Kokugensou wo Item Cheat de Ikinuku (LN) Volume 1 Chapter 2

Translator :

Yuus.h.i.+n

Editor / Proofreader :

Cyn

[HnM]Pete

Sarah

Milanin

rei_hunter

Chapter 2 - Sawatari Company

Est's town square was crowded with refugees carrying little but the clothes on their backs.

So that was why the place was in an uproar. It looked like a disaster or something similar happened nearby.

When I entered the Sawatari company shop, sour-faced Louise came to greet me along with  Suzanne and Claudia, the apprentice soldiers.

It was rare for our company's combat team to not go out to exterminating monsters on any given day.

"What happened?"

"Ona village has been attacked by a swarm of monsters. We fought back together with the town's garrison and other adventurers but there was too many of them and we were pushed back."

Ona village was located not far from Est in the northeastern direction. It was a place of expansive, peaceful pastures, home to more than two hundred people.

So, the monsters that sp.a.w.ned far away in the direction of the royal capital had finally made their way over to the area around Est, huh.

"And? Louise and others didn't suffer any injuries, I hope?"

"Aaah, we're fine. We received a bunch of potions, you see. It's just that, even though we were there, we only barely managed to evacuate the villagers."

Though their injuries had been healed with potions, just looking at their tattered leather armor was enough to give me an idea of how fierce a fight it had been.

Still, Louise was dejected, unlike her usual self.

Ona village was a place we pa.s.sed through while peddling. It was also a prosperous settlement focused on breeding cattle, so we had been procuring soil to make saltpeter from there.

Villagers I recognized were in front of the shop, setting up camp and sitting while leaning on each other, so I decided to go and check to see if anyone was injured.

"Louise, is it fine to use the recovery potions on injured people?"

"Why are you asking me something this trivial? They are Takeru's, you are free to use them as you like."

I had figured Louise would say that. She sounded indifferent, but I guessed Louise's group had also used all of their potions on the injured people.

Ona village was within the boundaries of the county of Est, so the healers of the town's church also helped but there were too many injured people making the relief effort short on hands.

I was sure the town was all out of potions by now and if I offered mine they would re-sell at a much higher price, but I fought off that wicked idea and decided to distribute them to the injured people for free.

TL Note :  remember kids, only evil merchant can get filthy rich

"Thank you! Thank you!"

"Think nothing of it, please, we gotta help each other in the times of trouble."

I decided to be a nice person and help as much as I could.

The young villagers showering me with grat.i.tude right now were probably thinking 'what a good guy'.

Right now, I was 'losing a fly to catch a trout'. Those people were residents of a neighboring village, so if I was helpful in this situation and earned favors here and there, I would be able to reap bigger profits later on.

Also…… since I went and founded a company in this town of Est, I had no intentions of staying idle and watching the monsters wreak havoc like this.

It looked like the power of the gun, not the sword, had finally become necessary, so I silently resolved myself to act.

●

"Did I hear you right? You're going to retake Ona village from the monsters for us?"

"Yes, and if possible, after achieving that, I will even eradicate the nearby monster packs."

I declared in a grand manner in the castle of Count Donovan.

As expected, he looked at me with doubtful eyes, thinking I was full of empty bravado.

"Of course, if you can do that, then that would really help me but……"

"I will be using new kind of weapons, victory is not impossible."

There had been a message from Nattal in Losgow village that the gun and cannon prototype models had been completed. I had Lyle-sensei go and fetch them with the wagon, and he was on the way right now.

In the meantime, I was having Louise's group go and investigate the monsters' positions and numbers.

Est's standing army was small in the first place.

When the monster outbreak's epicenter was near the royal capital, the knights of the royal capital's knight order and the crown army would only protect the lands and highways under the direct control of the kingdom. They wouldn't come to help the hinterland of Est county.

"Is that so, Takeru-dono has got mysterious new weapons, huh? Very well, I will issue a special extermination request. If you can save Ona village then... how does ten platinum coins sound?"

"Oooh, so this is a platinum coin. I've heard rumors, but this is the first time I've seen one."

A platinum coin was a special unit of currency made with a rare platinum ore. One coin was the equivalent of ten gold pieces. In other words, ten platinum coins equaled one hundred gold ones.

They rarely appeared on the market and they were only used in transactions involving n.o.bles or wealthy merchants. They could be compared to the 100k yen gold coins. As I looked at the glittering platinum disks on the red table, I unconsciously reached with my hand only to be stopped by the count.

TN note: 100k yen gold coins are commemorative currency issued when the emperor of j.a.pan is enthroned or such occasions

"I'm not giving them to you yet. They will be yours only after you've exterminated the monsters attacked the village."

"I understand, sir."

I wondered if it wouldn't be fine for the count to increase the size of the standing army or just hire some mercenaries if he had this much money.

But well, since the county of Est was far away from the contested borderlands he probably couldn't hire anyone even if he wanted to due to an emergency. For someone like me who wanted to sell their fighting power, this was a G.o.dsend.

"Furthermore, if you can clean up all the monsters in the vicinity and return peace to the land, I'll reward you with three... no, five hundred gold pieces!

"Sir, we have a deal."

I emptied the coffee cup and left the count's castle. Free Ona village, get ten platinum coins, another five hundred gold pieces upon the extermination of remaining monsters, huh.

Those were rather lavish rewards, a daring promise even for Count Donovan. He was probably thinking it was impossible for me.

Well, even I wasn't actually certain of success, so I guess him thinking that couldn't be helped.

Anyhow, it was a chance to test the guns and the cannon. I wanted to take advantage of this good opportunity to maximize profit.

●

Once Lyle-sensei brought the guns and the cannon to us, I held a strategy meeting in the Sawatari Company building.

According to Louise's group reconnaissance, the monsters that had attacked, and were currently staying in, Ona village were mainly armed Orcs numbering a hundred and another hundred or so Ogres and Goblins, giving a total of two hundred enemies.

A familiar face from fantasy tales with its pig head on a humanoid torso, the Orc was a well-equipped (not only with a weapon but armor as well) monster possessing higher intelligence than Ogre or Goblin.

By the way, even though Orcs had that pig head of theirs, they were unexpectedly sociable and could unite with other humanoid monsters to form a large group. The only species they seemed to be on bad terms with was the werewolves, with whom they would fight to the death whenever they met.

I really wished we could arrange this to happen here, but there were no werewolf packs nearby. It was a pity. Human livestock was the favorite food for Orcs. That was probably the reason why Ona village, with its thriving cattle herds, was attacked.

Now, compared to a monster horde of about two hundred, our war potential was just me, magic using Lyle-sensei, Louise, and the thirteen little slave girls.

Twenty of the combat-capable young refugees would join us for the attempt to retake Ona village, bringing our numbers to a total of thirty-six people. But even so, against two hundred enemies, that was painfully low.

a.s.suming it would be a typical battle, of course. But we had modern weapons after all. The guns I had the blacksmiths in Losgow village manufacture were the matchlock muskets. They looked a lot like the matchlocks from the Sengoku era that were used as hunting guns.

The ones I had designed had proper stocks and were larger making them more suitable for military use.

As for ammunition, I decided to go with paper cartridges. That made reloading much easier than was the case with the old-fas.h.i.+oned matchlocks. When I test-fired outside of the town, the sound startled the villagers and made them fall onto their b.u.t.ts.

"I want us to fight using this."

Well, I figured I could only let them get used to this.

Since the musket even made our allies surprised it would be just the right weapon to make our enemies panic. Aside from me, well used to dealing with gunpowder and aware of the gun's mechanism and functionality, Sharon was the one who mastered it the fastest from all the nervously practicing slave girls and villagers.

"The recoil isn't that strong, is it? Don't let your aim sway when you pull the trigger."

"Like this?"

With a large 'bang', the bullet fired by Sharon flew straight into the target. She was good. Maybe even better than me. The other slave girls, once they got used to it, too were shooting standing upright and facing forward.

The volunteering villagers were all youngsters as well, so it only took them half a day to stop getting startled and ending up on their b.u.t.ts. As expected, young people were able to absorb the new technology faster.

"I understand its effectiveness, but I think I still prefer a bow in the end."

"True, it may be better if Louise fights with a weapon you're used to."

Louise, an excellent warrior, made a sour face as she test-fired the gun. Of course, by now she became decent at handling the musket too.

It was just that Louise, considering her skill at throwing knives and small bow, probably didn't see the gun as a very practical weapon.

But a firearm had an unarguable advantage compared to the bow, even an ordinary person could start using it almost immediately with decent proficiency.

After some practice, we moved to a hill that overlooked Ona village, which was currently occupied by the Orcs, both to execute a surprise attack and test the cannon.

"Everyone, when we are firing the cannon, remember to cover your ears."

While the cannon's structure was big, the principle behind it wasn't any different from the musket. The gunpowder used was of the potent, black variety, though, so the sound of its explosion would be very intense.

Accompanied by a fierce, thunderous sound, that pummelled my eardrums like a hammer blow, the large iron ball flew over its intended targets and disappeared beyond the horizon. The ground shook and the stone pedestal used to keep the barrel fixed in place got forced into the soil.

That was just a test shot, so for it to even fly straight ahead was already a success. But the explosion was stronger than predicted and the pedestals wouldn't hold like this, so I figured I should reduce the amount of gunpowder a bit for the next attempt.

"It'd be nice if that was a hit, the power is good but……"

As I mumbled so, I looked down from the hilltop and saw the monsters occupying Ona village had fallen into a state of panic. This puzzled me since I totally missed.

I decided to try firing once more.

"Lower the angle on the cannon a little, then slightly turn to the left"

While Laure was cleaning the hot barrel with a mop, Sharon's group, all wearing leather gloves, frantically worked to adjust the cannon according to my order.

"Good, that should do it. Load it, we're firing the second round."

"Ready~"

Using a ramrod, Laure loaded the gunpowder and the cannonball into the barrel in that order, then she moved away from the muzzle. After I made sure she was at a safe distance I lit the fuse and fired the second shot. The iron ball launched with another earth-shattering explosion.

"Ooooh, this time it hit."

"We did it~"

Surprised by the sound of our first shot, the Orcs were swarming out of the village's buildings. The iron ball hit right in the middle of the pack.

But even though the cannonball hit, there was less confusion than before. Maybe the monsters were too dumbfounded and forgot to run.

And it didn't even look like that they noticed it was us shooting at them from the top of the hill.

They were not familiar with the concept of cannons, so, from their point of view, this might look like something roared suddenly and then crushed their allies in an instant.

"Good, keep firing towards the village with this angle."

"Aye aye, sir~"

TL Note :  them lolis be like http://i.imgur.com/5JME2KJ.jpg

Laure, who dealt with gunpowder every day, was fearlessly stuffing the cannon and we fired continuously until the stone pedestal cracked and the barrel warped from heat.

And the results…… showered by the cannonb.a.l.l.s of death coming from an angle that they couldn't see, the panicked surviving Orcs all ran for their lives, away from the village.

"It seems that all the hards.h.i.+ps of practicing with muskets were pointless, don't you think?"

Lyle-sensei remarked with an amazed expression. We might have overdone it a little after all.

●

Searching through the large amount of Orc corpses left in the village would yield us weapons and armor. We would also receive ten platinum coins for the completion of the special extermination request.

We were going to make a killing on retaking this village.

Louise too was pleased saying things like "there's no way we can eat so much intestine".

The villagers that returned to their homes were offered intestine soup, but it looked like it wasn't very well received, even though the Orc meat was delicious.

I felt guilty for earning too much, so while we were collecting the cannonb.a.l.l.s, we helped with restoring the village ravaged by our bombardment.

We also helped to fix the fences surrounding the village's pasture and gathering the cattle that ran away together with the monsters.

Finally, borrowing the youths trained in using the musket, we exterminated the scattered Orcs that were still lurking nearby.

With this, we could safely say that the public order in the village has been restored. But still, the source of the troubles was still far from being dealt with.

"Further to the north of Ona, there is a bandit stronghold. That group of thieves called themselves the Golden Eagle Band but they got destroyed by the monsters. Having them gone is good and all but the monsters are now using their stronghold as a base to raid the county of Est."

That was the situation according to Louise's scouting.

'Then it should be fine to just crush that bandit's stronghold with the cannon', I suggested. There were no objections so we decided to go ahead with the expedition.

Even though I expected us to be fine with just the cannon, the twenty volunteers from the village still took the guns and went along with us.

Again, using the information obtained by Louise's team beforehand, we took up position on the hill in the range of the bandit stronghold ( which, despite its creators being thieves, was a three-storey imposing stone fortification on a small mountain away from the highway ).

"Since it's just a bandit's stronghold I guess n.o.body will mind even if we destroy it completely. Well then, let's aim the cannon at the stronghold and set the angle as you see fit for now"

"Please wait a bit. Let's perform calculations and decide on the angle from the start."

Lyle-sensei took out a stack of paper.

It seems that ever since the first test shot at Ona village, Lyle-sensei had been recording the shooting angle and distance.

"The outcome varies depending on the weight of the cannonball and the amount of gunpowder used but I think I can estimate it somewhat."

Lyle-sensei, just by observing my bombardment, immediately realized that one could estimate the point of impact from the angle of the cannon. What a cheat!

I knew the theory but I didn't know how would it work out in practice. While being doubtful, I tried shooting using the angle Lyle-sensei calculated. It turned out we hit the stronghold right in the middle with the first shot.

"Mathematics is the strongest weapon, indeed."

Excited, we kept shooting at that angle. The stone stronghold began to gradually collapse.

Since the Orcs started to squirm out from inside the stronghold, I decided to aim the cannon at the entrance and bury them alive.

Bombarding from long range was really overwhelming. I had to say, I had made a fearsome weapon for myself.

"So powerful, you probably can use these to siege castles as well……"

I hoped Lyle-sensei wasn't thinking of any bad things. I didn't really want to use the cannon on fellow humans.

"......No, it's merely a tool to defend oneself."

Even so, I knew it would still probably be used on humans. Anyway, Lyle-sensei was still the Silesie kingdom's secretary, so I could not let my guard down.

Well, even though I said that I was a secretary's a.s.sistant myself. The monster extermination was going well, too well actually, to the point it was scaring me. Those were my feelings as the hunt for the Orcs and Goblins near the stronghold came to an end and we proceeded to collect the bullets, monster meat, and skin.

Since this was originally a bandit stronghold, inside the ruins there was orphaned equipment and even money, so we gained some extra profit.

Inviting us to eat while we were at it, Louise happily took out the cauldron. Somehow it's was really calming.

The Orc intestine white stew, with village beef we had been gifted mixed in, made by Louise was very unpopular with the citizens of Ona but since it tasted of proper pork it went well even with my palate.

The villagers' faces went blue as they watched Louise dress the Orc meat but I could only think of this as handling food while I was helping to wash the intestines.  

Maybe from being together with Louise for quite a while now I had gotten used to this, or maybe I was gradually becoming mentally strong like her.

This was survival of the fittest, if one refused to eat edible things that could be procured locally, one wouldn't be able to fight.

●

"We should return to Est…"

When we discussed whether we should extend the expedition or not, Louise objected. She had been warning us for a while now that it was dangerous to get close to the Portal of Evil Essence.

It was true that due having guns and cannons we had been gaining confidence but still, there was no way we could casually go to the place where only heroes would tread, home to legendary monsters like a dragon.

Furthermore, we had already crossed the boundary between crown territory and the county of Est, so even if we managed more exterminations we still wouldn't get any more money.

Therefore I decided to return. By the way, we had received a pack horse from Ona village, so now the horsepower we commanded doubled.

We put the cannon inside the covered wagon and stacked the heaps of meat and skin on top yet somehow the wheels still managed to turn.

Louise's group would make another trip to pick up all the equipment, goods and money that wouldn't fit this time.

When we returned to count Donovan's castle in Est and made a report about the expedition result, he was overjoyed.

He said we were fine to keep all the money and goods salvaged from the bandit's stronghold. Then, as a cherry on top, he awarded us another five hundred gold coins as a reward plus the usual coffee.

Rather than celebratory alcohol, we had celebratory coffee and it was delicious. But as expected, being paid generously made my mood good.

I could guess the general intentions behind the count's attempt at putting me in a positive frame of mind. He was a sharp and capable governor. Without a doubt, he wanted the muskets, or even more likely, the cannon.

"There's something I want to discuss."

And there it was.

"I wish to appoint Takeru-dono as a chevalier of my house, House Almark, are you willing to accept?"

"Eh?"

I lost my composure due to his unexpected offer. I didn't know if the count saw the changes on my face but he flashed a flattering smile at me.

"Of course, Takeru-dono's achievements are enough to not only become a chevalier but even a baron, sadly I lack the authority to grant the latter."

"Haaa, no that's..."

"But even though you'll become just a chevalier, I would like you to protect and govern the Ona village area as a magistrate with full powers of a village chief. This would make you effectively own the territory like a baron would. How about it?"

"Haaaa…..."

Even if he said chevalier, I didn't know what to do. Being totally thrown off track, I turned to Lyle-sensei in a fl.u.s.ter.

"How about accepting it? I think this a more sincere proposal than being told 'give me the new weapons'."

Now that sensei pointed this out, I finally understood. Here was what the count wanted to say.

In exchange for the freedom to do whatever I want within the Ona village area, he asked me to protect the rest of the county by stopping the monsters from the Portal of Evil Essence from getting further south.

Since that land had just been attacked by monsters, and restoring the ruined Ona village would take time and labor he would incur no loss by giving it to me. One could say that this was a fair deal.

"Count Donovan, I accept your offer."

"Oooh, so you will do it!"

Like this, I finally got to take part in the sword-touch-shoulders ceremony that I had seen frequently in fantasy anime and officially became a chevalier of House Almark.

TL Note :  the knighting ceremony - yuus.h.i.+ng

"Good, from now on it's fine for Takeru-dono to use the name Takeru Ona Sawatari."

"I'm sorry, that's a bit..."

Putting Ona in the middle somehow didn't feel right, so I declined.

●

The Ona village, which thrived on breeding cattle, was allocated new land so the production efficiency was improving remarkably.

The saltpeter production base also remained the same location we had been using before. But since the ranch had been destroyed, we could have the freshly jobless villagers work for the company.

The soil suitable for saltpeter production was everywhere around and could be gathered freely. And I could make saltpeter huts all over the village too.

But, at the same time, I continue to produce and sell soap in Est while using the money earned to order guns and cannons from Losgow mine.

I could repel the normal monsters coming from the north but I needed lots of cannons just in case something like a greater demon or a dragon showed up.

Incidentally, the wagons to transport the cannons could be procured from Ona village as well.

And of course, with them being the countermeasure against monsters, I didn't feel like spreading any information about them.

Especially since I had a feeling that while count Donovan was good at commerce, he was not very good at military matters.

I didn't know why I, someone who should have been a trader, now had to think about defending a territory but I guessed it couldn't be helped after I took up the chevalier t.i.tle.

"There are not enough hands to do the work…... "

"Let's hire more slave girls in that case?"

Right after I grumbled to myself Lyle-sensei whispered a devilish suggestion into my ear. I had, of course, thought about hiring more people and even considered slaves.

But I had no idea why did sensei limit the choice to little girl slaves only. The company's work was more than just making soap or saltpeter.

There were tasks like those performed by Louise's group too, ones requiring taking up weapons to fight. And I didn't think I had heard about anyone using little girl slave soldiers before.

"Sensei, even if they were to be slaves, letting children use guns and operate cannons feels very awkward."

"It's still a better fate than going to the mine and being certain of death, isn't it? When it comes to guns, even children can handle them easily and, as we saw, they can learn how to use them immediately too. And finally, in comparison to adult slaves, the little girls can be bought dirt cheap, so we can obtain the necessary number immediately."

"Hmmmm, I see. Almost like a charitable enterprise, isn't it."

Sensei, like me, was a wicked person.

"Haha, it certainly is a splendid charitable enterprise. And since we control the route between the capital and Losgow, the slave traders will come flocking if you decide to employ more."

"Won't doing that trouble the mining operation?"

If my memory served well, the child slaves were supposed to be a perishable tool to excavate inside narrow mining tunnels. And the mines were valued customers purchasing my blasting bombs.

Especially the Losgow mine that I was asking to make guns and cannons for me.

"You don't have to worry. The mines will work the adult slaves to death instead."

"......Right. In that case, I'll be counting on you, sensei."

If there would be no child slaves to die, then the adult slaves would perish in their stead. It was not an easy truth to hear but this was an aspect of this world nothing could be done about.

I hoped that if the work efficiency went up thanks to the blasting bombs, the number of workers worked to death would go down, but that was probably just wishful thinking.

The heartlessness of this world's social mechanisms was not something an individual's power could change.

"......With that said, the number of new comrades will increase gradually."

"That it will."

Later I informed Sharon, who has grown enough to nearly match my height, about the decision to employ new little girl slaves from this point onwards. She had become a leader looking after the other girls and today, as usual, she was both tending to and managing the store.

That was why whenever there was anything new to discuss, I always talked to her first but now, for some reason, she was looking unsatisfied. And rather than her face, her ears were…...

Sharon's tail was hidden under the skirt so it couldn't be seen, but usually, when she was in a good mood, her ears stood up straight making it easy to notice.

Her mood was usually good, so her ears were nearly always standing up but today, when she heard what I said, her ears totally dropped down. She was clearly anxious about something and I wondered what that was.

"You don't have to worry about living s.p.a.ce. We have enough funds and I'll add one more building to cope with the increase of personnel."

"Yes."

Huh, this isn't it either, Sharon?

"If there's a shortage of anything or any trouble with day-to-day life, I want you to tell me now."

"No, no. Everything is alright and the money we're being paid is plenty enough."

"I see... If you wish for freedom, you can buy yourself out with your wages and become a full-fledged citizen again, you know."

"Everyone is satisfied with their current lifestyle. Actually, if others heard about being freed, they'd think they're being abandoned and would start to cry."

Well now, even if they returned to being a normal citizen, we wouldn't kick them out of the town or anything. I wanted to keep employing the children able do their jobs.

After all this, I still couldn't figure out what was the problem here. So I decided to give up and ask her straight.

"Sharon, is there, perhaps, something you're personally dissatisfied with?"

"Just one thing…… If you're getting new kids then you will have to give them a bath again, right?"

"Yes, that's right."

Since they would probably be dirty when bought, getting them clean would come first.

After all, Sharon and the rest of the slaves were heating up water in the back of the store to wash themselves regularly too, weren't they.

They were fine to do that as they pleased, of course, however, maybe because they were still children, they disliked getting into the bath.

Especially Laure, who hated bathing. Which would be a problem if left unaddressed, as she was the one mixing saltpeter.

"......Aah, of course."

Everything should be fine if I made a big bath when adding the extra building.

And since asking Lyle-sensei to use water magic for each and every little thing wasn't a good habit I should also dig a well and install a hand-pump. My newly established connections with the iron mines resolved the material problem I had before.

Which reminded me, when I came to this world, I had thought about making money by recreating the hand-pump. If one had the required materials, the principle behind it was extremely simple, so now I could try making that idea work.

I also wanted to soak in a bathtub from time to time, as going to the Losgow hot spring every single time was a pain.

"Erm, master?"

"Aah sorry, I was lost in thought. I was thinking about making a new bath, you see."

"That's not what I worry about. Will you tell me why I am the only one that you won't bathe anymore?"

"Well, that's because you're…..."

Since I bought the girls, she alone had grown big and I thought it was fine to stop was.h.i.+ng her. Or rather, I wanted her to help with was.h.i.+ng the other kids. But still, for some reason, here she was staring at me with her amber eyes and an unsatisfied face. At that moment I had a flash of insight.

She had beastman blood in her veins so her body matured fast but, on the inside, she was still a kid.

Just because she was from a merchant house, could read, knew how to write, immediately learned how to do the double-entry booking, and so on, I came to think of her as a very smart adult.

With only her being treated differently, she must have been worried about discrimination. She probably didn't know that I was bad at dealing with adult women and that she hadn't done anything wrong.

"......Is it because it's me?"

"No, I'm sorry, it's my bad. Next time I will wash you too, same as the rest."

There was no need for her to make a face as if she was about to cry now, was there. Her animal ears popped out from her soft orange hair again as I started to rub her head.

"Alright…..."

Well, her body was a little big, so it was a bit… or rather, it's felt quite wrong but I figured it would be fine as long as I thought of her as a big kid.

Thinking about it, she was still at the age where kids wanted to be spoiled by adults the most, huh.

"That's right, if it's Lyle-sensei then there would be no problem at all. I guess it will be fine to leave bathing Sharon to Lyle-sensei."

Straight after I said that both Lyle-sensei and Sharon got into a bad mood. I was half-joking but nevertheless, the bath was a taboo word for Lyle-sensei, huh......

TL Note :  here it is, people, our typical dense m.o.f.o mc ¯_(ツ)_/¯ - Yuus.h.i.+ng

I do hope Lyle is a woman :> - rei_hunter

●

Lyle-sensei went and bought a batch of new little slave girls to match the newly expanded company building. Although we didn't decide on a specific number somehow it ended up to be thirteen again.

TL Note :  f.u.kou da…… wait, wrong series

Looking at their age, they were all around twelve years old. I guessed that since sensei had a choice, he probably aimed for the oldest kids because they were cheapest to get.

Not long ago, I jokingly said ours was a charity enterprise but with deals like this one, it had become a profit-making operation now. Though it was also true that we needed them old enough to be capable of working for us.

Also, if we just increased the number thoughtlessly, it would be hard to prepare suitable living quarters and education. Therefore, this was the perfect number but still, thirteen, huh…

It looked like in this country they did not consider thirteen to be unlucky.

Maybe Lyle-sensei picked this amount so that they could make newbie-veteran pairs to learn the ropes.

These days, sensei would handle matters on his own without me having to ask, so I figured I could leave it to him.

The new annex had doubled our company building in size but most of that s.p.a.ce was used for the big bath on the first floor. I tried to recreate a ceramic tile bathroom causing the construction cost to skyrocket and hit a grand total of six thousand gold but I did not regret it.

Being able to take a bath at any time was priceless. The water was supplied from the well via a hand-pump and heated externally with the help of firewood.

Of course, I also installed a proper drainage system so there would be no problem with disposing of dirty water.

Right now Laure was drawing water and tending the fire diligently by herself even though I had told her it was fine to leave it to me.

She had to manage the fire when making the saltpeter, now she was managing the fire at the bath too. Just how much did she like fire?

I had a feeling that all the Dwarves were workaholics.

And so it seemed that she liked to heat the bath but did not like to get into one, which was a problem for me.

Initially, I thought that might have been the case because Dwarves as a species disliked water. But from asking Lyle-sensei about it I learned that this wasn't the case. It was just Laure herself.

Oh well, since I liked to dunk kids that disliked it into the bath, I would wash her plenty later.

"Well then, we will start with was.h.i.+ng you guys."

"......"

The girl slaves were all, without exception, meekly following orders with lifeless eyes. Since I knew that they were going to be like this, I didn't mind them not showing any reactions.

The ones in charge of bathing them were me, Lyle-sensei, Louise, and Sharon.

"Sharon is doing the was.h.i.+ng too, huh."

"Master wanted me to help was.h.i.+ng the kids, didn't master say so?"

I really wanted her to stop making a curious face like that. I had only said it would help if she was to be on the was.h.i.+ng side. Hadn't she wanted to be treated the same as the other kids?

Oh well, it was probably best to let both her and Laure do the things they wanted if that was their wish.

The slave girls were all like Cinderellas or princesses of ash. Their hair and skin were so gray that it made you doubt they had ever taken a bath since they were born.

And it wasn't a pure gray, it was more like what you got from mixing a lot of different paint colors. Nevertheless, once we washed them clean with the soap their hair and skin returned to the hues they were born with.

There was red, blond, black… and even green hair with some blue mixed in, making for a little fantasy-ish display.

Their skin, as expected, was covered with cuts, sc.r.a.pes, and bruises. This didn't mean the slave traders were particularly s.a.d.i.s.tic and intentionally inflicted wounds on them or anything.

The damage may have been caused by the incident which turned them into slaves or rough treatment in captivity. We washed the wounds and treated them with medicine decocted from the herbs found by Viola.

I found it sad that they all just sat there like dolls and let themselves be treated without saying "it's painful" or "feels good" or anything else like that.

Thinking about it, Laure's att.i.tude of hating baths was very human-like in contrast to this.

Nevertheless, I was still going to dunk her into the bath later and wash her without mercy. I'd like it if everyone also came to hate bathing as fast as they could.

TL Note :  lmao this guy, s.a.d.i.s.t? kids bully?

After we washed the new kids, the old kids, with the exception of Sharon, also helped to wipe their bodies with towels.

Since I would be pairing one new kid with one old kid, it would help me greatly if the apprentices found the masters to learn the ropes from on their own.

"Right, after you wipe yourselves, put on your clothes properly. Once you verify that you are fully clothed, you are free to eat and rest in your own room for the rest of the day."

Even when given such simple instructions, the slave girls still wouldn't act independently.

They did not understand what to do even when put in front of the underwear, ap.r.o.n dresses, socks and shoes after being told it was theirs. They have been deprived of the concept of owning things.

We will have to tell them to sit at the table, tell them to eat, and tell them these are their beds they are to sleep in.

It was going to take a lot of hard work to bring back the human in them.

After we put the new kids to sleep, it was the old kids' turn to bathe.

"Hey, where did Laure go?"

"Eh, she was here just a moment ago..."

Since I couldn't see Laure anywhere, I asked Colette, the baker's daughter, who was close with her and got paired up with her often for work. It seemed that she had disappeared suddenly.

She had run away, huh?

It was very like her to do the job of taking care of the new kids perfectly and then vanish immediately before it was her turn to take a bath.

Oh well, I would definitely dunk her later.

"Well, by now you all should be able to bathe by yours… Hey! Why are you undressing so fast?!"

Sharon was already undressed and waiting.

Uwaaa, looking at her naked body I could see that it had fully matured.

Even though it had only been three months of her eating properly, the effects of malnutrition, including stunted growth, had clearly vanished. She was still the age of a primary school kid, though.

Right, I shouldn't be getting embarra.s.sed by a kid here.

"Fine, I'll start by was.h.i.+ng Sharon but you should learn to wash yourself soon, okay?"

I didn't say that because I hated was.h.i.+ng her in particular or anything. It would simply take a load off my shoulders when I happened to have a lot of other things to deal with.

I couldn't fail to notice that the numerous wounds she had carried when we had first met were now gone without a trace. Her skin has become beautiful and it was truly a blessing.

Body-wise she was probably more than qualified to even work in a brothel now but it would be morally wrong since her mind was still that of a kid.

"Master, since I was the only one not to get washed the second time, please wash me enough to make up for that."

"I got it, I got it……"

I silently pleaded that she stopped showing me her front. It was totally bad to try to describe any visible detail now. I resolved myself to kill my heart and scrub my mind clean.

That swaying little tail above her b.u.t.t was adorable, a perfect thing to distract myself with. There was also some orange fur growing on her back and wrists.

Her chest had an overabundance of soft meat so I preferred to avoid commenting. The moderate amount of orange hair concealing her groin area also saved me.

TL Note :  said the guy who described Sara-chan's nipple in great detail

"Okay, done, you're clean now."

"Eeeeh?!"

Well, she was clean now, right? I had lathered her whole body with soap and washed it a bit already. I thought I had tried my best. And frankly, doing anything more would make me lose it.

"Well, it's done and you can finish on your own, right?"

"......"

Even though her discontent face was glaring at me intensely, I was too embarra.s.sed to look back.

Since she was still a primary school age kid inside and a demi-human, I shouldn't have any s.e.xual interest in her.

Or rather, if that happened, it would be my loss. But I was also a man, it was impossible to have no reaction if I tried to do more.

I had endured a lot… I was so mentally exhausted I could vomit blood. After Sharon, I would wash the other kids and I would be able to reconfirm that I was not a lolicon. Yep, handling a kid was more comfortable.

TL Note :  yea, vomit blood from his nose

Since Lyle-sensei and Louise also helped, we finished bathing the other kids almost immediately.

"Okay everyone, after you've rinsed your body, try taking a soak in the bath. I think that if you can get used to it, it will start feeling really good."

For now, I tried to let them use the bath too. The humans in this country didn't have the custom of soaking in a bath. So while I wouldn't force them to do so all the time, they should at least try it once.

Soaking in the bath improved metabolism so it was good for the body. If they were to get used to it while they were still kids they might come to like it.

●

As expected, letting all twenty-six of them into the bath at once made the bath water murky. I drained it and heated up a new portion to let Lyle-sensei and Louise take a slow soak too.

I was fine with being last.

Of course, I thought of asking Lyle-sensei about entering together but he shot down the idea before I could even finish the question.

This was hopeless, I faced the same pattern of refusal again. Anyway, it was time for Laure. I would definitely find her and dunk her into the bath.

Entering the dining room I saw Colette.

Since she just got out of the bath, her still damp, brown hair was glossy. This girl too had the looks to be a poster girl of a bar if one prettied her up.

A promising stock.

Maybe because she was a daughter of a baker, she took up cooking and serving food as her job. Usually, she would be the last to eat after she made sure everyone else was served.

If Colette was eating then Laure must have come by for food already.

"Did Laure eat yet?"

"Ah, master. It seems she hasn't. But she's so late that I went and had my meal already, I'm sorry."

"Don't worry, that's ok. Do you know where she went?"

"She may be heating up the bath again."

That was likely.

There was a chance that she had aimed for the moment when I went away to pump new water to go add more firewood and stayed to watch the bath temperature even now.

She was a workaholic, she was unable to ditch work.

"Right, Colette you wait here and give Laure a special dish when she comes back."

"Eh, special dish?"

"Prepare Orc meat with plenty of salt and spices to make it smell good. Give her alcohol too, the good kind, and tell her it's all because she worked hard today."

TL Note :  let's be good master and not get your little girl slave drunk, but still, she's a dwarf so... and who wouldn't like to dunk kid who hate bath into the bath

"Understood, master."

Laure worked twice as hard as other but she also ate twice as much.

Also, as a Dwarf, she was no exception from the type and even though she was still a kid she already loved alcohol.

In the Dwarven society, they called strong alcohol "water of life". They were saying that without strong spirits life was pointless.

It seemed the common sense idea, that letting a kid drink was bad, was nonexistent in this world, so I would let her drink as much as she liked.

Since she really loved food with a strong taste, she would definitely come for this very aromatic dish. And once given good alcohol, she would definitely stay.

●

"As expected, you've come."

"Au, master."

Au my a.s.s.

It took me a lot of effort to catch her but, as I predicted, she finally came back to the dining room.

"And you just finished eating too, perfect. Lyle-sensei and Louise should be all done with their bath, we will be the last."

"Ah, I still haven't drunk enough."

Yes, yes, I will allow you to drink all you wanted later but now it is time for the bath~

But still, despite drinking that much whiskey she was still pretty sober. Nevertheless, she must have been somewhat drunk, since she got caught after escaping here and there for all this time.

Amongst all the older slave girls, Laure was the biggest earner, so I didn't mind using a lot of salt and expensive spices for her meat dish or giving her plenty of alcohol. I also usually put up with her selfishness to the best of my ability.

But avoiding bathing was the only thing I wouldn't allow.  One had to simply consider how much saltpeter had she made and how many saltpeter huts had she built just yesterday for example.

And while the smell was one thing, making saltpeter was a job involving lots of dirt and animal excrements. I understand the hards.h.i.+ps of that work the most, so she was the only one I could not neglect was.h.i.+ng.

"Ok, take off your clothes, I'm going to ask for them to be cleaned too."

"Ah, master."

After I had quickly taken her totally dirty ap.r.o.n dress off and stripped her bare, she put her hands together as if asking for a boon.

"What is it?"

"Please be gentle with me."

"Who did you learn that phrase from?!"

Since I was the last one, I thought I might as well get in the bath too and I took all my clothes off.

I didn't know her real age but Laure appeared to be the smallest of all the slave girls, so I didn't think much about seeing her naked or being seen naked around her.

Maybe that was why I found her the easiest to get along with.

"I will, gently, wash every nook and cranny of your body, so you better prepare yourself."

"Hiyaaa!"

I used the brand new soap, lathered up plenty of bubbles and proceeded to wash her with all my might, starting from the head.

Even though she was a Dwarf of red copper hair and dark brown skin, I would prove that with enough polis.h.i.+ng, even she could become beautiful.

In truth, her pointed ears, face, and figure were adorable. In this Real Fantasy, Elves were known as the white Faerie, and Dwarves as the black Faerie.

This meant, Dwarves were a member of the Faerie clan too. In other words, Laure has the potential to take the position of a Dark Elf.

"Laure, I will spruce you up into an idol."

TL Note :  he actually said "I will produce you" though, like he's a producer

"Uwaawawa."

I laughed in my mind, seeing her struggle was fun. Maybe I really was a s.a.d.i.s.t.

If she was to press me to wash her like Sharon did, then I would draw back. But since she tended to react like "no, I don't want to be washed" then, of course, I wanted to do it all the more. It couldn't be helped.

As a result of my efforts, her red copper hair regained its gloss and her dark brown skin too became beautiful. This wasn't bad.

"Alright, you're completely clean now. You can even call yourself a dark Elf now."

"Master, I hate Elves."

So in this world Elves and Dwarves didn't get along either. In that case, it was fine to call her a beautiful Dwarf girl.

As I was gazing at the loveliness that was the cleaned up Laure and basking in self-satisfaction, I heard a bitter, familiar voice.

"Master is unfair…..."

"Uwaaaaa!"

I screamed at the surprise attack from behind.

This bath house had a pretty high ceiling but I still installed clear mirrors of the type only n.o.bles used on the walls because I wanted them regardless of the cost.

Clear mirror in this world was a kind of processed silver sheet. The mirrors installed in this bath house were bought for a total of two platinum coins. They were legitimate high-cla.s.s items as normal people usually used metal mirror made from copper or tin.

Before I knew those mirrors reflected a head of orange hair. It felt like a horror movie.

"Uwaaaa!"

As soon as my voice faded Laure screamed too. Maybe she was simply startled by my scream.

Her miserable scream echoed inside the bath house. I probably sounded like this too.

I looked over my shoulder and, as expected, saw Sharon standing there naked. I wondered briefly why was she there and mentally scolded her for sneaking up on me from behind and scaring me witless.

"Master washed me so sloppily, yet here you are diligently scrubbing Laure."

What a pain……

"Come on Laure, try soaking in the water."

"Uwaa!"

I held Laure up in my arms and dipped her into the water.

"How is it, feels good?"

"Hot~"

"You can't stand soaking in the water even though you heated up the bath, huh. Hahaha!"

"Wait, master, are you listening?"

Uwa, she was unusually angry. I pleaded silently for her to let this go. Somehow, I suddenly felt so tired and decided to get in the bath too.

Haaa, as expected, soaking in the hot water felt good. I could enjoy myself at last.

"Laure, you can get out after you've counted to 100"

"2, 3, 5, 7, 11…..."

I was surprised that she knew prime numbers. She might have learned from somebody but honestly…… the only answer was me. I must have been talking to one of the other slave girls and she overheard it.

In the meantime, Sharon came over to the middle of the bath. This kid was really persistent today.

"Master……"

"Sheesh, I got it."