Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter3 (section)

===Part 19===

They had won a complete victory.

Misaka Mikoto’s simple firepower had torn through the enemy, but the real star player was Shokuhou Misaki for pitting the enemy against each other, causing critical damage to the entire group.

Most importantly, none of the elves had come to harm.

The humans probably feared letting the elves carry weapons would allow them to gather together and revolt, but they probably also thought it would harm their reputation if they let a “mere slave” protect them.

Mikoto addressed the group of elves.

“Which one of you is the elf elder? We want to talk with you later.”

“That would be me…”

“Stay with the others. I said later, remember? For now, get something hot to eat and get some rest in a bed.”

The elder (who seemed more like the sexy older girl next door) and Patissiet exchanged a glance.

“What is going on here?”

“It would seem we have been rescued.”

The elves spoke about it in such a detached way. But the way their long ears twitched as they spoke was decently cute.

Anyway.

After wiping off her brow, Patissiet spoke with the look of someone who had worked up a pleasant sweat.

“Lady Misaka, Lady Shokuhou. Shall we make the captured humans into our slaves?”

“Shall we what!!?” “Shall we what!!?”

The little elf had an innocent smile on her face.

Mikoto waved her hands frantically.

“Hey, wait, can we talk about this? First, do you know what you’re saying!?”

“Yes? ''When someone is captured after losing a fight, they become your slave.'' These people admittedly aren’t monsters, but a loss is a loss.”

She looked puzzled.

She talked about it as if someone had just questioned the fact that rock beats scissors.

Because she had been treated that way, she didn’t question the system of slavery itself.

Even Shokuhou looked taken aback by this, but she managed a smile.

“Umm… Haven’t you ever heard that you shouldn’t do to others what you don’t want done to you?”

“?”

Apparently not.

It wasn’t that she didn’t understand the logic – she couldn’t apply that logic to slavery.

Being a slave had been the default state for her.

It wasn’t about wanting or not wanting.

And this meant ''she felt no qualms about saying someone else would be a slave.'' She accepted it as easily as the idea that you had to start school in the spring.

In a way, this was the humans of Celesaqphere reaping what they had sown.

(No, wait, wait, wait!! I can’t think that way. That just turns the abusers into the abused – it doesn’t get rid of the fundamental system of slavery. We did need to save Patissiet and the other elves, but we’re not here to turn them into the new abusers!!)

Mikoto needed to think.

Straightforward methods wouldn’t work. Using Earth-based reasoning wouldn’t reach that elf. If she didn’t think up a better way of phrasing it, Patissiet and the others would be swallowed up by the darkness of Celesaqphere.

Mikoto gathered her thoughts.

“Patissiet!”

“? Y-yes, what do you want?”

“I-I can be friends with slaves, but I will not be friends with anyone who uses slaves!”

“Eh?” Patissiet was dumbfounded.

''Yeah, that probably does hurt,'' thought Mikoto, staring into the distance.

The human heart was an incredibly complex thing. Although this was an elf.

Little Patissiet raised her voice with tears in her eyes.

“Th-then I won’t do it! I won’t make them slaves!! Because I want to be with you two!!”

(That was a clooooooose one!!) (That was a clooooooose one!!)

Mikoto and Shokuhou breathed synchronized sighs of relief.

But this was a matter of rhetoric.

It didn’t solve the fundamental problem. It didn’t have to be now. If they didn’t get her to truly understand what was wrong with slavery, the problem would eventually rear its ugly head once more. The last thing they wanted was to set the victims up as the new abusers.

The elf tilted her head.

Cutely.

“But isn’t it job-based discrimination to exclude slavers like that?”

“No, it is not!!” “No, it is not!!”