The Heroines Are After My Fortune

19 – I Recruited the Ultimate Slave – 1

Poo-woo—!!

At a huge train transfer hub, a high-class steam locomotive slowed and came to a stop.

“Hoo, that took a while.”

Aiden had arrived in Schmier, a city about two days’ journey south of the capital. Called the artisan city, it had too rough of a road for carriages, making train travel the only option. He was accompanied by only Sasha and Caesar. Actually, he had only planned on bringing Sasha, but,

‘My daughter alone with him? This b*stard——!!’

Caesar’s glare and bellow forced us to come as a trio.

‘Genius magitech engineer Luke, hiding in a place like this.’

Luckily, we found him not too late. Just a bit later, and he’d have been caught by debt collectors, doomed to a life of making things in some lightless pit, a slave.

You might think, why not just find him, pay his debt, and take him away? But due to the trauma of his parents dumping their debts on him and vanishing, Luke doesn’t trust people easily. He hadn’t even distinguished himself as a genius yet, so if we’d suddenly shown up offering to pay off his mountain of debt, he’d be suspicious.

That’s where this was needed: a ‘Boy meets Girl’ operation disguised as chance.

“Sasha, you know the plan by heart, right?”

“Ehehe, of course!”

This cute girl would become the net that ensnared our genius magitech engineer.

And after that, I’d be his savior, his light, emerging from his troubles.

####

“Boss———!! So glad to be here—!!!”

A young man with messy brown hair stormed into the diner, his voice booming.

With his simple, unpretentious looks and bright, resounding voice, it was magitech engineer Luke.

“Same as usual, toast and coffee?”

“Yeees—! Please—!!”

The boss chuckled at him as Luke bowed deeply and offered his payment. It seemed the boss had warmed up to this young man who had recently settled in the city.

‘Okay, today’s going to be different…!’

Full of zeal, Luke sat by the window at a terrace table, the cool breeze on his face as he laid out a large blueprint. He had a big idea brewing in his head, and this was it.

‘A floating airship… if I can create the design for a ship that can fly!’

A floating airship. The kind of thing every arcane engineer dreamed of. To be the first to design one – that would mean not just clearing mountains of debt, but so much more. But for now, the skies were an uncharted domain reserved for the highest-ranking mages. To be charting such a grand design while running from debt collectors was no easy task for the young lad.

Luke, trying to shake off his muddled thoughts and get to his schematics, glanced out the window and saw her.

‘Sword dancing…?’

A young girl, dancing with swords in the artisan’s city.

Even passersby halted in their tracks, captivated by the dance of the short-haired, brown-haired girl. A mesmerizing display, flowing as softly as a butterfly, then striking like a bee, the incredible ebb and flow of the sword dance. Luke knew little of swords, but he understood one thing:

‘…Beautiful.’

Watching from afar, Luke applauded her performance with genuine appreciation.

And he felt it. Inspired by the girl’s dance, reminiscent of butterflies and bees, his mind was suddenly brimming with ideas. The schematic work that had been stuck suddenly flowed, major roadblocks now overcome.

‘Yes—!! This is it…!’

Two hours spent glued to his seat, Luke finally felt genuinely satisfied with his day’s work. It was all thanks to the sword-dancing girl, he thought, but she was no longer visible outside.

‘Of course, it’s been two hours…’

He wished he had some spare coin to offer her for her performance, but it was too late. As Luke stood to leave, a jolt of surprise seized him. Sitting at the table right next to his was the same charming girl he’d seen earlier. He quickly sat back down. His heart began to race.

‘…Calm, calm down!’

He couldn’t quite explain the reason, but his heart was pounding, and his eyes kept darting towards her. Pretending to focus on the schematics he’d just finished, Luke stole glances at the girl and soon heard her worried voice.

“This is bad. Not enough money for repairs, and now the nav machine is broken…”

She slumped onto the table, her face resting on a small compass-like arcane device, sighing deeply.

‘Nav machine…?’

Luke’s ears perked up.

A nav machine was a compass-type arcane device that read a map, allowing one to set a destination and receive directions. Luke, already wanting an excuse to talk to her, knew he could fix that machine with little effort. After a few loud throat-clearing noises, he approached the troubled girl.

“Excuse me, uh, miss—!! I happened to overhear, but are you perhaps in some kind of trouble…!?”

Even as his words tripped over themselves, the girl startled at the loud voice booming in her ears. At first dumbfounded, she quickly adopted a fierce expression and glared at Luke.

“What are you babbling about? I’m not interested in you, so get lost and stop with your nonsense.”

Waving her hand dismissively, she chased him away, looking for all the world like she thought he was some hound hunting for a date.

“I’m not that kind of weirdo——!!!”

Luke, with all sincerity, spoke his heart, each word measured. He’d been stuck on his project, but her performance had inspired him and moved him forward. So, small as it was, he wanted to return the favor, and wondered if there was anything he, as a magical engineer, could help her with. That was the gist of his words.

“If that’s the case, I would be grateful… can you fix this?”

“Let me take a look…!”

Carefully taking the magical tool from the girl, Luke examined it. Without needing to look long, he could already give an assessment.

“I can easily fix this in 30 minutes! If you’re okay with it, why don’t we go to my room right now…!!”

He had only said it because all his repair tools were there, but he immediately regretted it. He quickly realized how his words—a man he’d just met asking her to go to his room—must sound to her.

‘…Ah, I’m done for.’

Just as he thought he’d get branded a pervert without repaying her kindness,

“Oh, really? I’d be grateful, what’s your name?”

“Luke, it’s Luke!”

Taken aback by her easy acceptance, Luke was momentarily stunned. She smiled brightly, unbothered.

“My name is Sasha…! Nice to meet you!”

It was the moment spring bloomed in Luke’s heart.

####

“So, you came all the way down here from the Capital Academy?”

“Yup, that’s right!”

They, having discovered they were the same age, agreed to drop the formalities, and while Luke tinkered with the nav machine, they chatted about this and that.

“It must’ve been a hell of a journey from Schmir…is there a reason you had to come all this way?”

“I can’t go into detail, but my employer gave me a personal mission that brought me here.”

“Employer?”

It was odd for Sasha, a student, to suddenly have an employer, but her explanation soon helped him grasp the situation. Not long ago, some noble had saved her and her father, and now she worked under them with little to worry about. Luke felt a pang of envy.

“Luke, don’t you think you could meet someone like that someday?”

“Haha—!! I sure hope so…!”

She spoke those words of comfort, hinting that someone might show up to help him, since he’d disclosed that he was slightly in debt, but such a savior was hardly likely to appear. His debt was a whopping 4,000 gold. Converted to modern terms, it was akin to 4 billion, a crushing burden for a young man with no foundation to repay on his own.

‘Alright, let’s hold onto hope, just like Sasha said.’

Perhaps because it came from a girl who’d appeared like fate, her words didn’t feel so light.

“Ta-da, finished—!!”

Luke, having finished repairing the nav machine, held it out to Sasha and bellowed. Sasha, taking the device, beamed a bright smile, delighted.

“Wow…! Luke, you’re really skilled!”

“It’s nothing, haha—!”

Luke’s lips stretched ear to ear at the cute girl’s praise, but his happiness didn’t last.

*CRASH—!*

“…Well, well, look who it is. Lucky Luke’s enjoying himself, eh?”

His door splintered inwards as a group of adult men stormed in. Luke’s pupils began to tremble uncontrollably. It was none other than the debt collectors who were hunting him and the mercenaries they’d hired.

“Damn it, the slippery little eel ran far, didn’t he?”

“H-How did you find me here—!?”

Had vanished, leaving no trace in the previous city. Finding me this quickly… it’s logically impossible.

“Heh heh, thankfully, a tipster told me where you were.”

‘A tipster? Who could…?’

Luke couldn’t imagine it. He hadn’t particularly earned anyone’s ill will.

Who the hell had ratted him out?

‘…Guess it’s about time to go in, huh?’

Aiden Roen, the righteous snitch,

The one who had joyfully informed the debt collectors of Luke’s location, picked his nose as he began to stroll into the scene.