3 days ago, after I brought Miroslav back with me from Mount Skim, Larz thanked me repeatedly while his whole face was a mess from feelings of gratitude and relief.
He looked even more worn out than the other day; it showed that he had barely slept since I left to rescue Miroslav.
To him, this timeâs incident ended in a repeat of his previous failureââHe passed out at the very beginning just like in the battle against the King of Flies.
Not only that, his companion was once again in danger because of how useless he was. Iâm sure he has really been suffering inside.
After he made sure that Miroslav was safe and sound, he was happy to the point that it was like he had forgotten all the ill feelings he had towards me.
In contrast to Larz, Miroslav was very gentle and meek in the way she interacted with him.
The way she held his hands with a red face and tears in her eyes made her look like a young maiden in love no matter how anyone looks at it.
I wonder how many people could guess that she was the one who knocked Larz unconscious on the mountain that night if they saw that scene.
As someone who knows the truth, even I felt somewhat frightened by Miroslavâs acting.
However, it might be possible that her emotions were actually realââI thought that after I was reminded of what happened in the mountains.
After I talked to Miroslav on Mount Skim, I understood everything about what that red-haired magician is thinking.
I have no reason to go against what she wants since I have been wanting more soul suppliers other than Lunamaria.
Especially after I heard that she kept on killing monsters on the dangerous mountain for me.
The only conditionââor thing she asked of me was that she wants me to not mess with Larz anymore.
In conclusion, I agreed to it.
Thatâs because I had no intention to do anything to Larz anymore in the first place.
However, it would be a different story if he starts a fight with me.
Miroslav seemed to understand that as well. During an internal discussion of their party, Larz decided that he will be leaving Ishka.
âTo go back to the basics and start overâ was a reason that came out of Larzâs own mouth, but I suspect that Miroslav had something to do with it too.
Speaking of Miroslav, she split off from Larz and joined my clan, the ăBlood Spraying Swordă.
She told Larz that itâs to repay the debt she owes me for saving her life, and Larz seemed to be okay with it too. Well, rather than being okay with it, it was probably more like he understood that he wasnât in a position to say no to that. After all, he firmly believes that he was the one who put Miroslav in danger.
That being said, I still had some concerns.
Miroslav had a burning hostility against me all this time, but for whatever reason, she ended up joining me.
I cannot say for sure that Larz wouldnât feel suspicious about that.
Even if he doesnât realize that himself, the people around himââlike Iria, the guild master, or the guildâs receptionists could sense it and instill unnecessary things into Larzâs mind.
In that sense, Larzâs decision to return to his home village of Melte would not be good for me.
Thatâs because the village of Melte is where Iria is.
It wasnât that long ago that those two split off. Miroslav wanted to talk Larz into going somewhere else, but Larz told her âAs the leader, I want to let her know the full story myselfâ, so she couldnât do anything but nod back.
Miroslav apologized to me afterward, but actually, I was happy after I heard that Larz was going there.
Once he meets with Iria again, Iria will probably say something to him and theyâll make up with each other.
In the end, my goal of obtaining Iria might end up really far away, but I could also be getting something else in return.
As to what that isââfrankly, that would be Iriaâs mom, the villageâs priest.
Priest Sarah who I met at the village of Melte left a strong impression in my heart in many ways.
Itâs very common for a girl to take over her motherâs job. If Iria does that, that means the obstacles to recruiting priest Sarah to Ishka will be reduced by one, which would be great news to me.
I wondered if I should be the one to bring that topic up to her as well.
But itâs not like I can just ask priest Sarah to leave the village right away and move to Ishka. Although I have the achievement of saving the village of Melte from the poison, so itâs not impossible for me to take advantage of thatâŚBut it would be so low of me to make her feel like she owes me like that.
I have no intention to tie priest Sarah down with obligations. I want to do this with mutual consent.
For starters, how about I invite her to my home?
Since she cooked things for Clau Soras before, I should be able to invite her naturally with that excuse. Of course, I will invite those three children to come too.
Well, since we wouldnât be able to all fly on Clau Soras at the same time if I were to bring those children along, it would increase the time Iâll need to go back and forth and make it quite hard for me to come up with a planâŚbut whatever, I intend to take my time to lay the groundwork.
âââ
After the incident involving ăFalcon Swordă settled, what I took care of before anything else was Cielâs slavery problem.
One day, I paid a visit to the slave merchant Fedor with Ciel and Lunamaria.
ăThen I will take their slave collars off. Thatâs alright with you right, Sora?ă
The slit-eyed slave merchant double-checked with me in one of the rooms inside a building that belonged to theăUnionă.
In response, I nodded with certainty.
ăYes, pleaseă
ăUnderstood. Now thenââă
Fedor touched Cielâs and Lunamariaâs collars while muttering something.
Then, the collars that have no connecting parts to them just simply came off their necks.
Ciel, who was visibly nervous, blinked her eyes in surprise, and Lunamaria touched her throat with her hand like she did not know how to react.
Fedor had a radiant smile on his face as he looked at those two.
ăThe collars have been removed. Along with that, their names will be taken out from our unionâs list. Miss Lunamaria, Miss Ciel, congratulationsă
In response to Fedor who congratulated them in an exaggerated manner, the two had a speechless expression on their faces as they just nodded slightly.
Well yeah, they canât just be happy even if they were told âyouâre free from slaveryâ from a slave merchant. How distasteful that sounds.
As a note, the âtheir names will be taken out from the unionâs listâ part that Fedor was talking about is related to the collarsââthe slave collars that those two have been wearing all this time.
Iâve said before that their slave collars were enchanted by several magic spells.
When Lunamaria became a slave, the reason I made theăUnionă intervene was because I wanted the slave collars.
In the transaction, the benefit for me was the slave collars. Then what is the benefit for their side? That is the handling of my slaves after I die.
As to what that means, it means in the case that I die, my remaining slave, Lunamaria, will not be released but she will become the ăUnionăâs property.
Itâs exactly because of that benefit that they lent me their valuable slave collars.
As to why Iâm removing those convenient slave collars, Iâve already said before that it had something to do with Ciel. I thought that Cielâs resolve to let me eat her soul was influenced by the fact that sheâs my slave, so I could only release her from slavery to see if thatâs true.
And regarding Lunamaria, honestly, Iâm just releasing her while Iâm at it.
However, the fact that Lunamaria became a slave is still a thorn thatâs stabbing Larzâs heart. If I pluck that thorn out at this time, I think itâll sweep away all his hostility towards me.
Moreover, when I invite priest Sarah over in the future, if Ciel and Lunamaria have slave collars around their necks, my likability might greatly decrease.
Itâs possible that priest Sarah will say something like she wonât join a clan of someone who enslaves others. I want to avoid that.
I donât think Lunamaria will rebel against me after all this time, but I thought I could use the chance to eliminate that concern.
After I released those two from slavery, next was the preparations to welcome Claudia.
âAhh Iâm so busy so busyâââWhen I said that jokingly, Miroslav brought up something interesting.
She told me about how the royal capitalâs guild master wants to meet me.