What Do You Mean There Are Other Transmigrators In My Harem Fantasy?

I made a circle around the slavers before turning back towards the camp site, deciding that it was better to report about their presence instead of taking action on my own.

For all I know, they might be legal slavers since, you know, slaves are legal here.

I dropped down in the middle of the camp and released my [Shadow Wall], which surprised the people closest to me as it looked like I had just appeared out of thin air.

I gave them a wave and they relaxed while I went to find Heather and Meela who were off to the side of the camp directing the group on setting up the camp.

Meela spotted me first and raised her hand in greeting, "Aster, I heard you were helping us scout the perimeter? Thank you for doing that for us. Did you see anything?"

I nodded, "While I don't see any monsters around, I did find a group of who I believe to be slavers in the distance and they seemed to be heading straight towards us."

Heather scrunched up her brows, "Slavers? Do they already have slaves with them?"

"They do. I saw them being chained up in the middle of their group."

Meela frowned, "Wait… They're on foot? They don't have any wagons or even mounts?"

I shook my head, "There weren't any wagons as far as I could see. They were all on foot. Is that a bad sign?"

"Yes. It doesn't make sense for a normal slave trader or slavers to be travelling through the desert on foot. Either they are trying to hide themselves… Or they got robbed of their wagons. Which wouldn't make sense since they still have their slaves."

"So… They could be illegal slavers?" I guessed.

Both women hesitated.

"I suspect that this might be the case. Although I would liken them more to bandits than slavers," Heather remarked.

"And you said they were heading right for us, Aster?" Meela asked.

I pursed my lips, "If they maintain their current course, yes. Though I cannot say for certain that their target is us since they might not even be able to see us from that distance and it could just be a coincidence."

The two of them seemed to mull over my words and gave each other a look.

Eventually, Meela turned to nod at me, "Thank you, Aster. I'll have the camp go on alert in case they mean any harm. May I ask that you stay in the air for now and watch over them? If they try to attack us, could I ask for your help?"

"Of course."

"Thank you. We will be counting on you, Aster."

Heather rolled her eyes, "Come on, Meela… You're making it sound as though the rest of us are incompetent. We can handle a few illegal slavers at least."

Meela turned to shoot her vice leader a look, "That was not what I meant at all and you know it."

"Yes, yes. We'll be depending on you, Aster. Please take care of us."

Err… Ok? That was a weird way to put it?

I guess Heather's just being sarcastic or maybe it's an inside joke with their group.

Either way, the two of them went ahead to tell the rest of the Mercenaries to prepare for a fight while they were finishing up with final preparations for the camp.

As for me, I went over to Linette and told the merchant about what we had discovered, finding her seated on her bedroll with a book in hand.

When she saw me, she quickly put her book aside, "Hello Miss Aster. It seems like you were busy with all the other Mercenaries during the day. I'm surprised you are still walking after all that. I still have trouble walking after what you did to me last night."

She even gestured to her legs and I noticed that they were actually quivering rather noticeably.

I scratched my cheek, "Ah… Sorry about that…"

She giggled, "Oh, I'm not complaining, Miss Aster. On the contrary, I would not mind a repeat of that session tonight if you don't mind?"

"Ah… About that… We might have some trouble actually…"

I then went ahead to tell her what I told Meela and Heather, the merchant giving me a serious look the entire time.

"So they might be bandits coming towards us I see…" She muttered after I finished my explanation. "It seems like there's always interesting things happening around you, Miss Aster. Do you know how many times I've travelled this route without experiencing anything that I have within the past few days?"

I gave her a look that told her I did not know.

"More than twenty, Miss Aster. I have a feeling the Gods might have taken an interest in you and given you all these trials."

"Haha… I guess so?"

I don't even want to think about how possible that might be… Because I know for a fact that there's at least one god who has interest in me for some reason…

Linette then picked up her book, "I suppose you would be busy dealing with those bandits tonight. In that case, I will not burden you with my earlier offer."

"You don't seem that worried we might be under attack?" I pointed out.

She gave me a look, "Miss Aster. Unless we're facing a dragon, I highly doubt you would be in trouble while you're here. And if you aren't in trouble while you're here, I wouldn't be in trouble either, right? I'll be fine. And even if my hypothesis turned out to be incorrect, there would be nothing I could do anyway, right?"

I can't tell if that was a pessimistic or optimistic way to look at things but I guess she was fine with it so… Ok?

I ended up waiting until the sun had set before flying up into the night sky.

The good thing was that they already had a campfire going so I would be able to see the camp from up high and even if I could not, I made Eins hide herself in the camp so that I would be able to make use of her to find the location through our link.

The desert was quickly plunged into darkness without the sun's presence but I was still able to see thanks to my proficiency in Umbramancy.

Right now, the slaver group was definitely heading towards our camp as if they were drawn by the light.

They weren't even using any light sources which made me think they were definitely bandits and if they were normal slavers, they should have set up camp way before the sun went down.

But what was weird to me was the fact that despite getting close to the camp, they weren't showing signs of breaking up their group into battle formations and continued to travel in the same formation towards the camp.

I saw Meela and several of her Mercenaries leave the camp to form a protective wall in front of said camp as the group approached.

I also spotted several other girls whom I assumed she had directed to move ahead of time hiding behind sand dunes to surround the supposed bandit group when they approached.

Looking around, I did not see any potential ambushers around and the number of people in that bandit group remained the same as the first time I saw them so everyone should be gathered there now.

Someone from the bandit group stepped forward and started talking to Meela. At this height, I couldn't hear what they were saying but they seemed to be exchanging words at the moment.

Just as I considered flying lower to listen in on their conversation, Meela suddenly went back into camp but left the guards there to watch them.

Huh… What's going on now?

I chose to remain where I was and continued circling around the air, keeping an eye out for any other dangers that might be trying to sneak up from somewhere else just in case this group was merely a diversion.

Meela then soon returned and surprisingly, made her side give way to them, allowing those bandits to enter the camp with their chained slaves in tow.

Eh? Wait… We're letting them in? What the hell did the guy say to Meela? Did he use some kind of mind control skill or something?!

When all the bandits had entered the camp, Meela waved up in the air and I assumed that was her trying to tell me to come down.

I made sure to activate [Mind Shield] before I descended in front of her, just in case she really got mind controlled.

"They're not bandits," Meela told me the moment I landed. "They're slave traders who got robbed by bandits. They were travelling from Dufranal Market before getting robbed and they asked if they could stay the night at our camp."

I blinked, "They're… Legal slave traders then?"

"They're not bandits at least. I asked Linette and she has allowed them to stay the night so it'll be fine."

Err… Ok?

This turned out way differently than I thought it would…