episode_0074

The crowd of people gathered around us, regardless of age or gender, and they all had very angry expressions and were holding things like frying pans, sticks, and farm tools.

Are you a family of those mercenaries? If that’s the case, it’s really troublesome…

“Everyone, can you calm down and tell me what’s making everyone so angry?”

“Why did you guys go into that house?”

A young Human woman asked a question in a threatening voice.

Oh, these people are angry because we went into Iris’ house on our own.

I’m glad it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with mercenaries.

In this situation, I think it can be resolved through dialogue.

“That’s why I stopped by because it’s the house where my lover lived when he was young.”

“What? Then that person…”

People listened to me and suddenly looked confused and started talking to each other, then turned their attention to Iris, who was hiding behind me.

And the oldest among them, the old man, dropped the club he was holding on the floor and took a few steps forward.

“Are you really Iris?”

The grandfather seemed to have known Iris well from the beginning, and extended his hand with a happy smile towards her.

Then Iris, who was hiding behind me and trembling, readily approached her grandfather.

It seems that the reason Iris was scared was not because she was afraid of people, but because she thought they did not remember her.

But looking at the current situation, it seems like there was no need for Iris to be scared in the first place.

Iris hugged her grandfather and expressed her joy at their reunion.

“Yes, it’s me. It’s Iris. Grandpa James, I really missed you!”

“Oh my God! It’s truly a miracle that you’re alive. We thought your whole family was dead.”

“My parents died and I became a slave, but this is how I survived.”

Although Iris revealed that she was a slave, she tried not to tell people what kind of slave she was by covering up her servitude with her outer clothing.

Well done, Iris. I don’t want people who have barely changed their behavior to be more friendly and start threatening to kill me.

If those people find out about the various insidious things I did against Iris, I think they will try to kill me right away.

“You’re so lucky to be alive.”

The grandfather wiped away his tears and was happy that Iris had survived, and the villagers standing behind him all put down their weapons and approached Iris.

Everyone said kind words to Iris, thanking her for surviving and saying that they were happy to see each other again.

Then Iris, with tears in her eyes, looked at the villagers one by one in her ruby-red eyes.

“Everyone remembered my family.”

“Of course! How much your family has done for us. Even though I am older, I still vividly remember the day when Dominic, Natalia, and you all worked hard for our village.”

The Dominic that my grandfather knows seems to be a completely different person from the Dominic that I know.

As a member of the Masked Man, Dominic is the one who killed numerous adventurers, kidnapped innocent people, sold them to the Birds of Prey, and then performed cruel biological experiments on them.

But here, he was just a good man with strong leadership who worked hard for the development of the village, and had nothing to do with crimes against humanity.

I felt a very strong sense of discomfort, and maybe it was the same for Laura, but the look in her eyes was unusual.

But Iris was probably the most distraught person right now, so we just stayed silent and listened to the conversation between her and my grandfather.

“Grandfather and others helped our family a lot. So I just repaid the favor. Besides, I wonder how much help it would have been if I were young.”

“You took the neighborhood kids around and decorated the whole town nicely. That’s enough at that young age. The trees you planted back then have now become one of the prides of our village.”

“I also saw it as I entered the village. We are so grateful that you remember our family even though so much time has passed that the tree has grown so much.”

“We don’t deserve your gratitude. Because your family’s precious home was neglected like that. Because of that guy’s restraining order, all we could do was chase away uninvited guests.”

Ah, I understand why these people came rushing in and gave off a threatening atmosphere.

In a way, it was an action to protect the house where the Iris family lived.

Even if it’s an action that doesn’t mean much.

“Who gave that order?”

“This is Baron Maxian. It was impossible to disobey the orders of the mayor. I’m sorry.”

“No. It was something that could not be helped. I’m glad everyone listened to my orders. That person is a really scary person.”

“Thank you for understanding us. But are those people your friends?”

My grandfather and the villagers finally showed interest in us.

I felt burdened by the sudden influx of people’s stares, but Laura seemed unconcerned.

“This person is my master, Rebecca, and this friend is Laura, who serves Rebecca with me. These people are really precious to me.”

Iris introduced me and Laura to the villagers.

Although slavery exists in a world, people who enslave their acquaintances cannot be viewed positively.

“Do you have any plans to liberate Iris? I will raise the cost somehow.”

“That’s…”

I couldn’t say anything.

I can’t answer that I can’t free you right away because all the benefits I gained from the servitude quest might be lost.

When I hesitated, Iris stepped forward instead.

“Grandpa, even though I am a slave, I don’t have any difficulties because of it. Rebecca does not discriminate against me, treats me as family, and loves me sincerely. So there is no need for my grandfather and others to suffer because of that problem.”

“Iris, are you serious about that?”

“Yes, thanks to Rebecca, I was able to escape the curse that threatened my life, resolve the issue with my father, and find my mother’s grave. So, no matter what my status is, I want to serve Rebecca for the rest of my life.”

“Then there is nothing we can do. Rebecca, please take good care of Iris in the future.”

“I will risk my life to promise you.”

I made a grand promise to my grandfather and the village people, even mentioning my life.

I had thought that way from the beginning, so there was no reason to pretend or lie.

“Iris, how about spending time here with the villagers? We’ll go to the meeting place by ourselves.”

“Is this really okay? If something dangerous happens…”

“Don’t worry. I’ll just watch the situation. And your friends want to talk to you a lot.”

I couldn’t help but be conscious of the gazes of people who seemed to be Iris’s age.

Iris also wants to see her friends a lot, so I want to give her enough time.

“Iris, I have the same thoughts as Rebecca. Don’t regret it later, just enjoy it now while you have the chance.”

Naturally, Laura had the same thoughts as me.

Then, even Iris, who had hesitated, accepted our will.

“Rebecca, thank you for always being considerate of me. Laura, thank you for always being there for me. Then I will continue to stay in this town, so I will meet you here again after work.”

“Okay, I’m having a good time.”

I hugged Iris and kissed her lightly.

Iris’s friends who saw us kissing began to question her about our relationship, and to avoid getting caught up in it, I quickly escaped the crowd with Laura.

I looked back on the way and saw Iris smiling at me while chatting with people with a really happy expression on her face.

I feel proud that I did a really good job of bringing Iris here.

“Rebecca, are you really lucky?”

“That’s right. I feel happy that all the nice village people remember Iris.”

“Me too. But at the same time, I’m really jealous of Iris. Because the people who would welcome me like that have completely disappeared.”

Laura’s face was smiling, but her eyes looked infinitely sad.

Like Iris, she lost her parents, but in a more terrible way, and her hometown was devastated by an attack by demons a long time ago.

Weighing grief is not a good thing, but it is no exaggeration to say that Laura has a more unfortunate past than Iris.

I felt really sorry for Laura because I felt like I only paid attention to Iris recently.

“Laura, these days…”

“Ah! sorry. I ended up talking about something gloomy on a good day for no reason.”

“No. I would feel that way if I were you. So don’t say you’re sorry.”

“I think Rebecca has a hard time because she is always considerate of others.”

“I only do that to people who are special to me.”

“That’s right. It’s okay for you to think of me as special, but please don’t hurt me too much. I want Rebecca to always be happy.”

Laura kissed my cheek and took a few steps forward.

This obviously means we shouldn’t talk about that topic anymore.

But I couldn’t just look at Laura.

I ran to her and took her hand.

Laura’s hands were clearly shaking, her shoulders were shaking, and she could be heard whimpering.

“You idiot. You are the one having a hard time.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I couldn’t show up.”

“What does that mean? You did nothing wrong.”

I hugged Laura tightly.

My heart aches to see so many people I love crying today.

I have to be strong-minded in order to be able to support them both.

Laura leaned into my arms and cried bitterly, shedding tears and snot, and only after a while was she finally able to calm down.

I wiped her messed up face with a handkerchief, stroked her hair, and smiled as kindly as I could.

“Laura, I swear here and there that I will definitely avenge Elkahim and restore your homeland. I believe that together we can overcome any problem.”

“I will do my best to assist Rebecca. I will actively do whatever Rebecca wants.”

“I think it’s enough if you just help me like you do now. Then shall we go again?”

“Yes, Rebecca.”

After kissing lightly, we walked down the street holding each other’s hands.

The meeting place Maxian had pointed out, Fountain Square, was located on the dividing line between the residential and commercial areas, so it wasn’t that far from here.

As the crowd got closer to the fountain square, the number of people increased, and the number of carriages also increased accordingly.

Since I had no intention of going along with the one-sided promise, I did not enter the fountain plaza right away, but went to a luxury restaurant located on a high floor overlooking it.

I think that monitoring from a place like that could make Laura feel a little better.

The restaurant staff seemed embarrassed by my sudden appearance without a reservation and accompanied by a slave, but they showed an honest attitude in front of enough money.

We were guided to a room with a full view of the fountain square, and thanks to this, we were able to observe comfortably without being watched by others.

After choosing today’s recommended menu, I opened the map window and waited for Maxian to appear.

However, even after the appointed time passed, Maxian was nowhere to be seen, and a human girl dressed in a robe clumsily appeared in the fountain plaza and began loitering around conspicuously.

According to the map window, the little girl’s name is Elena Paraine.

It is impossible for a person from the Paraine family to hide their identity without any reason and come alone to an area where commoners live, so it is clear that they are related to Maxian.

“Could that kid be Maxian’s agent?”

“Seeing as her name is Elena Paraine, it is highly likely. Who would have thought that he would send a young boy away after acting as if he would come out himself. That kid is a complete coward.”

“If not, it might just be that kid’s own play.”

“Oh, that could be true. What should I do?”

“First, let’s watch the situation while eating. If he really wants to see us, he’ll wait there for hours.”

“Seeing as there are no enemies around, I don’t think it’s a trap. What do you think?”

“Unless I know the relationship between that kid and Maxian, I can’t be sure it’s not a trap. But looking at the atmosphere, it doesn’t seem dangerous at all. Rather, I should say that it is easy to use.”

“Then it’s a bit too much to make us wait for hours, so let’s just wait for about 10 more minutes.”

“As expected, Rebecca is a really kind person.”

“No, I’m not being nice, I’m thinking efficiently…”

“If you were someone who really valued efficiency, you would not have let Iris hang out in the village in the first place. Instead of going to a crowded restaurant like this, you would have watched the situation from the rooftop of a building with few people, and if you knew that she was alone, you would have taken advantage of it actively.”

Laura left me speechless.

I don’t consider myself nice, but Laura and Iris seem to think it’s nice that I show my clumsy and soft side.

“But Rebecca gave Iris time to enjoy happiness, so she went out of her way to come into this high-class restaurant to comfort me and look at the suspicious kid over there with pity in her eyes. If you feel like it, you want to bring him here right now and have a conversation, right?”

I couldn’t refute Laura, who was revealing every detail of my inner thoughts.

Even though Laura is a slave, she is like this, and if I free her, I feel like she will always be dragged around like a married man who can’t control his wife.

“Yes, you are right. So I have to call that kid here.”

“Hehe, I’ll go and get it.”

Laura grinned at me as if she had known this would happen before, and then walked out.

And I kept my eyes on the map window and outside the window, waiting for Laura to bring Elena.