chapter 42

Now then, I’ve come back, but things are clearly strange .

There is nobody in the inn . There is nobody around either . Dalia and the ojii-san too .

……well, thinking normally, since something was put into the food, the ojii-san that probably made the food is guilty, and then, Dalia-san who introduced us to this in is a grey endlessly close to black .

And, well, everyone is also not here . Are they okay? I know that Hagasaki-kun is in a situation he can sing, but that doesn’t guarantee he’s okay either .

Everyone also ate that spicy stew, so they probably slept, but I have no idea what happened to them then .

also kidnapped?

For now, let’s think along the lines of, they are looking for me .

In that case, the culprits are clear this time, so they should go after Dalia-san or that ojii-san .

But when they woke up, if the two of them were already gone .

……if it was me, I would go to where the slave traders are .

where is that?

And so I’ve come to Deichemoore . I’ve come to the pawnshop first . Actually, like the inn just now, it’s a good thing there’s nobody . It would be troublesome if I was seen [teleporting] .

then be more careful

“Excuse me . ”

“Nna!? Why are you here!? I heard you were kidnapped . ”

O, oh? How fast news spreads .

“Who did you hear that from?”

“The knight-sama you came with before and a scholarly nii-chan . ”

Hm, Toriumi and President?

“Where are those two people now?”

“No idea, after checking whether you ended up here, they rushed out . ”

“How far before was that?”

“Let’s see, the first time was yesterday afternoon . ”

……h—m? Why, does that mean only I’ve been sleeping an extra day?

Wait, first time? Meaning?

“After that, yesterday night, they came one more time after I closed shop . ”

“For what business?”

“……a—h, I think it’s fine if it’s you, kind of? But I’ve received hush money . ”

“Then information fee . Is 1 gold enough?”

I took out a gold coin I obtained earlier from my pocket and placed it on the counter .

“A—h, yes yes yes, got it . You all really are alike . ”

Birds of a father flock together, yeah, I understand .

strange people

“Err? The knight-sama and scholar-san came and sold 3 of those excavated dresses, then they bought [Tears of Truth] and [Sealing Manacles] with that money . Even though I had already closed shop you know? But when someone bangs on my door that much with such an expression even I would open up . ”

……e, err, that [Tears of Truth] and [Sealing Manacles], what are they?

When I showed a troubled expression, the uncle considerately explained .

“Ah, yeah, you wouldn’t know what [Tears of Truth] are . Here, it’s that . It’s something that makes you unable to lie for a while after drinking it . It’s due to [Lost Blessings] and it very expensive . Just 2 or 3 drops cost 100 gold . And your masters bought that . ”

I see, I don’t understand . I heard it before, but what’s [Lost Blessings] . And that [Sealing Manacles] he didn’t tell me about should be something I know……something like that?

Mh—m, but just with them buying truth serum, it’s hard to judge . I also want to know what [Sealing Manacles] are . But if I ask poorly, I feel like I will be digging my own grave .

……okay .

“Er, were my masters aware of those two names? Did they ask with different words……is there something like this, did they ask like that?”

It’s hard to believe that Toriumi and President would know something I don’t . Then, for the [Tears of Truth], they should have said “give us a truth serum” or something .

And that was a bingo .

“Ah, yeah . Err, for the [Tears of Truth], they asked if there was a tool that could make someone unable to lie, so I got that out . ”

“For the [Sealing Manacles]?”

“The [Sealing Manacles]……er—r, what was it……ah, yeah yeah . If I remember correctly, at first they ask for a tool that made [Skills] unusable, but when I asked what that [Skill] was, it seems to be a word from that knight-sama’s hometown that means [Magic], so I got out the [Sealing Manacles] . Mhm . ”

……hm? I feel like I just heard something very important .

Could it be, could it be……in this world, [Skills] did not originally exist?

Or rather, [Skills] and [Magic] are different?

cheat and balanced?

“Sorry, do you have the same [Sealing Manacles] you sold my masters?”

“Eh? Ah, I do . ”

“Could I take a look for a bit?”

When I tried asking, the uncle went into the back for a bit, then immediately returned with the manacles .

Hm . Okay, experiment .

“……can I try putting them on?”

“Yeah, I don’t mind but……isn’t that too careless?”

……oh yeah . I’m a stray slave right now . Dangerous dangerous . It’s a good thing this uncle is an honest man .

“……can I also borrow the key beforehand?”

“Ah, yeah . ”

After confirming the key matched, I tried putting the manacles on myself .

Okay, like this, [Appraisal] . ……no particular problems with the manacles . Nothing happened . Does this mean, it didn’t activate as expected? Okay, then, [Appraisal] on my brooch . ……h, hm? [Increased Defense] properly came out .

……li, like this, in my own shadow so that the uncle cannot see, [Fire Magic] . ……I could light it normally .

What does, this mean……?

dysfunctional goods?

……mhm, I can only think that [Skills] really are different things from this world’s [Magic] .

Mhm . Thinking about it like that, the puzzle pieces start to fit together .

Things match for the [Lost Blessings] too . Only left in ruins, relics of the past . Things that have been lost by now .

That’s why that uncle bought just a dress based on just the [Possibility] that there were [Lost Blessings] . Without even checking what effects it had .

Because [Lost Blessings] are just that valuable and expensive .

Thinking like this, it’s immediately clear how valuable foreigners are .

Humans bearing extremely valuable [Lost Blessings]……humans that can use [Skills] .

especially the maid

I see, no wonder [Alive Grimoire] said [Pretend to be a person of this world] . Basically, our worth far surpasses the dress that is worth 500 silver each?

Actually, my (This world’s human) value was 200 gold, it exceeds that too right?

……we—ll, no wonder you would want to kidnap foreigners .

except they are strong

Now then, since I’ve somehow understood another of this world’s rules, next, next .

Question . Those people that rushed in in the middle of the night with extreme expressions, bought truth serum, manacles and went back . Furthermore, those people had their slave stolen . Now then, for what purpose would those people have bought those two for?

……I have no idea!

isn’t it obvious?

We, well, it’s fine, let’s calm down .

For now, judging from the point that the first time Toriumi and President came here was the evening, it would be reasonable to consider that they also slept . Meaning, once they realised I was stolen, they might first check the capital, but in the first place our connection to the slave trade is only this pawnshop . So even if they had to split up, it would be reasonable that there were people that came here first .

For that, even if they rode Ketorami-san at full speed, they arrived in Deichemoore in the evening .

And they came to confirm if information about me being sold had come here .

……what is important is that at this point, they didn’t yet need [Tears of Truth] and [Sealing Manacles] .

If they needed it at this point, they would have bought it along the way .

So, the next time they came, was at night . Since it was already night, it would be reasonable to think there was something that caused an urgent change in the situation .

Then they bought those two items with the money from selling 3 dresses .

If the prices of one dress is 500 silver, that should have been 1500 silver . Meaning, 150 gold . Then 100 of that disappeared into the [Tears of Truth] .

“Excuse me, these manacles, how much did you sell them to my masters?”

“Nn? That is the best ones . I got 40 gold total . ”

……total?

“Er, how many did they buy……?”

“4”

4 . ……mh—m, I’m also curious about it, but let’s put that aside .

At this point, the money they have left combined with the money from before, it would be roughly 60 gold . ……so it is not money meant to buy me back .

My price, the price given by this uncle at first was 90 gold . At the end he offered 200 gold .

The gatekeeper-san at the capital tried to buy me with 180 gold .

Considering that, 60 is definitely not enough to buy me back .

Meaning, they got a method to get me back without buying me .

Otherwise, they would definitely prepare the money to buy me back .

…they found people

And I also have information from my side . Those two men that got me out of the fire said something like [If the slave dies we lose everything] .

This could be taken as worth money=sell but……isn’t it logical to also think they used me as part of some deal?

Then they probably requested for something other than a ransom from everyone .

Then they rushed out at night, came here, whether it is that request or a counter-measure, I don’t know what they used the items for, but they bought them and left .

……hm .

Okay . I’m lacking……a—h, a bag, I guess?

???

“Er, I would like to sell these 3 rings and this ear rings, and also these 2 knives . ”

“Nn? ……ah, okay, mhm mhm……a—h……mhm . How about 13 silver altogether?”

Well, the rings and ear rings look cheap and same for the knives .

……in this case, who cares if I’m ripped off .

Then I took out the coins I had obtained from my pocket . ……leaving 1 gold as hush money, 1 gold, 7 silver and 13 copper . Okay .

“That is fine . Then, adding on these 18 silvers and 3 copper, please sell me a bag that women carry that is not that small, as close to that sum, as expensive as possible . ”

for what???

For now, I’ve purchased a bag . This store really has everything .

After thanking the uncle and offering a further 1 gold as hush money, I left the store . After confirming there are no gazes, [Teleport] . Back to the inn in the capital again .

……okay, nobody around . That’s good that’s good .

Then from here, let’s [Disguise] again . It’s better for Rosemary-san to not be spotted again .

Er—r, er—r, for now, mhm, that .

“Beco—me a brown haired green eyed busty white person . ”

I tried changing the colouring that I’ve seen the most in this world .

I thought of just going for some extreme colour like super pink, but I didn’t have that courage .

But as expected, the volume of my chest didn’t change . Why!

You can’t use the reason of the conservation of mass!

Then why would [Cleaning] completely ignore that!

it is fate

After confirming that I managed to [Disguise], I removed the apron and a maid’s standard head equipment . Along the way, I also removed the collar with [Cleaning] . If possible, I would like to remove this without erasing it……but can’t be helped, this is the characteristic of the skill .

Now then . My appearance is now inconspicuous but is a high-quality one-piece dress with embroidery along with a choker and accessories .

Like this, don’t I look like a relatively normal female citizen……is what I’m expecting .

Iya—, you can really see how important the headband and apron are to the maid uniform .

The bag I purchased is a sturdy one made of leather with fine craftsmanship on the clasp .

This is also quite high-class and without the collar right now, I don’t look like a slave……is what I would like to think .

At the very least, I think I look different from Rosemary-san . I would like to think that .

… . should be… . not maid after all

I kept the apron, head dress, dagger and the [Broadcast Room] that had been left in my pocket in the bag .

Now then, let’s go . For now……somewhere in front of the colosseum .