Chapter 66

Yuri and the others use [Transfer Magic] from a room in the palace of the Holy City of Farrata to warp into the city of the Principality of Selsia at once.

Yuri, Macaron, and Primula are the three members of the Yuri Empire side. On the side of the Holy Land of Nimun, it was Pope Altorius and his four guardian Holy Knights.

Unfortunately, it seems that the Saintess, Estoa, will not be accompanying us on this visit to the Principality.

The ‘Transfer Point’ was registered by Duke Drapon, so we didn’t know in advance what kind of place we would be going to. When I actually transferred, I found myself in a place that seemed to be the main street of the city.

Seeing Yuri and her group suddenly appear, some of the people around us looked at us with blatant surprise. Of course, there was no reason for me to respond to their stares.

“The capital of the Principality of Selsia, it’s quite crowded.”

The number of people overflowing the main street is just too many, and the whole area is very noisy.

I wonder if there are that many people living in the official capital of Dellane

“Four days from today is National Foundation Day. At this time of year, people come from the surrounding cities and villages to this capital city.”

“Oh, I see”.

After hearing Pope Altorius’ words, Yuri understood.

If it was a festival, then this bustle is understandable. Many of the people passing by indeed seem to be dressed up in slightly flashy costumes.

If you look around the main street, you can see stalls selling meat skewers and decorations. Indeed, this area may also have a festive atmosphere.

“The Capital City of Dellane is a rather long oval city with a palace at the northern end of the city where tonight’s party will take place. It’s a big building that looks a little far away.”

“That’s the palace of the duchy…… It’s a pretty good building.”

The Palace in the capital seems to be built on slightly higher ground, so you can see the building from anywhere in the city. You won’t get lost in the city because you can see the palace is “north”.

The dignity of the palace from a distance is far inferior to that of the palace in Yuritania, which was built by the members of <Kikyo>, but it seems to be a luxurious building in its own right.

Apparently, the duchy is quite a wealthy nation.

“What is that building to the south?”

Yuri asked, pointing to a building on the south side of the city, in the opposite direction of the palace.

It was smaller than the palace, but it was tall enough to be seen from a distance. The exterior of the building, which looked like a series of spires, reminded me of a certain world heritage site in Europe that I had seen on TV once.

“That’s the cathedral of the capital. While the palace is located at the northern end of the city, the cathedral is located at the southern end. Now―――I’m sorry, but we have some business at the cathedral. So shall act separately from now on?”

“Yes, that’s what you said. Then I’ll pick you up at the cathedral around the evening. Then shall I travel with you to the palace by transition magic?”

“I am grateful to you for that, but……”

“With so many people on the main street, it would be difficult to travel from the southern end of the city to the northern end. If it’s transition magic, you can move in an instant regardless.”

Of course, with the position of Pope Altorius, he should be able to get a carriage ready in the cathedral. The carriage should not be able to drive very fast if it were to pass through this crowd.

In that case, it would be better if Yuri went to the cathedral to pick up without any trouble.

“Thank you very much, Yuri-sama.”

“You can thank me one last time after I get you safely back to the Holy Land.”

I don’t like to be thanked too many times.

One show of gratitude at the end is enough for me.

I watched the Holy Land of Nimun group walk off down the main street toward the south.

Soon they were lost in the crowd, and the Pope’s back was nowhere to be seen.

“What will you do now, Princess?”

“Well, …… I want to register the front of the palace as a [Transfer Point] for now, so let’s go to the north side first. The three of us will take a stroll along the main street, taking in the stores as we go.”

“An exotic date, sister!”

“Yes, it is. Let me know if there’s anything you want and I’ll buy it for you.”

“Yay! I love you, sister!”

“I know”

With Yuri’s right hand intertwined with Macaron’s left and her left hand intertwined with Primula’s right, Yuri and the rest of the group toured the lively streets of the capital, Dellane.

The first place the three of us entered was a clothing store that had a rather large store on the main street.

Yuri had hoped that they would be able to spend a lot of time in this store. Despite her expectations, the three of them left the store in less than ten minutes.

“It wasn’t worth the money……”

“For a store on the main street, the level of sewing seems to be quite low.”

A few seconds after leaving the store, Macaron and Primula complain to each other.

It was good to see so many ready-to-wear readymades on the shelves, but overall, compared to the clothing stores that have set up stores in Yuritania, at first glance, the products were noticeably inferior.

If this is the case with a large store in the main street, it shows the level of the capital itself.

“I’m sure you’ll be able to understand the strength of Rubetta’s store when you see other countries’ stores like this……”

Yuri, with her breath, said so with no one else.

Yuri’s comparison of clothing stores in Yuritania is run by the Rostine Chamber of Commerce, which is chaired by Rubetta.

I have visited several times, but I remember that all the ready-made clothes lined up at the clothing store in Yuritania were expensive but good quality.

Compared to that, the products in this store were unbearable to look at.

However, the price of the products seems to be the same as that of the store in Rubetta’s.

After that, we went to restaurants and jewelry shops. Neither of the shops attracted much attention to Yuri and others.

The meat dishes served at the restaurant were far inferior to those served at any street stall in Yuritania. It costs more than twice as much as a stall.

Jewelry shops were not bad in themselves. It was also expensive, and the technology applied to the product itself was low, so it didn’t seem like it was worth paying for.

“The overall technology level of the duchy seems to be low.”

“I wonder if guild craftsmanship doesn’t work very well in this country.”

It is the role of the Craftsmen’s Guild to develop the skills of its craftsmen, but the Craftsmen’s Guild, which has a strong influence on a particular market, is also a corrupt organization.

Once an organization has begun to focus on making money, it is not easy to rebuild it.

I went into a few more stores, but none of them had any attractive products.

Since we didn’t stay long in any of the stores, we arrived at the northern end of the city, in front of the palace of the official capital Dellane, much earlier than expected.

Yuri records in front of the palace as one of the [Transfer Points].

This makes it possible to transfer to this place in an instant at any time.

Then she walked back down the main street to the cathedral south of the city.

On the way, we entered a liquor store and an ore store, both of which were relatively successful.

As I expected in a foreign country, they had an abundance of liquors that I had never seen.

We were allowed to taste some of them, but the liquor that resembled aquavit, with its strong potato flavor, was quite to Yuri’s liking.

For now, I buy about 10 kinds of sake in two barrels each and store it in three people’s inventories. If I had brought a <Nadeshiko> child with a large-capacity storage skill, I would have bought more.

Also, we were able to buy cinnabar at the ore store at a very low price.

It’s a material that’s often needed as an ingredient for intermediate-level medicines and elixirs, so the children of <Rindo> would be happy if we increased our stockpile.

After that, I continued to rummage through the stores on the street. Yuri and her friends suddenly came across a store that seemed to be unique for a shop on the main street.

“Sister……”

“You’d have to be an idiot to set up a ‘slave store’ in a major city.”

At the entrance of the large store, there is a sign that reads ‘Serago Slave Shop’.

Isn’t “slave” usually a more secretive business? At least I don’t understand the need to go out of my way to operate in a crowded place.

“Well, it’s an opportunity, so I think I’ll take a look.”

“…… What? Princess, are you going to enter this store?”

“It’s open for business, isn’t it? If so, I have some money, so we can take a look.”

Yuri’s “Crime Dress”, Macaron’s “Kohime’s Battle Dress”, and Primula’s “Lake Witch’s Robes”. All of them have enough style for noble clothes.

So when Yuri went into the Serago Slave Shop, as soon as he judged her to be a good customer, a person who seemed to be the manager of the shop came out and responded to me.

“What kind of slave are you looking for today?”

“If there’s anything on display, I just want it, so I wonder if you can show it to me from the higher one.”

“All right.”

Yuri and the others, guided to a room in the back of the shop, were then introduced to about 10 slaves brought by the manager.

It was all-male slaves, naked to the waist. All of them are men with trained bodies, and according to the information seen in the appraisal, the level seems to be about 25-35.

Prices range from 200,000 to 400,000 Beth. Yuri’s inventory contains enough money to buy everyone together, but honestly, I wasn’t interested at all.

“I wonder if you’ll show me the women, too.”

“Yes, please wait a moment.”

After leaving the male slaves, the manager brought in ten female slaves this time.

Unlike male slaves, this is not trained at all, and the level is about 1-13. However, all of them were women who were superior in appearance.

Prices range from 80,000 to 220,000 Beth, which seems to be cheaper than the previous slaves.

“Female slaves are much cheaper than male slaves, aren’t they?”

“Yes. Most of the slaves were sold from some families or villages to pay taxes. Men are more flexible as laborers, so they don’t have as many opportunities to be sold as slaves.”

“I see. I’m learning something.”

In the sense that it is easier to have them engage in physical labor, men are certainly better earners. It is understandable that the price of men, for whom the supply is low, would be higher and the price of women, for whom the supply is high, would be lower.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t have any particular slaves I wanted to purchase”

“…… Well, I’m sorry, but it can’t be helped.”

Said the manager, with deep regret.

The manager didn’t hide his disappointment, Yuri held out a leather bag taken from the inventory.

“………? Customer, what’s this?”

The manager, surprised by the weight of the bag, asked.

Yuri just smiled and answered the manager’s question.

“Inside the leather bag was roughly 200,000 Beth. It was no surprise that the bag was much heavier than it looked since it was filled with gold coins.”

“I’ll give you the bag for your trouble. Lastly, can you show me the cheapest slave in this store? I’m curious to see・・・・・・・・・・how cheaply humans are sold.”

Said Yuri, conscious of her psychopathic tone.

Of course, as long as the money was given to him, the manager could not resist it.

“I’m sorry to say that―――these ten will be the cheapest slaves in our product line.”

After leaving the room, the manager brought in ten slaves, all of whom were women.

The manager’s words about the smell being bad were nothing if not modest, and as soon as the ten girls entered the room, Yuri and the others could feel a slightly unbearable stench in their noses.

“………”

I don’t show it on her face. Seeing the teen girls brought in front of her, Yuri was inward―――very angry.

All of the girls that were brought out in front of her were very young. They were not given clean clothes, and all of them were clad in rags and tatters.

They were all very thin, and it was obvious that they had not been given enough to eat. Their skin was very dark and they smelled bad, so I guessed that they were rarely allowed even the bare minimum of wiping their bodies.

“As you can see, the one on the left is the most expensive at 6,000 Beth, and the one on the right is the cheapest at 2,500 Beth.”

“…… It’s very cheap”

“It’s a bad stock.”

In Yuritania, people in charge of cleaning street stalls are hired at 2500 beth a day. The cheapest slave is the amount that can be bought by their daily wages.

The manager’s words that told them that they were in bad stock must be honest. No child is clearly treated as a human being.

They were given nothing but rags and treated badly.

―――For Yuri, a homosexual lesbian, it was an unbearable and angry sight.

Needless to say, what Yuri loves the most is everyone in the Yuri Empire. But before that, Yuri tends to fall in love with anyone, regardless of age, appearance, or personality, as long as they are a woman like her.

The manager, who treated the young girls in such a way, could only arouse her hostility.

The shopkeeper tells me, bowing reverently.

The owner of the shop bowed reverently as he told me this.

“Hmm, ……. Could you please keep it here for another three days? I’ll be back to pick them up on the last day of the Founding Fathers’ Festival, so make sure they’re cleaned up a bit before then.”

“Yes.”

Yuri and the others left the store with a promise to pick up the ten girls at a later date, suppressing their anger inside.

The manager happily walked out to the front of the store to see Yuri and her friends off.

It was as if they had sold all the bad inventory they were having trouble getting rid of for 200,000 baht. From the manager’s point of view, Yuri must have seemed like a very good customer.

“What are you going to do, Princess?”

“I’ll kidnap all the ‘slaves’ of this city at a later date. There are plans to build a resort city from Kikyo, and I think it’s okay to have as many human resources as possible.”

I can use the magic of [Spatial Grasp] to mark all of the “slaves” in the city, and then kidnap them all using a forced summoning type of magic. This is something that can be done by Yuri, who is a <Bond Chain Master Etherlinker>.

I’m not going to pay for it. It’s a good idea to take away all the money in the slave store, including the amount I gave today.

Yuri doesn’t feel any resistance to taking everything, whether it’s people or money.

Because this is an enemy country…… This is the Principality of Selsia, the country that had fought against Yuri.

There is no need for Yuri to act conscientiously towards the people and stores of this country.