Chapter 40: Uninvited Junior

After listening to Lineana-dono’s story, it seemed she had once dueled with Pursena-dono, another candidate for the next tribal chief, and lost. Following that defeat, she withdrew from the power struggle and tried to make a living as a traveling merchant.

However, before her business could take off, she fell into debt, and without proper connections, continuing as a merchant became impossible. In the end, she was deceived by a fraud posing as a trading company agent, forced into even greater debt—and before she knew it, she had been sold into slavery.

When two successors of equal strength and claim exist, nothing good ever comes of it. Trying to avoid becoming the spark of another conflict, she worked hard away from her homeland—only for her life to end up like this. She bore part of the blame, but still… it was tragically unfair.

Then, Father suddenly voiced his doubt.

"Linea… you haven’t been… violated already, have you?"

"Rudeus! What kind of thing are you asking!?"

Eris-mother’s iron fist shot toward him at that unbelievably tactless remark.

"Father, that was completely insensitive!"

"That’s right, nya!"

"Matters like that are for the mothers to ask—please step outside!"

"Exactly—wait, why nya!?"

"I’m not asking her that!!"

Eris-mother, pale-faced, grabbed me by the shoulders and turned my head in every direction, muttering in despair, "Where did we go wrong…?"

"But Mother," I said, "we do have ties with Lineana-dono’s family, don’t we? If we’re taking her in, we’ll need to send them a letter. So we do need to confirm whether her chastity is intact or not."

"Well… when you put it that way, you’re right."

"Y-you’re sending a letter, nya!?"

"Sorry, Linea, but since we’re acquainted with your family, it’s best we report everything properly," Roxy-mother added gently.

Fortunately, Lineana-dono hadn’t been touched, and Father’s crushed nose was promptly treated.

"Excuse me!"

"Th-that’s them, nya!"

Apparently, the slave traders had the audacity to come all the way to our home.

"Father, should I kill them?"

"Stop that, Edith. Even if it comes to that, stay calm with Lucy and the others."

He had warned me, but with Father present, whether it ended in negotiation or bloodshed, Lineana-dono’s safety was all but guaranteed.

The slavers stated their case: they didn’t want to make enemies of us, but claimed that one of their men had been killed. All they wanted was Lineana-dono handed back to them. They even hinted they’d target Roxy-mother and Norn-nee-sama if we refused.

I believed slavers deserved nothing less than starvation and death, but even scum retain a fraction of humanity. Cornered, they fight to the bitter end.

That said, even among lawless races, trading beastfolk as slaves is strictly forbidden. For the Boreas family to have knowingly commissioned such people—they ought to be wiped out.

They murdered Great-grandfather Sauros amid the chaos of the teleportation disaster, abandoned the reconstruction of Fittoa, and after hoarding all that wealth, this is what they chose to do—enslaving women through deception. There are no words for such filth. In comparison, even Darius looks better for at least having contributed money to the domain’s restoration.

"If this goes on, we’ll have no choice but to hang ourselves. If we’re going to die anyway, we’d rather go down fighting!"

Father hesitated. Roxy-mother losing was practically impossible, but allowing Norn-nee-sama to be repeatedly targeted couldn’t be tolerated either. Yet Father also couldn’t simply massacre all the slavers and the Boreas clan.

Was there truly no way out? Was Lineana-dono doomed to have her future devoured by such filth?

Lucy and I watched everything unfold, a heavy sense of resignation settling over me.

"I understand. Now then…"

As Father turned, our eyes met.

"…Lilia-san. Please bring me everything in the safe in my room."

"…As you wish."

From there, it became one-sided. If it came to a real fight, neither side would escape unharmed. But Father struck back in a different way—he threatened them through overwhelming power in every sense: wealth, influence, and might.

He crushed the slavers entirely, leaving no room for retaliation, silencing even the Boreas family behind them. From now on, if any other slavers even think about targeting our family, these same men will be the first to warn us.

"Magnificent, Master."

"Thank you."

It was all over. Lineana-dono, our family—everyone was safe, protected by Father.

See, Lucy? This is what Father is like when he’s being responsible!

"…Ah!"

Before we knew it, Lucy had wandered off somewhere. Father and I both hung our heads in unison.

After driving the slavers away, we discussed what to do with Lineana-dono. In the end, she would work as a slave in our household until she could repay the money we spent to reclaim her. Considering her wages, she’d never be able to repay it in her lifetime—but since Father and Mother wouldn’t mistreat her, and given that she owed us her life, it wasn’t the worst outcome.

"Then, Lineana-dono, I’ll be counting on you from tomorrow!"

"Uu… Please take care of me, nya… Edith-senpai."

As she was practically smothered in Eris-mother’s overenthusiastic embrace, Lineana-dono answered nervously. Mother wasn’t being rough on purpose—she was just naturally intense in everything she did.

The next day, Lineana-dono received a maid outfit—one of Lilia-san’s old uniforms, altered to fit her. Since she was officially employed in our household now, that was only natural. Still, it stung a bit that she got her maid uniform before I did, despite my working here for over a year.

"Nyahaha!"

Well, that’s fine. She used to be a noble lady, after all, and now she’s a servant even below Leo. I should just be glad she’s enthusiastic about her new role.

"Linea-senpai really seems cheerful… I thought she’d be more depressed after becoming a slave," Norn-nee-sama said.

"Right?! I was worried about that too, Norn-nee-sama!"

I was genuinely relieved by Norn-nee-sama’s concern. Good—so I wasn’t the only one who found this strange.

Unfortunately, Lineana-dono’s work performance was terrible. Aisha-dono quickly lost hope in her and began giving her cold looks. Feeling that tense air, I decided I’d better put extra effort into training her properly.