“No! I was working with Keel and the others to gather more people!”

“We did make some suggestions to my mother. She also sent one of her best to help out here at the mansion. We’ve made some progress with repairing the buildings, too.”

Melty gave me a quick report of the situation. I guess they were doing something, at least.

“And I guess you planned on moving on to the neighboring village once you finish rebuilding this town?”

Melty and Eclair nodded in response. I sighed.

“Well, do whatever you want. I’m technically the governor now, but I’ll leave the reconstruction of the town to you two.”

“Huh? Are you not going to help us, Naofumi?”

“I plan on rebuilding the neighboring village as I see fit. I’ll need to coordinate with you to do that, so it’s not like I’m just leaving everything to you and disappearing.”

There was no need for me to play boss and order Melty or Eclair around. We could all go about our own projects simultaneously. If my reconstruction plans went well, then people would naturally begin to gather here in this town, too.

“Now that that’s decided . . .”

I snapped my fingers, and the slave trader and his assistant climbed out of the carriage, came over, and grabbed the three kids standing near Keel.

“Wh . . . What are you doing?!”

“No! Stop!”

“Ah, I thought they might remember you.”

They had been slaves before, after all.

“Bubba Shield! Don’t tell me . . .”

“Yeah, you’ve already been through this, haven’t you, Keel? That’s right. You kids are going rebuild your village, and the best way to do that is by becoming my slaves so that we can improve your abilities.”

“I . . . I know that, but still . . .”

“Mr. Naofumi! I’m not sure that forcing them is . . .”

Raphtalia voiced her doubts with a worried look on her face.

“Don’t worry. It’s just a formality.”

“No! I never want to be a slave again!”

The little brats were struggling with all their might, but the slave trader’s assistant showed no sign of letting go.

“Mr. Iwatani!”

“You think you can rely on charity alone to bring back the village? Are you all just going to wait on Eclair and Melty to rebuild it for you? Do you really think you’ll get your village back that way? Seriously?”

The brats groaned in response to my questions. That’s right. I’m sure they had already figured it out long ago. The villagers that had been lost weren’t coming back. And it was clear that things weren’t going to get any better if they relied on Eclair.

“If you become my slaves, you can become strong like Raphtalia here. She played a big role in the battle against the Spirit Tortoise.”

“I’ve heard rumors, but . . . is that really true?”

“Keel has gotten a fair bit stronger, too, hasn’t he?” I added.

“Now that he mentions it, you do seem a lot stronger now, even though not much time passed before we were reunited, Keel.”