A slave huh?

Nakimo was remembering what had transpired just a few hours ago from a jail cell in the castle.

“A royal slave you say?”

“Yes, your majesty. Let’s allow the people the chance to hire the hero for odd jobs in town. That way he can be spared execution and the people can have their appeasement.”

“That’s...” Susan began to speak but stopped

“This is the only way to save his life. You understand that, right?” Randall declared to Susan

She had an unhappy expression on her face but she didn’t argue back. This was indeed the one way to save his life. What concerned her were the request people who hired him might ask.

“Very well, however, I have a few conditions.” She said

“If his majesty will allow, I will be happy to negotiate terms with you.”

She frowned her eyebrows when she heard that. The only reason he would say that is if he foresaw her attempt to protect the hero. In which case she had something he wanted.

“I will allow it.” Her father declared.

As Nakimo remembered this, he heard footsteps coming down the stone stairs. They weren’t heavy so he concluded that they didn’t belong to the metal armored knights.

Those steps belonged to Susan who had a low-spirited expression on her face.

“How did it go?”

“Hmm… Well, I guess.” She said before pausing. She sighed before explaining the situation to him.

He would be under the care of the temple but would report to the castle every morning for 3 months to do daily work that would be assigned to him. She managed to arrange some guards to follow him in situations where he left the castle for work in the town.

If guards were not present, there was a likelihood of him being killed.

“Hmm… that sounds alright to me but that gloomy expression you have suggestions you got the short end of the stick.”

“By being you caretaker, we are responsible for the slave choker around your neck. In other words, its MP consumption is coming from us.”

In a world where mana was the most important thing. Spending it on a slave was just a waste. Because of this slavery was virtually none existent. Of course, they were people out there who would work like slaves but the fact remained that it was cheaper to pay them with mana than put a salve choker around their necks.

“Sorry, because of me you are having troubles,” Nakimo said.

His words made her feel shame: Compared to his troubles mine are nothing to frown over.

“I am the one who put you in this situation. Had I not summoned you, you would still be in your original world.”

“True, but if you didn’t summon me, someone else would have, right?”

“There is no guarantee that the same people can be summoned by two different arc priests.”

“… I see… Well, what is done is done. I am still grateful for what you have done for me.”

She couldn’t say anything. The negotiation went well but they were limited to saving his life from execution. There was no telling what would happen to him in the future.

She felt guilty. He clearly had his hopes up but that was only because he clearly didn’t understand the hatred humans had for the goddess.

“What will happen to me after the three months?”

“You are to be freed, is what we agreed upon. From there I will do my best to find you a place to live peacefully. Sorry, but you may end up living on a small farm somewhere.”

“No problem. I did some farm work in my past life so I am pretty confident in my ability to farm.” He said cheerfully. “But I must admit. Not being able to have a harem of cat-eared girls kind of hurts… hmm. Princess, you said that humans mate with the other three races right? Doesn’t mean their children are some sort of fifth race?”

“No. They are human. Some call themselves demi-humans or halfies, but they are considered human. They look like humans with small differences. A demi-elf will have long pointy ears but those ears will be shorter than a real elf. Demi-dwarfs will be taller than real dwarfs but shorter than your average human. Demi-demons areas you can understand are the most rarely seen and you can spot them from their light brown skin and blue hair.”

“I will try to remember that.”

“…”

There was a brief moment of silence. Neither one knew what to say to the other.

“I will be leaving now. I know it is uncomfortable, but please try and rest. Starting tomorrow, you will be put to work.”

“Understood.”

***

“You looking down in the dumps sister.”

“You are not looking so good either Sofia.”

Susan was walking the castle halls when she ran into her younger sister.

“I had to announce in the town square that the hero had been made into a royal slave and won’t be executed. The people started to shout and complain, it was really scary. Why couldn’t the prime minister do this?”

“Sorry about that. This kind of announcement could only be done by royalty, and as acting ruler, their father could not be tasked with such a thing.”

“Still… It was scary… I never want to do that kind of thing again.”

Susan sighed when she heard her sister's complaints. As a future ruler, she needed to get used to such things. Being ruler wasn’t all fun and games. If anything it was a heavy burden that only people with thick skins could handle.

Her timid sister was far from ideal in that regard.

“Why don’t we eat something sweet together? It will take your mind off it.”

“Really? You’re the best sister…”

As she patted the head of her little sister. Susan prayed in her heart that her mother would return quickly.

Her father was making plans and Prime Minister Randall Capricorn seemed to be supporting him. Her father wasn’t much of a threat on his own. If anything, while he didn’t love her mother he didn’t hate her either. He simply didn’t like the fact that he was beneath her.

His marriage to her was a result of his duke household in a neighboring kingdom virtually kicking him out by arranging the marriage with the then ruler of Helena.

They paid a large sum of money and mana but by arranging the marriage they could legally disown him as heir to the household.

He vowed revenge on the dukedom and worked to achieve that by being the most powerful person in Helena.

A foolish dream. Not only would a man not have much influence in a female-dominated kingdom, his bride even at the youthful age of seventeen was well known for her cunning ways.

Nicknamed the witch of foxhound. Her ability to play with her opponents was well known. She could have easily blocked the marriage if she wanted to but the bribe her royal family was offered could not be ignored.

In the end, she married him and had two daughters by him. He constantly tried to undermine her authority by failed at every turn.

He was indeed not a threat but Prime Minister Randall Capricorn was a different matter.
Susan had deemed him too dangerous to be left alone for long, but her mother was in the demon kingdom and facing problems of her own.

***

“Boring” (Rania)

“Well… It can’t be all drama, you know…” (Selma)

“But there has been nothing happening… Ha…”

“Why don’t we turn our attention to the demon kingdom then?”

“Why… Aren’t the humans and demons just playing tag over there?”

“True, but there is nothing happening with the hero at the moment. We will switch back after we take a peek at the other side.”

“Okay…”

“Who knows, maybe the witch of foxhound will seduce the demon king.”

“…”(Delphi)