Liberation of The Slaves

Chapter 68 – Information About Him

— Celestia’s POV —

“Before that, I have something important to tell you.”

The sun cast a soft amber hue across the training grounds, the horizon melting into hues of gold and fire. Karin and I were casually chatting when a nobleman’s figure approached—poised, deliberate, as though the earth itself made room for him. His golden hair shimmered like molten sunlight, catching the glow of the dying day, and his amber eyes glinted with quiet intelligence and something gentler—something reserved just for me.

I bowed instinctively. “Good evening, Count Shufillen.”

He returned the gesture with a smooth smile, one he wore with the ease of someone born into elegance. “Good evening, Celestia. Thank you for your hard work today. Here—this is for you.”

A towel, fresh and soft, met my hand before I could respond. The gesture had become so familiar it no longer surprised me—yet each time, it stirred something quiet in my chest.

“Geez,” I muttered with a faint smile as I accepted it. “I told you, you don’t always have to bring this… but thank you.”

“It’s nothing,” he said simply. “If it’s for you, it’s never troublesome.”

The words were casual. Almost. His tone carried a gentleness that made them linger, unspoken layers beneath the surface.

I wiped the sweat from my temples, the fabric cool against my flushed skin. He handed me one nearly every evening after training, a detail that hadn’t gone unnoticed. Nearly every day, he watched me train and only returned to his lands after ensuring I was safe.

A noble with time to linger—one might wonder how he managed his lands. But Count Shufillen was no ordinary noble. His subordinates operated like a well-oiled machine.

Every night, he returned to his territory via teleportation scroll, only to reappear the next day unless something truly urgent bound him to his home. The idea of using a teleportation scroll—a gold coin’s worth of magic—daily made my head spin. Such a casual, reckless luxury spoke volumes of his world… and how far removed it was from mine.

I wasn’t foolish. I knew what his attention meant.

He hadn’t confessed—not outright—but the affection in his actions clung to me like a second shadow: his patience, his offerings, his gaze.

But I couldn’t afford to return those feelings. Not now. My heart was a battlefield reserved for one war: the search for my siblings. His feelings were convenient, and I would use them if I had to. That truth didn’t change the fact that part of me felt his gaze sometimes lingered too long, his words carried a warmth that made me hesitate… just a little.

“So, what’s this important information?”

Karin’s voice pulled me back.

Count Shufillen cast her a brief glance, polite but distant, then focused his golden eyes back on me. And in his eyes, I saw it—hesitation, tension, something tightly coiled in his chest finally ready to be released.

“Celestia,” he said softly, “I found the location of your brother.”

The world stood still.

“…What?”

A breath caught in my throat. Then the words sank in.

He found him.

“W-What!?” My voice broke. I stepped forward, heart racing, heat flooding my cheeks as I reached out—without thinking—and grasped his hands in both of mine. “Are you serious!? Where is he!?”

The words escaped me too fast, too raw. Before I realized it, my body tilted forward with desperate anticipation. His eyes widened in surprise, and for a heartbeat, we stood there—my fingers curled tightly around his, our faces just inches apart. His hands were warm. Steady. Something flickered across his face—something stunned, but soft.

His lips parted, but before he could speak, Karin’s theatrical cough jolted me back.

“Ahem.”

I gasped and released him immediately, stumbling a step back.

“Ah—sorry! I didn’t mean to—it’s just—” I exhaled sharply, struggling for composure. “I was… too happy. I lost control.”

“It’s alright,” he said, voice gentler than before. He scratched the back of his neck, turning his head just slightly. “Actually, it’s… the first time you’ve held my hand, so… I didn’t mind. I was kind of happy, too.”

I blinked, unsure how to respond. A slow heat crept up my neck. I looked away, heart still pounding for reasons beyond the news.

I exhaled slowly.

<“Focus, Celestia. Now is not the time…”>

Karin sighed as though she were watching a slow romance novel unfold against her will.

“So… where is he?” I asked, more carefully this time.

“About that...” Count Shufillen’s tone shifted, becoming more serious. “I’m not certain it’s him, but… there’s been a report of a boy—nine or ten years old—with blue hair, a blue left eye, and a red right eye.”

My heartbeat surged, fast and uneven. “That’s him! That has to be him! Where is he!?”

“There’s a gold mine along the northern border of the Empire. The boy works there… as a mining slave.”

A breath hitched in my chest. My hands trembled.

“A… slave…”

The word slammed into me like a cold blade. I’d prepared myself for the worst—but hearing it aloud, visualizing my little brother swinging a pickaxe underground, dirt and blood on his skin, collar on his neck, breathing in ash and ore—left me momentarily speechless.

My knees wavered. For a second, my vision tilted. His hand caught my shoulder before I fell, steadying me, grounding me. His face was close again—closer than before—his eyes searching mine with quiet urgency.

“Are you alright, Celestia?”

I swallowed hard. “Y-Yeah… Thank you.”

I turned to Karin, my voice trembling but firm. “Teacher, let me—”

“I know,” she said, already tossing me a teleportation scroll. I caught it, barely.

I bowed. “Thank you. I’ll bring him back.”

“Yeah. Good luck.”

Count Shufillen’s concern etched deeper into his features. “Do you want to leave now? The sun is setting. You could wait until morning.”

“Thank you for your concern, Count, but I can’t wait. Who knows what could happen if I’m late? I can’t lie in bed while my brother might be sleeping on the cold ground. I have to go.”

He sighed—an exasperated but fond sound. “Then I’ll send a few knights to escort you.”

“I appreciate the gesture, but no. I need to move fast, and I’ll be freer without a unit behind me.”

“Tsk.” He clicked his tongue in frustration, but relented. “Stubborn as ever. Then take this, at least.”

He rummaged through the magic bag at his hip, pulling out a sheaf of papers and handing them to me. My eyes scanned them quickly, and I gasped.

“This is…”

“All the information you might need. The mine’s name, its surrounding towns, your brother’s supposed owner. Everything I could gather.”

Detailed maps. Supply routes. Shifts. Slave records. Even the name of the man who held Freed's leash. I read quickly. The man holding Freed wasn’t a noble, but someone beneath even a steward. A subordinate’s subordinate.

“His master… isn’t a noble?”

“No. Just a subordinate to a noble. To be exact, the man in charge of the mine is his subordinate. The noble holds the land, his appointed steward oversees the mine, and the steward hands off day-to-day business to others. Slaves fall to the bottom of that chain. Essentially, the slaves’ master is a commoner.”

“You seem awfully knowledgeable, Count.”

He shrugged. “Well, you know that I also let my subordinates take care of all things. Nobles rarely do the dirty work themselves.”

Karin cut in. “If he’s not a noble, you’ll be fine—so long as you act quietly. Don’t give them a reason to escalate.”

She was right. If I wanted to get Freed out, I’d have to be swift, silent, and ruthless. The law wouldn’t save him. I would.

Still, I had to ask: “They kidnapped him from our kingdom… isn’t that a crime? Wouldn’t that be enough to hold them accountable?”

“There’s no proof,” the Count said, tone cool. “If accused, the Empire would claim they acquired slaves through legal merchants. No one would dare call it a crime without evidence.”

That’s how the world worked.

“I see.”

With nothing more to say, I made my preparations in haste. Within the hour, I was astride a horse, bound for the Empire’s northern edge.

It would take less than a month if I rode through the night, slept little, and stopped even less. A mad rush fueled by love and fury.

I wouldn’t stop until I reached that mine.

I wouldn’t stop until I reached him.

And the man who dared put chains on my brother would learn the price of touching what was mine.