At the macho man's call, after a while a single merchant appears.
He's a man with dark skin. It's not just suntan. He's probably from the Begaritto Continent, or one of his parents was from the Begaritto Continent. He's a little fat and drenched in sweat. Though there's a cloth hung over his shoulder for wiping up the sweat, that cloth too is soaked. Though the smell of sweat wafts about, this marketplace is hot so it can't be helped. I had already taken off my robe as well, and Zanoba undid his mantle as well. Fitts-senpai is dressed as usual with a nonchalant look.
His face is red though.
For a different reason.
"Hello. I'm the branch manager of one of the Rium Firm's associate firms, the Domehni firm, Fe'Burrito."
The merchant names himself. He turns to Zanoba and extends his hand. Zanoba was reaching his hand towards the merchant's face, so I took his hand instead.
"Hello. I'm Rudeus of the Quagmire."
I give that name a go, and for an instant looks at me puzzled, but immediately smiles broadly.
"Ohhh, so you were Quagmire! I've heard about you. Just before winter, you killed a stray dragon."
"I was just lucky; the dragon was weakened you see."
The name of the A ranked adventurer, Rudeus of the Quagmire is known in these parts as well, somehow. The efforts I put into spreading my name weren't just for show.
"Today I'm looking for a dwarf but..."
Fe'Burrito glances at Zanoba and Fitts-senpai.
"Right. These two are contributing to the funds. We're looking for a child so that we can teach them crafting from a young age."
I tried saying something appropriate. It wasn't a lie.
"I see, so it was something like that... Though it isn't a good one that I'd really recommend... Anyway, please just have a look. It's this way."
We listen to Fe'Burrito and from the other side of the market, move into the neighbouring building. We're heading to a slave storehouse. Though I say a storehouse, there are iron bars attached to pulleys lined up in a row, and inside those are slaves. The inside of the bars are about a tatami mat in size and all have one or two slaves inside. Before they're brought to the marketplace, they're washed and covered in oil, but right now they stink. The slaves inside are crying children, and glaring slaves who send killing intent our way.
Inside the warehouse are a number of people like us who are directly trading.
Fe'Burrito walks between the barred cages. He then calls for a man standing to the side. It's probably a subordinate.
We head further in. We stop in front of one of the cages.
Inside the cage is a girl with empty eyes, sitting with her knees huddled up.
"It's this one. ...Oi, bring em out."
"'Right."
Fe'Burrito's subordinate nods, and opening the cage, pulls the child out of the cage. The child is shackled with an iron collar. A rag is concealing the flaws in her skin and bones body. Her hair is something like a reddish orange. It's unkempt and has some white hairs mixed in. Her complexion is also bad.
She was hugging herself and shivering. It might be because we're further into the storehouse, but it's a little cold. The eyes she's looking at us with are completely empty. She looks truly pitiful.
Fe'Burrito's subordinate pays this no heed, and unhesitatingly removes the rag from the girl. Her skinny body, like a child who misses meals, is completely revealed. Seeing this, Fitts-senpai frowns.
"Rudeus-kun..."
Be at ease. Even I have no intention of creating Pulitzer prize winning photographs.
Wanting to quickly buy her, feed her, and give her a warm bath; I'm filled with these kinds of feelings. However, I'm a bit worried about her eyes. Those empty eyes. I've seen eyes like those before.
"As you can see, it's a dwarf child. 6 years old. Possesses no skills in particular. Both parents are dwarves. Father was a blacksmith and mother created decorations. As long as it's hereditary, the dexterity of her hands should be as you wish. However, she can only understand the Beast God Language. Because we hadn't thought she'd sell, her health isn't the best. Because of that, we'll sell her at a discount."
While making a difficult expression, Fitts-senpai approached the girl and touched her cheek. After a few seconds, the girl's complexion became somewhat better. He might have done something.
"Naturally she's a virgin. There are no concerns about infectious diseases and the like, but as you can see, she might be a little weak. Though we'll treat her with healing magic upon purchase, this really isn't a good that we'd recommend."
Fitts-senpai is looking at her with eyes like a child who's found an abandoned puppy. At any rate she's fulfilled the criteria so I was planning to buy her anyway though.
『Hello, little Miss.』
I crouch down and speak to her in Beast God Language. The first step is to interview her.
『I'm Rudeus. You are?』
『...』
『Actually, there was something we wanted you to do for us.』
『...』
『Umm...』
The girl just looked at me with empty eyes, and didn't reply at all. Fe'Burrito's subordinate brandishes the whip at his hip, but I stop him with my hand.
"Shishou, what's the matter?"
"She's in quite a bit of despair. She's got the face of someone who hasn't any hopes at all and just wants to die."
"...Have you seen that kind of face before, Shishou?"
"In the past, many times you see."
Zanoba and Fitts-senpai look like they're brooding over something. Well, it'd be best not to talk about things from my past life too much. It's just a lot of negative things after all.
I looked at the girl for a little while. They're nostalgic eyes. In the past I had a period when I made eyes like this too. Let's see, it was when I had just passed 20 I think. I hadn't finished my education, I had no prospects, I had no job experience, and I was thinking that my life from now on would just be nothing but eating and shitting. They were the same eyes as that time. Thinking about it, at that time there were still things I could do. However, because I was despairing over my situation, I gave up on everything. After a few years, I became defiant about being a NEET and got even worse, however. During that period of my life, I really didn't have a single hope. I just thought that I wanted to die.
『Do you want to die?』
『...』
『You can't do anything about this yourself, huh? I can understand your feelings.』
『...』
The girl's eyes slowly noticed me.
『In that case, shall I end things for you?』
I said this seriously. I think my tone was light.
I had truly thought that I wanted to die. However, without dying, I continued to live on, and on. It was a long time, filled with regrets.
I can't save her from this kind of life. Of course I can buy her and give her work to do. I can buy her clothing, I can feed her food, and I can speak kind words to her. However, the fact that doing those kinds of things isn't saving her is something I should already understand very well. Forcing her to do things that she doesn't want to do is by no means saving her.