Volume 2 - CH 96

Morning finaly came.

I woke up to find Satella sleeping on my stomach, she was using my stomach as a pillow.

I think the pillow is too big for a child. ……

Uchikage was sleeping in a very strange way.

First of all, he was sitting on his back against the wall, but he was also sleeping with his arms stretched out slackly to the left and right, equipped with the claws on both arms.

I think that was his mediating posture

He must have been in this position because he was alert even while he was sleeping.

He was ready to strike back at any moment.

While I thought it was very weird, I was grateful to Uchikage.

I can’t sense his presence while I’m sleeping.

His presence isn’t that strong to begin with.

In a town like this, where anything can happen, not being able to detect a presence is fatal.

There is a possibility of being robbed in one’s sleep or having one’s belongings stolen.

.

Uchikage would have thought about that as well.

I decided to thank him in my heart.

Because he had done a lot until this far, I’ll secretly give him 【Great Heal】.

This will reduce his fatigue.

He is still sleeping so I don’t think he’ll find out.

After moving Satella so as not to wake her, I get up and look out the window.

Even though it’s still early in the morning, the town is already full of people.

It was already as lively as when we came here.

There are many different types of people, such as horse-drawn wagons with lots of luggage and people preparing their stores.

Isn’t it more lively than the Kingdom of Garot?

Well, they said a festival is coming up, and I guess that has something to do with it.

Well, …… we have a lot of work to do today.

Alena needs to be rescued as soon as possible, and we need to decide what to do after that.

For now, though, if we can get back to the Kingdom of Garott, where Asure and the others are, we’ll be able to make it.

First, we need to find Alena.

Then, we need to think of a way to save her.

Unlike Satella, this time it would be a full-scale rescue operation.

It was easy to rescue Satella, thanks to Baradim’s help, but it would not be so easy to rescue Alena.

But it would not be so easy in Alena’s case, especially since she is being treated as a slave.

But we can’t think about what to do until we find her.

We have to find her and rescue her quickly.

This is the best way.

But how to find her?

This was the initial problem.

I don’t have any acquaintances here.

And what acquaintances do I have? A fellow snake?.

So, of course, we don’t have any connections or messengers either.

Uchikage also doesn’t have any good acquaintances here.

He told me that he seems to have several acquaintances, but when I asked ‘is that person reliable?’, he answered me with full confidence that the person isn’t slighliest reliable.

When it comes down to it, we have to search for them by ourselves.

But I had an idea.

Today we are supposed to go looking for a certain person, but Uchikage and Satera don’t know about it.

“… Well, I’m gonna go look for them first..”

I left the room, being careful not to make a sound.

The place I’m going now, I don’t want those two to see too much.

It would be better for me to go there alone.

I leave the inn and head for a place where I can find them, for now.

Even if I have a destination in mind, I don’t know where it is.

I guess I could ask someone, but since the destination is kinda …., I have to be careful about who I ask. 

The place I’m about to go … it’s the slave trader’s place.

Alena should have been transported to the headquarters of the slave trader or somewhere, albeit once.

At least the people of this territory know where Alena was.

And I think she has been sold off somewhere.

So when I asked the slave dealer, I thought that there might have a record to whom the slaves they sold are.

However, the chances are pretty slim.

It seems that slaves are often treated as disposable object, and I don’t know if they have a record of slaves who don’t know when they will die.

And if the slave who sold Alena was a illegal slave, he would hide the record and wouldn’t even talk about the person who they sold it to.

It would be fine if the slave trader is recognizable by the country …

This is really gambling on my luck.

I regretted that I should have heard more about slavery by the time I came here.

But I came out without saying a word, and it would be uncool to return here.

I will look for it as it is.

By the way, there is a good reason why I didn’t bring Satella and Uchikage.

I didn’t bring Satera because she is a child and I didn’t want her to see too much of what it is to be a slave.

If Alena found out where the slaves were being held, she would certainly run to them.

We had to make sure we could rescue her safely and not cause any unwanted disturbances.

Speaking of Uchikage … he’s certainly better at stealth than I am.

But he wondered if it would not be good to meet face-to-face with the people who had attacked his village.

Uchikage might be able to suppress his emotions, but it would not erase the past.

He must have some resentment toward the slave trader.

If he intervened with unnecessary personal feelings, persuasion and negotiations might end in failure, so I decided to leave Uchikage behind as well.

I’m sure the two of them will say something when I get back, but that’s the way it is.

It is what it is.

Now, there is one problem with that.

How do we find out where the slave traders are …….

I could ask people, but it would be better to ask them in a roundabout way.

When I was wondering where to go, I suddenly found a food stall selling fruits.

Even though it’s still early, the shopkeeper is sitting in a chair waiting for customers to come there.

It seems that there are quite a lot of fruits.

I want to eat them all.

I approached the place and began to examine the fruits.

Since I brought money anyway and thought it would be a good idea to do some shopping, I decided to give it a try.

“Pops. How much is this?”

“Eight copper for one.”

“For one?”

It’s surprisingly expensive. …… just for one, right?

One piece of fruit costs that much?

The cost of food from the inn is about four bronze per person.

The lodging and the food are separate, but the cost of the lodging makes it a little cheaper.

I thought it would be okay to have that much considering the ingredients, the amount of food, and the cost of labor, but I don’t think that would work for one piece of fruit.

I mean, if you estimate the cost of one meal at the inn, you can only buy five fruits, right? That’s just too much.

“It’s too expensive.”

“It’s more expensive because the harvest isn’t good right now.”

“He-. If you’re going to keep them in a place like this, you might as well sell them as soon as possible to get the cost covered.”

Even fruits go bad.

If that’s the case, it’s definitely better to sell it quickly before that happens.

He won’t be able to sell it for this amount, though: …….

There aren’t any coolers or refrigerated cases in this world, and he’ll have to throw them away when they get sore.

In addition, the place where this guy is open is exposed to direct sunlight.

In addition, there is no roof either.

Is it okay for someone who handles groceries to do that?

“Well, it’s expensive and it looks like it’s going to be mushy, so I’ll just buy it somewhere else..”

“…”

I left the stall, but the owner just stared at me without saying anything.

I was not complaining, but offering advice.

Why is he staring at me so much?

But I’m glad I took a look.

Now I have some idea of what the market is going to be.

If I use the price of one meal at that inn as a basis, I might be able to buy things at a discount.

I mean, there are usually rip-offs.

I have to be careful. ……

Well, let’s just take a walk around for now~.

I couldn’t see any stores properly in the Kingdom of Garot.

I guess the places I want to go for now are the weapon shop and the pharmacy.

If I look at medicines, I might be able to know how much of them I can use to make recovery water, and if I ask the shopkeeper about it, I might get different information.

Of course, I’ll keep quiet about my abilities.

I should look at accessories and stuff.

Oh, and I’d love to go look at clothes and stuff!

Oh!　There’s a magic shop over there!

I wonder what they are selling

I mean, what’s the point of the magic shop if we have the skills?

Maybe humans and monsters have different ways of using magic or magic power. ……

I’ll just go over there and talk to them!