Wide-eyed, Tiffania asked me.
"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?"
She tugged me at the sleeves with a surprised look on her face, I instantly knew what she was thinking, the moment she asked me while I looked at the silver cross figurehead, my blood started to boil for some reason.
Heinrich… What have you done?
The reason why the slave system is not flourishing at the Kingdom of Stizriven which is now embroiled in a civil war, with me on the neutral side, picking the side of the winner whoever wins, is because it doesn't sell the most expensive slave product — children slaves.
Most of the slaves are prisoners who were bought and didn't have that much charges to their heads, or those adults that couldn't pay their debts.
However, their children would be put into an orphanage sponsored under the king's name. So children slaves aren't sold to other countries, if a noble gets caught selling one they will be stripped of their rank and worse would be headed to the gallows.
I felt my blood boiling further, however my expression didn't change that much, I don't know why but this is my natural state. Whenever I'm angry, I become furious inside that I plan how to kill that person by my own hand, however my face doesn't show it.
Maybe it's because I have a hard time expressing negative emotions like this that it grows further inside of my heart? It grows bigger and bigger until eventually I explode and run my mouth or do something unexpected of me, just like when I encountered Yuri at KFC.
However, I have already learned my lessons, if I act childishly right now, I would be risking everything I have built in this world with Tiffania.
Thinking of this I came up with my answer.
"Tiffania… let's go inside the ship for now… "
"But… Walter�� "
"Don't say anything… Don't do anything… anyway, come with me"
"No!"
"Stop being a child and come with me! It will be bad if they see us now!"
I held her by her hand and tried to drag her away, however she slapped my hand away and she stood there stupefied.
Then she looked at me strongly, biting her lip. However there were tears in her eyes that shows her concern to the children and the sadness she feels right now.
"Walter… are you just going to let this pass by? That ship! The perpetrator that might be part of the royal family! And let those children be sold?"
I let go of her hand and faced her, to have a talk with her properly, otherwise we would snap out at each other again like the past, I forgot that most of our quarrels are like these.
"Weren't you going to go with the flow with the world? You were the one who said that, right? Then come with me… "
I held her hand once again and gently tried to pull her towards me, however she just stood there, but this time she didn't slap my hand away.
"No"
"Tiffania don't be a chi —"
"Call me anything you'd like, I don't want to let Heinrich get away with this!"
"Okay… I'll let you go, but to be honest Tiffania… no, Yuri, I'll call you that since you are acting the way you did in the old world. Do you think you could do something in the state that you are in right now?"
"I can do something! There should be something I can do for that children!"
"So you are going to abandon your reason and dive into an action based on your feelings, isn't that the same mistake as I did with the goblins? You should be smarter than me when it comes to this, but why are you being like this right now?"
"... "
"Okay… I'll let you go, I told you that right? Hurry up, you can do something, right? After all that talk about an otherworldly sense of justice and the natural flow of this world, in the end you're all talk after all, you can't even walk your talk.
Now go… "
With this question, she froze wide-eyed, and then her eyes lowered down in sadness as she balled her hands into fists.
I felt so annoyed with her whims, I lightly pushed her at her shoulder, with a calm look at my face.
"What? Aren't you going to go?"
"Walter… no, Kazu… you haven't changed after all."
"Huh?"
"I thought I knew you so much, but this part of you… I can't just… I can't just get used with… I can't even take it anymore!"
Tears slowly fell from her face, as she tried to with her sleeves.
"You are as concerned as me, right? You were the one who asked me first about it, right? Then how can you do such a cruel thing as turning a blind eye on this? You haven't changed after all!"
Seeing her crying face again, the coldness of my heart subsided, it felt a terrible pain as if it was being pulled down. I was stupefied and couldn't answer.
"Forget it Walter, I'm going to rescue the kids… you go back on your own.���
"Wait, Tiffania —"
I tried reaching for that hand that I let go of, however I couldn't reach it anymore.
Seeing her back slowly turning towards me, as tears fell from her eyes, I experienced what they called a déjà vu.
It was a nostalgic… and painful… feeling.
Everything was in gray-scale, and anyone and everyone I saw was in slow motion.
Her favorite burgundy dress turned into the uniform she wore the day, and her hair color turned chestnut colored with the hairstyle she wore that day, and the port and its surroundings changed to at that pedestrian crossing in front of KFC.
I saw Andrei and Ann shouting towards a man who jumped towards Yuri as she was about to get hit by a truck.
However, the man was too late…
The car was faster than a male college slacker.
And that man was also hit by a car from the opposite direction.
And that young man was me.
Ann and Andrei called an ambulance, but everything was too late.
Both have died already.
In that moment where I saw myself in that déjà vu, I suddenly remembered that voice that took me to this very place for a second chance.
He appeared behind me, in the form of my former self, black hair, a plain but clean and smart look, she looked at me with a forgiving and peaceful smile as he told me the words.
"Don't let her go this time and don't make her cry again."
It was as if my reincarnated self and my old self met each other, to remind me of the events of the past that shouldn't happen ever again.
The strong will that took me and Tiffania to this world for a second chance.
Oh God, am I repeating the same mistake again?
Time turned back to normal again, and Tiffania wasn't there anymore.