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“We’ll soon arrive in castle town,” the coachman told me.

I could see it with my own eyes, as we closed in on walls that surrounded what was likely a large castle and the adjacent castle town. At first, I had imagined that it would be a fantastic and dazzling view, but only judging from its exterior, it didn’t fit the part.

“Come to think of it, do you have some sort of identification?”
“Oh… I don’t…”

Gah, of course you need somethin’ like that, don’t you? I suddenly hit a huge wall… what do I do?
That was what I thought, but then the coachman gave me some advice.

“Well… if you tell the soldiers at the gate that you don’t have any ID, they’ll give you a temporary one after frisking you, so it won’t be an issue.”
“Oh, I see.”

Great.

Still, I wonder if this country is fine with such a loose¹ inspection process? Though it certainly is convenient for me… It’s probably ’cause they’re too confident in their country’s power.

Nevertheless, the gate to castle town already loomed in front of us.

“You should get that temporary identification issued, shouldn’t you? You can get off here.”
“Yes, oh… thank you so much.”
“Oh no, if you hadn’t been there, me and the girls in the back would’ve died… You saved us, you know. I’ll hand you your luggage at the carriage station in town.”

I got off the carriage. When the coachman cracked his whip, the horses started to move and, after he had said something to the gatekeepers, the carriage went through the gate.

I also went towards the gate.

“What about your identification?” the gatekeeper, who looked as if he was cosplaying as a cheetah, asked me.

The hell is this? Well… I gotta ignore that for now and tell him I lost my ID.

“My apologies, I seem to have lost it.”
“I see, in that case, we can issue you a temporary one after the inspection… Is that what you want?”
“Could you do that for me?”
“Good, come over here, then.”

I followed behind the gatekeeper until we reached a place a bit from the gate, where he brought out some kind of rod. He then held the rod over my head and finally performed a light security check on me.

“Good, you should be fine. This is your temporary ID. Go to the public office to get your proper one remade.”
“I will, thank you very much. Incidentally, what does that rod do?”

When I asked him that, blatant surprise showed on his face.

“You don’t know that? Don’t tell me you’re from the boonies?”
“Well, yes…”
“This is a magic item that can somewhat read the thoughts² of who it’s used on. It’s cutting edge. You get it, country hick?”
“Oh, I see.”
“Right… you can go through the gate now.”

I went back to the gate, showed my temporary ID to the gatekeeper there, and then entered castle town. As for the town, I wasn’t sure, but it had an atmosphere like France… or maybe Italy, only even more magical. Especially the castle, which could be seen from afar, gave off that feeling.

When I looked around, I found a notice board describing the way³ to the carriage station. Following its directions, I went towards the station where the coachman was likely waiting. It was around a three-minute walk away, not as far as I had expected.

At the station, I found the carriage I had ridden on before and the coachman. He had gotten off and was smoking a cigar.

“Ah, there you are.”

Once he noticed me, he took the cigar out of his mouth and called out to me, while holding it in his hand, and closed in on me.

“Yes.”
“My employer will be coming here, so wait a bit longer. We should be able to sell the goblins to him.”

I decided to wait together with the coachman for his employer.

The girls inside the carriage were either trembling in fear, hanging their heads, or simply looking at us with vacant gazes.

Come to think of it… is that employer a genuine slave merchant? Assumin’ he’ll have a bad disposition, like those in mangas and light novels, will I manage to talk to him without showin’ my anger?
…No clue. I seriously can’t say.

We didn’t have to wait long, since said slave trader immediately arrived. His body was covered by a hat and extravagant clothes embroidered with gold thread, and he also wore shoes that looked blatantly expensive. Finally, he wore rings fitted with large jewels on all his fingers…

“Guh-ho-ho, did you bring the cute little slaves with you, Fred⁴?” the merchant called out to the coachman.

I guess ‘Fred’ is the coachman’s name.

“Yes, they’re in the carriage. Would you like to have a look?
“Guh-ho-ho, I shall.”

Without paying me any attention, the merchant walked up to the carriage. Then, once the coachman had opened the back door, the merchant seemed to look at what was inside. I was standing next to the horses, so I couldn’t see it well from my position.

“Guh-ho-ho, indeed, this batch should sell high… Still… Is that the ‘defective product’ I heard about?”
“…Without any doubt.”

Does he see these people as things, even callin’ one of them a “defective product”?
He ain’t a good person after all, right?

“Hey, defective product. Come out,” the merchant shouted, and a girl emerged from the carriage.

From what I could see… one of her doglike ears had been torn off, and the tip of her tail, which also looked like that of a dog, was unnaturally short. Finally, she was so frail, even a light nudge might cause her to collapse. It was hard for me to watch. She looked as if she hadn’t eaten anything for several days.

“Guh-ho… Did you make sure this wolfkin beastfolk ate properly during the transport, Fred? She looks like she’ll expire in a few more days.”
“Yes… however, when I made her eat, she only ate part of it and then threw up everything. It didn’t look as if she was vomiting intentionally, but…”
“Guh-ho-ho… so, everything I heard was true? Her face isn’t bad, and she has it in the right places⁵, but… other than that, I don’t think she’s any good. I can’t sell her, can I? If I sold such a defective product, it would hurt my store’s reputation. Now, what should we do?”

She didn’t refuse to eat anythin’, and didn’t intentionally vomit… So, it might be caused by excessive stress accumulatin’, due to her bein’ placed in such an environment… In that case, could it be an eatin’ disorder?

For her to get this ragged… What in the world happened to her?

1. The original is ガバガバ (“oversized [clothing]”, “[profiting] greatly”, or “sloshing [e.g. of water]”). This doesn’t really fit, so it might be a typo.
2. I wonder what this is checking for, since it apparently didn’t flag Shuu, even though he is likely nervous for lying about losing his ID.
3. The original just says “a notice board towards the carriage station”, but I assume that’s what it means.
4. The original is フレッド (fureddo).
5. The original is 出ていることは出ている (“what’s out there is out there”). I assume he means her chest, but I might be wrong.