Volume 22 Sidestory 3, Crown Regulations

In Crown, the treatment of slaves was unparalleled.

First of all, if they worked diligently, they would be treated no differently than normal people.

On the contrary, in some cases, they could even attain a higher status than those of normal people.

Of course, to do so, one would need to work hard.

Compared to the early days of Crown, slaves could hardly attain a high position in Crown today.

The reason was simple: talented people with common citizenship were attracted by Crown.

It should be noted that there was no longer any room for slaves to crawl up the ladder.

However, just because they could not hold high positions, the treatment they received was still unparalleled compared to others.

First, there was time off.

When one became a slave, there was no such thing as a day off.

If the master was fairly good, they could only get a few days off a month.

This was a common thing in this world, but if a slave was employed by Crown, they would get a day off at least once a week.

Furthermore, their treatment was no different from that of ordinary citizens.

Under normal circumstances, slaves would be treated as slaves.

This was a matter of course, but in Crown, a certain degree of human rights were recognized.

First, slaves were not treated unfairly just because they were slaves.

The news of this was running around among the slaves, and it was no longer the most favorable condition for the slaves to be bought by Crown.

♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦

“I see, so that’s what you mean…”

Lisa looked up from her report and made a difficult face.

Ghazala noticed this and approached Lisa.

“What’s wrong? Is this case really that difficult?”

“Yes…. If you say it’s difficult, well, it’s difficult, and if you say it’s simple, you could also say it’s simple.”

“What do you mean?”

Ghazala tilted his head at Lisa’s unresponsive answer.

He then started reading the report that Lisa held out to him.

“I see. I see.”

What was written there was a report about slaves.

The content of the report was that the slaves were treated badly, but the problem was that the slaves did not belong to Crown.

They were slaves of legally registered adventurers.

It was not so unusual for adventurers to have slaves.

Adventurers in a Party often get into disputes over how to divide up the rewards.

Some adventurers were so displeased with such a situation that they would even make their entire party consist of slaves.

There was nothing wrong with that.

What was problematic was how they were treated.

Recently, adventurers registered with Crown began working with slaves at a branch in a southern town.

However, the way these adventurers treat their slaves was beyond questionable.

If that was all, the branch staff should have warned them, but these adventurers would not listen to them at all.

Crown’s treatment of its slaves only extended to employees of Crown.

There were no specific regulations regarding slaves owned by adventurers.

Normally, one would think that all slaves would be treated in the same way since the adventurer belonged to Crown, but the adventurer seemed to insist that it did not matter since he owned the slaves personally.

The adventurer knew what he was doing, and he did not treat the slaves belonging to Crown in a particularly harsh manner.

The adventurers treated only their own slaves that way.

The branch did not have any specific regulations regarding the treatment of slaves of adventurers, so they were having trouble dealing with them.

“So? What are we going to do?”

Ghazala asked Lisa.

Lisa herself was a slave to begin with, so she would not leave those adventurers’ slaves unattended, she thought.

But no matter how much of an inspector she may be, she could not punish the adventurers for something that was not in the Crown’s regulations.

“There was one way to do this, I suppose. We will punish them according to the regulations.”

“Really? Is there such a regulation?”

Ghazala widened his eyes at Lisa’s simple statement.

“Well, it’s a bit of an aggressive approach, but I don’t think it’s out of line with the Crown’s regulations.”

“That sounds fun.”

Ghazala dared to say so.

In cases like this, he decided not to ask what kind of judgment she would make on the spot.

“Well, I’m sure it’s a delicate matter, so I’m going to get Wahid-sama’s approval just in case.”

“That’s also unusual.”

Lisa had a fairly high authority as an inspector.

However, there were times when her authority did not extend beyond that of an inspector, or when she was unable to decide on her own.

In such cases, she would consult Wahid for approval.

Lisa rarely asked for Wahid’s approval.

This time, however, there were a number of sensitive issues, so Lisa decided to ask Wahid just in case.

“It may not be necessary, but just in case.”

Lisa said so and went out of her assigned room.

♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦

“What the heck are you doing? You don’t get to decide what I do with my slaves, do you?”

The rumbling voice echoed through the building of the Crown branch in the southern city.

The voice was uttered by the adventurer mentioned in the report.

His voice caught the attention of other adventurers present.

To be precise, he had attracted some attention in the first place, but his voice drew even more attention.

Incidentally, Ghazala had not made any moves at the moment.

Ghazala’s cue would be when the adventurers resorted to violent means.

In accordance with the response as stated in the report, Lisa decided to proceed with the subject as planned.

“That’s not true. When you purchase a slave, you have a responsibility for that slave.”

“Hah! That’s nonsense. That’s right, and I am responsible for disciplining them!”

“No, that’s not correct. What is the responsibility in this case? The responsibility in this case refers to your responsibility towards Crown. No, I would say it would be a duty.”

“What?”

The adventurer’s expression turned quizzical as he heard something different from his previous responses.

“As you know, Crown required slaves to be treated normally. This has also become a duty for those who belong to Crown. It is no different for adventurers, you know?”

“Ha! That’s ridiculous. Where is that written?”

“No, it is not. This is not something that is written anywhere. but it’s just within the bounds of common sense.”

When Lisa said, “within the bounds of common sense”, Ghazala burst out laughing.

It was true that there was no regulation that detailed the treatment of slaves when adventurers belonged to the Crown.

However, there certainly was a rule that said, “Act within the bounds of common sense”.

“You… What’s so funny?”

“No, no. I just think your treatment of slaves is definitely out of the norm.”

“Oh? What the heck are you talking about? I’m just acting according to my common sense. I don’t deserve to have you guys telling me what to do!”

Lisa nodded at the man who said that.

“I see. I see. So, you have no intention of belonging to Crown or Amamiya anymore?”

“What? Why would you say that?”

“It’s simple, I have already told you about the rules of belonging to Crown. But you said you have no intention of abiding by them.”

Following Lisa’s line, Ghazala continued.

“The short answer is that we adventurers are contracted according to Crown’s regulations. Failure to abide by those regulations means, of course, that the contract will be broken, and you will be expelled from Crown.”

“No, that’s absurd. How is that even possible?”

The man looked around, but no one met his gaze, instead, they just averted their gaze.

“What kind of authority do you have to fire me?”

“Oh, excuse me. My name is Lisa, I’m an inspector from Crown.”

“This is another early example of her having the authority to fire you. Well, maybe in about five years you can re-register again, you know?”

The man made a last ditch effort, but was summarily dismissed.

“Wait, wait! If you don’t like the way I treat my slaves, I’ll fix it, just don’t revoke it!”

” You know, you’ve been warned about this a lot in the past. You still didn’t fix it, that is, until we came all the way out here because we didn’t expect you to agree.”

Lisa continued to the man, who had turned his attention to the counter.

“If you’re thinking of retaliation or something for this, you’d better not. Unless you go outside the continent, there wouldn’t be any place where Crown’s influence doesn’t extend.”

“Wherever you go, you’ll have nowhere to go. Unless, of course, you decide to become a bandit.”

In the past, there had been a few who tried to harm the receptionist out of spite, but the adventurers had been well drilled on the consequences of such attempts.

The same was true for the man, so his earlier attitude had completely faded, and he looked slightly pale.

“That being said, please give up and continue with your appointment to the reception desk. They could do the withdrawal procedure here as well.”

When Lisa finally said this, the man fell to his knees.