Chuan Wenwu carried the unconscious little girl and followed the slave trader back the way they had come. Once they reached a more spacious area inside the Circus Tent, the trader had someone bring over an earthenware pot filled with a pitch-black liquid that looked like ink.
Chuan Wenwu glanced at the burly guards obeying the slave trader's orders. Just as he expected, he spotted markings resembling Slave Curse patterns on them-the slave trader's subordinates were naturally slaves themselves.
"Lord Hero, please give me a few drops of your blood. Once I complete the slave transfer procedure, this slave will belong to you." The slave trader poured the ink into a small dish as he spoke to Chuan Wenwu.
"Transfer? No need," Chuan Wenwu said calmly. "Remove her slave mark, and lift that curse or whatever it is, too."
"Ah, well..." The slave trader looked troubled.
"What, is that not allowed? Or can't you do it?"
"No, no, no, of course I can. You've already paid, after all. How you choose to treat this slave is entirely up to you. Even if you wish to grant her freedom, I would only praise your generosity, Lord Hero. It's just..."
"Just what?"
"It's just that this Racoon Demi-Human might not survive the pain of having the curse removed," the slave trader explained, wiping away his sweat. "As I mentioned earlier, these slaves have cursed Magic Circles inscribed on their bodies to keep them under better control. A curse is rather like an illness, or perhaps something even more severe. Normally, as long as it isn't deliberately activated to punish the slave, there's no real problem. But once the punishment mechanism is triggered, it inflicts pain the affected slave has no way to resist. This Racoon Demi-Human is terribly frail, and her level is only Lv.1. She has practically no resistance at all. If we take drastic measures such as removing the curse in her current condition, it might very well kill her."
"I do offer services to apply or remove Slave Curses, of course. But since you've only just purchased her, Lord Hero, you deserve to be fully informed. That's why I wanted to warn you. Are you certain you want this slave's Slave Curse removed right now?"
"..."
Without a word, Chuan Wenwu dug a fingernail into the pad of his finger. He easily broke through the flesh that was as hard as metal or stone to anyone else, opening a tiny cut and squeezing a few drops of blood into the ink dish the slave trader held. Understanding his intent at once, the trader stirred it evenly, dipped a brush into the ink, and began painting over the slave runes on the Racoon Demi-Human girl's chest.
"Ugh... Aaaaaaaaah..."
The slave trader's work seemed to cause the raccoon girl considerable pain. Even unconscious, she could not stop her brow from furrowing or cries of pain from escaping her lips.
"Transferring slave permissions inevitably involves a little pain, but this is already much easier on her than purifying the Slave Curse outright... Lord Hero, this slave now belongs to you." Wiping away his sweat, the slave trader ordered his subordinates to take the tools away, then smiled with the air of someone who had successfully fulfilled his duty.
The slave script on the girl's chest glowed, and Chuan Wenwu noticed a new icon appear on his system panel.
[Slave acquired] [Condition settings for commanding slaves unlocked]
Apparently, this allowed him to specify which violations would activate the slave mark and inflict agonizing punishment. Options included "attacking the master while they rest or running away" and "refusing to obey the master's orders." Chuan Wenwu skimmed through them without setting anything.
He also noticed another icon in the upper-left corner of his vision, under the existing "Party" tab. Alongside the "Companion Category," which listed Bruce as a companion, there was now a "Slave Category," with the name "Slave A" listed beneath it.
Chuan Wenwu naturally understood what it meant. It referred to the raccoon girl whose name he still did not know.
"Just to check, you don't have her parents or any other relatives here, do you?" Chuan Wenwu asked.
"Ahahaha, rest assured, Lord Hero. She was alone when she was sold to me," the slave trader assured him, patting his chest.
"Then I'll be leaving. Once she's recovered, I'll come back to have you remove her slave mark."
Not wanting to spend another moment there, Chuan Wenwu called Bruce over and left.
"Safe travels, Lord Hero! I look forward to welcoming you again!" The slave trader stood at the entrance to the Circus Tent, waving them off with an ingratiating smile.
"Heh. You'll get your chance."
Only after Chuan Wenwu and the others had disappeared completely did the slave trader breathe a sigh of relief and mutter to himself:
"The legendary Shield Heroes really do get along well with Demi-Humans. And this one... whew-he's no ordinary man. Definitely no ordinary man! He has me both excited and terrified!"
He slowly turned and headed back into the tent. "For now, perhaps I'll give my merchandise an extra meal..."
They had spent a long time wandering while lost, but retracing their steps was much quicker.
Before long, Chuan Wenwu returned to the bustling main street with the unconscious raccoon girl in his arms and Bruce in tow. Then he made his way to the weapon shop and knocked on its door.
"Boss!"
"Oh! It's you, lad. Back again already? You haven't been gone long. Well? Did you find yourself something good at the monster market... gah!"
Hearing Chuan Wenwu's voice, Elhart greeted him without looking up. Then he casually glanced over, only to gape at what Chuan Wenwu was carrying.
"W-wait, what? Weren't you going to the monster market? What monster market did you go to?!" Elhart covered his face and exclaimed, "Lad, it's only been half a day! How did you fall so far so fast?"
"Fall, my ass!"
Chuan Wenwu snapped back, then briefly explained what had happened so the man would stop staring at him like he was some kind of pervert.
Elhart looked as though he had something to say but hesitated. "Lad..."
"What?"
"You're really something. I gave you a map and even marked the destination, yet you still managed to get lost in the exact opposite direction and find the slave traders' headquarters," Elhart said with genuine admiration.
"..." Chuan Wenwu fell silent for a moment.
"Come to think of it," Elhart added, "if you can't even read a map, how did you find suitable places to level up in the forest? How did you gain levels so quickly?"
"Those are two different things. I might not be great at reading paper maps, but I still know that the deeper you go into the forest, the stronger the monsters are and the more experience they give." Chuan Wenwu waved a hand and brought the conversation back on track. "All right, enough chatter. I'm here for something important-Boss, do you have any spare clothes or cloaks? Give me a set. I'm going to get this poor little girl cleaned up."
"...You little bastard! If you want clothes, go buy them at a clothing shop! What do you think this place is? This is a weapon shop! A! Weapon! Shop!" Elhart grumbled irritably, but despite his words, he still turned and went to the storeroom to fetch Chuan Wenwu a set of plain clothes.
"They aren't worth much anyway, so you can have them for free." Elhart casually handed them to Chuan Wenwu, then asked with some concern, "So, what are you planning to do with this child? Raise her yourself?"
"Of course not! I'm only eighteen! How am I supposed to raise a girl this big?"
Chuan Wenwu shook his head repeatedly. "For now, I just wanted to get her out of that awful place. I'll have to ask her about the rest later. I'll see if I can help find her parents or relatives and reunite her with her family. If I can't, I'll try to find someone kind and trustworthy to adopt her... though I probably won't find anyone like that here in Melromarc."
"True enough." Elhart nodded in wholehearted agreement, then added, "If neither option works out, why not consider bringing her into your hero's party? You're pretty short on people, aren't you? It's just you and Bruce."
"Huh? Boss, what are you thinking? I'm a hero who's going to fight the waves. How could I take a child who's ten at most into battle with me?" Chuan Wenwu looked at Elhart in astonishment and waved a hand. "Even if I do need more companions, I'll find suitable people myself. You don't need to worry about that."
With that, he left the weapon shop with the raccoon girl whose name he still did not know in his arms and headed toward the inn.
"You can't judge a Demi-Human's age by appearance alone..." Elhart had been about to explain how Demi-Humans grew in this world to the Shield Hero from another world, but by the time he looked up, Chuan Wenwu was already gone.
"What an impatient lad..."
Shaking his head, the weapon shop owner went back to running his shop.
Before you continue