“Then we shall prepare young female slaves with combat related vocations then. Our apologies but please wait for a while.” [owner]
“Goshujinsama is a pervert.” [Diana]
Leave me alone.
After that, we were told that the slaves were gathered in another room so we moved again.
It appears that male and female slaves are handled separately and will not be placed in the same room…..Tch, that b.a.s.t.a.r.d Jephthah! He"s trying to f.u.c.k with me again!
Somehow, I felt like I"ve become that guy"s main target of teasing….I"ll definitely pursue it!
“Jephthah-san, the owner of the slave trading house has shown me those male slaves in the state of being tied with a rope earlier, am I right?” [Ayase]
“Iya~a I"m sorry. Since you had mentioned that you wanted escorts, we did it with best intentions……Were you expecting us to accommodate a maid along to take care of Diansan too? You"re sure greedy, Jirou-san.” [Jephthah]
This sly fox oniisan!
The number of slaves were considerably less than previously, but room spreads out even wider than the room earlier. The similar dark gloomy eyes, a diversity of race and pretty white tunics.
U~n….As expected still heavy…..
All of them appeared to be in the late teens or early 20s. I guessed they must have not wanted to end up as slaves. Combat related vocation aside, I am not even sure if they are able to fight as escorts…
A slave without their essential emotion might be bad but, it might not be that practical, as I thought.
“Etto, master. So do all the people here have combat related vocation as what was discussed earlier? Are there any child here who has actual combat experience?” [Ayase]
I tried examining the girls as I listened.
Despite saying something cool, it was still better to choose one to my preference after all.
……
…………
………………
The one at the far corner. There"s one there. The girl with brown skin.
She has the same dark gloomy eyes like the others but a pair of thick eyebrows and alluring eyes. Her purple hair similar to the colour of an amethyst is also beautiful.
Her age seemed to be below 20 and she has outstanding style.
Even though she was wearing the same white tunic, her splendid breast was highly prominent.
And above all, her ears are slightly long.
Isn"t that…….what we call dark elf-chan in our industry? Ufu,ufufufu, why is she lined up in such a place?
“……A, ano? Are you listening?” [owner]
Ah, master. Sorry. I haven"t heard a thing. Even if I do hear it, all that information is no longer relevant.
“Please tell me the information of this child.” [Ayase]
When I pointed at the dark elf-chan, confusions were clearly written all over their faces and they seemed to be surprised at the same time. What is so surprising about this? You guys should know about my fondness for elf.
“Jirou-san. That child is from the Turk tribe. You might not mind it too much but is it really alright?” [Jephthah]
“So what of it? Turk tribe?” [Ayase]
…..According to Jephthah"s explanation, one of the Turk tribe"s characteristic is the brown skin. Since their ears are long similar to elves, they are often the target of persecution for being false elves…..it wasn"t said but it seems like a tribe that often became the target of discrimination.
The discrimination tendency in this country in particular, is even more conspicuous. Although the country of fire to the south doesn"t seem to discriminate against the brown skin……..
In addition, the Turk tribe doesn"t seem to be loved much by the spirits so there have not been any history of any of them getting 2 or more vocations so far. Since this country has a strong belief in spirits, they might be considerably narrow-minded too. Moreover the number of guidance that they receive are really few or something along that line…..
Hmm. I see.
But all of those have nothing to do with me!
I"ve already decided on her!
“This girl"s name is Marina…… There is another reason why I wouldn"t recommend her actually……Her vocation is a Knight.” [owner]
The owner said apologetically.
Nn? That looks good actually. It would be good for escorts in particular. Is there anything wrong with it?
“Is there anything wrong with Knight?” [Ayase]
“That"s because, a knight is usually something that only a man can become, Jirou. So if a woman were to have Knight as vocation, it"s actually the same as having no vocation at all. In actual they can still fight but why has it ended up this way.” [Rebecca]
So a woman can"t be a knight…is it. But it"s also a combat related vocation anyhow and Rebeccsan did say they would not have problem fighting too. No matter how I think about it, it doesn"t seem to be much of a problem.
…ah I see. Since a vocation is literally the same as a profession, if she can"t get a job as a knight, then the vocation doesn"t seem significant anymore isn"t it? I ended up thinking of it as an RPG. A vocation is also a job! It"s not a game!
In order to get a more in-depth story, I tried speaking to Marina………as expected I felt embarra.s.sed.
“Etto, I was thinking of buying you now but may I know if you have any combat experience? Could you do housework? Could you read letters?” [Ayase]
(TL: He sounded casual at first but ended up becoming slightly formal in his speech)
As I was asking her, this Jephthah a.s.shole who was behind me suddenly said, “Honorific language to a slave!” making me feel like bursting into laughter. Although, thanks to that my hesitation gradually disappears.
The questioning ended up becoming a smattering of words for some reason….. But, I guess it"s not good to be too casual to a girl whom you just met.
I had initially thought that she was still in hesitation but all of the sudden she glared at me as if she had made up her mind somehow and said.
You might have said that she blurted it out.
“I-I-I-I will make an oath here as a knight so if you are a worthy master that I should be serving then show me the evidence! O-Otherwise even if you can rob me of my body, do know that you can never rob me of my heart. S-So how will it be?” [Marina]
Oh my, this child, is seriously cute.
But will it be alright? Halfway through it became withered out. Do your best! Do your best till the end!
While I was calming myself there, I was taken off guard by Diana who suddenly cut in from the side.
“Marina. I am Diana. Diana Runaabera. I"m the princess from the elf race. Pledge your allegiance to me, be my hound, dedicate your life to me. If you do so, you will obtain the blessings of the spirit even as a member from the Turk tribe.” [Diana]
Diana…..
Why did she suddenly cut in……moreover in such a monotone.
The one who will be making the contract is me though.
But well whatever since it seemed interesting.
“Oooooh princess!” [Marina]
“Yoshi, what do you want to ask for, Marina…..” [Diana]
I cast a sceptical gaze at the two of them who were engaged in a skit there. I was the one who would have to go through the procedure of the contract though.