Volume 4 - CH 11

Chapter 11 – Release From Slavery

The next morning, Kohaku appeared on the first floor of the inn with a sleep-deprived look on her face. She then went over to where Eto and the other two sat while rubbing her half-opened eyes. By the way, Sorano is just the same as usual.

After breakfast, Eto sent a letter to Tamara’s Slave Firm, asking him to release Kohaku. In the royal capital, when making such a contact, it was common to have an orphan or a child from a poor family to carry one’s letter and pay them with pocket money. Therefore, even in the inn where Eto’s party stayed, although there was no contract involved, there were children who were ready to take such a job. Thus, Eto asked a boy whom he knew to send his letter and have him wait for a reply. And in less than an hour, the boy returned with a message from Tamara, informing Eto that he can come to the firm anytime.

With that, Eto left the inn at 10 o’clock and headed to the slave firm. Incidentally, perhaps because of getting a little sleep after breakfast, Kohaku looked better than in the morning.

“Are you nervous?”

“Hmm. Somehow it doesn’t feel real.”

Kohaku, who walks with her eyebrows and shoulders slumped down, seemed to really have no idea what should she do. Even Amou had to support her shoulder.

“That’s because in the end, nothing changed between us. The only change is that what Kohaku can do has increased.”

“What I can do?”

“For example, after you are released, Kohaku can take Amou and Sorano to the guild to make a request. Although you do need my consent, I have no problem with that. Besides, if Kohaku wants, you can even go to school. You can learn how to read, write, do arithmetic, and even make friends with someone who is the same age as you. Even if you don’t want to go to school every day, I think you can also have them teach you while you are free after completing requests. Of course, it doesn’t mean you have to do that. To put it simply, you can have more choices in the future.”

“More choices, huh… I don’t really understand.”

Kohaku looked at the sky and muttered.

At any rate, while having such exchanges, they arrived at the slave firm and were welcomed by Tamara, the owner of the said firm. Tamara then promptly praised Eto’s party for their achievements of solving the stampede and the wyvern subjugation.

“Well then, is only one person being freed from the slavery today?”

“Ee. It’s Kohaku. Please take care of it.”

“When Eto-sama came here for the first time, I asked Eto-sama some questions, right? One of them being why Eto-sama wanted slaves to be members of his party instead of adventurers. Do you remember?”

“Yes, I remember it well.”

Tamara stared at Eto firmly. It wasn’t as intimidating as the Grand Master of the Adventurer’s Guild, but it was the eyes of a merchant who won’t miss even a slight change in Eto’s expression.

“Eto-sama answered that he wanted to protect himself with the slave contract. But today Eto-sama is going to release his slave. Does that mean Eto-sama’s concerns are gone now?”

“Well, who knows. But, I’ve been working as an adventurer with this party for more than half a year. And at the Goblin Stampede, we literally left our backs to each other, protecting each other. Hence, I judged, if it’s them, I’m sure we can have an adventure on an equal footing. Even if we fall into a crisis, I believe we can survive together.”

“I see…. That’s really, really wonderful.”

Upon hearing Eto’s words, Tamara laughed happily with deep wrinkles crinkling at the corners of his eyes. After that, the procedures for liberating slaves went smoothly without a problem. And then, just by chanting and holding her hand, Tamara easily erased Kohaku’s slave crest, leaving no traces.

“Errr, with this, I’m not a slave anymore?”

“Yes, Kohaku-sama. Since you already signed on the document, the slave crest is also successfully erased. With this, Kohaku-sama has been freed from slavery.”

Tamara replied with a smile on his face.

“Kohaku-sama… As expected, it feels weird to be called with ‘-sama’…”

Kohaku sighed deeply.

“This is Kohaku who has just been freed from slavery. Please treat me well from now on.”

Kohaku said with a cheerful smile, as if to put her previous feelings behind and move on.

After that, the situation became very troubling, as Amou suddenly started crying. Although surprised, Eto and the other three tried to calm Amou, but they failed to stop Amou who couldn’t stop crying. That was until Kohaku snapped.

“Dad! Kohaku hates crybaby! Just calm down already!”

Hearing Kohaku’s scream, Amou immediately stopped crying. But Eto understands that Amou, who had to sell his daughter alongside himself as a slave in order to pay his debt, must have been holding back his feelings alone all this time.