“What do you mean?”

“Well . . . After the Spirit Tortoise incident, I reinstated Miss Seaetto’s status as nobility and issued a proclamation ordering all Melromarc citizens—including nobility—to release any demi-human slaves from the Seaetto territory immediately.”

“I see . . .”

“Since that would include the others from Miss Raphtalia’s village, I had hoped the proclamation would allow us to quickly find any survivors.”

I had already figured out what the queen was trying to say, but I didn’t want to hear the words, honestly. Even Raphtalia was turning pale.

“Our investigations show that the results have been less than favorable. It would seem that before the emancipation proclamation was even made, the slaves were sold off and their whereabouts largely remain a mystery.”

Shit! Would the filth of this country ever stop dragging me down?! I mean, it’s not like I couldn’t understand their motivations. If I found out an item was going to be nerfed in an online game, I would sell it off in a flash. But come on! Ugh . . . this really sucked.

“Our investigations continue, and the . . . monster trainer . . . that you patronize is currently searching for Miss Raphtalia’s friends.”

In other words, they hadn’t found them. That’s why they were still searching. I steadied Raphtalia, who started to look like her legs might give out on her. And the fact that my plan had already hit a brick wall from the very get-go started to sink in.

“Fortunately, Keel and three others have already returned to the Seaetto territory.”

So there were four in all, counting Keel. That was it? Considering the kind of development I had in mind, we would need a lot more than that. I was left with no other choice.

“For the time being, it looks like we’ll just have to round up some demi-human slaves without being too picky.”

“Mr. Naofumi!”

“We can’t build a territory with four people. We need more.”

There were all kinds of things that needed to be done.

“It is what it is. We’ll just start off by buying some cheap but useable slaves.”

“Un . . . understood.”

“I’m sure they’ll probably end up being children.”

Younger slaves would have more room for growth, among other things. I continued to mull over the situation as we parted ways with the queen and headed for the slave trader’s tent.

We threw on cloaks and made our way through the back alleys toward that oh-so-familiar tent for the first time in a long while.

“Oh?”

There sat the slave trader—a man I would have preferred not to associate with—looking bored, waiting for the next customer. Wasn’t he supposed to be searching for the slaves from Raphtalia’s village? I doffed my hood to show my face and gave him a salutatory wave.

“Well if it isn’t the Shield Hero! It’s been a while. I’ve heard the news of your recent successes.”

“Long time no see.”

“I thought you might have forgotten about me.”