Anne had been enslaved over a broken promise with a merchant.
The revelation carried enough shock to make Lindy's face go rigid.
The reason she didn't immediately break down screaming was likely because she understood that doing so here would accomplish nothing.
Given that, she needed to gather as much information as possible right now.
Telling herself this, she braced herself not to make a scene no matter what, then continued speaking.
"So... Camila. You came to find me because Anne might be sold into slavery?"
"Yeah. A little while ago, a letter and some things arrived from you, Lindy-nee."
I see, Rei thought. He understood why Camila had come to this inn.
As far as Rei knew, among the adventurers from the orphanage, the one who served as the central figure in Egginis should have been a man named Golias.
However, Golias was currently missing. Even if Camila had gone looking for him, it would have been a wasted trip.
In that sense, choosing to find Lindy was the best option, even if it had been by chance. If he had gone looking for Golias, there was a high chance he wouldn't have even known which inn Golias was staying at.
Thinking about it that way, it's actually impressive that Camila made it to Lindy's inn in one piece.
Even getting from the town with the orphanage to Egginis wasn't something an ordinary child could pull off so easily. At the same time, arriving safely at Lindy's inn within the sprawling scale of the quasi-city of Egginis was remarkable in its own right. If it had been an inn on a main street, that would be one thing, but this was a cheap inn on a back alley, and the roads weren't exactly easy to navigate. Plus, while not as bad as the Slum District, the security here was poor.
Depending on the circumstances, it wouldn't have been strange for him to be killed or sold into slavery before he even reached the inn.
"So, this merchant who enslaved Anne?"
"It was Garby's doing."
"I see. Just as I thought..."
Lindy showed a look of understanding.
"Lindy, who's Garby? I don't recall hearing that name."
As far as Rei was concerned, he had never heard the name Garby before. That was why he asked who exactly this Garby was, and in response, Lindy opened her mouth with a bitter expression.
"Did I not mention him to you, Rei? He's the new representative of the merchant guild that had been donating to the orphanage."
Hearing that, Rei remembered. He had heard about this before. However, at the time, the story was simply that the guild's representative had changed and the donation amount had decreased. He didn't recall anything about slavery.
"So that guy Garby is the new representative."
"Yes, unfortunately... But still, why Anne? She was struggling with money, but she shouldn't have been desperate enough to sell herself into slavery. What do you think is going on?"
Lindy asked Rei while assessing the situation calmly, but her palms were clenched so tightly the skin looked ready to split and bleed. She understood that losing control here would accomplish nothing.
Still, she was already worried sick about Golias... and now this orphanage matter on top of it. The orphanage's... matter? No, surely not. No matter what, there's no need to go that far deliberately.
At that moment, what came to Rei's mind was the Dolan Workshop.
If the Dolan Workshop was involved in Golias's disappearance... then it wouldn't be strange for them to have set their sights on the orphanage where Golias grew up, would it?
However, he quickly dismissed the idea.
The notion that the Dolan Workshop had kidnapped Golias was still plausible. Considering that they were somehow gathering bandits as materials, they probably preferred individuals who were at least somewhat trained.
He could understand that much, but where did Anne fit into the picture?
From what Rei had seen, Anne was nothing more than an ordinary woman. True, she was beloved by the children and hadn't been afraid of Seto despite meeting him for the first time, but if asked whether she possessed the kind of talent that could be used as Golem material, he would immediately shake his head.
Of course, Rei's interaction with Anne had been brief, so the possibility that she possessed some talent he hadn't noticed couldn't be entirely denied.
Yeah, I'm overthinking this.
Rei had grown suspicious because the timing lined up too perfectly, but he quickly shifted his train of thought and spoke.
"Anne simply had attractive features. There's a high chance he figured she'd sell for a high price as a slave, isn't there?"
"That's..."
Lindy's expression twisted with disgust at Rei's words. That said, the disgust wasn't directed at Rei—it was aimed at Garby, the man who had enslaved Anne simply because she'd fetch a high price as a woman.
In truth, there was no doubt that what Rei had said was the primary reason she had been enslaved. No doubt about it... but whether that made it acceptable was another matter entirely.
"Is there really nothing we can do for Anne-nee?"
Camila, who had been listening to the exchange between Rei and Lindy, asked in a timid voice, despair pooling in his eyes.
From Camila's perspective, he had traveled all the way to Egginis believing that if he told Lindy about the situation, she could somehow save Anne.
Given the dangers involved, the fact that he had arrived in Egginis with all his limbs intact could only be called lucky. Camila surely understood well enough that he had been fortunate to reach Egginis safely. That was precisely why he had believed that relying on Lindy would make everything work out.
To a child like Camila, Lindy, who was making a proper living as an adventurer in a place like Egginis, could do anything.
...The reason Camila thought this way probably had a lot to do with the fact that Rei, whom he had met not long ago, had displayed incredible strength as an adventurer. Because Rei was amazing, Lindy, who was also an adventurer, must be amazing too. And because she was amazing, she would save Anne, who had been enslaved. He had simply connected the dots that way.
...If Lindy knew she was being compared to Rei, she would probably turn pale and frantically shake her head.
Lindy did possess roughly mid-level ability as an adventurer. However, she fell far short of a B-Rank Adventurer, and being compared to Rei—an alias-holding A-Rank Adventurer—was more than she could bear.
It wasn't unreasonable for Camila to think that way.
The silver lining was that Lindy hadn't realized how Camila actually perceived her.
"Anyway, I understand that Anne was enslaved. If that were all, it wouldn't be impossible to deal with... but I'll ask just in case—she's not an illegal slave, is she?"
"From what I've heard from Camila, it seems she is legal."
Lindy answered while grinding her teeth, glaring at the delicious-looking food spread out before her.
Naturally, the food had done nothing wrong, but right now she needed to suppress the irritation building inside her, even if it meant taking it out on something.
"If she were an illegal slave, handling this would be easy."
Official slaves—such as Debt Slaves and Criminal Slaves—were recognized in this world. Rei had some opinions on the matter, but since this wasn't Japan, he adhered to the principle of "when in Rome" and didn't let it bother him particularly.
...Or rather, given that he captured bandits and sold them to the Guards as Criminal Slaves, he didn't have much right to talk.
However, what Rei was doing was neither illegal nor unlawful; it was entirely within the bounds of the law. Among the bandits, there were probably those who would rather survive even as slaves than be killed by the Rei they had attacked. There was a one-in-a-million—no, one-in-a-hundred-million—chance they might even be bought by a kind master.
Most ended up as mine slaves or disposable pawns used in wars and Dungeons, though.
In any case, Rei's actions of capturing bandits and selling them as Criminal Slaves posed no problem, but illegal slaves were another story. Forcing someone into slavery against their will—cases like these were crimes, as the very name "illegal slave" implied.
If Anne were an illegal slave, then since the other party was committing a crime, attacking the slave trader would be no different from a bandit hunt. Not only would there be no problem, but he'd likely earn the Guards' gratitude, and depending on the circumstances, might even receive a reward.
That said, slave traders who dealt in illegal slaves naturally knew they were criminals. Given that, some bribed the Guards to avoid being caught, and depending on the situation, they might have bribed the upper ranks of the Guards, or even higher-ups.
In such cases, taking down a slave trader dealing in illegal slaves wouldn't earn any gratitude. Rather, it would be treated as an attack on a legitimate slave trader, and the attackers themselves would likely be branded criminals.
Regardless, if it were a slave trader dealing in illegal slaves, handling the situation wouldn't be difficult. But if it was a legally operating slave trader, it was a different story. Attacking such a trader would immediately make the attackers criminals.
To avoid that outcome, they needed to reclaim Anne through proper means.
"The most straightforward approach would be to simply buy Anne back with money..."
"There's no way I have that kind of money," Lindy said immediately.
Rei could fully understand where she was coming from. He knew that Lindy sent the majority of her earnings from quests to the orphanage. That was precisely why, even though she could afford a better inn, she was staying at a cheap one.
Not that the inn's proprietor was a bad person—he was actually quite caring—so even if Lindy had a bit more money, she might not have moved out of that inn anyway.
The point was, Lindy was by no means financially comfortable. For someone in her situation to say she wanted to buy back Anne, who had been enslaved, there was also the question of where that money would come from.
"Especially since buying Anne would cost quite a lot to begin with."
Lindy's expression grew even more bitter at Rei's words. As someone living in Egginis, she naturally heard talk about slaves often, and she understood that Rei wasn't lying.
As a general rule, the younger a slave was, the higher the price. Young children, however, were an exception and went for less. Men and women from their mid-teens to early thirties generally commanded the highest prices. For both sexes, that age range was the most convenient for labor, so it was only natural.
Of course, those possessing some special skill would fetch a high price regardless of age. Additionally, the cost fluctuated depending on appearance. Particularly attractive men and women would fetch overwhelmingly higher prices than ordinary slaves—that much was certain.
Given that, the fact that Anne, with her attractive features and youth, would command a high price was an unavoidable reality. It was nowhere near an amount Lindy could afford.
...Actually, considering Lindy's financial situation, it was questionable whether she could purchase even an old man's or a child's slave.
Yet despite these circumstances, there was no despair in Lindy's eyes. It was true that she had no money. However, Rei, who was currently sitting at the same table as her, was a High-Rank Adventurer and an Alias Holder. Moreover, thanks to his hobby of bandit hunting, he was never short on cash.
"Rei... will you help me buy back Anne? Of course, I will absolutely pay back every coin I borrow. So please."
Lindy bowed her head to Rei.
Faced with this, Rei considered what he should do.
In truth, Lindy's course of action was by no means wrong. Given the need to rescue Anne as quickly as possible, turning to Rei, who could afford to purchase her, was a rational decision. Furthermore, having worked alongside Lindy up to now, Rei couldn't imagine her doing something like borrowing money and never paying it back.
Given all that, faced with Lindy bowing her head before him, Rei finally opened his mouth.
"I don't know whether we can buy Anne back, but first, finding her is the priority. We don't even know exactly how much she's being sold for, after all."
At Rei's words, Lindy judged that this would work out and nodded.