[Hanako] Chapter 5: Slave Owner's Assets

[Asta]

After examining the chests and determining there wasn't any way to open them without the key, short of smashing them, Hanako came back up the ground floor to find Trudy.

"Hey Trudy, where do you think Klein kept the keys to those chests down in the ba-" she stopped short seeing that the appraisal girl was here. She's surprisingly well dressed.

Hanako meandered over to where Trudy was talking to the new arrivals.

[Throndir]

Trudy saluted back at the soldier.

"At ease. Klein's no more, so there's no more need to be formal." Trudy replied back looking carefully at the soldier. The solider on the other hand was confused. You had come up then, and Trudy noticed your approach.

"Oh... Hanako! It looks like the person Minette wanted from the foundry offices is here..."

"Hello... Wendy. It's nice to see you... again." Minette said slowly and calmly.

"To you as well..." In a lower voice she continued. "What do you guys mean by Klein's no more?" She whispered as she stepped inside the lobby. She immediately saw you. Wearing your track suit you looked out of place compared with the soldiers who were about. Not only that, Wendy also noticed the other slaves who were either lounging around, or minding their own business.

Her eyes widened, and when she turned back to Minette her eyes moved immediately to the soldier's neck.

"Your collars!" Wendy shouted. Alarmed, she quickly covered her mouth. There was fear in her eyes. "What's happening? Why does..." She looked around as she whispered. "Why does no one have collars?"

[Asta]

Mmmm... I should have guessed that reaction. Hanako mused. The sight of everyone in the mansion simply doing whatever they want relatively carefree must have been a shock. She stuffed her hands in her pockets and replied with what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

"Hmm? Oh I took care of those. You want me to get rid of yours too? They're sort of uncomfortable aren't they?"

She withdrew a hand from her pocket and offered it to the girl. "I think I overheard your name is Wendy? I'm Hanako, its nice to meet you."

[Throndir]

"You can... take care of them?" Wendy asked as she took your pro-offered hand. "How? I've looked and studied into these collars when I could... but... even I can't unravel it. Tampering with it causes it to go off..." Wendy continued to whisper. "Are you sure it's okay? Klein is gone? Is he really?" There was disbelief in her voice.

[Asta]

"Yeah I can just sort of turn them off. Seems to be some kind of power, I guess?" Hanako shrugged, she didn't completely understand the process herself. She was pretty sure it was some kind of magic, now that she was somewhat familiar with the concept but it wasn't like the kind that Trudy used.

"Anyway, yeah hes been... uhhh... taken care of for the last few days. If you catch my meaning. Lemme take a look at that collar of yours real quick."

Hanako is gonna deactivate the collars on the three of them, provided they aren't any different than all the others.

Knowledge Slavery to double check that they aren't any different.

Rolled 1d20+11 : 9 + 11, total 20

[Throndir]

Changed Training rules. Retroactively applied them and rolled Trudy's mentor checks, these are the current active trainings

Trainings
Hanako Longsword Proficiency: 6/8
Minette Japanese Proficiency: 3/8

Knowledge (slavery): 20
These collars looked the same as the previous ones.

You were able to deactivate the collars well. They all clicked opened and loosened. For a moment, Wendy, or the other two soldiers had no idea what had just happened, and they stared in shock.

Wendy's own hands started to shake as they reached for the collar around her neck. It easily came off, and Wendy continued to stare at the deactivated collar. Her eyes started to get teary then.

"W-we're... Free?"

[Asta]

Hanako made a soothing motion with her hands, it was almost comical. She had never been very good at dealing with other peoples emotions. Yeah, more or less. You should probably still keep it a secret if you're going around in public though."

She put her hands back in her pockets. "I'd like to do this for everyone else that was enslaved by Klein but it's gonna take some time. There are some other things in the works as well but I'm not really ready to discuss them openly. You're kind of a part of that too, if youd like to be."

[Throndir]

"Thank you... Thank you so much." Wendy said, as she began to wipe her tears. "I'm not normally the type to put on a public display of waterworks, ya know? But... I never thought this day would come." She was smiling as she grinned.

The girl proceeded to fly towards you into a tackle, planning to wrap her arms around you as she did so.

Feel free to dodge, using DEX, or STR to stay on your foot without falling over.

"If there's anything I can do to help, please let me." Wendy said.

[Asta]

Hanako made no attempt to move out of the flying tackle, but did try to brace herself against the impact.

STR to stay standing:

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

"Just doing what I can, I guess. When you're settled in though, could you go around with Minette and help try to figure out how much money we have here tied up in stuff like art and whatnot?"

With luck, the value of Klein's collection would be a considerable sum. Paying for ships, or the construction of them, would be pricey and Hanako hoped to offset the cost with some of the valuables in the mansion.

[Throndir]

"Yes... Yes, of course." Wendy said. She let go shortly after, still grinning. "How did you unlock these collars...?"  Wendy asked confused.

After you answer, Wendy turned towards Minette.

"Well, ya here what she just said... It's time to find out everything that greedy bastard had in his house." She turned back towards you. "Hanako? Thank you. We'll be finding out how much everything here is worth." She gave you a wink.

Will take them 4 hours, along with the rest of the soldiers to get a good inventory of everything.

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

Wendy, who had been going through the items in the house had stared at the chests. It was then that you noticed something particular. Wendy's eyes glowed, but if Trudy and Minette had noticed, they didn't seem to react.

"Believe it or not, those chests are actually worth a lot... If I can guess... the wood used from there is the famed Lassetaure wood. The boxes absolutely exudes elven craftmanship."

[Asta]

Hanako shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine really. It's some kind of magic, probably? I sort of think about locking or unlocking them and they just kind of do it. If it helps, I can see a sort of like... status sheet and one of the things listed is 'Slavemancer' which I assume is related to me being a summoned hero. Consequently I can also talk to inanimate objects."



Hanako looked at the box, the details of its craftsmanship eluded her. Hearing that it was elven in origin, and Lassetaure to boot reminded her that they had as close to an expert on the subject on hand as they could.

"Is that so? You know there's actually a woman here that's from around there that could tell us more about it maybe. If you'd like to ask her that is."

She didn't want to directly mention that Amarille was royalty, in case she wanted to keep that a secret. However she might be able to give a better estimate on the value of the chest. There was also the possibility that she may not want it sold. Hanako was familiar with the concept of wanting things that had been taken as war booty returned to their nation of origin.

[Throndir]

"Wait... You're the hero? There was some talk that Klein was going to summon one..." Wendy paused. "Let me guess... he did, and that was his last mistake. Serves the bastard right."

"But you could talk to items?" Wendy piqued up her curiosity from this. "Any item? Like... what do they tell you? What do they say? That's... an unbelievable power, I'm a bit envious..."



"The chests specifically? The three chests themselves would fetch about 200 gold pieces each... But its curious seeing Klein had these. Ya know, that elven kingdom has been shrinking and shrinking since before our small part of our country made it here."

"So... Ya able to open it? Or should we get this lady first?"

[Asta]

"Well, that's what people keep calling me at least." Hanako shrugged and continued "All I did was unlock all the collars of the people that were there when I was summoned and things sort of took a natural course from there. As far as talking to items goes, I haven't really done a lot of that. I spoke to a lock down in the basement and it told me a bit about how to get it open without causing it to explode, but I haven't really had the chance to see what anything else has to say yet."



"Lets have her take a look first, if its something important I don't know if we should sell it or try to pry it open. It might be better, or a more dignified choice I guess, to get it back to where it belongs. I suppose I can also take a crack at talking to it as well."

Before continuing Hanako is gonna go find Amarille and tell her what she knows.

[Throndir]

"No, no, no, that's amazing! Don't you see? Back in the foundry offices, its a lot more lax there than it is in the estate... And being one of the slaves that run the shop, it's easier to get more free time... I've been tinkering with... various things, and sometimes its hard to figure out exactly why they aren't working? If I could talk to them, they'd just tell me anything I need to know, right?"

"But wow, to think you're the hero... If only you were summoned before the demons took over... We might have had a chance. I heard there are other heroes in this world, but they've all been busy with the war, that no one has yet bothered to attempt to liberate our little country here."



Finding Amarille, she was sipping some tea with a few other slaves and soldiers, and had been telling them stories about her homeland. When you appeared, the soldiers saluted and stood up.

You had explained the chests in the cellars to her, and Amarille nodded.

"If it chests... They could have been taken from the elven royal treasury when our capital fell. Though, they could have been any number of chests from anyone's home as well. Our kingdom has lost half of its lands to the invaders. It would make sense how Klein, an open supporter of the demons, would be able to get his hands on at least some of them. We don't actually know enough about the demons, on whether or not they keep things like treasures to themselves... But they've carved a path of destruction through my home. The fact that they're deciding to 'govern' this country, Refedoria, is the strange thing in all honesty."

"Show me the chests. There's a mark of the royal family if it did once come from the treasury..."



Once back in the cellars, Amarille strode up to the chest, then bent down and examined it closely. Finally, she pointed at a small inscription near the lock. The inscription itself seemed to mesh well with the overall style and design of the chest, so it was hard to notice unless you were specifically look for it.

"That's the mark of the Lassetaure royal family..." Amarille looked at wonderingly. But she frowned at the lock on it. "That lock isn't the original though."

[Asta]

"One would assume, from my limited experience an item can be as temperamental as any person. Did you know locks have genders? I didn't before a few days ago."

Hanako shrugged again, people seemed to have a much larger impression of what she was able to do than she did herself. I guess when you hear the word 'hero' it sort of carries a certain weight with it...

"Honestly I don't know how much of a difference I could have made. I'm not exactly a fighter, though I'm working on that. Anyway, lets go see what this house has to offer shall we?"



Hanako frowned slightly at the mention of altered locks. "Well, I guess lets mark this one down as not for sale then. It's not really ours to get rid of is it? Though we might want to see whats inside at least. I'm not sure where the key is, but I can uhh... talk to it I guess and see if it's the kind of lock that doesn't like to be tampered with, unless any of you have a better idea?"