Chapter 19: A Brave New World

Our five horses continued on through the dark of night, a small, flickering blue light leading their way. I couldn’t shake the feeling that one of the baron’s lackeys would come for me if we stayed in that town, so we ended up leaving in the middle of the night. I wasn’t planning on having us keep pushing on until morning, though. We’d go just far enough to get out of the baron’s territory, then make camp in the forest or something, as long as it was off the main road. That way, the baron wouldn’t have any authority. He didn’t stand a chance if he wanted to try and take me away by force, anyway.

We had the brave and honorable brother of a king; the hero who had saved her country and wielded a legendary blade; two fanatics willing to throw their lives away if it meant protecting the Goddess; a legendary sword and knife between them all—and a goddess herself. Even if the baron mustered all the troops he had available, they wouldn’t last even a few minutes.

The light we were following was that chemical you could find in glow sticks and stuff, just with the brightness turned up to eleven. I added a reflective plate to that and, voila, now we could light the way in front of us.

We weren’t really in a rush to get anywhere, so it was plenty bright enough to get us to the next town at a leisurely pace. I tried using a gas lamp (or, more accurately, a carbide lamp) to try and keep with the feel of the world, but gave up when Ed showed some, uh, “slight,” resistance to the idea.

“Yeowch! That’s hot, missy! What do you think you’re doing back there?!”

The horses all bristled at me for trying to use the gas lamps, so there wasn’t much I could do about that.

All you had to do was fill a container with calcium carbide and water to make a gas lamp, and if you stuck a valve on it to control how much gas was released from the chemical reaction inside, you’d have yourself a simple, compact, and long-lasting light source. I thought it was the perfect time to use them, but it seemed Ed and the others thought I was just horsing around...

Heh. Horse puns.

Maybe it was because I didn’t go for a traditional lamp with the cover on it, but instead the ones used for fishing that had the flame exposed... Personally, I had my own idea of what those lamps looked like in my head: a long pole with a sturdy rubber band attached to one end, a lamp on the other, strolling about in the river at night and trying to see what you could fish up. I know they had banned them in most places back in Japan, but this is a whole different world.

All right, I’m totally gonna try doing that at a river sometime! Maybe the next time we make camp by one or something.

I still thought they were the best when it came to spelunking or fishing, but considering that I had the power to create potion containers with whatever features I wanted them to have, it didn’t really matter if it was a glow stick or a lamp or whatever. I wasn’t about to try and force my tastes on anyone.

After finally making it out of the baron’s territory, we kept on moving forward for about an hour, until we picked a random spot to veer off the main road and set up camp. Everyone was nice and full now, so, after we all downed healing potions, we made sure to get Ed and the other horses all taken care of. I scattered some of my homemade bug repellant about, pulled out my bed from my Item Box, and hopped onto it with Belle to catch some sleep.

This bed had really come in handy over the years, I tell ya... Oh yeah, and just to make this clear, I make sure to air out the mattress and sheets in the sunlight, and to wash and change the sheets, too. Now that I think about it, this was the first time in five years that this bed had finally gotten to pay a visit back home!

We may be running away in the opposite direction this time, but I’ve been looking forward to sleeping on you forever and ever, good ol’ bed o’ mine.

As for Fran and the boys, they were already curled up on the grass. I made sure to give them some blankets from my Item Box, which I’m sure was more than plenty for warriors like them, since they were used to roughing it on the battlefield.

A few days later and we had made it across Brancott’s borders without incident. We were now in Drisard, a country to the northeast that shared a border with Brancott. There weren’t any border checks here, but there were supposed to be some once we reached the first town.

It was a heavily fortified city with walls surrounding it on all sides. It wasn’t like they were on bad terms with Brancott or anything, but it was another country’s territory, and so our first stop was the Walled City of Selinas, a place that housed a decent amount of soldiers and acted as a stopping point for trade and business.

Drisard was the first country we had reached after a long stretch of roughing it outdoors, so I wanted to stay in the city for a good few days and study up on what Drisard was like. It’s said that whoever controls information controls the world, after all. Roland and the others may have been knowledgeable about the four countries that surrounded Balmore, but not so much for anything outside that range. That was to be expected, really. Even if they had taken the time to learn about the political affairs of other countries, it wasn’t like they could have gone in person themselves, so they wouldn’t have had much of a chance to get any kind of fresh info. The same went for the other countries, as well.

Roland was fairly well-known in his own country and the ones surrounding it, but here, he was the brother of the king of some country that didn’t really have anything to do with them. People might know the names of the royal family, the higher ranking nobles, or certain military officials, but anyone else might as well be a nobody to them. The name of the protector of the Goddess still hadn’t quite reached that far, and, in fact, the name “Fearsome Fran” was more famous than the other title I’d given her.

But considering how young Francette looked now, there wouldn’t be anyone who would think she was the same “Fearsome Fran” from the war against Aligot all those years ago. Not to mention, Francette is a pretty common name, too, sorry to say.

The same went for me, as well. Considering how long ago this happened and how old I looked now, my appearance definitely wouldn’t match up to the rumors about me, though the countries surrounding Balmore should already know that much.

I had plenty of different variations in what people called me, too. Just like how Celestine’s name was also known as “Celestines” or “Celestia” and all sorts of other variations, I was also known as “Carol,” “Kaol,” “Demon Eyes,” “Executioner,” and a whole bunch of other nicknames. It was exactly like what happened when you played the “Telephone Game” with people.

...But what’s with those last two?!

There were also a ton of girls who had been given my name over the past four years. It was almost blasphemous to name your child after a goddess, but it was no problem if a goddess had taken on a human name because she liked the sound of it. There were plenty of people out there who were hoping to gain even the tiniest sliver of favor from the Goddess, which explained the name’s sudden spike in popularity. That was why Kaoru, Carol, Kaol, and all those other names that sounded similar had suddenly become commonplace in this world (though it didn’t seem like there were any parents who wanted to name their kids “Demon Eyes” or “Executioner”). That people called me an “angel” and a “messenger of the Goddess” was actually pretty well-known as well, but not enough that those nicknames became proper nouns or anything.

Anyways, what I’ve been trying to get at after that paragraphs-long explanation is that we wouldn’t need to make fake names for ourselves from here on out. The word may have already spread that I’d left Balmore, but it probably wasn’t the same for the king’s brother and Fearsome Fran being with me, as well. Roland had been trying to stay out of the limelight in the first place, in order to support his brother, King Serge, and it wasn’t like Balmore wanted to let everyone know that their most powerful warrior wasn’t home.

If you think about it, we probably stood out much less as a bunch of aristocratic siblings (plus some extras) on a pleasure trip, rather than people on the journey for the sake of a twelve-year-old girl, which was better for hiding my true identity. Three of us carrying swords wouldn’t be strange at all, considering we had no entourage of guards to protect us, and that included the fact that two of them looked decidedly knightly.

Right, looks like I’m giving the goddess-slash-angel thing a rest for the time being. I wasn’t the czar of the roaring potion trade in Balmore anymore, but the sheltered daughter of some lower-class aristocratic family, on a journey to study what it was like out in the real world. I’d be taking this opportunity to make some money while I was at it, too. I’d already made a killing selling my potions before, but it never hurt to have more money, especially when you just happened to have an Item Box with infinite space inside of it. If I ever ended up with money to spare, it might even be a good idea to start investing in Aligot’s shipping industry, or maybe even start up my own shipping company.

Oh, yeah... Back when I was a kid, I always thought that “czar” was Russian for “bizarre” and they just shortened it, like it was slang or something. It was only around middle school that I found out what it really meant, not realizing that it wouldn’t make sense in the first place, since they probably had a different word to say “bizarre.”

Gahhh, I feel like such an idiot whenever I remember that... I don’t even want to think about it... But anyway! It’s time to put my cringy past behind me and start a brand new adventure!

Eventually, we spotted something that looked like walls far off in the distance.

So that must be the Walled City of Selinas!

This was the third country I’d visited since reincarnating in this world, and the first town of that country was waiting just ahead of us. (Though I technically haven’t been reborn, I do have a completely different body, and Celes did make me younger. This is more a reincarnation than just being transported to another world. Just saying.)

Alrighty, let’s get out there and do this!

We’d finally arrived at the Walled City of Selinas. It was a surprisingly simple task getting inside: All we had to do was get in line, then say where we came from and why we came to Selinas. It wasn’t like they had the facilities to do a thorough background check here, and they couldn’t spare the time to conduct one, either. They just checked the wagons for taxable items and took any obviously suspicious people to the guardhouse to compare them to the wanted posters they had on hand. With Roland giving off the aura of an elite, Francette looking like a knight, me looking like some kind of aristocrat’s daughter, and Emile and Belle looking like our escorts, there was basically no chance of them stopping us.

“We’re from the household of Earl Adan in the Kingdom of Balmore. I’m traveling together with my siblings to other countries in the pursuit of knowledge.”

That’s all it took from Roland to get us through. There wasn’t any guard who’d dare meddle with an aristocrat from another country. We’d obtained permission from the earl himself to use his name, should anyone pry, so there shouldn’t be any problems there. Not that there was ever a chance of that happening, though.

Even then, while we said we were with the Adan household, that didn’t necessarily mean we were Earl Adan’s kids or anything. If we were just employed there, we could still technically say we were “with” them. So long as we at least acted the part, it wouldn’t be a problem.

I didn’t want to lie, so I made sure to get one copper coin from the earl before heading out as an advance payment for all the stories I’d tell him when I got back. Since he had paid me to do so, that meant I could proudly state I was officially employed by the Adan family. Done and done.

“Woohoo! Our first town in a brand new country!”

The people who heard me shout smiled as they looked our way. Roland and Francette’s smiles, however, were more on the wry side after hearing me get so worked up.

Lighten up! Putting your feelings into words just makes you appreciate it all the more! I look like a twelve-year-old girl anyways, so there’s no problem with me getting a little excited, damn it!

First things first, we needed to find ourselves an inn. We’d be in trouble if we put that off and ended up not having a place to stay. We couldn’t really go for any hoity-toity places, but it’d also be strange for us to go somewhere that was too cheap when a majority of our group were girls.

Right, let’s try and find someplace somewhere in the middle of the fanciness scale, then.

After asking a bored-looking lady for recommendations, I finally settled on an inn after watching the people coming in and out of it.

“Excuse me, do you have any rooms? We need two doubles and one single.”

Like hell I’m gonna get stuck in a room with one of these lovey-dovey couples!

“Yup, you got it!” the lady behind the counter answered. After running her eyes across us, she had a look of pity when she stopped at me.

...I don’t need your sympathy, lady!

The sun was still high up in the sky. We could find something to eat and gather information after it got dark, so I was going to take this time to do some sightseeing around town.

Roland and Fran were sharing one room, while Emile and Belle were in the other. I knew they were young and all, but we all huddled together to sleep when we were out camping anyways, and Emile and Belle had known each other since they were kids, so I couldn’t just tell them what to do now. With them all in their rooms, I snuck out to take a look at the town.

...It’s not much different here from the towns in Balmore.

I mean, I knew this wasn’t some country on the other side of the ocean or anything, and it wasn’t like crossing some invisible border would suddenly cause the weather and plant life to change out of nowhere. The people’s dialects and mannerisms were pretty much the same, too.

Even border lines would change slightly over the years, though it’d definitely take some time before that happened. I’d have to travel a little farther if I wanted to get that elusive “exotic country” feeling.

I walked through the town, checking out the market stalls and their prices before coming across a slightly more rundown street. As I walked along it, I suddenly found myself with two men standing in my way. Turning around, I saw another two had blocked off the path behind me. These weren’t some sneering street thugs, but men who actually looked like they meant business.

Yeah, it doesn’t look like this happened by chance... They were totally aiming for me. Well, crap. What do I do now...?

...And that was how I ended up in a cell. There was nothing I could really do about it, especially with my twigs for arms. Even if I tried to resist, they would’ve just pinned me down and made me regret it. My automatic defenses might have kicked in if they tried to stab me, but so what? Even if they didn’t, I couldn’t really resist if they had me held down, anyway. Having them twist my arms or getting punched would still hurt, you know?

I’d had some pretty painful experiences here, falling down or getting my fingers caught in doors and stuff, but Celes’s automatic defense system hadn’t activated then. Also, if I was wrong and that defense mechanism didn’t activate every time, then what? What if it turned out that Celes just so happened to be looking by some random chance when that crazy guy with the knife came at me last time? I was too damn scared to try risking my life just to see if that was true or not!

I was pretty sure the people who had captured me didn’t really want to kill me, though, which was why I let myself get taken without putting up much of a fight. They wouldn’t be able to get any money out of me if I was dead, after all. There were plenty of chances for me to escape, so I wasn’t too worried about it. But that was where the real problem came in...

“Sniff... It hurts...”

“I want to go home...”

It wasn’t just me who had been captured. It looked like they hadn’t gone after me because they knew who I was; so why then? These people probably saw me as a twelve-year-old girl who belonged to the family of a wealthy trader or some aristocrat. Since I was staying at the inn, that meant I was either on my way to Brancott, or I’d just come in from Brancott and was on my way to Drisard. That also meant I shouldn’t have any connections in this town, so even if the people I came with did try looking for me, they’d have trouble finding their way around. If they could escape with me over the border, then there wasn’t anything anyone could really do.

My conclusion: They were just your average kidnapping ring. I mean, there were only girls here, and cute ones at that. If they only went after the prettiest girls, I couldn’t be too hard on them, since that must be the reason why they went after me. Yup, definitely that.

But it’s not like I’m happy over being kidnapped just because they think I’m cute. Seriously, I’m not!

“What’s wrong?”

Back at the inn, Roland and Francette had left their room to meet up with everyone for dinner. It was then they’d found Emile and Belle standing outside the door to Kaoru’s room.

“Well...no matter how much we knock, Miss—I mean, Kaoru, won’t answer...” Emile said, hastily correcting what he called Kaoru. Even if it looked like there was no one around, you could never be too careful.

“She’s either sound asleep, has gone to the bathroom, or is already on the first floor eating... I say we head downstairs for now,” Roland said, heading for the staircase. They couldn’t just break down the door to check, so the other three reluctantly followed after him.

“Have you seen the girl who came with us?” Roland asked the lady running the front desk on the first floor.

“Oh, the little raven-haired girl? She left as soon as she got her room.”

“WHAT?!”

Not only did Kaoru like to eat, she was quite the stickler when it came to money, as well. There was no way she would pass up on dinner after paying for it along with her room.

Even if she had gone out for a stroll, she’d have been back by the time evening came around. That was just the type of girl she was, and everyone knew that well. If she wasn’t back by now, that meant that she was in trouble.

“We’re leaving!”

Roland slammed his key down on the counter, followed immediately after by Emile. They only had those two keys between the two groups, so the girls ran right out of the inn after them.

What to do, what to do...

It seemed they’d brought me to a secret room inside one of the rundown houses in a poorer district. A corner of the room had been sectioned off and made into a cage where they were holding me and three other girls. The others looked to be anywhere from five to ten years old.

...I know I’m over twenty, but I don’t wanna hear any snide remarks about that!

By the way, I’d dedicated the day I arrived in this world as my “fifteenth birthday.” I make sure to celebrate it every year...by myself. People would ask how old I was if I invited them, so I kept my birthday a secret.

Putting that aside for now, I should probably figure out what to do about this. While this place was a bit on the small side, it was split into two separate rooms. At the bottom of the stairs was a room with a fairly large table, about five or six chairs, a shelf, and several wooden boxes spread out everywhere. Half of the room we were in was this holding cell made up of a lattice of sturdy wooden bars, while the other half had a small table and a single chair. Beside me and the group of kidnapped girls, the only other person in this room was a guy acting as a lookout. He was currently spacing out in a chair outside our cell.

Before I could start thinking about what to do next...

“Ow... Sniff...“

It looked like they’d been pretty rough with the five- or six-year-old when they’d captured her, as she was holding her left shoulder in pain. She was practically a kid. I couldn’t just ignore a cute girl in pain! Oh, but that didn’t mean I thought it was okay to ignore girls who weren’t cute! I’m serious here, come on!

Anyway...

“Eek!”

I slipped a hand into the collar of the girl’s shirt and began rubbing her shoulder...while creating a healing potion in the palm of my hand. I placed my other free hand on top of her clothes and made a flicking motion toward the guy sitting outside the cell.

“Pain, pain, go away!”

“Agh!” The man let out a scream of pain.

“Go away!”

“Ow?!”

“Go awaaay!”

“ARGHHH?!” The man jumped up from his chair, face flushed, and screamed at me. “Wh-What the hell did you just do?!”

Hehe, looks like that surprised him. I only sprinkled a bit of potion on his body that caused an excruciating amount of pain, is all.

“Who, me? I didn’t do anything, honest. This girl looks like she’s in pain, so I thought I’d say a little magic charm to try and take her mind off it. See, just like this: Pain, pain, go away!”

“GAH?! S-Stop that! If you don’t, then...” The man gripped the hilt of his sword.

“There’s also one called ‘sword, sword, go away’ as well,” I said, a smile on my face. “That one makes anyone who tries brandishing a sword have it thrust back into them instead...painfully.”

“A-Ahhhhhh!”

Oh, he ran away...

“It doesn’t hurt anymore...”

The girl looked up at me blankly before breaking out into a big smile.

Yup, I’d say a smile is one of the best looks a girl can wear.

“What’s going on in here?!” the apparent leader of the kidnappers shouted as he burst into the room. He wasn’t one of the four people who had nabbed me; it looked like he’d been waiting here on standby instead. He was in his early thirties, and actually looked to be a relatively normal person.

Well, that’s not too strange, I figured. I’d heard only the underlings for yakuza and other gangs tried to act tough and pick fights, but the higher-ranking members actually looked pretty normal. Outside of work, they generally acted like ordinary people, as well. It wasn’t like they were going to go around staring daggers at their wife’s or daughter’s friends, even if they were gangsters. They just happened to have a bit of a harsher look in their eyes... Actually, let’s just stop talking about people with harsh looks in their eyes. It’s not like I’m one to talk.

...Damn it.

The leader guy was the only one to come into the room. The lookout from before was probably too scared to come back, I imagined.

“Huh? Nothing’s going on, really. The man sitting there was sleeping when he suddenly jumped up and ran out of the room.”

I balled up my hands and brought them in front of my mouth as I said that. It was the most cutesy, innocent, childlike pose I could think of, and I’d always wanted to try doing it at least once—when no one I knew was around, of course. I didn’t even want to think of how much they’d make fun of me if they ever saw this. Probably that it “totally doesn’t suit me” or “it’s creeping me out” or something.

...Shut up, me!

“That damn idiot, sleeping on the job...” the leader angrily muttered to himself before heading back into the other room.

Yup, that’s the way. You guys go on and start fighting in the other room.

“Is anyone else hurt?”

The two other girls, besides the one I still had in my arms, shook their heads.

“You don’t have to worry about a thing. Help will be here soon enough.”

“It will...?” a girl around ten years old looked up to me and asked.

“Yup. All we have to do is sit back and wait. Hey, do you wanna play a game? The rules are super easy, so you should be able to get them right away!”

It’d be pretty easy to call for help if I really felt like it. If I made another huge explosion like I had during the war with Aligot, or created a pillar of golden clouds, Roland and Francette should catch on right away. But it was still a little early to be resorting to those. The main culprits hadn’t shown their faces yet, after all: the ringleaders, the ones pulling the strings and controlling the group that was kidnapping all these cute girls. (Note that I’m absolutely remembering to keep the word “cute” in there.)

I’d imagine this group wasn’t just made up of these five guys. They might be the ones actually carrying out the kidnappings, but I figured they wouldn’t be enough to handle transporting the kidnapped girls, finding a buyer to sell them to, or getting hold of people to help smuggle them out of Selinas. No matter if you were a merchant, someone in power, or an evil organization, you had to have someone backing you from behind the scenes. That was just the standard for how these things played out, no doubt about it!

“Wh-What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” the man who ran into the cell screamed when he saw us playing games. It wasn’t the leader or the lookout from before, but a different guy this time.

Then there was us, playing a game of Reversi, that game that was pretty similar to Othello. I’d made the board, and the black and white pieces, myself.

“This? I’ve had it the whole time, actually,” I said, pointing toward the leather bag on the floor.

“Huh?” the man’s eyes were wide open as he stared at the bag in a daze.

A few moments passed...

“You... You did?”

“You bet I did.”

The man didn’t look too satisfied with my answer as he sat himself down back in his chair. I even went through the trouble of making the board so obviously big that it clearly wouldn’t have been able to fit in my bag, yet he didn’t notice at all.

Wow... Are you for real right now?

Then, a little while later...

“...What in the world are you eating?”

“Well, as you can see, we’ve got some bread, extra-large meat skewers, and grape juice.”

“Where did you get that from?!”

“From this bag...”

“LIKE HELL THAT’D ALL FIT IN THERE!!!”

The four of us in the cage were all holding bread and huge meat skewers in both hands, with big cups of grape juice by our feet. There was no way that would have all fit into the tiny bag I had—not normally, anyway.

“It fits just fine. Everyone, put your skewers and cups in here when you’re done, okay?”

“All right!”

Four sets of cups and skewers were thus put away into the impossibly small bag.

“Th-That ain’t right! There’s no way that can all fit in there!” the man screamed, running out of the room with bloodshot eyes, just like the first guy had done.

I bet he’s going to go call the leader again...

He was the only one with the key, and the lookouts couldn’t open the cell themselves. It was a pretty good way of dealing with stupid lookouts who could get tricked easily, or who thought about laying their grubby hands on the goods. They did need to go to the leader every time if anything happened, though.

“Again with this crap?! What is it this time?!”

The leader and the lookout from before came back together.

“Th-These guys have some kinda freaky bag in there...”

“Where?”

“U-Uh...”

We were all that was inside the cell, of course. There was no bag, no juice—nothing.

“...”

“Are you being serious?! Are you all just screwing with me?!” the leader bellowed.

He wasn’t referring to us, of course, but the second guy who’d been on lookout duty.

“Do you all just go calling for me whenever you have a bad dream, is that it?! More than that, why the hell are you sleeping on the job in the first place?! They may be kids, but what the hell do you think it means to be on lookout, huh?!”

It was like he was disciplining a new employee or something. I wondered if he was going to make the guy go scream in front of people about how worthless he was at this job... Oof, I didn’t even wanna think about it.

But putting that aside...

“Hey, girls. You got any games or meat skewers in there?”

The four of us shook our heads.

...Uh-oh, looks like the eight-year-old has some sauce on her cheeks from the skewers...

“You. Come with me.”

The leader took the lookout by the ear and dragged him into the other room. It seemed they hadn’t noticed the sauce, luckily enough.

“All right, girls, I’m gonna explain what our next plan is while they’re gone!”

“Okay!”

“...Sheesh, the hell was that all about...” the third lookout muttered to himself as he came into the room. He was some guy who looked like he was in his early twenties. “My shift wasn’t supposed to be until tomorrow... I should’ve just gone out drinking when I had the chance, dammit.”

“Um, what happened to the other people?”

“They’re getting an earful from the boss right now. They’ve all gotta be idiots for making that much of a fuss over a few bad dreams, I’m telling ya.”

Huh, this guy was much friendlier than the other two. Maybe he liked talking, or maybe he just liked kids...though I didn’t think he’d be doing this work if it was the latter. I mean, it was true that he could just happen to be doing this on the side to make ends meet or something.

Regardless, I can’t let this chance to get some info go to waste!

“Um... What’s going to happen to us now?” I asked, making sure my voice was as uneasy-sounding as possible. I did that same cutesy pose as earlier, too, for good measure. If I didn’t do it now, I didn’t know when I’d get the chance to do it again, so I made sure to do it as much as I could!

“W-Well, let’s see... No one’s gonna hurt you anymore, and your life isn’t in any danger, so you don’t have to worry about any of that. You’ll never have to worry about going hungry, and you might even get to live a pretty good life, too. I mean, you might end up having to do, like, maid work or something, but they won’t be making you do heavy labor or anything. If you get them to take care of you, you might get to live your life as if you were, I dunno, the fourth-born daughter in a lower-class noble family or something. Man, I’m getting jealous...”

Yeah, considering his line of work would get him hanged if he was caught, I bet he really would envy that kinda life.

He said that like he meant it from the very bottom of his heart. But what he was describing was pretty much, you know...being a slave. A sex slave, by the sound of it. Pretty much as bad a crime as it gets. Kidnapping us was a crime, of course, but outside of judicial slavery, all other forms of enslavement were illegal in this country, whether that was buying, selling, or using slaves.

“Judicial slavery” might have the word “slavery” in it, but it’s actually one of the sentences you could receive after being convicted of a crime. There aren’t any countries in this world charitable enough to feed criminals for free, so even lesser crimes could earn you the death penalty. That’s still a bit too cruel even for them, though, and a waste of potential human resources as well. That’s why those on death row were either sent to work as laborers in the mines, or as shock troopers in times of war. Prisoners-turned-shock-troopers were able to get their sentences reduced the longer they stayed alive and the better they performed in battle, so it was better than the fate the mine laborers faced, as they would just slowly waste away until death took them.

Aside from that, the perpetrators could be sentenced to slavery for life, or for however long their sentence was otherwise. But the fact of the matter was that only criminals could be slaves. Any children born to slaves weren’t actually guilty of anything, so they could live their lives as relatively normal citizens. It was just that their parents were criminals, that was all. If they committed any sort of crime while still a minor, a thorough investigation was conducted to determine whether their parents or another adult had forced them to do it, or if it was something they’d had to do to survive.

In short, unless there was some sort of extenuating circumstance, having little girl slaves who were less than ten years old wasn’t only illegal, but a serious felony. Selling, owning, whatever—everyone who was involved in the process was guilty of the same crime. That was why even the slightest leak could spell the end for all of them, and if anyone reported them, it could lead to the whole group being wiped out. They wouldn’t be able to pull any of this off if they didn’t have someone backing them from the shadows.

“Where are we being taken after this?” I asked in a quivering voice.

The lookout must have figured there was no harm telling us, since we wouldn’t be able to do anything about it, because he answered without so much as a second thought.

“To the estates of some of the local nobles or some well-to-do merchants. The capital is way too risky to even think about, and most of the more powerful aristocrats and big merchants wouldn’t dare take the chance. They can already use their own money or authority to get any young girl they have their eye on, you know. That’s why you’re all going to some less-important aristocrats, or maybe one of the smaller merchants from around here. If I’m being honest, they’re people out in the sticks who can’t go out and nab a girl for themselves, since people would realize something was up.”

“Oh...”

Yep, I read you loud and clear.

So basically, it meant the four of us might all be going to different places. If that was the case, I had to finish this before I left town...

“Does that mean we have to stay here until then?”

“Actually, it looks like we’ll be getting out of here by the time morning comes around.”

I didn’t know if he was bored, just liked talking, or liked keeping little girls company. He was probably a lolico— I mean, a nice guy who just wanted to calm some scared little girls down. Probably. And since they were about to whisk us away, without any further chance to talk with anyone outside this cell, he probably thought it was fine to tell me at least that much. We’d figure it out once we arrived where we were going, anyway.

“The boss was saying that we were supposed to wait until we had one or two more, but it looks like someone out there is really tearing up the town trying to find you. Not to mention, the last two guys seem kind of emotionally unstable now, so we’re going to cut it off with just you guys this time.”

Good, all according to keikaku!

Oh, “keikaku” means “plan,” by the way.

I tried getting some sleep, since they were probably going to come wake us up early the next morning, but the guard ended up talking to me so much that I couldn’t really get any shut-eye. After asking so many questions, it was only polite on my part to hear him out. That was why I humored him, at least, but it didn’t seem like he was going to stop anytime soon...

...Wait, he’s on the night shift, so he’s not going to sleep in the first place! Like hell I’m gonna put up with this all night!

He finally let me go after I told him it’d be rough traveling by cart without getting some sleep. And the other three, you ask? They were fast asleep the whole time, while leaving me to talk with the lookout!

Right around daybreak the next day, I woke up after hearing a noise. When I turned to get a better look, I saw the leader and his four men had come into the room. Looked like it was time to get going.

The leader opened the cell, and the other kidnappers came to tie us up one at a time before shoving pieces of cloth in our mouths to gag us. They were being incredibly thorough about this.

They kept our legs unbound and walked us up the staircase before leading us outside. Of course, I didn’t forget to leave them a little present with my potion-making ability, once we made it to the top of the stairs...

When we left the rundown shack they’d been keeping us in, I could see the silhouette of a wagon coming into view. They forced us into the back, which was when they finally bound our feet.

There were six empty barrels stacked in there, and...you wanna bet on what happened next? C’mon, I’d be willing to bet you a gold coin on it. Though I figure none of you would place such an obvious bet...

With two empty barrels and four more filled with cute girls, the wagon took off toward the city gates.

As soon as they put the lid on the barrels, I pulled a knife out of my Item Box. This position was really uncomfortable, so I cut through the bindings around my ankles first, then through the ones on my wrists. I thought about making something that would melt through the rope, but I didn’t want to end up melting my own body as well, so I went with a knife instead. Even if I nicked myself a little, I’d be fine if I drank a healing potion after.

It was a simple matter cutting through the rope, especially when I made a potion container I shaped like a vibroknife to do it. It even slashed straight through my hands—and boy did it slash them good.

YEOWWWWWW!!!

P-Potion! Potion, now!!!

It was only after I drank the potion I realized something: I could have just stored the rope in my Item Box without cutting it.

Arghhhhhh!!! Why am I such an idiot?! All that pain, and all for friggin’ nothing! Gah, I need to take this grudge out on someone, now!

After some time had passed, the cart stopped. I could hear voices coming from outside.

“What cargo do you have in there?”

“We’re carrying six empty casks, and we’re on our way to fill them with wine.”

“Then I’ll go and confirm... Hm... Yup, that’s six casks, all right... You’re clear to proceed!”

Seriously? You’re not gonna check if they’re actually empty?! Oh, whatever—now’s my chance!

I busted through the lid of the barrel I’d cut up with my knife before, popping out of the top and yelling at the top of my lungs:

“These guys are kidnapping little girls! Please, help us!”

“Yup, those are certainly empty casks. Go on through!”

“Thank you kindly.”

“Huh...?”

The guard who’d lifted the flap of the wagon’s tarp was staring right at me, a sneer on his face. He stood alongside someone who looked like a merchant and one of the wagon’s guards, both of whom I’d never seen before. The merchant and the escort climbed into the wagon, getting ready to tie me up again.

Oh, I get it... So they’re all in cahoots with each other...

I’d already unraveled how most of their operation worked, so I was done playing along, not to mention that I was kinda pissed off at this point, too.

All right, let’s do this!

I created several gourd-shaped potion containers right above the wagon, the same ones from the war with Aligot. You know, the ones that were filled with pseudo-nitroglycerin and concentrated sulfuric acid.

The sound of a thunderous explosion rocked the area. I created a pillar of golden clouds spiraling skyward as a marker to let Roland and Francette know where I was. To top it all off...

“A pinch of sunlight.”

I reached out and made like I was grabbing a ray of sunshine that was peeking through the tarp of the wagon, hiding the fact that I had just created a miniature spray can in my hand. You gotta do these things in style when you’re putting on a show, ya feel me?

As for the contents of the can, well...

The men who attempted to climb into the wagon to subdue me had frozen in place because of the explosions and my strange movements. I turned toward them and shouted:

“Have a taste of my special technique! Breath of the Goddess!“

“AAAAAAGH!!!”

While I yelled the name of something that sounded more like a spell than a special technique, I blasted them with my freshly-made pepper spray. That didn’t mean that the Goddess’s breath was so rank it could incapacitate someone, though. Who knew what Celes would do if that rumor started going around...

...I should probably change the name of my special move.

As the other guards and members in the wagon came rushing over to see what the commotion was about, I had a faceful of pepper spray waiting for them for their trouble. Since the guards hadn’t come rushing to my aid when I was yelling earlier, it was safe to assume they were all in on the kidnapping operation, as well. Even if some of them happened to be innocent, it wasn’t like the spray had any lingering effects, and I always had healing potions if it came down to it, too.

All I had to do now was wait for the soldiers to show up, and... Oh, yeah, I had to let everyone out of the barrels. It wasn’t like I forgot about them or anything... I just didn’t want them to get taken hostage, or for them to breathe in the pepper spray, or, you know...

Okay, I forgot! I’m sorry!

Just to be safe, I made another spray that could knock a person out cold with one shot and made sure to use it on everyone writhing around on the ground.

Maybe I should have just made that from the beginning...

Well, I guess they did need to learn their lesson, so the pepper spray didn’t go to waste after all! That was the reason I was sticking with.

After ten minutes or so had passed, the line of hunters and merchants waiting to get out of town had begun to grow restless when they realized they weren’t moving at all. It was right around then that the silhouettes of four people came rushing out from the center of town. They gradually came closer and closer, until...

“Oh, Fran!”

As the one with the most stamina, Fran was leading the group, followed by Roland, then Emile and Belle, who were way behind but bringing up the rear nonetheless.

“Don’t you ‘oh, Fran’ me!”

Oh dear, she doesn’t seem too happy with me...

I should keep my mouth shut for the time being.

“Do you know how worried we were?! We spent the whole night running around town looking for you... What were you doing this whole time?!”

Fran was usually so respectful when talking with me, but this was the first time I’d seen her this furious. I decided to come clean and give her an honest answer, since it was almost guaranteed things would get ugly if I tried to lie my way out of this now and flubbed it.

So, I shouted as loud as I could for the people around to hear, “Well, I actually ended up being kidnapped by a group who were only going after cute girls. The kidnappers are in the back of the wagon, and these girls are the other victims they’ve snatched. The guards knocked out around the wagon were conspiring with the kidnappers, too!”

Ow... My throat hurts from all this yelling.

“WHAAAAAAT?!”

Fran, the rest of my group, and everyone who’d gathered around exclaimed in shock. I could understand why they’d be so surprised. If there had been a gang of serial kidnappers in a town as small as this one, you could bet there would have been rumors about it already. If the guards were in on it as well, it was going to be a huge scandal for the governor, once he found out about it.

Kidnapping and illegal slave trafficking—both crimes far and away worse than robbery. Considering its proximity to other countries, there was an extremely high chance that foreign visitors had been victims, as well. At worst, it could even turn into an international incident.

Before long, an enormous mass of people came marching toward us from the center of town.

Yeah, I was thinking it’s about time they showed up.

The real soldiers of Selinas had arrived.

“What’s going on here?!”

A group of a few dozen soldiers finally appeared on the scene, probably arriving from whatever barracks they’d been stationed at. This was the city closest to the national border, after all, so of course everyone on duty would come running if there were explosions and strange pillars of golden smoke by the gates. I’d be more surprised if they didn’t come. I’d imagine those who weren’t already here were probably gearing up right this moment.

No matter how good of terms they might be on with their neighboring countries, they wouldn’t let their guard down enough so as to not be prepared for an invasion. There was always a chance of a sudden raid, which was why there was an inordinate number of soldiers for a town the size of Selinas. No other towns this far from the border would be able to house this many of them.

“What’s going on?! Is there anyone who knows what happened here?!” the commander of the soldiers shouted out, having his men circle the wagon.

Town guards and wagon guards alike were scattered on the ground like leaves, and a group of three armed men and women were standing right next to them. Under normal circumstances, they’d be arrested on the spot, no questions asked. Among those three potential suspects, however, was a man with an appearance that suggested he was anything but an average commoner; a female knight wearing an expensive-looking set of armor; and a young man who looked to be their attendant, likely charged with their protection. Their swords were all sheathed, and they didn’t seem particularly panicked over the situation.

Standing beside them was a group of young girls, with Belle (who only looked like she wasn’t armed) and me probably being counted as part of that group. We didn’t look like the type of people who’d try to forcibly push our way through the gate, no matter how you sliced it. The guards were bound to come running if we were to just stay here, so it was unthinkable that we’d just hang around waiting for that to happen. If we wanted to try running back into town, or make a break for it, we would’ve already hightailed it out of here by now.

This was the commander, the man in charge of dealing with emergency situations, so it was a safe bet that he was no fool. He’d ordered his men to surround us, just in case, but he wasn’t going to jump the gun and make a heavy-handed decision without hearing us out first.

“You there. Can you explain what happened here?”

The commander had directed the question toward Roland, since he seemed like the most likely one to be in charge here. Roland, however, just turned to look at me instead, seeming hopelessly lost. That was why I was the one to explain what happened in his stead.

Pretty much what always happened, really.

“The owners of this wagon are just a small part of a group of serial kidnappers who target cute girls! The guards laying on the ground knew they were transporting girls they’d abducted, and are in league with the kidnappers!”

No way I’m letting up on using “cute.” No matter how painful the incredulous stare Fran sent my way may be, I’m never giving that up.

This might be the last time I’d have the honor of saying I’d been kidnapped by people who only target cute girls, after all. I had to make sure people understood that it wasn’t just your ordinary kidnapping ring, but a cute girls kidnapping ring! And though I say it’s a “cute girls” kidnapping ring, that didn’t mean that the members were cute girls themselves. I’d imagine there were plenty of people out there who’d want to be captured by a group like that...

“Wh-What did you say?!”

The commander recoiled, making a face like he’d just stuck lemon concentrate in his mouth. He must have been aware of the kidnappings, and he was probably happy as an officer of the peace that the culprits had been caught, especially since the guards were the ones who’d catch the blame for the decline in public safety if the criminals stayed on the loose.

However, there was something very inconvenient for him mixed up with my explanation: that the guards were in league with the kidnappers. And not just one of them, but all six who’d been watching the city gates. This was a scandal the likes of which they’d never seen before, and could become a much bigger problem if the top brass caught wind of it. This was essentially the “face” of Drisard, due to it bordering so many countries, after all.

“So...you’re saying these three took care of six guards, when two of them look like they’re barely of age? And without giving them any time to take any of the girls hostage...?”

“Oh, no, that’s not quite right,” I responded instantly, before Roland and the others had the chance to make any weird excuses.

They were bound to interview the other witnesses to get the facts straight; not only was this a huge problem in and of itself, but a massive issue for the army, as well. This wasn’t going to end with testimony from only one side. Well...so long as they weren’t working with the kidnappers, too...

“What? Then who could have...”

“The Goddess.”

“Huh?”

“Like I said, it was the work of the Goddess. She used her powers to subdue these evil people, then created the rumbling and golden clouds to summon her devout followers. That’s who you all happen to be, right? You’re all devout followers of the Goddess?”

“H-Hrm... If that was all meant to summon her most devout followers, then I suppose that may have been referring to us...”

He seemed confused, but, at the same time, a little proud to say that. It was easy to see why, since being called to service as a loyal servant of the Goddess was an honor that would follow him for the rest of his life. It was more valuable than any medal he could receive.

“So, um...h-have you met her? The Goddess, that is...”

“Yes, that’s right. She’s the absolute epitome of beauty, although compared to her statues, her chest is a little...no, much smaller...in person.”

I wasn’t lying. I just didn’t mention when I’d met with her.

“O-Oh, I see!”

CLANG

“Gah?!”

Ow, ow, ow!

A giant wash pan suddenly appeared out of the sky and fell directly onto my head. It looked like Celes had just so happened to be checking in on me right then...

“P-Please, just forget about that last part...”

The commander had gone white. He could only frantically nod back.

I could already feel a lump forming on my poor, aching head...

I know I can fix it with a bit of healing potion, but you really whacked me good, stupid Celes... That thing wasn’t made out of aluminum, I’ll have you know! It was wood, and wood is friggin’ HEAVY! What’re you doing stealing old jokes from back on Earth, dang it! I don’t know if the God in charge of Earth told you about that, or if you’ve been sneaking peeks at Earth for yourself, but you can make your boobs whatever size you want! I’m the one who should be feeling sad here, you ass!

Huff, huff...

Well, at least the commander seemed like he believed me completely after that, so I guess it all worked out.

“All right, I guess I’ll have you all come with me to headquarters, then.”

“No thanks!”

“...Huh?” The commander could only stare blankly back at me after I so casually brushed off his order.

“Those six other soldiers were part of a kidnapping ring targeting cute girls. I don’t know how many other soldiers are also working with them, so I’m not just gonna blindly follow you somewhere. I wasn’t born yesterday, you know.”

The commander fell silent, unable to refute my point. Still, he wasn’t just going to let me go that easily.

“N-No, I can’t allow that! We have to fulfill our duties as well, you see...”

The commander couldn’t pull any funny business with the people who had been saved by the Goddess Celestine herself. That was why he still wore that troubled look on his face, even though he wasn’t backing down. It’d be an even bigger pain if they took us to a military building or to see the governor or something.

Hmm, now this is a dilemma. What to do, what to do... Oh, I know! I still have that strategy that’s always worked for me before!

“Well, I don’t know what people will do to me if I get taken away somewhere private, with no witnesses around, so I’m going to have to refuse. I don’t wanna spend too much time here, since I need to hurry and get to the next town. In that case, I’d like you to tell your superiors that I’ll answer any questions they have in the waiting area over there. We’re leaving just before noon, so if you need us for anything, you should make any requests you might have before then. I’d also like to ask that you contact the families of the girls who were kidnapped. My family is already here, as you can see...” I said, pointing to Roland and the others.

“No, erm, well...”

“But, if none of that’s necessary, then we’ll just be on our way.”

“W-Wait! Please, wait!”

The commander was obviously flustered after seeing I had no intention of giving up.

“I happen to value my life, so I won’t back down on any of this. If we just stay here wasting time, that’s just less time for you before I leave.”

After mentally wrestling over what to do about the situation, the commander eventually ran off...but not before leaving a group of soldiers behind to keep an eye on us. I wasn’t planning on tricking him and trying to sneak away or anything...

I mean it!

Oh, maybe he left those soldiers to watch over the kidnappers, since he was in such a rush and didn’t have time to deal with them. But they were all looking at us, for some reason.

You should be watching the guys on the ground over there! They’re the real criminals here!