Volume 2 - CH 173

I was walking down a road I used to take.

I remember that I used golem to make snakes around here and made them climb up to a high place to find what I was looking.

At that time, I felt deeply anxious because I could not find what I was looking for no matter how much I kept walking and walking.

There was no way that would be the case the second time it happened.

Relying on my memory of about two months ago, I was on my way to Dolce, the slave trader.

Since I had said that I would see him again, I have to tell him that they are alive and well.

I remember well that he was giving his last words, thinking that Lequam was going to kill me for sure.

I thought he was totally rude, but he actually tried to kill me, so I can’t complain about it.

While I was thinking about that, I found my destination.

The dome-shaped tent stood out quite well, but I was a little worried about whether it would be here or not, since such tents are sometimes relocated, but it seemed that it was still in the same place.

I walked up to the tent and went in through the entrance.

As usual, it was dimly lit inside.

The candles that are lit are a bit creepy, but well, it’s a slave dealer, so I guess it gives off a certain atmosphere.

“Dolce! Are you there!?”

“Whoaaaa!!?”

Oh, this is bad. I shouldn’t have shouted so loud here.

Afterwards, I heard a number of loud chain noises coming from behind the hanging curtains.

Slaves are generally timid, so it was not a good idea to agitate them. ……

I remembered after I shouted, …… well, I’ll be careful next time.

After a while, the sound of those chains calmed down, and when it was finally quiet, Dolce came out looking tired.

“We- welcome.”

“My bad.”

“No, no, you are a first-time visitor, so I think it’s understandable. But next time you come, please don’t raise your voice and call us with the bell there ……”

“I ain’t no first time. Or else I wouldn’t know your name.”

“What?”

Then Dolce started staring at me with a strange look on his face.

After staring at me for a while, he finally realized who I was and his eyes widened and he shouted.

“Ah! The customer from that time! You are alive!”

“What nonsense. Of course I’m alive.”

Dolce approached me at once, tightly clenched both hands, and waved them up and down several times.

It was impressive that her expression was not a bad smile like that of a slave trader, but a genuinely happy smile.

Immediately urged to take a seat, Dolce extinguished the candles and recited the silence of skill.

It seems to me that this is a series of movements during a discussion, or that the movements have been more sophisticated than in the past.

Dolce prepared tea and sweets, and Dolce also sat down facing me.

“Well, it’s been a long time, hasn’t it?

“It’s only been a couple of months, though.”

“No no, it’s been a long time. Well, …… but I’m really glad ……”

“You, are you still doing that?”

“Yes, I’m still doing that. I’m helping to run an orphanage right now,……. I’m trying to keep the children who come to our place for the time being.”

Yes, Dolce is a slave trader, but he is a slave trader who is against the enslavement of children.

It is quite common for children to be enslaved, but most of them are innocent and unwanted children.

However, child slaves seem to be very popular, and slave traders other than Dolce probably buy and sell children on a regular basis.

Dolce seems to be trying to do something about it, but it seems to have been a difficult task, as trying to avoid selling the most popular children is next to impossible.

Dolce is now helping to run the orphanage and seems to be struggling to manage just the children who come into Dolce’s place.

However, the orphanage is still struggling to manage, and the current situation seems to be that it is getting harder and harder to keep going.

“…… how difficult things can be.”

“There are …… limits to what I can do on my own. ……”

“Is that the best way to do it …… after all?”

“Yes. There is no other way but to change the law.”

The best solution would be to make a law that says no child slaves are to be allowed to be made, but this would probably require the signatures of all slave traders to make it happen.

Moreover, this is not the only place where slave traders exist.

There are slave traders in other countries as well, and I am sure there are places where children are commonly traded.

And what will happen to the children who are being traded now?

We would have to go around to all the nobles and places that use slaves, asking them to return the children in return for money, etc.

The more I think about it, the more daunting the task becomes.

To put it in a nutshell…….

“Would that be impractical ……?”

“It would be. …… If even the royalty were aware of the current situation, something might change. ……”

“Aren’t the royalty aware of it too?”

“Well, I don’t know. The royal family does not use slaves.”

“Is that so?”

If you listen to the story, royalty is a very high-ranking people.

Therefore, they would never allow slaves of the lowest status to enter the castle or work there.

So they may not be concerned about the slaves and may not understand the current situation.

However, there is a concern that they may not want to get involved, so they do not really know what is really going on.

“Hmm, so for now we’ll just maintain the situation …… until we can find a solution.”

“I think that’s a good idea for now ……, but we need to do something about the orphanage.”

“Okay, you take care of that first. I’ll try to find a solution while I do my job.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

Since Dolce, who has been thinking about this problem for a long time, cannot solve it, this problem is going to be very difficult to solve, but since he said he would do it, there is no way he will do nothing.

After saying goodbye to Dolce, I decided to leave the store for the time being.

The sun is already setting because Maria wasted so much time, but …… I’ll do what I can do now and try to find out what I can do in the meantime.

It may be a very long-term job, but …… I’ll figure it out.