Chapter 335: The Slave Inspection and the Corrupt Soldiers

There wasn’t much of a line at the checkpoint, so we went straight to the inspection post.

Calling it an inspection post was generous. It was a crude log cabin that did little more than keep out the rain and wind. Even so, it was large enough that all ten of us could fit inside with room to spare.

Five soldiers were stationed there. The one who looked relatively sturdy among them began asking questions. His armor was shaped differently from the others, so he was probably their leader.

"Who’s your leader?"

"I am."

I raised my hand.

Technically Kacha, our employer, was the leader, but she wanted to hide the fact that she was the Holy Maiden herself, so I was handling it.

"Name!"

"Hiroyuki Asahi."

"Hiroyuki? Hmph. Weird name. You a slave trader?"

All five soldiers, including the one who seemed to be in charge, leered and sent blatant looks past me toward the women behind me.

I turned as well. The women were standing there with different expressions on their faces.

Marika was clinging anxiously to Giacomo’s arm. Regina and Niagara were expressionless. Floche had twisted her face in disgust. Kacha was smiling, while Chris’s face was red and she looked ready to explode.

Tokisashi and Storm had their hoods pulled low, so I couldn’t see their faces, but with this many beautiful women gathered together, it wasn’t surprising that we had been mistaken for slave traders.

"No, we’re adventurers. We heard the Holy Capital is recruiting, so that’s where we’re headed."

Giacomo plastered a fake smile on his face and explained while casually shielding Marika.

"Hmph. Adventurers, huh. Yeah, the Holy Capital is recruiting. So, are any of you Dules?"

Once again, five pairs of shameless eyes ran over the women.

"...Regina, Marika."

None of these soldiers looked decent, so for a moment I considered not declaring them. But if we were found out later, it would only cause more trouble, so I called the two of them.

Regina stepped forward without hesitation, still expressionless. Marika looked up at Giacomo anxiously. He nodded and gently pushed her back, and she lined up beside Regina.

"Alright, let’s check. Strip."

Regina obediently followed the leader’s order and removed the two cloaks she had been wearing.

The soldiers’ gazes stabbed into her body. Regina’s face twisted slightly, but she didn’t move and simply endured their stares.

"Hoh. Not a bad body."

The leader lifted Regina’s left breast from below and started groping it.

I immediately grabbed his right wrist.

"What? You resisting?"

The moment the leader said that in a low voice, the other four soldiers put their hands on the hilts of the swords at their waists.

"No, no, not at all. But if you’re just checking the crest, touching should be enough, right?"

I kept the fake smile on my face and tightened my grip on his arm. I was careful not to put in too much strength—I didn’t want to crush his wrist—but it was still firm.

"Ow—! I get it, I get it, let go!"

It was apparently painful enough. The soldier who had been touching Regina’s chest yelled and tried to pry my hand off his wrist.

"Please do a proper inspection."

I released his hand while still smiling.

"Tch..."

The leader clicked his tongue as he rubbed his wrist. Then he shook his hand once and touched Regina’s left breast again.

A faint light appeared almost immediately. He pulled his hand away and checked the crest that had appeared on her left breast.

"You’re her master?"

"No. I’m borrowing her."

I answered the irritated soldier and showed him the wooden board I had received from Regina.

"What’s this?"

He snatched the board from me and looked it over. It seemed he didn’t recognize it. If even the checkpoint soldiers didn’t know about it, maybe this kind of thing wasn’t done often. A flicker of unease passed through me—had Ivano, Regina’s master, pulled one over on us?

"It’s my lending certificate. I was lent out—"

"Don’t talk on your own, you Dule!!"

Midway through Regina’s explanation, the leader shouted and swung at her. I caught the punch. Regina should have been able to dodge it, but she didn’t. Was it because she was minding her place as a Dule?

"She’s borrowed, so please don’t damage her."

I said that and gripped the soldier’s right fist. I wasn’t putting much strength into it.

"I get it, I get it, let go!"

The same exchange repeated. Did this soldier have no capacity to learn?

"Enough! Next!"

As if declaring Regina’s inspection over, he tossed the wooden lending certificate back at me and pointed at the next target, Marika.

"I’d appreciate it if you showed some restraint with her as well."

Giacomo, who was considerably larger than me, smiled threateningly at the soldiers.

"U-uh, f-for now, t-take off your clothes... take them off..."

The leader seemed to flinch under the pressure from the larger man and spoke to Marika in a trembling voice, choosing his words carefully.

Marika hesitantly removed the cloak she was wearing. The two massive fruits that appeared swayed as they caught on the fabric.

Gulp.

I heard the soldiers swallow.

Well, any man would react that way to Marika’s breasts.

Marika felt their shameless stares and turned her body slightly to the side in embarrassment, but she kept her hands clasped behind her back and looked down with a bright red face.

"Could you hurry it up?"

Giacomo complained, concerned for Marika, who had tucked her tail between her legs.

"A-ah."

The leader kept his eyes glued to Marika’s chest as he placed his right hand on her left breast. A faint light appeared, and he removed his hand.

No—he didn’t remove it. His hand slid downward.

"Kya!"

Marika let out a short scream and stepped back. At the same time, Giacomo moved to punch the soldier in the face—and I stopped his fist with my left hand just in time.

"Did you finish confirming?"

I asked the soldier who had fallen on his backside, startled by Giacomo’s swing. Of course he hadn’t. His eyes had been fixed on Marika’s breasts.

The leader, looking pathetic sitting on the ground, glanced back at the four soldiers behind him, then stood with an awkward expression and brushed the dust off his pants.

"F-fine. Oi!"

He called out to one of the soldiers behind him. The soldier brought over some of the hemp sacks piled against the wall and several heavy-looking metal rings, then handed two of the sacks to the leader.

"Put this on."

The leader said that and tossed one of the sacks at Regina. She picked it up from the ground and unfolded it. It was a crude poncho with three holes cut into it. Regina frowned slightly as she put her head and arms through it.

"You put this on too."

After confirming that Regina was wearing the hemp poncho, he tossed another one at Marika.

"No. She’ll wear this."

Giacomo pulled out the hemp poncho he had bought for Marika in Lübeck from her backpack and showed it to the leader. It was only slightly better in color than the one they had given us, but even a crude hemp poncho was better if it looked cleaner. More importantly, neither Giacomo nor Marika wanted her wearing clothes of unknown origin.

"No. You don’t pass unless you wear this. If you don’t want her to wear it, leave."

The leader spoke firmly to Giacomo, whether out of a sense of duty or something else. His earlier weak attitude had vanished. He was still sweating and his posture was stiff, so if we pushed harder he might have backed down, but...

Behind us, Chris looked like she was about to say something, but Kacha stopped her. I was curious what she had been about to say, so I decided to ask later.

"...Fine."

Giacomo glared at the leader for a while, then eventually gave in. Marika seemed eager to cover herself and quickly picked up the poncho from the floor and put it on. When her head emerged, she was frowning just like Regina had.

"What’s wrong?"

"...It smells."

Giacomo brought his nose close to Marika’s chest.

"Ugh... Don’t you have anything else?"

He complained to the leader, but—

"They’re all the same. ...It’s old, but it’s technically new."

The leader answered. The last part was muttered, probably because Giacomo was glaring at him.

"Next is this."

What he showed next was one large iron ring and four smaller ones. A collar, wrist shackles, and ankle shackles.