My Reincarnation Skills Are “Playing With Dolls” and “Playing With Clay”, but What Am I Supposed to Do With These? C102

Chapter 102: Ownership

When I returned to the Ministry of Justice, I was guided not to the interrogation room from earlier, but to a small room that really looked like a reception room. Besides Laszlo, there was another man around my age wearing aristocratic clothing.

"Mr. Holton Keuts, I am the nephew of the Baron. I really want to talk to him directly..."

László introduced himself with a troubled look on his face.

The man had been glaring at me with annoyance from the moment I entered the room. He's wearing a gun. Honestly, as someone with a reclusive personality, I don't really like being treated with such obvious malice. I'm already starting to want to go home.

However, I try my best not to show it on my face. Unlike the previous room, it seems that you can use the Discrimination skill here.

<Holton Keuts, male, 19 years old, knight (LV7)

Skill HP increase (medium)

Melee attack power increase (medium)

Physical defense power increase (medium)

Power increase (medium)

　　　　　Melee hit rate increase (medium)

Physical evasion rate increase (medium)

Fighting spirit Intimidation

Horse riding (LV2) Swordsmanship (LV1)

Spear Technique (LV2)　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

After all, this guy's level is not high. Knight LV7 is equivalent to Zagu and Igri in the labyrinth battle, but the fact that he doesn't have combat skills at LV2 means that he doesn't have the actual combat experience like these two. ...So don't freak out, me.

“What do you mean?”

I have a vague prediction, but I'll turn to Laszlo. However, Keutsu's nephew made a request directly to me.

“I would like you to hand over that elf slave, it belongs to our family.”

What's up? I look at Laszlo with those eyes.

“Mr. Holton, as I explained earlier, since the Baron has not been designated as an heir, according to national law, Lord Shiro, who found it in the labyrinth, has the right to own it, and Lord Shiro has given up his right to ownership. If so, it will be paid to the national treasury.”

"If this person hands it over to me of his own will, there won't be any problem.Listen, it's his uncle's, so it's only natural that it should be mine, right? Yuzure, okay?"

What's this spoiled brat? We're the same age.

And if it's as I expected, the Baron wouldn't be a proper master for Lucien either.

"I'd like to ask you something."

When I answered that, he seemed to think I had a pulse.

"what?"

"What do you plan to do if you take Lucien in?"

"What? It's up to me how I treat my slaves."

"..."

I asked again silently.

"...my uncle promised to present it to a certain influential person. I intend to fulfill that promise."

 I knew it. They are probably planning to present it to the Foreign Minister, who seems to be the baron's boss. And Lucien probably didn't like that and committed the crime... To me, both of them are strangers and there's no reason to support him, but it's enough for a slave to go to such lengths when he could be executed. There must be a reason.

“I don’t know anything about the law, but if that means I have ownership over that elf because I protected her, then I have no intention of giving her away.”

"What, you! Are you saying that you are disobeying His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs' wishes?"

　What is this, it feels like a small item?

"Well, did the Foreign Minister order you to bring in a mere slave, even if it was against the law?"

"What... something like that."

Holton must have realized his mistake, and is at a loss for an answer.

"Mr. Holton, you rarely say such things."

László chides.

I somehow understand the situation. The Minister of Foreign Affairs probably had little interest in it, but the Baron was probably doing a lot of things to try to get his attention.

In the end, Holton gave up and pulled up after realizing that no matter how much I threatened him, his attitude wouldn't change, and after László heard something in his ear.

"I was planning to persuade Sir Shiro before he returned, but he was more incomprehensible than I expected, so I apologize for that..."

"No, that's fine, but was it okay?"

"of course···"

Overall, I get the impression that Laszlo is strict with Holton and is on my side, but I don't really know why.

Afterwards, a female clerk who appeared to be Laszlo's subordinate explained to me about the system that I had never known before, such as the procedure for registering slave ownership and paying the poll tax twice a year.

Slave owners are required to pay a poll tax not only for themselves but also for their slaves every year. It seems that adult urban freemen must pay five small gold coins, and slaves two coins each, in two separate installments, in the 6th month and the 12th month.

In other words, if I had one slave, I would have to pay about 400,000 yen a year, and I would have to pay about 1 million yen. I think it's okay because I earn a certain amount of money in the labyrinth, but for the common people of this world, it's quite a lot of money. Is that why some people become slaves because they can't pay taxes?

“Also, since you have indicated your intention to be owned, you will be required to pay a fee of 5 silver coins at the counter for registration. At that time, you will be required to make a pledge with the slave for safety if necessary. We can also register your will, so please let us know.”

After all, a registration fee will be charged.

And as for the will, it would be a good idea to think about Nolte and Carmilla in the near future. Generally, a will specifies an heir, but some people like me who don't have any relatives have registered that they will be freed from slavery when they die. And in that case, the slave in question is often not informed. I guess it's because it's risky that people think they can be freed by killing their master.

I was given a guild card that was said to belong to Lucien, and went to the registration counter I was told about. When I told them that I would also like to make a pledge, they asked for five more silver coins and showed me around a small temple inside the building.

Why is there a temple inside the Ministry of Justice? When I asked the staff,

"This is for people who want to pray before being judged or sentenced."

I was told. That's why it seems that high-level monks are always stationed there.

After waiting there for a while, Lucien was led by a guard and an old man wearing the clothes of a high-ranking priest appeared.

The old man was displayed as <Monk LV21>. It's definitely a high level. Lucien's atmosphere from the other day, as if he was cursing everything around him or giving up, has faded, and he looks at me as if asking me something.

An old monk asks me.

"This is Shiro Tsuzuki-dono. Is it okay to have this female slave swear allegiance to you and take an oath not to harm you?"

"Is it possible to follow Shiro Tsuzuki's orders without directly or indirectly harming her?"

Loyalty can't be forced, and there are ways to make someone die without directly killing them, I thought for a moment before saying it, and Lucien flinched for a moment.

"Hmm...I think the more complex the vow, the easier it is to undo it, and the concept of indirectly causing harm is too broad to be effective."

　I guess so. I'm starting to imagine what happened in that incident.

"I see. Then, 'do not harm Shiro Tsuzuki and follow his orders.'"

"Then you'll be fine."

The old monk took my left hand and Lucien's right hand and began chanting in a low voice.

Our bodies vaguely glow.

"Do you, Shiro Tsuzuki, swear to make this person Lucien your servant, to reward his loyalty, to protect him, and to serve as his guide?"

"swear"

"Do you, Lucien, swear to serve this man, Shiro Tsuzuki, as your master, to obey his orders, and to do no harm to him?"

"···swear"

A chain-like light connected me and Lucien and then disappeared.

"Has completed"

When I checked the status, I was definitely Lucien's slave.

It's almost dusk.

When Lucien is released, he changes from the standard white uniform he was given during his detention to the tattered clothes and leather armor he was wearing when he was caught up in the collapse. It's here.

So, I stopped by a clothing store and had them pick out a few sets of clothes, then quickly changed into what looked like a fitting room.

In the meantime, I contacted Nolte through Lina and told him that I would be taking Lucien home and asked him to prepare dinner, and asked if there were any ingredients he wanted me to buy in the capital.

I took Lucien, who had changed his clothes, and headed to the market street to look for the spices that Nolte had told me, ``If I could find it,'' and also told Lucien the other thing he had said, ``If there's something that Mr. Lucien likes.'' heard.

“What do you mean, my favorite food?”

Looks like he was taken aback. He looked at me intently, and had a look on his face as if he had just seen something strange. When I see such a beautiful face approach me, I'm really nervous.

"He's an interesting guy after all."

Then, as if with a start,

"There's no special meaning to it! I just thought it was really funny. Also, just because I'm the master, I don't try to flatter you. If you don't like it, I'll whip you or punch you, whatever you want." Just do it like this.”

He glared at me. Nani collection?

“Oh, no, I’m not looking for a character that says, ``Welcome back, Master (Moe).''

　Nolte alone is enough for that.

"What do you mean? It's rude to say you didn't want me."

"Which one is this? Isn't this troublesome thing, this female elf?"

"No, that's not true. It's fine if you're comfortable talking about it, right? When I was a slave, I didn't use honorific language for the princess either."

"Slave? Princess? No way, you..."

“Ah, I was also a combat slave for a short period of time. That was also because I was tricked into taking an oath and was forced into it. So I don’t mean to say that I understand, but it must not be harmful to me or my friends. Don't worry, I won't force you to do anything you don't want.''

It was a slow conversation, but Lucien seemed relieved for the time being.

Then he walked past a row of shops and bought a basket of fruit that looked like cherries, which Lucien had wanted to eat. I'm not good at hiding facial expressions in those situations. I walked to the outside of the castle gate, and once I was out of sight, I took out the self-propelled car I had stored and got in.

Lucien was taken aback.

"I see, it's discrimination (beginner level), so you can't see the skills."

As I drove my car towards Ozark Village, I told her that I was a reincarnated person and roughly explained my skills in ``playing with dolls'' and ``playing with clay.''

Lucien was listening to me seriously and seemed to accept it easily. After all, it seems like he has a lot of knowledge. As they sat side by side on the two-seater seat and listened to my story, I could feel that the way they had seemed to have given up on living had changed a little.

"...Why did you help me?"

After listening to the story and remaining silent for a while, such a question was asked.

"If you had told me everything you had deduced, I would have been executed. No matter how beautiful I am, did you want to protect a woman who could be a murderer that much? Or would you sell her for a high price?" You mean?”

What is this? I admit that she's incredibly beautiful, but isn't she a little too self-conscious? Or maybe people thought I was that kind of person?

(Yes, I think so. Especially if I know what you do on a daily basis.)

Uh, I see, Lina...

“Oh, uh, well, I think Lucien is a beautiful woman, or rather a beautiful girl, and if you ask me if I have the desire to do something like that, I can’t help it, but if I may say so...”

Naniittenda this guy.

Lucien is also Lucien, and even though he brought up the topic himself, he's slightly blushing, so the silence is heavy.

"...But that's not the most important thing. Well, the most important thing is that I want to hear what you have to say, right?"

“You want to hear the story?”

Ah, this looks like DT. At first it was just a friend? ...I regained my strength and began to form words.

“Yeah, first of all, what really happened in that labyrinth? I also had fellow slaves, so I don’t think Lucien tried to kill them all at once, so what kind of circumstances were there? No, I have no intention of going to the government office over that.”

"...Is that what you want to know?"

"Yeah, I'm curious. But what I want to hear more about is this world."

"This world?"

“Ah, I told you I was a reincarnated person, right? Well, I’ve only been reincarnated for a little over a month, so I don’t know much about this world, so I’d like to see the world. Lucien is from this country. You're not a human, right? I'm sure you've been to many different places and had many different experiences, so please tell me more about it.''

It seems like Lucien still hasn't fully understood what I said.

“For something as trivial as that, did you adopt a woman who is a homicidal maniac and might even kill you?”

"Isn't it boring? Before I came to this world, I died once. And, although it may be hard to believe, I was reincarnated by a god-like being. So, once again, I died... I want to enjoy this life to the fullest since I can start over again, and to do that I want to know more about this world."

Then, he looked into Lucien's deep forest-colored eyes and said this.

"So, could you please lend me your wisdom? I'm not going to force you to do anything just because you're a slave. Even if I say that, you may still not be able to trust me, but in that case, please come and meet my friends, and I can trust you. Please join me.”

On the self-propelled car traveling down the highway at sunset, the beautiful elf and I stared at each other in silence for a while.