Do you have a minute?

　I said and looked at the woman's face, then cured and resisted again, just to be sure.
　The girl called Jeanne didn't let her guard down, but that didn't stop me from casting a spell.

'I don't know who you are, but thank you,'

　The woman who was called Aura remained lying down, but bowed politely and mouthed her thanks.

'Hey, Jeanne. What on earth happened? I'm kind of fuzzy in my memory and I don't really remember...　
　At Aura's question, Jeanne took a pause as if to sort it out in her mind, and eventually

'After Aura got a fever, a demon attacked me and fell on this place... and that one (...) died then.　

Yeah.

　That seemed to be the only thing that made sense to me.

Who's that guy?　

　I couldn't help but interrupt him from the side. Naturally, Jeanne was.

It's none of your business.

　So, instead, Aura said

It's about our Lord.

　I said. It was only then that I realized that both of them had a slave collar around their necks, a sign of slavery.

'We were slaves, and our Lord was a nobleman with the rank of Viscount.

　Then I remembered something I didn't really want to say.

'You know I don't want to say it, but...'

　Jeanne saw me stammering and she said.

'For the record, we didn't kill the Lord!

　He said.

'No, it doesn't matter... you're both slaves, then... er... well...'

'Speak up! What is it?!　

　Jeanne sees me at a loss for words and hurries me along irritably.

I guess that means I own the place now.

　I told them. Neither of them seemed to have expected those words and froze.

In that case, the two of them would be my slaves...

　They didn't move so slightly that I couldn't tell if they heard my words.
　I waved my hand in front of them and they didn't respond, so I panned, and I hit the oak hand in front of them.

Why is this happening to me...

　Jeanne slumped down. Aura closed her eyes tightly and then

'I have a request. Please don't try to separate us. If you do sell out, please negotiate for the two of us to be together.

　He bowed his head deeply and pleaded with me. All of a sudden, my mind was a mess, but then Aura saw it, and she

'In fact, Jeanne was originally from a noble family, and I grew up with her from birth as her valet.

　He began to tell a story about the two of them in the past. According to the story, they had grown up without any trouble, but about five years ago they had been involved in a dispute, the house had fallen and the whole family had died, and the two remaining men had been sold into slavery and bought by a viscount.

　Fortunately, the viscount was a masculine family and was not violated, but he was about to be sold off.
　They had snuck by Seigen on the way there and hid in a dungeon with an escort, but as they got carried away and went deeper into the dungeon, they were attacked by a powerful demon, the escort and the viscount were killed, and they fell into a hole nearby.
　That's what Jeanne told me about the latter part of the story, but I don't believe the whole story. I don't believe the whole story, because the status will say something important.

Her name...
Age...14
Race... human race.
Titles: cursed girl (saint), former baroness, slave

Her name... is Aura.
Age...16
Race... human race.
Titles... maid and slave.

　It's in Jeanne's title, cursed child (saint), that's what it says. I don't know if she's hiding it on purpose or if she really doesn't know, but I don't think I can trust her fully.

　I decided to put that story on hold for now and interrupt the conversation to let Aura take a break so I could examine my surroundings.
　The first thing to do is to look for the hole where the two men fell in, it is located about 100 meters away from where I came in, and the wall was like a slide from the hole, so the two men didn't get seriously injured.

　The hole is quite high. I flew over to try and see what happened.

I think I've seen this place before...

　The place looked familiar or not, but since it was in the same dungeon, I stopped to think about it, thinking that there would be plenty of similar places.

　After that, I examined the area, but I didn't find anything of particular interest. However, there were reddish-brown stones everywhere, so there must be a lot of iron-containing rocks in this area, but I decided to ignore them since they weren't particularly necessary right now.
　And since they were able to find one warp zone in this place as well, they decided to stick the ragged sword the orc was holding nearby as a marker.

　When I returned to their side, they were discussing something with me. They didn't seem to notice us, so I decided to deliberately make the sound of footsteps to let them know that we were there.
　When they heard the footsteps, they stopped their discussion and looked at us.

Let's just get out of here.

　I urged them both to do so, but Aura still couldn't seem to stand properly.
　So I took Aura on my back and put the bed and pots and pans in my bag. Then I placed Shiroumaru behind me and Solomon over Jeanne, just in case.
　Slarin would be in my bag, ready to jump out at any time if there was anything wrong.

　But those worries seemed to be unfounded, and we made it back to the ground from the warp zone without incident.
　Once outside, Jeanne's first words were.

It's been a week since I've seen the sky!

　I was surprised that it was. After all, he had maintained the wards for nearly a week with the half-dead Aura at his side. This was because it was impossible for an ordinary wizard to do so.

　I thought it would be better to report to the guild first, and as I was walking towards the guild, there was something noisy around, and as I approached the guild, wondering

Don't move! You are suspected of kidnapping a nobleman!

　I was stopped by two men dressed as knights, and since I had no knowledge of kidnapping, I ignored them and tried to join the guild.

I told you to stay put!

　And as he tried to swing the spear in his hand, he

"Air Impact.

　I treated him to a shockwave caused by wind magic. The man who was about to swing his spear magically flew backwards about ten meters, then rolled over and hit the wall beyond, stopping his movement.

''I knew it was you!

　I tried to attack the other one.

Gluwaaah!　

　I was being stretched out on top of Shiroumaru's body, and I was being stretched out. Shiroumaru is waiting with his mouth half open to bite me whenever I tell him to.
　The man who couldn't pass out from Shiroumar's body hit (.........) saw Shiroumar's angry face up close and wet between his legs.

'Shiroumaru, go drag that guy out!　

　Giving directions to Shiroumaru, I had Jeanne open the door for me and walked into the guild.
　In the guild, several soldiers and knights were occupying one of the tables and discussing something, and they didn't seem to have noticed us yet.
　So I threw the man Shiroumaru had dragged over to that table with his eyes.

''What's going on?!''

　The knights, in their panic, seemed to instantly know it was me, but

Don't move! If you move, I will assume hostile intent and immediately activate my magic!

　Loudly, he checked the knights. But as one of the soldiers present drew his sword

Airblit, Airimpact.

　He fired two rounds of magic. I popped the sword with the Brit and blew the soldier away with the impact.
　After that much, the knights finally seemed to realize that I wasn't bluffing, but

You dare to challenge the Marquis de Samoens?

　One of the knights shouts out, but

Then the Marquis de Samons will be my enemy!

　He said back and slammed the killing spirit into the knights. That was enough to send the knights to their feet.

''It's a fight I sold you from there don't regret it if you die.

　It's as if they are in a state of instantaneous conflict. However, when it comes to an actual battle, there will be a difference in ability to unilaterally overrun it. This is unless the knight I just threw at you is the weakest among them.

　However, my overrunning show never began. It was because the Marquis of Samonth heard the commotion and jumped into the guild.

'Wait, that's enough! Both sides, put your swords away!

　At those words, the knights settled their swords, but I wasn't going to listen to the marquis' orders.

It's a good thing that you're not a miko. Isn't it too much of a bug to ask me to put away my sword after attacking me unilaterally?

　To be honest, I was pretty pissed off. At any rate, the Marquis' knights tried to attack me without regard to the fact that Aura (woman) was on my back.

　At my words, the marquis twisted his face as if he had bitten a bitter bug and stared at the knights. Then he turned to me.

I'm sorry for this, again. I guess my instructions didn't go over so well.

　

''Anyway, we'll hear the story later. I have some things I have to do first.''

　I headed to the guild counter in a way that left the Marquis alone, told the receptionist there about Jeanne and Aura, and tried to complete the formalities, but

''I'm sorry, but I can't give you your slave rights until you prove that those two are former slaves of the Viscount, and that you did not kill him.

　That being said, the first interview was conducted in my presence.

'We were attacked by that demon around the thirty or thirty-one floors.

The victims were three knights who were following the Viscount as his bodyguard, and one adventurer who was guiding him on his way.

'Aura she was attacked while we were taking a break at a dead end because she suddenly got sick.

　and answered the questions of the guild staff. And finally, he answered the last one.

The monster that attacked us was a very large centipede.

　In response, the gaze of a staff member who knew the demon I had recently killed pierced me.

''Temma-san, do you still have that centipede's corpse in your possession? If you have it, please get it out.

　With that being said, I took the Gigant Death Centipede out of the back.

'Here it is! It was this demon that attacked us!

　Jeanne points to the centipede and exclaims. Then she stabbed a knife into the centipede's abdomen and cut it open, and found a metal plate with a nobleman's coat of arms engraved on it, along with an object that was clearly a part of a human body from inside its belly.

''Wait a minute.......There it is. It's the coat of arms of the Honorable Viscount Acer.............................The guild also has a record of the Viscount's registration. That means it's very likely that the two of you were slaves to the Viscount.

　The guild staff told us to wait a bit and left the room.
　I was worried about Aura's physical condition, but for now she seemed to be stable and only seemed to be feeling light fatigue.
　Again, Jeanne and Aura seemed to be consulting with each other so that I wouldn't hear them.
　About five minutes passed as it was, and a man dressed like a priest came in as the door opened.
　The man bowed to us and then

'Hello, my name is Fromm Fenno, I'm a priest of the Farma Church in this city.

　He called himself. Apparently, I'm here to judge Jeanne and the others. For now, I decided to leave this place to the priest and listen to the Marquis de Samoens.
　The Marquis seemed to be angry with the knights at the table just now.

''Marquis, I've been waiting for you.

　At my words, the marquis interrupted his anger at the knights, turned to me and suddenly bowed his head.

I'm very sorry, Lord Temma. It was my misconduct in supervising. I ordered you to find Tenma-dono in order to get him to cooperate with you, but it seems that the knight who knew about the dispute with Gary misunderstood that Tenma-dono was suspicious and brought him to you.

　He bowed again. However, I had no idea what was going on, even though I was suddenly accused of kidnapping.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but this letter was actually delivered to the inn where I'm staying.

　The Marquis realized that he hadn't said the main point, so he took a letter out of his pocket and handed it to me.
　I opened it and read it.

"My son is in your custody. If you want your son back, you have until tomorrow evening to come up with the ransom of 10 million g's. The ransom will be handed over at the former fountain in the central part of the slum. But we will not release him until we see the money.

　So the letter said. What a classic sentence (in the sense of Temma's previous life), he thought, but it must be quite a concern for the Marquis.

'So what do you mean by 'cooperate with me'?

'I don't want you to get me wrong, but this is not an order, it's a favor I'm asking of you as Gary's father. The man I know to be the most skilled and most trustworthy I've ever known is Lord Tenma.

　Trustworthy, I guess, because I know the Duke of Sangha. For now, it would be better for the future if you cooperate.

"Your sudden and rude behavior is out of the blue...
Okay. I'll help you.
'What? Really?

　It was in the form of interrupting the Marquis's conversation, but since we're going to cooperate, there won't be any problems.

''However, if we move now, we are not prepared for anything, so we will wait for the night before we begin to act.

That's all well and good but what do we do here?　

　The Marquis may have asked if there was anything he could help with, but to be honest, the only thing the Marquis can use in his handlers is Gulliver, and that Gulliver is also unsuitable for behind-the-scenes work like this one. So.

Just pretend you're taking precautions. If you want to, you might as well spread the word that you're in the middle of letting me swim, otherwise it might disturb the kidnappers.

　I advised the Marquis, including the implication that the knights were only in the way without saying it.

''Alright. I'll do as you say.

　When the discussion was over, I went back to Jeanne and the others, and it looked like the review by the priest had just finished.
　When I entered the room, the guild officials noticed me.　

''Ah, Temma-san. There doesn't seem to be anything particularly suspicious about these two, so as of this time, the rights to these two slaves will be transferred to Temma-san.

　After saying that, the guild staff handed me the certificate.
　I kept the certificate in my bag and decided to go back to my room for now.

　I tried to talk to Jeanne and the others along the way, but all I got was a raw reply like, yeah, or something like that.
　To make matters worse, I ran into Aimee, Jin and the others in front of the room.

"Oh, Temma, that's very unusual. I can't believe you're with a girl!

'Huh? Temma. 　

　Reena reacted to Jin's words and found the collar that was fitted around their necks.

''Sir........''

　Amy was looking at us with a somewhat sad look on her face. Jin was smirking to himself that Temma was a man too, but Leena and the others began to distance themselves from Jin.
　So don't hesitate.

...Stan.

Abbe....

　I paid the djinn a visit for their magic... is the djinn really one of Seigen's top class adventurers these days? I'm beginning to think that...

Anyway, just so there's no misunderstanding, let me explain...

　I briefly explained to them what had happened. After having gone that far, everyone finally seemed to agree with me.
　However, for some reason, Amy's gaze from earlier was unbearable. It's not that I'm doing anything wrong, but I felt as if my sister despised me somehow.

''Then what do you want to do about the room?''

　If I don't think carefully about Amy's question before answering it, I'll be exposed to that gaze again.

''Well that's what we're going to talk about now...''

　This would be a safe answer. Amy didn't seem to mind it too much.

''Well, there's a lot of things to do now, so I'll have to leave you here.

　That's what I said to Amy and the others, and then I walked into my room with Jeanne and the others.
　We walked into the room and got to the table and I was about to start a quick discussion.

"Master Temma, if you will, keep us close to you as slaves.

Heh....

　I couldn't catch up with my thoughts at Aura's sudden words.
　Now, if Aura didn't mishear me, wouldn't she have told us to put ourselves as slaves...

'Make us your slaves, Lady Temma. This is the answer that Jeanne and I have discussed.

　Apparently I didn't mishear that, but...

Why did you decide to do that?

　I couldn't help but wonder. Because Jeanne didn't seem to be comfortable with being my slave at first.

'I thought it was the best option. Of course, if you don't want to do it, Temma-sama, then it can't be helped, but...''

　Aura says so, but there seems to be a reason for it. That's what I'm trying to figure out.

''There is indeed a calculation. The main reason for that decision is that Tenma-sama is an adventurer of considerable ability and is powerful enough to make the Marquis-sama bow down.

　It's true that, for Aura and the others, it might be a pretty good deal for them to protect themselves. However, I never thought of having a slave at all........

If Master Temma doesn't take us in, we may be treated like whores.

　 And the men will not leave such two people alone.

"I'm a guy too, but........

　I tried to resist Aura.

Yes, a thousand times better to choose someone with potential themselves than to be forced to be held captive by a complete stranger and a pervert.

　I was easily countered by a man who couldn't say a second word to me.

'Oh, but if you're going to mess with Jeanne, please get her approval. I'll do what you want with me instead.

　...I'm stuck, I think I'm stuck in this one I'm going to have to fight back at least.

I'll tell you the rest of the story tomorrow...

　I could only postpone the problem...
　Aura smiled and smiled.

'Yes, let's do that. Master.

　And he was sure he was going to win.
　Incidentally, Jeanne, who hadn't said anything at all, was blushing, and was also puffing on Shiroumaru to cover it up... Apparently, Shiroumaru had fallen for Jeanne's technique... ...don't you think it's a bit too easy, Shiroumaru?

　That's why it seems that two of my friends with the title of slave have decided to join my party. I.....


　So I thought about renting another room to Amy, but Aura opposed it, so we ended up living in this room with the three of us plus three other animals.
　I made a bed for Aura and Jeanne, who were not yet in good physical condition, and I made a bed on the floor for today. Aura told me she would sleep on the floor, but I adamantly refused, and since she still wasn't convinced, I had to use my orders to convince her.

　For now, today's meal would be leftover stew made in the dungeon, bread, and roasted meat, and I decided to let the two of them rest early, while I myself prepared tools and made a general plan for the night's work... time and space magic and time. Is there any such thing as a rewind... if there was, I would have used it immediately to leave Jeanne and the others with the guild and run away...
　For me, who had never lived together, including in a previous life, the sudden addition of two female slaves was as unsettling as dealing with a dragon.