Chapter Ten: The Egg Raffle
“Well, Ren’s out of here,” Father said. “What should we do now? I don’t think it’s a bad idea to just keep peddling until the right time comes. But how should we spend our money?”
It seemed like Father wanted to discuss our next steps now. But that would be better done back in the carriage.
“I’m going to find Filo-tan, I say,” I proclaimed.
“This Filo again? Well, if that’s what you want to do, I won’t stop you. So we’ll go looking for Filo, whoever she is.”
“Indeed. In the first go-around, I believe you bought Filo-tan with the money you got from Melromarc after the first wave of destruction.”
“So the problem is where and how I ended up with her?”
“Quite so,” I said. “In the previous go-around, I tried buying every single filolial from the monster trainer, but Filo-tan wasn’t there.”
“Every single one?” Father shook his head. “You do some pretty crazy stuff, Motoyasu. But that’s tricky, then. If there was some sort of sign or special characteristic that could help you recognize Filo . . .”
“She has the exact opposite coloring as Sakura,” I explained. Filo-tan was white with pink mixed in, while Sakura was pink with white mixed in.
“Oh yeah, didn’t you draw a picture of her before?”
“That was her angel form. She’s the same height as Yuki and Kou, with blonde hair and blue eyes. She is a beautiful, heavenly creature!”
“Sakura has blue eyes . . . but her hair is pink. It is pretty unusual that Filo-tan would look so different in her angel form, isn’t it? I remember that drawing you did.”
What an amazing memory! But he was right. Even among filolials, having different coloring depending on the form was extremely rare.
Even if Filo-tan had ended up in someone else’s possession, the best we could do was identify her based on what she looked like. We also know that she can’t turn into her queen form unless she is with one of the heroes.
The only way we had to find her was her appearance. And after that, her smell, but that would be trickier to verify.
“So you were talking about how in the first go-around I didn’t have anyone who would help me or that I could trust, right? So I needed to buy someone who seemed trustworthy and reliable. I have no doubt that I bought her from the slave trader. But I was frustrated, so it must’ve been an impulse purchase.”
“You bought her from that same slave trader?” Keel interjected.
“I just get that feeling,” Father said. “Thinking about this Filo . . . I think I wanted something that was worth my money, worth the investment, to give me strength.”
It was starting to make sense now. Since we now knew that the monster trainer had become Father’s ally in the first go-around, he must’ve wanted to help Father out behind the scenes.
I think that Father also met Big Sis through the monster trainer, if I’m not mistaken, and that she used all her effort to gather the other slaves from her village and restore it. She also made a lot of stuff happen in Zeltoble, or so I heard.
And then, as a consequence of our duel, Father released Big Sis from slavery. But wasn’t Big Sis still a slave when I met her the next time? Which meant that they might have gone back to the monster trainer to reapply the slave seal on Big Sis.
“I’m not really a big fan of the monster trainer’s tent, but if you really want to go, shouldn’t we head back there?”
“Thank you, Father. Thank you with all my heart!”
We would do everything we could to find Filo-tan, I say! So we set out to visit the monster trainer.
When we got there, the filolials hesitated to enter. The tent did have a gloomy atmosphere inside, so it only made sense that they would be reluctant. Lazy Pig seemed to say something about staying outside with the filolials because it was too annoying to go in.
As soon as we entered the tent, the monster trainer came to greet us and rubbed his hands together.
“Now what do we have here? It’s the heroes, yes sir!”
So, I faced Father and rubbed my hands together too, I say!
“Uh, Motoyasu, what are you doing?”
“Rubbing my hands together!” I declared.
Now, now. Show me my precious Filo-tan, I say!
This felt just like a capsule toy machine scenario. Father was going to be the lucky one who finds the ultra-rare Filo-tan!
“Hey, Spear Bro, maybe you should . . .” Keel started to say.
“Keel, there’s no need,” Father replied. “Let him do what he wants.”
“All right then.”
Keel seemed to be concerned about my mental well-being, but I didn’t care in the slightest. Sakura was looking absentmindedly around the inside of the tent.
“What do we have here?” The monster trainer was looking at Keel and tilted his head. “So you had the ability to transform into a therianthrope all along? Yes sir. I’m happy to buy back this one at a higher price.”
“What!? You’re not gonna sell me to buy filolials, are ya, Big Bro?” Keel shrieked.
“Hang on,” Father protested. “Why . . . why are you talking about buying Keel all of a sudden?”
Father seemed anxious to shut down the conversation as soon as possible.
“I should’ve expected nothing less of the Shield Hero,” the monster trainer said. “You’ve chosen and raised your slaves well. Your wisdom is peerless, yes sir.”
Somehow the monster trainer seemed to have figured out just how much stronger Keel had gotten.
“But still,” the monster trainer continued. “With that glossy fur, despite his frail physique, I do believe he would fetch a high price on the market as a pet, yes sir.”
The monster trainer was playing with some tool of his. An abacus, maybe?
“This is just my initial appraisal, but how about something to the tune of nine gold coins? And back in his demi-human form he would fetch even more. That lovely fur . . . with some grooming, I could go all the way to 17 gold coins. How about it?”
“Big bro!”
Keel was looking desperately at Father, like a filolial on the selling block.
Oho? I heard Yuki and Kou singing from outside the tent. They must’ve gotten bored. By some leap of association, they were singing that old song about the calf that got sold.
“What are they doing?” Father muttered, casting a glance toward where Yuki and Kou were outside of the tent. “Even if that was by accident, they should read the room.” He patted Keel on the head and continued. “Sorry. Even though he’s grown up a lot, I have no interest in selling him.”
The monster trainer frowned. “That is . . . quite a shame. But still . . .” The monster trainer looked Keel up, down, and all over. “I thought we had struck a marvelous deal before, but it seems that I was mistaken.”
Keel now was practically clinging to Father out of concern. Was this really that worrisome?
“You appear to misunderstand me,” Father said. “The job of a real slave owner is to increase the value of his slaves.”
Father appeared to have entered his negotiation mode. What was he trying to say? Was he talking about filolials? They should all be loved equally, I say!
Real job? Increase value?
Father must be trying to lay a trap! He knows that just like human children, whether they’re fast or slow, strong or weak, sharp or dull, filolials must all be raised and equally loved! This was no place to be talking about value!
Every filolial is special, I say! There was no need to make it a competition. They are all number one.
“To you, slaves are just to be used and thrown away,” Father continued. “But that’s just a waste of resources. My friends here, whether or not they are my slaves, swear an oath of loyalty to me and fight to the death on the battlefield. Is that not an impressive use of slaves?”
“Hee hee. Is that so? You’ve given me goosebumps!”
The monster trainer appeared to be satisfied with Father’s response.
Keel had gone sheet white.
“B-big Bro?”
There was the whole incident with Itsuki yesterday, after all.
Father glanced over his shoulder at Keel and raised his forefinger secretively as if to tell Keel that it was okay. Then he looked back at the monster trainer.
Keel nodded as if she understood.
“So what can I do for you today, yes sir?”
“Ah, yes. This time . . .” Father looked around the tent. “I was thinking about raising a new monster. I need strength on the battlefield.”
“A new monster, you say! And what type of creature do you desire?” The monster trainer huddled in close to Father, talking quickly. “Perhaps a flying dragon? They’re not cheap, but would you like to have a look? Yes sir.”
Father shrugged and returned the perfect response.
“A dragon . . . Well, that’s not bad, but I was thinking about a filolial as well. How about it?”
“So you’re undecided, I see? Well, what do you think about taking your chances on an egg lottery? Yes sir.”
“A monster egg lottery, huh?”
The monster trainer pointed at a wooden egg crate in the corner of the tent. It appeared that you could buy a random egg for 100 silver coins, but you couldn’t be sure of what was inside.
“So it’s a game of chance? That’s nothing better than a nasty sales trick.”
“What! You think that my operation is unfair, Shield Hero?”
“Am I wrong?”
“I take great pride in my merchandise!” the monster trainer declared. “Certainly, I don’t mind tricking a customer that is trying to take advantage of me, but I would never misrepresent my products!”
“You say you don’t mind tricking people but don’t misrepresent things . . . Anyway, tell me more,” Father said.
“To put things simply, they are knight’s dragons.”
“Hm, so you can ride them like a filolial or a horse, but they’re dragons?”
“Yes, and some of them can even fly—the flying-type dragons. They are quite popular, especially among nobles, yes sir.”
Father shrugged. It was a smart negotiation strategy to act disinterested. I kept quiet and watched the scene unfold.
“Maybe . . . maybe if I didn’t have Motoyasu here or only had a single slave . . .” Father muttered to himself. I could tell that he was thinking very carefully about the right move here.