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Chapter 1: Trying Out Meeting the Feudal Lord – Part 11

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Part 11

Central Plaza──

It was the largest plaza in Faltra City that spread out in the south side of the Central District that the Feudal Lord and the other nobles lived in.

At this time, there were various carts and stalls and since there were a lot of people, it was messy and gave the impression that it was cramped.

Since Celes had gone back, right now, there was only Diablo, Rem, Shera and Alicia.

They arrived at the location they were told about.

It was a violet tent on the east side of the Central Plaza.

A guard stood at the entrance. Different from the army troops and Adventurers, he had a neat personal appearance, but he wore armor that was different from that of the regular soldiers. So he was part of one of those so-called private armies.

When they approached, he raised one hand.

「Do you have a letter of introduction?」

Compared to that of the soldiers’, it was a courteous interaction. He didn’t turn strange eyes even towards Diablo.

Diablo showed the letter of introduction.

「......Oh my, for it to be an introduction from this town’s Magician’s Guild Guildmaster, how rare......This might actually be the first time. Hello. Welcome to the 《Beloved Traveller’s Hall》.」

It would seem that was the slave store’s name.

Diablo’s group entered the tent.

Inside, there was a cloth partition, and it connected to a thin pathway.

There was a fragrance of orchid hanging in the air.

There were customers before them. From what they could see, there were two people.

They were an aged man and woman that looked affluent. Seeing as how people like that had come as customers, slaves were probably expensive.

The structure of the store resembled something like an aquarium or a pet shop. Cages were lined up facing the pathway.

However, the ones on the inside of the bars weren’t animals.

They were people of the Races.

Dwarves, Pantherians, Grasswalkers......They didn’t see any Humans, Elves, or Demons but they were probably somewhere in there.

There were a lot of children, but some of the Races that were still children could also be seen.

It was plain but, surprisingly, they wore neat looking clothes and sat in the chairs that were in the cages.

When they saw the appearance of Diablo’s group, they showed amiable smiles.

Among them, there were also some with awkward smiles.

So that was one of those business smile kind of things.

So this is a slave shop.

If asked if it were as he expected, it was as he expected, but Diablo felt a small sense of discomfort. The facility was indeed as he imagined, but the slaves being sold were different from the image he had of them.

He had expected and resolved himself for things like having eyes that looked like they were dead, or being on the verge of insanity.

However, it was more peaceful than he thought and it gave a gentle impression.

It made it seem like the luggage carriers in the town that were made to carry heavy luggage had much more difficulties. Or it made stallholders that didn’t have customers coming close at all look like they had dead looking eyes.

Even on the customer side, it wasn’t a sleazy character that looked like they read thin books, it was a couple that had an atmosphere like they were looking for a pet that they would raise into old age.

Diablo made an inquiry to the girls.

「Are slave stores usually places like this?」

「......This is the first time I’ve actually seen one......I don’t know if this place is special, or if other places are the same.」

「Yeah, same here.」

「Me as well. Though I do have a State Knight coworker that had arrested a slave trader that did excessive ill-treatment of slaves......」

The person that came out into the pathway by warding off the interior’s hanging cloth was reflected in their eyes.

It was an extraordinarily beautiful woman.

Her race was Human.

She wore a violet dress that had a deep slit, had her chest widely open, and revealed her shoulders.

For her age, she was probably older than Diablo. However, the springiness of her skin made one question if she wasn’t in her teens.

That beauty walked this way while sounding her high heels.

She came up to right before them.

Diablo had trouble keeping his eyes from turning towards her chest.

She opened her lipstick covered lips.

「My, how wonderful. Those girls you have, if you’re going to sell them, I’ll specially buy either one of them, you know?」

「Don’t joke around like that!」

「Please excuse me. I am the shopkeeper of this slave store, someone known as Medios. When people come here bringing along two slaves, a majority of them come to sell one of them so──」

In the middle of her talking, her eyes went to behind Diablo.

Medios frowned.

Those eyes of hers were sharp.

As if she were overpowered, Alicia froze up her body.

「Is there, something you need of me?」

「I am a respectable merchant. I don’t think that I’ve done any business that would make a State Knight have to step in, you know?」

Certainly, in spite of there being a lot of cages and slaves, the place’s ambiance wasn’t bad.

Since the State Knights were something like the police, her visit was probably wholly unexpected.

Alicia bowed her head.

「I’m sorry. I am a State Knight, however, I have not visited here carrying some kind of suspicion......If I am being some kind of hindrance, I shall wait outside.」

Medios tilted her head.

「Is that true?」

「Please think of me as something like an escort.」

「An escort? Something like that, I don’t really think that this man requires one though......?」

She spoke as if she knew about Diablo’s true strength.

「Have you heard something about me?」

「No, I don’t even know your name. It’s just, looking at your flow of magical power, I can immediately tell that you’re not a common personage. Enough to know that if I were to anger you, no matter how many lives I had, it still wouldn’t be enough.」

「Flow of magical power, you say?」

That was something Diablo couldn’t perceive.

Even when he remembered the Level Measurement Examination that happened at the Adventurer’s Guild, there wasn’t anyone that could perceive the thing called the flow of magical power.

Even Sylvie, most likely, she didn’t see it.

──Is it a bluff?

Shera spoke sounding excited.

「I know right! You could tell at one glance that Diablo is strong!」

「Ara ara ara!? Are you also able to see it, the flow of magical power. You might be more suited to being a slave trader than a slave. Are you able to see this?」

Medios opened up her hand.

The air at that spot was distorting.

Shera was excited and talked.

「Yeah! Light is gathering up!」

「That’s right, it looks like you really can see it.」

「I knew that it could be seen, the flow of magical power! Even when I said it, no one would believe me, and this whole time, I thought that I might be only one that was strange!」

──So even Shera could see it!?

Rem shrugged her shoulders.

「......For me, I have no idea what you are talking about......I have never seen the thing that Shera calls the flow of magical power.」

Alicia shook her head left and right.

「I don’t have any talent with magic.」

Medios opened and closed her hand. She was probably causing that flow of magical power thing that only she and Shera could see.

「Fufufu......It is the result of very rigorous training.」

「......Is it something that can be seen if you train?」

Medios nodded to Rem’s question.

「I became able to see it three days faster than Celestine. Though, other than that, that girl was superior than me in everything......I had a moment where effort surpassed talent!」

「......Is......is that so.」

Softly, Shera muttered.

「Huh? For me, ever since I was a kid, I was somehow able to see it though?」

Everyone became silent.

──Geniuses are things that are close by, aren’t they.

Regrouping herself, Medios restarted the conversation.

「Eh~......In any case, if the master makes a command through the choker, magical power can be seen in it. If it can’t be seen, the slave dealing would take up time for each and every deal.」

「The command can be seen, you say?」

「That’s right, that why you guys are so strange, you know? Even though they’re slaves, I don’t see any commands at all.」

「These two aren’t my slaves.」

Diablo took out the envelope.

Medios took it, used her nail like a paper knife, and opened the seal.

She read the letter.

For Diablo who didn’t know the letters of this world, he didn’t know what was written.

Medios showed her canines and smiled.

「I see, I see......Just when I thought that it was strange for that too serious Celestine introduce a customer to a slave store......Fumu, so you just want me to instruct you on how to remove the 《Slavery Chokers》, correct?」

「Can you do it?」

「Well......Even for me, this kind of unique situation is a first, so I’d be hard pressed to answer if it’s possible. But there’s value in at least trying it, isn’t there?」

Medios’ eyes looked at Shera.

Next, they seized Rem.

She changed to a dubious expression.

「Nn? You......you possess an interesting flow, don’t you? Why are you constantly gushing out magical power......Are you using magic? No, this is, a different kind of......」

「......Wh, what is it?」

「You......Is there any possibility of you carrying a Demon in your body?」

「Th, this isn’t a joke!」

Shera flared up at Rem who had gone bright red.

「Ehhh!? That’s not fair! When did that happen!?」

「What stupid things are you saying, Shera!? Besides, the three of us are always together! No, there was a time where you and Diablo were alone together!」

「Ahh! The time that he did that torture! At that time──」

「W, we didn’t do anything like that at that time!」

「But a child is made when you go to bed with just two people alone, right!?」

*Shin* It became quiet.

Rem, who was blushing, dropped her gaze.

「......Be at ease......Children can’t be made with something like that. Also, Diablo is a Demon, and I am a Pantherian, so normally, a child won’t be made. Shera is also an Elf, after all.」

「Ah, that’s right.」

Having been the one to start the conversation, Medios tilted her head in doubt.

「Nn~, that’s true, isn’t it? But for hints of a Demonic Being to be coming from inside of a Pantherian is......」

「Guh!?」

Rem held her stomach and shrank away.

──Not good!

The soul of Demon King Krebskrem was sealed within Rem.

He wanted to avoid the situation where that would be known.

Diablo raised his voice.

「Don’t get carried away with the idle talk! Are you going to tell me the method to remove the 《Slavery Chokers》!? Or will you not teach me!? Which one is it!?」

Medios opened her hands so as to pacify him.

「Whoops, excuse me. It was none other than Celestine that introduced you, so I’ll properly teach you. That girl and I were taught magic by the same teacher so we’re something like sisters after all.」

──I see, I was wondering about the details on how that Celes would have a connection to a slave trader.

Slave traders needed magic, and moreover, they needed to have a considerably strong mastery of it.

Similarly belonging to the Magician’s Guild and learning, one became a Guildmaster. And the other one became a slave trader.

「I do not like idle talk. Teach it to me now.」

「That’s fine with me, but you do understand that this is a trade secret, right? I can’t tell it to you in a place like this, and I want to teach it to as few people as possible. Come this way......But only the people concerned.」

She beckoned them to the inner part of the pathway.

Alicia saluted.

「Well then, I’ll be on standby outside.」

Rem stepped back.

「......I’ll also have to refrain. Since I’m not feeling too good......I’ll rest outside.」

To be honest, Diablo had intended to rely on Rem in regards to knowledge on magic.

But since there was the possibility of her being probed about the soul of Demon King Krebskrem, it was only natural that she would be scared.

Putting aside the virtuous Celes, the other person was a slave trader. It was only natural that she would feel that she didn’t want her secret to be known.

Shera talked sounding worried.

「Rem, are you alright? You’re looking pale, you know? Want to go to a doctor?」

「......Have you seen the magical power that was coming out of me?」

「Yeah? At times. Because of that, I thought that you were some kind of amazingly strong Adventurer. Though Diablo is totally stronger.」

「......Is that so.」

「Is something wrong?」

「......Thank goodness you’re stupid.」

「Isn’t that too mean!?」

Diablo extended his hand and grabbed the sleeve of Shera’s clothes.

「Leave her be. She’ll get better if she rests. Let’s go, we’re wasting time.」

「Waaah, stop it Diablo, it’s gonna stretch~, my clothes, they’re stretching~!? If you’re going to pull something, make it the choker!」

「So you’re fine with that!?」