“These girls have no paperwork as well?” Eliana also seemed to grow a little excited. “So, how were they acquired as slaves!”

“What are you trying to imply!” Pait said, stepping forward. “Are you calling him a criminal?”

Eliana looked down at the little man and softened her expression slightly, clearly treating him with more diplomacy than she was treating me. “Bandits pull women off the street all the time. It is possible that these girls were enslaved by him! He’s already a very shady individual, I must say!”

“They are both my slaves by choice.” I immediately stated, turning to the girls hopefully.

“Mm! I’m Master’s!” Terra immediately declared.

“I follow Master by choice!” Celeste added.

“Even if they say it…” Eliana pouted stubbornly. “They could be coerced into saying it. There are many women forced into slavery that claimed to be slaves, even when they were isolated from their Masters. Some Masters have the ability to control what their slaves say, think, and feel. It has long been decided that a slave can’t be taken by their word!”

Those words, in particular, stung a bit. It was a bit too close to my own thoughts about the girls. Although, when they said they followed me by choice, I did feel a bit of happiness, the reality was that I was their Master and I had that damn curse on me that increase my affinity with them. For all I knew, it was essentially brainwashing.

“Ridiculous!” Pait growled. “These girls have shown no distress or discomfort around their Master. Your so-called refusal to take slaves at their word was meant for situations when the slaves were knowingly abused by their Master. Unless you have proof that this boy is abusing them, then your entire argument is flawed.

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“Even if that is so, they should have proper paperwork!” She deflected and pointed at me. “What answer do you have for that?”

“I only recently arrived in the city. The slave traders left my city months ago. I simply haven’t made it to the Slaver’s Guild yet. I have plans to submit the paperwork once I am there.” I explained myself clearly, trying to keep my cool despite the tense situation.

“Enough of this!” Lord Tibult snapped, “None of this matters! The facts are clear. I had agreed to sell my slave to this man directly, but he conspired with a slave trader to steal her from me for pennies. As a result, she should go back to my ownership. As far as the others, they should be given as compensation for my emotional trauma!”

“No!” Eliana declared. “I have already agreed to buy the girl’s freedom! You can’t argue with me on this, Lord Tibult. The law is abundantly clear. If the slaves wish to be freed, their cost can be covered at any time. You know I’m good at it. If you want to fight this… this… man and the slave trader over the gold coin value, then you’re free to do it!”

Lord Tibult chuckled and then bowed. “Of course, it is as you say. However, an agreement is met. These slaves should be removed from this man.”

They were talking now like a decision had already been made. As for me, I had lost all interest in selling them to this girl. Somehow, I had a suspicion that shortly after being freed, they’d end up in Lord Tibult’s control after a short period of time. I was half a step from using return and just going back to Chalm with the girls. Chalm was no longer in Aberis, so their laws didn’t really matter. I would have failed to get Chalm accepted as part of Aberis, but at this point, I was starting to not care about this country in the slightest. It might be better if we just set out as our own country.

“Get ready…” I said light enough that only my girls could hear.

“Then it’s decided-” Eliana began.

“Not so quick!” A voice broke into their conversation. “I have a better proposal for you all.”