2.10

After our business there was done, Picker-san and I left the Slave Shop and got on the wagon again.

That latest transaction added a lot more coins to my drawstring bag, and all that just from the 30% better prices. I repeatedly glanced at Picker-san, but he didn't seem to mind at all that I obtained more money than him for such a bizarre reason. The Slave Merchant said it was a gift to encourage more transactions in the future, but that was exactly the thing that I was the most skeptical about.

「I have accepted the money, so I guess there's no backing out now, huh?」

But both my mind and my heart were telling me that getting any deeper into that slave business was a bad idea. I mean, in my time slavery has been abolished in its entirety and even thinking about buying one could be considered a serious crime! But this world seems to have its ethics code taken straight from the Middle Ages, so I guess to them buying and selling slaves is no different than buying things at your local grocery store. I know I myself said that I should get used to living in this new world as soon as possible, but that didn't change the fact that doing something I was taught was wrong to its very core still made me feel uncomfortable.

After returning to the main road, we proceeded down to the city's center.

「It's so lively in here.」

There were various stalls on both sides of the road selling various items: food, clothing, etc. and people were gathering near every one of them in large groups. A few of them even had people who looked like priests and street cooks. I couldn't help but to think on how many of those people are your ordinary citizens and how many of them were actually Adventurers.

「The building over there is where the Order of Knights is located.」

Picker-san pointed towards a certain building placed at what looked to be the city's central plaza. It was a tall brick building with a bell tower. Apparently that was our next stop. When we parked the wagon outside of it, a young-looking knight came up to greet us. Identify told me that he was a Lv4 Knight, so since his level is so low then that must mean that he is still technically a squire, right?

「X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X.」

「X X X X X X X X X X X X X X. Michio-sama, please give me the Bandits Intelligence Cards, would you?」

Picker-san asked me as he held out his hand.

「Oh, right.」

For a moment I completely forgot that our only goal in coming here was to exchange the Bandit's Intelligence Cards for… presumably money? I took the backpack off my shoulders, opened the drawstring bag, took the Intelligence Cards from it and handed them over to the knight while Picker-san did the same. The two ones he handed over are from the two Bandits that the villagers managed to defeat. I wonder if he'll be able to see something that I wasn't able to see on them. I mean, I already tried looking at those Cards earlier to see if they had any information about a possible bounty on their heads, but ultimately I found nothing of the sort.

[I will now check your Intelligence Cards as well.] [Please do.]

The merchant held his left hand up and brought it backside up to the Knight's face.

「Investigate the will of the flowing spirit, the wisdom of Intellect: Intelligence Card, open!」

He chanted a short spell, after which the letters appeared in the air above the Intelligence Cards. So he's going to check our personal information as well, huh?

This is bad. Now he's probably going to check my Intelligence Card as well! But do I even have one of those?! And what am I going to do if it turns out that I do not?!

He looked at the merchant's Card for a while and then he nodded his head and handed the Cards back to Picker-san who nodded back at him, and then he turned his gaze onto me. Well, here goes nothing. Without much of a choice I stood before the Knight and raised my left hand towards the Knight's face, imitating Picker-san's movements as closely as possible.

「Is this okay? Did I do it right? Will that do?」

「Investigate the will of the flowing spirit, the wisdom of Intellect: Intelligence Card, open!」

My heart was pounding like crazy the entire time he was chanting the spell, but much to my relief, the Card popped out of my left hand just like it did when the merchant was doing it earlier. That's one bullet dodged, but I still felt somewhat anxious when the knight began to scan the Card with his eyes. What is going to happen now? Is everything going to be okay?

「And… how is it? Is something wrong?」

I asked the knight when he was staying silent for a good while now. I am afraid of that silence.

「You have a last name? Are you a Freeman?」

「Y-Yes?」

I think I just shit myself a little.

「Very well. Please, come with me.」

Looks like I managed to pass for now.

The knight entered the building and went to one of the rooms that looked like an office and we obediently followed after him. While we were doing that, I had a look at my own Intelligence Card.

<Kaga Michio: 17, Male, Villager, Freeman>

All of the information about me were written neatly with kanji. Are kanji the official writing in this world? Also, maybe having a last name was a rare thing here? Not to mention that it was my first time hearing that I was a Freeman. Are the Freemen different from normal people here? Maybe they are someone who the nobles dislike?

「So, what was that all about?」

「He was checking whether you had one of the criminal Jobs or not. If you had, then you wouldn't be able to collect the Bounty, since they canoot be handed over to criminals.」

Those words made the world around me freeze in place. I have a THIEF JOB!!!!! But the Job that was listed on my Intelligence Card was a Villager, so that would mean that only the First Job is visible to other people checking your Intelligence Card. Having Villager as my first Job was a little lame, but now I am happy to have it. That way, I will be able to avoid any unnecessary clashes with the law!

「I-Is that so?」

That was all I could say before I heaved a heavy sigh.

I tried pulling the Card off my hand, but no matter how hard I tried to do so it just refused to leave. I pushed it back into my hand, grabbed the tip sticking out of it and pulled gently, causing it to retract back. Even though it was sliding in and out of myown flesh, I didn't feel any kind of discomfort. So mysterious.

「We will check the Bandit Intelligence Cards inside. I'll be back with the results shortly, so please wait here.」

Taking advantage of that brief moment of waiting , I asked Picker-san:

「A question: how do you extract the Intelligence Cards in ways other than the owner willingly showing them to you? 」

「When a person is killed, their Intelligence Card is going to be ejected approximately 30 minutes after death.」

Picker-san explained matter-of-factly. So what I can understand from it is that you cannot get your hands on Intelligence Cards or steal them if the one bearing it is still alive.

A short wait later, a beautiful female knight came out of one of the offices. Identify revealed that she must have been one of the big shots in here, because she had a noble-sounding name and her level was much higher than that of the guy who was in here with us. She was a beautiful lady with a tight-looking body that even the armor could not hide, even though her chest was medium in size at best. She had her flax-colored hair tied in a cute ponytail, but I bet that if she let them down they would reach all the way to her slim waist.

「Are you the one who defeated the Bandits that raided the Somara village yesterday?」

And she directed her sharp, piercing gaze straight towards me.

「Y-Yes, that's right.」

「That was a band of brigands who had their base of operation in the slums of this town. We are currently in the middle of the operation to root them out, but some of them managed to flee from the city before we could bring them all to justice with our steel. Am I correct to guess that you've been paid for the two of them, but not for the rest?」

Miss Beautiful female Knight glanced at Picker-san.

「Yes Ma'am, that is correct.」

She then looked at the knight who led us here as if she saw something filthy stuck to her shoe, sighted deeply and snapped her fingers. Not 10 seconds after another Lv4 Knight came running to her with a white leather bag in his hands.

「This is the prize money for the Bandits. Take it.」

And she threw the bag at me.

「Uwah!」

That was sudden, but thankfully I managed to grab it before it hit the ground. Wasn't that kind of a dick move?!

「There, you have your money. Now if that's all then I suggest you to go away quickly if you don't want to cause any more trouble.」

And she left without saying anything else to us.

Eh? That's it? Just like that? Nonono, at least this once let me behave like a proper human being!

「I'm sorry for the trouble! And thank you very much!」

She stopped for a second and glanced at me, but said no other words besides that. Huh? What's going on? Has my sincerity not reached her? Did I mess up again? She didn't say anything. No words of thanks, or not even an explanation on how the village could be under Bandit attack even with all the knights in the city?

「Don't beat yourself up over it, Michio-sama. A majority of the knights come from the noble families, and they always tend to look down on us commoners.」

Picker-san says that as we make our way back to the wagon.

I know that. I understand that much.

But I still think that's wrong.

Why is it that the only ones who can get along with beautiful girls are hot-looking fuckbois from high society?! I thought that something would change once I decided to leave my old world behind, but apparently my luck has not turned for the better at all.