~ Chapter 57: The annoying merchants ~

[Illsyore's point of view]

 To reach the Slave Market, we had to walk all the way to the other side of the city, in the same area as the coliseum. It was located near the outer wall and was filled with small warehouses where they kept the slaves locked up in cages.

As soon as we arrived there, Tamara hid behind Shanteya, who gently patted her furry head. As for me, I watched the adults as they were put on display, and I felt nothing, but then I saw the children… and I felt rage.

Every warehouse had a small podium on which the ‘items’ of the day were placed on display. Chained up and ordered to stand still in front of the crowd, I could read their shame and fear in their eyes. They had their heads lowered and fingers clenched onto the few pieces of clothes they were allowed to wear. The women barely had anything on them, while the men only wore a loincloth. As for the children, they were the only ones who wore a pair of pants and shirt, but this depended on their species and slave merchant. Nekatar children weren’t as privileged as the human or el’doraw ones.

Looking at them in these conditions made me sick to my stomach, and I would have loved to bust open the heads of those men and women who chained up defenseless children for a living. To be honest about it, I actually thought of doing so, but this place was only one of the many slave markets in the entire kingdom. While walking here, I noticed there were many people who owned at least one slave. In the eyes of these people, they were a cheap workforce and at the same time property.

Why hire a servant or worker with a salary when you could buy a slave?

That was the question that kept the business going. And to top it off, the royal family seemed to be especially interested in having this sort of thing running indefinitely. A part of the payment of each slave went straight into the royal coffers.

To put it simply, I would need to destroy the entire kingdom in order to change something, but I thought about it, and I realized I couldn’t do it. As for why, there was a good reason for it. Once the royals went down, the supporting nobles would flee to the neighboring kingdoms, which all supported slavery. Anarchy would take hold, wars would start, and the Supremes in those kingdoms would be sent here to take me down. This kingdom would end up as a bloody battlefield with no one safe and nowhere to run.

By using force to bring down this kingdom, I would irreversibly destroy it as well as pull countless innocent civilians into an unending war. I could buy all of their slaves, but this would only make them see me as a means of profit, therefore, they would try to capture and sell me more. No… If this is to change, it has to come from the inside. I shook my head as I thought about this.

With no way out, I bottled up all of that hate and went to the slave dealer who was once the owner of Tamara. The child had changed a lot, so it was highly unlikely for him to be able to recognize her.

“Excuse me! Are you here to buy or to sell?” an eager skinny merchant moved in front of us.

“What?”

“I’ll give you 45 goldiettes for the blonde!” he told me.

I raised an eyebrow and looked back at Nanya.

“You want ME to sell YOU my WIFE?” I asked him and pointed out those words to make it clear where we stood.

“Oh! Pardon me then! What about the nekatar? She looks healthy and strong, 24 goldiettes?” he asked with a grin as he eyed Tamara.

With a frightened mew, she hid behind Shanteya.

“Listen, bastard, I’m not here to either sell or buy! We are adventurers with the interest of completing a quest. Now, if you don’t get out of my way, I’m going to break all of those teeth of yours!” I threatened him.

“That would be unwise! Oh, no no no!” he shook his head “If you attack me, it’s by royal decree that I can turn you into my slave!” he smirked.

I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Dead men have no slaves.” I growled.

Feeling my threat, he gulped and backed away. “True. Pardon my… unhealthy intrusion.” he made a soft bow and then ran off to his store.

Letting out a sigh, I rubbed my forehead with two fingers and tried to understand what was wrong with these people. However, the man made something clear to me: I wasn’t allowed to attack them as long as I was on their turf. Maybe only self-defense was permitted.

After asking left and right about the man we were looking for while also getting assaulted with money-hungry merchants who either wanted to buy my companions or sell me some slaves, we finally arrived in front of the store of the bastard who made Tamara into a slave.

It was one of the fanciest places around, and the only one with carved doors. Outside, on the podium, two women and one man were displayed in chains, but unlike the other ‘merchandise’, they were kept standing with the help of a neck restraining device. Even if they wanted to, they couldn’t bend over or sit down. To the left of his entrance was another display, but this time with caged children.

My blood froze when I saw them and anger flowed through my veins, threatening to turn me into a raging monster. I wanted to, I really wanted to, but this man… there was no way to stop him under my current circumstances.

When I’ll build my academy, I’ll make it mandatory for the teachers to give classes about alternate ways to the slave system or why they shouldn’t enslave children. Tch! I wish I could kill that blasted king who allowed this! I thought, but all of my anger had to die off, least I wished to cause a scene.

“Is everything alright, Master?” Shanteya asked and placed her hand on my shoulder.

I blinked surprised and looked back at her. She wore an expression filled with worry for me. It was clear that something was wrong, but I had no way of sharing the anger and hate I held within my heart. Maybe it was better that I didn’t and kept it all bottled up inside. This way, I wasn’t going to trouble anyone.

Letting out a sigh, I shook my head.

“I’m bothered by this slave system… I don’t like it.” I confessed.

A little bit was alright to let out, just enough to keep the top from blowing off.

“I understand, Master.” Shanteya nodded “Not all countries see it this way, however.”

“Indeed. Every kingdom has their own way of handling their slaves, but overall, they are seen as indispensable to any sort of economy. A country without slavery and economic prosperity simply doesn’t exist.” explained Ayuseya, but I could tell from the tone of her voice that she was troubled by this as well.

“What about Shoraya?” I asked.

“They abolished slavery, but as a result, their production is down and there are many beggars on the streets of the capital.” she looked over at the palace at the center of this city.

“What about democracy?” I asked.

“What?” Ayuseya looked at me confused as if I said something strange.

“You know, a system through which the population of a country chooses their own leader through an equal and fair vote?” I explained.

“There is no such thing. What’s the role of the king in this system?”

“There is no king.”

“That doesn’t sound possible. It sounds like an anarchy. The kings are taught from birth how to rule their countries, but a random elected citizen has no such knowledge or authority. It would be the same as having a Beginner Rank Adventurer take on a quest meant for an Emperor Rank Adventurer.” Ayuseya expressed quite clearly her point of view about this, and I had no way of proving them otherwise.

Then again, back on Earth, the United Kingdom survived just fine as a monarchy, while in other countries, democratic chosen tyrants abused their power in all sort of ways which ultimately led to their country’s ruin.

Maybe it doesn’t really matter the political system as much as how just, kind, and wise their leader is… Should I focus on introducing Democracy with my Academy or rather focus on bringing up good leaders worthy of any position in the state? Erm… What do I know exactly about politics? I thought, but the last question remained unanswered.

At most, just like everyone else, I only knew a thing or two, not how the whole system worked up to its smallest of gears. I knew the principle, but in rest, the details eluded me.

With a sigh, I gave up on the idea of stirring up the world like this.

“Shall we enter?” asked Nanya after a while.

Blinking surprised, I realized that while I was thinking about politics, the girls were waiting for me to step inside.

With a nod in reply, I opened the door and went in.

Just like on the outside, the inside was vastly decorated with all sort of paintings and statues, some good while others plain weird. The merchant was an art lover by the looks of things. Considering the time and age, I had the distinct feeling that those things didn’t come cheap.

The first people to greet us were two very tanned and buff-looking fellows. I raised an eyebrow when I saw them. They stepped in front of us and crossed their arms at their chest. Flexing their muscles, they were trying to look as intimidating as they could possibly be, but for an adventurer who went out every day to subjugate monsters, these fellows were nothing but a joke. Even Tamara could defeat them, and she was quite weak when compared to the rest of us.

The only things these fellows were missing were some spike collars and chains wrapped around their bodies.

“Ayuseya, could you tell these fellows that we’re here to speak with mister Deroak about a mission?” I told the draconian.

With a nod, she proceeded to translate in Kalish.

The two looked at each other for a moment, then the one on the right went to the back of the building to call their boss. A few minutes later, a human around 1.65 meters tall with a big belly, silk clothes, and a bunch of golden accessories on him made his appearance before us.

He gave us a stern look and analyzed all of us from head to toe. After a moment, he spoke in Shorayan.

“Who is the party leader?”

“I am.” I stepped forward.

“Where are my slaves? Is that child the only one left alive?” he asked pointing at Tamara, who instinctively hid behind Shanteya.

“No, that’s not one of yours, she’s mine.” I told him.

“That can’t be possible, I know all of my slaves!” he declared.

“Are you by chance talking about a nekatar with scarred back and burned tail tip?” I asked.

“Yes.” he narrowed his eyes at me.

“Yeah, she’s dead already. The child over there only looks a bit like her, but last I remember it’s not worth it to heal such wounds on someone’s slave. Besides, she doesn’t have a collar.” I retorted.

I’m lying like a pro, but I’ll certainly keep Tamara out of your grabby little hands! I thought with an inner smirk.

“Is that so?” the man didn’t seem convinced, and he kept looking between the nekatar and everyone else there.

“Well, as I was saying, the mission proved to be more difficult than you described. You forgot to mention black magic users and zombies.” I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Well, you are alive from what I see, so the mission couldn’t have been that hard? What are you, a Beginner Rank in the Guild?” Deroak asked with a smirk.

“What rank we are in the Guild doesn’t matter! What matters is that you gave a quest below its assessed danger level and in consequence, many adventurers died.” I glared at him.

“And why should it mater for me?” he asked and then shrugged.

This fellow is annoying, but if he is the same type of scumbag I know from Earth, then he surely won’t care about anything else other than his coin purse. I mean, he’s selling child slaves! It can’t be worse than this! I better just leave this place and try to think of a way to stop this madness… I’ll make my Academy into the forefront to fight against this sort of thing. I thought while looking into his uncaring eyes.

“Then I will inform you of what the Guild told us to say to you, and that is the fact that you won’t be allowed to post any more quests there without employing an adventurer to properly scale its difficulty.” I said coldly.

“I don’t care.” he shrugged.

“Then we have nothing further to discuss! We’ll be going now.” I announced and then turned around to leave.

As I placed my hand on the doorknob, the merchant shouted.

“WAIT!”

I clenched my teeth and looked back at him.

“What?” I asked with a forced smile.

“How much for the blonde woman?” he asked.

I was dumbfounded.

“Say what now?”

“How much for the human woman with blonde hair. If you sell her to me, I’ll give you erm… 35 goldiettes! How about it? That’s a very good price, you know?” he grinned.

Is he serious? Is this guy serious? I asked myself.

We were all surprised and simply shocked by his words. Not only did he saw Nanya as a woman I could simply trade off like some used coat, but he was also seeing her as my slave. I didn’t know which was worse. Even with the slave contract between me and Shanteya, I still couldn’t consider her as my slave. The moment she asked for it, I would release her, but this man saw release as a waste of profit.

“She is not for sale.” I replied.

“40 goldiettes!” he raised the price.

I tried to keep myself from punching him.

“I’m not selling her… I can’t in the first place…” I muttered those last words and then looked at the person in question.

She was boiling with anger. If I didn’t hit the merchant, she would, and her punch would literally send this entire building flying.

“Then I challenge you to an arena game!” he declared.

“A what now?” I raised an eyebrow at him.

“One of your slaves versus one of mine, winner keeps all and gets the blonde!” he smirked greedily.

There was no end to this man. Law or not, I seriously wanted to punch him in the face, but then something even better crossed my mind. The thought was a bit evil, and I could feel myself smirking on the inside. It was as if I wasn’t the one who thought of it in the first place, but it didn’t scare me, it made me eager with anticipation.

“Sir, you are betting too little for too much. I stand to lose my most precious ‘item’, and you lose nothing.” saying that word made my heart twist in pain and disgust.

“I hear you, then how about I pay you 40 goldiettes if I lose?” he asked.

“40 goldiettes? That’s a lot of money…” I said and rubbed my chin as I looked back at Nanya, the girls were a bit confused by my words, but with a single wink, I let them know that I had a plan.

Nanya puffed and crossed her arms at her chest, while Ayuseya sighed.

“My most powerful slave against yours, you say?” I asked.

“Yes! It’s a one in a lifetime offer! With so much money, you could do a lot of things! Think of it as an… investment.” he showed me a merchant’s smile, while I appeared to be indecisive.

“Then how about we make it more interesting then? Your women against my slaves. Win three times, and I will concede. What do you think?” Deroak asked with a smirk.

Ah, the old trick of making me fight against his weakest at first, then slowly raising the value of the bet until the end, when I will be fighting against his strongest and crushed in utter defeat. Well, two can play at this game! I thought.

“I don’t know…” I looked down.

“Come one, mister adventurer, I can see that what you were mad about earlier was the fact that I didn’t properly assess the danger of my quest, but I will make sure that something like this will never happen again! But now, it’s just a bit of fun, right? A little betting never harmed anyone, did it?” he asked rubbing his hands together.

If I wasn’t someone who saw this sort of character in other stories and games before, I may have fallen for his trick. At first, he only seemed to be really interested in Nanya, but underneath his sneaky smile, his plan was most likely to leave me penniless. As to why, that could be easily explained by the fact that I had the nerve to come here and tell him off. He was a merchant, so if he sniffed out the possibility that I had money and noticed I wasn’t willing to buy his ‘merchandise’, then he would try through some other means to strip me of my gold. Well, even if I lost, I could still take back my women, but seriously though, who could defeat them?

I let him wait for a bit, appearing as though I was seriously thinking about my circumstances and whether or not it was worth the risk. Meanwhile, my companions kept quiet and waited calmly for this conversation to end. The most worried of them all appeared to be little Tamara. I just hoped she wasn’t thinking I was going to sell her back.

“Three wins you say?” I asked.

“Yes! Your slaves only need to win three times!” he declared.

“There is a problem though…” I said.

“A problem? What sort?” he asked furrowing his brow.

“I only have one slave, the blonde and draconian are my followers, but if needed be, they will give up their freedom for me. Hm, what to do?” I acted as though I was in a bit of a pinch.

The reason I said this was to eliminate the situation afterwards where he would declare the bet invalid because I sent out a non-slave.

“I see, mister adventurer must have his circumstances as well, but do not worry, as long as they are willing to be sold afterwards, we can proceed with our little deal. So three wins accumulated from any of your… companions, and I will concede, but if I win, I get all three of them and your gear.” he smirked.

Thus, the true face of the rascal showed itself.

“And what do I get for such a risky bet?” I asked raising an eyebrow at him.

“Any of my three slaves, goldiettes, or anything else of similar value I may own.” he smirked.

“Hm, how many goldiettes?” he asked.

“100!” he declared and pointed a finger up at the ceiling.

“Too little, give me more.” I fought back.

“120, but not even a copperette more!”

“125.”

He furrowed his brow at me and then looked over at the girls behind me.

“150 and you throw in the nekatar as well.” he smirked.

“120 it is then.” I wasn’t willing to add Tamara on the table.

“Hm, is she that valuable to you?” Deroak asked surprised.

“Yes. I got her for 210 goldiettes.” I lied.

“Two… Two hundred and ten?!” he acted quite surprised, but his eyes were sparkling with curiosity and greed.

“Yes.” I nodded “She is a special kind of nekatar who can find the quickest way through a labyrinth to the core of the dungeon.” I lied again.

“Indeed, with such a skill… the price would explain it. Did you get her at an auction house?” he asked after a moment.

“Yes, but not in this country.” I replied, lying again.

“I understand, it can’t be helped then… I will agree to the 120 goldiettes!” he nodded.

Of course, with this I sparked both his curiosity and greed. The man would probably try to plot a way to get his sneaky little hands on my cat, but that was just part of my plan as well. If he was a merchant from Earth, he would have sniffed out the scam or demanded some sort of proof, but this guy didn’t even think about it.

“Then, when will they battle and what are the conditions for winning?” I asked.

“They will fight at the coliseum, where we will set up a ring. The first fighter to fall out of the ring or lose consciousness will be declared defeated. If any of our fighters kill their opponent, it will be our immediate loss.” he nodded.

“True, you wouldn't want to lose your merchandise now, would you?” I remarked.

“Of course! What point is there to a fight like this if I would lose more than I would come to gain?” he shook his head.

Indeed, with me losing a fighter, his win cut would be considerably smaller. With him losing, he would have to give up more than he initially bargained for.

It actually sounded like a fair deal when you thought about it, but the fact that I was waging my beloved wives and friends like some chip at a casino left a very bitter and unpleasant taste in my mouth. Still, this was probably going to be the only chance I had to punish this bastard for what he did to Tamara, at least from a legal point of view. If I ever were to catch this guy outside of the town, I would kill him.

Yes, I would kill him… I thought to myself while looking back at him.

My mind at this point was calm and relaxed as if taking the life of another was supposed to be a normal thing. When thinking back at Dankyun, I didn’t want to kill him back then, I didn’t want to dirty my hands with his blood, but now it felt like it would be the right thing to do. Actually, if I were to meet that draconian again, I wouldn’t have any trouble killing him.

To be frank, I didn’t even realize how messed up and unnatural of me it was at that time… That cold and relaxed state of mind when thinking about taking the life of another was not ME.

“Illsy?” Nanya pulled me out of my thoughts.

We were standing outside of the slave merchant’s shop and preparing to head towards the coliseum. The deal was made and even if it was only in verbal form, it was enough for the people here. Going back on it would be the same as losing.

“Yes?” I replied and started walking.

“What was that all about?” Nanya asked me with a raised eyebrow.

“I can’t beat him up. I can’t kill him in the city. I can’t buy his slaves because it would result in him running off to get more… What I can do is pull him into a trap of his own kind and bleed him dry of goldiettes.” I let out a sigh.

“Indeed, a great loss in profit would hinder his business for a long time, maybe even force him to reduce the prices of his slaves and empty his stock to recover. Played right, this sort of thing could cause him to lose absolutely everything.” Ayuseya remarked.

“Well, I didn’t think that far ahead, I just wanted to get my revenge on him for what he did to Tamara.” I petted the nekatar’s furry head.

“Master won’t sell Tamara, will he?” she asked with a purr and upturned eyes.

“Of course not! But when we are at the coliseum, I will pretend as though I will sell you back. It’s a trick to force him to put more goldiettes on the table before I take them all.” I smiled gently.

“Master is sneaky.” she giggled.

“Yes, and quite skilled in many things…” Ayuseya said with a purr as she kissed my cheek.

“Well, what’s the plan?” Nanya shrugged.

“Ayuseya goes first, wins two battles then gets herself defeated. Make it appear as if you are barely able to put up a fight against your enemy.” I explained.

“I understand. We just need to pretend to be weak.” the draconian princess giggled.

“I don’t like pretending to be weak.” the demoness narrowed her eyes at me.

“Just this one time, please?” I asked of her.

“Ugh… fine.” she didn’t like this one bit.

“After Ayuseya is defeated, Shanteya will be the next one to enter the ring. You will lose the battle, but…”

“Pretend to be weak and force myself to struggle against my opponent. I got it.” she nodded.

“Good, then it will be Nanya’s turn.” she glared at me “You will take a few blows while I try to convince the merchant to cough up more coins. Put on a good show for the act and keep an eye on Tamara, if she is standing in front of me, it means the show has to go on, if she is standing next to me, then defeat your enemy without killing him. How does that sound?” I asked with a smirk.

“Sneaky.” she grinned.

“I will not let you down, Master.” Shanteya made a small bow.

“Me neither, my husband.” Ayuseya giggled.

“Good!” I laughed.