Now that I'm done with the seizure, let's free all the captured people in the basement . Having come into the basement, there's barely any light, and the air kinda feels stagnated . Light, Light, Liiiiiiiiiight! As well as a light Wind Storm to replace the air! I could hear confused voices of people, like "W-what!?", "Hiiii" in the jail that's probably ahead . Ah, sorry 'bout that .
A pair who seems to be a married couple, two general human women, and a parent and a child elves are held inside jail .
"I'm sorry if I surprised you . I'm not an enemy so please calm down . Could you tell me how you all ended up getting imprisoned here in turns?"
"W-we were held here because of our debts . But, I had paid it back . But then, the amount suddenly swelled up dozens of times higher because of interests . . . And then they dragged us here in the end . "
"I was looking for work away from home at Gramada . The job office offered me a place of work that seemed nice but then they carried me off when I got there . . . "
"Me was in similar circumstances myself . A trader-san who came by my village introduced me to this place for work, I was afraid I'd get sold off one of these days . "
" . . . . "
The parent and child elves keep their mouth shut . Well, guess it's understandable . You shouldn't take what someone said out of nowhere at face value .
"I'll take you back to Gramada if you're going back there . Would you like to come with me?"
After I said that, they were yelling in happiness, "Ooh finally, finally", or, "We're saved now" . Yet, the elves duo are still keeping silent . For now, I should get the four to the room where the girls are resting and then talk to these two elves .
"Okay then, everyone, please get away from the iron bars . I'll break it with my magic . "
I broke down the bars with pinpoint Flare Bombs one by one .
"I'm sorry, but please wait until I've recovered my mana . The people resting above are my friends, you can wait there with them . "
After taking the four there, I went back to the basement .
"Thank you for waiting . I'd like to hear your wish, either going back to your hometown or something else, so it'd really help if you could talk, no?"
" . . . The looks in your eyes haven't changed even though we're elves . "
They finally talked .
"No no, they did for sure . Though I've met a Half-elf before, this is my first meeting real elves, I'm pretty nervous here you see . "
"*Giggle*, I've never seen someone this frank either . I understand, we will believe you . Either way, we don't have any way to go back home without relying on your kindness . "
The elf mother is called Dilitt, while the daughter is Tino . Apparently, a few years ago they were ousted from their village deep in a forest due to a certain reason . While they were just getting by living a simple life outside the forest, they were attacked and kidnapped by those guys . Normally, you'd think outward appearance doesn't represent an elf's actual age, but that's not the case for the daughter . Tino-chan is truly as young as she looks at 10 . Dilitt-san being 120 year old surprised me though!
Both of them are beautiful . Elf ears, blond hair, jade-like deep green eyes that feel like sucking me in . She's quite well endowed too, you wouldn't have thought she's given a birth . It's just, ah yep, let's just say that a certain part is very similar to Eleanor-san's . And just like her mother, Tino-chan is very lovely too .
"What would you like to do . I've heard that elves hate hustle bustle, but how about going to Gramada for now? I know a fair share of trustworthy people I could introduce you to work at . Ah, and don't worry, none of them runs shady places . "
"Yes please, we'll be in your care . I will definitely repay your kindness . "
"Haha, don't worry about it . I was here mainly to save my important person myself, it was by chance I saved you guys . "
"Thank you" "Onii-chan, thank you~"
OH, as expected of elves . Their smiling faces have quite the destructive force . Now then, let's get away from here .
In the end, everyone ended up heading to Gramada . Fortunately, there's a carriage here, so we'll be using it until the cave . We'll be staying there tonight . Gotta raise their spirits even a bit with a warm meal . The enslaved people also had similar circumstances when I asked them about it . Nothing I can do if they lied though . Apparently Mitama and Futsuno-san know someone who runs slave trading company, I'll ask them how to free these people once we get back .
<TLN: If you're reading this novel at any other site than Sousetsuka . com you might be reading an unedited, uncorrected version of the novel . >
At the dead of night . I quietly slipped out and went back to the hill mansion .
Right after we arrived at the cave, I immediately prepared our meal . Everyone's wariness had slightly waned while they were sitting around the hot pot . Especially the people who had been confined underground, they seemed really happy to finally have a warm meal after a long time . Afterward, everyone went to bed with blanket and stuff procured from the mansion . I've put up a wall at the entrance of the cave, so they can rest easy without a lookout .
And now here I am standing after slipping out when everyone was fast asleep .
"Well then, time for the final clean up . 『Earth Excavation (Dig)』!"
A hole opened diagonally . While reinforcing that hole with 『Earth Wall Reinforcement <<Dag>>』 I continue to push deeper underground .
I'm focusing everything into burrowing through the mansion's ground . Since I've gotten used to it, my digging pace has increased as well . Before long, a huge hole the size of the mansion has opened below the ground . I've also installed dozens of 『<<Bombermine>>』 on the huge hole's ceiling . Preparation complete .
And also, gotta take care of that one too .
The next morning, everyone were forced awake by some kind of tremor . Having no idea what it was about, everyone was panicking but I appeased them and urged to continue our journey . It must have been a quake or something . Let's hasten our departure just to be safe .
By the way, the idiotic brat seemed to have died, as the slave crests on the five slaves including Kurei-san have turned gray . Since no one here is detailed about slaves, we're leaving it alone as it does no harm anyway . Kurei-san herself earnestly apologized to Futsuno-san and Mitam to the point of spilling blood from her forehead . The two told Kurei not to mind it since she was a victim herself, but since she seems to have a strong sense of responsibility, it's weighting her mind very much . Hope she doesn't torment herself over it .
With Kurei-san as a coachman, the carriage is running towards Gramada . Apparently, the figure of me pulling the carriage looked silly after all . Tino-chan and Futsuno-san laughed their head off . Are they fine after laughing that much I wonder . I've told Futsuno-san and the others that I would tell them in details after we got back to Gramada . I didn't want to talk about it on the carriage with other people around .
It took two days to arrive at Gramada since the carriage was pulled by horses . Considering the situation we were in, lining up here could turn out bad, so I went to the guard station to ask about it .
"Excuse me, could I have a bit of your time?"
"Yes yes, please wait a mo . . . Oh, is that you Nobusada-kun . "
Oh? He's Master's subordinate! Glad there's someone who can be reasoned with . Err, the name was . . .
" . . . That's right, it's Yukito-san!"
"So you forgot my name . . . "
Yukito-san muttered while looking a bit dejected . Sorry, it was completely blank . I called you the Suffering Subordinate in my head .
"So you see, a friend of mine was kidnapped so I went out to save them, and apparently it was by a bandit gang . "
"You just casually brushed that off, wait, bandit gang!? Wh-where is it!? How many of them!?"
"P-please calm yourself . We were able to escape with the help of my companions and the captured people . After our escape, the mansion we were in collapsed somehow . My guess is that the people inside are probably beyond help . Among the people who were captured, there were some who were abducted and forced into slavery, so I'd like to tell the situation to someone trustworthy if possible . "
"And so you came here . . . "
"Quite, I figured Master's subordinate would be trustworthy, so I came to talk about it . Apparently, that bandit gang had various connections, thus I had to pick whom I'm telling this to . "
Yukito-san is lost in thought with a doubtful look . I guess so, anyone would wonder if they could believe someone who brought this kind of story out of nowhere .
"I'd have to check with Captain Matuda just in case . Well, that person would probably just spout, 『Don't worry about trivial stuff』 . So then, could you take me to the people who were captured? I'll send a messenger to call Captain here . "
"If you'd please . They're waiting on the carriage over there . "
Yukito-san smoothly handled all the procedures . He did question everyone but only as a formality and quickly released them . The guards will take care of everyone who was captured except the elven mother and child . I would like nothing more since I could not possibly care for all of them .
I contemplated hard what to do about Dilitt-san and Tino-chan, but it's for them to ultimately decide . Since she apparently can prescribe medical herbs and stuff, I wouldn't mind them helping out the store too .
Unless there is a will, apparently when an owner died, the right to their slaves would be transferred over to the one who, excuse the wording, picked them up . In other words, me . I'm allowed to go back home for today, and to come back tomorrow to proceed with the procedure to free them . I've left some funds there, it should be enough to cover their daily expenses .
Afterwards, the guards launched an investigation on the matter . They stopped by Pezun village once, and mysteriously the innkeeper there confessed himself that he had been assisting the bandit to trap adventurers and innocent people alike . Following his confession, the guards went to the mansion on the hill, but what left there was only a huge pitfall buried under rubbles and soil . The investigators could do nothing about it, thus they only took the innkeeper with them . Due to the many crimes the innkeeper had committed, he was to perform forced labor at the mine . Man, that's some real scary stuff .
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