Chapter 1106: Hidden Corner Of Asttol City

Turns out I was right about Sister Rolia not accepting the terms but for another reason…

The two of them started bargaining with each other where Sister Rolia wanted more of my pictures but Emilia was unwilling to offer more so it dissolved into a rather intense discussion.

I decided to make myself scarce since they didn’t need me to mediate between them so I thought this was a good chance to make good on one of my promises to a certain little girl~

Thus, I left the two women in the sitting room and left with Katsuki, Carrey and Ather, the Off-Worlder artist following me more for her own desire to sketch me than me requesting her to do so.

I know I told her that I was going to find her but I actually have no idea where she was.

That wasn’t a problem though since…

“Katsuki?”

She bowed, “Would you like me to guide you to where Miss Millie is now, Mistress?”

“That would help, Katsuki.”

Ather turned to me to show a confused look on her face, “Who is Millie?”

I swivelled to stare at her, “Eh? It’s the little girl that we were escorting for the past few days!”

“Hmm… I wasn’t interested in her so I don’t remember her name.”

Well… I guess I should have expected that response from her.

I’m pretty sure she had been ignoring our entire conversation with the Marchioness earlier despite being so close to us just now as well.

Ather then went right back to concentrating on her sketchbook since her question had been answered, losing interest in the conversation entirely.

I turned back to Katsuki, “Umm… Anyway… Could you guide us to where they are?”

My Inugamie maid bowed, “Of course, Mistress. Please follow me.”

She led the way out of the manor and we walked past the gates with none of the guards trying to stop us. This was a different group from last night so I believe they must have already informed all the staff about us.

Our little group left the grounds of the manor to head into the city itself.

Despite the fact that it was still early in the morning, the streets were already packed with people doing their daily morning routines.

Most of them were slaves doing work for their masters and mistresses with only a few of them being free citizens.

That’s the slave capital of the Lehcarouc Kingdom for you, where there are more slaves than free people living here.

Katsuki led us towards the market district where we eventually reached a bazaar where merchants could set up stalls to sell their wares.

And of course, one such stall had a rather familiar family in the midst of setting up their wares.

“Good morning~” I greeted them.

All of them turned and Millie was the first to recognise me, the little girl throwing up her hands to rush at me.

“Big sister! Big sister!” She squealed.

I lowered myself to let her hug me, the little girl giggling as I picked her up in my arms.

Hmm? Is it just me or does she feel a little heavier than before?

“Good… Good morning, big sister!” George greeted, finally recovering from his initial surprise.

Frank, the father of the family, waved at me, “Hey there, Miss Aster! I see you’ve brought Miss Katsuki, Miss Carrey and Miss Ather along with you as well! Thank you again for the escort!”

Their mother, Melong, also greeted me with a wave, “Fufu~ Thank you for putting up with our troublesome children as well, Miss Aster.”

Millie pouted at her mother, “Moooooom!!”

“I’m not disturbing you guys, am I?” I asked.

Frank chuckled, “Certainly not. We’re almost done here and the kids have been asking about when you were going to show up the entire morning, so you would be doing us a favour by taking them away now.”

I know he was just saying that but that was what I intended to do anyway so I turned to Millie, “Ready to go?”

“Yay!! Play! Big sister! Play!”

“Does your big brother want to come as well?”

George seemed surprised that I even invited him and he looked at his parents, only to receive a nod from both of them.

“Ah… Well… I guess I should come along to watch over Millie…” He muttered while scratching the back of his head.

I could tell he was trying to play it cool but I’ll just let him have it and turned back to Millie instead.

“So you said you wanted to show me around the city right?”

She gasped and climbed down from my arms before hopping up and down excitedly, “That’s right, that’s right! Over here big sister! I know a good place to play!”

The little girl then started to run while tugging on my arm, forcing me to chase after her while I was bent in an awkward position because of our height difference.

We ran through the market district until we reached what I assumed to be the commoner’s district but she still continued to run without stopping.

George seemed to realise where she was taking me and called out to her, “Millie? Are you sure bringing big sister there is a good idea?”

Millie didn’t seem to hear him as she continued pulling me behind her while the others chased after us from behind.

We eventually reached a part of the city that had a wooden wall erected around a certain building that looked like some kind of church.

Instead of going through the front gates however, Millie brought me towards the back until we reached a point in the wall where a hole was located at the bottom of said wall.

Millie then beckoned me to follow her as she crawled through the hole, disappearing behind the wall.

The hole itself was only just big enough for a child to fit through so there was absolutely no way I was fitting in that.

Well, not like I have to go through the hole to get past it anyway…

I easily jumped over the wall that was about my height, turning back to see the others also climb over it while George followed his sister and only just barely managed to squeeze through the hole.

After I got past the wall, I realised that this was indeed a church but it looks like the place has seen better days since it was quite run down and badly maintained.

The main building of the church even had holes in the walls and the grass surrounding the building was overgrown with vines growing up the side of the walls as well.

Either the priest or priestess in charge of this temple is slacking off at their jobs or there isn’t even one taking care of this temple.

That in itself is a little odd considering the fact that gods are real in this World so who would allow a temple dedicated to one of the gods fall into such disrepair?

Speaking of which… Where is–

“Everyone!! Millie is back!!” Someone shouted from the area outside the church.

I turned and I found the little girl in question waving her hand at another group of kids that had appeared at the church’s entrance.

Unlike Millie who was at least dressed in decent clothes, the kids here were dressed in rags and all of them had collars on their necks, signifying their slave status.

What’s more, it was abundantly clear all of them were malnourished.

I turned to George, silently asking him what was going on with my gaze.

He scratched his cheek, “Those kids… Well… They are either children of slaves or their entire family had been enslaved but they ended up getting separated. They were supposed to grow up under the supervision of the priest here in this church but… Well… A few years ago that guy was found to be guilty of some crime and got himself caught. They never ended up sending a replacement priest so these kids have just been living here the entire time.”

I frowned, “And you guys?”

“We came across them by chance when Millie went out to play one day so we started visiting them whenever we came to the city… And well… Millie…”

He nodded in the direction of the kids and I found Millie pulling out a bag that she had hidden underneath her clothes to show to the kids, revealing it to be packed with food.

The little girl started handing them out while giggling with the other kids, the girl herself clearly not even aware of the other kids’ conditions and just merely sharing food because she wanted to.

I turned back to Katsuki, “How is this even allowed to happen under Unerolia’s watch?”

“I believe there might be someone suppressing the information from reaching her, Mistress. Would you like me to find out?”

I paused before shaking my head, “I’ll ask her later. Before that, can we get some food for these kids first?”

She bowed her head, “Of course Mistress. Come, Carrey, you will help me prepare.”

Right, while the two of them are doing that, I guess I should introduce myself to those kids first.

Seriously… Here I thought I would just be playing with Millie…

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