Novel Bin Chapter 052: Luciel’s judgement
A single patient was brought down from the upper floors and the healer clinic’s first floor was wrapped in tumult. It was the director of this healer clinic, Botacyl.
The mercenary bodyguards called out to the healers for help but they couldn’t heal his sickness with healing magic nor was there any effect from chanting 「Cure」, the detoxification magic.
It was time for my approach. But I was barred from entering the treatment room by the human barricade made by countless people.
“I am the S-rank healer Luciel. I will be in your care from today onward but first let me treat Botacyl-dono.”
“That would be troubling. You are the person my master wants to run away from. It will be detrimental to his condition if you approach him.”
“Although there is a possibility that Botacyl-dono will die if he is not treated?”
“Yes. We would like to die and be freed of this.”
“Oi what are you guys doing, if it’s a S-rank healer then he could save the master right?”
“That’s right. We have not received our payment so it would be troubling if he died now.”
“I’ll slice you guys up if you don’t hurry up and scatter.”
“Yes~ that guy there, firstly put down your sword. And what’s wrong with you guys? Why is that if Botacyl-dono dies you all would die as well?”
“Luciel-sama, they might be slaves.”
“Slaves? Eh? But they don’t have collars?”
“What the hell are you talking about. Now it can be done by just carving magical seals either onto their chest where the heart is located, on their backs or on their necks.”
“Hoh~ and what are the effects?”
“It depends on the seal. Complete dominance, physical dominance or simple dominance.”
“That’s slightly disturbing.”
“Yeah. For complete dominance, the slave would be subjected to complete obedience to an order to never betray the master so they would lose all emotions. For physical dominance, the master can give an order to rob the body of free movement, and they would experience intense pain if they try to move. These 2 can be configured to order the slaves on what to do if the master dies.”
“So they can configure it such that their companions or anybody can continue the contract or to release them?”
“Yes. Simple dominance is only accompanied by pain, other than the fact that they can’t attack their master and can’t commit suicide, they are comparatively free to move about. However, without orders from the master, they would be attacked by severe pain if they separate from the master for more than 1 km. In addition, if the master dies the simple dominance slaves would be released.”
“The condition for slavery are going against the law, debt, crime and war slaves?”
“Yes. It is all determined by the slave dealers. Those that went against the law are only made into simple dominance slaves, while the slave contracts for anything else, debt and above, are determined by the parties involved. If the slave dealer makes a decision on his own accord, he would be judged by god so this system was set in place.”
Woah so detailed. Why was it explained so fluently?
“So you all would die if Botacyl dies?”
“Yeah. There is no point living a life with no chance of getting released.”
“I see. If I release you from the slave contract then would you agree to not kill Botacyl?”
” … I will never forgive him, but I wish to live somewhere that’s not here.”
“And the others?”
I was surprised that they all said that they wouldn’t kill him.
“Will you all vow not to?”
Everyone nodded.
“I see. Erm Jordo-san and the Priest Knight Piazza-san, please bring over people who can handle paperwork, including Krull-san. I don’t mind if you use my name to do so.”
“”Yes!””
After seeing the 2 of them off, I spoke to the slave barricade.
“I will not do anything bad so please let me through.”
I slowly walked and the barricade cleared. Is this the prestige from becoming a S-rank? I looked at the still blue-faced Botacyl having a nightmare and spoke.
“Healer Botacyl, in order to help thou, there needs to be a decent compensation. If thou wish to live, agree to give up your wealth and obey the Healer’s Guild.”
” …. Uuu I swear.”
He swore to the compensation conditions in a low voice.
I casted 「High Heal」, 「Purification」, 「Recover」 and 「Dispel」 in sequence and Botacyl’s colour returned to normal.
“Mercenaries and healers present, I hope that you all will bear witness of this treatment.”
When I looked at them, for some reason they nodded many times.
It was then that Krull-san and the others came.
“Luciel-kun? What’s the meaning of this?”
“Ah, just nice. This morning when I arrived, Botacyl-dono was carried over here and I just applied healing magic so there is no danger to his life. Because of that, I wish to release the slaves present here but as expected it would be troubling to release criminal slaves so please make them obey the Healer’s Guild. I will be taking his wealth as compensation, so please go to Botacyl-dono’s private room and clean up his black spots. So, please split up and investigate his private room now.”
” … Luciel-kun, you’re doing a pretty devilish thing?”
” … It’s regrettable. Today, various things happened here that warrants the need to alter the guidelines and legislation currently being worked on. Because of that, I will consider here as an experimental case study.”
“It’s fine to reduce the problems but don’t become a tyrant.”
“I absolutely don’t have that intention. I was planning to work here normally for a couple of month but the moment I stepped into here this happened, I’m the one that’s more vexed.”
“I understand. So it’s fine if I just go investigate right. But it’ll be my first time investigating a healer clinic.”
“When I first entered the Healer’s Guild I heard that there was an inquiry committee but that department is no longer functioning. To make this a healthy organisation, I believe there will be more of such investigations so, please.”
“Don’t mention it. Since it’s a request from the S-rank healer Luciel-sama.”
” … -kun is enough though.”
The mercenaries and healers that bore witness to the vow only looked on. The search and seizure of the private room ended, and it turned out that except for 2 of the slaves, all the other slaves were forcibly dragged into slavery.
“Could all the slaves please gather.”
For some reason 「Purification」 couldn’t remove the curse, but when I used 「Dispel」 the magical seals disappeared.
Of course I intended to honour my vow. After calling all the slaves over, the number reached close to 20. Excluding 2 of the slaves, I released them from their curses.
“According to your vows, you all will not seek harm onto Botacyl-dono and are free to leave here now. I will hand each of you 10 silver coins to cover for the cost of preparations. Please re-do your life with this. There are people you can rely on at the Adventurer’s Guild as well.”
“Luciel-kun, something slightly bad cropped up.”
Just after I finished passing out the silver coins, Krull-san handed a bundle of parchment to me.
“It is a list of the slave dealers in the Elimasia Empire and their sales destination … this here.”
“Yeah. So many people were sent as slaves by the healers of this town.”
” … ”
I continued flipping through the hundred over parchments as I walked towards Botacyl.
In the treatment room Botacyl was already awake.
“To think that you would save my life after you became a S-rank healer.”
“The reason I healed was because it’s a life, not because it’s you. Rather than that, there’s something I would like to ask.”
“I have no choice but to listen to the words from S-rank healer-sama right?”
“Why did you begin selling individuals forced into slavery to the slave dealers in the Empire. And they were sold at dirt cheap prices. Why did you walk down such a road when you were an excellent healer?”
” … I’ve already forgotten about such reasons.”
” … You’ve vowed. I order you under the name of the Healer’s Guild church headquarters, why?”
” … For my daughter. I thought that healers could heal anything. But only diseases were an exception. After the death of my wife I only had my daughter left. So it was a deal with the Empire to save my daughter’s life.”
“So that’s why you began making slaves. If so then where’s your daughter now.”
“I’ve not seen her for over 10 years. I heard that she has become a slave and is living in the Empire. That’s why I need slaves to exchange for my daughter.”
” … For over 10 years, you’ve sent this number of people.”
” … ”
“I sympathize with your daughter, and I understand the feelings you have as a parent, but why did you entrust her to the Empire? It would have been fine if you talked it over with the church headquarters and requested the help of the Herbalist Guild.”
” … I would have done so if they could make an elixir. But I had given up on the Herbalist Guild. There was no way they could make something like that. However I heard that the nearby Empire had developed that so I flew over. What’s wrong with that. ”
“Botacyl … Just like how you have family, the slaves you made had family too. Think about that.”
” … ”
“I order you as the Healer’s Guild church headquarters. I forbid you from taking your own life. In addition, all your assets will be confist … no they will all be sold according to their asset value. And it will be handled by this healer clinic’s church and the orphanage.”
” The orphanage … ”
“That’s right. Atone for the rest of your life. In place of the individuals you made into slaves, vow to guide many children, provide treatment for anything at one silver coin, and to treat the orphans from the orphanage for free. For your daughter’s sake as well.”
Botacyl didn’t pledge in front of me.
At a later date, the healer clinics under Botacyl were placed under audit and the healer clinics in the town of Meratoni were caught in an early wave of reform. The healer clinic charges were roughly set and the prices were written in an easy to understand fashion, and were pasted on the Adventurer’s Guild and Healer’s Guild.
The released slaves either worked in the newly set up orphanage or became adventurers. Through the audit, I learned about various aspects regarding the healer clinics except for customer service. Without noticing, the day that I set off on a journey approached moment-by-moment.