Opening, Week Four, Tanya’s Secret
I was able to learn various things during the welcome party.
Jenna’s hometown was an industrial town located far north of Vardmoi.
The main industry there involved processing ore gathered from nearby mines into ingots.
As a result, the people’s lives weren’t as comfortable as those in Vardmoi, and the ore production has been decreasing in recent years.
Her father, Viscount Shelling, seemed to be trying various ways to establish new industries.
At the same time, they appear to be developing new mines.
Jenna, being the fourth daughter of the Viscount’s family, has received a strict upbringing, which is why her manners are so refined.
She mentioned that she will also teach me noble etiquette starting tomorrow.
Tanya’s hometown, the Peasie Forest, is an autonomous region of the Elven race located in the western part of this country.
They live mainly by farming and dairy production within the forest, protected by a unique barrier.
Although their interaction with the outside world isn’t very active, it exists to some extent.
There’s apparently a unique textile specific to the Peasie Forest, but it doesn’t seem readily available in Vardmoi.
Vardmoi in the southeast and Peasie Forest in the west are a bit too far apart.
The welcome party has ended, and all that was left was to wash off the sweat and go to sleep.
Our house has a spacious bath, so I prepared some hot water and started getting ready to take a bath.
After the bath was ready, while I was washing my hair in the bathroom, the door leading to the changing room was opened.
Tanya came out from there.
“Lady Lily, I will wash your back for you.”
“Oh, it’s okay. I can do it myself.”
“No, this is also one of the maid’s duties.”
After a bit of back-and-forth, I ended up giving in, and Tanya washed my entire body.
It’s embarrassing to be seen naked even though we’re the same gender…
“Yes, now I will wash your front.”
“Oh, that’s a bit…”
“No, it’s not. Come on, quickly.”
Uh, my modest bust size will get exposed.
Thinking this, I turned towards Tanya.
Then, I noticed something like tattoos on the back of Tanya’s right and left hands.
I hadn’t noticed it before because she always wore gloves, but now they were wet and translucent.
What could this be?
“Oh… I apologize. I showed you something unsightly.”
Tanya immediately covered her hands, but I had no idea what this was.
Tanya didn’t readily share her story, but I managed to get some information out of her.
To summarize what Tanya has told me, this seemed to be the markings of slavery.
As expected of a different world, I was inwardly surprised that there was such a thing as slaves, however, it seems that Tanya hasn’t formally become one.
In this country, slaves other than criminal slaves are prohibited.
However, Tanya has slave markings because she was captured by slave hunters from another country.
She became an illegal slave at the age of 10.
After that, she was marked with slave markings all over her body.
She was apparently rescued by the Knights of this country when the slave hunters were on their way back to their home country.
However, there was no way to remove the slave markings, and she couldn’t return to the forest because people in the Peasie Forest don’t consider those who have been marked with slave markings as fellow countrymen.
After that, she managed to make a living in the slums while hiding the slave markings, and it seems that she was saved by Marquis Vardmoi by chance.
I wondered why Marquis Vardmoi saved her, but it seems that Tanya doesn’t know either.
At least Marquis Vardmoi seems to be someone who doesn’t treat illegal slaves wrongly.
Anyway, she was picked up by Marquis Vardmoi when she was 12 years old and started working as a maid apprentice.
She has been living as a maid for 15 years until now.
And that’s Tanya’s story.
“I see. It must have been tough for you.”
“No, it all started because of my carelessness.”
In this world, life is considered cheap.
Even though I understood that, I felt a sense of anger.
I touched her hand to see if I could somehow erase the slave markings, and I felt a reaction that could not be described as either a poison or a curse.
… I was thinking whether I could remove these slave markings with the magic granted to me by the Goddess?
Having such thoughts, I asked Tanya to remove her gloves again, and I cast both a detoxification and dispel curse spell on the slave markings simultaneously, and it disappeared cleanly.
… It was so easy.
“Huh? The slave markings disappeared?”
“It seems so. By the way, I used detoxification and dispel curse magic at the same time.”
“That’s it?”
“Mm, for me, that was all it took, but… I might be a bit unusual.”
“You are more than a bit unusual, then!”
At any rate, the slave markings could be erased.
Tanya is not a slave, so let’s erase it.
Since the marks on the invisible parts cannot be erased, I asked Tanya to strip naked as well, but she really had the markings engraved all over her body.
Carving these markings even across the most precious parts of a woman was too cruel.
… I had to touch her because I couldn’t erase it without touch, and it was a bit embarrassing because she made coquettish noises.
In the end, on that day, we bathed together, and from the next day onwards, we continued to bathe together.
It felt like I had gained an older sister.
P.S.
When I reported to Marquis Vardmoi that I could remove the slave markings, he warned me not to talk about it outside under any circumstances.
While it’s illegal in this country, there are countries where slave ownership is legally recognized.
In the eyes of such countries, I am nothing more than a troublemaker.
I received a stern warning from Marquis Vardmoi, but there was nothing I could do about what had already happened…