After Tiffania's relentless chasing regardless whether or not the view was nice, on that rocking ship we finally arrived at the port of Waenyth, that's because in the end we needed to repair our ship that had damages, and so that the crew could rest.
The crew was supposed to be divided into shifts called watches. At any given time about half the crew would be awake and the entire crew could be called on at any time, and this would have enabled us to sail forward to Luris however the crew was in a small number, and the storm doesn't seem to be calming any further, even if we did go around using Waeynth seas, our ship and the crew together wouldn't have been able to take on even an inch from that storm anymore, so we disembarked first and decided to leave it for tomorrow.
Luckily this time, we didn't see any of the infamous pirates of the seas that the captain told me about just earlier.
While the crew were resting and drinking at the ship, and the merchants disembarked to meet some of their acquaintances, I and Tiffania took a stroll around dressed in merchants clothes which were common in the busy port, Tiffania also wore a scarf that covered her head.
This time we strolled by ourselves, even though the captain insisted to have us bring some of his men with him.
Well… as long as we are covered well, no one would know our true identities if we know how to act like common folk, and coincidentally, the two of us who reincarnated, lived in a society where there isn't such a social standing — in other words we can interact with common folk with no problem.
"Tiffania, what is this country known for?"
I asked Tiffania, who has been looking left and right as she smelled the appetizing food at the stalls we passed through.
"Huh?... What did you say Walter?"
She asked me as she drooled over all the food she saw.
"What should I get… hehe they all look so delicious."
She told me as she wiped her face with a handkerchief.
"Well, it's no wonder all the food here came from freshly caught fish in this port. I wonder if we could imitate this kind of port in the country? We have opened our own port after all, I also don't think we'll lose when it comes to fish and shellfish.
Wait… Hey Tiffania, you haven't answered my question yet."
"Huh?? Ah, this country is well known for slavery"
I flinched when he told me this straightly.
"Woah, never expected you to say that with a straight face."
I flicked her forehead as she had been focusing on food all the time.
"Ouch Walter! What was that for!"
"Tell me more and stop drooling over those foods and buy them."
"But I can't choose…"
"Tsk… this is why woman are… why don't you buy it already? You are supposed to be the daughter of a duke right?"
"Well… my allowance was cut off when mother found out that papa and I have fought the goblins"
She told me, pouting as she looked me at the eyes as if pleading.
This cuteness… no! I won't be fooled!
I won't be…
I won't… be
But when I saw her face slowly turning into tears.
I impulsively took a gold coin from my pocket and started buying one of each stall I remembered she eyed on, as a result I had a handful of food, most of them were skewered seafood.
"Okay, you win, you win. Here, take this already!"
I handed her the basketful of seafood skewers I bought, which she happily accepted as she immediately took one of it and ate it immediately.
"Mmmm… this is delicious Walter! Try one!"
She held out the stick towards me, and I held her hand to stabilize it as I took a bite of the skewer that looks like part of a fish, dipped into some kind of red sauce.
I haven't asked what it is called as I bought them randomly, but when I tasted it, I felt the meat of the fish melting into my tongue as the sauce made it taste like barbecue in the old world. It's an unfamillar texture but a nostalgic and fresh flavor.
"What the hell is this?! This is delicious!"
"Told you right? I can tell just by the smell!"
"Yeah! Let's find somewhere to sit and eat all of these."
She happily agreed as we then found a street where there are benches where common folk also sat to eat their skewers. Most of them were couples, children and families. Everyone was happy eating the food that came from the port, though it was already night, there were well-lit street lamps.
It was a lively night as more customers came down from their ships for dinner and to taste the local delicacy, of course there were very few nobles who bought the food from the stalls, maybe because of their pride, that's why the nobles who gathered here and enjoyed the food of the common folk got my approval.
Okay, let's promote them to Baron! Just kidding…
Well, nobles like these are usually the most humble ones, devoid of pride, not judging too early, but with a gesture of interacting with the masses, is a green flag for me.
As I enjoyed eating with Tiffania, I remembered the question that I wanted to ask her earlier.
"Hey Tiffania, can you tell me more about this country that's known for slavery?"
She looked at me as she bit her skewer that looks like a squid but has more legs and heads to it, if this was the old world, the squid would fetch a big price.
"Umm… basically this country is connected to that Sagrait Empire of the continent, basically they bought and sold prisoners of war, orphans, or anyone they could get their hands on that doesn't have citizenship."
"Sagrait Empire? I see that mercenary empire huh… that means they sold their slaves to their empire which they raised to become mercenaries… hmmm, I wonder what happens if they fail to become one."
Tiffania then stopped eating for a while and turned into a serious expression.
"Exactly, though for us, it might be a violation of human rights, in this age where most laws or policies are written according to the rulers wishes, stuff like this is hard to avoid, but this is the natural state of this world, its natural flow, something us who reincarnated from another world shouldn't be putting our noses into with our otherwordly sense of justice.
The rich gets richer, the poor gets poorer, and the poorest are sold like cattle. It's hard to stomach, but it's the truth, but we can't just overturn it or this world will bare its fangs on us
And the slaves? If they fail to become mercenaries, the girls are sold as trainee prostitutes, and the boys tend to their fields.
That's why I think Zack wanted a change, our country has its own slave system right? But not as flourishing as this."
She had a sad expression on her face as she talked about the reality that we face, and she's exactly right.
"So, did I make the wrong decision not to ally with Zack? and why do you even know things like that?"
Then she shook her head slowly.
"I know that because I was trained to do so, one of my marriage candidates before the wimpy Walter proposed to me was the prince of Sagrait, that's why I was trained to know about the country.
And about Zack, I think you made the right decision, because the way he is doing it is only based on ideals and could probably turn to another disaster for the people he is leading, or might return this change that he wants to the next and more bloody cycle.
That I think is what would happen, if I based it to how our history was written where the rulers that wanted change did win together with the hearts of the people, but after a few years they just became the next oppressors."
"Then why are you so sad? Earlier you just said it with a straight face"
"Because I didn't want to be reminded of it, earlier I saw some children slaves being brought out from one of the ships, they'll probably be sold off… and that makes me sad, so I wanted to enjoy myself to forget about it."
"I see, sorry about that."
I gave her a head pat as she continued to slowly eat her skewers, then silence filled between us, Tiffania's strong appetite was gone as now she ate slowly like the proper lady she is supposed to be.
After that, we returned to the ship to sleep at the cabin as Tiffania didn't want to spend the night at an inn, complaining that she didn't want to be on the same bed as me.
It ruined my ingenious plans for the night, but it's okay, there's always a new opportunity soon.
As we walked towards the ship Tiffania suddenly stopped.
"Tiffania?"
I looked back to her as she eyed the ship farthest to the right, it was as big as our ship, and had the same figurehead as mine, but its color was blue, showing that it was the ship owned by the royalty.
Realizing this, I looked at Tiffania who also seems to have the same idea.
"Walter… isn't that ship ours?"
"Yes but its strange, Heinrich should be at war right now right —"
But before I could continue I felt her gripping my sleeve.
"Walter… that ship… I didn't notice it earlier because we were in a hurry, but that's where I saw the children coming down from!
Is Heinrich… selling children slaves now? That was supposed to be banned, right?"