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Volume 8 Chapter 2 - An Unreachable Power - Latter Half

Part 1

"It\'s nice to meet you. I\'m… Fitts."

When Fitts met Zanoba, he was a little nervous. If he\'s a senpai, then he should act more like one. More grand and dignified… or so I was thinking, but the thing about him being shy around strangers might really be the case. Zanoba steps forward with a jerk.

"Third prince of the Shirone Kingdom, Zanoba Shironnoaaa!"

Zanoba was getting cocky, so I kick him behind the knees. He topples a little. It\'s not like I have plans to reinforce the pecking order. It\'s just that it\'d probably be best to be a little more humble when meeting a senior for the first time.

"Zanoba, the one who came up with our current plan was Fitts-senpai. Pay him your respects properly."

When I said this, Zanoba bent at the hips and greeted him.

"I understand, Shishou… I do not believe I have had the pleasure of meeting you before. I am Shirone Kingdom\'s Third Prince, Zanoba Shirone. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"N-, no, it\'s all go-, fine. Because you\'re a person of royalty, please stop with that."

While waving his arms in a fluster, Fitts-senpai took his place behind me. Seeing that, Zanoba stared in wonder. There was quite an astonishing gap between his appearance, the rumours about him, and his current speech and conduct.

Despite being a magician of voiceless incantation, and being called Silent Fitts, he was acting afraid like this. Despite wearing sunglasses, and looking a little… once you spoke to him, he was quite typical of his age. He\'s a good senpai who looks after his kouhai.

"Well then, now that we\'ve all met, let\'s go."

At my command, the two begin to walk.

Part 2

The slave market is in the Commerce Street.

The slave trading business was just barely scraping along on the Milis continent and in the southern parts of the Central Continent. However, it\'s different here in the north.

Here, the slave trade is perfectly legalized in most countries, and is endorsed. To the countries in the northern parts of the Central Continent, the slave trade is an important business. They\'re reliant on it to the point where the countries wouldn\'t be able to survive without it.

There are a variety of reasons for a person to become a slave.

Those who are orphaned in a war.

Those who are up to their ears in debt due to bad harvests, and so sell their children.

Those who sell themselves off to save their family.

It\'s also rumored that in the dark side of the Thieves Guild, there\'s something like a slave farm.

The Ranoa Kingdom that is included in the 『Magic Triumvirate』 would survive even without slaves. However, heading further east are a great number of poor villages that have to sell children at fixed intervals.

Those slaves are bought by warrior and mercenary groups or countries and used as disposable soldiers in warfare.

However, there are those in the business that are connected with the Kingdom of Asura. Slaves that are beautiful or have a lot of ability are brought to the Kingdom of Asura to sell. The Kingdom of Asura is a place that doesn\'t know poverty. Though there are those who live in destitution, there\'s nobody who suffers from starvation. Slaves who are brought there are basically winners. I honestly think that you\'ve lost the moment you become a slave though.

Also, because the slaves here in the north are excellent and robust, there are those who come all the way here to make their purchases. There are many looking to buy people.

"So it\'s this place, huh?"

In fact, I\'d gathered information at the Adventurers Guild beforehand.

In a district as big as this, there are numerous slave markets. This particular district has 5 of them,

Though there are 5, they range in quality. For example, I was told about one of them "absolutely never buy from there". I was told that in a slave market with low credibility, there are slaves who are diseased or dying that people try to pawn off to others with a straight face. Well, I also heard that you could occasionally find a bargain there, but since we\'re all beginners we\'d all have no way to tell the difference.

Because we\'re new to this, we head to a better slave market.

"Hmm, it\'s quite different to my homeland."

Zanoba nodded in interest.

The slave market looked just like a normal building at a glance. Made of stone and earth, it was a typical building for these parts. Judging by the standards of this world, this building was on the large side. There were three of them in a row. Written above the door that served as the entrance was 『Rium Company - Slave Trade Centre』.

There were fires burning at the entrance, and standing around were men who wore leather armour over winter clothing. They were unshaven, but didn\'t give a particularly bad feeling. …I\'ve spent 2 years as an adventurer though, so it might be that I\'ve become used to this kind of appearance. I probably would\'ve thought different about them in the past.

"The slave market isn\'t outside huh…"

Fitts-senpai\'s voice sounded surprised. In the north, there are many slave markets that are held indoors. The reason is simple.

"Shall we enter?"

When we enter, a waft of hot air surrounds our bodies. There are fires throughout the inside of the building.

And on top of the countless daises are naked slaves lined up in a row. The reason they don\'t do it outside is basically because it\'s cold. The slaves would catch colds.

However, because indoor markets would lose passing customers, there are those who still do it outside.

"Hmm, there are a lot of different sales places, aren\'t there? Shishou, what should we do?"

"Since it\'s my first time buying as well, first let\'s look around as appropriate."

We start to walk around without much of a plan. The 8 slave stands are merchants associated with the Rium Company. Gathered around each place are possibly those who are selling slaves they\'ve bought.

They probably alternate when they\'ve sold out, or it might be something like switching over after their designated timeslot has passed.

It\'s quite a successful business, and there are crowds of people around each of the stands. Their outfits are quite varied; there are those like me who are dressed like adventurers, those who like Fitts-senpai and Zanoba are dressed like nobles, as well as those dressed like merchants, townspeople, commoners and students. Among them are merchants whose aim seems to be the resale of slaves. Further away from the stalls are those who have just purchased their slaves and are having a chat with each other.

Could the seedy looking ones be pickpockets? No, pickpockets wouldn\'t come to a guarded place like this. They might be slaves who are sent by their masters to purchase other slaves.

Nonetheless, I clutch onto the coin purse under my robes. This time I\'ve been entrusted with the funds. It wouldn\'t be a joke if they were stolen.

"U-, uwah, uwah… They\'re really all naked…"

Seeing the slave stalls, Fitts-senpai\'s eyes are staring in surprise. His face is bright red. Because he\'s wearing a mantle I can\'t really tell, but he seems to be bashfully standing pidgeon-toed.

"T-, they\'re big, huh…? To become like that…"

Following his line of sight, I find that he was looking at some slaves who seemed like warriors, being introduced as featured goods. Whether man or woman, every one of them was well built. In particular, the female warrior in the middle was good. She was big. It goes without saying that her stature was big, but her bulging chest was something that made you look on with longing. Though it seems that goods as big as those would get in the way of battle, as I understand from Eris, in this world even if they\'re huge, there\'s not really a problem.

"Senpai, is this your first time at a slave market?"

"Eh? Ah, mmn…"

While scratching behind his ear, one of Fitts-senpai\'s hands was already holding his mantle in front in embarassment. He was probably worried about the position of his thing. Truly the reaction of a DT. I was like that as well, once. Now? Well, look, right now my motive is a little different.

"Y-you sure are used to it huh, Rudeus-kun?"

Though Fitts-senpai was my senpai, it seems that he still hasn\'t had any experience. When I think about it like that, I feel like boasting about my victory a bit, but I\'ve only done it once too, and my partner ran away from me. It\'s not something I can be proud about. Still, with just that as experience, I really am a little calmer about these things. It\'s a problem now that I\'m too calm, though!

"I think once you\'ve had some experience as well, senpai, you\'ll more or less grow used to it."

"Y-, you think? Wait, so you\'ve had some experience, Rudeus-kun…"

Fitts-senpai seems a little down. He really is young, huh? Truly young.

"Shishou, we have no need for warriors, so what we should be looking for is a race that can use magic and is good with their hands, right?"

As if to say he had no interest in these things, Zanoba jerked his chin in another direction. It seems that he essentially doesn\'t have interest in women. Technically he is a widower, so it might not be that he has no interest in sex at all.

"If it\'s a race that\'s good with their hands, I guess it has to be dwarves, right?"

"It seems so. A dwarf who can use earth magic would probably be best. Although I don\'t really think there\'s a need to fuss over the race."

Saying that, I have a look around one of the stands. Though it\'s a slave market as big as this, the number of dwarf slaves is few. The majority of the slaves are those with combat ability, and there are almost no slaves who would seem to be suitable for crafting.

"Umm, Rudeus-kun. If you were to teach them magic, then I think a young child who can\'t use magic would be better."

Fitts-senpai gives some advice.

"Why?"

"Chantless magic is something that you can learn easily as a child."

"Ah, is that how it is?"

"Mn. I think that after you become 10, you basically can\'t learn it."

Is that how it is? But thinking about it, though Sylphy could do it, Eris couldn\'t. Could there be a relationship with age?

"Is there a relationship with one\'s age?"

"Mn. From my experience, my master\'s words, and the words of the teachers at school, I\'ve concluded that I shouldn\'t be wrong but… Ah, also, if you start using magic from when you\'re about 5, your mana capacity increases tremendously. If you want them to create dolls using your method, Rudeus-kun, it\'d be better to have greater mana capacity, right?"

If you start using magic from when you\'re about 5, your mana capacity increases tremendously. I had come up with a similar hypothesis in the past, but this is the first time hearing it from someone else.

"I\'ve heard that your mana capacity is determined at birth, but…"

"That\'s wrong. It certainly says that in the textbook, but because you can\'t increase it past the age of 10, I think they\'re probably misunderstanding."

I see. So if you start using magic from when you\'re about 5, your mana capacity increases tremendously huh? Since I\'ve been using magic since 2 or 3 and my mana capacity is large, it\'s something that I can assent to. Also, since Fitts-senpai said he had personal experience, he\'s probably concealing a considerable amount of mana as well.

"Fitts-senpai has been using magic since young as well, huh?"

"Mn. That\'s… In the past, I was saved by my master, and at that time I begged them to teach me."

"Hehh."

Perhaps he was attacked by some monster in the forest. No, since he was young, the chance that it was a kidnapping is high. In this world there\'s quite a kidnapping boom going on. Since senpai would probably be a bishounen if he took off those sunglasses, I can understand that kidnappers would aim for him.

"That master of yours can also use chantless magic?"

"Mn. They\'re an amazing person, you know. I respect them even now."

"Is that so? In that case I\'d really like to meet them one day."

A person who can use chantless magic. If I met him, my magic might be able to improve a little. At any rate, I\'d probably benefit somehow… or so I was thinking, but Fitts-senpai smiled bitterly.

"Umm, that\'s probably impossible…"

"I see. So they\'re someone quite important after all, huh?"

Fitts is a guard to the princess after all. His master might be a court magician or something. For example, by luck a court magician saved him, and then using that connection became that magician\'s disciple. He then grew up, and became the princess\' guard. It might be something like that. If they\'re a court magician of the Kingdom of Asura, then they should probably be able to use chantless magic at least.

"An important person… they\'re not really, umm, they\'re someone from the Fedoa region."

"Ahhh…"

They were wrapped up in the teleportation huh? In that case, their whereabouts would be unknown.

"That\'s um… It\'d be good if they were alive."

"They are alive. I\'ve already found them after all."

Speaking of which, he did mention that he was studying the teleportation incident because he was looking for an acquaintance. Wait, if he found them recently then…

"Huh? Then why can\'t I meet them?

"Huhu… It\'s a secret."

Fitts-senpai laughed bashfully.

…Why is it that when I see that smile, my heart starts to throb like this?

Though I can love traps when they\'re 2d, I was sure that I wasn\'t a homo but…

Perhaps it\'s just that kind of drastic measure.

Part 3

Following Fitts-senpai\'s advice, we search for a slave.

A slave that\'s about 5 (if they\'re younger than that, there\'s a good chance they wouldn\'t understand us),

a dwarf (it\'s better that they\'re dexterous so that if it comes down to it, they\'ll be able to use the carving method), and a cute little girl (my personal preference).

"A girl? Their gender doesn\'t matter to me, but Shishou, aren\'t you getting our objectives mixed up?"

"Rudeus-kun…"

As we piled up the criteria one by one, once we got to the final criterion, they looked at me with eyes of criticism.

"Huuhhh?"

Since we were all guys here, I had thought that they\'d have been on-board instead, but… Well, it seems like they aren\'t the type. If it was Elinalise, then she might have approved. If it was her, she might be suggesting we find cute little boys instead. Lately her interest in shota has been awakening after all.

"But still, if we buy a 5 year old then we shouldn\'t expect too much regarding education. They might not even understand our words. If it turns out that they can only speak the Beast God Language, then we wouldn\'t be able to teach them magic after all."

"I can speak the Beast God Language, so if that\'s the case then I can teach them."

"What! You can speak the Beast God Language, Shishou? As expected of you…"

"Huu, well that\'s how it is."

At Zanoba\'s praise, I start to feel proud and I hold out my chest. Though I look like this, I\'m multilingual.

I\'ve also taught a 5 year old before. Speaking of which, I wonder if Sylphy is doing well.

Even without seeing Elinalise and Fitts-senpai, you could say that elves are really to my taste, or that they had the type of face that Japanese of the fantasy generation preferred. Elves brought to mind something like a slim and beautiful man and woman pair. If I remember correctly, Sylphy was roughly my age, so she might be 15 right now. She\'s probably become considerably beautiful. According to Paul, she could use magic, and on top of that, she has green hair. Since I\'d probably hear rumours of her right away, I\'d probably be able to find her immediately. I haven\'t heard a single rumour though… I wonder where she is right now.

"Anyway, since we\'ve already decided on the criteria, let\'s go ask a sales assistant."

I head to place where 『Help Office』 is written. The man at the reception had a completely clean-shaven head, and when combined with his beard, was quite a macho man. Though he looked at Fitts-senpai and I with suspicious looks, when he saw Zanoba he accepted it and nodded.

"Um, excuse me, we\'re actually…"

The macho man ignored my words, and spoke to Zanoba who was behind me.

"Yo, welcome Onii-san. What is it that you\'re looking for? A warrior for a guard? Right now we have guys that can teach the sword as well, you know. We also have some magicians, but it\'d probably be better to head to the Magic University for that. Or could it be that you\'re looking for THOSE? No, no, I shouldn\'t say it. You don\'t seem all that popular after all. We\'ve got a real voluptuous one in her 20s you know. She was recently a whore so THAT would be perfect as well. Of course they aren\'t diseaAGAAAAAH!"

The macho man then ate Zanoba\'s Iron Claw, and was raised into the air.

"Don\'t ignore Shishou. Yakking on and on like that, I\'ll pull out that noisy tongue of yours and rip off your jaw, you know."

"H-, hey! What are you doing!?"

The guards around had immediately moved to capture Zanoba, but he was undisturbed. Conversely, with just a shake he sent them flying. Mmn well, he\'s quite high powered.

The muscular guards are being swung around by a skinny otaku-looking guy. It\'s surreal. So this is the power of a miko, huh? Oops, this isn\'t the time to be standing here watching.

"NO! Zanoba, stop this! HOUSE!"

"Yes!"

At my voice, Zanoba released his grip. In the face of the suddenly motionless Zanoba, the guards stop moving as well. I face the guards and bow my head.

"I\'m truly sorry. He just got a little excited."

"No, it\'s fine… Just don\'t act too violently, alright? We\'ll draw our swords the next time."

They easily let us off. Though there was a little fear in their eyes, they decided that they hadn\'t seen anything this time. It wouldn\'t be good even if they poked their noses in further.

What surprised me was that the moment Zanoba was caught, Fitts-senpai had prepared his stance before I did. It was an extremely fast and decisive movement. As expected of the princess\' guard. You could also say that I was just cowardly though. Anyway, it seems that there isn\'t anyone particularly vigilant here, uh? After all, using adventurer terms, the guards around here were only C rank, or at best B rank. Well whatever. I\'ll continue speaking to him.

"We\'re looking for a dwarf around the age of 5."

I speak to the macho man again.

"Around 5…?"

While cowering, he looked over the list in his hand. Flipping through the pages, he squints his eyes.

"There aren\'t many dwarves in the first place here and on top of that a 5 year old…"

So the criteria really were too strict? The dwarves basically live on the Milis Continent after all. Even with all the kidnapping going on, the dwarf slaves basically don\'t end up here.

"As long as it’s a race that\'s good with crafting, even if they aren\'t a dwarf it won\'t be a problem. We definitely wouldn\'t complain if they were young though…"

"Oh, there is one."

The man tapped a part of the list with his finger.

"A dwarf girl of 6 years old. Because of her parent\'s debts, the whole family were sold into slavery. Her health is a little on the bad side though. It might be because of malnutrition. Well, she\'ll probably be back to normal if you feed her. She can\'t speak the Human Language, and though it\'s natural for a 6 year old, she can\'t read either."

"I see. What happened to her parents?"

"Both her parents have been sold."

It\'s something I heard in a tavern during my days as an adventurer, but amongst the dwarves exist a social class who believe that they can live with nothing but the mountains. It\'d be fine to leave the Milis Continent and work in the Dragon King Mountain Range, but occasionally there\'d be idiots who guessed wrong and headed too far north, and without re-entering the mountains were unable to make a living. They\'d even get their families wrapped up; truly useless fathers.

"For now, let\'s just meet them."

Part 4

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 sheetting. 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.

In that case, it would be better to end things for her.

If she became like me. If she was able to live another life after dying. It would be good if she could abandon her current life, and try her best in a new one. There\'s someone like that out there, without a doubt. Telling someone something like \'your hard work will pay off\' is just a pretense to make you feel better about yourself.

I don\'t know if she\'s this kind of person. From my perspective, she can still keep at it. She\'s still young, or rather, very young, and as long as she tries her best from now on, whatever happens things will work out.

However, it\'s not for me to say. I was someone who was an incurable idiot even up until death.

It\'s something that depends on how willing she herself is. I\'m not the one who gets to decide.

『…』

『Say something.』

The girl didn\'t tremble. However, she slowly parted her lips.

『――――I don\'t want to die.』

She murmured only that. It was a feeble voice. Though it was a spiritless response, that\'s fine. It\'s just how it is. I was like that too. It\'s fine like that. It\'s fine even if she doesn\'t want to live. As long as she doesn\'t want to die, that\'s fine.

"We\'ll take her."

I covered the girl with the robe that had been in my hands. I create hot air to warm her body, and chant detoxification magic. Recovery magic won\'t restore her strength; after this we\'ll let her eat.

"Fe\'Burrito-san, how much is she?"

One Large Asura Copper Coin. That was how much the girl cost.

Part 5

After buying her, we cleaned the girl in the washing area that was in the corner of the marketplace. After that, we bought clothes and the like for her in the commercial districts, as well as other necessary items. We then entered a suitable cafe.

It wasn\'t a simple eatery. It was a cafe with a good atmosphere. It\'s a shop that I\'d definitely avoid were I by myself. The one who picked it was Fitts-senpai. Unlike me though, this kind of cafe suits Fitts-senpai quite well. It can\'t be helped, but I feel out of place here and can\'t stop fidgeting.

As expected of a royalty I might say, Zanoba is quite dignified. The girl we\'ve just bought is single-mindedly shoveling food into her mouth. The only one who\'s uncomfortable is me.

Fitts-senpai seemed to be in a good mood. While saying something like \'I\'m glad\', he\'s patting the girl on the head.

"By the way, Rudeus-kun, what\'s this girl\'s name?"

Being asked that, I noticed that I haven\'t yet asked for her name. That Fe\'Burrito didn\'t tell me her name.

『What\'s your name?』

The girl looks at my face as if she\'s heard something strange.

『…Name?』

Huh?

Could it be that my Beast God Language isn\'t getting through to her? It\'s certainly been about three years since I\'ve used it, but it seemed to work fine in the Great Forest… Could it be that in the Dorudia village I was looked at like Michael (an American, self-proclaimed fluent Japanese speaker) who had just come to Tokyo? No, there\'s no way… The way I spoke shouldn\'t have been very different from Ruijerd.

『Umm, what do people call you?』

『…Bazelle of the Sacred Iron and Lilitella of the Beautiful Snowy Ridge\'s child.』

Because that didn\'t quite seem to be what I was looking for, I conveyed what she said to Fitts-senpai. When I did, he went "ah, I see" and nodded with a knowing look.

"The dwarves don\'t get a proper name until they reach 7 years of age."

"Proper name?"

"Mn, until age 7 dwarves aren\'t given a name, and when they turn 7, they\'re given a name based on things they like, or things they admire, or things that they\'re good at for example."

So he said. As expected of Fitts-senpai, he really is knowledgeable, huh?

"I see. It\'s quite inconvenient if she doesn\'t have a name."

"Her parents aren\'t here anymore, so there\'s no choice except for us to give her one."

I see.

『We\'re going to give you a name now, but do you have any kinds of hopes?』

When I had asked this just in case, she tilted her head in puzzlement. I wonder if someone like this will really be able to create figurines. I\'ve become a little uneasy.

"Since she\'s a girl, let\'s give her a lovely name."

Fitts-senpai said that kind of girly line. Hearing this, on the contrary I start to want to give her a gallant and manly name.

Ah, no good, no good.

"Zanoba. Let\'s hear your thoughts!"

When I said this, Zanoba turned towards us.

"Mn? Will it be fine if I decide?"

"I\'m not the one who paid after all."

"In that case, \'Julius\'."

There\'s no mistake that he said that. He didn\'t look like he had thought about it.

"That\'s, a man\'s name, right?"

"Yes, it\'s the name of the pitiful younger brother that I accidentally killed."

I\'m probably making a strange face. Fitts-senpai looks like he doesn\'t know what\'s going on.

"This child will be staying in my room, right? In that case, it\'d be better for her to have a name that I\'m comfortable with."

Certainly, this child will end up living with Zanoba. As a room for royalty, Zanoba\'s room is large after all. I could also get permission and have her live in my room, but it\'d be much easier for royalty to get permission. That\'s why although my room would be fine as well, we\'ve naturally planned for her to stay with the rich Zanoba. That\'s how our conversation had gone. However, since she can\'t understand his words, it might be good for her to stay in my room instead. Another option might be for me to stay in Zanoba\'s room as well.

"Well, since it\'s a name that you\'ve determined, I think that it\'s fine too, but let\'s at least give her a girl\'s name like Juliette."

"That\'s fine with me. Let\'s make it Juliette then."

"Juli…ette, huhuh, it\'s a good name, isn\'t it?"

Fitts-senpai had found something funny, and was laughing delightedly. At this age, people will laugh about anything after all, huh…

Having settled our views, I tell the girl just that.

『From today onwards, your name is Juliette.』

『Julie…?』

『Juliette.』

『Julie.』

The girl said that and smiled clumsily. Though she couldn\'t remember anything past \'Julie\', that\'s not a problem.

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And so we bring Juliette (nickname: Julie) to Zanoba\'s place. While learning this and that from the surroundings, she would toddle behind the messy Zanoba and support him. When night fell, she\'d learn Human Language and chantless magic from me. Before going to bed, she\'d continue to earnestly listen about dolls according to Zanoba, and was brainwa-… educated like that. That kind of training and effort continues on.

Incidentally, Zanoba continued to practice moving his fingers carefully. He probably wants to be able to create things himself one day.

------

Our doll creation plan continues to advance little by little.

Additionally, my true objective shows no signs of progress.