Chapter 75

“What was that?”

Kururu’s suppressed voice rang out in the room assigned to Iiria.

The Iron and Tide Inn seemed to be quite a high-class inn, and the most luxurious room on the second floor was Iiria’s room, large enough that even if the four of us lived and slept there, there would still be space left over.

Of course, Gerario and I were treated as servants… well, not quite, but we had a rather cramped room on the fourth floor, where we had to lug our baggage up with considerable effort.

Even so, it was a sufficiently clean room, and in the first place, when Gerario got down from the carriage and saw the exterior of the inn, he was somewhat at a loss for words.

Since the inn’s proprietor had come to welcome us in a carriage, he had apparently let his guard down, assuming we had simply been assigned some random inn.

The Bax Company was properly spending money on us.

Or perhaps money on the level of putting us up at an inn like this was mere pocket change to them.

“What was that, you ask? So you really didn’t know after all.”

Gerario, who had plopped himself down in a luxurious chair upholstered in woolen cloth or something of the sort, had a look on his face as if the luxurious furnishings themselves displeased him.

In reality, the battle-hardened adventurer who suited dust and sand looked out of place in this room.

“It’s the slave trade of beastfolk. It’s mostly fallen out of use in the center of the empire, but it’s still active in the frontier.”

“I know that much. That’s not what I mean…”

Though she said that, Kururu, lacking the means to turn her own violent emotions into words, took a deep breath and bristled her beast ears.

Beside her, Iiria was sitting on an unusually low chair with no backrest, looking fed up.

“Iiria-chan, that’s not a chair for sitting. It’s the thing you put your foot on when you put on your shoes.”

“Huh?”

It was probably like someone who did not know table manners drinking the tea in a finger bowl meant for washing their hands.

Both Iiria and Kururu had lived lives where they were nobles in name only.

Even the mansion in Jirenu Territory was merely a large building, while its contents were truly common.

“Since Jirenu Territory has a lot of free beastfolk, I guess you couldn’t imagine what things were like outside the island.”

Gerario likely did not intend it that way, but Kururu apparently thought she had been mocked for being ignorant of the world.

Her tail wriggled in dissatisfaction.

“Want to buy a few and free them? It’d be a drop in the bucket, though.”

And even if they did something like that, it would only enrich the slave merchants.

“Do you understand now why I said Tsatsaru was being held hostage?”

Gerario looked at us and smiled wearily.

Indeed, if the outside world was this merciless, Jirenu Territory would be paradise.

“Jirenu Territory is balanced just right. It’s too small in scale to be profitable if they stationed several magicians there just to make beastfolk slaves work, and since it’s an island where humans have nowhere to run and can’t expect immediate support, using beastfolk slaves without magicians would make a rebellion frightening.”

Thanks to that, it was full of free beastfolk.

Come to think of it, Gorgon had also said something about ending up there in search of a place where he could live in peace.

“I love that carefree territory of yours. Let’s hurry up, finish our business, and go back to our paradise.”

He said it deliberately lightly, which was Gerario’s way of being considerate.

The more decent Iiria and Kururu’s sensibilities were, the more painful the state of this town would be.

“You’re right… We can only do what we can.”

When Kururu said that, Iiria nodded as well.

“We’re going to hire civil officials who seem like they’ll help us, right?”

“I also want books on magic circles.”

“And then there’s the search for the girls who left the island because of Nodon and the others.”

There were surprisingly many things to do.

“Turn down every marriage proposal from the Bax Company. No matter how good the terms are.”

At Gerario’s added remark, Iiria laughed as if it tickled her.

“It’ll be all right.”

“Will it really? I’ve seen plenty of country princesses who say that, then get easily tricked by some smooth-talking, sophisticated-looking noble bastard.”

“Do not lump Lady Iiria in with those ordinary women.”

I wanted to say that Kururu was there as a chaperone too, but if Iiria fell head over heels for someone, Kururu would probably help her romance along even while making a bitter face.

“Also, try on your clothes at least once. Put on all the accessories too. And if possible, have that proprietor, Ostro, look at you.”

“?”

To Iiria and Kururu, who looked puzzled, Gerario spoke with an utterly exhausted expression.

“Iiria-chan, have you already forgotten what you mistook for a chair and sat on?”

A rude, ill-mannered country bumpkin.

If she was looked down on at the Bax Company’s banquet, it would affect later trade.

Iiria and Kururu both realized that, and nodded toward Gerario.

The sight of them really did look like students from a girls’ school club and their coach.

“You’re looking like this has nothing to do with you, but Yorinobu, this means you too.”

When Gerario said that, I hurriedly straightened my back.

I did think that I was technically a former working adult, but the etiquette of high-ranking people was not necessarily the same as in my previous world.

“Good grief… What would have happened to you people if I weren’t here?”

I had no answer at all, but Kururu seemed to be different.

“That was already true when Yorinobu came. It’s too late to talk about that now.”

If he had not put the absurd idea of defeating Nodon into action, Iiria and the others would still be trapped in Jirenu Territory even now.

Kururu had the strength to squarely affirm the good fortune that had happened to them.

Gerario raised his chin slightly and snorted with a laugh.

“In the end, surviving on a battlefield comes down to luck too.”

“In that regard, we are fairly lucky.”

The strength with which Kururu said that so decisively made it easy to see why she was Iiria’s emotional support.

“I’m somewhat uneasy, but it was much the same when I first teamed up with Tsatsaru and Balan, so is this just how it is?”

Those words caught Iiria and Kururu’s interest.

“Come to think of it, we’ve never heard your story.”

“Indeed. What kind of reason allowed you to become such close companions?”

Pressed by the girls, who were full of curiosity, Gerario regretted showing an unnecessary opening.

“Hey, Yorinobu.”

Help me.

I smiled a little and said,

“We’ll have time on the return ship too. More importantly, let’s change into the clothes and adjust them now. They may need tailoring.”

The puppy and kitten looked at me, complained noisily for a while, and then began preparing for battle.