The Finest Slaves In Kira

"Miss Elizabeth?! Jonas, wake up!"

The mage greets us excitedly from within a cage, and hurries to shake Elizabeth's sleeping brother awake.

"Mm- huh?"

"Jonas, your sister is here!"

The battered man gets hurriedly to his feet. Interestingly, they're both still wearing their gear. Jonas even has his sword on him. Around their necks, however, is a thick metal collar with a mana stone set into the front. Between the collars runs a chain with intermittent blue shards set into it.

"Oh, thank goodness you're all here!" he exclaims, relief clearly written on his face.

"Are you okay?" Elizabeth asks him.

"I'm... okay," he says, hesitantly, "But we were the only ones to make it out alive."

"Please help us get out of here," the mage pleads, "If either of us tries to use magic with these collars on, we'll both get hit by a lightning spell."

They're linked together, huh. The mana stone must absorb mana discharges and transfer it between the collars, so both parties get punished. Clever, if cruel.

A sharp-eyed man in a slightly worn, red suit approaches us from the side.

"Oho, the sire has an interesté in the female?" he says, silkily. "Ever so gorgeous, no?"

Vol looks distastefully at the man, who doesn't appear to notice, "We want both of them," he replies in a stern voice.

"You have an interest in fellows, too, Aie? Respectable~"

I wonder whether Vol just looks like the type to buy slaves for "fun" or if that's all they're used for here.

"We-ell, sire, are you most certain that you can afford them both? They do not come cheapè."

"My apologies, but it appears that there's been a misunderstanding," Vol says, not looking apologetic at all.

The man looks annoyed, and as Vol continues, his face grows more and more irritated. "These slaves were adventurers assigned to guard a ship, which was captured by pirates between Tayde and Cavern. They are not legally obtainable"

"I assumé you have some evidence for this?" he says, clenching his jaw.

"I don't need evidence," Vol says, pulling something out of his pocket, "I have a direct order from Evelyne of Voaneve to halt all shipments to Kira Isle if the illegal prisoners are not released to us immediately."

"I. See... Very understandable." the man says, gritting his teeth.

God damn. Vol is pretty good in business mode.

"Now, release them."

"Of coursé. Though, surely, I can receive some compensation in return," he attempts, "Perhaps a quick ride on the blonde girl will be in order?"

"Do you want to be castrated?"

At least four voices, one of which I'm sure belongs to Elizabeth herself, echo across the room in disgust.

The man seems to shrivel up as he goes to unlock Jonas' collar.

We leave the dingy tent a few minutes later, Jonas and the mage walking tiredly beside us.

"Kastrate loe a slavo mann," I hear Irene grumble under her breath as we head down toward the port where our ship is docked.

She and Vol are beside me while Elizabeth walks with her brother and the mage a little behind us.

"Hey, uhm..." I hear Jonas tell the young mage, "I'm really sorry about all this."

She looks up questioningly at him.

He continues, "This whole... A-rank thing... it kind of got to me, I guess. I should never have convinced you all to join. If I hadn't, everybody would still..." he trails off.

"I'm afraid you can't carry the blame here, Jonas," the mage tells him, softly, "You didn't convince us to do anything. We all thought we could handle it. I know you like to think of yourself as the leader, but we all make our own choices. It's not your fault."

Her words bring back some unpleasant memories in me.

---

"We all make our own choices, pal. I know you like to think of yourself as the leader, but you're no better than us. You get that now, don't you?"

The young man standing above me is someone who, many lives ago, was the closest thing I had to a friend. The agonizing pain in my chest is from his sword, piercing through my back, severing my spine and immobilizing me. His words are the last thing I hear as Number 5 fades away into darkness.

Sometimes, I wish I could forget the things that happened in the past.

Sometimes, my memories hurt.

I wish you were here, Sofia.

---

As the ship sets sail, the mood is high. Some of the people in Jonas' group died - it's true - but the mage seems to have cheered him up somewhat. They're sitting by the railing of the ship, leaning up against each other as they stare out over the ocean, their necks free of collars.

I sigh and lie down on the deck, looking up into the bright blue sky.

Those collars were impressive, though. Chaining together stones like that to spread the mana between them is a clever trick...

Say...

I wonder if we could do that with the AM-stores...

"Hey, Vol. I need a second opinion on something."