~ Chapter 99: Modern transportation ~

[Ayuseya's point of view]

Together with Shanteya, we went and visited all the tailors in Port Rico in order to see what Paramanium had to offer in terms of clothes for children and adults. We went with high hopes, but they were soon crushed both by the lack of products and the way the tailors treated us. It was becoming clear that the idea of human superiority was getting more popular, especially with the Paramanium Empire being led by a long-lasting human monarchy.

We didn't even bother shopping where the tailors tried to cheat us out of our money because we weren't humans or downright tried to kick us out. We could have wrecked the place, but we didn't. These fools weren't even worth bothering with. We were more worried about Illsy accidentally picking up a woman... again.

At the end of the day, we did find a tailor who did not give us a cold stare or tried to cheat us. His wares were modest, and the design made me praise the Teslov tailors who made all of my dresses, but we still decided to buy some of his wares for moments when we would need to get dirty for some reason or another.

Of course, if any of us got dirty by falling in a puddle or something, we would witness their kidnapping at the hands of our perverted husband...

It made me incredibly happy to know that I was loved so much by someone like Illsy. Even when there were five of us, none of us felt like they were not offered just as much attention as the others were. This goofy beloved husband of ours treated us so well to the point where sometimes it made me wonder if this whole experience was maybe just another dream... and I was still trapped in Dankyun's clutches.

Before we had the chance to leave the shop, the tailor told us the reason why we will not find that many clothes for children, especially for newborn ones. This was because most mothers here preferred to make them on their own or ask someone who could instead of buying them from a tailor. After a short moment of thinking, we bought all the cloth rolls he had. We did not care about the material, but his words sparked a strange feeling of excitement within us.

Neither of us thought of the possibility of making baby clothes ourselves.

Inside the Storage Crystal embedded in the back of our hands by Illsy, we could store quite a lot of items, so we didn't have to worry about either volume or weight.

Once we were finished, we headed for the South gate. Because we decided to leave Port Rico today, logic dictated that that was the place where we were going to meet.

We were the first to find Illsy, but when we saw him, we had a bit of a surprise.

“Yo! Did you find anything good?” he asked with a casual smile.

Shanteya let out a sigh and shook her head.

I was looking at him with my mouth opened from the shock, and I could feel a headache was bound to strike soon.

“Illsy... what's this?” Shanteya asked as she pointed behind him.

What shocked us and made the el'doraw sigh was not Illsy himself but the 13 slaves behind him: three men, four women, and six children. All of them looked worried and scared, not knowing what was going to happen to them. The guards at the gate did not seem to hold any intention in questioning him, so it was immediately assumed that Illsy somehow or another became the master of all of these young people.

“Erm...” he replied with a foolish smile and scratched the back of his head.

“Nanya is going to punch you for buying them. As long as you don't intend to sleep with the women, I won't bite you.” I told him.

I had no problems with him getting a slave or two, but when it came to sleeping with them, then we had a problem. No other woman besides his wives had the right to share a bed with him. All those who dared would feel my... no, our wrath.

“That wasn't the purpose why I bought them!” he retorted immediately.

“Good.” I then tossed a glare at the slave women.

I was a dragoness at heart. As such, it was only natural that I would display a possessive and threatening attitude when other women tried to get close to my man.

“Hmph!” I whipped my hair in the wind and crossed my arms at my chest.

“I think you overdid it...” Shanteya told me.

“What?” I blinked surprised, but I looked at the one she was pointing at.

One of the younger women had fainted.

To this, I merely shrugged. I made my point clear. Illsy's wives were alright, but anyone else would meet my claws and teeth.

“Sigh...”

Now it was Illsy's turn to sigh and shake his head.

“What's going on?” Nanya asked from behind me.

I turned around and saw her standing there with a raised eyebrow and arms crossed at her chest. Her right foot was tapping on the ground while she waited for an explanation.

“Erm...” Illsy gulped and looked away.

“Illsy.” she pressed.

He gulped again and then replied “As you can see... I bought a few slaves?”

“A few? I see thirteen and are those children?” she pointed at the little ones.

Regarding them, I could more less guess why he bought them. With us, their freedom was going to be guaranteed. It was better than just waiting around for some abusing master to take them in.

Although, what I found peculiar was the fact that all of them were human. I was expecting most of them to be of other species.

“Well, yes?” Illsy replied.

Contrary to my expectations, Nanya shook her head and let out a sigh. She did not rush in to punch as I thought she would. Maybe she was in a good mood?

“Well, at least you aren't planning on eating them.” she shrugged.

“Ah! Another one fainted.” Shanteya pointed out.

This time, it was one of the smaller children.

“Huh?” Nanya blinked surprised.

Not long afterwards, Zoreya and Tamara arrived as well.

“Oh? Emergency food?” the nekatar asked as she looked at the slaves.

“No!” Illsy retorted, but it was too late, three more had fainted.

“Hm. Why have you bought these slaves, Illsy? You... aren't into that are you?” Zoreya asked in a worried tone of voice as she looked at the children.

“NO!” he shouted again.

She let out a relieved sigh.

“Come on! I'm a pervert, I know, but I'm not some sick monster who would touch children in that way. Those sorts should be put down in the most brutal way possible!” he retorted.

“Well now. Everyone, let us put the jokes aside before all of them faint.” I said as I clapped my hand.

“True.” Zoreya nodded.

“I'm sad, you know... You accused me of something awful.” Illsy pouted.

“I'll heal you in bed.” Zoreya replied.

“DEAL!” he gave her a thumbs up and a smile.

This pervert recovered rather quickly, and the rest of us gave him a cold stare.

“So, since we are all gathered here, can you tell us what you plan on doing with these slaves?” asked Nanya.

“Indeed, I doubt you will keep the children in those collars.” Shanteya pointed out.

The pregnant el'doraw was showing a deep concern for the young ones more than the rest of us did. It was most likely due to the fact that she was carrying and couldn't bear the thought of seeing innocent lives like theirs going to waste.

“Of course.” Illsy nodded.

Hearing this, all the slaves looked surprised at him.

“M-Master is going to free us?” one of the girls asked in a trembling tone of voice.

How frightened they must be... Separated from their family. Without seeing any hope for their lives in the future. Without having the right to reach out for a dream or even the innocent delight of playing like all the other normal children do... I thought as I looked at their trembling figures.

After spending so much time together with Illsy, listening to him, being by his side, and also talking and befriending Shanteya and Tamara who were both once slaves, the first more to a curse than to a collar, I couldn't help but reach the conclusion that the slavery system was a disgusting one that needed to be abolished. The only good use I saw in it was the fact that it could turn criminals and wrong doers into an obedient working force. That was it. Everything else had to go.

“Yes.” Illsyore replied, showing them a bright smile.

A glimmer of hope appeared on their faces, but then, one of the men spoke.

“Even if you free them, they will just be captured again and sold. What hope do they have of surviving in this world when their own parents sold them off into slavery?”

The man, a teenager, was looking down at the ground, showing that unlike them, he had long since given up all hope. His words weren't a lie though. Indeed, if Illsy just freed them and let them go in the next city, they would all end up as slaves again or worse, dead.

What he didn't know was that our husband, his new master, wasn't going to just let them go like that. If he wanted to free them, then he had a plan. Surely, he had a plan for all of them.

“None actually. But I'm not letting you go here, not now at least.” he replied.

“You intend... to free all of us?” asked one of the women, the oldest one in the group.

“Yes. But as I said, not here and not now.” he nodded.

These words of his, although they weren't a promise, they offered a bit of hope to all of them. Just the fact that he thought about it meant that there was still a glimmer of a chance. If there was a chance, then certainly, one day, they would be allowed to dream again. They would be allowed to hold a bit of hope in their heart and not give up at life.

“Before I start explaining, let's be off on our way.” said Illsy with a smile as he turned around and looked at us.

“Are you expecting us to carry them?” Nanya asked.

“No! Of course not! I don't mind if you carry me to the bedroom though!” he smirked and winked at her, causing the demoness to blush.

“Did you buy a carriage?” I asked.

“Better! I made one!” he declared.

“Oh! I want to see it!” Tamara said with a smile.

“Then! Here it is!” he said and pointed at the open space to his left.

There, at a few steps away from him... the raft appeared.

It was the plain wooden raft we sailed on after we left the Boss Island.

It was the same raft Illsy tried to make us sail when we decided to part from the Pirate Island.

“Illsy?” we all asked as we looked back at him with a stiff smile and a clenched fist.

Knuckles could be heard cracking in a harmony that gave off the sense of an impending doom for the unfortunate Dungeon.

“Wait! Wait! Wait! It's a mistake! An honest to god mistake!” he said backing away shaking his hands in the air.

“Should we trust him, girls?” I asked.

“I don't know...” Zoreya replied squinting her eyes and holding her shield with both hands.

“He sounds fishy...” Tamara said as she flicked her tail in the air.

“Should we bury him headfirst?” I asked.

“I suggest we send him flying.” Nanya pitched in.

“Come on now, be reasonable! It was a mistake! Shanteya, you believe me, right?” he said, trying to get at least one of us on his side.

It did not work.

“Do you expect me to believe that a Dungeon Lord like you who can hit a target dead center from more than a kilometer away is capable of confusing a carriage with a raft?” she asked.

“Erm... yes?” he forced a smile.

“Then let us help you fix that!” I said with a cold smile.

His joke ended here. We surrounded him and then we all slapped him each at the same time. The force kept him in place, but his Magic Armor shattered in a billion pieces. He fell on the ground with his cheeks turned red.

“Ouch...” he complained.

Only Illsy could survive an attack of that magnitude, but while other wives could threaten their husbands with a no-sex day, we didn't have either the guts or will to do it. We wanted to sleep with him, and we enjoyed every second of it, so it would end up more as a punishment for both of us rather than just him. On the other hand, the slaps were painful and easy to administer to said misbehaving husband without causing us, his respectful wives, to regret or suffer from anything.

While we waited patiently for Illsy to recover, we talked among each other about the things we visited, heard, and saw inside Port Rico. Shanteya and I told them about our troubles with the tailors, while Tamara and Zoreya said that many thought the nekatar was a slave or something. Two nobles attempted to buy her and threatened the High Apostle, but such things were useless against them. Tamara was inclined towards killing them, but Zoreya stopped her in time.

Nanya told us that she visited the Guild Hall located here and wrote a message in several copies, which she then sent through the Guild's Mail system. Waiting in line took her longer than expected, and not many dared to disturb her because of her not-so-friendly demonic appearance. The spikes, claws, and sharp teeth were frightening in human eyes.

Illsy recovered long before we finished our tales, so he joined in on our talk. When we asked him about where he bought the slaves, he told us the location. Despite the fact that it was right next to a brothel didn't bother me that much, but Tamara was glaring at him. Nanya wasn't very pleased about it either, but since there was no scent on his body to be used as a sign of adultery, she didn't punch him. Zoreya, surprisingly, did not see the idea of a man walking into a brothel as wrong, but she did confess that if he did, she would have worried if maybe he started to get bored of her.

These words of hers started to cause all of us to look down. After six years together on that island, Illsy knew everything there was to know about our bodies. Therefore, we were indeed a bit worried about whether or not we could still satisfy him.

For the next half an hour, Illsy tried to frantically cheer us up and prove us wrong. I believe we were all cheered up by his little act from the first minute, but we continued to make sad droopy eyes just to tease him. There was nothing wrong with us having a bit of fun with our cute husband. Besides, I had a feeling Illsy was not one to easily get swayed by another woman's charms. We joked about it, but we did trust him.

With night approaching fast, there was no more time for silliness, so Illsy summoned his contraption: a metal carriage on six wheels. It had four doors and a strange wheel in front of one of the seats. There were a lot of buttons and dials on the board just as there were in the case of the yacht. The seats appeared to be of the comfy type I saw back on the yacht, and we had a clear view of our surroundings thanks to crystal clear windows. The weird part about this carriage was the fact that it had a small cannon mounted on top of it and there was no seat for the driver on top of it. I could not see how a horse was going to pull it either.

“This is... What is this?” I asked as I furrowed my brow and tilted my head to the left.

“This is a land vehicle called an automobile or car.” he explained with a smug look on his face.

“Where do you put the horses?” asked Zoreya.

“It doesn't use horses.” Illsy replied.

“Does it use flying fish?” Tamara asked.

“No! How in the world did you come to that conclusion anyway?!” he retorted.

“I don't care how it moves, but does it?” Nanya asked raising an eyebrow.

“It does, I already tested it back on the Boss Island. Unfortunately, there's only room for six in this one. This isn't a normal car either, it's called a Maneuver Combat Vehicle. It has a cannon mounted on top, which can fire projectiles capable of going right through the Magic Armor of an Emperor Rank Adventurer. If I enchant the projectile, it can even go past that of a Godlike's Magic Armor.” he bragged.

“That's quite powerful for a projectile weapon.” said Nanya.

“It's a cannon, of course it's powerful. I wanted to make a Gatling Gun, but I changed my mind halfway through building it. I wanted something classic.” he smirked.

“Continue the explanation, please.” I told him.

I was quite curious about what this strange carriage could do. The devices our husband built were always intriguing and interesting. Most of the time, they were fun to use too. Although he never told us what he worked on, we didn't mind the fact that he wasn't telling us. I found the way he tried to keep the mystery and surprise us with his nutty inventions to be rather cute.

“Well, the MCV is a vehicle aimed more towards personnel transport rather than direct combat. It's well armed and defended by an enchanted bulletproof armor. It can travel with a speed of up to 160 km/h on flat terrain and 50 km/h on... well, most roads in this world. Oh, the big wheels are quite sturdy. We won't need to worry about blowing a tire or anything like that.” he said proudly.

“That's quite fast...” Nanya said surprised.

“You're surprised by this speed? We can run faster, you know?” he told her.

“Yes, but a carriage doesn't... At least not any I have seen before.” she shook her head.

“This thing isn't a carriage, right?” I asked.

“Technically... sort of not. I mean, it does have wheels, and you can ride it, but it doesn't need a horse to pull it. The engine does the work for the beast, you just need a driver that won't crash it into things.” he shrugged.

“This looks like a military vehicle though...” Zoreya pointed out.

“Back on Earth, it was... But if you take into consideration the possibility of running into monsters, magic attacks, ranged projectile attacks with enchanted weapons, then... a civilian vehicle would end up being extremely squishy.” he showed a wry smile.

“Isn't the luxury yacht the same?” Nanya asked raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, but that was only because we could easily cast our spells from on top of the deck. While we are inside a vehicle, it's a bit hard. Well, a convertible would work too, but I didn't feel like building one... It didn't feel appropriate.” he shrugged.

“But I still don't see how we are to carry the slaves if this vehicle can only carry us?” Shanteya questioned.

“We'll install this thing in the back.” Illsy replied and made a big square box appear next to him.

Unlike the MCV, this one didn't appear to have a flat front or a cannon, but it was covered by the same type of armor. It had only four wheels too.

“They can fit inside.” he nodded.

“Is this another vehicle?” Zoreya asked.

“No, this one is something that you can attach to the back of a vehicle, a transport wagon. It doesn't have an engine, so it needs to be pulled by something.” he replied.

“A carriage, basically.” Nanya said as she approached it and then opened the doors in the back.

“Yes, sort of.” he nodded.

When I peeked inside, I noticed that there were eight chairs placed on the right side and another eight on the left side, facing each other. There were black straps tied to each of them.

“What are these things?” I pointed at them.

“Those are called seat belts. It has the purpose of securing the passenger in the seat to avoid him or her falling off during a bumpy ride.” he replied.

“It sounds useful.” I nodded in appreciation.

None of the carriages in our world had this sort of contraption. It was a good idea.

“It is. Usually, it saves lives.” he nodded.

“Carriages in your previous world are that dangerous?” Shanteya asked raising an eyebrow.

“Not carriages, cars... When they travel with 100km/h and there are several of them on the same and opposite lanes, then yes...” he replied.

“I don't understand.” I said furrowing my brow.

His words were a bit confusing. I could hardly imagine a situation where so many of these vehicles would travel at such a high speed on the same road. It sounded rather... apocalyptic.

“Let's get on and find a good place to camp for the night.” he said.

“Indeed.” Shanteya nodded.

After we helped the slaves get on the carriage and strapped in their chairs, we got on the front vehicle ourselves. Shanteya sat in the back next to Zoreya. Tamara and Nanya sat behind them, and since I was the biggest, I took the front seat next to Illsy.

The vehicle made a soft humming noise when its engine was started, and a pair of lights were turned on in front of it. The road was illuminated well, allowing the driver to guide the vehicle around holes and big boulders otherwise invisible at night.

“Let's move out!” Illsy said with a chipper and pressed one of the two pedals under his feet.

The MCV started to move and quickly gained speed until it reached 50 km/h.

I worried we would feel every single bump in the road at this speed, but surprisingly, it was a smooth ride. Unless we hit a more prominent bump or hole on the road, we would barely feel anything.

“Enchanted shock dampeners are working perfectly, I see.” Illsy said after a few minutes.

“Enchanted what?” Nanya asked.

“Shock dampeners. Simply put, they are big springs connected to the wheels with the sole purpose of making sure we don't feel in our behinds every single rock we drive over.” he replied.

“It's not as noisy as when you drive in a carriage either.” I pointed out.

“Of course, these are bulletproof windows. Their thickness dampens a lot of the noise of the ride, making it more comfortable for us.” he explained.

“Won't it alert monsters and bandits of our approach?” Zoreya asked.

“That's why we have a cannon and thick armor. Besides, I doubt they have a horse fast enough to catch up with us.” he smirked.

“He does have a point. Besides, if things get too dangerous, we can always just step out and finish them off.” I said with a smile.

“How long are we going to travel like this? It's almost nighttime.” Tamara asked with her ears perked up and looking at the scenery outside like a predator ready to pounce.

She was certainly enjoying this ride.

“Until we find a clearing or something. There is no problem with traveling all night either. At this speed, we'll be in Krestan in four to five hours.” he replied.

“We have no problem with it, but the slaves need to be treated and fed. Not to mention the fact that you need to explain both to them and us the reason why you got them.” Nanya pointed out.

“I know, that's why we'll stop in one hour to set up camp.” he said.

Traveling like this did not feel bad at all. It was comfortable and relaxing. The noise and bumpiness of the road were barely felt when compared to a regular carriage. If the nobles knew of this marvelous way to travel, they would do anything they could to get their hands on it. If we were normal people, maybe we would have something to worry about, but when I reminded myself what sort of foes would be needed to cause us trouble, I could not help but sit back and enjoy the ride...

I am really curious to hear what Illsy plans to do with the slaves... I thought as I gazed at the empty road ahead.