Sold to the House of My Enemy
“Y-Your Grace! Duke Elouis Blake!”
Elouis Blake. Second son of House Blake. Elencia’s younger brother. One of the people, in other words, upon whom I was meant to take my revenge. We had been on fairly familiar terms once. Set beside that mischievous older brother of his, he had been a calm, courteous man, and he had followed me with no small devotion, calling me the hero who would save humanity.
But Elouis, a duke? That bastard Elencia... Still, I supposed I ought not swear. Fine. Then what was that bastard doing?
“Nothing so grand as ‘Your Grace.’ I am merely serving in an acting capacity.”
“But even so—!”
“Enough. Call me what you like. In any case, I wish to inspect this slave. It is far too noisy out here. May I look inside?”
“Of course. This way, if you please.”
I heard the slave trader unbar the iron door and come toward me.
“This is a chance for you as well. Don’t let them find out you’re blind...”
He whispered it low, fitted a blindfold over my eyes, and led me into the tent by the leash.
His meaning and mine were not the same. Even so, for me it truly was a chance. They would not be able to recognize me in any case. They would be ushering a reaper into the house with their own hands.
The tent I was brought into was larger than I had imagined. Without my ki sense, I would have taken it for a massive building. I opened that sense so I would not stumble and followed them deeper in. Elouis’s guards did not seem to be coming with us. Hardly surprising. The man himself was a considerable martial artist.
The press of bodies was so thick that even within a radius of a single yard I caught the presence of many people. That meant there were that many slaves. No—that was no longer any affair of mine.
At the end of a long walk inward, we entered a room that did not seem especially large. The slave trader yanked me down onto my knees, and Elouis, as if it were only natural, sat on the sofa before me.
When he had spoken with me, he had talked as though he opposed the slave system. So this was the sort of man he was, in the end. Traitor’s blood ran in the pair of them, brother and brother alike. Some of my hesitation about putting a knife in him faded.
“As you can see, this is a slave of a beauty one rarely finds. You might raise her a few years and keep her as a body servant, or sell her on at a premium. She may well fetch one.”
The slave trader, pitching for all he was worth. Listening to talk like that, I thought I understood the look in the eyes of the slaves being sold.
“Is that so? Then why the sudden blindfold?”
A cold voice, by contrast, as if none of it mattered in the least. That part of him had not changed much.
“How could a mere slave be permitted to look upon Your Grace’s countenance?”
“Is that what this is?”
Elouis rose from the sofa and reached toward my blindfold. He had already sensed that something was being hidden. This was bad. At this rate he would simply pull the blindfold off, and my blindness would be exposed. At times like this, I had no choice but to gamble.
I caught the shape of a hand drawing in slowly enough to make no sound I could feel, and I angled my head a little to the left and slipped aside.
“Hm...?”
The hand reached again. I tilted my head and evaded it the same way.
“...Slave trader. Remove the blindfold.”
“Th-that’s...”
“It’s all right.”
There was no avoiding it now. Then the right answer was to meet it head-on.
The slave trader swallowed once and took the blindfold off. I closed my ki sense and opened the eyes I had been keeping shut. If my guess was right, he would reach for me again.
What followed was a stretch of silence.
“You... you’re blind.”
“Yes.”
“I’d thought something was off from the start. You walked with your eyes covered and never once faltered. You passed through that whole crowd without striking anyone, and you even caught my hand—something you should have had no way of knowing was there. How?”
I let a brief pause fall, then answered.
“Do you know of a technique called ki sense?”
“Ki sense? I’ve heard of it. A technique that heightens the senses so one can grasp the things around oneself, is it not?”
Of course he knew. I was the one who had explained it to him.
“That’s right. And I can use it.”
At that, the cold voice began to take on a little warmth.
“A child like you can use ki sense? Who in the world taught you?”
“An elf taught me.”
“An elf?”
“Yes. I don’t know the name, but I was told it was someone very skilled with a bow.”
A small flinch. A tremor.
“Don’t tell me... the Divine Archer? How did you come to be taught ki sense?”
“I was wandering the streets as usual, and they must have thought I looked pitiful. They looked after me for a week.”
Lying still sat badly with me, but for the sake of revenge I could do it as often as I needed. Some of it was not a lie to begin with.
“That eccentric, who won’t so much as glance at anyone without talent, looked after a child for being blind...?”
Elouis fell silent, as if he had begun to think it through. Just as I had planned.
“Slave trader. Let me see the master’s crest.”
“Yes. At once.”
Hm? Why the master’s crest, all of a sudden?
Ah—I’m finished. It had not existed back when I was the Hero, and I had forgotten it entirely. Lay a hand on the master’s crest, and one could read the slave’s information carved into the soul. Eleven years had passed. It would come up as thirty-five, male, and the name Luines...
Should I ambush him even now? Subdue Elouis in this frail body, restraints still on me? Impossible. A rabbit eating a lion would be the likelier outcome.
I truly had not expected this. Should I claim the emblem had malfunctioned? Or simply blurt the truth?
While I ran through every possibility, the duke’s hand came to rest on the slave trader’s crest.
Please...!
Age — 10
Sex — Female
Name — Ruanes
“Exactly as she appears.”
Ah... I’m alive. Thank you, you hedgehog of a Demon King...
Thinking on it again, I was not particularly grateful. A curse fierce enough to damage the soul—was this good fortune, or ill?
“But Ruanes... and bluish-white hair, besides.”
A breath held, as if he were turning something over.
“Do you know your parents’ names?”
Don’t tell me he was growing suspicious over the name. I was one clumsy step from being caught by pure accident.
“No. I was an orphan from the moment I was born.”
A short silence followed.
“Is that so. Well, it must be a mistake. On the surface, at least, he was a man who cared for nothing but the peace of the world.”
Elouis, murmuring low. Whatever the case, it seemed to have passed well enough.
“Then, slave trader. I’ll take this child.”
“Understood. Pay the price, and I will transfer the crest at once.”
At the word price, Elouis paused. I heard fingers tap the sofa—tuk, tuk—and then, as if the calculation were finished, he snapped them.
“The price... You hid from me that this slave is blind, did you not?”
“Th-that’s...”
“You hid it, didn’t you?”
“Y-yes... I did...”
Beneath a voice cold enough to freeze, the slave trader admitted it at once.
“Do you know the price, in the Empire, of deceiving House Blake?”
He was so tense I could hear him swallow even from where I knelt.
“But then, House Blake is famous for its magnanimity, is it not?”
“Yes! Yes, of course!”
The slave trader answered in a voice gone bright again. But as if to betray that hope—
“So, as a token of my forgiveness, I shall buy this slave for one hundred million bel.”
“Th-that’s—!”
Elouis, demanding a ruinous discount. The slave trader, swinging between heaven and hell.
“Then I will have no choice but to proceed under imperial law.”
The merchant, who had been grinding his teeth, let out a sound of resignation, as if he had given up.
“Understood... I will take only one hundred million bel.”
“Here. A draft from House Blake. Collect it at the bank.”
As expected, a ducal noble was little different from a thug. Even so, hearing the slave trader shake where he stood improved my mood a little. I might even consider stabbing him somewhere that would not hurt.
“Hah... Then I will transfer the master’s crest. Please place your hand on the crest at my left wrist.”
“Very well.”
“I transfer the rights of a master.”
“I accept the rights of a master.”
A small crackle of electricity snapped in the air, then died almost at once.
“The crest has been set to the emblem of House Drake. If you wish to change it, seek out a dark mage.”
“Understood. I should be going. Remove this child’s restraints.”
At last, the restraints were coming off. Wear them too long and the shoulders ache terribly. I was rolling mine a few times when he spoke again.
“And, just in case.”
⟨ You cannot harm me. ⟩
At those words I felt a current run from deep inside my chest.
No—!
The moment I pictured driving a blade into Elouis, pain crashed over me as if my soul were being electrocuted. Because I had not actually harmed him, I could endure it without letting it show on my face. But my mind was in a confusion that dwarfed the pain. My revenge had ended before I even understood how.
If the crest were to pass to Elencia like this...?
I trembled at the dreadful thought.
“Is something the matter?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Then... farewell.”
The slave trader’s voice, awkward and hesitant. It had been a rather impressive place. I might have taken in the sight of it as I left. But the thought of becoming Elencia’s slave left nothing able to enter my head.
“We’re going.”
I opened my ki sense to follow Elouis, but perhaps because my mind was in such disorder, the radius had shrunk. I stayed glued as close to him as I could, and so we came to a carriage of heavy, dignified elegance.
“Get in.”
“Not the luggage compartment?”
“There’s room enough. Why would I put you in with the luggage? Get in, quickly.”
I had ridden in a luggage hold a few times as a child, and the ride had been truly miserable. Since I had been given leave, I hurried aboard. Once Elouis boarded as well, I heard the horse cry out. After the carriage began to run, there came the sound of him clearing his throat, as if he meant to speak.
“From the way you assumed the luggage hold, you seem quite conscious of being a slave. I have no particular intention of working you like one. I don’t care for the slave system to begin with.”
What was that? The sort of line that goes, “I like children, but I’m not a pedophile”?
“Then... why did you buy a slave?”
“The reasons are rather complicated. For now, you will serve as the personal maid of the ducal heir.”
“The ducal... heir?”
So I was not to become Elencia’s slave? Or was Elencia the ducal heir? I paused, midway through about the hundredth imaginary stabbing of Elencia.
“If you too are of the Empire, you must know, of course. The former head of House Blake, called the true Hero. Elencia Blake.”
“Yes... there’s no way I wouldn’t.”
There was no way I wouldn’t, and yet... Elencia was the former head?
“His son—Elencia’s son—is the one whose personal attendant you will be. Elaine Blake. The sole heir of the Blake ducal house.”
“Elaine... Blake?”
Elencia had a child? Don’t tell me it was Yuria’s...
“Then who is Lord Elaine’s mother?!”
“You don’t know? The Empire was in an uproar over it.”
“I was blind, remember.”
Elouis answered after a pause, as if the excuse did not sit well with him.
“...Marena Ortia.”
And who was that supposed to be?
“He up and brought home a woman whose birth and identity no one really knew, married her, and had a child. Thinking of it again, it is still bewildering.”
The Saintess was barred from marriage, so that much I could grant. But he had not married Yuria or Felice either?
“Then... what became of the others in the Hero’s party?”
“You really are ignorant of the world, as if you’d slept through ten years.”
“I’m blind.”
“...Very well. The mage took in an adopted heir and vanished a few years later. The rogue carried on a marriage with a marquis’s house, then shut himself away. The Saintess went on about a virgin birth and the like, bore a child, and disappeared not long after. As I recall, it all happened at nearly the same time.”
What on earth had happened in those eleven years?
“Then what became of Lord Elencia?”
“I don’t know. I have no interest in people who vanished and abandoned even their own child.”
“He disappeared?”
“Yes. One day both parents were simply gone. Leaving a young child behind. Thanks to that, I am saddled with duties far above my station—playing at being duke.”
Elencia had disappeared? He was alive, wasn’t he? If Elencia were dead, then to whom was I supposed to offer this heart of mine...
“Then... he is alive, at least?”
“I don’t know. What does it matter to me whether the ones who abandoned my dear nephew and fled are dead or alive? If you are curious about the Hero’s party, look into it yourself. I have already lost all interest.”
Elouis breathed out a breath gone cold. Right. He was right. I would look into this on my own later. More pressing was the problem in front of me now.
“May I ask just one more question?”
“Until we arrive, as many as you like.”
“Why assign a slave as attendant to the precious child of a ducal house—the Hero’s own son?”
Strictly speaking he was a traitor’s child, but to the world he would be the Hero’s. Why try to attach a slave as attendant to his own nephew?
“Hm. There were various circumstances. Originally I had no thought of assigning a personal attendant at all. But he threw a fit, saying all his friends had one.”
Seeing that, he really was Elencia’s child.
“Then couldn’t you simply assign an ordinary attendant?”
“That is the difficult part. For one, commoners and lesser nobles will not do. He is the sole heir of House Blake, so there is no telling what sort of people might latch onto him.”
“Then couldn’t you use young ladies, or young lords, as attendants?”
“That had problems of its own. Many wish to enter as maids of House Blake, but for the dignity of the house it is difficult to employ anyone whose looks are poor. And the children of nobles of count rank and above are raised so preciously that about half of them are obese.”
“But that still leaves half, doesn’t it?”
“But there is another problem. Among the children of nobles of count rank and above who also have fine looks, they are one of two things. Either their pride is immense, or they are extremely frail. If they were merely becoming servants it would not matter, but this time the problem lies with Elaine himself.”
“And what problem is that...”
What here isn’t a problem? He isn’t going to haul me off and then call me a problem too, is he?
“Simple. If their pride is strong, they cannot bear becoming an attendant for a reason like that in the first place. If they are frail, they cannot endure Elaine’s temperament.”
“......”
“So what I thought of was attaching a decent-looking slave as his personal attendant. Then the looks are suitable, the brand means they cannot do harm, and they will have been treated harshly enough by the slave trader that someone of Elaine’s level should be bearable. Do you understand?”
“I understand, but... wouldn’t an ordinary person be better than me? Even if I can use ki sense, the fact that I’m blind doesn’t change.”
If he meant to use me as a servant anyway, an ordinary person would be better, wouldn’t they?
“That... I don’t know myself. I felt a strange familiarity, so I chose you on impulse.”
Impulse. Was there any word that suited Elouis less?
“Setting ki sense aside, what else can you do?”
“That’s a rather broad question.”
“As a maid, I mean. I need to know what level you are at, so if you have any other skills, say so.”
“I can handle most housework. And...”
I had done the housework alone since I was young. I had lived by taking on every kind of work just to eat, so I could manage most things well enough. And... what was I actually good at?
In the end, nothing but the blade. After I became the Hero, that was all I had done. Why else would they have called me the Sword Hero? To that extent, when it came to the sword, it was me.
“I’m still clumsy at it, but I can use a sword a little.”
“Did you learn that from the one who taught you ki sense as well?”
“...Yes.”
“Is that so.”
A murmur, as if he were thinking it through. And then the duke seemed to decide.
“Then you will be the personal maid of the ducal heir, and...”
He snapped his fingers.
“Yes. A bodyguard. Bodyguard should do.”
A new post, granted in the Hero’s stead. Old, ill-fated ties, and incidents newly begun. A will I had lost, and a resentment laid upon me—trivial reasons, and chance piled upon chance.
I had become the blind bodyguard of the young master of the house of my enemy.