https://ncode.syosetu.com/n5260fe/16/
It’s kind of fun watching trends live and die. It used to be all about Isekai and now the popular stories are all Villainess stories. Really makes me wonder what the next big things is going to be. Looney Toons fanfiction?
We’ve been moved and now find ourselves in a dark, gloomy room. There were several other kids in the room with us, all of them hanging their heads or hugging their knees. Their ages were all probably around the same as us.
(We were blindfolded when we they brought us in, so I’m not too sure where we are)
“Right. They’ve gathered up all these kids…….so, what should we do?”
“I had thought we might be the only ones…..”
“I know…….but, when we don’t return home today, our usual servants will report to Father and Mother, and they’ll come looking for us right away. ……But if we don’t know who the mastermind holding the dark auction is by then, they’ll end up escaping again.”
“Yes, you’re right.”
Glancing next to me, El was terrified and clinging to my arm, so I called out softly to him.
“El, it’ll be all right. We’re with you, and we’ll all definitely get out of here together.”
*Nod*
“El-sama, have you been here before?”
*Nod*
“Just as I thought”
“This is the only door……maybe we should stay here and wait for an opportunity until the dark auction starts. But, it’ll be meaningless if we end up sold at the auction……maybe the single-celled idiot duo will come back again.”
“Rose-sama, what do you mean by ‘the single-celled idiot duo’?”
(Ah, dangerous. I let slip what I was thinking……)
“….Hm? Did I say something like that?”
“………”
Allen and El were both giving me a lukewarm look, but I pretended not to notice and changed the subject.
“…..H-Hey. Shouldn’t we hear what the other children have to say?”
“…….yes, we should.”
When I talked to all the children curled up on the floor, I found that age was about the only thing we did all have in common. There were kids from a wide range of social positions from commoners to nobles, and there was an equal number of both boys and girls. There were even a couple beastmen children like El here.
“The most you can say is that they’ve gathered kids with good faces. Although I am concerned with how far this has gone.”
“Pardon. I’ve been listening since a while ago, but do you perhaps know something about what’s going on?”
A blond-haired, blue-eyed boy who looked a little older than me and had been sitting in a corner since a while ago called out and walked over to us.
“……yes. A little, but we don’t know all the details.”
“…….I see. I think I’ve been here about three days now. ……Well, it’s depressing in here, and it’d look suspicious if we were all gathered together, but because somebody only ever comes by to deliver us our breakfast and supper, we should be fine.”
“Three days? If I’m not wrong, you’re…….Will-sama aren’t you?”
“Um, you’re right. Could you tell me what you know? The more people we have thinking up a solution, the better right?”
“Yeah, you’re right. We know this is a dark auction that gathers children and sells them to nobles. And we’re pretty sure the mastermind is a noble as well. I mean, we’re just guessing that it’s for nobles though. After that, they’re also gathering children from the neighboring beastman country as well. ……..sorry, we don’t really know that much……..”
“No, thank you for the valuable information. Are you perhaps nobles as well?”
“Yes. As a fellow noble I felt ashamed knowing this was happening. So I definitely wanted the culprits to be caught. And I don’t want us going to war with the neighboring country over something like this.”
“Mm, you’re right.”
The boy regretfully clenched his fist.
“A few hours after our conversation ended, one of the idiot duo came along.
“Oi~ kids, I’ve got dinner~”
“Nii-san, thank you very much. ……By the way Nii-san, what day are we going to be sold?”
“Hmm~? I’m pretty sure it was the day after tomorrow~. This time we’re having it at the client’s estate~.”
“…..the client is the promoter right? Isn’t that dangerous?”
“Yeah~. But it’s apparently safe this time because we leaked some false information~. The client’s really smart too~.”
(You’re all idiots.)
“……..Hey, the client’s estate is a noble’s mansion isn’t it?”
“Yeah, it is~. It’s a huge mansion~. It’s a little far from the capital and close to the beastman country, so it’s really easy to hold this auction~. Well, we’re grateful because we get a share of the profits~.”
“Is that so. Thank you very much Nii-san.”
“Hm? Sure~. I’ll bring you all breakfast tomorrow too, so be sure to keep being good little kids~.”
Saying that much, the man locked the door behind him and left.
“He’s an idiot.”
*Nod*
“Yes.”
“Mm, indeed.”
“It looks like it’ll be held the day after tomorrow. We also might already be at the mastermind’s mansion. Now if only we could get this door open…….”
We all gathered together and started talking about the best way to get out of here.
Experimental Translations 
Thank you!
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Thanks for translating. I hope they can get out of this soon.
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