Chapter 3: growing up

A long time ago, His imperial Majesty the grand emperor made a strict "ban" policy on "slavery".

Everyone says that it was "the kindness of the emperor" but Markus thought differently.

The harvesting of natural resources is one of the backbones of this country.

Abundant valuable ores and minerals are circulated to the people of this country, and since there isn't race-based discrimination, numerous immigrants migrate over.

Therefore, if "slaves" were allowed, many people would become slaves.

This is because there are so many people who come to the capital city without a single penny. Slaves would become property of the wealthy, meaning they can legally amass troops.

The privileged nobility would naturally fear that outcome, so to Markus this was nothing but a clever strategy for the royal family to prevent future threats to their rule.

That said, there are many people who are neck-deep in debt, and if they can't even "sell themselves" as slaves in the end, they won't be able to find money lenders.

Thus appeared the term known as "underling".

By binding with contract magic, you can use them no different from a slave.

But of course, since the Imperial City strongly declared "Slavery Prohibited!", such businesses couldn't be conducted publicly, and thus there wasn't any incident of explosive increase in slaves.

That's what Markus thought when He first heard it, whereas the young lady Sophia was furious.

"If they are substantially a slave, then it goes against the intention of His Majesty the emperor!"

She asserted.

With this "underling" system, the interest rate of money lenders does not rise, and unlike slaves that can be sold and bought as properties, "underlings", who can only be bound by the master-servant 1-to-1 contract magic, have a rather low asset value.

With that in mind, Markus fervently argued that the "underling" system can work as a safety net for people in debt who have no other choice, but of course, the young lady didn't listen.

Though, it wasn't too difficult to convince her because Sophia yielded when he explained, ""Although there is a strong possibility that the law is being violated, it is a necessary evil"", truthfully Markus didn't approve of this system just as much as the young lady did but he didn't think it was wise to go against it since that could cause various far reaching problems (and honestly he didn't really cared that much).

What truly troubled the young lady was, the young children who were being offered as "underlings" for their parents' debt.

You can do anything if they are bound with contract magic. Anything.

A virgin girl fetches a high amount of money as an "underling" If the young lady hears of such a thing, considering her super expressive sense of justice, there will be no stopping her.

((Although, I don't think the Marquis would accept a dubious proposal like taking down slave merchants after having them admit "yes, we are a slave business"…))

What Markus IS however glad about is, the young lady had the slight "sense" to consult with the her father beforehand.

The Marquis is unbelievably busy everyday, but since he dotes on the young lady, he made time to listen to her proposal. He simply answered "Uh-huh," while listening from the beginning to end, without any emotion, as usual.

"Okay, Sophia. I will prepare a list of "Human Resource Offices" that seem to be highly illegal, so try hitting them"

A cold pervading voice came out of the cold blooded lord, although it was frosty enough to petrify even the spines of the most veteran warlords, Sophia had heard Markus's true voice before which was much colder so she wasn't affected.

"Thank you very much, father!"

Sophia excitedly received her father's approval and turned to face Markus.

If Markus's expression wasn't so stiff, he was sure that his face at that time would've looked much worse than the faces Usopp from One Piece makes.

((Eh? Permission is…issued?))

Markus didn't know if the Cold-blooded-lord heard the screams of his soul, or whether he completely ignored his opinions, but the marquis said:

"Markus-kun, I am counting on you for the escort"

((Kill me...))

Markus's misanthropy that he had always kept heavily suppressed got a million times worst after that day as another name had been added to his hit list.

Back to the present...

The duo just crushed the sixth slave business in a row and returned to theMarquis's mansion.

"We successfully took down another slave business today!"

Sophia reported happily, satisfied with her work.

"I see. Good to hear that"

The Marquis answered with the usual low pitched reply, smiling a little.

What was different from usual is that after this, Markus will have a once every 10 days "reporting session" with the Marquis.

The young lady was taken away by Cedric, the chief butler.

Only the Marquis and Markus were left alone in the office...

The walls of the room were made of wood planks with beautiful grains. From those grains alone, you can guess each plank was costly even though it was a simple wall.

Markus felt a certain pressure even though it was a simple room with no artistic decoration such as paintings and vases.

"Report..."

After the Marquis's order, Markus told him that the name "saintess of liberation" and "dark knight of freedom" was circulating around.

However, the Marquis just replied, "Is that so?" in a low tone as ever, but Markus didn't have the right to comment since his own tone was even more monotonous.

""…Isn't this a bit strange, Milord? If we go around destroying Human Resource Centers, this society will face problems""

Unable to handle his overflowing curiosity anymore, Markus asked the first obvious question on his mind right now.

"That's an interesting thing to say, Markus-kun. Do you have a clear grasp on everything about the capital City?"

Intrigued, lord Alterra raised his voice for the first time since this report session started.

""It becomes apparent if you consider the economy of the city, someone as wise as you, must have surely noticed""

Knowing that revealing too much of his emotions (if he had any) to this person was a bad idea, Markus offered sufficient reasons to his question and denied any curiosity he had for the Marquis's intention to let his daughter do something like this.

"I see that you have special knowledge, Markus-kun"

Seemingly satisfied...or not at Markus's answer, the marquis remarked.

""Please don't dodge the question. What about the guard's investigation on the slave merchants we arrested?""

The Marquis handed Markus a report consisting of five pieces of paper, which he seems to have prepared beforehand.

In this world, papers made from plants are in circulation, but the quality of the paper is non-uniform and the printing technology is not good enough, so it is all handwritten.

((…The document reads "Forbidden to take outside the department" on the top right corner, though?))

Markus broke out in cold sweat, his mind already wandering to the darkest worst case scenarios if he were to read this and making contingency plans for them.

"brought it out with the proper permission"

The Marquis said, as though having anticipated Markus's question.

A quick glance through the papers revealed that the heads of the resource centers gave the same testimony, as though agreed upon beforehand: such as"I knew that slave-like treatment was illegal, but this job is a necessary evil", "I deeply apologize for calling human resources as slave", and together with, "We didn't know it was the young daughter of Marquis Rosewood"

((…They had been allowed to operate until now because it is a necessary evil. However, since the word "slave" came out directly out of their mouths, we incapacitated them and called the guards))

Markus unconsciously heaved a sigh.

((Even if we went around crushing human resource services, as long as there is a need for people to "sell" themselves, another one will pop up. And those ones will be more cunning))

Markus had expected this, but Sophia really was just dragging him around and wasting his time for no reason which is typical of her at this point but that fact didn't make his wasted effort feel any less meaningless.

((What the young lady and I are doing is just a waste of work. Maybe the Marquis already knows all these and simply lets us do it so that the young lady can feel satisfied?))

When Markus looked up from the documents, the Marquis was staring at him intently.

((Is he curious? No, this is more like he's searching for something))

Since the Marquis naturally has a pretty emotionless face(just like a particular someone also in this room), it was very VERY difficult to read him.

""Your Excellency. Are you perhaps just letting the young lady do as she plea–""

After some intense inner deliberation, Markus finally gathered the courage to ask.

"Markus-kun. I will answer any questions regarding escorting, but won't accept any personal questions"

But all of that amounted to nothing since the Marquis shot his question down before he even got the chance to ask.

((This person…))

Dealing with both the father and daughter's shenanigans for the past 3 weeks has completely worn Markus out so he didn't even have the energy to object right now.

""If so, I would like to be present at the investigation of the slave merchant""

Settling for a compromise between them, Markus requested.

"…No problem. I shall inform the guards"

As it would seem the Marquis didn't even need to consider rejecting Markus's request

((Oh, he gave me permission quite easily. Hmm…))

Markus thought hard about what this could possibly mean, drawing conjectures and making speculations in his head.

And then Markus left the Marquis's office, feeling like he was missing something.

((Seems like I'll have to do some more behind the scenes info gathering later...(sighs)...I seem to be doing that a lot ever since I came to this world))

Markus thought, slightly amused at the fact that both parts of him has become a bona-fide spy and assassin ever since he was reincarnated here.

((It's been 2+ years since I came to the capital city, so I do know a few places where you can buy information... Let's search a bit more about the Human Resource Centers))

A few months later...

The young lady, Sophia's schedule covers a wide variety of tasks, such as studying, private lessons, and slave business crushing, but today there was a different task.

It was an evening party, not another event where she accompanies the Marquis, but she herself was the main guest.

She, who used to be an "accompaniment" of the Marquis until the age of eleven, will be, from now on, a full-fledged noble in the noble society.

The "Young sprouts, New Moon Banquet" sponsored by His Majesty the emperor will be held with boys and girls of noble families who will turn 11 years old this year. In this world, where there are no school entrance or graduation ceremonies, for noble parents, the "Young sprouts, New Moon Banquet" is the first and last big moment of their children.

Affluent nobles order a dress to be made for this event from one year prior, and even a poor noble will rent a dress even if they have to take out a loan.

For daughters, it is a dress, but for sons, it is a treasured sword which hangs from the waist.

Despite being a gaudy, overly decorated weapon, it is a sword with a genuine blade and a genuine killing ability. By learning it, they will take the first step as an "adult."

The air in the mansion was restless since morning, which is to be expected.

"Wow…"

A maid exclaimed in pure surprise.

"How beautiful!"

Joyfully, the maids were encaptivated.

The young lady's dress, which was tailored by a first-class seamstress and a first-class designer, who's schedule was secured from two years ago itself-lay spread on the table.

Made of light red fabric, the dress' base was the Third Silk produced in "High Elf Forest", which is a territory under the direct control of the kingdom of Rineguard but its more of a autocratic state of the elves according to what Markus heard.

The "High Elf Forest" is a large forest area that has an area called "the spring of origin" which produces magic stones, monster parts and trades are only conducted on a very limited route.

Third Silk, which has a high concentration of mana, takes a really long time to colour, but Marquis Rosewood seems to have managed it somehow thanks to the fact that the Marquis himself was a high elf, which makes his daughter Sophia a half-elf.

((…Nobles sure are amazing))

The maids relayed those information to Markus even though he didn't ask for them.

"The young lady has finished her bath"

One maid reported to Rouche.

"Then, let's bring over the dress"

Responding to this Rouche ordered.

"Yes, right away"

The other maid compied.

The door opened slightly, and Markus caught a brief glimpse of Lady Sophia, if some other male other than Markus was present in this room right now they would probably ask "how can such a beautiful girl exists" as Sophia's beauty was almost divine, transcending trivial barriers such as age or gender, if she was this beautiful now, Markus wondered how she would look like in the future.

The young lady was dressed in a bathrobe. Her white skin was red after the bath, but her facial expression was stiff.

((Even the young lady gets nervous, huh…))

Although he wouldn't admit it Markus was amused, discovering a new side to the tomboyish young lady.

"Markus-san"

Rouche suddenly called out to Markus, her expression had a lot of hints, but since Markus is Markus, his poor social skills didn't catch her meaning.

"what?"

He asked, completely oblivious to what Rouche was trying to tell him

The chief Maid Rouche maid glared at him, the following conversation went like this:

"From now on, the lady has to prepare for the banquet"

""Yes of course I know""

"Then?"

""…then...what?""

"Are you just going to stay and peep!? Please leave!"

Rouche practically had to scream that out in order for Markus to understand.

""Oh...right""

And so, Markus walked slowly to the door and went out of the room.

((Ah yeah that's right, even if I'm her knight, I can't just look at the young lady changing clothes and putting on makeup))

Finally realizing this important fact after thinking hard for a few minutes meanwhile all the hints were litterally dangling in front of him, Markus closed the door behind him as he stood to the side of it.

Although it might sound depressing, this is what Markus really is deep down at his roots, he's the true undisputed king of anti socialism.

((In such cases, normally escorts have to be on standby outside the room, right?))

Markus wondered if he had make any mistakes of similar nature in the past due to his utter lack of interpersonal intelligence.

((…I guess, I'm also a little restless well, it is a banquet and I'm not that good with these types of events...maybe the food will be nice...))

But more importantly, he was worried about the banquet since, as the very pinnacle of introverts, social gatherings like this makes his blood cold with anxiety.

When Markus walked out into the hallway, he ran into Syph, who was wearing armor despite being within the premises, seeming to be on guard at all times.

"Oh, Markus. I have been looking for you"

Unexpectedly running into her pupil, Syph had something to say.