The Upper Hand
The stairs leading down to the underground of Bonaparte City were quite long. As we descended that lengthy staircase, a door guarded by several men came into view.
“...What? Is this already the guest entrance time?”
“It shouldn’t be, right?”
“Then what about that one?”
Estelle, playing the role of a noble lady, replied to the men’s voices filled with suspicion.
“Maxwell said I could enter first. He also told me it would be fine even if a noble lady entered, right?”
“...Maxwell said that? That fool... Wait, a noble lady?”
The surprised man stared at Estelle as she showed him her identification badge. How natural it looked.
The man who checked the badge let out a sound of “Ah” and hurriedly lowered his head.
“Ahh, my lady! I didn’t know you were coming. I would have prepared something special!”
“I got curious all of a sudden and came to visit... I’m sorry, I wasn’t thoughtful enough.”
“I’ll guide you. You two, stand guard here.”
“Understood.”
The man guided Estelle and led her into the building. When I tried to follow, he said,
“Ah, you can leave your weapons here. This place is completely managed by us, so there shouldn’t be any threats to the lady’s safety.”
“...I’m her escort knight. Should I leave my sword behind just because I’m serving a lady?”
“But according to the rules, weapons are not allowed here...”
“He is the escort knight my father gave me. Could you allow this one time only?”
Seeing Estelle’s request, the man showed a somewhat troubled expression. However, he nodded and spoke.
“Understood. Please come in.”
As the man opened the door, a somewhat musty smell wafted out. It was the smell of dampness in the underground, with no windows for ventilation.
Following the man, sturdy iron cages stood on both sides of the corridor. And inside those cages, several people were locked away.
Although their appearances were all different, one thing was the same: chains on their hands, feet, and necks.
“...How many. Where exactly did you bring in this many slaves?”
At Estelle’s words, the man spoke proudly with an excited voice.
“You must have heard it before, my lady. Those immigrants living in the border regions without belonging to any country.”
“...Yes, I’ve heard of them. People from the country that was wiped out during the heyday of the Mars Empire.”
“Correct. Those guys are big and strong, so they’re perfect for manual labor. That’s why slave imports are popular. We pay high prices for them.”
The man continued talking as if casually collecting them.
“Is that how you get them all? There seem to be women too.”
“Ah, not exactly. There are immigrant slaves, slaves brought in from the Diana Kingdom and the Mars Empire, and also people who sold themselves to pay off debts.”
“...They sell themselves? Where?”
“Well, various places. This kind of thing happens often in any country. Like borrowing money from a loan shark and then giving your daughter to repay it... A familiar story, right? Those parents are really stupid. If they hadn’t borrowed at all, it wouldn’t have happened. But thanks to them, we get pretty good-looking slaves, so I don’t mind.”
...It was starting to feel hard to listen. But since Estelle hadn’t given the signal yet, I had to endure.
“...But isn’t slave trading banned in this country? If a slave reports the buyer, it would be a big problem, right?”
“That’s where we have ways, my lady.”
The man explained smoothly.
“First, all the slaves here are registered as commoners.”
“...What?”
“As you said, the Vesta Kingdom has no slaves, so to cross the border, you have to register as a commoner. Then you can trade this registered slave however you want. You can think of it like an employment agency.”
“An employment agency?”
“We receive money from the buyers and provide labor. The buyer then hires the labor as a servant or maid in whatever way they like. That’s how the trade works. This way, we don’t need to manipulate books, and no one suspects anything. Of course, there’s a downside—slaves must be paid wages—but it’s fine. That money eventually goes back to the owner, and we earn even more from the deal.”
He was disguising slave trading as legitimate labor transactions. The slaves are sold as workers and their wages are taken back by the owner.
...These bastards, are they really just like me?
“But is it okay to openly put slaves in the passageway? What if someone feels pity and helps them?”
“Ah, it’s fine. Since we confiscate all weapons, there’s no way to help anyway. This is like a showcase. We’re showing the quality of today’s goods to the guests.”
“...I see.”
The man opened a large door at the end of the corridor and said,
“Here it is. This is our auction house for slave trading and mutation stone deals.”
“...Mutation stones?”
“Ah, I guess you didn’t hear about that.”
...Even mutation stone trading happens here?
Wait, does that mean the Duke was involved in the mutation stone distribution? It wasn’t just turning a blind eye?
“Interesting... Are there people who seek mutation stones? That’s a dangerous thing that turns people into monsters.”
“Of course it is. But as you know, mutation stones have high research value. They’re useful in alchemy and magic research, which is why there are quite a few people looking for them.”
“Doesn’t the country have a separate quota for research distribution? Even that might not be enough.”
“It seems so. I’m not very familiar with that field... Ah, here they are bringing in mutation stones.”
From a corner of the auction house, other organization members were lowering boxes full of mutation stones. The man went over there and said,
“Everyone, greet this person. This is Lady Bathory.”
“Eh? Why is such a precious person here? Is it His Grace’s order?”
“If there was an order, he would have sent someone as usual. Why would a lady come? She came because she wants to do slave trading.”
“Ah, I see.”
A large, fierce-looking man laughed brightly and said to Estelle,
“Today I’ll bring out the sturdy ones on stage. I hope the lady is satisfied.”
...Sturdy?
I was momentarily dazed, but upon fully understanding the man’s words, rage surged to the very top of my head. Who...?
“...I don’t need to hear any more.”
“Huh?”
Estelle’s cold voice. The moment I heard it, my eyes flashed. Dropping the act meant it was the signal.
My body, blessed by the blessing, reacted faster than possible for anything other than a monster. The holy sword I drew swiftly slashed at the man’s neck.
“Sacred Chain!”
Clang, clang!
A chain of light shot out from the empty air. And I individually slashed the backs of the necks of the men who were holding Estelle.
“Kuk!”
“Ugh...!”
“Abel, wake one of them up.”
“Yes.”
Following Estelle’s orders, I left one behind and put all the others in the room to sleep, then approached the remaining one.
It was that big guy who had just made a disgusting joke to Estelle. He was still tied up by the light chain and was sulking.
“Cough! Take this off right now, you bastard!!”
“If you can take it off, go ahead. Even high-risk monsters can’t break free from that.”
“...What?”
His eyes showed confusion. But how could that be false?
“But it’s noisy. Don’t you understand your situation now?”
I pressed a sharp blade against his neck.
“Hup....”
“Answer only my questions quietly. If you understand, just nod.”
The man looked back and forth between the sword and me, then sneered.
“...A guy who’s never killed anyone, what are you saying?”
“What?”
“I know just from your eyes. You’ve never killed anyone, have you?”
...Shit, are all these people eye masters? How do they know just by looking?
“Those who’ve killed people have eyes that are completely different. Got it?”
“...That’s how it is?”
At my question, the man seemed a bit flustered and said,
“...Y-yes. So you can clearly see that I haven’t killed anyone.”
I really didn’t know that. So that’s how it looks.
“...Come out, Abel.”
“Huh?”
“Holy Blade!”
Thud!
“Ugh, kuhuuu, aaaaah!!”
“Ugh.”
Estelle stabbed the man’s thigh with the holy sword she made.
...Sigh, it’s terrifying. Just watching me feels painful.
Estelle said to the man as if threatening him,
“It would be better to answer nicely. I don’t really feel like saving you. If you don’t want to die here, answer nicely~?”
“Kuh...”
It seemed the man had understood Estelle’s threat or that his thigh was too painful, because he answered my questions very well.
With the records of these people secured, the books showed exactly as the man had said—slaves sold as laborers.
On the books of the buyers, as expected, the Bathory Ducal House appeared. Even quite a lot of entries. It seemed the Duke was covering up for them and buying slaves under the guise of labor.
“...Seeing this many entries, I guess even the servants I saw had slaves.”
“That would be right.”
How disappointing....
And there was also a mutation stone ledger. Looking at it, I doubted my eyes.
“...Estelle, it says the source is Thracian?”
“...What?”
Estelle looked at the ledger after hearing my words. And when Estelle confirmed the source of the mutation stones, she frowned.
“...Let’s keep that in mind for now.”
“What?”
“It’s still too early to say the Mars Empire is involved just from this. We need more evidence... So let’s just connect it to the Bathory Ducal House.”
That wasn’t the time. It was true there was no guarantee the Mars Empire was involved just because the mutation stone source was Thracian. Hadn’t mutation stones been illegally distributed in Athens too?
“I’ll have to investigate separately later.”
“That’s right.”
I looked at the ledger. With this, I could save Elfride and Elena. I carefully kept the ledger and said to Estelle,
“What should we do now?”
“...Isn’t it obvious?”
Estelle smiled sweetly and said,
“We have to drag the Duke down.”
“So how?”
I needed to know the method to move accordingly.
When I asked for the method, Estelle gave me her signature arrogant smile.
“Do you remember what I said to Abel in Athens? Since Abel who’s like a goldfish might not remember, let me say it again~♡”
“...That I have judgment rights over things related to monsters like mutation stones?”
“Oh, you remember? What a surprise♡”
“Haha.”
I remember that! I thought I was a real idiot.
“So if the Duke is involved in mutation stone distribution, Abel has the right to judge him.”
“...Ah.”
That makes sense. Back then, Anais who used the mutation stone to cause trouble, I could have decided her punishment too. Considering Chloe’s later school life, I handed over Anais’s punishment to the school, but...
“We have solid evidence, and there are witnesses here, so the conditions are met.”
“Will those guys become witnesses?”
“If they don’t, then... they’ll know what will happen themselves♡”
...That’s scary.
“Abel, go back to the mansion first.”
“Huh? What about you, Estelle?”
“I... have a place to stop by for a moment. We should punish them for slave trading too?”
“...Are you going to the security guards of Bonaparte City? But the security guards are also under the Duke’s subordinates, right?”
“Of course I’m not going to the security guards. Do you think I’m as stupid as you~?”
“...Then what are you going to do?”
In this city, what group with city security has something other than the Duke’s soldiers?
When I looked like I didn’t understand, Estelle giggled and laughed. When she laughs like that, it reminds me of the time when she used to tease me every day and laugh happily.
Estelle maintained her smile and told me the answer.
“We have to poke the one above me~♡”