Chapter 4

I brought my spoils back to my base, not all of them, but just a few.

I don't want them to get wet, so I'll bring back the rest later. My base doesn't have enough space to place them all anyway.

For now, I only brought pillows, mattresses, towels, blankets and some food supplies. I covered them with the tent, and told my shadow to carry it.

That included the three girls.

They were scared at first, but after I removed my armour and explained what happened, they became a bit calmer, at least calm enough to talk and listen to me.

There were many things I wanted to ask them, but questioning them on the dark deck of the ship wouldn't be a good idea, so I decided to bring them to my base.

Now, they were sitting at my dining table.

I gave them tea to make them more comfortable.

Where did I get the tea? It was included in my spoils.

It seemed that the captain was from the empire, considering he had a lot of tea in his cabin.

After giving them the tea, I sat on the seat in front of them.

Since they seemed hesitant to drink it, I said.

"Drink it, I didn't put anything strange in the tea."

"Ah... Yes. Thank you."

The blonde woman answered me tremblingly.

It looked like she was still scared or maybe cold?

She seemed to be the smartest of the three, the clothes and accessories she wore showed that she probably worked on a merchant ship before being captured by the pirates..

She brought her teacup to her mouth and sipped it slowly.

Realising that there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the tea, she immediately took a big gulp.

The little girl next to her soon followed suit, and last but not least was the mermaid woman.

Wait a minute, did they just make that blonde girl a sacrificial lamb?

Ah, whatever. Anyway, they must be feeling much better now.

"So, can you explain what happened with you, luv'?"

"Ah... Yes."

The blonde woman put down her cup and started explaining her story to me.

Apparently, her name was Sarah and she was an accountant in some merchant guild.

2 days ago, the ship she was on was destroyed by a monster attack while she was on her way home from a business meeting.

The severity of the monster attack made the ship sink and Sarah didn't know if any of her co-workers survived.

Fortunately, Sarah managed to survive because she was thrown off the ship early and boarded a floating barrel.

Floating at sea for hours, Sarah thought she was going to die, until she was found by pirates.

That explained why her appearance was so messy, it turned out that she had been floating at sea for a whole day.

On the other hand, the little girl next to her was named Amy, she had just been captured yesterday from her village.

Or rather, she was sacrificed by her village as payment for the pirates.

Poor girl.

As for the mermaid girl, Sarah knew nothing about her.

All Sarah knew was that she came this afternoon, she heard the pirates talk about her kidnapping from a body of water not far from the mermaid village.

Sarah wanted to talk to her, but because of the language barrier, she couldn't do it.

Plus, the mermaid girl didn't seem to want to talk either.

She was probably scared, angry or sad about being kidnapped from her home.

I want to tell her she can leave now if she wants, but I don't know the mermaid language either.

I don't want to ask them this, but it seems like the pirates would sell them as slaves.

From what I've heard, sex slaves are very expensive. Especially if they are virgins, and even more so if they are of another race.

Of course, I'm sure there are some crew members who want to rape them.

But most of the pirates are more concerned with money, because more money means they can spend more time on land.

And selling them as virgins is much more profitable, than having just one taste of pleasure in the middle of the sea.

They were really lucky to be marooned on my island.

"Alright, thanks for the information. Erm.... Can I call you Sarah?"

"Ah yes, please."

I stood up to go get her some clothes from the goods I took earlier.

"Here, put these on. I'm sure it's uncomfortable sleeping in those clothes, right?"

Her clothes looked so dirty and sticky from the salt water, I couldn't stand seeing her in those clothes.

The clothes I gave her were probably just a normal white tunic with a size that was too big, but at least they were clean.

I took that from the pirate captain's wardrobe.

I handed the clothes to Sarah who still looked confused.

"I'm going out, so hurry up and put it on."

"Ah, you don't need-"

My house only has one room, so I thought she might hesitate because of that.

But she tried to stop me when I wanted to go out, was I wrong?

I summoned my armour again to keep from getting wet.

Hold on a second, why didn't I just create an umbrella?

Dang it, I'm so stupid.

"You can come in now, sir."

Shortly after, I heard Sarah calling me inside.

I removed my armour and went inside.

I was a little stunned for a while when I saw Sarah's appearance.

Women who wear oversized clothes are surprisingly alluring, I quickly avert my eyes.

This is not the right time for that.

"Alright, I know you guys are tired. So you can sleep here tonight with me. You don't mind that, do you?"

"Ah, yes. We don't mind."

They looked nervous, especially Amy.

"Don't worry, I won't do anything. If I really wanted to do something to you guys, I wouldn't have bothered to do something like this."

I said that to calm them down.

They might not believe my words, but I wouldn't go out of my own house just because of a stranger I just met, especially when it's raining like this.

"Alright, then help me put away the dining table and chairs."

Since my house was quite small, I had to move my dining table and chair aside so that I could spread out the mattress.

The mattress was wide enough for four people, but it's gonna be a bit cramped.

Fortunately the pillows were more than enough.

"You guys sleep here, I'll sleep on my bed."

"But.... Sir, you don't have to go that far for us."

"Just sleep. I'm already sleepy."

Sarah tried to refuse, but I quickly stopped her and lay down onto my simple grass bed.

I lay with my back to them, to make them feel safer.

It was a bit unfortunate to give them my new mattress, but it didn't matter.

I did this so that they could trust me.

It would be annoying if they couldn't trust me, after all from today on we'll probably be living together.

I won't stop them if they want to go back, but they can't.

I've been on this island for almost three months, or maybe more than that? I've kind of lost track of time since arriving on this island.

Anyway, during my stay on this island, I've never seen a single ship passing near this island.

So, even if they wanted to return, they wouldn't be able to.

Except for that mermaid woman, she might be able to go back, but Amy and Sarah won't.

So at worst they would have to stay with me for a few weeks, and it would be troublesome if they couldn't trust me during that time.

Hopefully, this act will make them trust me a little.

And also, you could say, they were the first visitors to my island.

In fact, they could be one of my first people.

Treating them well wouldn't be a bad idea.

Furthermore, I'm a good person, there's no way I would let good girls like them sleep on a hard wooden floor while I sleep on a soft mattress.

I don't have the heart to do that.

"Erm.... Sir."

I turned around because I heard Sarah calling me, and I still saw the girls still standing there.

"Yeah, what's wrong, luv'? You don't want to sleep?"

"It's not that, it's just... You haven't told us your name yet."

Ah, that's right. I haven't told them my name.

"I'm Abelart, just call me Abel."

As soon as I finished saying that, I turned around and closed my eyes to end the conversation.

Shortly after, I could feel them crawling into the bed next to me and felt their warmth.

It's been a long time since I last felt human warmth like this, it feels good.

Maybe it's because they're women? I can also smell a pleasant scent.

Even though they were supposed to smell like salt, women sure are mysterious creatures.

----

Morning came and I woke up early like always.

Usually I opened my eyes and only saw the wooden ceiling or the sunrise in the window, but this time something was different.

"Ah, right. I'm not alone in this house anymore."

Still asleep, I could see Sarah beside me.

Even with her long messy hair, she still looked beautiful.

I wonder how she would look if she dressed up properly.

Next to her, there was Amy, a little girl with reddish-brown hair who was also still sound asleep while hugging Sarah.

Looks like they are quite close.

And the mermaid girl should also be sleeping next to Amy, but I can't see her anywhere.

Maybe she had already left, well it's not surprising, she's a mermaid, she can return to where she came from without a ship.

"That's a shame, she's pretty."

I didn't expect her to stay anyway, so I wasn't too surprised.

At least there's still Sarah and Amy.

I'd better get out, it's rude to stare at a woman's sleeping face for too long.

I went out and walked straight towards the river to wash my face.

As I got closer to the river, I heard the sound of splashing water.

I thought it was just fish jumping around like usual, but I was wrong.

The mermaid girl I thought had left was still here, sitting on a rock, waving her long wet blue hair.

Gosh, she's so beautiful.

Looks like she just took a bath.

"Damn, if I had been earlier I'd have been able to see something amazing."

I'll get up earlier starting tomorrow morning.

Not wanting her to think I was peeking at her, I walked towards her.

"'Morning."

Hearing my voice, the girl immediately turned around with a surprised face.

"What are you doing here, luv'?"

I said that while walking over to her side to wash my face.

Of course, I also kept a comfortable distance, not to let her feel threatened.

We just met here, keeping a certain distance is natural if you don't want to be hated.

Once I finished washing my face, I turned my head towards the girl.

I could see her looking at me with a nervous gaze, she also looked wary.

Oh right, I forgot.

"You can't speak imperials, huh?"

She was still giving me a wary look.

This language problem is really annoying.

"Are you hungry?"

I said that while using hand signals.

I don't know if she understood what I said or not, but she just looked at me.

I don't know what she was thinking, but in the end, she nodded.

"Alright, hang on a second."

I summoned my bow and caught some fish in the river.

I had done this many times, so it didn't take me long to catch enough fish for four people.

"Come on, follow me. We better eat over there. Oh yeah! Before that..."

I suddenly remembered something.

"What's your name? N-A-M-E, your name. I'm Abel."

I tried my best to get my point across to the girl by gesturing with my hand.

She just looked at me with her beautiful blue eyes.

I'm pretty sure she understood what I meant, so she probably just hesitated to say her name.

I could understand why she didn't want to say it, but it would be troublesome if I just called her "mermaid girl."

Still looking hesitant, she averted her eyes while twirling her fingers in her hair.

"Adela."

She said very quietly, if it wasn't for my keen hearing, I probably wouldn't have heard her.

But Adela, huh? That's a beautiful name.

I then led the mermaid girl-I mean, Adela to the back of my house, where I usually cook and eat my food, or rather just grill my food.

"Wait here."

I told her to wait there while I went to the storeroom to get the spices that I took last night.

Unfortunately, the pirates didn't bring a whole spices, they only brought spices that had been processed into seasonings, so I couldn't replant them.

Well, for now, I have to be grateful for just this.

With this, I can finally eat something decent.

I was already sick of using salt.

Shortly after I started roasting, probably from smelling the aroma, I saw Sarah and Amy coming out of my house.

Realising our presence, Sarah with Amy sticking behind her walked straight towards us.

They both stopped right in front of me, I didn't even have to ask if they were hungry or not.

But they looked too scared to ask.

That made me smile.

"Go wash your face and hands in the river, the food will be ready soon."

Hearing my words, both of their expressions immediately brightened.

"Thank you, sir."

" Th-thank you..."

They both bowed their heads and quickly walked towards the river.

I almost laughed, but I held back, considering what they had been through, it was only natural that they would react like that.

They probably haven't eaten proper food while they were in captivity.

Tearing my eyes away from the two of them, I refocused on my cooking.

-----

After the food was ready, we all had breakfast together after I took out the dining table and chairs from my house.

The three of them ate the food I cooked with appetite.

I guess they didn't eat proper food while being held captive by the pirates.

But I'm not that stupid to talk about it now.

Besides, there were other things I wanted to talk to them about after this.

As soon as we finished eating, I went straight into what I wanted to say from earlier.

"Alright, girls. I want to talk about what you should do if you want to stay with me. Of course, that's if you want to stay with me. If you want to leave here, go ahead, I won't stop you."

Realising that we were about to have a serious conversation, Sarah's expression hardened and Amy looked worried.

I turned my gaze to Adela, she extended her hand towards the remaining food, but realising my gaze, she quickly withdrew her hand.

I could only smile at her behaviour.

Given the language barrier, I guess I should exclude her from this discussion.

I pushed the remaining plate of food to her and returned my attention to Sarah and Amy.

"So how was it? Sarah, Amy. Do you guys want to stay with me?"

Sarah and Amy looked at each other, a moment later, I saw them both nod.

Sarah then spoke to me.

"Yes, Sir Abel. If it's okay, we'd like to stay with you. And please, let me serve you, Amy is still small so-"

"Wait, Sister Sarah, that's not what we were talking about, you said I could help you!"

"No, Amy. You're still a child, you have to-"

"But Amy wants to help too!"

Oh wow, it turns out that Amy can also behave like that.

But hey, wait a minute, there seems to be a misunderstanding here.

Before their debate gets more intense, I have to stop them.

"Alright luv', cut it out. You misunderstood."

"Eh?"

"Eh?"

They both looked at me in surprise.

"You don't need to do anything like that, I just want you to do basic things. Like cleaning or cooking, I just need you to be my servant basically. You don't need to do things like that."

"Ah!"

Hearing my words, the two of them became a little more relieved.

Although Amy had calmed down, Sarah still looked a little hesitant.

"Are you sure, Sir Abel? You saved us from those pirates, so no one would blame you if you asked us for something like that. Plus, under these circumstances... It would be unnatural for something like that not to happen."

Well, I can understand why she would think that, I'm not sure if I can really hold back myself.

"Well, to be honest. I'm not sure if I can really hold back, I'm a man, so I hope you'll understand that. But I swear, I have no intention of doing anything like that to you girls. I mean, just think about it, if I really wanted to do something like that, do you really think I would talk to you like this?"

After I said that, I could see Sarah pondering, I'm sure she must have understood what I meant.

"So, how is it? Do you guys want to stay with me, or not?

Sarah gave me a wry smile.

"That's not fair, Sir Abel. You already know our answer, but you're still asking us this."

She was right, I already knew they couldn't possibly refuse. After all, they had no other choice.

"I just want to know if you have a choice."

"Then, please take care of us in the meantime, Mr Abel."

"Pl-Please take care of us."

Sarah bowed her head, and Amy followed suit.

"Good, I swear I will take care of you as long as you work under me. Oh yeah, I forgot to say this, but if we ever find a way to leave this island, feel free to leave."

I added that last one, to put their minds at ease.

At least it showed that I wasn't planning on keeping them on this island forever and they could leave anytime they want.

Anyway, I smiled with satisfaction.

Now, I have my first subordinate, I will make sure the two of them do not regret it.

By the way, Adela was still eating the rest of our breakfast.

She seemed to want to know what was going on, but her expression showed that she was confused and didn't understand anything.

Someone please teach this girl the imperial language.