CH 154

Characters in this chapter:

Sapphiras Perfectio, former 2nd son of the Earl of Aldridge

Percival Belisario, 3rd son of Margrave of Vanderwall on the Eastern Frontier

Veritas Perfectio, 1st son of the Earl of Aldridge, Sapphiras’ former older brother

After changing into plain clothes, we transferred to the market in Kelsas.

The atmosphere is different from the morning market. It is still busy, but there are many stalls that were not there in the early morning.

“What shall we eat?”

I’m already going to collapse from hunger. After all, I’ve been moving around using magic since this morning.

“How about those skewers?”

Ahead of Percival’s gaze, there was a shop selling skewers with four large pieces of meat.

That should be enough to satisfy this hunger.

“Yes! That’s good!”

Percival and I head towards the meat skewer stall.

It seemed to be a popular place, and there was a queue of customers waiting for the meat to be cooked. We get to the back of the queue and wait our turn. While enjoying the savoury smell of roasting meat, we look around the stall for something else tasty to eat. Preferably something sweet. Deep-fried pastries with honey on them would be even better. As I look around to see if there are any deep-fried pastries among the stalls, I see an unexpected person among the people passing by.

“Huh?…..Just now?”

“What’s up?”

“I just saw Veritas.”

“Is that Sapphiras’s brother?”

“Yeah. I couldn’t see his face clearly because he was wearing a hooded cloak, but……it’s Veritas.”

Although he is related by blood, he is an older brother who I rarely met face to face. As for whether I remember his face clearly, well he more or less resembles me. Of course, there is no affection at all. He’s an acquaintance at best, but my intuition worked. That’s definitely Veritas.

But why is Veritas here? I have a feeling that nothing but bad things are going to happen.  The fact that Veritas is in a place like this during the daytime may be due to his Earls father’s wrongdoings that caused him to lose his place in Solmontana, let alone at the academy and at home. Even so, it’s quite a distance from the royal capital to Kelsas. What did he come all the way here for in the first place? Is he a migrant worker?

“Do you want to follow?”

The skewer grabbed my hair from the back, but I couldn’t help but be curious about the man in the cloak.

“……Yeah, let’s follow!”

We broke away from the queue for skewers and hurried after the cloaked man, who had disappeared from sight in the crowd.

“He was wearing an un-dyed, dull-coloured cloak. A bit taller than me.”

He looks like a traveller you can find anywhere. If I hadn’t seen his face for a moment, I wouldn’t have recognised him. I look for the cloak I saw earlier in the crowd.

“Sapphiras, is that it?”

Percival points to a figure in a dusky cloak, just about to enter the alley. I exchange glances with Percival and quicken my pace, and the cloaked figure (Veritas?) looks around a little, trying not to look suspicious. I took my time and stepped into the alley, pausing briefly so as not to arouse the cloaked figure’s suspicions.

Unlike the wide, busy street out front, it was so narrow that two adults walking side by side would block the road, and it was somewhat dirty. Here and there, there are people sitting down with an empty look on their faces. This is a scene that can be seen more or less everywhere in the city. Where there is light, there are naturally shadows. This is part of that shadow. However, in this country where slavery exists, the shadows may be a little darker.

I could see the cloaked figure (Velitas?) turning the corner a little ahead. The hem of his dirty cloak flutters as he is sucked between buildings. The area seems to be strangely complicated, and if we lose sight of him, it’s the end of the road for us.

I trotted after him and peered into the gap between the buildings where the cloak had disappeared, but it was dim and smelled a little musty, and he was no longer there. In front of the street I peeked into, there are also many entrances and exits and forks leading to buildings.

“Oh damn, have we lost him?”

“……Sapphiras.”

When Percival called my name, I turned around to see Percival’s back to me as if to hide me before I knew it, and a few dirty men on the other side of him. They are the kind of guys that these places are famous for.

It’s hot and stuffy with all these big men in the narrow street.

“Yo, boys1He refers to them as 坊ちゃん (bocchan), which means boy or young master. What are you doing here?”

“Have you lost your way or something?”

“We can show you the way, but it’s to a new house. Hyahaha!”

The thugs approach us as if we were idiots.

From their point of view, we’re high-quality products from a good family. We’re like sitting ducks who came to become prey ourselves.

By the way, just because there is slavery does not mean that you can stock up and kidnap goods as you please. If such a thing is allowed, no matter how much slavery a country had, it would not escape being accused of being a criminal state. Those who are bought and sold as slaves are those who were so poor that they had no choice but to reduce themselves to slavery, or criminals. Sometimes they are mainly the people of defeated countries or people who were eliminated when the leader changed due to disputes between ethnic minorities. Even so, that is against their will, so I’m not sure about that. In the past, the beastmen were included in this group, but nowadays, of course, they are not allowed.

But for these people, it doesn’t matter. They kidnap good-looking children of both sexes, regardless of whether they are commoners or aristocrats, and sell them illegally. In fact, the daughters and sons of aristocrats are more likely to be targeted because they fetch a higher price.

Those kidnapped in this way are trafficked behind the scenes and usually disappears to darkness from darkness.

“……Oi, look. That kid hiding in the back……is a real fine jewel, isn’t he?”

“Heh, he’s just a kid, but he’s a beauty2 the term used here is 別嬪 (beppin) which is Kansai dialect for beautiful woman/pretty girl that gives you the thrills. Yoshi, I won’t sell him right away, and I’ll love him as a slave until I get tired of it. Hehe, I’ll let you suck my thick thing3it just says thick in the raws but I guess you should know what he’s referring to as much as you want now, so come over here, guuu……!”

The man who seemed to be the boss reached out to me while saying something vulgar let out a dirty groan and was blown away. Percival, in a blindingly quick move, delivered a sharp kick to the man’s solar plexus. The man slammed into the wall of the building and crumpled to the ground, foaming at the mouth. It was a kick with no mercy at all, but if he hadn’t said those words, he would have been given a little more leeway.

Slave is a taboo word for Percival today…… because of me. Of course I’m reflecting on it.

“A-aniki! Yo-you asshole4テメェ (temee): super rude form of you!

“You little brats! I’ll kill you!”

The men yelled and attacked all at once, but Percival, without changing a single expression on his face, drove his fists and knees into their vital points. The large, broad man rolled on the ground in an interesting manner.

Percival, who has experienced real life exchanges since he was a child, is completely different from these guys, who only deal with weak people. I simply watch Percival’s lean, flowing movements.

Percival hardly moved from his spot, and in the blink of an eye, he had eliminated the thugs.

Even though he was performing a big fight scene against five big men, he didn’t even slow down to catch his breath. Even without a sword, Percival is amazing, isn’t he?

“Let’s go back, Sapphiras. There’s no need to stay in a place like this.”

Percival takes me by the hand and starts walking towards the main street.

I’ve lost sight of the cloaked figure (Veritas?), so there’s no point in searching and chasing after him here. We should go back to the market earlier and line up for skewers again.

“Ah, wait!”

I stop and look back at the men who have fallen and stopped moving. Big men lying around in a narrow alley like this would be a hindrance to traffic.

I tie the men up with ivy and pull them to the corner of the alley. If I do this, some kind soul will call for a knight or a patrolman. If someone pretends not to see you, I want you to do your best to escape on your own. I don’t think the ivy will be so easy to cut.

I wish you good luck.