kscans

Chapter 191 - Aftermath and an Angry Mizuki

In front of the knights, Maryanne knelt and pleaded for Seim's life. In response, he hurled every insult imaginable at her and roared that he would never forgive her. But since she still begged for his life, I decided to spare him.

It was all an act. Now, their resentment would be directed at me, and Maryanne would be free to claim her position as the head of the One-Land family. I really didn't want to be hated by the dog-eared, but it couldn't be helped.

Feeling like I'd accomplished a great task, I returned to the inn. And was immediately forced to kneel on the floor.

"I really, really thought you'd abandoned me!"

Mizuki scolded.

Last night, she had returned to the inn and waited for us to come back. But Myra was dealing with the aftermath of the Great Temple, I was in a jail cell, Famu had been put to sleep, and Marmi, the only one who could have contacted her, would never go to an inn without me and wouldn't think to have a subordinate do such a thing. In other words, she had no idea I'd been captured until today.

Present in the room were myself, Famu, Mizuki, Myra, and Marmi. Cecily and Aira had returned to the Star Union estate.

"It's not Master's fault. It's Myra's fault for making him do that, and Mo's fault for not trying to help Master when things went bad!"

Famu acted like she was on my side, but she wasn't letting me get up from my kneeling position.

"…Famu, are you fighting with Mo again? You two need to get along already."

"Hmph, we're not fighting. But it is Mo's fault."

She seemed furious that when I was captured by the knights yesterday, Marmi had put her to sleep to control the situation instead of letting her help me. Still, hadn't Famu been getting more irritable lately? No, I suppose she's been angry ever since we met.

"…If we had resisted in that situation, we would have been captured too, and it would have only complicated things. If Myra and I had been there with the person who destroyed the Great Temple, the public might have turned on us. Asking Father to mediate was the right move."

Marmi replied as if nothing had happened.

"Mo doesn't understand how miserable and sad it is to be thrown in a jail cell! Master's human dignity was violated!"

Hearing that, I straightened my posture. It was probably best to keep quiet about the cozy time Maryanne and I had together.

"…A jail cell is a place to be alone. It calms the mind."

Their conversation wasn't connecting at all. And then I remembered there was another person who had been put in a solitary cell.

"Was Patricia forgiven?"

"…Yeah. She went to clean the new house today."

Marmi nodded once.

"New house?"

I asked.

"…Yes. The new house where Mash and I will live. I think you'll hear from the Mateo Trading Company about it soon."

"Really? But it's not a mansion like Mo's, is it? I can't manage that."

"…It's fine. It's much smaller. And Patricia has officially become mine. I've decided to put her in charge of managing the house."

A strange thought snagged in my mind at her answer.

"Hey, how are you planning to pay Patricia's salary?"

"…Patricia is mine, so as long as I guarantee her food, clothing, and shelter, she doesn't need a salary. She wouldn't ask for one either."

"That's…"

Mizuki cut in, her expression hardening.

"…Her parents were nobles in the city of the Flower Folk, north of the Great Forest."

"The city of the Flower Folk. For short…"

I was about to say something stupid, but Mizuki glared at me, and I shut up.

"…But they lost a political struggle, and she was sold. It was to ensure they would never regain their influence in the city, so she was sent far away. A consultation was brought to the elven settlement, and Mother decided to buy her as my attendant."

The Great Forest where the elves live is far to the west of Richel. From the empire's perspective, it's a remote region beyond their control. If the city of the Flower Folk is north of that, then that city is also likely beyond the empire's influence.

"So that's still slavery, isn't it?"

Marmi nodded at Mizuki's words, which she didn't bother to hide her accusatory tone from, without any sign of remorse. Seeing that, she glared at me again. I wish she would stop directing her anger at me.

"…So, if Mash likes Patricia, I'll tell her so if you ask me to."

"No!"

Mizuki shouted.

"Mo, Patricia is important to you, isn't she? Is it okay to keep her as a slave? That's wrong, isn't it?"

"…Mizuki, what does it matter if Patricia is a slave? She doesn't wish to be freed. And one of the conditions of her purchase was that her slave status must not be lifted."

Hearing Marmi's words, Mizuki glared at me again. It felt so unreasonable.

In the region where Mizuki and I were from, industrialization by machines was advanced, and society didn't need slaves and condemned their existence. But in this world, human hands are needed for the work that machines would do. Society needs the power of slaves to function. I could understand Mizuki's thinking, but Marmi's feelings were the norm here. Still, from what I'd seen of Patricia, Marmi didn't seem to be treating her unfairly. And Patricia herself didn't seem to feel any sorrow about being a slave; rather, she seemed to take pride in serving Marmi.

"Mo, I know that the existence of slaves is normal in this world. I think I understand that they are necessary for society. But Mizuki and I don't like the idea of treating people as slaves ourselves. I also think that there's always some kind of power dynamic between people, and true equality is impossible. But I don't want to see you ordering around a slave Patricia. I want you to be equals."

In my mind, I thought Mizuki should say this to Marmi herself, but she probably thought Marmi would listen better if I said it. My legs were starting to go numb from kneeling. I wanted to be released soon.

"…When you gave Patricia to me, Mother said that some transferrers occasionally say things like that."

"It might be difficult if there's an agreement, but is there any way to free Patricia from slavery? After that, if she's willing to serve you and take care of the house, I'd like to ask her to."

"…Okay. I'll ask Mother."

"Really?"

When I checked, she gave a small nod.

"…Patricia is Patricia. I won't change, and Patricia won't change. It doesn't matter either way."

To her, Patricia's status truly didn't seem to matter. It was only Mizuki and I who were hung up on it, and perhaps Patricia herself didn't think deeply about her own status either.

"So, Mash, are you going to see the house tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'd like to see it at least once."

I hoped it wasn't a mansion. I wanted a normal house, but I wasn't sure what a normal house in this world was. In any case, I wanted to check it out.

"Hey, it's not a house for just the two of you to live in, is it!"

Just when I thought things had calmed down, Mizuki chimed in again.

"…It's fine. For Mizuki, there's a bath with hot water coming from underground."

"Wait, does it have a hot spring? Yeeeeeees!"

Mizuki threw her arms up in a victory pose. Was she that much of a bath lover? And what was all that anger she was directing at me just a moment ago? Thanks to Marmi, her mood seemed to be improving. I'd try to get her forgiveness in the confusion.

"Alright, the conversation got sidetracked, but you understand that what happened today was beyond my control, right, Mizuki?"

I unfolded my legs from the kneeling position before getting her permission. A slow tingle spread through my legs.

"So, what happened with your senpai?"

"He said it's been six years since he came to this world, but he hadn't changed much. We talked a lot about our original world."

"…Well, it's good you had a nice time."

As I rubbed my legs to get the feeling back faster, Mizuki puffed out her cheeks.

"I haven't forgiven you yet!"

"I'm sorry."

I hastily corrected my posture and bowed my head deeply.

"…Well, whatever. Anyway, we talked about our friends from the swim club, too. We got really excited talking about who was likely to be chosen for the team."

It was a conversation I couldn't follow at all. The kind of talk only members of the same club could have.

"So, he said you guys decided to go dungeon diving together next time…"

I stretched and yawned. Myra had used healing magic on me, and I'd also received treatment at a church in the human district. But I felt like I was still mentally exhausted.

"Do you want me to go?"

Mizuki glared at me. But it was also Mizuki's fault for not getting to the part I wanted to hear. Of course, I couldn't say that, so I kept quiet.

"I don't want you to go. I want you to stay by my side forever."

"You say that, but you left me all alone…"

I tried to go and hug her, but my legs were still too numb, and I couldn't stand up. I almost fell and ended up on all fours. To an onlooker, I must have looked like I was despairing for no reason.

"By the way, Mizuki, did you see the arrow of light that Laciel fired?"

"Is there anyone who didn't see it? We were in the market district in the northern human area, and everyone saw it. It was such a strange light that even people who were inside buildings came out and were just staring blankly."

Hearing that made me want to truly despair.

"But the one flying on the spear after that was Laciel, right? I could tell it was her, but you were too small for me to see if you were on it."

"Mash, the church is trying to pass it off as a Crystal Core running rampant. Fortunately, few people saw Laciel-sama, and the only ones who saw you summon her were those directly involved,"

Myra said. She helped me up from my four-legged stance and sat me down on the edge of the bed. As she sat next to me, I took the opportunity to cuddle up to her, and Famu sat down on my other side.

"Wouldn't a Crystal Core going rampant be a bigger problem? I've seen them cause dungeonization, but I've never seen one explode."

If they did explode, then Marmi and I had been carrying around something terrifying, and she'd even had it displayed in her room when we were in Heilon.

"It's still better than rumors spreading that Laciel-sama destroyed it."

"I guess so."

If it became known that the church, the mouthpiece of the gods, was destroyed by a god, its authority would crumble. The impact wouldn't be limited to just Miglutt.

"About the head priest, Elisha… she wants to apologize to you. And if possible, she'd like to meet Laciel-sama one more time."

"…"

Was she serious? What did she plan to do if she met Laciel again?

"I thought so…"

As I remained silent, she nodded in reply, though I wasn't sure how she'd read my thoughts.

"No, I don't want to argue like we did yesterday. You feel the same way, right, Myra? I'll accept the apology. I'm begging you, let's just get along. But I don't want to summon Laciel. I can't predict what she'll do either."

I hastily conveyed my thoughts to Myra so she wouldn't go off the rails.

"So, in the end, what was Yuki like?"

Since the topic kept getting sidetracked, I decided to ask using his name.

"First, about the suspicion that he's the Yuki who attacked other adventurers,"

Mizuki paused meaningfully, and I held my breath.

"I still can't believe that my senpai is the kind of person who would attack other transferrers."

It was a biased assessment, so I couldn't take it at face value. But it also didn't seem right to disregard Mizuki's feelings. If that's what she thought, it was probably best to assume for now that it was someone else.

"Did you talk about Hyakka or anything?"

I couldn't help but sound like I was interrogating her.

"No. I told him that I came to this world about two months ago and that I traveled from Richel to Miglutt, but I didn't talk about Laciel or the other transferrers."

Was that her way of being cautious? It was possible he thought she didn't know anything, having only been in this world for two months.

"I see. Did he make any proposals or anything?"

"He said his partner isn't reliable and isn't much of a fighter. So he invited me to team up so we could protect ourselves from other transferrers."

"Just you, Mizuki?"

"No. He has his own party, so it would be a joint front between our parties."

An unreliable partner could only mean Shizuka. But they were transferred from a world with almost no violence. It wouldn't be surprising if some of them came to hate this world.

"Did you meet his partner?"

Mizuki shook her head.

"Did Yuki say anything about wanting to go back to our original world?"

"I said I wanted to go back, but Senpai only gave me a vague answer."

If he were trying to deceive Mizuki, he could have just given her a pleasant-sounding answer. But the fact that he was vague meant he had his own thoughts on the matter, and at the same time, he wanted to be honest with her.

"Anyway, he said he's focusing on conquering the Crystal Palace right now, and that I should come to the human district if I change my mind."

I couldn't let my guard down, but it didn't seem like I needed to be overly cautious either. I'd hold off on meeting him for now. It could wait until Hyakka and the others arrived in town.

"Mizuki."

I said, opening my arms.

"What?"

She pulled back cautiously.

"Let's hug and confirm our love."

"…Do you really think that's enough to make me forgive you for abandoning me?"

"I do. And once we're settled in this city, let's go on a date, just the two of us."

Mizuki slightly opened her arms and started to approach. Myra stopped her body, and Famu stopped mine as I went to meet her.

"It's not fair to only make promises with Mizuki!"

"That's right! Master is always too nice to Mizuki!"

"W-Wait. I know. Alright, from now on, I'll hug everyone and promise to go on a date with all of you."

And so, I hugged each of them in turn.