7 – Helping those who help themselves (7)
After the meal, Einer put all the utensils in the dishwasher and said.
“Go out the back door and you can wash up. I’ll prepare a set of clothes for you to wear. It won’t fit you, but at least it’ll be better than that mat.”
“Thank you.”
“As I said, I can’t take you on a boat to the north. It’s not against the law. You’ll die within a week. So you’d better just run away on foot to another city.”
“Yes…”
“You want to go to the north, right? Then get out of the city and rent a wagon. There might be robbers, but open your body and you’ll be fine. Even if you cut off your horns, you can easily subdue quite a few adult men.”
“Then I’d rather take a boat…”
“If you kill all the crew by opening your body, who will drive the ship?”
“Ah…”
“On land, if you grab one as a representative and break its head, it will run away on its own. That’s why I recommend that one.”
Ael, who had been listening silently, asked cautiously.
“Uh… I’m sorry, sir… By any chance… By any chance…”
“Tell me.”
“Can’t the teacher buy me…?”
Ainer stopped what he was doing and looked back at Ael.
Standing next to the table, Ael held his hands together with his head bowed and wiggled.
“Do you want me to buy you?”
“Yes…”
“Why did I…?”
“Teacher is a good person…”
Ael lowered her eyes and answered.
“Sensei is a sweet and kind person…. She didn’t turn a blind eye to people in danger and entered the collapsed building….”
“As a security guard, it was only natural.”
“But you took pity on me for stealing and let me go… And be kind like this…”
Einer couldn’t say anything about that either.
A security guard freeing thieves and runaway slaves.
Ael continued.
“I thought that if I was sold to someone like you… Even if I were a slave, I wouldn’t be unhappy…”
“I see.”
“If you run a restaurant someday, I might work in the kitchen…As a slave, of course.”
Ah, you shut his mouth and thought about those words.
The bottom line is, it’s impossible.
Judging from Ael’s words, the Paling Trade Corps has the intention of maximizing the rarity of ‘horned maidens’.
There was no way he would sell such a valuable slave to Einer, a security guard.
And most of all, Einer has no money to buy Ael.
I spent most of the money I brought from Brechnert on this house.
With the gold coins in hand, even ordinary human slaves are hard to buy, but what about rare slaves like Ael?
Even if he doesn’t have the premium of being a Demon Maiden, Ael has a sufficiently attractive appearance.
Such female slaves are incredibly expensive.
Then why not hide it at home?
That’s a short-sighted solution.
There is a branch of the Paling Trade Corps here in Daham.
It’s only a matter of time before they get caught.
“I’m sorry.”
Ael’s already dark face suddenly fell into a shadow at Einor’s answer.
“No, sir. You let me go twice and did me such a kind favor. Thank you.”
Ael bowed to her so that his forehead touched her ground, and then went out through the back door Einer said.
After pouring water into the dishwasher and soaking the dishes, Einer went upstairs and picked out some suitable clothes.
It was a loose-fitting shirt and baggy pants that, even if they were large, had no restrictions on movement as long as the sleeves or waist were tied with a string.
Dahham is the coast of the southern part of the continent, so it would be better to walk around in well-ventilated clothes like this.
And considering Ael’s body type, a slightly larger outfit would not draw unnecessary attention.
There are also some gold coins.
As I went back down to the first floor and put the clothes and gold coins on the table, I heard Ael’s washing from the back door.
After thinking about it for a while, you knocked on her back door.
“Ael.”
“You can’t come in yet!”
“I’m not trying to go in. If you’re going to leave the city, move right before the horizon is bright. This is a port city, so the guard is concentrated on the port side.”
“Oh, I see…”
“There are a few hours until then, so you can sleep on the first floor sofa. You probably haven’t slept well.”
“Thank you, sir…”
Soon, sobs were heard from beyond the door.
Ah, you listened to it for a while, then shook her head and went up to this floor.
* * * * *
The next morning.
Einer, who came down to the first floor to go to work, first looked toward the living room.
There was no one there.
As Einer advised yesterday, Ael seems to have already left the house before the horizon is bright.
Turning to her kitchen to wash her dishes yesterday, Einer tilted her head.
I could see that the tableware that should have been in the dishwasher were neatly placed on the drying rack over there.
Did he wash the dishes in the middle of the night?
But you’re a friend who knows how to be polite.
Then shall we go to work right away?
At that time, Einer noticed something on the table.
I looked closer and saw that it was a large bowl turned upside down.
What is this? Did that girl do it?
Ael must have done the dishes yesterday, since they moved the dishes from the table to the dishwasher.
Einer heard a large bowl overturned on the table.
Unsurprisingly, omurice was served on a plate under it.
What is this again? Would you like to eat me?
I’m not going to sleep enough to make something like this….
Anyway, Einer brought a spoon from the kitchen.
The shape of the omurice was very pretty, and the cheese and ketchup on top looked quite appetizing.
Let’s see where to eat.
Einer scooped up the corner of the omurice and ate it all in his mouth.
Einer, who mumbled casually for a while, looked at the omurice again in surprise.
Then he pulled up a chair and sat down to eat omurice in earnest.
The omurice made by Ael was amazing.
The deep-fried egg was very delicious when sprinkled with salt, and the savory flavor exploded with the melted cheese on top.
Hidden under the egg was fried rice.
Vegetables are carefully minced and stir-fried with vermilion-colored sauce and rice.
The fried rice has a great harmony with the spicy savory taste of Arrabiatta sauce, the sweet taste of eggs, and the texture of vegetables.
Fragrance of eggs covered in a thick layer and tomatoes soaked in sunlight.
From the Arrabiata sauce that looks like a red carpet and vegetable fried rice that looks like a flower in full bloom.
Omurice made by AL was perfect from the moment it touched your mouth to the end.
It was like reading a beautiful children’s book.
Einer put the spoon down and looked down at the empty plate.
Ael.
Einer looked back at the empty living room.
After a while, Einer shook his head, put the bowl in the dishwasher, and poured water.
Let’s go to work, go to work.
* * * * *
Ei-You and his crew returned to the headquarters after patrolling the harbor at dawn.
The Brechnert fleet, which had arrived yesterday, was nowhere to be seen to see if it had left again.
Perhaps they are just supplying supplies and going out to the nearby sea again to make a fuss.
In the kitchen, I was eating fish porridge, which must have been reboiled from yesterday’s leftovers, when I heard a conversation from another table.
“I heard you got caught? The Demon Slave that appeared yesterday.”
After eating porridge, Einer listened in that direction.
“Huh? Really? How?”
“The Paling guys didn’t sleep and went on patrol and caught it.”
“They’re funny guys, too. They only have one slave.”
After hearing the story, Jowon Kira tucked her hair behind her ears and opened her mouth.
“Hey. Looks like he got caught after all.”
“It’s not an ordinary slave, it’s a demon slave with horns, so it wouldn’t have been easy to escape.”
Marco said while crouching and spooning with his huge body.
“Still, he seemed like a good demon. If it wasn’t for that demon, the chief would have been lying in the suburban cemetery by now.”
“The captain must have come out of there alive.”
At the immature words of young member Toby, senior member Ryan politely refuted.
Einer put out his spoon feeling mixed.
I wasn’t in the mood to eat because I remembered the conversations we had last night and the omurice that Ael had prepared this morning.
Ael was caught….
In the meantime, the members of the table across from us continued talking about Ael.
“But where does the slave go?”
“My friend at the top said they would sell it to Brechnert? There are a lot of crazy people there. There must be some aristocrat with a taste for horns.”
“What?! Brechnert?!”
Everyone’s eyes in the kitchen were focused on Einer, who jumped up and screamed.
“Captain? Why is that?”
As Kira tugged at his sleeve, Einor sat back in his chair.
Ael is being sold as a Brechner? What if?
The kingdom of Brechnert is one of the countries that maintain slavery.
A vicious kingdom that enslaves not only foreign countries but also fallen nobles and orphaned citizens.
So, at a young age, you and your mother were sold as kitchen slaves to aristocrats.
In the case of Einer, it was fortunate that the good-natured baron treated him like family, but the fate of most slaves….
Ael goes to the kingdom of Brechnert simply….
That also comes with a premium called ‘Horned Maiden’….
That means that, as the members said, it will be passed on to a rich guy who has that taste.
If it were Brechnert, a den of crazy warmongers, it would be obvious what kind of character the person who would become the owner of Ael would be.
The fate of Ael, no, the end, sold to such a person, is clearly drawn before her eyes.
Einer vividly recalled her mother at her slave market, her frightened eyes scrutinizing her surroundings as she desperately held herself in her arms to keep Ainer from being sold elsewhere.
Her mother’s eyes overlapped with Ael’s eyes as she knelt down on the market floor and looked up at herself.
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“Huh? Captain! Where are you going! You haven’t even eaten!”
“Eat all of you!”
Leaving behind Toby’s cry, Einer ran out of the kitchen.