[Hanako] Chapter 5: Slave Owner's Assets

[Asta]

Hanako thanked Trudy for the help, and reiterated she would prefer an outfit with pants if possible before heading off to find the elf woman.



"I've just never been one to stand on ceremony really. It's a pleasure to re-acquaint myself with you Amarille, or Ms. Lassetaure if you prefer. Naturally I'd love to help make sure this gets where it needs to go" she said, picking up the letter. "Though I have to admit, since I'm somewhat new to this place I don't exactly know where Lassetaure is."

[Throndir]

"Lassetaure, or Leaf Wood, is found to the north... It's a forest kingdom that stretches from the coast all the way, wrapped around by the Antwarch Dragon Knight Kingdom. At least, it used to be... The demons first appeared a bit over a hundred years ago, I remember when it had happened... The humans fought valiantly of course, but it was a losing battle, and we've lost land after land. The arrival of the newer countries that have suddenly appeared here, the process that they're now calling the 'Shifting', actually helped us out, giving some reprieve."

"But in the end, even with the arrival of the other countries, the flow of demons was just too much... They managed to make it to our capital..."

"It's been years since I've admitted this... But I'm the princess of my people. My mother and father, the king and queen, evacuated first, of course. I stayed behind to rally the troops... But..." She looked somberly as she remembered the memory.

"The demons slayed the guards, but they kept me alive... And then I found myself here... as a slave of that vile man, Klein." She pointed to her neck where there were scars from burn wounds. "THe never did break me... But having an elf was a prize, so he eventually stopped calling for me as often... Fearing he'd perhaps scar me too much."

[Asta]

Hanako listened to Amarille's tale. She did her best not to react when she said she was royalty, but did wince slightly at the scars on her neck. When the story was through, Hanako sat down and leaned forward with her elbows on her knees. "That's an intense story. I'm starting to notice a similar thread with everyone Ive spoken to, regarding entire landmasses being transposed and demon armies conquering everyone. I can assure you that I will do my best to make sure your letter reaches your father, but I can't promise when. We have a delicate situation with where we are currently that I'm trying to navigate our way out of."

She leaned back and rubbed the back of her head, embarrassed by what she was about to admit. "If it's not plainly obvious I'm not particularly gifted with martial prowess. My world was one at relative peace, prior to me coming here that is. However I can say that I have a particular set of skills that I can probably use to make sure things end up alright. Not to mention these strange gifts I seem to have been given."

The "particular set of skills" wasn't a total lie. She was a fan of kingdom management sims and had played a lot of games where you needed to make critical decisions in a short time. She wouldn't ever tell anyone this though....

"I have a plan, well, I'm working on one that might see us leaving this place in the near future and depending on where we end up we might be able to make a better life and you might even be able to return home. Please don't spread that around though since things haven't been finalized and there are quite a few details to work out."

[Throndir]

"I understand Hanako... My lips are sealed. Is there anything I can do to help? Well... Not that there is much I can do without my people... But living for as long as I have, you pick up a trick or two with using weaponry and magic."

"And it's alright if you can't deliver the letter now... But among everyone here, I think you'll be the best person to be able to do it. I haven't heard much with what's been happening in Lassetaure. The last I heard they've lost most of the forest to the demons, but they've managed to stall them off for the time being. I'm not sure how the king and queen fair, and I can only hope they are still there, leading our people..."

Let me know if there are other things you want to do in the day. I believe you still have 4 hours left of free training. I'll also begin work on the calendar, since it's getting to be a chore keeping track!

[Asta]

"There could very well be a time in the near future where I'll need to rely on those skills" Hanako said, tucking the letter away safely. "I hope for that as well. If you'll excuse me, I need to track down Trudy again." she said with a nod.

If I do in fact have time left for training Hanako will go work on longsword again with Trudy. When that's complete if there's nothing else going on she needs to talk with both Minette and Trudy together before sleeping.

Regular Training:

Rolled 1d20+7 : 11 + 7, total 18

[Throndir]

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Training Room with Trudy
Date: Day 4 - 6 PM

You find Trudy again, and after explaining you wanted to train, she grinned and took you up on the offer. This time around, instead of having it in your room, Trudy insisted on a more open-space, but still kept it indoors due to the fact that having soldiers training outside might have attracted unneeded attention. As the hours went on, you managed to make progress with your training. You were able to more easily pull the blade back and respond, though, still not as deftly and quick as Trudy was able to. But you were making solid progress.

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

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Hanako's Room
Date: Day 4 - 10:30 PM

After training, Trudy had actually immediately asked to be excused to get herself bathed and cleaned up. She eventually came back wearing the sweater again, this time, she wore one of the skirts out of modesty as the two of you made your way back towards your room. Of course Trudy was blushing the entire time. Some of the soldiers glanced your way, but that made Trudy only clutch to your arm tighter and urge you on faster.

Finally arriving in the room itself though, opening the door, it seemed like Minette was already waiting. She was lying on your bed with a book in hand, wearing her too-revealing bed-wear that she seemed to favor. She happened to be on the far side of the bed, on her edge, as if expecting you and Trudy to arrive.

She peered up from her book slowly and lazily smiled.

"Oh? I was waiting..." Minette's eyes made her way to Trudy, falling on the uptight soldier's skirt.

"Sleeping is more... comfortable with that?" Minette asked confused.

"Y-yes... N-no... I mean.. w-well..." Trudy glanced towards you unsure, her face blushing. "Hanako? As y-your soldier and night guard... Whatever w-will m-make you more comfortable? Do you... umm... want them..." She looked down as her face became completely red.

"...Off?"

[Asta]

Off. Always off! she thought, then said "Whatever makes you most comfortable."

Hanako felt the flush rising up her neck into her cheeks, there was a strong chance she would never be used to this. Even as the the hot embarrassment started to rear its head, she worked to tamp it back down. There were important things that needed to be discussed before there was time for the endless awkward flirtation that seemed to spring up in the night.

She coughed. "Ahem. Uhh when you're both err... comfortable, there's some important stuff I want to run by you. I've been working on a little plan but I need to talk it through with the both of you to make sure it sounds like a good idea and see if you can find some problems with it from your perspective."

She climbed onto the bed, and waited for the other two to settle in.

[Throndir]

Minette placed her book away on the nightstand beside her, then settled in more comfortably in bed, with her head propped up so she could look at you properly.

"Oh? Do tell..." Minette's prompted.

Trudy herself followed after you, still blushing. She still had her skirt on however, and once you hopped on the bed, Trudy moved to her side, and slipped her legs under the covers. You noticed that she started to squirm then, and it took you a second to realize that she was removing the skirt. She was blushing fiercely, and wouldn't look you in the eye.

"O-Okay.... this... is comfortable..." Trudy finally said. You noticed Minette smile softly at her, in the way an older sister would perhaps smile at a younger sibling.

[Asta]

Hanako tried very hard to remain on target, though it was going to be difficult considering the circumstances.

"Right, so... I think we should get out of the country." she announced, and then waited a moment for it to sink in.

"Naturally we would take everyone that wanted to go with us, including anyone still enslaved at the mine sites or other businesses that belonged to Klein. Ideally, I believe we would be able to get everything together and go to Isikawa. From what I am aware, they are both actively hostile to the demons, and I seem to resemble them ethnically. I can use my status as a 'hero' as well as any good will that looking Isikawan grants to hopefully ingratiate myself to a local noble or whatever kind of political leader they have to acquire land and create ourselves a new base of operations from which I would be able to more safely direct some kind of resistance to the demon occupation of this land. Barring good fortune or good will, I think we could also try buying land there."

She took a deep breath before continuing. "When we meet with Sofia Leiningen in the next few days I'm going to offer her a sizable stake in all of Klein's business assets in exchange for stewardship of them while we are out of the country. With luck this will provide us with a stream of income, and a cash windfall that we'll need to get out of this country and establish ourselves in Isikawa. I realize that this requires us to have an extraordinary amount of faith in her not to simply rat me out to the demons and have us all put to death. However I think she has no more love for them than we do, and based on her actions from before her sense of self preservation would see this as a safe move. I will recommend that any shipments of money or resources that are sent our way be disguised as trade for non hostile foreign countries even though they will be routed to us in Isikawa. Klein had plans to establish some kind of oversea trade routes anyway so it would be disguised nicely."

Hanako scratched the back of her head and looked at the ceiling. "Obviously this means that if you come, it will be a while before you see your homeland again. Probably a very long time. Anyway, I wanted to see what you thought about it. If it's a bad idea, we can come up with something else. Oh, and if we leave its probably going to be by sea. I don't think its safe or reasonable to march so many people on an overland route to get over the border."

She looked at Trudy and Minette, waiting for their replies.

[Throndir]

Trudy was the first speak up.

"Anywhere you go, I'll go Hanako. I can... promise you that. My mother might still be alive... But if we're going to be finding a ship, then its the docks that our government had been trying to create would be our destination... My hometown is near there."

"I will follow... too..." Minette said quietly. "The biggest problem... Is being able to move that many slaves and soldiers all at once without the government or the demons taking notice... Having that large a fleet of caravans will draw their attention..."

"There is... the matter of the ship too... Taking every slave and soldier Klein owns from this city... The mining sites... and Flensberg... Around 1000 people... All of them... with collars..."

"Well, we don't have to remove all the collars either... I'm sure if you explain the situation, some will be fine without."

Minette nodded understanding Trudy's point.

"I think... it will draw too much attention if we move too many people all at once... Maybe... if we slowly move the people down to near the docks..."

[Asta]

They raised good points. Hanako had been unaware of the total amount of people Klein had in bondage, but even a thousand people was doable over time.

"The collars are the least of my worries honestly. It would take time but I could eventually remove them all. You're right that moving that many people would draw a lot of attention. I'm not sure that we would be able to fit a thousand people onto a single ship without sacrificing both safety and comfort. It's likely that we'll have to have one or two built if there aren't enough available to purchase, if that's the case we can probably be moving people in smaller groups while we wait on construction. There's also the possibility that fewer people will want to take the chance of fleeing. Death being the preference to slavery seems preferably right up until its time to do the dying for some people. The longer this takes though, the more precarious our position. You both know Klein kept a busy schedule of meetings, and it would raise a lot of suspicion to suddenly cancel them all. Perhaps Sofia can help with that but I'm not sure."

Hanako closed her eyes and folded her arms across her chest mulling over the situation. "At any rate, we won't know where we really stand until we meet with Sofia. In the mean time can you possibly draft up a plan for the relocation of everyone so I can at least come to her with more of a solid plan?"

[Throndir]

"Of course... I can do that Ha~ na~ ko~" Minette said as she poked your nose with her finger and smiled. "It'll be the first thing I do tomorrow... We'll have another lesson right?" Minette asked hopefully her eyes aglow.

[Asta]

"Y-yeah, of course" Hanako stammered. "We can get some more in tomorrow afternoon if you want."

She reclined, laying her head on the pillows behind her. "If nothing major happens tomorrow I'll probably end up spending the day working on my swordplay, teaching you, and perhaps I'll see if I can get into those chests down in the basement that I was looking at the other day. Might be some useful stuff in there."

Whenever the scene ends, provided nothing major happens that's what Hanako will do in the time leading up to the meeting with Sofia. Let me know when you'd like me to make the required rolls.

[Asta]

Requested rolls

Training Minette:

Rolled 1d20+7 : 6 + 7, total 13

Regular Training Longsword:

Rolled 1d20+7 : 13 + 7, total 20

Regular Training Longsword:

Rolled 1d20+7 : 20 + 7, total 27

Perception:

Rolled 1d20+6 : 14 + 6, total 20

[Throndir]

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Hanako's Room/Minette's Study
Date: Day 5 - 6 AM - 6 PM

That night, familiar dreams came to you. Again it was about Erato, though, like before you couldn't quite recall the memories. When you woke up, both Minette and Trudy were snuggled up with you. Both sleeping peacefully.

It didn't take long for everyone to wake up, and after dressing up in their uniforms, (with Minette forgetting her pants or skirt like usual), you proceed to first train with Trudy. You made progress. After a quick lunch, you started teaching Minette Japanese again. You feel as if you didn't quite help her much this time around as Minette seemed to be speeding through the material, but Minette was still able to learn. Finally, you went for another round of training with Trudy. This time around you managed to start parrying Trudy's sword strikes, though there were still a lot of openings in your form.

Trainings
Hanako Longsword Proficiency: 4/8
Minette Japanese Proficiency: 3/8

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Front Lobby
Date: Day 5 - 6 PM

The slave from the foundry office had arrived as well. Yesterday she had received the summons from the estate, and she had come in sometime during the evening, when you finished with the swordsmanship training. Trudy had been the one to answer the door, along with Minette standing beside her. The girl was flanked by two of soldiers, though, onces that you didn't recognize. All three of them had collars as well.

One of the soldiers saluted at Trudy.

"Ma'am! Inform master Klein, the slave Wendy has arrived as per his orders!"

The slave that was brought forth wasn't dressed up the same way as the slaves in Klein's estate in the dungeon below. In fact, this one was well-dressed. She kept her eyes low.

Location: Herr Klein's Estate - Cellars
Date: Day 5 - 6 PM

Perception: Examining the chests, they all had locks on them. You didn't have a key however. You didn't notice anything else that was special about the chests however.