[Hanako] Chapter 4: A Slaver's Deal

[Asta]

Hanako quickly wiped away the small amount of blood that had begun to run under her nose. Why does that always happen? she wondered.

"L-look, its not like I don't want you in here I just don't know if I can get any sleep, I'm a light sleeper right? I uhh, do appreciate you coming by to watch over me. You and Trudy both. I promise I'll make it up to you by spending some time teaching you Japanese tomorrow night."

There was nowhere to look, and she was beginning to trip over her words a little. It wasn't truly a lie, she wouldn't have been able to sleep, but she still felt a little bad and the girls expression did make it worse. The primary concern though was maintaining the fragile balance of what was shaping up to be a harem of sorts. Equal time and equal treatment was the mantra...

[Throndir]

It was at that moment the door behind you opened again.

Spoiler

However, the moment Trudy realized you were awake she became beet red.

"A-ah... W-well I-I f-figured... M-Minette s-said... T-that is..." She was blushing crimson, and she covered her face with her hands.

[close]

Minette on the other hand, seeing Trudy at the door, seemed to grow a bit more somber, but she continued her way to the door. When she started to pass by you, she spoke.

"Lots... of lessons then..."

[Asta]

If you listened very closely, you could hear the sound of Hanako's brain breaking. A look of placid acceptance, akin to a monk finally reaching their seat next to the Buddha in Nirvana, spread across her face. Before Minette reached the door she managed to speak "You know what. Let's just all go to bed." Then she motioned to the bed, resigned but secretly thankful. "And yes, I'll still teach you some tomorrow."

[Throndir]

Minette was confused at first, however, when you pointed at the bed, her eyes lighted up a bit. Trudy on the other hand hesitantly stepped into the room.

"I'm allowed too?" Minette asked.

Trudy paused for a second.

"U-um... is there something I missed?" Trudy asked hesitantly.

[Asta]

"Well, I woke up when you left the room earlier and I thought uhh, you would have wanted to uhhh, be... in... here." Hanako sputtered.

Mayday! Mayday! Pull up!

"But it didn't seem right to just have Minette in here alone and I didn't think you were coming back, and I'm a light sleeper, but you're here and uhh she's here so we might as well all just... go... to... sleep?" She was rambling, almost a little panic in her voice as the statement turned into a question.

At the peak moment of awkwardness she quickly bent into a comical bow and extended her hand, the way a salaryman does when he's meeting new clients. "What I'm saying is please continue to watch over me!"

[Throndir]

Trudy immediately went up to you.

"You don't need to bow to us!" Trudy said quickly, flustered. You noticed that Trudy seemed to not have been wearing pants either, her sweater was just short enough that it took some stretching to actually hide her under garments.

The moment she reached to you, she had to stop pulling the sweater down. They were a pale light yellow.

Minette on the other hand, reached out for your hand, but instead of shaking it, she used it to pull herself in, then latch on to you with your other arm, though, she continued to have your hand held in hers. She seemed to be smiling brightly now.

"Yes... I'll watch over you..." Minette said in her slow way of speech.

"I will too!" Trudy said, clutching to your arm a bit tighter.

"I will watch her all night..." Minette said as she glanced towards Trudy.

Trudy didn't respond at first, unsure if what Minette said was actually an okat thing to do.

"Then... I will to! Hanako! From now on I will be your night guard!" Trudy said resolutely. "I will stay in b-b-bed w-with y-you so I can... g-guard comfortably!" Trudy said stuttering and feeling self conscious about her words.

[Asta]

"R-right! Well then... uhhhh... let's uh... get some rest..." Hanako stammered as the girls clung to her. She awkwardly sidled over to the bed arm in arm with the two of them and sort of motioned with her head. "A-after you..."

Am I even gonna be able to sleep like this...?

[Throndir]

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Dungeon
Date: Day 3 - Time: Evening - 9 PM

It was at that point near the bed, that Minette pushed the group down to the bed.

You can attempt an opposed DEX to save the fall, describe it how you wish if you do, DC:

Rolled 1d20+4 : 16 + 4, total 20

Afterwards, Minette would cling to you on one side, with Trudy on the other. Trudy seemed to be more reserved, but Minette would push herself just a bit more closer with you, which ended up having a bashful Trudy attempt the same.

"We're p-protecting y-you..." Trudy said stammering.

Let me know how many hours you plan to sleep

[Asta]

Hanako didn't bother trying to resist the gentle shove onto the bed, letting herself fall onto the mattress followed by Trudy and Minette. As they lay there, exhaustion took over and Hanako felt her eyelids begin to droop.

"We're p-protecting y-you..."

"R-right..." she said before falling asleep.

Hanako will sleep for about 9 hours.

[Throndir]

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Your Room
Date: Day 4 - Morning - 6 AM

You end up sleeping for 9 hours, when you woke up it was around 6 AM in the morning. Both Trudy and Minette were sleeping beside you.

Rough Status
Hanako: Uninjured (lethal), Slightly Injured (non-lethal), Slightly Tired (mana)
[include u=2]Hanako Dmg Taken: 0
Hanako Non-Lethal Dmg Taken: 3
Hanako MP Used: 6
Trudy Dmg Taken: 0[/include]

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Dungeon
Date: Day 4 - Morning - 6 AM

You began unlocking the final few locks. Many of the slaves had started to wear the regular clothing that the soldiers wore. And when the final lock was transferred to you, there was a shout of cheering from the others.

You have gained a Heroic Action Point

Rough Status
Hanako: Uninjured (lethal), Slightly Injured (non-lethal), Tired (mana)
[include u=2]Hanako Dmg Taken: 0
Hanako Non-Lethal Dmg Taken: 3
Hanako MP Used: 11
Trudy Dmg Taken: 0[/include]

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Dungeon
Date: Day 4 - Morning - 7 AM

You called for a meeting then, and soon enough the soldiers along with slaves started to gather around. There were 30 slaves in total, with 25 soldiers as well. To fit the entire crowd, there was an auditorium at the third floor, and it was there that they all gathered in.

Rough Status
Hanako: Uninjured (lethal), Slightly Injured (non-lethal), Tired (mana)
[include u=2]Hanako Dmg Taken: 0
Hanako Non-Lethal Dmg Taken: 3
Hanako MP Used: 10
Trudy Dmg Taken: 0[/include]

[Asta]

Once everyone was assembled and had quieted down Hanako addressed the group, raising her voice so that everyone could hear.

"Thank you for coming everyone. Now that we're all here there are some things I'd like to discuss. First of all, let me introduce myself properly. I'm Hanako Okita and evidently I come from another world from your own. Ive been told more than a few times that I am a 'hero', whether this is true or not I suppose remains to be seen. Either way, I'm glad that I was able to help free you from the situation you were all in."

She paused, this was quite literally the first time she had to speak in front of a crowd since reading aloud in high school and it was making her nervous.

"The long and short of it is, that you are free. I mean this in the sense that you owe me no obligations or debts of gratitude. I am nobodies master. If you want to leave this place and seek refuge in a neighboring country where there is no slavery, please feel free to do so. This includes the soldiery. If you would like to stay, that is alright too. At the very least I plan to remain here for some time to get a better understanding of the situation in your country. Where I go from there I don't know. What I do know is that if you choose to leave I'll make sure that you are supplied for your journey, and if you choose to stay then we will do our best to keep each other safe. Provided that any of you choose to stay, you'll probably need to help out around the estate to make sure we keep up appearances and avoid attracting unwanted attention from the demons or nobles that collaborate with them."

She paused again for a breath before wrapping up.

"At any rate, I am aware that Klein was in possession of a variety of holdings and enterprises which also have people bound in forced labor. My plan going forward in the short term is to seek to have those people freed, and either sell off the assets or find a way to use them to make the estate self reliant as a sort of safe haven until a later time that we as a group may migrate to a safer locale. Thank you all for your time, I hope that you will be comfortable for the duration of your stay. If you plan on leaving we will have someone downstairs to dole out what assistance we can provide tomorrow morning."

She didn't know how many might end up staying, or if they may decide it was a better idea to run for the border. In the long run the choice was out of her hands and things would play out the way they would. She hadn't mentioned it in her speech, but there was a plan forming somewhere in the back of her brain. It tumbled and churned as she worked her way through the details, but what they would entail would remain to be seen.

After her speech, she made to leave the auditorium and find Trudy and Minette. She needed to make good on her promise to teach the latter some Japanese, and she needed to speak with the former about trying to learn how to swing a sword properly. Once those tasks were complete she would need to talk to Minette about Klein's holdings.

God I'm so busy all the sudden...

[Throndir]

Once you finished your speech and left with Trudy and Minette. There was a lot of discussion and talk amongst both the slaves and soldiers. Already you can hear them talk about wanting to find loved ones, or even trying to escape to a different country. Then there were those that reminded them that there people on the streets who were simply take a slaves. 'Bandits' which were actual slavers would stalk the roads between towns waiting for prey. Leaving along the large protected groups, but going after individuals or smaller groups.

A Training session for Minette will be 4 hours, unless you decide to try to hurry her, and she'll be doing the +4 DC increase. Since you are a hero doing the teaching, you can do a Training Check, and if success, Minette will earn 2 of the required trainings, rather than just 1.

The free 8 hours of training doesn't stack with teaching hours. So you could effectively teach as long as you want, without giving up your 8 hours of free Training.

For your training with the longsword proficiency, decide if you are doing expedited, or regular, how many sessions you want, then roll away.

[Asta]

Hanako went off somewhere with Minette first to give her a solid four hours of study time, as promised. She did her best to carefully show her how to write and pronounce the hiragana, since that seemed like a good place to start.



Once her tutoring with Minette was finished, she met up with Trudy for another round of training, hoping this time some of it would stick.

Requested Charisma roll:

Rolled 1d20 : 17, total 17

Teaching Minette, Normal 4 hour session.

Rolled 1d20+7 : 8 + 7, total 15

Longsword training, Normal 4 hour session.

Rolled 1d20+7 : 4 + 7, total 11

[Throndir]

As you were teaching Minette, Trudy reported that none of the soldiers decided to leave. Though, among the slaves, there 2 that decided to strike it out on their own. Both of them apparently had some loved ones that they wanted to check up on.

Trudy had taken care of packing things for them, along with giving them advice. She had even provided them some daggers that Klein had stored away.

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Minette's Study
Date: Day 4 - Morning - 10 AM

Eventually you finished teaching Minette. You managed to be a very good tutor, and it also surprised you how easily learning the language came to Minette. She had a very good memory, and it was rare that you had to explain things twice. You found that with the automatic translation firing off in your head, along with hers, it added some difficulty, but you managed to make it work by separating the phonetic syllables, and through that method, you were able to get around whatever magic was occuring to facilitate conversation between the two of you.

Minette's study seemed to be the room the Klein did most of his paperwork, along with business deals, and a lot of it was scattered around.

When that finished a notification appeared in your view.

You have gained a new title Teacher of Men
You gained +1 WIS

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Your Room
Date: Day 4 - Morning - 2 PM

You began to spar with Trudy again, taking a short break for lunch in between the session. Trudy shared some stories with you about her life, how her parents met, what her favorite things were, things that were light and avoided the heavier topics. By the end of the session, you weren't sure if you were making some progress, but Trudy assured you that 'slow and steady wins the race'.

Rough Status
Hanako: Uninjured (lethal), Slightly Injured (non-lethal), Tired (mana)
[include u=2]Hanako Dmg Taken: 0
Hanako Non-Lethal Dmg Taken: 3
Hanako MP Used: 2
Trudy Dmg Taken: 0[/include]

Trainings
Hanako Longsword Proficiency: 0/8
Minette Japanese Proficiency: 2/8

4 hours of free training left for the day

Let me know if you plan to do anything different with supplies or advice given to the 2 slaves who are decided to strike out on their own. And any other changes above.

[Asta]

Hanako was surprised at how quickly Minette had taken to her lessons, if it kept up it wouldn't be long before she was fluent. Once lessons were finished she promised that she would teach her some more over the next few days, and she would be back later today to discuss the financial situation of the estate and so forth.



Training was as brutally unrewarding as per usual, though during the break she was able to learn more about Trudy, which was nice. Ultimately though it seemed to be another wasted effort.



Before the two former slaves left the estate Hanako went down to meet them and make sure they had everything they needed. She wished them well, and said if needed, they could come back here if it seemed too dangerous to travel.

Once that was finished, she went once again with Trudy to try to learn literally anything about using a sword. Afterwards, she planned to have a quick dinner and meet with Minette again.

Training, Longsword, 4 hours:

Rolled 1d20+7 : 15 + 7, total 22

Once training is complete Hanako will meet with Minette and start getting basic info on what kind of financial holdings Klein had.