Volume 5 - CH ss - 1

Gossip: Sarah’s Curiosity 

Having been sold to the Tulle Slave Firm and rated as second grade slave, Sarah was given a clean and well-furnished room for herself. Even her meals are better than those of the servants of the firm. Although it is indeed a lot less than her previous daily life, there is nothing she can do as she still hasn’t got a master who could pay for her. All in all, Sarah wasn’t dissatisfied with her current treatment.

Although she is worried when thinking about where she is going to be sold to, she has a habit to stop thinking about things that she can do nothing about. And the fact that she is on slightly unstable grounds is nothing new to her.

“I guess this is better than being killed.”

Sarah muttered, remembering when she was sold.

That time, the wife of her master showed up and hatefully stared at her. If she could even hate Sarah, who had lost everything, she probably wouldn’t hesitate to kill Sarah at that time.

At any rate, at the Tulle Slave Firm, Sarah wasn’t only evaluated for her appearance, but also the etiquette and education she had learned over the three years.

“Your etiquette and education can be a weapon to help you. So be sure to take good care of them.”

These were the words of Tulle, the owner of the factory. And Sarah answered him with a simple ‘yes’, thinking that if it can become the factor to sell herself at a high price, she will make full use of them.

In the days of going back and forth between the store and the warehouse, Sarah was introduced to a youth who can’t speak. The youth was called Mouthless. Although she thought the way they named him was awful, she wasn’t particularly interested in it. Since then, Mouthless began to be the one to prepare meals for Sarah and pick up and drop her off at the store.

While spending time with Mouthless, Sarah realized that he never look at her sexually. And she didn’t think the youth wasn’t interested in women. But every time Sarah tries to get closer, Mouthless will pull himself back with a shy look on his face. And that reaction was fresh to Sarah.

Because she knew, any man would have given her a dirty look after seeing Sarah’s appearance and knowing her record as a former mistress. When she was still with her former master, some guests even tried to invite her with a blatant attitude.

The men who work at the firm are no exception. Fortunately, since the treatment of slaves are strictly ruled, she didn’t feel any danger toward her body. Still, it doesn’t change the fact that she felt some unpleasant gazes on herself. In the middle of such a situation, Sarah was interested in the attitude of Mouthless, who is attentive to women.

Mouthless was a hard worker. He did the job he was instructed to, and never tried to skip out. Besides, the meals Mouthless made are tastier than others.

“Mouthless-san, how could your meals be so delicious? Did you use some secret ingredients?” Sarah once asked.

Then, Mouthless silently shook his head. And tilted his head, as if saying that he didn’t even know the reason.

“I’m sure it was because Mouthless-san always made it with care. Thank you very much.”

When Sarah said that, Mouthless had a shy face and bowed his head many times.

One day, when Sarah opened the small window in her room, she found that Mouthless who brought her meals was looking into her room for a moment.

“A pretty good room, right? Apparently, they thought that if they lowered the standard of my living, the etiquette and education I’ve learned might rust, and those happen to be the factors that raise my price. Is Mouthless-san by any chance interested in furniture?”

Curious about Mouthless’ attitude, Sarah asked. And Mouthless shook his head in a hurry.

“Well then, are you interested in my room?”

When Sarah asked in a long breath, Mouthless shook his head violently and quickly left to escape.

“Looks like I teased him a little too much. But, Mouthless-san seems to be looking for something, I wonder what it is?”

A few days later, news about a large typhoon approaching the royal capital came. For that, repair work was being carried out at the warehouse. While being fed up with the sound of hammers that had been going around the warehouse all the time, Sarah was looking up at the sky from the window. From the window of Sarah’s room, she can see a narrow alley between two buildings. The sky beyond that was so clear that she couldn’t believe that a typhoon was approaching.

At that time, Sarah happens to see Mouthless enter the back alley. When Sarah stared at his figure while thinking, ‘Ara, what is Mouthless-san doing there?’, after checking his surroundings Mouthless opened his mouth. Immediately after that, a magical light covered Mouthless’ body.

Sarah was surprised that Mouthless can use magic. She thought that if he could do that, he should be able to live without having to work under the slave firm.

“Capable of using magic… Mouthless-san, I wonder who you truly are, fufufu.”

At this moment, Sarah looked like a child who found something she was interested in.

Sarah thought that Mouthless was probably looking for something inside the Tulle firm. She also heard that Mouthless was sent from another firm with which Tulle Slave Firm is now collaborating from other servants.

However, she still felt a little strange. She didn’t think that a spy would be so defenseless toward the opposite gender. Even the spy who served her former master  behaved without giving any openings to both men and women. The way they act was completely different from how Mouthless act.

“He really is an interesting person. Not being able to figure out his true identity made me want to explore it.”

Thus, Sarah began to think if there was a secret in the firm. As far as Sarah sees, the working environment for the servants was not bad. And she thought that the treatment of slaves, including herself, is also proper.

“And although he is too rough, Dent-san is not a bad guy. Even Tulle-sama seems to trust him… Come to think of it, I haven’t seen that brother and sister again.”

When Sarah was brought from Saltgar to the royal capital, she got acquainted with a brother and sister who happened to be in the same carriage as her. Sarah talked to the two frightened siblings and even asked the servant of the firm to give sweets to the two. At that time, she thought she would be together with the siblings until they arrived at the royal capital, but the brother and sister were transferred to a different carriage on the way.

The men in the carriage that will transport the brother and sister also wore a different color of coats. And the people of the Tulle Firm also seemed to try not to get involved with them as much as possible. That was exactly the only moment she felt there was something hidden ever since she was being taken care of at this firm.

She understood that both her and those pair of brother and sister are slaves. She didn’t know when and where they would be sold. So, including herself, Sarah had already given up regarding those matters. However, it was certain that she was worried about that brother and sister because of how the men wore different colors of coats to that of Tulle’s firm.

“I wonder where that brother and sister were taken? Let’s ask Mouthless-san next time.”

Sarah loosened her cheeks, imagining the reaction of Mouthless when she asks that.