The Orphan Rescue Project
I set my sights on the wolf beastman and, following the Madam’s guidance, boarded the third carriage on the right.
The interior dimensions appeared identical across all the carriages.
Yet the number of “goods” displayed inside this third carriage was extremely small.
“Only two?”
“Their numbers may be few, but items of this quality are not easily obtained. Especially when it comes to shining talents leaving their comfortable nests—that is even rarer.”
“You sound quite confident.”
“You will be satisfied.”
Inside the dimly lit cargo carriage sat exactly two iron cages large enough to hold a person.
And one of them contained…
A human. Unlike the wolf beastman I had met moments ago, this was a perfectly ordinary human with normal eyes, nose, mouth, and no tail. The fact that the Madam still claimed I would be satisfied meant…
“She must know how to use magic. From the Magic Tower. No—given her age, she’s likely a fallen noble.”
“You saw through it perfectly. As expected of the young master who began his business at such a tender age—your insight is truly impressive.”
“Well, it’s just…”
Even if I had forgotten most of the details, I still remembered the story from the novel I had read.
I knew there were several fallen noble characters who received salvation from the protagonist after their houses collapsed.
After all, this was a male-oriented romance fantasy with plenty of female characters entangled with the hero.
“You may even recognize the name. This child is the legitimate daughter of the Eisner Margrave.”
“…!”
This, however, was a twist even I had not anticipated.
The daughter of the Eisner Margrave.
The very heroine of The Hero Who Saves You.
The fallen noble lady who would be the first to receive salvation from the hero after suffering abuse at the hands of another noble daughter—and who was destined to become the empire’s greatest black mage.
Constanze Eisner.
She was trapped inside this cramped iron cage.
Before she could be sold. Before her body and mind were completely broken.
In a relatively healthy state.
“I heard the Margrave pushed forward with high-risk black magic experiments and most of the family’s core members were incinerated…”
“The incompetent Margrave reached for a prize beyond his station and paid the price.”
In truth, contrary to public rumor, the Margrave’s failure had less to do with his own incompetence and more with the schemes of a disciple who bore him a grudge…
But there was no reason to voice that here.
The Madam might be in on it, and my only goal was to secure Constanze.
“Thanks to the information I received, I was able to obtain such a fine specimen with ease. Does she please you?”
Leaving the proudly reminiscing Madam behind, I turned my gaze toward Constanze inside the iron bars.
She was different from the wolf beastman earlier.
Her spirit was already broken. She was in complete despair.
There wasn’t even a trace of resistance left in her.
It was better than in the original story, but it would still take time to restore her.
“She seems displeased with the sight of herself, born so nobly only to fall so far. But I did nothing to her. I simply caught her while she was fleeing, wrapped her up neatly, and turned her into merchandise.”
“The few surviving vassals tried to use the young lady as a puppet. Unable to endure it, she ran away… and ended up like this.”
“Right now, her family’s rights and interests are being nibbled away little by little. Her maternal relatives are sending people to preserve what they can, but since they aren’t the direct parties involved, it’s only buying time.”
“Would the situation have been different if she had gone to her maternal family?”
“Even if she had returned to them, would they not have treated her as a puppet just like the vassals? Noble society is a cold place.”
As the Madam spoke in a detached tone, her eyebrow twitched upward slightly.
This was the turning point.
That small movement of her brow.
It was the same as when she had quoted seven million for the wolf beastman earlier.
“As with the previous one, let’s settle at six and a half million.”
“Five million.”
“Pardon?”
“Five million. This is my first time conducting this kind of transaction, but do you really think you can take advantage of me so easily? Who would buy a product riddled with this much risk?”
“She carries the Margrave’s bloodline, you know?”
“That’s exactly the problem. The lofty pride of a Margrave’s daughter. Your main customers want fallen noble ladies whose pride is still fresh and vibrant, but this one is practically a living corpse.”
“That’s…”
“This profile doesn’t match what those depraved individuals seeking immediate stimulation are looking for, does it? At this rate, she could become unsellable dead stock.”
A faint tremor.
Perhaps because she had witnessed her own value being haggled over, the golden-haired Constanze’s body shook once more.
I felt a twinge of guilt, but for a perfect salvation, this kind of humiliation was sometimes necessary.
In a way, it was also the process of reviving her dead emotions.
“Five million it is.”
“How about combining her with the beastman earlier for a total of twelve million?”
“Agreed.”
Clack.
Inside the cargo carriage where only the lantern light flickered.
The Madam and I reached a mutually satisfying agreement and shook hands.
My gaze naturally shifted toward the final piece of merchandise.
And inside that cage was…
‘A druid?’ Warm, healthy-looking brown skin. Long, deer-like horns stretching out to either side. Pointed ears that perked up in the same direction as those horns. An unmistakable druid was staring straight at me.
“Good heavens.”
I had never expected to find a druid here.
Druids—beings similar to elves, masters of the forest who did not live in tribes and specialized in cultivation rather than combat.
Although conditional, once those conditions were met, their combat ability was considerable.
While winning their hearts was difficult, those who earned a druid’s favor could live out their lives without ever going hungry or falling ill. That alone said everything.
She could also make an enormous contribution to increasing the territory’s agricultural output.
An SSR.
No—in terms of territory development alone, she was practically an SSR orphan on the level of a national treasure.
I absolutely could not let her slip away.
“As you can see, she is older than the previous two. It’s difficult to estimate precisely, but she appears to be around seventeen. However, given the young master’s preferences, this much should be…”
“Twenty million.”
“Pardon?”
“Twenty million for all three of them. Since I’ve already haggled quite a bit today, I’ll be generous with this one.”
Without taking my eyes off the druid, I made the declaration to the Madam.
The budget I had brought with me was exactly twenty million gold anyway.
Anything beyond that would require mixing in credit, so before I could appear desperate, I generously offered a total of twenty million gold first.
“Very well. Thank you for the excellent transaction. I will assist with the packaging.”
The Madam, who had hesitated for a moment, was drawn into my psychological ploy.
She had likely priced them at around seven million each, so selling three for twenty million was still a decent profit for her.
“How would you like the slave brands applied? There are three types: the stigma type, the heart-binding type, and the external restraint type.”
“…I’ll go with the external restraint. Please use a relatively tasteful design. I didn’t purchase them for that kind of purpose.”
“Of course. There are customers with such tastes as well.”
“I said that’s not it.”
The Madam simply smiled as if she hadn’t heard me and walked away.
In contrast, the druid continued to stare at me intently.
Her bright, sparkling eyes were fixed on me as though I were some fascinating spectacle.
*
I watched the cargo carriage being driven directly by the Madam’s contact from behind our own carriage.
Inside it were three orphans brimming with potential.
One of them was a druid possessing the potential of a national-treasure-class SSR orphan.
It pained me to fit such precious children with equipment bearing slave brands.
But it couldn’t be helped. The druid was one thing, and the wolf beastman could probably be controlled somehow.
The real problem was Constanze.
If her eyes rolled back and she started firing off black magic indiscriminately, the people of our territory would be massacred without even putting up a proper fight.
The minimum safety measure was necessary, so I chose the option that was least noticeable and could be removed later.
“We have arrived, Young Master.”
“Good work, Alfred. You must be tired from driving the carriage both ways.”
“It is my duty. Please do not concern yourself.”
My thoughts were interrupted only briefly.
We had reached the front courtyard of the baronial mansion, and I stepped down from the carriage.
“Welcome back, Young Master.”
“We welcome your return, Young Master.”
“Young Master, banzai!”
As if they had been waiting for my return, three maids came scampering over the moment I stepped down.
All of them were R-rank orphans around twenty years old, raised in the orphanage located within our Arnold Barony.
The children we had raised in the orphanage over the past few years were generally utilized in this manner.
We gave them jobs as guards, tenant farmers, or maids, helped them marry, and encouraged them to have children.
Through this process, the livelihood of the Arnold Barony was gradually stabilizing.
“Please give us any command you wish.”
“We will do anything.”
“Shall we help you change first? Or would you prefer a meal? Or perhaps…”
The greatest advantage of children employed in this way was their supreme loyalty.
They obeyed every order without complaint.
If even children who had simply lost their parents to plunder were this devoted, I could only imagine how far the loyalty of children rescued from the slave auction would soar once they opened their hearts.
It would be a lie to say I wasn’t looking forward to it.
“Take this key and bring out the ones in the back.”
“Yes! We’ll bring them out right away!”
“Right away!”
“Me too!”
“Wash them thoroughly, put them in clean clothes, feed them, and then bring them to my office. They won’t be able to resist, so don’t be afraid of them, and don’t try to intimidate them either.”
“Understood.”
“We will move at once.”
“Leave it to us.”
I had worried about sudden trouble, but the SSR orphans were led into the mansion by the maids’ hands without much resistance.
It seemed their wariness had decreased because maids of similar age and gender had approached them. Before long, Alfred approached me.
“By the way, may I ask why you are reinforcing our forces so aggressively? Thanks to our efforts over the past few years, we have already increased the number of guards in the Arnold Barony considerably.”
“The quality of the orphans is too low. Although we increased our numbers by employing them as guards, we still suffer casualties whenever we try to stop plunderers.”
“That is true. Since we are trying to solve every problem within the territory, holes are bound to appear.”
“That’s why I reached out to the Madam. Make two more copies of the documents I prepared before leaving and bring them to me. I’ll head up first.”
“Yes, I will bring them immediately.”
Leaving behind Alfred, who bowed deeply, I headed up to my office first.
After about ten minutes, Alfred arrived carrying three formal orphan contracts and three fountain pens. Twenty minutes later, the three SSR orphans, now properly groomed, were brought up as well.
The wolf beastman, Karin.
The fallen noble lady, Constanze Eisner.
And the druid, Maron.
Just as their races differed, so did their emotions.
Karin glared at me as if she wanted to kill me, fiddling with the restraint around her neck as though trying to tear it apart with her nails. Constanze simply stared vacantly at the window behind me. Maron, just like she had in the cargo carriage earlier, looked straight into my eyes.
And I held out the exact same document to all three SSR orphans, each displaying their own distinct reactions.
It was what we called a “formal orphan contract.”
All the orphans belonging to the orphanage owned by our barony had to sign one.
“Become my orphans. Not as slaves, but as orphans. You will be raised and protected by me until you gain the strength to stand on your own.”
They would reside in the facility right next to the main Arnold Baronial Mansion.
It was the former annex of the baronial mansion, which had been renovated into an orphanage.
“You don’t really have anywhere else to go anyway. I’ll sponsor you. If you read the contract carefully, you’ll see there’s a clause stating you won’t be treated as slaves. In fact, there are quite a few preferential conditions…”
“Grr!”
Immediately afterward, Karin was the first to roar and swing her fist at me.
“Ugh!”
Her fist drew a beautiful arc before slamming into her own chin, sending her tumbling backward.
“Ah…”
Constanze simply stared blankly into empty space.
“…”
Maron didn’t utter a single word and simply continued staring into my eyes.
As expected, all three of them reacted completely differently from start to finish.
How I should handle these three to naturally open their hearts…
The burden was already heavier than I had imagined.
“The preferential conditions include full support for food, clothing, shelter, education, future prospects, marriage to the partner of your choice—everything you could possibly want. So all you need to do is sign. Your life as slaves ends here.”
Trouble could be handled gradually. For now, I would be satisfied with the fact that I had successfully recruited three orphans overflowing with potential.
I could take my time learning just how far these children could go for me.