Chapter 65: The Half-Dwarf's Daughter
"Hey... are there a lot of slaves among blacksmiths?"
I tried to ask casually, but Greon stopped in surprise and stared at me.
I poked Greon's side and passed by the front of the shop.
"What do you mean?"
As we entered a narrow alley, Greon confronted me.
"No, when I used my skill to see the statuses, everyone I saw had 'Zudenko's Slave' displayed..."
"I can't believe it... no, I guess it makes sense after all..."
Greon sighed heavily.
"What's going on?"
"Zudenko is the man who took over my father's shop. He promised to guarantee the employment of the craftsmen, so my father reluctantly agreed. However, I heard that skilled artisans kept quitting one after another, so I suspected something was up."
Greon's father was a well-regarded swordsmith who produced high-quality weapons despite their reasonable price, making him quite popular among adventurers. However, this man named Zudenko started supplying cheap weapons of mediocre quality in bulk, gradually cornering his competitors.
It was rumored that he achieved this by employing a large number of slaves with various blacksmithing skills, subjecting them to harsh conditions.
"I saw old Bonnojiisan, who had been working here for ages, but was he turned into a slave too?"
The slave who was slightly higher-leveled at level 7 seemed to be Bonnojiisan.
"Excuse me... are you Master Greon?"
As we chatted in the alley, we were suddenly interrupted by a voice.
Greon turned towards the source of the voice and widened his eyes.
"Bonnojiisan!"
It was the slave blacksmith we had just discussed and seen earlier.
At 73 years old, he was considered quite elderly in this world. He wore nothing but a dirty, sweaty rag wrapped around his body, and his exposed shoulders bore marks of worm bites. Perhaps from a whip.
"I was right after all. I heard he was turned into a combat slave and was worried, but to see you safe and well, or rather flourishing..."
Greon explained that this man had been a long-standing craftsman since Greon's childhood. After Zudenko took over the shop, all the craftsmen were dismissed under various pretexts, and those who wanted to continue working were forced into slave contracts.
Zudenko had the backing of Baron Brel, who had been gaining power in Douros even back then. There was no place for other blacksmiths or the blacksmith guild to hire these craftsmen due to the pressure. They couldn't even go independent.
Skilled craftsmen fled to other areas, but Bonnojiisan, who had a sick wife, couldn't leave the city.
"As for me, I don't have much time left, so it doesn't matter, but I'm worried about Nolte..."
"Nolte? Is he still around?"
In Greon's childhood, his father had bought a female slave with a child. She served as the cook for the workshop. She had a child with a dwarf man and was looked down upon, but they were taken in when they had no place to go. The mother died of illness before the workshop changed hands, but the daughter is said to still be there, subjected to mistreatment.
In this world, it turns out there are elves and dwarves after all. And the treatment of these "subhumans," as they're called, varies based on the region and the lord's policies. In this area, discrimination is quite rampant, and this man Zudenko seems to be particularly harsh.
"Are you talking about the child who was being whipped in the back of the shop earlier?"
When I interjected, Bonnojiisan nodded.
"Did you see that, buddy? That girl over there. Even if she's just a craftsman or a cook, as long as she's treated fairly, it'd be fine, but that damn Zdenko is so extreme in his contempt for demi-humans that he treats half-dwarves like animals. He whips and laughs at anything just because he's in a bad mood."
"What... that guy not only took over Dad's shop but also does that kind of thing!"
Greon's expression looked as though he might draw his sword any moment now.
"No, Greon, you can't go charging in like that. However, if possible, we don't mind what happens to us, but I hope you could help her... I managed to sneak out by saying I needed the toilet, so I won't be able to go back, but if you could, Greon, later by the back entrance of the workshop..."
A hysterical middle-aged man's angry voice called out from the store, summoning old man Bono. He left, glancing around at the people present.
After waiting for a while, we circled around to the back alley, where we could see the back entrance of the forge. Smoke billowed from the chimney, and the heat leaked all the way to the street.
After a short wait, the back door opened, and the girl who had been carrying two large wooden buckets on a balance pole appeared. She walked out from the back entrance and headed in the opposite direction from us.
I exchanged a look and gestured to Greon to follow quickly. It seemed like she was going to fetch water from the nearby communal well.
"Norute."
Greon called out to her.
The girl stopped, turning only her head at first to avoid swinging the balance pole.
For a moment, she seemed skeptical, then hurriedly lowered the balance pole and buckets and turned to face us.
"Greon-sama, is that you?"
"Yeah, Norute, you've grown."
Once again, he checked the status that had been just a moment ago, this time with a careful confirmation.
Skills: Blacksmithing (LV1), Crafts (LV2), Cooking (LV2), Driver (LV1), Hammer Techniques (LV1)> It was indeed her. I thought she was a very small child, but she's 16 years old! She seemed about the height of an elementary school student from the other world. She could probably fit into a large basket. Could she really carry water with that? However, looking closely, she was definitely not an elementary school student. Her physique was chubby for her age, or to put it bluntly, she had a loli-busty figure. Greon and Norute lived together until she was 15 and he was 5, so for Greon, saying "you've grown" was accurate. Is this physique due to her half-dwarf blood? For us, between the name and gender, there's usually a "human" label, but for Norute, it's just a "-", perhaps because the recognition of her being a half-dwarf isn't clear. However, the ownership by the slave part is also indicated as "-", not under Zdenko's name like other craftsmen. Her hair was roughly cut short, her face soiled with soot, and most importantly, her eyes carried a look of having given up on life. Around her bare ankles, a golden collar similar to the one that was once placed around our necks was now present. Attached to it was a small but heavy iron ball. This was for fetching water, or rather, it's clear abuse. While the two discussed their past and current situations, I remained vigilant of our surroundings, using my map skill to keep track of the layout of the workshop building in my mind. "...We should get the water soon. If we're late, we'll get beaten again." "Right, I know. Just a bit more. Shiro, sorry, but could you go fetch the water in my place?" After confirming the well's location and making sure with my map skill, I transformed Lina into a life-sized version and both of us rushed towards the well, carrying the buckets. While Norute was taken aback by Lina's sudden appearance, Greon forcibly redirected the conversation, telling her not to worry. "It's heavy, don't use me for such things." While pacifying Lina who was complaining, I myself wasn't confident in my physical strength. It was actually the opposite of Greon's role. Whoa, it's heavy. This bucket is way too heavy. How does she carry it alone? She really is a dwarf's daughter. Returning to the back entrance almost ready to give up, Norute lowered her head apologetically. "I'm truly sorry. Thank you, Shiro-sama and Lina-sama." We don't need honorifics for dolls, but she's very polite. However, even from the tattered rags that barely constituted clothes, you could see marks of insect bites on her neck and arms, and her lips were cut too. She's really being treated awfully. Greon knelt, his back turned to Norute, and looked straight into her eyes as he spoke. "I don't know what we can do right now, but we'll definitely rescue you. Please believe that."