"What you brought me today, Mr. Shield Hero?"
"The usual plus something called Water Rosemary."
The Pharmacist looks elated. "Those are good stuff, but rare to be found in the wilderness. Some monsters usually ate those before anyone could harvest them. The pharmacists, myself included, usually depend on the Garden and supplier." He said. "Let me see your stuff."
Further inspection revealed that, yes, the stuff is real and good.
"Seventeen Silver for all of them."
Naofumi was surprised. Was Water Rosemary THAT rare? He knew he had to battle countless balloons, Mushroom monsters, and other low-level but annoying monsters, only to get just a few handfuls of that thing, but he didn't think it would be that expensive.
He was about to accept the money before a thought crossed his mind.
"How about I trade it for compounding stuff and some vial?"
"Are you trying to make medicine?"
"Frontline battler. Might as well keep stuff to stay alive since I don't know when the reinforcement would come."
"A sound plan." The Pharmacist nodded. He went to grab decent compounding stuff and handed it to Naofumi, plus three Silver coins.
The Shield Hero nod in soundless thanks, before putting the stuff in Inventory.
His Inventory is almost full. Naofumi wonders what he can do to increase Inventory Space. It won't do if he can only carry limited stuff around. Perhaps he should purchase a big backpack and see what would happen if he feeds it to the Shield?
In hindsight, he can sacrifice his stuff to the shield. Saving up some space aside, it would unlock new Shields. What would happen if he feeds the Shield his smartphone and Laptop? How about the charger? His notebook? It sounds tempting but... no. Naofumi was attached to those.
Those are stuff that was his and his only. Things he carried from his original world. The remnant of life he dearly misses. A memento from his friends that he would never see again. Things that only bring good and amusing memories with no taint of betrayal. They have sentimental value. A reminder that he was not always hated by the world.
Naofumi doesn't want to sacrifice them. They were too valuable and indispensable.
Which led to his predicament.
It has been ten days since his arrival. Eight days after he framed for a crime he never committed.
In those eight days, Naofumi had been busy working. Combining with what he got today, he had earned twenty-eight silver.
Add with thirty silver he still had (no matter how dirty Naofumi felt when he remembers from WHO he got them), he has seventy-eight Silver. Since he doesn't like staying in the town unless necessary, and the low-level monster hasn't been able to deal with the damage, he camped out in the forest. He found a nice big tree with hallowed root to act as shelter. The food issue, well, diet on berries and fish is one thing, but he sometimes feels it was not enough, forced him to buy some skewered meat and bread from the town. He didn't dare to enter a restaurant because one, he doesn't trust them to not putting questionable stuff in his meal. Two, he was aware that he smells. Plus, the food there tastes even worse than hospital food. It completely lacks taste. If he deducts his food cost, he had about seventy-five Silver and couple Bronze.
Sadly, his progress with his level and skill is not as good as his money-earning. He barely good Combat Shield, also known as Shield with high attack point, which led to this predicament.
If he didn't unlock Shield and training those skills, he won't be able to level up quickly. If he can't level up, he won't be able to tackle harder monsters or unlock Shields with Level Requirement. If he can't do both, his chance of survival in the next wave is damn near Zero.
But dropping stuff onto the Shield won't always give him what he wants. Most of his Shield has non-combat stuff, with the only combat stuff was Monster Lure, Monster Detecting (the Orange Yellow Shield (Small) allows him to detect Balloons and small, weak monster), and misdirection skill in form of Leaf Storm.
Not enough. Not good enough.
What should he do? Should he take a leap of faith and aggravate a powerful monster? But where can he find those?
"You seem troubled, sir."
"Huh?"
Naofumi didn't expect people to talk to him, much less in a business manner. Most people talk to him with a sneering arrogant condescending tone which made him want to punch them, or better yet, unleash balloons on them. Even the Old Man Weapon Shop and the Pharmacist at the beginning (after unjustly framed) give him a cold hard look. As such, Naofumi can't help but pay attention to this... man...
The hell I'm looking at? Naofumi thought, can't help but gawk.
Because, honestly, the man who stood before him stood out like a sore thumb. No. Make it a sore thumb made out of neon cactus. The man is fat, or it might be his robe, but he dressed more like the early industrial era, about the 18th century or something, rather than renaissance era Melcromarc had adopted. Even more, Naofumi swears the feather collar make it looks like the man wearing Boa Feather of all things. Add with the round glasses and... well...
It can be worse.
"What do you want?"
"Straight to the point eh? He he he. I like your style." The obese gentle(?)man bowed grandiosely. "I've heard about your problem. You need people. Your attack stat is pitiful. No one wants to team up with you. You can't trust people."
Naofumi clenched his fist because...
All of those are true.
And the truth hurts.
"Get to the point!" He barked.
"Alright, alright, hold your horse, Mr. Hero." Laughed off the man. "After all, I have a solution to your problem."
Naofumi was a skeptic. He crossed his arms and stated, "if you think you can convince some adventurers wannabe to team up with me, no thanks. Not going to happen." He sooner threw himself off the cliff than setting up for another betrayal.
"Adventurers? Ahaha. No no no. I can supply you with something far more useful."
"Something more useful?"
"Hehe... are you interested?"
"Fuck off. You're too close." Naofumi growled and pushed the man away. Ew, he felt dirty. "I'll reserve my opinion until I see it."
"Hmm... very well. Very well. A man with eyes, indeed." The man nodded. "Follow me then."
The man led Naofumi down to the back alley, to the place where the conditions were worse, with air filled with shouting, cursing, and the stench of alcohol. Slums, Naofumi thought. Huh. Who knew this country has slums located in the middle of the kingdom? Isn't it supposed to be on the side of the town? Think again, the path in and out was that back alley...
They stopped in front of the mockery of a circus. Except without all the joy and laughter, and the colors were drained out leaving only gloom and dark humor.
Naofumi didn't like this place.
"You have five minutes before I decided this is not worth my time." He glowered.
"A stingy customer? Hm-hm hm I can deal with that." The man's wide grin was unnerving, kinda reminded Naofumi of Millennium Earl, only less deranged and doesn't have an army of monsters... maybe. "My good sir, if you haven't been able to guess it, I'm selling Slaves."
Slave. Noun. Plural: slaves.
A person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them.
To be honest, Naofumi wonders why he was shocked. Slavery had been existing since early human history. Just look at Ancient Egypt. If he wasn't mistaken, slavery was declared as a crime and had been abolished since the 19th Century or sometimes around that. And this world stuck far, far behind that so yeah. He should not be surprised that slavery is common practice here.
Although, "and why I need one? What makes you think I'll accept it?"
Slave rebellion was a thing. Just look at Spartacus.
"He he he. I know you would ask this." Grinned the man, the Slave Trader. "The Slaves were put under a powerful curse. They do not lie or betray their master. If they tried to, they will pay the price, even if with their very lives."
Now, that got Naofumi interested.
Slaves can't lie. They can't betray him even if they want to, because if they dare, they die.
It sounds good. Too good to be true.
"You aren't lying on me, are you?"
"How rude! I'm a shady man, but I do honest business!"
Naofumi sweatdropped. He won't call slavery an honest business... yet.
"To be fair, there were those that wanted a Hero, like yourself, as a slave for themselves. I had originally approached you with that goal in mind, but since then I've had a change of heart."
What?! "Ex-cuss-e me?!"
"Well, you have all the qualifications of an excellent client. ALL the qualifications: both good and bad."
"What do you mean?"
"I wonder. What DO I mean?"
If this man didn't captive his interest, Naofumi would have strangled him already. Low attack stats be damned.
They went inside the tent. The interior was dim and you can smell the stench of animal and rot hung faintly in the air. Cages lined up with vaguely human shapes moved inside them.
"Now then, this one, right over here, I can recommend very highly to you."
Naofumi looked at the cage, surprised that instead of a human, what he saw was something out of myth.
"A werewolf?"
Inside was something covered in thick hair, with sharp fangs and claws. It stood bipedal, but more of a wolf than human. It—he—even howling like what a werewolf imagined would do.
"Werewolf is his more common name. His actual race is a Wolfman. A beastman, sub-species of Demi-human."
Beastman, Naofumi can understand. A bipedal animal who can walk and talk like a human, but ultimately they were more of an animal than human. "Demi-human... could they be human with animal attributes?" Naofumi had seen some passing by in the town. They look normal, except with animal ear-shaped headband. He thought those are cosplayers or something but now... now Naofumi was not sure.
"Indeed, indeed they are. The human-like people with animal ears and tail... or so. It depends on the species." Yeah. Fish demi-human would probably more like mermaid/merman or something. But Naofumi didn't saw many of them. Why?
"The Melromarc Kingdom tends to consider humans as higher creatures than these other types. It can be a tough place for beast-men and demi-humans to live. And because the demi-humans are, at least in this country, considered to be one step away from monsters, it's hard for them to live here, and they often end up sold into slavery."
"Huh..."
Naofumi can't believe it... but he feels pity for them. To be discriminated against for a crime you did not commit and unable to do anything but low-level job while everyone around you seems hell-bent to make your life a living hell... yeah. He sooo understands those feelings perfectly.
Now he understands what the Slave Trader means earlier.
This country is rotten.
Just because they were not fully human, they were considered acceptable to be enslaved.
Though Naofumi is no less rotten... or at least the betrayal had kicked his moral consciousness down the cliff. He had seen the merit of owned a Slave. And since it was common practice, well, nobody can blame him, right?
An image of Three Idiots appears in his mind, and Naofumi shushed those away. He'll deal with them when he had fuck to give.
The Slave Trader shows Naofumi a neat trick. The Slave Crest. The thing that keeps the slaves from rebelling and killing their master. One snap, and it will activate. Based on the demonstration on the Werewolf, Sorry, Wolf Beastman, it appears to be electrocution of some sort. The Slave Trader then explained that Naofumi can freely set conditions and term of punishment, it will be wired straight to his Magic Status through a Ceremonial Ritual.
It truly put Naofumi's mind at ease.
The problem was the price.
The Beastman was of Level 75, and his price was 15 Gold.
1 Gold equals 100 Silver, Naofumi's entire saving was not even a third quarter of a Gold.
And the Beastman was a "retired" Colosseum Gladiator with injury on his legs. Damaged goods. Coupled with a Gladiator mentality... well, Naofumi wasn't sure if he can go far with this big guy. Even with his arsenal of shields, he was leery of getting near that big lump of muscle and danger.
"Now then, I've shown you my best. Tell me, sir, what kind of slave you are interested in?"
"A cheap one, that isn't broken."
"We have slaves specialized for battle or for physical labor. Or, if my intuition proves correct..."
"If you were talking about THAT rumor, I swear I'll dump forest worth of Balloons here. Living ones."
"Heh, heh, heh, yes, well... I'm not concerned one way or the other. Do you have a preferred gender?"
"Male." Answered Naofumi without hesitation. "Though at this point I don't give a damn about something as trivia as gender."
The Slave Trader warned Naofumi that the ones in that category won't do much for his sexual pleasure (which annoys Naofumi because if he wants to get laid he'll find a brothel) and their level might be low.
Meh. The low level is fine. The lesser chance they might've overpowered him. He hasn't found powerful Monsters around here after all.
"Very well then." The Slave Trader led Naofumi to a quieter area. The smell and roar are not as overpowering, but his ears caught soft sobs of children. This section was filled with children demi-human and some of the older ones. They look depressed and scared. Miserable.
The Slave Trader stopped in front of three cages. "This is the cheapest slave I can offer you today, sir."
The first had a man inside, though he also had the ears of a rabbit, and one of his arms was twisted in an odd direction. He looked to be somewhere around twenty years old. He looked like the dictionary definition of a slave.
The next held a girl of around ten. She was unbelievably skinny, and her eyes looked terrified. She was coughing. She also had dog-like ears that were tied up around her head. She appeared to have a large, round tail as well.
The third cage held a lizard man whose eyes darted about the room violently as if he was just looking for someone to kill. He did seem more like a man than a lizard though.
"From the right, they are a rabbit-type with a genetic disorder, a raccoon-type suffering from panic attacks, and a mixed breed, the lizard man."
"How much are we talking?"
"From the right, 25, 30, and 40 pieces of silver."
"Hmm. What are their levels?"
"5, 1, and 8."
"Why are they all so quiet?"
"Because they are punished when they make noise."
"I see..."
Naofumi looks at three of them. The Lizardman seems to be battle-prone. The way he looking around was either sign of battle lust or plain PTSD. While he seems to be more experienced, or at least have some battle awareness, Naofumi doesn't think he can take PTSD-ridden slave. He read from various stories that PTSD is Nasty with capital N. War trauma PTSD was stated to be the worst.
The rabbit man was decent with exception of his arm. He should have still been useful in combat, with he has one good arm and two perfectly good legs. If fanfictions and some fantasy fiction novel he read was any indication, rabbit leg supposed to be strong...
Naofumi paused when he saw the Raccoon girl.
She is not exceptionally pretty nor ugly. A plain face you might say. However, she held his attention.
First, she is a girl. Female. Same as that bitch. If Naofumi let his darker side surface, he might be able to imagine it was Bitch. However, it fell flat compares to the second reason.
There's fear in them.
Fear means she has emotions. If she has emotions then she has the drive. If she has the drive to live, to survive, then she will put more effort. If she put more effort, all the better for Naofumi.
People do anything when they are desperate. People will do anything to survive, from using their brains to selling their bodies. That's how humans have always been. The literature and history say so. Demi-Human supposes to be sub-species of humans, right? Unless their non-human trait were strong, their psychology work the same as a human.
But first, "Are these are the best you had to offer?"
"You hit where it hurt the most, mister." The Slave Trader said in mock hurt. "These are all I can offer you in your range. If we lower the bar even more then... Well..." He glanced quickly to the back wall.
Naofumi followed his gaze and cocked an eyebrow. "You don't mind if I take a peek, do you?"
"Well, if you insist..."
The backside was full of, to put it simply, death. Corpses of Demi-human and beastman of various races and ages were lined up in piss-poor coffins. Some even don't have the luxury of it and left on the cold, hard, dirty ground. Dried blood, what might have been vomit and waste stained the ground.
This reminds him of his School Project. About Nazi camp. Except for less torture, more death, and the dead were Demi-humans and Beastman.
He paused when he heard a rattled cough. Turning around, he found a figure lying face down near the corner. He almost dismisses it as another corpse, until the figure shakes and let out another round of nasty cough.
...that one is alive.
Naofumi tip-toed around the body waste and approached the figure. It was a boy. Maybe slightly older than the raccoon girl. A pair of black wing protrudes from his back. A bird demi-human of some kind, huh?
Naofumi shakes him none too gently. The boy lifted his head.
Black.
His eyes are endless black. Do you know, if you stared at the abyss long enough, it will stare back at you? The boy's eyes are like an abyss. Deep and seemingly bottomless. Naofumi swears he can see his own reflection there. Staring back at him.
Except there's some shred of light in that abyss. Desperation.
"Do you want to live? Nod if yes, shake your head if no. If you don't have enough energy, blink once for yes, blink twice for no."
The boy nodded his head.
"Even if it hurts? Even if the world is against you? Even if you have to hurt someone else? Even if you have to go against a monster much bigger, much stronger, and evil?" Naofumi's voice was cold and harsh.
Nod.
"Well, then, don't regret it."
Naofumi lifted the boy, minding the wings that thankfully short enough it won't be dragged across the floor.
The Slave Trader looks surprised. That makes Naofumi felt pleased to get one over him.
"This boy and that raccoon girl. I'll take them both. How much?"
"The Raccoon girl with panic attack disorder and a Kars boy who has malnutrition and afflicted with severe illness and on death's door. For someone who doesn't like wasting time, you choose the most difficult ones. You sure have an interesting taste here."
He opens the girl's cage and pulling her along by a chain attached to her collar. Naofumi followed them out of the tent, in which the Slave Trader called several people who immediately appeared with some kind of equipment, including a jar of ink, a petri dish, and some kind of pen-knife thing.
Naofumi was made to drop several droplets of blood to the ink in a petri dish so that he can legally claim ownership over the Slave.
One of the robed men draws a crest on the raccoon girl's chest, which would glow. The girl screamed in pain.
"Gaaaaahhhh! AAAAAAAAAHHH!"
"That Kars boy is on death's door." Said the Slave Trader, ignoring the scream. "I ask you once again, do you really want to go through it? He would be likely won't survive the ceremony."
Naofumi looks at the screaming, trashing girl, then at the crow boy in his arm.
"What the weakest spell you had?"
"It won't hold as strong as the usual ones."
"Focus on his survival first. I can come back later to reapplying stronger crest when he's decent."
"I suppose you were right."
The boy was given his ceremony. It was less flashy, but certainly still painful enough that he let out a mangled scream like the damned, before coughing blood. Naofumi checked his pulse. Weak, but it's here. He's still alive even if only barely.
A new notification appears.
Slaves Acquired!
· Slave A
· Slave B
Condition of use as follow:
There's a long list of restrictions, some of them are the well-justified reason. Some others are plain nasty whims and definitely made for a twisted bastard. After each condition, there's a level of how painful the punishment might be.
Maybe because of some of the past Slave Master, the conditions and degree of punishment were adjustable for a later date. Neat. He picked some.
C A slave will not betray Master (High)
C A slave will not lie or deceived Master (Medium)
C A slave will not attempt to kill or harm the Master through any means (High)
C A slave will obey Master's Orders (Medium)
It may sound restricting, but to be honest, it was very basic. The High setting means if any of them tried to broke it, then the punishment is guaranteed to be excruciatingly painful. The medium setting is the normal setting.
"Now these slaves are yours. The payment is Fifty Silver."
Naofumi handed him fifty-two.
"You were overpaid."
"For the ceremony. You were going to wring more money out of me somehow, weren't you?"
"...You are very wise."
Naofumi snorted. He has some experience from part-time jobs, he knew this kind of stuff.
"Come on." He lifted the boy and pull the girl by arm. It was not gentle, but it was not heartless either. Just rough and semi-impatient.
"I look forward to your future visits."
"Whatever."
Naofumi didn't look forward to it. The place stink and in dire overdue of spring cleaning. Years' worth of Spring Cleaning.
But at least he got something useful.
TBC