Chapter 596: Dealing With The Victims
I tied up all of the illegal slavers and dumped them in a corner, having used my healing spells to make sure none of them died.
Our purpose here wasn’t to kill them but to capture them after all.
Even the one that Lisa had stabbed with her knife was inflicted with a poison that was meant to cause a lot of pain but not take his life.
No, no. They aren’t alive because we were being compassionate. They’re alive so that they could be turned into criminal slaves after this, which would be a fitting end for these people.
That left us dealing with the people that they had captured and put into those cages.
I approached the big one that Aliesie had been thrown into, peeking through the bars of the cage.
Some of them looked hopeful while most of them were simply cowering and trying to stay as far away from us as possible.
“It’s alright, we’re here to save you,” I assured them.
Obviously pretty much all of them didn’t believe me and huddled even further to the back of the cage.
All except for Aliesie who was still fast asleep on the floor of the cage.
I’m surprised she could sleep through all of that without waking up, given how much noise we made during the fight.
Odeta grabbed onto the bars of the cage, ready to rip them open but I stopped her.
I have a feeling that if she were to do that, the people inside would start panicking and end up hurting themselves, each other or us.
“Aliesie!” I called out, trying to rouse the girl.
She made a small groaning sound but said nothing more.
I then materialised a stick using Shadow Forge and started prodding her with it through the bars.
She jerked awake and quickly scrambled back a few steps before stopping when she saw me.
“Good morning Aliesie,” I greeted her. “You did a great job in leading us here.”
She needed a moment more to recover before she seemed to remember where she was.
“Ah… Ah… You really came?”
I tilted my head at her, “Of course we did. We said we would, didn’t we?”
“I thought… I thought you were just throwing me away to get rid of me…”
Oh my heart, this girl is just too cute.
I nodded at the others who were still hiding in the corner, “Could you reassure them that we mean them no harm? They’re really scared of us it seems.”
She turned to look at her fellow caged fellows, pausing as though to consider what to say to them.
“Ermm… You can trust them?” She finally told them.
Why are you phrasing it as a question?
Obviously that didn’t help ease anyone’s worries at all and they were even suspicious of Aliesie now because of that.
Odeta let out a growl before grabbing onto the bars again, “Raaagh!! We’re doing this to save them! Why are they making this so difficult?!!”
She then proceeded to tear off the bars she was holding, creating an opening big enough for a grown man to fit through.
“Now there! You’re all free! Get out of there or I’ll drag you out of the cage myself!” The Amrap threatened.
Surprisingly, that threat worked and they filed out of the cage, all of them still shaken.
Then Emilia quickly took over and started organising them into groups and explaining the situation to them. How reliable~
I leaned over to Lisa, “Why are they so frightened of us though? Didn’t they see us beat up the slavers to rescue them?”
Lisa chuckled, “Oh Aster~ You are really cute~ Other illegal slavers can attack illegal slavers to steal their slaves too. I’m betting that these group of people were originally captured by another group of illegal slavers but this group killed them off and stole them away.”
“So even being an illegal slaver doesn’t keep you safe from other illegal slavers… I don’t get it, this seems like it’s more trouble than it’s worth. Why would anyone do this?”
“Simple~ Because there are people willing to pay exorbitant amounts of money for these kinds of slaves. Since the collar they are wearing aren’t normal slave collars that would also have some enchantments in place to protect the slaves, the owners could do whatever they wanted to the slaves and no one will be able to help them.”
“Eh? Like what?”
Lisa gave me a sad smile, “There’s tons of weird people with weird tastes out there, Aster. And they want to find ways to fulfil their desires even if it means that they have to hurt others to get it.”
Ahh… I think I know what she’s talking about… I just didn’t think that these types of people might be present here since sex was already treated so casually here…
I turned back to watch Emilia deal with the people we just rescued and it seems to me that they have finally calmed down. Some of them even seem to be celebrating their freedom too.
Well, looks like she managed to convince them that we were on their side at least.
I then shifted my attention to the slavers that we have still tied up at the side, “So what do we do with them? Take them to the local guard station or something?”
“Ah, I suppose we should tell someone I guess? They’ll most likely send more guards to round them up and then pay us for the trouble of getting rid of these pieces of trash.”
“Alright… Who is going to call them? Since I don’t exactly know where they are or what the guards here even look like…”
Emilia suddenly popped up beside me, “Don’t worry, I’ll do it.”
I gave her a look, “Not to be ungrateful or anything… But it sort of feels like you’re doing a lot more for them than usual… I think under normal circumstances, you wouldn’t even have bothered to talk to them like you did.”
Lisa smirked, “That’s because we get a reward based on how many people we rescued as well, Aster. And if she’s seen as the leader, she gets paid the most.”
Emilia made a face at Lisa, “Do you have to tell her everything?”
“Ehehehe~ If you think that I will pick your side over Aster’s, then that means you have not learned anything yet~”
The Nekomata rolled her eyes but said nothing.
I waved my hand at her, “It’s fine, I don’t mind though. I mean… You’re the one who knows what to do here right? Besides, it’s not like I’m in need of that much money anyway.”
“See? She said she doesn’t mind!” Emilia gestured to me proudly.
Lisa smirked, “Oh I never said she did, I just want to tell her about it, that’s all~”
“You really are nosey, aren’t you?”
Lisa’s response was to wrap her arms around my neck and pull me into a kiss, ignoring Emilia completely.
Even I understood that Lisa was indirectly telling Emilia that she didn’t care what she thought.
The Nekomata captain muttered something under her breath before leaving us, presumably to go look for the guards to inform them about what had transpired here.
Lisa waited until Emilia disappeared from sight before breaking our kiss, the Infrid making bedroom eyes at me.
“Ehehehe~ That kind of made me feel a little hot, Aster… Wanna go have a quick romp somewhere?”
I didn’t even get to answer before someone suddenly tugged on my arm.
Looking to the side, I realised it was Aliesie holding my arm, the girl looking a little shy.
“Tha… Thank you for rescuing me…” She muttered, almost like she was too embarrassed to say it.
I chuckled and patted her on the head, “It’s fine. It’s not like we weren’t getting anything out of this anyway. Did Emilia give you a way home?”
She nodded, “She said the guards would take care of us and… And that we will be able to get home.”
Well that’s convenient…
I thought Emilia might bring them all along on her ship until I remembered that she wasn’t planning on returning to it anymore after this, so she couldn’t return them on her own.
I doubt her crew could be trusted to take care of them once it was revealed that she knew they were plotting against her.
Aliesie poked her fingers together, “Umm… I still want to thank you… Umm… Will I see you again?”
I giggled, “Maybe. Be careful on your way home, ok?”
She nodded before running back to the crowd of people and blending in amongst them.
“Will the guards really return them home?” I asked Lisa.
“They should be assigning each of them to a caravan that would be heading in the direction of their hometown. That’s pretty much the best they could do under these circumstances.”
So it’s not like they would escort them all the way back to their homes huh?
I suppose it’s better than just leaving them out to dry or even ignoring their plight since it’s not like they have an obligation to do so right? They aren’t even the citizens of this country after all.
Whatever, if I were to be honest, it’s not really my problem in the first place. I’m just out here on a date with Emilia and my girls~
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