Heavenly Castle

Though neither the baron nor the man in armor disclosed any details, the rumor about Taiki’s robots descending upon the capital spread through the city in the blink of an eye.

That rumor reached Grey’s group, which worked on the liberation of slaves, becoming fuel for discussion among the organization.

A dimly lit room. The light was limited to two alcohol lamps, so the faces of those sitting in the room were hard to see.

One of them asked Grey.

「Can that store really be trusted? In the end, slavery is still slavery.」

Others joined in.

「That’s right. Wasn’t the liberation of slaves our end goal?」

「Isn’t that store managed by the nobility and royalty that we hate?」

Listening to voices seething with hate, Grey breathed a small sigh.

「...I don’t know as well. But to me, that store seems different from others. I actually went there and checked what it looks like... It was completely different from any of the slave stores that I’ve seen before. The most amazing part is that if a slave bought at the store doesn’t receive the treatment meeting minimum living standards, golems waiting on standby at the store will head out to their rescue. 」

「Absurd.」

「There is no way that is possible. They have no way of telling what the slave’s situation is, and even if they did, only nobles can afford to buy slaves at such ridiculously high prices.」

Murmur and objections came from the surroundings in response to Grey’s words. But Grey only shook his head.

「That actually happened when I was there. An unusual sound rang, and then a golem immediately flew away. I tried to follow after it, but lost it in the city. After that, this is according to what I’ve heard from witnesses, it stormed into a mansion of a noble in the aristocratic district and carried off five slaves.」 𝑓𝗿𝐞𝘦𝘄ｅ𝘣n𝘰𝘷eƖ.c𝘰𝗺

「It broke into a mansion of a noble......?」

「I also heard that story, and also heard that it is a lie.」

「I heard that it’s a baseless rumor spread by some baron. A lot of people saw golems fly through the sky. Some say that the baron’s household made some secret agreement with Heavenly Country, some that the baron enraged Heavenly Country, there are all kinds of rumors going around.」

In reply to Grey, others began reciting the contents of the rumors that they had heard. During that time, a knock on the door suddenly resounded, then, came a voice from behind the door.

「Grey.」

A woman’s voice.

Hearing it, everyone turned to the door.

「Catherine, huh.」

Calling the name of the owner of that voice, Grey asked her to come inside, after which the door opened and a blonde-haired girl came into view.

Her gaze went over the faces of the men in the room and then stopped at Grey. Cold, emotionless eyes. Her otherworldly beauty and doll-like expression made others freeze, holding their breath.

But Grey wasn’t overwhelmed like them and stared back into Catherine’s eyes.

「You came at a good time. I’d like to hear what a noble would think.」

Starting like that, Grey told her about the situation with the baron house. Catherine moved her gaze slightly and showed signs of deliberating on those words.

Then, spoke up.

「......They don’t want to earn the ire of the King or that slave store, so the baron would want to resolve the situation peacefully. Even so, they also don’t want it to affect the reputation of the house. But since no good word about the baron house came from the slave store, it means that all of those are the baron’s own struggles. The slave store clearly stands above him.」

Everyone exchanged glances with each other as Catherine stated this assuredly, not as mere speculation, to which Grey smiled.

「I see. Judging by the reaction of the store’s clerks when the slaves returned, that reasoning is probably correct. Slaves aside, most of the clerks showed anger at the baron and not a shred of fear. Usually, the retribution from a noble is the most fearsome thing.」

Hearing Grey’s and Catherine’s conjecture, everyone raised voices of admiration.

Then, turning to Catherine Grey said.

「Which reminds me, you came here for something, didn’t you? That’s quite unusual to see you here.」

Being asked so, Catherine, expressionlessly, slightly lowered her head. ƒ𝐫𝒆𝐞w𝗲𝚋𝗻૦𝘷e𝙡.c𝑜𝙢

「There is a fuss about a flying golem landing at the entrance. Those that can fight surrounded it, so I came to call Grey.」

「What-What?!」

With Catherine’s words, everyone in the room jumped off their seats and rushed to where the golem showed up.

「Sa-say that earlier!」

Telling that to Catherine, Grey immediately left the room.

Following him with her gaze, Catherine then breathed a sigh with the same cold expression.

「Foreign slave store...... Since they are operating on Karluk Kingdoms territory, that means they are cooperative towards it. And since they are selling high-class slaves, Grey and others who target their clientele...」

Muttering those words, as if speaking to herself, Catherine then breathed a small sigh.

「There is no room for negotiation.」