I wanted to go all out—get the money and buy up all of the slaves in one fell swoop. This was a matter of urgency, and I had a feeling we were well past being able to raise the money by gradually working our way through the coliseum competitions. But we needed to gather enough money for a massive wager to make this plan work. There was no point if we couldn’t bet big.

Of course, it was a given that we wouldn’t lose, being a hero and his party. But too many wins would make the bet less lucrative. I had almost zero experience with horse racing or anything like that, but I knew that betting on a clear winner wouldn’t make you much money, because everyone else would be betting on it, too. That’s why you wanted to bet big and win big before the word spread.

We could sell something of value . . . If only we had a bunch of gold or something. As the thought crossed my mind, I looked at the slave hunters and suddenly it hit me.

“I just came up with a good idea.”

I had a big, mischievous grin on my face. Raphtalia must have noticed and had a good idea of what was coming, because she rolled her eyes.

“Mr. Naofumi, you’re going to try something crazy, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. I’m going to go fetch a certain someone. I’ll be back in about an hour, so wait here.”

I used my portal to teleport back to Zeltoble on my own. And then . . .

“Oh? Shield Hero, I thought you returned to the village? Yes sir.”

“I did, but something came up. I want you to come with me.”

Around an hour later, after the cool down expired on my portal skill, I returned to the village again with the slave trader and his flunky.

“Mr. Naofumi? Umm . . . where did you . . .”

Raphtalia was looking at the slave trader with her head cocked to the side in confusion. The other villagers were also watching, curious as to what was about to happen. Eclair and the soldiers were looking at the slave trader with their brows furrowed.

“Eclair. The responsibility for these scumbags technically hasn’t been given to the authorities yet, right?”

“That’s true, but . . . What are you planning to do, Mr. Iwatani?”

“Just be quiet and watch. I came up with the perfect way to take care of this.”

“Be careful, Eclair. This is where Mr. Naofumi usually says something completely outrageous.”

Hey, what happened to Raphtalia believing in me? Then again, I was well aware of the fact that I tended to do crazy things at times like these. She had winced when she heard about how I sold the spirit water. Kizuna had been really proud of the whole thing, though, so she’d just acted normal and didn’t say anything.