Chapter 593: There's Illegal Ones Here Too
I finished off the last of the sweets and I realised that everyone was staring at me.
“Err… Is there something on my face?” I asked, feeling a little awkward that they were staring at me so intensely.
As though my words broke them out of a spell, they looked away, suddenly more interested in the half eaten sweets in front of them instead.
Hmm… I’m pretty sure I ate more sweets than they did so how did I finish my sweets faster than them?
That was when Lisa scooped up more of her cake and offered it to me with a sly smile, which was then followed by Delmare and Odeta doing the same thing. Oh wow, even Emilia?!
Oh my! Did you save part of your sweets just so that you can offer it to me?
Waaahhh!! I love you guys!! Om nom nom!
Unfortunately, all good things must end and we were soon out of sweets.
At least I’ve eaten enough sweets to feel absolutely satisfied.
Oh wait, that reminds me…
I turned to Odeta and the rest, “So what are you girls doing after this?”
I already knew that they planned to eat sweets with me from what Emilia told me but I wanted to know if they had anything else planned for the day.
Odeta shrugged, “We were really just planning to–“
Lisa quickly covered her mouth, “Actually, we wanted to walk around the city since it’s our first time here! We don’t have an exact location in mind though!”
“Oh, in that case, do you want to join us?” Emilia suggested.
“Of course!” The three of them answered together.
I guess it still ended up with them accompanying me huh?
But… Hmm… I’m a little worried that if I were to go out like this, people might make the connection that Aster and Lady Nilm are the same people if they were to see them with me.
I already figured out that the maid uniforms they wore had some kind of enchantment that prevented them from being recognised, which was how Katsuki could still stay by my side when I’m assuming either identity without anyone realising.
But now, they weren’t wearing those uniforms so this might be a problem…
As though reading my mind, Lisa grinned at me, “Don’t worry Aster! Mother in law had expected something like this to happen so she gave us these in preparation for this!”
She then dug out a mask and I almost thought that was another [Mask Of Impossible Identity] until I realised its design and shape was different.
I used [Screened] on it.
[Mask Of Disguise – One time use item that would change how the wearer looks. Will break after wearer takes it off]
Oh, so it’s like a discount Somatomancy except you can’t control what you change into and it’s only just an illusion?
Good enough I suppose.
The three of them then put on their masks and I could see the changes taking effect immediately.
Lisa had turned into her Mahun form as though she had used her own ring that disguises her except her hair had changed to a dark blue colour and her skin was a little more tanned.
Odeta was still obviously an Amrap but her face changed to be more round and her hair also changed to a dark green instead.
As for Delmare, the mask had changed her eyes and hair to turn brown while her facial features became more sharper and angled.
Interesting…
I suppose that as long as it works…
The five of us then left the building after confirming the effects of the masks, Lisa and Delmre practically glued to my sides as they hugged my arms.
Since we didn’t have a destination in mind, we simply just let our feet carry us and window shopped as we walked.
While we were looking at the display of a particular jewellery store, I spotted a peculiar sight.
There was a young collared Mahun girl running through one of the back alleys and that wouldn’t have been something that caught my eye if not for the obvious fact that she seemed like she was attacked and was even bleeding.
I know that unsold criminal slaves aren’t treated well but I don’t think they would let them run around in the first place either?
And even assuming that she was a criminal slave, I don’t think she would be able to run away like that right?
She even had that desperate look on her face and was running as fast as she could despite her injuries.
Delmare tugged on my arm, ‘Did something catch your attention, Aster?’
I wanted to say that she was the one who caught my attention but decided that would be too cheesy.
Instead, I just went with the truth, “There’s a slave running away over there.”
Emilia frowned, “A runaway slave? And here I was expecting them to have improved their standards at least.”
I pointed at the alley, “Should we follow then?”
The Nekomata grinned, “Now you’re speaking my language! Of course we should!”
Eh? What?
She must have noticed my confused expression because she proceeded to explain, “If we capture and bring back a runaway slave, the owners would definitely reward us! And if it belongs to a store around here, they would definitely pay a hefty sum to keep us quiet since having a runaway slave would be a big hit to their reputation.”
I should have known that was the reason…
Odeta laughed, “Wahahaha! Why not? This sounds like it would be fun!”
Lisa also giggled, “Hey~ Maybe we can get ourselves a new toy to play with as well?”
Delmare quickly scribbled in her note book, ‘Maybe that girl was in trouble? We should help.”
Well regardless of their motivations, it seems like everyone was in favour of taking a look so I suppose it’s settled.
All of us went down the alley and followed after the slave. It wasn’t really difficult to follow her since she left a trail of blood for us to track her with.
Despite her wounds, she seemed to be really nimble as she had vaulted over some obstacles and even climbed over a wooden fence in her escape.
But it was clear that she was slowing down as we could hear her stumbling around ahead of us even before we saw her.
We found another fence that we had to climb over and we saw her limping down the alley on the other side of it while clutching her side.
She looked back and her eyes widened when she saw us hoping over the fence, the girl trying to speed up but failing as she stumbled forward and fell face first onto the ground.
Emilia immediately pounced on her and prevented her from trying to get up, the Nekomata letting out a laugh of triumph before suddenly falling silent.
When I caught up to her, the slave girl was letting out sobs and pleading with Emilia to let her go home while trying to scramble out from under her.
“Please!! Please!! Just let me go home!! I promise I won’t say anything!! I just wanna go home!!” She cried.
Emilia was being unusually quiet so I went to her side, “What’s wrong?”
She got off the girl and pulled her up by the scruff of her neck, revealing that the girl was probably around fourteen or sixteen at most.
The Nekomata pointed to the collar on her neck, “That isn’t a slave collar… That’s just a normal metal collar strapped to her neck.”
I tiled my head at her, “Err… What does that mean?”
Lisa appeared beside me, “It means we have illegal slavers around here trying to sell illegally captured slaves.”
The girl quickly quieted down when she heard us, “You… You aren’t with those people who took me away?”
Emilia shook her head, “We thought you were a runaway slave. Guess you’re not. Where are you from?”
The girl sniffed, “I… I’m from Sands Border Town… We were visiting Dufranal Market when I was taken from my family…”
“Definitely illegal slavers then,” Emilia sighed, dropping the girl to let her stand on her own feet. “Fine, this isn’t a complete loss. We can still get their spoils if we were the ones to find and wipe them out. Do you remember where their hideout was?”
The girl hesitated, “I… I don’t know… They were transporting me and… And some other girls as well when my chains got loose and I ran away… Then they shot me with an arrow…”
Oh shit, I just remembered she’s still bleeding.
I crouched down in front of her, “I am a healer, let me take a look at it.”
She nodded and I pulled up her shirt to see the hole in her side and winced. The girl must have pulled out the arrow as she ran, that’s the stupidest thing you could do…
I set about healing her while I let the others decide on what to do.
“Let’s just go get rid of the illegal slavers.”
“I agree, those bad people need to be crushed!”
“Mmm… I agree as well.”
‘I don’t like them’
Oh… I guess it’s already decided that we would wipe out those slavers. That was fast.
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