Chapter 11 - From This Day Onward, We’re A Team (1)

The warmth drained from the body of the Devil Sorcerer sprawled on the ground.

Checking to the side, I saw that the hands restraining Rei had also disappeared.

Only the handprints left on Rei's wrists and neck proved that they had actually existed.

I feel drained.

This was essentially my first real combat as a mage.

I won by sheer luck, but I could have easily died if things had went wrong.

As the tension finally released with the thought that it was over, my body started shaking belatedly.

I slumped against the wall, sliding down as if collapsing.

Rei walked over to me with heavy steps and crouched down beside me.

"...Why did you help?"

"Huh?"

Is this what you should be saying!?

"Didn't you think about getting involved?"

I wanted to snap back at her for speaking that way, but Rei's voice was thick with regret and self-blame.

Despite her prickly tone, there was clearly a concern for me mixed in.

"It's not that I didn't think about it."

Why wouldn't I have thought about that while running here?

I came from a country where there was a saying about staying neutral to stay safe.

But I was in a position where I couldn't just stay neutral.

"I didn't feel confident taking the exam without you. I need to win that bet."

"...Huh. That's true."

"And about being a slave? That'll all be solved once you get your license, right? You get your citizenship certificate right away with the license. Once you’re a Limen citizen, what can slave traders do to you? Can't you just go 'Slave traders, attention! Mercenaries, attention! At ease!’?"

"Pfft! What nonsense is that."

Rei's laughter, which had started as a chuckle, gradually subsided.

Then, a somewhat solemn atmosphere settled in.

"...I'm sorry."

"Not that. You should say thank you. I stopped you from being taken away."

What did Rei have to be sorry for?

Did she do something wrong to me?

Well, she did ignore my words a bit.

But this incident was entirely my decision.

I chose to fight, so Rei shouldn't feel the need to apologize.

"Save the apology for Leaf later. She was really worried."

"...Yeah."

Feeling a bit embarrassed, Rei idly poked at the Devil Sorcerer lying in front of us with her toe.

She was short, but her legs were really long.

The proportion to her height is no joke.

"Do you know who this guy is?"

"No idea."

I haven't even seen the mages who are supposed to be famous in Res Limen, let alone someone from outside.

"He's called Malebris."

"Is he famous?"

"Quite a bit? But the one who hired him probably didn't just send this one guy."

"You mean the slave trader?"

"Yeah."

Rei seemed to try to speak calmly, but there was an undeniable tremor in her voice.

"I'm a slave, you know. And quite an expensive one at that."

Rei spoke self-deprecatingly.

With a somewhat resigned look, Rei continued, "My uncle sold me."

"Your uncle? Family?"

"Yeah. He usurped the position of family head after driving out my father. The men were killed, and the girls were sold as slaves. The guy who helped my uncle was a Devil Sorcerer. I had to watch my father's severed head on display, and see my brother burn."

I just listened silently.

Clumsy words of encouragement or comfort would only be seen as shallow.

I learned from Seir that sometimes silence could be more comforting than any words.

Just listening could help someone unburden their heart.

So that was why she was snippy with me. I was a Devil Sorcerer, after all.

One could call it guilt by association based on class.

This was unfair to innocent Devil Sorcerers such as myself.

...She probably didn't want anyone getting hurt by being involved with her.

That was why Rei told me to run away first, even when she was in danger.

I tried to speak in my usual nonchalant voice, "So you're from a noble background then."

"No."

Rei rubbed the edge of her hood with her fingers.

Her hand movements conveyed hesitation.

Then, as if she had made up her mind, Rei gripped her hood tightly and pulled it back.

And revealed slightly dull platinum blonde hair, and round ears perked up on top of her head...

"Oh?"

"I'm a beast-folk. It's common in the prairie. Being unreasonably deprived of freedom for being weak and such."

It was my first time seeing one.

I had seen elves and dwarves and other non-human races living as slaves in merchant guilds, but beast-folk were surprisingly rare given their numbers.

The reason was that their living areas were vastly different from those of typical non-human races.

The prairie.

A land of survival of the fittest, where only a few nomadic tribes shared territory with the beast-folk.

While I was staring in curiosity, Rei continued speaking, avoiding my eyes and looking at the ground, "You probably won't believe me even if I say this. I know it sounds like an excuse. But still..."

"I believe you."

"Really... huh?"

"I believe you."

There were definitely cases where people became slaves through no fault of their own.

I knew that better than anyone.

"I was like that too."

I rolled up my sleeve.

On my exposed arm was a short wristband covering my wrist.

How long has it been?

Taking off the wristband during free time.

I used to wear it all the time except when showering.

When I took off the wristband, there was a tattoo.

A slave brand.

With a slash across it, indicating I was no longer a slave.

"You..."

"Just to avoid misunderstanding, I'm a freed slave. I paid my price and bought back my freedom."

"How...?"

"My price was cheap, and luckily, an honest person bought me and paid me for the work I did."

"...Wasn't it hard?"

"...It was hard."

I think he was a good master.

That was undeniable.

Just my wages for calculating alone make him in the top 1%—No, the top 0.001% of masters.

He also provided minimal food, shelter, and clothing, and even supported me in studying reading and writing under the pretext of increasing my usefulness.

A person who might be closer to a benefactor than a master.

But a slave was still a slave.

Meals no better than dog food, a leaky warehouse to sleep in, torn and tattered clothes…

Only on very rare occasions when attending outside events, could I receive treatment befitting a human.

Above all, what tormented me was the self-loathing from losing human dignity and being treated worse than a tool.

I didn't go into the details of my harsh past.

That was enough for Seir alone.

"I must look a bit funny to you."

"Why?"

"Because I'm a runaway."

"Not really? I don't care."

If one could run away, they should.

I was rather envious of Rei.

If I had become a Devil Sorcerer earlier, I would have run away as soon as I learned to read, regardless of the two-year rule.

"If you become a slave unfairly, why accept it meekly? Of course, you should run."

"Right?"

Rei turned her head towards me so quickly it made a whoosh sound.

Her ash-gray eyes sparkled like they had stars in them, and her face showed a faint blush and deep satisfaction.

"As expected, another former slave understands!"

"Well, let's go with that."

Her tension changed completely.

Rei spoke cheerfully, almost as if she was about to start patting my back vigorously, seeming like a completely different person from before she took off her hood, "More importantly, is it okay to stay here? We should have recovered our strength by now, let's head back. They probably can't storm into the training center."

"Yeah. We should."

Rei stretched and stood up, extending her hand to me.

This kid, who used to dislike even touching clothes...

Feeling a bit moved, I reached out to grasp the hand Rei offered.

Whoosh—

Rei suddenly pulled her hand back, and my hand grasped empty air.

"...Uh, um..."

In the awkward silence, Rei spoke as if making an excuse, "There's still some demonic mana left, so, you know?"

"Sure."

It could be trauma.

I stood up on my own, brushing off the dirt on my clothes.

"Let's go. I'll take the lead... What are you doing?"

"What do you think?"

I answered while rummaging through the fallen Devil Sorcerer's pockets.

"Looting, of course."

Oh... a money pouch.

It’s heavy.

Looks like we just earned ourselves some dinner!

Are there any magic items...?

My disappointment immediately turned warm.

§

That evening.

The three of us gathered in one place after a long time to talk.

Rei apologized to Leaf for being indifferent all this time and revealed that she was a beast-folk by taking off her hood.

Leaf clapped her hands excitedly, saying she had guessed as much, and made a bit of a fuss.

"I thought so! I felt your intuition was amazing! It's that, right? Animal instinct!"

Leaf's body bounced so much that her straw-colored hair, now visible under her hood, swayed slightly in the air.

Her excitement at seeing a beast-folk for the first time, like me, was evident even under her hood.

"Animal... there are many better words, you know."

As I gave a slight rebuke, Leaf suddenly deflated like a balloon that had burst.

"Ah, was that bad? I'm sorry..."

"It's fine. It's not exactly wrong."

What's this?

Now I feel like the bad guy.

"More importantly, there's something else I need to say."

The excited atmosphere, perhaps thanks to Leaf, settled down with Rei's serious voice.

Leaf, sensing that Rei's words would be heavy, straightened her posture.

And then came Rei's explanation.

The fratricide and usurpation by her uncle, the story of how she unfairly became a slave, and the slave traders chasing her...

"This kind of thing will probably happen again."

The Devil Sorcerer Malebris.

Honestly, he was strong.

He might have been caught off guard, but he definitely subdued both Rei and me simultaneously.

"This guy winning was largely luck. I'm not trying to belittle your skills. I'm grateful. Probably... you paid a tremendous price to use that power."

Rei clenched her fists tightly, seemingly feeling great self-loathing.

She trembled so much that even I, sitting next to her, could feel her guilt and sense of powerlessness.

It's not really like that.

It was because Seir's rank was higher than Malebris's patron devil, so she applied a hierarchical relationship with that power and suppressed him.

However, separate from that, the amount of mana I used was clearly several times more than what Malebris used.

I wasn’t sure if it was an efficiency aspect or if more mana was needed to do that kind of rank suppression, but it was probably both.

While Malebris' mana, as an experienced Devil Sorcerer, was well-structured, I just poured it out like flowing water.

Of course, even so, it was far from squeezing out my lifespan like juice, as Rei thought.

However, there was a correct part in Rei's words.

"I was lucky. Honestly, if that guy hadn't been a Devil Sorcerer but another type of mage, I might have been killed instantly."

"I'm already doomed, and this guy is too late, but you still have a chance to get out."

At Rei's words implying that Leaf would get involved if she continued to stay with us, Leaf couldn't answer immediately.

There were a few seconds of hesitation before she opened her mouth.

That brief silence seemed to convey the dilemma Leaf must be feeling.

And then.

"I also."

Leaf's lips moved.

"I think I'm also responsible for getting Roman involved in something dangerous."