## Chapter 871 – Illegal Slave Traders

After that, I continued lecturing the students until Priest Quelen returned. It was almost a month, so the initial fervor had cooled down a bit, but the students still responded enthusiastically.

This is what proper learning is all about.

School isn’t just a place to teach academics. It should also teach how to live life and wisdom. After all, isn’t that what `culture` is? By listening to my lectures, the students learned about demons and cultivated a proper sense of hatred. This will lead to a positive future.

It’s practically a national celebration.

“Good work, Paladin. You did a great job for a month. Now that Quelen has returned, he will resume lecturing.”

Thus, my professorial stint, which lasted about four weeks, came to an end. Looking back, it felt as rewarding as when I was an instructor at the Paladin Training Center, and my chest began to swell with pride.

I was a born professor.

“It was quite fun. It’s very enjoyable to educate the children who will lead the future.”
“You certainly seem to have a talent for it. Well, educating children is an important task.”

Early morning at the Grand Temple.

After that conversation, I received compensation from the Saintess for the Death Knight incident. This time, it was also a sum of gold. Now, earning money is so easy that I don’t even feel much excitement.

I’m just accumulating it.

“By the way…”
“Is there work coming up?”
“Unfortunately, work has come up.”

Unfortunate?

The Saintess took out a cigarette and a stack of documents.

“After receiving the report that Paladin had dealt with the Death Knight, we conducted an investigation of the area. Some decent information has started to come in.”

Finally, the results of the investigation are here.

“First, we gathered eyewitness accounts of the Death Knight and created a route. It may not be perfectly accurate, but it seems the Death Knight came from the southern part of the kingdom.”
“The South, you say?”

If you go south from the Kingdom of Karga, you’ll find the sea.

Speaking of the sea, I’m reminded of those fish-headed Mermen from back then. Those Mermen bastards wrecked an entire city.

If it weren’t for me, the people of other cities would have been harmed. They were unforgivable sons of bitches. In the end, they turned my vacation into a bloodbath.

Anyway, the sea.

I need to go there again sometime.
Ah, damn, now I suddenly want to eat raw fish.

Even though the Mermen looked disgusting, they tasted pretty good.

“Then that means the heretics’ Death Knight manufacturing facility is in the South.”

The fact that the Death Knight came from the South might mean that the heretics have a base somewhere in that area.

This is definitely good information.

“No, that’s not certain.”

The Saintess shook her head.

“There are many ports in the South. If the heretics own a ship, we can’t pinpoint the location of the manufacturing facility.”
“Ah… I suppose so.”

Well, if they’re on a ship, how would we know where they’re going?

Even in modern Earth, illegal immigration using ships is rampant, so it must be even worse here. It’s not like there’s a specialized coast guard with radar. Although the Royal Navy and local lord’s armed ships exist, their detection capabilities aren’t as good as radar, which contains the essence of modern science.

“Then don’t we know nothing? It’s good that we found out, but thinking about it, it doesn’t seem like very useful information.”
“Do you think that’s all there is?”

— Whoosh.

The Saintess exhaled cigarette smoke and said.

“There aren’t many churches in the South, but they aren’t completely absent. The local churches are always investigating and tracking the movements of heretics and demons.”

Does that mean?

“Before, when Paladin first came to the capital, you went out to investigate the Paradise Ascension Society.”
“Ah, yes. I remember.”

The preacher who was raising money with that orgy party committed suicide when he was about to be caught by me.

“A local church in the South was tracking suspected heretics with similar doctrines. And… while investigating the Death Knight incident, we compared information and found that their routes overlapped.”
“Oh.”

Currently, it is speculated that the Paradise Ascension Society is a kind of fundraising organization created by real heretics.

Those guys were moving in the South, and their routes even overlapped with the Death Knight who came from the South?

This is suspicious.

“Check the documents.”
“Yes.”

I immediately checked the stack of documents. It contained a small map with the location of the port city of Reitas marked on it.

“Reitas has long been notorious for illegal slave trading. The Kingdom of Karga recognizes slavery only when it is done legally, but just as crime never disappears from this world, illegal slave trading is rampant somewhere.”
“Sla, slavery!!!!!!!”

I almost had a fit at those words!!!

Illegal slave trading!
That should never exist!!

“However, Reitas is quite far from the capital, and there are few churches nearby, and there are many ports, so this problem never ends. Even if we occasionally crack down and destroy illegal slave trading organizations, other slave traders quickly take their place. There are even rumors that pirates are hiding their identities and docking there, so eradication is impossible.”

This is a complete hotbed of crime.
It’s practically a pirate city.

“The lord of that area claims to be cracking down, but… well. It’s likely he’s taking bribes and turning a blind eye.”

The lord is also under suspicion. But it’s difficult to investigate, and they haven’t found any direct evidence.

“This is what they call the balance of good and evil.”
“You could say that.”

No matter how many criminal organizations you eliminate, evil beings will never disappear, so they keep appearing. This was the basic ideology of the Bronze Celestial Angels.

“This Saintess suspects that the heretics are deeply involved in the illegal slave trade. There’s no business more profitable than this. They can secure funds very efficiently.”

The Saintess continued, puffing on her cigarette.

“In fact, there have been reports of heretics with doctrines similar to the Paradise Ascension Society sneaking into Reitas, and according to a report sent by the local church, one of those heretics was working as a member of a slave trading organization. At this point, it’s suspicious enough.”

It’s certainly suspicious.

“Was that slave trading organization legal?”
“It seems to be on the surface… but the truth is unknown. The church that sent the report hasn’t found any illegal evidence either, so you could say the information is lacking.”

It’s just suspicious, but if a suspected heretic is doing that kind of thing in a city that’s a hotbed of crime, then they’re practically confirmed criminals.

“Anyway, you want me to go and investigate, is that it?”
“That’s right. If we uncover this, we might be able to catch their tail.”

I think so too.

The Paradise Ascension Society’s heretics and illegal slave trading… come to think of it, those heretics have a history of human trafficking in the Misty Plains. It wouldn’t be strange for them to jump into the illegal slave trade.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that the Paradise Ascension Society and the lich-involved heretics are connected, but they’re still heretics. It’s worth investigating.

“This seems like it will take some time, so my heart is already aching.”

The Saintess said, resting her chin on her hand.
She must not want to be separated from me.

“Haa… I don’t want to send Paladin away, but this is my job.”
“It can’t be helped.”

I just need to go to the port city and stir up the slave trading organization.

“Then I’ll go and come back. I’ll try to finish it as quickly as possible.”

I approached the Saintess and stroked her face, saying.

“So don’t be too sad. It pains me to see such a beautiful face stained with sadness.”
“…I suppose so. Still, the nights will be difficult for a while.”

I can’t help her with that.

“The documents contain more detailed information and a legal code regarding slave trading in the kingdom. And this is a certificate that recognizes legal investigative authority for this case only. Take it. It will be very useful.”
“Recognition of investigative authority?”

I received a document and a medal with some kind of stamp on them.

A certificate?

“So if I show this, I can legally investigate no matter what the procedure is?”
“That’s right. Of course, you can’t do anything that goes too far.”
“I understand.”

I checked the stamps on the document.

This is the Saintess’s stamp… and the one next to it is the Pope’s.
And the one next to that looks similar to the kingdom’s emblem.

“Look at the stamps.”
“Yes. There are three.”
“The Saintess and the Pope. And the stamp of Princess Einphel Gainsha Karga.”
“Huh?”

A princess?

“Wait, the princess gave you her stamp?”
“Well, Paladin did a great job at the academy this time. The heretics are involved in illegal slave trading, and when I said I wanted to investigate it, she readily gave her permission.”
“Holy moly.”

Things are turning out like this.

“Don’t tell me you had me teach as a professor for this purpose?”
“It was just included. It worked out well, so there’s nothing more to say.”
“I guess so.”

She’s really smart.

“And of course, you must never hand it over to anyone else or lose it. I’m giving it to you because you’re Paladin; normally, it would be almost impossible to take something like this out.”
“Of course not. I’ll keep it like my own life.”

Am I a child that I would lose this?

“Then Paladin… I’d like a farewell kiss.”
“Ah, yes.”

Anyway, a new job has begun. I immediately gave the Saintess a passionate kiss as she requested. I won’t be able to see her for a while once I start working.

After kissing for a long time, I came out of the Grand Temple.

* * *

As soon as I returned home with the documents, I changed into comfortable clothes and examined the legal code.

The Kingdom of Karga recognizes slavery.

But you can’t just enslave anyone. Only prisoners captured during war or those who have been legally authorized in prison can be enslaved. In the latter case, you must obtain permission from the victim or the victim’s family to sell them. And there are also cases where people become slaves because of debt.

If a slave trader expresses their intention to purchase a victim through the prison, the prison becomes a kind of brokerage, talking to the victim, and if it goes well, they sell the criminal to the slave trader.

Then the prison and the victim share the proceeds of the sale.

Of course, the criminals who can be sold are limited to heinous criminals, but this isn’t strictly enforced, and some prison wardens have the mindset of just selling any criminal, so there are some problems here and there.

Anyway, most legal slaves are produced in this prison.

Since they came out of prison, there is a document with the proper procedures recorded, and this is the certificate that proves they are legal slaves.

What if you don’t have this?
They’re an illegal slave.

If you don’t have a certificate, who knows if this person was suddenly kidnapped and enslaved? That’s why it’s illegal.

If the certificate is lost, the slave regains their freedom.

Of course, there are people who forge these documents… but how can you regulate and prevent all of that? No matter how much you regulate, you can’t eradicate crime from this world.

Of course, both illegal slave trading and document forgery are serious crimes, so if caught, they are usually sentenced to death or thrown into the arena as monster fodder.

Anyway, these slaves, if male, are sold to mines or manors, and if female, they are sold as maids. The life of a slave is like that. Since they are marked as criminals from the beginning, it doesn’t matter how harshly they are treated.

It’s legal to kill, torture, or sexually exploit them, but the problem is with the illegal slaves who have been unfairly captured.

Good.

I have completed familiarizing myself with the slave trading law, and I have also received an official investigation certificate from the Saintess.

With this, it will be easy to raid that crime-ridden port city. The back of the document also contains detailed information about the movements of the Paradise Ascension Society group investigated by the local church, so catching them doesn’t seem to be a problem.

It’s been a while since I’ve done some work.