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"Mind if I take a look?"
After saying that, I studied the woman's complexion, then just to be safe, cast Cure and Resist on her once more.
The girl called Jeanne hadn't let her guard down, but she didn't try to stop me from casting my magic.
"I don't know who you are, but thank you very much."
The woman called Aura, though still lying on the ground, gave a polite bow as she spoke her words of gratitude.
"Hey, Jeanne. What exactly happened? My memory's all fuzzy—I can't really remember clearly..."
At Aura's question, Jeanne paused, seeming to sort through her thoughts, and then—
"After Aura came down with a fever, we were attacked by Monsters and ended up falling into this place... and at that time,
that one
died."
"...I see."
That alone seemed to be enough for them to understand each other, but—
"Hey, who's 'that one'?"
I couldn't help but interject from the side. Naturally, Jeanne—
"That is none of your concern."
—so instead, Aura spoke up:
"The person who was our master."
She said that. It was only then that I noticed — around each of their necks hung what could only be called proof of servitude: slave collars.
"We were slaves, and our master was a nobleman holding the title of viscount."
That was when I remembered something I really didn't want to bring up.
"Look… I don't want to say this, but…"
Seeing me fumble over my words, Jeanne—
"Just so you know, we didn't kill our master!"
—said that, but—
"No, that's not what I'm worried about… The thing is, you're both slaves, which means… well, you see…"
"Just say it already! What is it?!"
Jeanne saw me struggling to get the words out and urged me on with growing irritation, so—
"The ownership of both of you currently falls under me…"
—I told them. Neither of them had expected those words, and they both froze solid.
"Here's the thing — when a slave's master dies in a dungeon or somewhere like that, the remaining slaves become the property of the first person to find them… In other words, they're treated as spoils of war. So that would mean the two of you are now my slaves…"
Whether they could even hear my words anymore, I couldn't tell — the two of them didn't so much as flinch.
I waved my hand in front of their faces and got no reaction, so I clapped once, right before them—
"Why does it have to be like this…"
—and Jeanne crumpled to the ground. Aura tightly shut her eyes, then—
"I have a request. Please, do not ever separate us. Even if you intend to sell us, please negotiate so that we can stay together."
—and bowed her head deeply, pleading earnestly. The sudden turn of events had my mind in a tangled mess, but Aura, having noticed my confusion, added—
"The truth is, Jeanne was originally born into nobility, and I was her attendant. We were raised together from the day we were born."
She began telling me their backstory. According to her tale, the two of them had grown up without hardship, but about five years ago they got caught up in some conflict. Their family fell from grace, every last relative was killed, and the two survivors were sold off as slaves and purchased by a viscount.
Fortunately, the viscount was a sodomite, so they weren't mistreated — but apparently he was on the verge of selling them off soon.
Seigen had visited them secretly along the way and infiltrated the dungeon with guards, but as he got carried away venturing deeper, they were ambushed by a powerful Monster. The guards and the viscount were killed, and the two of them tumbled into a nearby hole.
She said she had heard the second half of the story from Jeanne, but I didn't trust the whole account. After all, their Status contained critical information.
Name…Jeanne
Age…14
Race…Human
Title…Cursed Child (Saint) – Former Viscount's Daughter – Slave
Name…Aura
Age…16
Race…Human
Title…Maid – Slave
It was that part — Jeanne's Title reading "Cursed Child (Saint)." Whether she was deliberately hiding it or truly didn't know, I couldn't tell, but I certainly couldn't take everything at face value.
For now I shelved that story. To give Aura a rest, I cut the conversation short and decided to survey our surroundings.
First, I searched for the hole the two of them had supposedly fallen through. It was located about 100 meters from where I had entered. The wall near the hole sloped down like a slide, which explained how they had avoided serious injuries.
The hole was situated quite high up. I gave flight a try to get a look around—
"Huh, this place feels kind of familiar…"
It was the sort of spot that seemed both recognizable and not, but since it was all the same dungeon, there were bound to be plenty of similar-looking areas, so I stopped racking my brain over it.
After that I kept searching the area but didn't find anything particularly interesting. There were reddish-brown stones scattered everywhere, suggesting the rock around here was rich in iron ore, but I had no immediate use for that, so I decided to ignore it.
I did manage to locate one Warp Zone in this area as well, so I drove the battered sword the Orc had been carrying into the ground nearby to serve as a marker.
When I returned to the two of them, they seemed to be discussing something. They hadn't noticed me yet, so I deliberately made my footsteps loud to let them know I was coming.
Hearing my footsteps, the two stopped talking and looked my way, so—
"For now, let's get out of here."
I urged the two of them along, but Aura still didn't seem able to stand properly on her own.
So I carried Aura on my back and stuffed the bed and the cooking pot into my bag. Then, just to be safe, I positioned Shiromaru behind me and Solomon above Jeanne.
Slarin climbed into my bag, ready to spring out at a moment's notice if anything went wrong.
But that worry turned out to be unfounded, and we made it back to the surface through the Warp Zone without any incidents.
Jeanne's first words upon stepping outside were—
"It's the sky! I haven't seen it in a week!"
That caught me off guard. After all, she'd been maintaining the barrier for nearly a week straight with a half-dead Aura lying right beside her. That was something no ordinary mage could have pulled off.
I figured we should report to the Guild first, and as I was heading that way, I noticed the area was awfully noisy. Wondering what was going on, I drew closer to the Guild when—
"Don't move! You're under suspicion for the abduction of a noble!"
Two men dressed as knights called out to me. I had no recollection of any abduction, so I ignored them and tried to walk into the Guild, but—
"I said don't move!"
One of them raised his spear as if to strike, so—
"Air Impact."
I hit him with a shockwave of wind magic. The man who had been about to swing his spear went flying back about ten meters, tumbled across the ground, and crashed into a wall at the end before finally coming to a stop.
"So it really was you! You're the culprit!"
The other one moved to attack as well, but—
"Gruwaaargh!"
Not only did he take a body slam from Shiromaru, but he was also being pinned down. With my signal, Shiromaru could bite at any moment, and he waited with his mouth half-open.
Shiromaru's body slam had knocked him unconscious—
No.
The man had seen Shiromaru's furious face up close, and he had wet himself between the legs.
"Shiromaru, drag him over here!"
I gave Shiromaru the order, then had Jeanne open the door and entered the guild.
Inside, several soldiers and knights had taken over a corner of a table and were discussing something among themselves, apparently not having noticed us yet.
So I took the man Shiromaru had dragged in and hurled him straight at that table.
"Wh-what is the meaning of this!"
The knights, though flustered, immediately figured out that I was behind it—
"Don't move! Any movement will be taken as hostile intent, and I will activate my magic immediately!"
I shouted at the top of my lungs to keep the knights in check. However, one of the soldiers present drew his sword, so—
"Air Brit, Air Impact."
I fired off two spells in rapid succession. Brit knocked the sword away, and Impact sent the soldier flying.
Only after that did the knights finally realize that my words were no bluff—
"Are you defying Marquis Samons?!"
One of the knights shouted at me.
"Then Marquis Samons becomes my enemy!"
I shot back, slamming my killing intent into the knights. That alone was enough to make their legs go weak.
"You started this fight yourselves... even if you die, don't you dare regret it."
It was a situation practically on the verge of exploding. That said, if it actually came to a fight, I had more than enough of a power gap to dominate them completely. At least, assuming the knight I'd thrown earlier wasn't the weakest among them.
But my one-sided rampage never got the chance to begin. Marquis Samons, having heard the commotion, came bursting into the guild.
"Wait! That's enough! Both sides, sheathe your swords!"
The knights obeyed and put away their swords, but I had no intention of following the Marquis's orders.
"My lord, don't be ridiculous. They attacked me unprovoked, and now you want me to put my sword away? Don't you think that's a bit much?"
Honestly, I was seething. After all, the Marquis's knights had tried to attack me even though right on my back—
Aura
—was there, and they hadn't cared one bit.
At my words, the Marquis twisted his face as though biting into something bitter and glared at his knights. Then, turning back to me—
"I am deeply, truly sorry. It seems my instructions weren't properly conveyed."
With that, the Marquis bowed his head to me... Lately, it felt like important people were bowing to me an awful lot.
"In any case, let's hear the full story later. I have something I need to take care of first."
Leaving the Marquis standing there, I headed for the guild counter and told the receptionist about Jeanne and Aura, intending to go through the registration process—but—
"I'm sorry, but until it can be proven that those two are the Viscount's former slaves and that they didn't kill the Viscount, we cannot hand over their slave rights."
So, under my supervision, the initial hearing was conducted.
"We were attacked by that Monster around the 30th or 31st floor."
"Three knights who had been assigned as the Viscount's escorts were harmed, along with one adventurer serving as their guide."
"Aura... she suddenly took ill, and we were attacked while we were resting at a dead end."
I answered the guild staff's questions one by one. And the last thing I answered was—
"The Monster that attacked us was a very large centipede."
That answer made the gaze of a staff member who recognized the Monster I'd recently taken down pierce right through me.
"Tenma, do you still have that centipede's corpse? If you do, please bring it out."
When he said that, I pulled the Gigant Death Centipede from my bag, and—
"This is it! This is the Monster that attacked us!"
Jeanne pointed at the centipede and shouted. Then, when a knife was driven into the centipede's abdomen and cut open, inside its belly they found a metal plate engraved with a noble's crest, together with what was unmistakably a part of a human body.
"Please wait just a moment... here it is. This is the crest of Viscount Aiser... The Guild also has registration records for the viscount. There is a very high probability that the two of you were that viscount's slaves."
The Guild staff told us to wait a little and left the room.
I was worried about Aura's condition, but for the time being she seemed stable — she just looked like she was feeling slightly fatigued.
Here too, Jeanne and Aura seemed to be discussing something where I couldn't hear them.
About five minutes must have passed like that when the door opened and in walked a man dressed like a priest.
The man gave us a slight bow, then—
"How do you do. I serve as a priest of the Farma Church in this town. My name is Fromm Feno."
He introduced himself. It seemed he had come to evaluate Jeanne and Aura. For now, I left things to the priest and went to hear what Marquis Samons had to say.
The marquis was at the table from earlier, and appeared to be berating his knights.
"Marquis, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."
At my words, the marquis stopped scolding the knights, turned to face me, and suddenly bowed his head.
"Tenma, I am truly sorry. It was a lapse in my supervision. I ordered my men to search for you because I wanted to cooperate with you, but knights who were aware of the dispute with Geiri apparently misunderstood and thought you were suspicious, so they brought you in forcibly."
He bowed his head again. However, being suddenly told something about kidnapping and whatnot, I had no idea what was going on.
"Ah, I apologize. The truth is, this letter arrived at the inn where I'm staying."
The marquis realized he hadn't gotten to the main point yet, pulled a single letter from inside his coat, and handed it to me.
When I opened it and read through it,
"Your son has been taken. If you want him back, prepare a ransom of 10 million G by tomorrow evening. The exchange will take place at the fountain site in the central district of the slums. However, the boy will only be released after the money has been verified."
That's what the letter said. A rather classic style of writing (by the standards of Tenma's previous life), I thought, but for a marquis, it must be a matter of considerable worry.
"So when you say you want my cooperation, what exactly do you mean?"
"I don't want you to misunderstand—this isn't an order, but a request from Geiri's father. To the best of my knowledge, you have the skill, and above all, you're the person I trust most, Tenma."
He trusted me because I knew Duke Sanga, presumably. For the time being, cooperating would probably work in my favor down the road.
"On top of the sudden approach, my rude behavior has just been—"
"I understand. I'll cooperate."
"Wait, really?!"
It had ended up cutting the marquis off mid-sentence, but since I was agreeing to help, there shouldn't be much of an issue.
"However, if we act right now, we'll be underprepared in several ways, so I'll start moving once night falls."
"That works, but... what should we do on our end?"
The marquis was probably asking if there was anything he could do to help, but honestly, the only one of his pawns I could make use of was Garibar—and even Garibar wasn't suited for behind-the-scenes work like this. So,
"Just keep up the appearance of taking precautions. If anything, you might want to spread the word—subtly—that you're letting me run free as bait. It could throw the kidnappers off balance."
I suggested this to the marquis, implying rather pointedly that the knights would only get in the way.
"...Understood. We'll do as you say."
Once our discussion was over and I returned to where Jeanne and the others were, it seemed the priest had just finished his examination.
When I entered the room, a guild official noticed me and said,
"Ah, Tenma. These two don't appear to have anything suspicious about them, so as of this moment, the rights to these two as slaves will be transferred to you, Tenma."
After saying that, the guild official handed me a certificate of proof.
I tucked the certificate into my bag and headed back to my room for the time being.
I tried making conversation with Jeanne and the others along the way, but all I got back were half-hearted responses like "Yes" and "Indeed."
To make matters worse, I ran into Amy and Jin right in front of my room.
"Oh, Tenma, what a rare sight. You walking around with women!"
"Huh? Tenma, those two are slaves, aren't they... Don't tell me you bought them!"
Lina, picking up on Jin's words, noticed the collars fastened around the two's necks.
"Sensei..."
Amy was staring at me with what looked like a sad expression. Jin was off in his own world lamenting that Tenma was a man after all, while Lina and the others started keeping their distance from him.
So, without hesitation,
"...Stun."
"Gah—..."
I cast a spell on Jin... Lately, I'd really been starting to wonder whether Jin was actually a top-class adventurer in Seigen...
"For now, let me explain so there's no misunderstanding..."
I briefly recounted everything that had happened up to this point. Only after hearing all of that did everyone finally seem satisfied.
But honestly, the look Amy had given me earlier was hard to shake. I hadn't done anything wrong, yet I felt as if my own sister had looked down on me.
"So what are you going to do about the room?"
I had to think carefully before answering Amy's question, or I'd be subjected to that gaze all over again.
"...We're going to talk about that now..."
That was probably the safest answer. Amy didn't seem particularly bothered by it.
"Well, we've got things to do, so we'll be heading out now."
After saying that to Amy and the others, I led Jeanne and the group into my room.
Once inside, we sat down at the table, and just as I was about to kick off the discussion right away—
"If it's all right with you, Tenma, please keep us by your side as your slaves."
"...Huh?"
Aura's words caught me completely off guard, and my thoughts couldn't keep up.
Wait—unless I was mishearing, did Aura just ask me to take them on as slaves…
"Please make us your slaves, Tenma. This is what Jeanne and I discussed and decided on."
It didn't seem like I'd misheard after all… But—
"Why would you decide that?"
I couldn't help but be puzzled. Jeanne had initially been resistant to the idea of becoming my slave.
"Because we felt it was the best possible choice. Of course, if you don't want to, Tenma, there's nothing we can do, but…"
Aura said this, but there clearly had to be some underlying reason. When I pressed her on it—
"Yes, there is an ulterior motive. The biggest factor in our judgment is that you are an adventurer of considerable strength, Tenma—someone powerful enough to make even a marquis bow his head."
It was true that from Aura's perspective, this might be an excellent arrangement for protecting themselves. But I had never even remotely considered owning slaves…
"If you won't take us in, Tenma, we could end up being treated no differently from common whores…"
…She knew exactly where to hit hardest. It was undeniable that both Jeanne and Aura fell squarely into the category of beautiful young women. And men wouldn't leave such a pair alone.
"I'm a man too, though…"
I tried to push back against Aura, but—
"Yes, and that's exactly why—rather than being forcibly taken in by some random pervert we know nothing about, choosing someone with a future ourselves is a thousand times better."
She shut me down effortlessly. Left completely speechless, I…
"Oh, but if you're going to lay hands on Jeanne, at least get her consent first. As for me, you're free to do whatever you like."
...I was cornered. This was truly the end. As a last, feeble act of resistance, I—
"Let's continue this conversation tomorrow..."
It was all I could do to postpone the problem...
Aura smiled sweetly and said,
"Yes, let's do that, Master."
She was thoroughly convinced she had won.
For the record, Jeanne, who hadn't uttered a single word throughout all of this, had gone bright red and was trying to hide her embarrassment by petting Shiromaru nonstop... It looked like Shiromaru had fallen victim to Jeanne's technique... Seriously, Shiromaru, aren't you way too easy?
And so, it was decided that two more companions—one could hardly call them anything but comrades, titles of "slave" notwithstanding—would be joining my party... I had work scheduled for later tonight. Was this really going to be okay...?
And so, I had thought about renting another room from Ammy, but Aura shot the idea down, which meant we would all be living together in this same room—three people plus three beast companions.
I let the bed go to Aura and Jeanne, who still weren't in peak condition, and set up a sleeping spot on the floor for myself tonight. Aura insisted she would sleep on the floor, but I flatly refused her, and when she still wouldn't accept it, I resorted to using a command order to make her comply.
For dinner, we made do with leftover stew from the dungeon, bread, and some grilled meat. I put the two of them to bed early and spent the rest of the evening preparing my tools and drawing up a rough plan for tonight's job... Wasn't there some kind of time-reversal spell in space-time magic? If there was, I'd gladly use it to deposit Jeanne and the others at the guild and make a run for it...
Never having cohabitated with anyone—not in this life or the previous one—having two female slaves suddenly thrust upon me was every bit as nerve-wracking as facing a dragon head-on.