**Chapter 12: A Bit Strange**
"I and the other residents of the nearby villages were living ordinary lives until one day a wealthy merchant bought a large piece of land here and hired us to build his villa at a high wage."
"He brought relative prosperity to our poor and remote villages. At first we thought we had met a kind-hearted rich man, but he turned out to be a demon."
"Half a year ago, Darlock claimed he had opened a new factory on some island and needed many workers. The pay he offered was good, so almost every able-bodied person from the surrounding villages went."
"Who could have known that the demon wasn't a merchant at all—he was a slave trader. He sold us all to work in the mines on that island!"
"Ah!" Erza let out a small cry. Her face turned even paler as she curled into herself. Kaito frowned slightly. He might be a village tyrant, but he was a civilized one. In modern society, slavery had been abolished for over a century. Watching it in anime didn't feel real, but seeing it in person made him extremely uncomfortable. And when something made him uncomfortable, the person responsible had to suffer.
Kaito reached out and took Erza's hand. From the anime he knew about her past. Suddenly being thrown back into a familiar environment must have dragged her into those painful memories again.
Feeling the warmth of Kaito's palm, Erza gradually calmed down and looked up at him.
Kaito gave her a gentle smile. "Don't worry. I'm here."
Seeing that smile, Erza felt something different. The smiles he usually showed always felt annoying and arrogant, but this one was incredibly warm and chased away the cold in her heart.
Only then did she realize her hand was still being held by Kaito. Her neck flushed red, though the color was hidden beneath her scarlet hair.
"After that, you escaped?"
"Yes. There was a carpenter among us. He secretly built a small boat using materials from the mine. We then faked a mine collapse and escaped during the chaos."
Erza asked, "Then why didn't you report it to the authorities?" The moment the words left her mouth, she regretted them.
A woman spoke up, "I wanted to report it too, but my daughter Sasha is still working as a maid in that demon's villa. Our families and children are still in the village. If we report him, everyone's lives would be in danger."
Kaito said, "So you could only secretly return to check on your families from afar, right?"
"…How did you know?"
"You weren't careful enough. The traces you left were too obvious, so finding you wasn't hard. Since I accepted the request, your fake-death escape must have been discovered. The root of the problem is here, so of course you would come back. Though… there is something a bit strange." Kaito stroked his chin.
Erza saw him thinking and asked, "What's strange?"
"Nothing major." Kaito shook his head.
The others became panicked when they heard their escape had been discovered. They were afraid of being captured again and even more worried about their families' safety.
Suddenly, a person ran over in complete panic and shouted, "B-Bad news! Village Chief! A large group of people is heading this way to surround us!"
"What?! How?!"
"It's over! I'm going to be dragged back to be a slave again!"
"Why were we discovered? Were the traces really found?"
Kaito said calmly, "Actually, they were probably following me."
"?! Damn it! I knew we couldn't trust these two strangers!"
"They really are working with that demon Darlock to harm us!"
"Grab them! Use them as hostages!"
Everyone became agitated and surrounded Kaito and Erza.
"No! It's not like that!" Erza waved her hands in panic, trying to explain.
"Quiet!!" The village chief stood up shakily but shouted with surprising energy. He clearly held great authority among them. Soon everyone fell silent.
Then he looked at Kaito and asked, "Young man, what do you mean by that?"
"Exactly what I said. Earlier I noticed a hawk circling in the sky the whole time. It was probably used to locate us, and since it saw me, it followed me here." Kaito pointed at the sky.
Sure enough, a hawk was circling high above.
"A hawk!"
Everyone's faces fell. They knew that even if Kaito and Erza hadn't come looking for them, they wouldn't have been able to hide for long. In the mountains and forests, avoiding a hawk's eyes was almost impossible.
Before long, a group of rough-looking men armed with weapons appeared—around thirty of them. They surrounded Kaito, Erza, and the dozen or so escaped villagers.