It was time to finally get the hell out of this place, and finally time to move out after being stuck for some time. In retrospect, I had been wasting plenty of time, considering the state my home was currently in. I had no idea what was going on, and how everything was going there. At this point, had the empire taken most of my kingdom’s territory already? I absolutely had no idea. I should go back as soon as possible.

  However, not always I could push myself, to constantly endure. I knew I had my limits. Forcing myself to keep moving without proper rest would only make my condition worse, or kill me. Still, whenever I thought about home, a tinge of impatience would hit me. But nothing I could really do about it but do what I had to do to be done with this.

  I felt relieved that we were finally going to make progress toward our destination. The last experience was a great fuck-up after that angel’s arrival. But I had a good feeling this next one would be a good run. Did I just jinx it? Nope. I was certain it would all go smoothly and nothing serious would come to bother us!

  Exactly at midnight, we arrived at the bar, as discussed. We waited outside until a familiar man approached us — he was one of the two men who were with Kazuhiko at the table.

  “You’re here just in time. Come along.”

  Without question, we followed the man to the back of the bar. There was a big open space, where carts and carriages were lined up. On some carts, there were big metal crates filled with whatever. Whatever was inside, I had a few ideas in mind. But it was not our business to ask about those, nor poke our noses into. I glanced at Miyako, who was staring at the ‘products’ with narrowed eyes.

  She was basically a government person, and seeing all this illegal stuff must be a bit of a bother. No, working with criminals was already a bother to her. These were the kinds of stuff that they would raid and dismantle back at their home island.

  The man brought us to a corner. “Wait here. I’ll call for you when you’re up.”

  The man left and went on to supervise the people. There were groups of people with weapons and armor; they must be the security guards for whatever this convoy was. There were a few men carrying metal crates. Metals were a bit heavy, so they were clearly slightly struggling to lift them. Imagine metal being more common than wood, that they even use those to make crates.

  The supervisor had the men put down the crates, and he opened them up, one by one. A strange smell permeated the air, faintly reaching towards us. With my wrist, I covered my nose through the fabric of my clothes.

  Miyako, on the other hand, seemed curious as she stared suspiciously at the crates that were opened. “What’s inside those?”

  I shifted my gaze to her. “Try not to inhale it.”

  “W-Why?” She immediately covered her nose.

  “You might get high.” Especially if she was new to that kind of thing, it might take effect despite mild exposure. It could also not affect us through aroma alone, but I’d rather not take the chance. I had a sensitive body already.

  “H-High? So it is narcotics…” She stared at the crates. “And there’s so many of them. Where are they heading?”

  “... None of our business. Best we not ask those kinds of questions.” Asking those might only get us into trouble, or make the atmosphere unnecessarily too unfriendly. We shouldn’t have that, we should have peace. I love peace, don’t you? Peace is great.

  “...” It would seem Miyako kinda wanted to know.

  “They’re really making a big business in making those narcotics…” Taneva casually said. “Making an already fucked-up land more fucked up.”

  “Is money even that important here?” Velar asked.

  “Making money is part of power. You can pay just about anyone to do your bidding,” I said. “And you need money to run an organization.” No one would do shit for your organization without getting paid. Without monetary interest, no one would even consider joining your group. No money, no criminal organization.

  The criminals closed up the packages after ensuring the contents and put them on the carts. Once that was done, a couple more normal-looking carriages arrived. All carriages and carts were being pulled by those draconic looking creatures. They must indeed have impressive resources to employ several of those creatures.

  The man supervising returned to us. “We’re ready. You’ll be split into two carriages. You’ll decide which each of you will ride in. However,” he looked at Velar. “You’re a big guy. You might need to ride beside the driver.”

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  Hm, depending on our arrangement, my knight might not be able to sit inside the same carriage. He might need to have his own seat on the other side of me. However, considering our number, that wouldn’t be an option.

  “Would that be a problem for slipping out of the city?” I asked.

  “Not really. All he has to do is pretend to be part of the security. He shouldn’t need to talk whatsoever. Pretty easy.”

  I nodded.

  With that, we walked over to our carriages. It was then that we had a closer look at the other carriages. These ?were a bit bigger and enclosed, with a small window blocked by metal bars. Like a prisoner’s cart or something. We could hear slight sounds from within, made by people. I noticed Miyako slowly walk up to a carriage, looking up at the window.

  There was a person, a woman, looking through. “Please help us…” The voice was low and weak.

  Miyako quietly gasped as she looked at the other same kind of carriages. She turned towards the criminal leader of the convoy. “What kind of slaves are they?”

  He raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean what kind of slaves?”

  “Are they criminals? Have debt to pay?”

  “... Just some people we found from whatever places. Maybe they have debts to pay, or their family sold them off, or just some boys and girls we found at the side of the street.”

  Miyako’s eyes widened. “You speak as if you don’t care where they came from.”

  “Does that matter?”

  Miyako was in disbelief. “You would make slaves of those who do not deserve it at all?”

  “So there are people who are supposed to deserve slavery?” he looked puzzled.

  “There are those that do not warrant slavery.”

  The man smiled, chuckling a little. “Oh yeah, I remember you Nishinoans have laws for slaves. Treating them nicely and shit, giving them rights.” He shook his head. “Interesting law, but seems really hard to enforce, don’t you think?”

  “What do you mean by that?” Miyako glared.

  “Despite your laws for slaves, they are still quite in demand on your island. Not all of them are treated as decreed in your policies.”

  “...”

  “In some corner of the island, there are still slaves being treated like crap. And you don’t even know about it, nor could do anything about it. What a stupid law. Might as well abolish slavery altogether if you guys really want to play the good guys.”

  Miyako clenched her fists. “...” But she didn’t have anything to say.

  Abolish slavery, huh…

  They could do that… But that would certainly have great repercussions that would be hard to imagine. Like, lack of workers. Now you’d actually have to pay them fairly, which might be hard to sustain on this archipelago. They might be put into shock. But who knows, they could pull it off. Or keep the slave thing and just enforce the laws for slaves properly. Like how the Romans did for their slaves or something that brought protection for them and actually enforced it.

  ‘But Estelia slavery is bad, we shouldn’t have that.’ Eh, it’s a matter of perspective and society. Personally, I wouldn’t want slavery in my country, not really a beautiful sight to see. For this island, they can do whatever they want — keep it, or not keep it, it doesn't matter to me. Their land, their rules to make.

  I placed a hand on Miyako’s shoulder. “Miyako, this isn’t your island. It’s different here.”

  Miyako lowered her head. “Y-Yes… But…” She glanced at the enclosed carriages.

  “Let it go.”

  Miyako pursed her lips and slowly nodded.

  “... Miyako and Satomi will share a carriage with me, Velar will sit beside the driver. The rest of the gang are on the other carriage.” I looked up. Nira was unable to join us, of course. She would be all monster-like. But it didn’t matter much, she could just fly anyway.

  “We’ll move out in ten minutes,” said the criminal. “As we go out, behave and don’t do anything. Stay in your carriages, don’t let anyone see you.”

  With that, we entered our respective carriages. I sat down on my own side of the carriage, while both Miyako and Satomi sat beside each other on the opposite side, placing their weapons on their laps.

  “Will they sell us out?” Satomi asked. “To our enemies, I mean.”

  “... They haven’t put a bounty on your heads, and the government is a mess. I doubt they can go and do something like that.” I shrugged.

  “I suppose.”

  I stared at Miyako, she looked like she had something heavy on her mind. “Is something wrong, Miyako?”

  She looked up at me for a second before looking down again, clasping her hands together. “It’s just… I have seen so much darkness on this island… Ones that I never thought I would ever see and experience. The cruelty of it all. And to think this is happening all over Shinoroa…” She closed her eyes.

  “... Hm. Indeed… The world is a dark and terrible place. But there is also good, there is always good…” It would be boring and stale if it were ever only bad.

  “Good…?” She smiled ever so slightly.

  After some time, the carriage had started moving. We were positioned at the front of the convoy. We moved through the dark streets. I had not even seen any guards or soldiers in the city. Perhaps it was either by design, or they just didn’t bother this far in the night. Well, whatever works for us.

  We remained quiet until we reached one of the city gates. We stopped for a moment, and I looked through the window, moving the curtain slightly. I watched the criminal supervisor step off his carriage and walk over to the gate guards and hand them? a heavy pouch. Must be money.

  They nodded at each other and with that, a soldier gave the signal to let us through.

  Of course this kind of back-end deal happens…

  Our carriage continued on, the guards staring at the carriages as we went.

  And then, we were finally off the city. I was feeling a bit relieved.

  I leaned back in my seat. “Finally, we’re out. Now for the waiting game. I’m going to sleep.”

  “You can sleep in this kind of scenario?” Miyako asked, surprised.

  “Why not?” Well, in other cases, I might not have. But I desperately needed to sleep. “Goodnight.” In fact, this might be better than our first journey, where we had to walk. And this time, I finally get to chill and ride a carriage. I could finally sleep anytime I wanted. Spending that money was worth it.

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