“Well then, we will begin the process of emancipation based on the contract. I trust there isn’t a problem?”
I nod.
Mia is a debt slave, and I think her contract has pretty harsh conditions.
The slaver is surprised at first, but I’m the master stipulated in the contract and I say it’s fine.
And considering she has new identification, provided by a noble no less (even if said noble is from a different country), he has no trouble starting the procedure.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes.”
Mia sounds less happy and more like she’s reluctant.
“Let’s handle the formalities with you too, Hikari.”
It’s not just Mia, Hikari has brand new identification too. That means she doesn’t need the special slave contract anymore.
It was only formed in the first place for convenience sake so she was able to enter and exit towns, and since her age meant she couldn’t register in a guild.
But the moment I say that…
“No!”
She refuses.
I’m not the only one who’s surprised, Mia is too. Especially since Hikari rarely raises her voice.
“Liberating you doesn’t mean the relationship we have now will fall apart or anything.”
“…Still no…”
I try to convince her, but she shakes her head.
And then, she hugs me and doesn’t budge.
“Do you hate the idea that much?”
I ask with a soft tone, and she nods while still holding on to me. I kind of feel like she’s trembling too.
I start patting her head, and that slowly settles down.
“All right, if you don’t want to, we won’t do it.”
Mia looks like she has mixed feelings about that, but there’s really nothing I can do.
She might think I’m too soft, but that’s just how impactful Hikari’s reaction is to me.
And so, I pay the slaver the fee for one person, and we leave.
Hikari is still holding on to me tightly, so we go to the park to wait until she calms down.
As I chat with Mia, Hikari falls asleep before I know it, so we head back to the inn.
“Hum, what?”
I put Hikari down on the bed, and ask Mia.
“Nothing, I was just thinking that you’re too soft on Hikari.”
I can’t help but smile awkwardly when I see Mia puff her cheeks.
In a way, I don’t think I’ve seen her like that since around the time we met.
“W-what’s so funny!?”
“Nothing, I was just thinking that you’ve changed. In a good way.”
I don’t know if it’s because we’ve liberated her from the slave contract, or because she got some things off her chest, but in the end, it doesn’t really matter because it’s a positive change.
“Let’s just stay here for today. I’m scared of leaving Hikari alone too.”
Also, if I’m going to buy food in the stalls for when we’re on the road, I need Hikari’s opinion.
That means that suddenly, we’re left with nothing to do.
But after hearing that from Mia, I feel kind of awkward facing her, even if Hikari is here too. Or more like I don’t know what to say.
Even though this was never the case before…
And apparently Mia is feeling the same way, because she looks flustered.
This is no good. If we keep quiet like this, the atmosphere’s going to get weird.
A topic… A topic… What should I talk about?
We wouldn’t be having this problem if it was just about adventuring… But then, a quiet growl echoes through the room.
Me? No. Mia? I look at her, and she shakes her head with her cheeks red.
And so, we turn our eyes to the only other person in the room, and we see Hikari get up while rubbing her eyes and yawning.
“Master, I’m hungry.”
She says, and that weird tension disperses.
The same goes for Mia, who starts laughing.
“I see. Do you want to eat here, or go check out the stalls?”
“Hn, the stalls.”
After all, there were no stalls in Altair.
We leave the room, and bump into Talia, Luilui, and Yor.
“Master! Are you going out?”
“Yes, we’re going to get something to eat outside.”
“Can we tag along? We haven’t been outside much since we got here.”
I look at Mia, and she says that’s no problem.
“What about the other three?”
“…They should rest some more. We were worried about leaving Casey and our big sister alone, so Trisha is staying too.”
I guess that makes sense. They shouldn’t overdo it.
Casey in particular was bedridden for a long time, so she might be having trouble getting back to normal.
Hikari takes the lead and starts hopping from one stall to the next.
Talia and the others are taken aback at how she goes around looking for things she’s interested in and buying them, but what we don’t eat now, I put in the Item Box so we can eat on the road.
Mia laughs when the three of them get surprised when they see the grilled fish, and Luilui goes ‘ah’.
“What is it, Luilui?”
Asks Talia, and Luilui points at Mia and freezes.
You shouldn’t point at people.
But then Yor and Talia let out surprised voices too, when they look at Mia.
“W-what?”
“The collar is gone.”
Says Luilui, and the other two nod.
Mia hears that, and realizes why they’re surprised.
“Leila got me identification, and then…”
She sounds a little embarrassed. Is it because she’s remembering what she said to me?
“But… What about Hikari?”
Everyone’s eyes turn to Hikari, who is happily stuffing her face with food.
“I was planning to rescind her contract too, but I gave up after some intense resistance.”
Everyone nods like they immediately understand.
“You really like master, don’t you Hikari?”
Yor says the reason, but is that really it? I can’t really think of anything else though.
But is that really it? I feel like part of me can’t help but deny it.
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Thanks for the treat.
So is hikari waifu no 2 or is there some other reason she doesn’t want to be removed as a slave. Not much else happened besides the slave removal and I’m Curious how this will effect things
“I put Mia down on the bed” should be “I put Hikari down on the bed”