Chapter 360

When the observer fired a signal flare that signaled the end of the battle, the escort troops waiting outside entered the territory and began to check things.

Is it to identify the damage and apply it to collect taxes later? I didn’t listen because it was something I didn’t have to worry about. Anyway, me, Earl McKellen’s son, and the witness were in a three-way meeting, so even if I didn’t listen, there were enough people who listened.

“...That’s why. This is Eldmia Ega, the reparation money the McKellen family pays to you as a result of a fair duel.”

The pockets on the table brought by servants with sad expressions from inside the castle were thick. Since I watched the process of checking the contents of the witness from the side, I briefly nodded my head and took the jewelry bag called Compensation Money in my arms. Earl McKellen’s son, whose name he did not know whether he had been liberated after crying for a long time, just quietly watched the process with an infinitely calm face.

“From now on, the McKellen family and the estate will not take any retaliation, and this will be kept in the name of the Caldra royal family.”

While saying that, the observer also handed over a document with the royal seal on it. Not enough teeth, horn fragments, and daggers, so I thought I’d put the certificate in my pocket. I won’t be using this anyway, so I’d better keep it aside when I get home later.

“...Can I ask you one question?”

McKellen Jr., who had been quietly watching me fold it properly and put it in my bosom, looked at me with lifeless eyes and said, In fact, it was the first time he had spoken since sitting here, so he nodded, wondering what he was going to say, and Junior, who hesitated for a long time, opened his mouth slowly.

“I wonder if this wouldn’t have happened if my father hadn’t targeted you.”

“It must have happened someday. Rather, in a much larger form than now.”

“...why do you think so?”

“You got your hands on the business of touching elves.”

‘Unjust’ enslavement is illegal. Slavery is legal in this world. It is also a big factor that slaves are the main commodity of the huge desert kingdom located across the sea right now, and it is because they have not yet escaped the advantages of cheap labor called slaves.

Even though I’m reincarnated, I’m definitely a person from this world, so I have no intention of simply ignorantly criticizing slavery and starting a slave liberation movement. It’s a matter that time will solve.

But elven slave traders are different. From the moment Asilier appeared in my life, they are mere monsters that must die at the hands of my visible family. Of course, the same goes for those who benefit from or support them behind the scenes.

There was no need to explain everything, so when I explained it in moderation, a strange light began to shine in McKellen Jr.’s lifeless eyes after hearing my answer.

“...because it’s wrong?”

“No? Rather, it’s because an acquaintance of mine is an elf, and that acquaintance was unfairly captured by a slave trader.”

I wanted to make sure there was some absurd misunderstanding, so I replied casually, and his eyes went blank again. He even seemed a bit perplexed.

Surprisingly, no voices worried about his death came out, perhaps because of the appearance he showed while accompanying him for a short time. Celebian, realizing this belatedly, realized that he, like them, hadn’t thought that Eldmia would die even though he could come back with a bit of damage, and burst out laughing.

At the same time, a ray of light shot into the sky from afar. It was the signal flare the witness said.

“...Is it over?”

Seeing that the people of the royal family who had been waiting outside were heading to the territory, it was certain. Some of them approached Celebian and asked for Oswal’s handover, and he gave Oswal some money as he had heard from Eldmia and handed them over to the people of the royal family.

Oswal, who was threatened with his life and then taken prisoner, and who even wrote a document under duress and received payment for his labor, disappeared into the manor with the people of the royal family, wearing a complex expression of the world.

And before long, Eldmia Ega walked out of the city.

“...I’m fine.”

“...you’re fine.”

Compared to before entering the city, it was dirty with blood and dust. His face was also slightly tired, and he even yawned for a long time as if he was really tired, but he could see that he had no trouble walking. The figure of Eldmia walking around with her long ax handle hanging around her neck like a clothesline and her hands raised on top of it was more like a woodcutter who went to the woods and came back than a grown-up who had fought with Yeongji.

I couldn’t even believe it when I saw it. He really won the duel against Yeongji and came back alive and well.

“Really, Asillie... You’re hanging out with a great human.”

The fact that they had witnessed, even indirectly, a great event that would mark a major milestone in the history of the Western Kingdom, the elves burst into laughter without saying who said it first. You mean that such a person will later marry Asillie?

“If Mr. Asillie asked that friend, wouldn’t the hunters in the north dry up?”

“It’s amazing how such an absurd story feels so real.”

When her eyes met from a distance, Eldmia lightly waved her hand at her insignificant attitude, and Celebian finally burst into laughter. He was able to laugh at ease just because he didn’t have to tell Asilier that your future mate died in a duel with Yeongji.

“You look tired. How was the McKellen estate?”

When the distance got closer to a certain extent and I asked a light question, Eldmia stopped walking for a moment, then rolled her eyes and pondered. It wasn’t a very long time, but the Celebians and the elves wondered how he would evaluate the city. Shall I say I was strong and respect it? Or will you laugh at me for being lousy?

After thinking for a while, Eldmia shrugged her shoulders slightly and answered as if it was not a big deal.

“It’s a town with a strong sense of pride.”