After successfully escaping from that place, we continued to take this horse carriage as far as we could while still remaining within this city.
Our business in this city was not yet finished because we had not received any information at all.
Then, we needed to buy a new map that displayed all the regions in Nakuso, so that we could move more freely wherever we wanted.
"How is it? It's been almost fifteen minutes since we started moving again," said Luke, who felt that we had gone far enough and that the chances of that group chasing us were small.
That was true. It would soon be evening, and it was impossible for us to keep moving without stopping; the horse we were using would become exhausted.
"Over there. We can stop in front of that shop for a moment, and at the same time ask its keeper a few things about this city," I replied.
Luke nodded, and we immediately guided the carriage to pull over briefly to the side of the road.
Fortunately, this road was quite wide, so one carriage stopping at the edge would not make the traffic congested.
Realizing that the carriage had stopped, Yuu-chan opened the window and asked me.
"Yukito-sama, are we safe now?" she asked.
"I don't know, but at the very least we should gather some information about this city before moving again, hmm... Invite Hime to come out, you might need something," I said.
She closed the window before stepping out, but not together with Hime. Hime did not follow her and chose to remain inside.
That decision made me a little confused, because I thought she would want to go out and look around. Was she simply not in the mood?
"Luke, Hime said she needs you inside. Just go in. If I remember correctly, she was taking notes earlier after looking at the map and her magic orb," said Yuu-chan as she approached the two of us who had already gotten down.
Luke looked at Yuu-chan with slight surprise. He did not expect Hime to call for him.
But from his expression, I felt that Luke seemed to realize something, as if he knew what Hime was going to say.
"Me? Ah, alright. I'll leave things outside to you two, I might be a little while with her inside," said Luke as he slowly walked into the carriage.
I wonder what the two of them were discussing. Perhaps they wanted to try guessing the location of this city, well... I would leave that to Hime.
That meant Yuu-chan and I would gather information from the merchant selling at this flower shop.
—
Several kinds of flowers were displayed outside the shop on fairly tall pots, of course with various colors that looked like a rainbow.
I could also smell the fragrance of one of the flowers. Could that be jasmine?
Actually... the reason Luke and I decided to stop here was because the place was quite quiet.
There were no carriages parked in front of it, and the place seemed suitable for stopping briefly.
Compared to visiting small stalls that were risky, because I did not feel at all that everyone in this city was a good person.
Even the group that controlled this city consisted of greedy and evil people, so it was only natural if the citizens also possessed similar traits.
Then, the advantage of visiting this flower shop was that the merchant might satisfy us.
"Yuu-chan, go in first," I said.
"Ehmm~ Are you embarrassed to go in first? Come on, quite a lot of men enter flower shops, you know," she replied while opening the shop's door.
This shop had the same height as the buildings beside it. Perhaps this roadside area was indeed used for commercial purposes.
The flowers outside alone had already pleased my nose, let alone those inside.
Click.
When I closed the entrance door, I truly felt as if I had just moved into a field of flowers blooming in summer.
The fragrance from the many flowers here made my heart feel at ease, and the problems I had been thinking about earlier felt like nothing more than a dream that had just ended.
My eyes reflected the various appearances of the beautiful flowers inside this shop.
The walls, floor, and shelves used to store the flowers had very suitable colors and further enhanced the beauty of this shop.
There were two people on duty inside. Both of them were women. A young woman with long black hair reaching her chest was assigned to assist us.
And another, a middle-aged woman with dark blonde hair, waited while watching us from the cashier's desk.
"Welcome," they both said simultaneously.
"Excuse me, are you two looking for flowers here? If so, please allow me to guide you~," she said.
I showed my palm to indicate that was not what I wanted here.
"A-ah, you can help this girl. I will look over there, right, Yuu-chan?" I asked.
"Yes, that's right. By the way, I want to know what kind of flower this is," she said while approaching a shelf filled with bright purple flowers with yellow in the center.
The flower looked beautiful with its plain colors, but perhaps it had a deep meaning.
"Ah! That's an Aster flower. The color is nice, isn't it? Its flower language can mean love, faith, and wisdom. So, are you interested in it~?"
—
I approached the cashier's desk already occupied by the woman, and I felt that she knew why I had approached her.
"What is it? You don't want to accompany your female friend? Do you have business with me?" the woman asked.
"Friend? Oh, you see her that way, huh? Um, may I ask you a few things?" I asked.
"Of course, but on one condition. I want to ask for something after I finish answering your questions," she replied.
"If that's the case, we have an agreement, right?" I answered.
——
Ratina-san was the owner of this flower shop, and the only employee working besides her was Mona-san, who was currently guiding Yuu-chan.
Recently, her shop had become quiet because people's interest was declining, and the cost of importing goods had become very high due to the city's incompetent leader.
The city's leader had been ill since half a year ago, and he entrusted this city to his eldest son, Locair, who led the group our party encountered earlier.
This city was called Bissura, one of the outermost cities in Nakuso. In Nakuso, cities that did not belong to the kingdom were places for people considered poor by the nobles.
Nakuso had one very large city in the center of its continent, and because of that, that place became the only kingdom on this continent.
—
According to her, Locair was not the right leader. He had created many new regulations, causing the prices of goods to frequently inflate.
Because people's income was steadily decreasing, they had to think carefully before spending their money at this flower shop.
The group he led was regarded by them as the protectors of this city, but in reality that was not the case.
They had major involvement in the slave trade that was rampant in Nakuso, along with their influence in this city that made her uncomfortable.
Members of their group often tortured children or kidnapped them from families living in poverty.
They had truly become evil people for the citizens of Bissura in the past few months.
I had also told her what we experienced earlier, and her reaction was genuine shock because I was still able to escape from there.
"Sahiko-san, I don't know how, but you were truly fortunate to get out of that house. Because anyone that group brings there mostly ends up becoming a slave or a plaything for the nobles," she said.
"That's why... By the way, maybe it's just my imagination or something, but do you consider Mona-san very precious? You've been looking at her often," I asked.
"She lost her parents when she was little after they were kidnapped and turned into slaves. I found her back then and have taken care of her ever since."
"If possible, I want to teach those trash in the city government a lesson, but well... what can I do?" she muttered.
Ah, I understood how she felt right now. It was only natural for her to hate that group.
"Um... If you don't mind, may I introduce my true identity?" I said.
She stared at me sharply while trying to guess whether I was lying or not.
"Just say it. I won't be that surprised by your true identity."
——
"Y-you're not joking, right?! The hero's party?! Y-yes, I had heard about you when I was still in Riruyo. The news reached here last week."
"Hah... I thought you were some kind of member of the Nakuso kingdom or something, but it turns out your status is higher than that, huh?"
I could only laugh softly before giving her a suggestion.
"Ratina-san, actually, our party has a plan to eliminate the slave trade syndicate on this continent. What do you think?" I asked.
"I don't mind. In fact, I feel happy that people like you have finally arrived to eliminate that disgusting trade... I truly feel happy," she said while looking at Mona-san who was laughing together with Yuu-chan.
——
"See you again, Ratina-san," I said.
"Yes, don't forget your plan, alright? If possible, how about you kill them all? That would be very relieving for you as well, haha," she said.
Yuu-chan had also said her farewells to Mona-san before the two of us left the shop. In truth... we did not buy anything there.
Well, it was fine... Ratina-san had also received the answer to her long-held wish, which meant a new task for our party had appeared.
——
"Yukito, how was it?" Luke asked when we guided the carriage to the lodging place that I had learned about from Ratina-san earlier.
"I'll tell the three of you later, but at the very least, I can say that we will soon fight again and free many people," I said.
"Could it be about the slave trade syndicate? Well, I had a slight suspicion about it, but judging from your expression... it seems true, huh?" he replied.
"Your instincts are still as sharp as ever, huh?" I said.
Ah, was this what Iris meant when she said our party had to come to Riruyo? It seemed that this issue of slavery was what we had to resolve.
No wonder. Besides, I did not like slavery or torture at all, and I would truly crush those perpetrators.