The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 2 - Chapter 79

Chapter 79:

Slaves

“WE’LL BE TOGETHER from today on.” Rattloore offered me his hand, and I squeezed it tight. Starting today, we’d be 

walking around town together. The only question was how far the kidnapping ring would go to get me alone. “So, what should we do? Wanna tour the town?”

“First, I have some laundry to do. Can we go down to the river?”

“Huh? You do laundry…in the river?”

Ack! I heard it’s rare for people to do that because cleaning magic works just fine. What should I say?!

“Um…” I panicked.

“Ivy, can you not use cleaning or water magic?”

I can’t hide this. Time to prepare for the worst.

“…That’s right.”

“Huh. Y’know, they have washhouses in town. Wanna try there?”

Washhouses? I’ve never heard of those. “What are they like?”

“Hm? Ooh, I guess only big towns have them, huh? Washhouses are places for people who can’t use cleaning magic or water magic. Though people who can use magic use them, too.”

People who can’t use cleaning magic or water magic? Huh? I thought everyone could do that?

“Um, about those people who can’t use magic…” I began. How should I ask? Are there lots of people like me? Or…? It was such an unexpected revelation that I had to figure out what to ask first.

“Hmm? Oh! Right, Ratomi’s a really tiny village. You might’ve learned that anyone can use fire, water, and cleaning magic for everyday necessities, but that’s wrong.”

“Wrong?”

“Yeah. The idea that everyone can use all three is wrong. Some people can only use two or even one, and others can’t use any at all due to having low mana. Did you notice there were flints for starting fires available at the plaza? Those are there for the adventurers who can’t use fire magic.”

I did notice those! They had those in the villages, too.

“By the way, I can’t use water magic,” Rattloore added.

“Huh?!”

“You never noticed, eh?”

I had no idea. Oh, but he did bring water for me when I cooked, didn’t he? Hmm…oh! Was that from a magical item, maybe?

“How did you get water into a pot for me? Did you use a magical item?”

“Correct! Sifar came across one and bought it for me because I can’t use water magic.”

“Really? How nice of him.”

“Yeah, he’s all right. As long as you don’t tick him off.”

Yeah…he was definitely scary yesterday. Still, was what my mother taught me incorrect? Does this mean I don’t have to hide the fact that I can’t use survival magic? Oh, but how many people are there that don’t have enough mana?

“Um, are there a lot of people who have too little mana to use survival magic?”

“I don’t know how many there are, but I do know someone like that. Do you have mana problems, Ivy?”

“Yeah. I can use magic if I need to, but my mana is awful.”

“I see…and you’re traveling like that? That’s gotta be dangerous.”

“Well, yes, it is…”

“If you could use fire magic, that would help in dire circumstances. Mm, you really need a slave…”

Rattloore’s recommended slaves a few times now. I wonder why?

“How would a slave help me?” I asked. “Um, I don’t know much about them…”

“Yeeeah, I’ve seen slaves around all my life, so it seems totally normal to me. Criminal slaves are different, though. I even knew some adventurers who became slaves. I really sympathize with them; I hope they get good masters. Still, a little bit of debt means you’re only indentured for a few years, so making a contract and paying back your debt fast means you can be an adventurer again sooner, y’know?”

“Contracts last a few years? Then they go back to being adventurers?”

“Huh? You don’t know about it?”

“Nope.”

“It’s tougher if you have a lot of debt, but if you only have a little, you’re indentured as a slave for like three to five years. Almost no adventurers end up with tons of debt, so they’re usually given those kinds of contracts.”

“I see. I thought slavery was a life-long contract. I’ve heard about adventurer slaves before, but the stories were always really tragic.”

“Ha ha ha! If they were life-long contracts, slaves would be seriously expensive. Besides, criminal slaves get a minimum of ten years for most minor offenses, so life would be too long for just a little bit of debt.”

“That does make sense.”

“When you register at the adventurers’ guild, they’ll have you attend some lectures. The very first thing they teach you is to make sure you have enough in savings. You gotta have money in case you fail to fulfill a request. They’ll also tell you that if you can’t pay off your debts, you’ll be enslaved. I mean, this is all common knowledge, really…”

“Lectures at the adventure guild…”

“Yeah. They do that to keep lots of adventurers from becoming slaves right off, since it’s not like it’s uncommon to fail a request. Still, even if you save diligently, it’s hard to be ready for anything. Sometimes, you still end up a bit in the hole and slavery’s the only option. But since it’s such a small amount, most of us are back to adventuring in three to five years.”

“I see.”

“If someone was really in despair, then they probably blew all their money,” he added. “Some people are real lunkheads, even when the adventurers’ guild tries to warn them.”

“Wow.”

“Really skilled adventurer slaves can sometimes get adventurers they know to contract them. Though, of course, that requires having a friend with a lot of money saved up.”

This sounded way different from the kind of slavery I’d imagined. I thought that you were a slave for life, no matter what. Where had all these mistaken ideas come from? Past Me, maybe?

Hmm…“If those traitors go wild, they’ll end up slaves for life?” What sort of world did Past Me live in? It must’ve been a lot harsher than this one.

“Ivy? Still with me?” Rattloore looked concerned.

“Oh, sorry. I’m fine. So after those few years have passed, what happens to all the secrets you’ve learned?”

“No worries. Anything you’ve heard as a slave is kept tied up by magic, so even when you’re released, you’re literally unable to talk about it.”

Wow, with magic? Having a slave is a lot more appealing now…not that I could get one if they’re too expensive.

Eventually, we arrived at the washhouse.

“Here we are,” Rattloore said. “Wow, it’s packed today.” The washhouse was filled with people doing laundry. Now that I knew many of them couldn’t use magic, seeing them felt a little strange. People I’d thought were nonexistent were right before my eyes. 

“Do you know how… Hey, Ivy? You there?”

“Ah!” I gasped. “There are so many more people than I expected, I was just surprised…”

“Ha ha ha! That’s fair!”

All these people probably weren’t totally unable to use magic, but there were still many more than I’d expected. I looked for an open spot and scrubbed my own clothes. The buckets here seemed to be magical items—when I dumped out the water, it automatically refilled. Rattloore laughed at how excited I was to be using a magical item for the first time. I had a whole sack of dirty clothes to wash, so it took a while. Once everything was squeaky clean, I put the wet clothes in a basket I’d brought.

“All done? Nice work.”

Ah! I was so focused on washing that I forgot he came with me. And about the bait thing, too…maybe I feel a little too relaxed when Rattloore’s around. I’d better get my head on straight.

“Sorry for making you wait,” I apologized.

“All good! We’d better find somewhere to dry those. Let’s head back to the plaza.”

“Okay.”

As we strolled along, I asked him about the shops and other businesses in town. He knew a lot—this was his home, after all. He seems extra knowledgeable about sweet shops. Now that I thought about it, he was really excited about that milkpud yesterday.

We passed a whole crowd of people streaming into a building with a cross on the roof. A church—one just like this had changed my life forever. I’d avoided them ever since. As we walked by, I looked away carefully. I hoped no one would notice me.