~ Chapter 69: The slobbering canine ~

[Leonidas' point of view]

And here I was... again, at the Waser Slave Market.

Normally, you wouldn't find children like me walking around this place and checking out the slaves unless they were accompanied by an adult. In my case, I had Timothy to act as one. Zor Nya Nyan, although she was 28, she was far too much of the group's mascot to be considered a responsible adult. Cormina and Lindus could have been my guardians as well, however, nothing could beat Timothy, the silver fox in a butler suit.

The noble parents who allowed their children to have a slave contracted directly to them were rare and few. Therefore, when people saw me walking around with Timothy and the gang, they naturally assumed that they were contracted to my parents and followed me under strict orders. Thus, depending on the situation they could also act as my legal guardians.

Now, the only reason why I bothered coming all the way here instead of jumping on the very first carriage to Briston was because I saw a glimpse of Sapherya's Divine Light coming from somewhere around here. Unfortunately, I had no idea who or what had triggered it. All I could do was walk around and pray that I would stumble upon them sooner or later.

“Any plans, Young Master?” Timothy asked.

“I wish! Let's just walk around and see what we can find.” I told him.

If Sapherya had given me some sort of tracking or radar system to compliment the beacon of light, then maybe I could actually find my target much faster. Then again, even I knew that was asking too much. The next step would have been to actually have the goddess take my hand like a toddler and then walk over to that person.

Yeah, maybe just a beacon of light isn't too bad, after all. It's still a challenge to find them even when I just got a glimpse of it... I thought as I cast a glance at the many slaves paraded on the stages built in front of the shops like brand goods in a mall on Earth.

None of them shimmered from the Divine Light.

In general, slave markets were secluded areas within a town or city, where all the entrances were guarded to keep slaves from running away and unwanted individuals from entering. Children were part of the latter. They could only get inside when they were under the supervision of a guardian, but as I came to learn, this wasn't a law set to protect the children themselves as much as it was to protect the precious slaves from them.

Those over-energetic rascals would see it as an exciting adventure to go around and discover the most interesting slave here. They would rattle the cages of those whom they thought were weak or try to annoy the more dangerous ones, putting not only themselves but also the slaves in danger. After all, there was no way for the slave to fight back, but if the children happened to open their cage, they wouldn't hesitate to make a run for it.

Children, in their immaturity, would often end up tormenting their family's slaves or those of other people. Meanwhile, the slaves, who more than often were ordered never to attack anyone would find themselves unable to retaliate or even defend themselves, resulting in their injuries, and at times... death.

Because of this, my own slaves received only one order, and that was to not kill without my express order. In rest, they could do and act as they pleased. This meant that they were free to protect themselves from the attacks of others and beat them to a pulp if needed be. I wasn't going to let anyone mess around with them or even be restrictive with their freedom. If at any point in time they wanted to be freed of this bond, I was willing to do it.

After all, all of them came to me with Sapherya's intent to actually save them from a fate worse than death.

This reminded me that back when I acquired Zor Nya Nyan, she wasn't as opened or eager to get in trouble as she was now. The nekatarian was actually quite shy and timid until she became accustomed to me and everyone else in our group. She would often stay in a corner and wait there until she was told to do something. In the end, she warmed up to us after we learned that she responded well to bribes of fish and sweets.

Despite her antics, Zor Nya Nyan was happier like this, but she had yet to find a place for herself in this world, but in time she would. For now, I acted as her leash that kept her from getting in trouble or enslaved again.

Because of my rather introvert behavior at the Waser Academy, there was a point when my slaves ended up as the target of bullying by some of the other children, however, this stopped before I was even able to raise a question about it. I didn't bother to look into it either if it didn't cause me or my slaves any trouble.

I found it normal to treat my slaves as hired help rather than some sort of item I owned as others did, which was probably why I ended up getting a lot of weird stares from the people around me.

Unfortunately, that was the normal way of thinking within Lukrentia Kingdom, but I had no idea if it was the same outside as well. Rather than being a criminal who was serving his sentence, the moment a slave collar was put around your neck, you would become an item, a commodity. Thus, depending on how the slaves were meant to be sold, they would be displayed here in the slave market in various ways.

Warriors fit for battles had to show off their bulging muscles or perform some sort of feat of strength to appeal to a potential master. Artists were forced to perform live, and mages were made to cast some simple showy spells. The only ones who weren't up here on the front stages were those meant to work in the mines or act as meat shields for adventurers. Sex slaves and those deemed to be too dangerous to be placed up in front were also placed together with them far in the back, in the storeroom.

“Nya~! Master, do you really think we can find them here?” Zor Nya Nyan complained with her cat ears flattened on her head, earning her a sharp glared from Lindus.

“I definitely saw the light back then. She or he has to be here somewhere...” I replied as I looked back at the shops we already passed by.

We've been wandering through the slave market's streets for almost an hour now, visiting every single stage to see if I could find that individual, but so far, I didn't even catch a glimpse of the Divine Light. This fact led me to believe that maybe they were among the slaves kept in the back.

With a knot in my stomach, I said “Let's go one more round through the shops, but this time, let's look at the ones in the back too.”

“The ones in the back, you don't mean to say that our new companion is going to be a sex slave?” asked Timothy.

“Or they could be a worker or someone deemed far to dangerous to be kept in the front.” Lindus added.

“Indeed, but this worries me. Are you sure of this, Young Master?” he asked.

“Yes. It's not like we have a choice anyway. I'll be counting on you three to get me inside.” I told them.

The back showroom was no place for a children, so this had to be an exception the store made, especially since the sex slaves were more than often left with no clothes on or placed in disgraceful positions.

“Nya?” Zor Nya Nyan perked her ears up when she heard that I would be relying on them.

“Not you.” I quickly added.

“Nya...” she flatted her ears on top of her head and looked a bit disappointed.

Lindus made a triumphant smile instead, as if to show that he won in this imaginary competition of theirs.

A couple of minutes later, we arrived at the entrance of one of the biggest slave shops in Waser. It was owned by none other than the Mirmid Company, who had shops in almost every city and town in Lukrentia. If you wanted an expensive quality slave, you knew you could find one here, or so their motto went.

The moment the sales clerk saw us enter the shop, they immediately assumed that I was back again for one of the slaves I saw earlier. Big was his surprise when he heard me ask for the back ones. Initially, they refused, but Timothy talked with him and eventually agreed to let us through.

This place was set up like one of those underground Las Vegas casinos. There were a lot of people here looking at the stages where the available back room slaves performed. To the left were the workers, to the right were the sex slaves, and far in the back were the dangerous slaves, all kept bound in chains and held at bay by sword and magic.

With a single glance from atop the stairs, I knew that the one I was looking for wasn't here, so I turned around to leave.

In that moment, the clerk immediately approached me and more or less begged me to at least take a look at their merchandise. I didn't want to be rude with them, but I really didn't have the time to look at something I wasn't even interested in. Timothy, however, immediately understood my troubles and stepped forward to explain to the clerk that I had my own peculiar ways of finding my slave.

To make it more reasonable for all of us, I did ask him whether or not there were any other slaves that haven't been shown yet.

“No, Alm. These are all the slaves in our stock.” he replied.

Furrowing my brow, I said “Then that settles it. We apologize for bothering you. Let's go, everyone, they don't have the slaves we are looking for.”

After leaving the Mirmid Company, shop, we went to three other shops, but I had no luck there either. It was starting to get late, and I wanted to finish this while there was still light outside. We were hungry too, since we didn't have time to drop by the tavern to grab something to eat. At least I wasn't feeling tired. If there was one thing this body of mine was good for that was its ridiculous endurance and the ability to resist sleep deprivation. That latter one got me in trouble with Timothy when I ended up studying too late at night.

When we entered the fifth shop, the clerk wasn't as willing as the others to let us see what they had in the back. The fact that I was a child didn't seem to be part of the reason, which meant only one of two things: he either had some illegal merchandise, like a slave of noble blood, or he wasn't treating his slaves properly.

If the slave merchants had a bad sale or were gunning for a quick coin, they would usually keep the maintenance cost of their slave at a minimum low. This meant cutting down on cleaning, sanitation, and healing.

Timothy, however, was rather persuasive in negotiating our back pass, stating that if we were to buy a slave, we'd be doing him a favor. Of course, we would also keep our mouths shut about the condition of the other slaves if this was just the case of bad maintenance.

If he was keeping noble blood slaves or children, both of which were illegal in the Lukrentia Kingdom, we would report him immediately. I wasn't so lenient as to ignore a crime like that.

The clerk decided to let us see his merchandise in the back after some further thought.

When we were brought there, I saw unsanitary cages where skinny and ill-looking slaves were being kept. The few who had clothes on were so dirty that they would have been safer without them on. The stench in this place was so unbearable I felt like I was suffering a third-degree chemical burn with each breath of air I took in, but I didn't let my disgust show. Zor Nya Nyan, however, refused to take a single step inside. It was too much for the poor nekatarian. Lindus and Cormina stayed back with her.

“I suggest you clean up this place after we're gone, least what you wish for is to never sell your slaves.” I told him as I looked to my far right, where I spotted a dead rat.

I couldn't tell if the critter died because of the stench or was killed by someone.

“Of course, kind Alm.” the clerk replied in a humble tone of voice.

Now, as for the one I was looking for, the slave towards which Sapherya guided me with her Divine Light, we finally found him. Over there, right at the very back of this wretched storeroom was someone chained up to the wall. A metal muzzle kept him from biting or talking, and a metal binder around his arms and legs kept him from moving them freely.

In terms of aspect, he strongly reminded me of an anthropomorphic wolf I would often see in anime, but his fur, from what I could see through the metal bindings, was a mix of midnight blue, navy blue, and cerulean, which I found very odd, almost unnatural.

Zor Nya Nyan, for example, had fur that varied from a light brown to a dark brown, with a mix of white around the edges. Unlike this wolf, however, she was far more human-like. Not all of her body was covered in fur, and as far as breasts went, she didn't have several pairs like most other mammals did. As far as I knew, cats on Earth had anywhere between 6 to 8, depending on the breed.

This nekatarian was just one slightly more furry cat-eared woman.

Although, I did remember something I once read in a book at the Waser Academy's Library regarding individuals with an abnormal Magic Energy pool and that was the fact that they would often have characteristics that made them different from those around them, be it a different hair color, eye color, and sometimes even more prominent physical mutations, like scales, horns, spikes, and other stuff like this.

I never did believe this 'fact' because that would mean that me and my little sister were going to end up as some sort of demons with anime hero hairstyles. So far, I was fairly sure we weren't.

Yet, despite all of these precautions to keep him from retaliating and the awful conditions he was being kept in, the fire of battle in his dark-brown eyes had yet to be put out.

I could feel it from all the way over here, at the entrance, that his strength had not wavered from the moment he was placed in those chains, and this meant only that he was considered by the slave trader as someone frighteningly dangerous.

“It's like an Iron Mummy...” I said a bit absent minded.

“Hm? What was that? Master wants his mommy? Oh~! Come here, I'll give Master a Nyabuh!” the nekatarian was silenced with a strong smack over the back of her head from Lindus.

As always, she made weird funny sounds.

“That one, over there.” I pointed at the chained up wolf-man.

“That one is no good, young Alm. He is a wild and very dangerous barmudian. He fought against four Emperor Rank Adventurers and they still had a hard time to capture him. Nearly bit one's head off, he did!” the clerk explained as he wiped the sweat off his forehead.

Barmudians were karbazarians with canine features just like how nekatarians had feline features. In essence, all anthropomorphic creatures in this world were called the Children of Karbazur the God of Beasts.

The thing was that this barmudian in particular seemed to be more on the animal side than the human one, and it wasn't just his physical features that made me think that. There was something about the way he looked at me, the way his presence felt pressing on my shoulders, that reminded me of the wild wolves and monsters I used to hunt together with Aunty Eliza in the Chedelle Forest.

All the other slaves here could also feel it and had instinctively moved away from him as far as they could.

Unfortunately, whether he was a dangerous fellow or not remained to be seen. After all, according to Sapherya, he was someone I was supposed to rescue from this place, so what was the worst that could happen? Well,... at least I was immortal.

“We'll take him.” I said again.

“Young Alm, are you sure about this?” the clerk asked again.

“Yes. Give me the contract and we'll take him away from here at once.” I told him in a firm tone of voice to let him know that I had no desire to change my mind about this.

Seeing that he wasn't moving yet, Timothy intervened “Be happy that the Young Master wishes to buy him, otherwise, you would have never managed to sell him.”

The clerk thought about it for a short moment before he nodded and then went to get the contract.

We didn't want to sound too rude, but what Timothy said was a fact all of us were well aware of. This clerk couldn't even dare to bring his customers here, let alone advertise the slaves he had in store. Most of them would end up dying one way or another if they weren't purchased either as meat shields or for experimentation by some weird noble.

Of course, what this man was doing here was a crime, but he wasn't the only one and even if these slaves were going to end up rescued, who was going to take over their ownership? The kingdom had yet to figure out this dilemma so it preferred to turn a blind eye to it, although from my point of view, an auction would have solved it.

When the clerk returned, I took out 85 gold coins and placed them in a separate pouch. Timothy counted them once and then handed them over to the clerk, who checked each coin to make sure it wasn't fake.

While he did that, I looked over the contract to make sure that there weren't any weird clauses in there and then gave it to Timothy, Lindus, and Cormina to read it as well, just in case I missed anything. When the contract returned to my hands, I signed it with my name and a drop of my blood. The clerk was also satisfied with the coins, so we went to the next step and performed the spell of ownership transfer which was applied to the wolf-man's collar and with this, it was done.

The clerk thanked us for the deal and then left us with the key to the dangerous slave's bindings.

The wolf-man was like a bad taste early Christmas present. He was only missing a big red ribbon on top of his head. Oh, how I missed that silly holiday!

“Sigh. Timothy, remove his bindings.” I told him as I gave him the key.

“Are you sure of this, Young Master?” he asked me.

There was a bit of concern in his eyes, especially when seeing how ferocious the wolf-man continued to look at me, his new Master, as if he wanted to bite my head off and slurp all the blood that spilled out, but I wasn't feeling any killing intent from him. Not like he could do anything to me even if he wanted to, one of the basic functions of the collar was to prevent all forms of aggression towards the slave's master unless ordered otherwise.

“I'm sure, besides, if he wants my help, he won't do anything foolish.” I said and then looked straight into his eyes, but not in a challenging or aggressive way.

A gesture, which made the barmudian perk his ears up in curiosity. There weren't that many people who would willingly accept all of this overwhelming pressure he put out without considering him an enemy. In my eyes, he couldn't be one, he didn't have to be one, and this was reflected in my own gestures, words, and presence as well, all of which I had a feeling he could read quite well.

The wolf-man's gaze didn't change at all even after all of his chains had been removed, dropping on the floor with a loud metallic rattle. If he wanted to flee at this point, there was no one who was going to stop him, not even me.

“Well, how are you feeling? If you have any problems, let me know. Everyone here will treat you kindly, so don't hesitate to express your needs, especially in regard to traveling essentials, food, rest, health, or even armor and weapons.” I told him.

“Yup! Yup! Master is kind. Nya~!” the nekatarian declared with a happy smile on her face.

She somehow managed to find the courage to join us here, but the poor woman was struggling to keep the bad stench away from her sensitive nose. She had her sleeve placed against it, but her feline ears twitched as if shocked by electricity every time she accidentally took a whiff of the stench around her.

As for my nose, yup, it was burned to the point that it was going to be a wonder if I could smell anything else for a while now! I had gained immunity to any biological hazard fart in the world!

“You... you're not going to harm me?” he asked me furrowing his brow and pointing his wolf ears towards me.

“Why would I?” I raised an eyebrow at him. “For now, we'll be companions and travel together until you find your own place in this vast world. At that point I'll free you, no strings attached.” I told him and then I shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal.

“I...” he kept staring at me with the same soul-piercing gaze.

The wolf-man then took a step forward and moved closer to me, then another step, and another, until he was close enough to tower over me like some sort of insurmountable mountain, letting off a powerful and wild presence that had everyone else there worried for my safety.

Still no killing intent from him, though, so I knew that even in this situation I wasn't in any danger.

“What is it?” I asked tilting my head to the left.

There was another moment of tension between us when it felt as if he was about to rip my head clean off my shoulders.

What happened next, however, was completely unexpected.

Like a big, slobbering canine, a malamute, he gave me one BIG lick over my entire face that covered me completely in drool.

“Young Master! I, Rakosta, see truth in your words and promise to follow you for now!” he declared as he tapped his big hairy chest with his right fist.

Meanwhile, I... just stood there... frozen...

“Ew~! Mutt drool!” Zor Nya Nyan quite accurately said what I was thinking.

“Watch who you are calling a mutt, you flea bag!” Rakosta growled at her, making the nekatarian hide behind Timothy.

“Young Master, may I suggest a bath?”

“For him or them?” Lindus inquired as he pointed at the two karbazarians.

They both flinched when they heard the word 'bath'.

“Yes... all of us.” I said without opening my mouth too much so that I wouldn't accidentally get that dog drool in my mouth.