Chapter 18

"30,800 sens, I have indeed received it. Here is the ownership certificate for Haruwato."

The morning after helping Noln, I received the remaining payment for the recruit suit from Margaret and headed to Matthias's shop.

The cost to redeem Haru was 30,000 sens. The daily head tax (for half a year) was 500 sens, and the cost of her weapon was 300 sens, totaling 30,800 sens. I paid Matthias with three gold coins and eight silver coins, and received a metal token. It seemed to be a metal token that came with the slave collar, and if the ownership registration was changed, Haru would become someone else's slave, so I was told not to lose it. If I was worried about losing it, I could leave it with the slave trader, so I decided to leave it with Matthias and received a receipt instead. This receipt was enough to prove that she was my property.

By the way, the rental fee for Haru yesterday was free. I had left two gold coins as a deposit, but I hadn't paid the fee.

I had tentatively changed her occupation to commoner for the daily head tax, but there was no level-up for commoners. It was probably because Matthias had already paid the tax once.

Now, Haru had gone back to the room where she had been staying to collect her few personal belongings. I told her she could take her time, as she had to say goodbye to the slaves she was close to.

Then, I was facing Matthias, drinking tea.

"…Matthias, you seem to be well-prepared. Did you know I was going to redeem Haru?"

"Yes. From the moment Ichinose-sama said he was going to help Noln-sama. I thought you met the conditions of true strength that Haruwato had mentioned. And I believed that once Ichinose-sama learned of Haruwato's situation, he wouldn't leave her alone."

"…No, I wasn't that strong back then."

"The strength Haruwato was talking about is the strength of the heart. To help the weak and sometimes stand up to the strong. That's what she said."

Ah, so that's what she meant by 'misunderstanding strength' back then.

But, if that's the case, I have a question.

"Then, what about the condition that the one who wins the fight with Haru can redeem her?"

"It's extremely difficult to judge the strength of the heart in a short time. It's something that can be seen in battle. Even if one wins the fight, a truly strong-hearted person would want to serve her, she said."

"What if someone like the bandit I defeated won?"

"In that case, she would have said she was immature and would have obediently been bought."

Wow, that's a tough condition.

If Haru recognized my strength of heart more than the power I gained from the growth cheat, that's a very happy thing.

Even if the strength was drawn out based on the premise of having the power from the growth cheat.

Then, after a while, Haru came back, and I opened my eyes wide.

"…Haru, what's with that outfit?"

Until now, her clothes had been patched and couldn't be called pretty.

But now, she was wearing a new dress.

"I prepared it. Our guild provides clothes to all slaves who are redeemed."

Matthias answered.

Then, I looked at Haru again.

From under the skirt that reached her knees, a fluffy white tail was visible.

"It suits you very well."

"Thank you, Master. Thank you, Matthias-sama."

Seeing Haru wag her tail, I knew she liked it.

She couldn't keep a poker face at all.

"Let's go, then…"

I checked if my hands were sweating and extended my hand to Haru.

Then, Haru grabbed my hand.

She wagged her tail more energetically than ever.

For now, at Matthias's suggestion, we decided to register as a party at the Adventurer's Guild. Apparently, even if I killed a monster, Haru could claim it and sell the items.

Is it possible for a non-adventurer like me to register as a party?

I was a bit curious about that, but there were many requests in the Adventurer's Guild for power-leveling, where strong adventurers would help weaker ones level up. To facilitate this, the system allowed party registration as long as there was at least one adventurer.

We were told it would be better to register as a party before any pressure from the nobility could be applied to the Adventurer's Guild.

Once registered, it wouldn't be easy to dissolve the party.

There was also the sale of magic stones and the collection of the reward for the monsters I had killed yesterday.

It seemed like a good time, so we headed to the Adventurer's Guild.

The receptionist was the same fox-eared beast girl, Katya.

"Hello, Katya."

"Welcome, Ichinose-sama, Haruwato-sama. What brings you here today?"

"We'd like to register as a party, collect a reward, and sell some magic stones."

"Haruwato-sama is a slave, correct? Is she owned by Ichinose-sama?"

When asked, I submitted the receipt.

Katya looked at the receipt carefully,

"It seems to be genuine. I'll process the party registration. Can you write?"

"Um, just my name."

Yesterday, I had learned to write my name by reading Daisuke's book.

The writing system in this world consists of 5 vowels, 13 consonants, and the character 'n', making a total of 19 characters. There are 10 digits from 0 to 9.

The concept of zero also exists. It's easy to remember just 29 characters.

However, the pronunciation and the written form seem to differ significantly, and I was struggling.

"Can Haru read and write?"

"Yes, I learned from Matthias-sama. I'll write for you."

Saying that, Haru started writing with the pen.

Then, Haru showed her adventurer's certificate, and the party registration was complete.

It was done so quickly and easily that I wondered if it was really okay.

But I shouldn't have thought that. It was a flag.

"Hey, hold it! Is it true that you're Haruwato's owner!?"

A burly man called out from behind.

...And my anger started to rise.

Owner...?

"I'm not saying this to be mean, but return her right now. If you do, I'll let you off."

A typical harassment of newbies at the Adventurer's Guild... but my anger rose as he treated Haru not just as a pet, but as an object.