Shouldn't Elly be back by now? What is taking her so long?

knock knock

Can't be her, Elly wouldn't knock. So who else would it be at this time of the day?

I summon Maria, "Could you fetch the door please, Maria?"

"At once, my lord."

A moment later she returns with an older gentleman and several children. Guys? This is NOT a kindergarten. And what's with those collars... oh, shit...

Obviously, none of the children look happy to be here, the youngest is just ten, the oldest fifteen. Only the man seems to want to be here for some reason.

"I greet you, new lord of this grandiose fortress. I am Ludwig, a humble slave trader."

"Greetings, Ludwig. My name is Jared Delacroix, Jared will suffice. What can I do for you?"

He seems quite happy, "Oh, you don't need to do anything for me, lord Jared. On the contrary, I want to do something for you."

I don't like where this is going.

"What would that be? I've honestly no money left to spend on slaves."

Rather, I'd like to end your whole business model, but I'm in no position to deal with any kind of backlash from that, so that will have to wait...

"That is not needed, I wanted to give you two free of charge. By my observation, you are in need of some... helping hands. Of course, if they should ever fall into your disfavor, they may also serve as a little snack. You are free to do with them as you please."

What do you want me to do with these little children? Do I look like a catholic priest to you!?

"Forgive me, but I'm not too knowledgable on the topic, what exactly makes a slave a slave?"

"Nothing much, they just get a special slave seal", he points to the collar around a child's neck, "this seal is bound to their owner. Should a slave try to harm their master or refuse to follow an explicit order they will feel immense, unrelenting pain until they either reconsider or die, most reconsider quickly, I assure you. Finally, should a slave be further away from their owner than 5000 DU without their owner's explicit consent, they will die a slow painful death."

Sick and disgusting, just as expected.

"And what is in it for you? I doubt a cunning businessman such as yourself would ever give something away for free."

"Consider it an investment. The sooner this fortress is operating at its peak capacity and gets a booming industry, the sooner would its residents be able to afford my merchandise. Currently, I have to sell them under value because the people are too poor and the day-to-day costs eat into any profit I could have. And if I may be so bold, I would like to convince you to lower some punishments for any kind of law-breaking from death to slavery. If you do, I'd like to buy those from you."

'Lower'? If you ask me, that is worse!

...but then with the low population and the threat of the monsters outside... don't go there, Jared, don't go there...

"I will consider it. May I ask where you get your... wares from currently?"

"Hmm... I'd consider it a trade secret, but if it buys me some goodwill towards my request, it is a price I'm willing to pay. So, some people willingly go into slavery when they have no alternative, most of them are from the slums, as you may guess. Then we take debt slaves and rarely some of the villagers from outside sell us bandits they have taken captive. I assure you, none are taken illegally."

Just play nice, Jared, just... play... nice...

Seems like Maria is playing with the kids, at least there's someone they get along with.

"I appreciate your honesty. So, I'll be honest with you as well. I plan to make several law reforms that will probably affect you. For one, I plan to reclaim the slums little by little. Can't take it all at once without causing a massacre."

He doesn't need to know that I also plan to outlaw the whole slavery business once I have made sure that I can deal with any form of retaliation.

"Hmm... yeah, that would indeed affect my business. Thank you for telling me, I will adjust my operations accordingly."

"I'm curious about these children, what have they done to become slaves?"

"I'm sorry, but it is my business policy that I don't reveal the reasons how I given slave has found its way into my custody. I believe if I did slaves with certain backgrounds would get treated worse. Is there anything else you would like to know?"

"Is there a way for a slave to get freed?"

"Ha~ha, ha! No. Once the slavery seal is in place it can't be removed, at least not short of divine intervention. It is a very elaborate process and it can only succeed if the gods agree, at least that's what I was told by my teacher. I never had any issues with it."

Are you kidding me? The gods themselves condone slavery?

...why am I not surprised. The whole situation was suspicious from the start, this just fits into the picture.

"Now, if you'd like to choose two of them. I've only brought my finest slaves with me today."

"Sure."

Wait, why am I agreeing to take them? This is the opposite of what I want...

I'm not stupid enough to believe that it is okay for them to be slaves as long as I treat them decently. Even in ancient Rome slaves got more and more rights over time until they were basically just regular employees, but in the end, they were still slaves.

But how can I free them if the enslavement is god approved... no, wait, this is just what he says, he can just as likely be wrong about this.

Maybe Jeff's files have a use for once and there's the secret to freeing slaves in them?

Ethics aside, we will at least need a slave to test the procedure, should we find one.

So, who should I volunteer to be a guinea pig?

There's a dwarf, elf, half-elf, human, beastkin, hero candidate, ... uh, what was that?

Sorry, Anna, but you can't hide that from me. Who would have thought that the holy maiden and the hero were so close together? Or at least 'a potential hero', how many candidates are even out there? Just one at a time? A dozen? Hundreds?

Wait, how the fuck does that even work? I thought the slavery mark is god approved!? How can they allow a potential hero to become a slave if they can't be freed? So many questions and the jar of answers is empty.

I continue to look.

Half-dwarf, half-elf? I'm curious how that works. Not that he is likely to know his parents given how messed up the culture is thanks to the nobles of the past...

If I look at the dwarf-elf oxymoron, he just looks like a human child, with slightly longer ears, maybe below average height. No idea what is normal in this world.

Also, why the hell does about every race have [Hard Worker]? Just make it a default feature and give them something unique!

Oh, ok, I can pass on that.

Well, none of the others have anything interesting, so...

"Give me the cat and that half-breed."

"Those two? How'd you... An interesting choice. Now let's quickly get the paperwork out of the way."

He takes out a document, fills in some fields and hands me the pen to sign as well.

I quickly read through the whole thing, see nothing off - BESIDES the whole slavery thing - and then sign it.

Fuck you, system! You better tell me how to free them!

...of course, there's no response. Anyway, Ludwig bids me farewell and leaves. Most of the kids are visibly relieved that they can leave here.

sigh

What's done is done. Please, don't let it be a mistake...

Now, what to do with the two new problems?

"I-I'm not afraid o-of you!", stutters the little cat girl.

"Sure you are, Anna, and you, Carl?"

Instead of answering he just hides behind Maria.

"Figures. I think it is too late today to go shopping. When was the last time you had something to eat?"

"...", Carl just tucks on Maria.

"...w-we had just f-food two days ago. We're fine."

"That is NOT fine. Can anyone of you cook?"

"I don't."

Carl shakes his head as well.

"I may know a little bit, my lord", Maria suggests.

"Fine, here, take Carl and these ingredients I have still left from the dungeon trip and prepare them some food."

"Understood. Come, Carl."

The two leave.

"So, my little cat, want to tell me... a little bit about yourself?"

"N-no. Stay away! I'm not scared of you!"

"For that, you are shaking quite a lot."

"You can't do anything to me! I have eaten lots of garlic, I'm not tasty at all."

"Oh, so you come already with seasoning? How thoughtful of you."

"Damn, on TV that worked... oops.", she quickly covers her mouth.

TV? This world doesn't have that.

Elly returns, "Heya! I'm back! Oh, having a guest, Jared? I didn't take you for..."

"Before this mind wanders too far off, our 'dear friend' slave trader forced two slaves on me. Happy now?"

"And here I was hoping for a funny misunderstanding scene..."

"Goddamn it, Elly."

You damn brainbug! This is not a comedy!

"So, Anny, what do you want to tell me about this... 'TV', little miss maybe-hero?"

"I, uh, I don't know what you're talking about. You've clearly misheard."

"You are a bad liar. So, do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way? Tell me voluntarily or I have to order you, with all the consequences that entails."

"No, please, I can't tell that a monster!"

"Fine, be that way. I feel kinda hungry, maybe you will suffice as a snack?"

Elly interjects, "Uh, Jared? Tone it down a notch. You're scaring the little girl."

"Uh, garlic, remember?", Anna tries to scare me off, futilely, " ...it was very yucky."

"Urgh... do you think that will save you? Are you stupid?"

"Eek."

Anna starts crying.

"At most, you'll anger a vampire with that, but dead are you either way; no matter what, the bite is lethal, even if the vampire doesn't suck you dry. The most you can achieve with such a trap is that you've just motivated the vampire to seek another victim. Congratulations, you failed to save yourself and got another innocent person killed. Really, you have to take anything you learned from watching TV with a grain, or truckload, of salt."

If she knows about TVs, it is likely that she is from another world, just like I. But allegedly this is not possible...

"Now, please, talk! Who are you really?"

"N, no, I won't t- arghh!"

Sparks are flying from her collar, she's being fried alive. Her HP drops to 1543/1786 HP.

How, how do I stop this... I, I didn't mean to...

1057/1786 HP left.

"I-argh, I'll, urgh, talk, I'll talk!"

cough hack cough

The sparks quickly disappear from the collar and Anna drops to her knees, gasping for air. Her HP stops at 83/1786...

One careless sentence from me, three seconds of defiance from her and she almost died...

What sane 'god' gives that much power over others to regular people? Shit...

sob sob

"...Elly, can you give me a hand here?"

"Uh, with what? I know nothing about handling children..."

Damn it, Elly, you are useless... both of us are...

...

I unsummon Elly and take Anna into my arms, "Take your time. I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

sniff

"I, I want my mom..."

"...do you know where she is?"

sniff sniff

"N-not here..."

"..."

I let her cry for a while until she calms down a bit.

"Can you talk now?"

"I don't wanna talk with you, you're scary! ...but even less do I want to die so... please, don't kill me..."

"...I promise."

The sobering mess formerly known as Anna frees herself from me.

"So, the truth is... I'm not from here? I... don't really know it myself."

"Then explain it as good as you can."

She starts explaining, still sniffling all the time, "...shortly after my sixth birthday, I had to go to a hospital, a big house with lots of people dressed in white or green and, uh, strange machinery attached to beds? For two years I just... lived there, most I could do was watch TV, only rarely was I allowed to go home with my mom, and when I woke up one day I was... in a featureless, white room, some men with grey skin talked with me, I... didn't understand a thing. Then I was here and had cat ears and a tail..."

"I think I get the picture. How long have you been in this place?"

"Six or seven weeks?"

So she was sent here a few weeks before me? And she skipped from age 8 to 12? So she took over someone else's body? Was it that kind of isekai for her?

Also shouldn't Jeff then have known about her? He sounded like it was years since the last person was sent here.

As usual, nothing adds up.

"And how did you get that horrible collar?"

"I dunno. I already had it from the start. And when someone tells me to do something I don't wanna, it hurts a lot, like just now."

"Did that happen a lot?"

"...only once or twice a week."

Did I get a budding Lalatina forced into my care?

"Stop that. If you keep that resistance up you'll take some lasting damage from it."

"But if I don't wanna do what you tell me?"

"...endure it. We'll find a way to break that cursed thing."

This whole thing is all kinds of wrong. I really need to have a word with whoever is responsible for this shit.

"Last question for now... Please tell me the truth, do you have a 'Lost One' title or something similar?"

"No, what is that?"

"Never mind then."

That... makes even less sense. If she truly was also sent here by them, why doesn't she have the title? I don't think she lied about her past, she knew about modern hospitals and TVs at least... I'd like answers for a change instead of even more questions.

(So, did you just adopt a daughter or a pet?)

(Elly, read the mood for once.)

(...maybe at a different time.)

(Say, do you know a way to free them from slavery?)

(Not really, at least not short of you becoming a god and then abusing your authority.)

(Then that is what shall do. Hmm... can't you pull some shenanigans like you did with Maria? Create a new summon, switch their souls by abusing a [Familiar]-powered bond, then kill or respawn their body?)

(I... don't think that has even the slightest chance of working.)

(Figures.)

Maria comes back, "so, uh, we are done preparing some food, I just don't know how good it'll be."

"Then it is a good thing, I don't eat regular food anymore. Elly, would you please taste test to make sure it is safe to eat for our two housemates?"

"Why me?"

"...lack of tact a moment ago."

"Grrr, meanie."

"Don't you trust me, my lord?"

"Maria, I haven't ever seen you cook, you don't have a relevant class for that and I can't cook either, most you'd get out of me would be instant food. So I have no idea where you'd get any cooking skills from. And before we kill the two kids by following some dumb anime trope, I'd rather play it safe."

"Fine...", Maria pouts.

Against all odds, Maria's cooking is edible, at least according to the three of them, nothing fancy but edible.

After the two children have eaten, I have Maria guide them to a room on the top floor. We'll decide what to do with them later.