CH 148

We leave the conference room and bump into Drak and the other guys that were making money in front of the boss room.

They look surprised when they see us, and their faces twitch. I don’t know what they’re feeling exactly, but they’re trembling.

“S-Sora, right? We’re back just like we promised.”

The adventurers who spouted all that nonsense are behind him. I turn my attention to them, and they take a step away from us. I didn’t even use Intimidation.

“You’re late.”

It’s been quite a while since we talked.

I feel like their faces twitch even more when I talk to them, but whatever.

“The guildmaster is on the second floor, in the third conference room if I’m not mistaken. Go over there and explain. If you can’t find your way there, ask a receptionist.

Of course, you can lie about what happened, but you’ll pay later when we find out.”

This is very clearly a threat, but I don’t want any more trouble to fall on my lap, so I really want them to just tell the truth.

I was thinking about going straight home, but it’s past noon already. I figured we were going to be in there for a while, so I told them not to wait for us to get back to have lunch. That means there’s a good chance we won’t have anything to eat if we go back now.

Of course, they’ll prepare something for us if we say we didn’t have lunch, but that would take time, and I’d feel bad about making them do it.

Instead, Mia and I go to the stalls, and we decide to buy some sweets to bring home too. If I’m not mistaken, Chris and Rurika, or I guess I should say, girls in general in this world, like sweets too.

Mia tells me about a place built in an inconspicuous place, and that’s where we buy our sweets. It feels so natural to see her get excited picking them.

What really surprises me is that she already knows about places like this.

“Are you sure about this?”

Are you talking about the quantity? It’s fine once in a while. Are you worried because it makes you f… I sense that’s a dangerous question, so I stop. She knows that already, but she might get self-conscious if she hears it from someone else.

We have these tasty sweets, so I don’t want to spoil them for her.

It’s not at all that I’m holding my tongue for my own safety.

After that’s done, we go home.

We try to open the door, but it opens before we can.

Taliyah greets us and bows. How did she know we were here? Is she hiding a skill or something?

“Master, we have guests who asked about Miss Sera.”

“I see, thank you.”

So they reunited just as planned. As I get closer, I can hear people having fun talking.

“Master, welcome back.”

“Welcome back, master.”

“Welcome back big brother.”

They all say, and Rurika and Chris get up and thank me. They seem kind of nervous and distant. Why’s that?

“I see you’ve managed to meet again. Have you been talking a lot?”

“Yes, about all sorts of things. I hear I caused them a lot of trouble.”

Is Sera embarrassed? But she looks happy too.

“So… I want to talk about the future. Sera is your slave, isn’t she? How can we free her?”

Asks Rurika with a serious expression. No, it’s more like she’s pleading.

But it’s not like I want anything from them.

“I can free Sera if that’s what she wants. It’s not like I bought her because I actually want a slave.”

They make weird faces after I say that. Did I say something strange?

“But she told us you paid five hundred gold coins for her. You need the same amount of money to free a slave. Or at least that should be the case.”

“Even if the master says it’s not necessary?”

“Hum, maybe if it was agreed when the contract was formed… But…”

What was the contract like anyway? I feel like Mia’s was pretty inconvenient for her, but we didn’t fuss over the details too much with Sera. My intention was to free her right away.

No. I don’t remember the contract very well. I was so focused on buying her, that I didn’t think about what came next…

“Master, my contract states that you can free me at your discretion. But being a combat slave means I still need to earn half the amount you spent.”

“So you need to earn half that amount while exploring?”

So two hundred and fifty gold coins? I think we’ve made fifty gold coins so far, which leaves about two hundred. But I still have medicinal herbs and stuff like that I haven’t sold. What about those?

Apparently, it can’t just be the money we make while cashing out. It might be advantageous for the master, but it feels to me like it’s purposefully lowering the amount of money slaves make to keep them bound for longer.

“Then can you keep coming to the dungeon with us for a while longer? I think we’ll make more the further down we go. Ah, but we might end up having to move to another town.”

“Did you do something again?”

Mia laughs awkwardly at that question.

“Sorry. It looks like Sera is going to be under our care for a while longer. You can stay here in the meantime if you want.”

“…Thank you, but why are you being so nice?”

Asks Chris, sounding puzzled.

I don’t really know what to say.

“Because you’ve been so good to me too, of course.”

They seem even more confused.

It feels like we’re not seeing eye to eye at all. That’s weird… Ah, is it because of this?

“Eh? Sora?”

I take off my mask, and they look surprised. So that really was it. I made a new mask with a recognition obstruction feature, so this became a pretty efficient item.

I’m really proud of this one transmuted item.

“It’s been a while. I’m glad we could meet again.”

I say, and suddenly Chris jumps into my chest.

Are you that happy to see me again? I’m kind of embarrassed.

But then she starts crying. Are those tears of joy? She sounds like a kid crying.

Someone help.

I look at Sera, and she tilts her head.

Hikari… Doesn’t react at all.

Mia looks sort of troubled. Like she wants to say something but can’t.

“Hum, why…?”

I ask Rurika, but she’s crying too.

She notices the tears on her face and wipes them before speaking, sounding a little embarrassed.

“Hum, well… We met Siphon on the way here. We asked about you, and he said you died during a quest.”

I see. I get it now.

“That’s why she’s so happy to see you alive. M-me too of course.”

“It sounds like I worried you a lot. We’ll have to talk about that some other time.”

“Yes, that would be great.”

“Ah, Sera? Sorry, but can you take Chris and let her rest? She fell asleep.”

Did she get exhausted from crying? She started making sleeping sounds all of a sudden.

Sera holds Chris in her arms and takes her, with Rurika following right behind her.

That leaves us, so we start getting dinner ready. We finally reunited like this, so I might as well show them what I can do.