chapter 5
5 – Helping those who help themselves (5)
The appearance of the woman who appeared under the moonlight was very messy and pitiful.
Because of her body opening, her dirty clothes are now completely rags and she is covered in dust from head to toe.
That’s how you managed to hide from the eyes of the upper ranks and the security forces.
“Why do you follow me?”
“Oh, since when did you know…?”
“Since the Security Force came out.”
“Hick?!”
“I’m not here again to say thank you for being a runaway slave.”
“How could that…!?”
I stopped laughing when I saw the woman’s eyes widening in surprise.
“Why did you come back when you barely escaped? You should have run out of the city without looking back.”
“That’s…”
The woman lowered her head, unable to follow her words.
Seeing her bare feet and the woman wiggling her fingers, Einer turned back toward her door.
To turn a blind eye to momentary emotions and sympathy is all he can do.
I don’t know what their purpose was, but even if they followed him like that, how could they go into the house to feed and sleep?
As long as it is the property of the Paling Trade Corps, which exerts influence on Daham, there is nothing more Ainor can do.
Just as you opened her door, the woman knelt down on her knees and fell flat on the floor.
“Please, help! Teacher!”
Einer, who had just crossed the threshold, stopped him and looked back.
“Help me…! The only one I can ask for help right now is the teacher!”
“You’ve already helped me. And I can’t ask you to hide it. I don’t know about you, but your masters are very strong people here.”
“It’s not like that…! Just let me sneak on the boat to the north!”
A ship to the north?
Are you asking for help smuggling? To the port security officer?
Leaving aside the absurdity, you’re taking a boat to the North like that?
It takes more than a month by boat to reach the north from here.
Besides, there is no such thing as a passenger ferry between the north and the south.
Only things like the navy’s ocean-going fleet or ultra-long-distance trading ships.
Women ride on such a boat?
A woman with a face and body like that?
No matter how much you hide, you cannot live undetected in a confined space.
Most of the sailors were ex-convicts or those who were weeded out because they could not live normally on land.
They rape her until she dies, then becomes fish food. Must.
If you’re unlucky, you might get caught by a crazy pervert and suffer worse.
That’s crazy.
Einer can’t do a woman’s favor.
Because it’s all you have to do is leave the law and push your back to hell.
“I’d rather be sold into slavery than stowaway.”
“Please, sir…. You are the first to do me a favor…. Help me one more time….”
The woman pleaded, but you shook her head.
“Sorry.”
At your refusal, the woman put her forehead on the ground and began to sob, shaking her shoulders.
The moment Einer, who had been looking down at such a woman for a moment, was about to enter the house.
Kororororororororolong.
Huh? What is this sound?
“Sorry…”
The woman whispered as she clutched her belly.
“Didn’t you eat dinner? It’s not like you didn’t eat.”
“I ate the banana you gave me earlier… But I tend to eat a lot… I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”
Kororororong.
Note that Einer never skips a meal no matter what.
So, no matter how busy you are, when it’s mealtime, you take your crew and go to an outside restaurant or the security unit’s kitchen to eat.
This is a habit and life credo that I have thoroughly followed since I was a child working in the kitchen.
Because I was such an ainer, I couldn’t shut the door in front of a woman who was starving.
Besides….
Seeing the woman’s eyes looking up at him, Einer involuntarily spat out curses.
I see her mother’s eyes as she was taken to the slave market and gave me a piece of stale bread that was given to her once a day….
Damn it, damn it….
Let’s feed him some rice.
I can’t bear to see someone go hungry.
“Come in.”
“Yes…?”
“Come in and eat.”
“Bob… Is this…?”
Einer went into the house first, leaving the woman who was confused and slowly got up.
She hesitantly followed him into the house. The woman looked inside her and opened her eyes wide in surprise.
The structure that looks like a restaurant was also impressive, but above all it was because of the kitchen.
One wall is filled with seasoning racks and braziers, wide countertops, various cooking utensils and pots of various sizes.
On top of that, there was even a fire pit that occupied one space.
That’s something you would never see in an ordinary house.
“Is this… a restaurant…?”
“It was originally a family house, but the previous owner renovated the first floor to be a restaurant. I bought the one I ran away from after it was ruined.”
“Ah…Then where the hell does the teacher sleep…”
“This floor is a private house. I’ll prepare it soon, so sit on the sofa…”
Einer pointed to the sofa in the living room and fell silent when he saw the woman who was seriously dirty and smelled bad.
“I’ll sit on the floor.”
As the woman noticed and tried to sit on her floor, Einer shook her head.
“No no. Sit in a chair.”
You have to wash the sofa when it gets dirty, but you can just wipe the chair.
The woman couldn’t take her eyes off her kitchen as she sat on a chair at the table.
Aner opened the shelf for storing food ingredients and pondered for a while.
Let’s see. Is there anything that can be easily made and eaten at this time….
Yes. Let’s make arabiata.
It’s pasta seasoned with spicy tomato sauce, so it’s good to make it quickly and eat it lightly.
Tomatoes with olive oil, garlic and red pepper.
What is this? Mustard. Put this away
Are there any leftover pasta noodles? Oh, yes.
I ran out of basil, but there’s no place to buy it right now, so let’s just get rid of it.
You can still enjoy it without it.
The recipe for Arrabiata is very easy.
Put a pan on the brazier, stir-fry the peppers and garlic in olive oil, add the mashed tomatoes, and season with salt, pepper, and sugar.
Add water to it and boil while stirring until the ingredients are fluffy.
Add well-boiled pasta noodles and cook as if stir-frying together.
It’s not difficult to boil noodles because you can do it with your eyes closed.
One regret is that there is no basil.
The taste is much better if you tear up the basil right before the sauce is finished and add a little more.
But it doesn’t matter if you don’t have it. It’s not particularly important, and there’s no way that girl will notice that you’re missing basil.
As I was engrossed in cooking while humming her song, I heard a voice from behind.
“You seem to enjoy cooking…”
“Because I’ve been working in the kitchen since I was little.”
“Oh, so this house is also going to be a restaurant later…?”
“Not now. There are many restaurants here, so if you try it easily, you will be ruined. That’s why the previous owner of this house also ran away.”
“You still have a dream of opening a restaurant someday.”
“That’s right. Cooking is fun and…”
No, wait.
What am I talking about to that demon slave?
What are you doing to a girl you’re seeing for the first time?
“More than that, why did you become a slave?”
The woman hesitated before opening her mouth.
“The Demon King passed away… All the surviving demons were scattered. I was one of them.”
“I managed to live.”
“I’m lucky… My corps were active in the eastern part of the continent, so I just settled there. I lived in hiding from humans for several years, and there is a story that there is a kingdom in the northern part of the continent that accepts demons as citizens. I heard. So, on the way there, I bumped into a slave trader and stopped…”
“Shouldn’t you have opened your body and escaped?”
“There was an unauthorized saintess in the slave trade union. So I couldn’t escape.”
An unlicensed saint?
If that’s the case, the words are different.
Because demons are immobilized by divine power.
“Is that why you asked for a ride on the ship to the north?”
“Yes, yes… I was thinking of going to the Berabche kingdom.”
I guess that’s why he didn’t run out of the city and kept roaming around the port.
“The kingdom of Berabche is nice. But you can never go there by boat. You’d better ask a wizard to open the portal. The problem is that it costs a lot of money.”
Even a decent number of nobles won’t use a dimensional gate unless it’s very important.
It’s worth paying for the portal use.
“But where were you being sold?”
“I don’t know. I’ve heard that she’s far away here. Her horned maiden is precious… I’ve heard that she sends her as far away as possible and doubles her shipping cost.”
A horned maiden? Anyway, the Palling traders are crazy as well.
“How did you cut the horns?”
“I stole a chainsaw from a blacksmith and cut it myself…”
“Ha, you’re amazing too. I thought about running away from the cargo ship and going to the far north, and even cut off the horns. Aren’t horns very important to you demons?”
Horns are identity and proof of existence for demons.
The strangers who were thrown into this world through a dimensional door in a certain accident long ago.
It was a symbol of remembering a hometown that could never be returned to, and a driving force to unite each other.
The most important thing is that without horns, even if you open your body, you won’t be able to use your strength properly.
That’s why it was difficult for her to endure the collapse of the roof during the day.
If she had been able to use real power, she would have just thrown the roof off.
It wouldn’t be easy to cut off an horn like that by yourself.
“Your own destiny… You have to carve it out yourself…”
“What?”
When you turned around, she replied as the woman lowered her eyes.
“If you’re frustrated because the situation you’re in is bleak and you’re not doing anything… That’s it, isn’t it?”
The woman glanced at Einer and continued.
“Whether it’s a pilaf or a risotto, I have to try it. I don’t know how it will end… But I think it’s better than standing still.”
The woman nodded her head, confident in her words.
“Heaven helps those who help themselves.”
Eh, you stared at the woman, losing her words.
At that gaze, the woman hurriedly apologized.
“Sorry…! I said something that doesn’t fit the subject…!”
“No. That’s good. You’re right.”
That’s awful…. She tried to kick her out after feeding her….
You keep saying that….
While talking with the woman, Sauce fell asleep.
I dropped the noodles into it and tossed and tossed until the color was just right, and I heard a loud swallowing sound from behind.
When the sauce is sufficiently soaked into the noodles, divide them into two plates and sprinkle parsley on top to finish the arabiata.
In addition, I also took out the pickle that was pickled a while ago.
“Okay, that’s it.”