Vol 1 Chapter 9 (1/2)

Chapter Nine: They Call it a Slave

One… Two… Three…

I worked like this for teeks and ed to save up 40 pieces of silver, which means that I finally made back what I’d thrown to Motoyasu the day he betrayed me, plus a little extra

So about it all felt hopeless I mean, my attack power severely limited the places I could visit

I didn’t get hurt or anything, but one ti the forest

I think it was a Red Balloon I was attacking it withback Ifor 30It ruinedlow

It meant that I couldn’t actually leave the fields, and therefore was forced to doup there, which I did for teeks I eventually reached level 4 I wonder what level the other heroes had reached I don’t want to think about it

There was still a Red Balloon chewing on h the bone or soone to the forest a whole week prior Ithe balloon

Clang!

“Sigh…”

My attack was still too low

If my attack is low, I can’t hunt monsters

If I can’t hunt et EXP points

If I can’t get EXP points, I can’t raise my attack

Da down an alleyway, behind the restaurant It led to the fields

But that day was to be different from the rest

“You seem troubled, sir”

“Huh?”

A strange man called to me from the alley He was in a silk hat and coattails He was a strange gentleman by any lasses He didn’t seees So he stuck out dranore him, I hurried on past

“You need people”

I stopped in et me to stop

“That’s why you can’t hunt stronger monsters”

Everything he said annoyed me

“I’m not sure what that has to do with you”

“If I helped with recruitht still stand a chance”

I didn’t have the funds, or the desire, to hire a greedy capitalist

“Partyfar more useful”

“For example?”

The man slid over in my direction

“Interested?”

“Don’t stand so close, you creep”

“Ahaha I like you, kid Fine then, I’ll tell you”

The gentle very i stick, and pontificated, “A SLAVE!”

“A slave?”

“Yes, a slave”

A slave… as that again? I hear they used to exist in the real world, but now they showed up froa (like the kind where soets summoned to another world)

To put it bluntly, it ht own furniture, and you could force them to do physical labor for you I sort of pictured the whipped

Anyway, slaves were living things

Did this ht and sold here?

“They do not lie, and they do not betray their masters”

Hmm…

“Slaves are under a powerful curse If they contradict or betray their masters, they must pay with their very lives”

“Hmmm…”

Now the story was getting interesting

If they disobey, they die In so for: someone ouldn’t use me, and someone that didn’t have any funny ideas

My attack was too weak I needed someone to help me But people betray you, so I couldn’t afford to pay theet anyone to help me But a slave wouldn’t betray me because betrayal meant death

“What do you think?”

“I’ll hear you out”

He sht this way, sir”

He lednu people The air was filled with aggressive shouts and the sound of fragile things breaking More than anything, it smelled terrible

Apparently this world had a bad side too

It was soht where ere We turned a corner, and there, at the end of the alley, was so like a circus tent

“Right this way, sir”

“Uh huh…”

The slave trader walked with a creepy air about hi, but he spent more time in the air He led me towards the tent, and pulled back the flap

“Let’s get this out of the way up front If you’re tricking me…”

“Ah, yes… your balloon punishments are quite infamous around town You’ll cause a ruckus and then run off, eh?”

So people were starting to talk about roups of bad people, and I shouldn’t be surprised that it made me famous

“To be fair, there were those that wanted a Hero, like yourself, as a slave for theoal in e of heart”

“Excuse 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?”

The guy was slippery What did he want from me?

There was aopen

“Woah…”

The interior was di faintly in the air I also smelled animals It didn’t seem to be a very nice place

There were a nues in the room, and human-like shapes moved within them

“Now then, this one, right over here, I can recohly to you”

I e he indicated and looked inside”

“Guoooow… Gah!”

“That’s not a human!”

Inside was sos and claws To su like a olf, and it was howling just like you’d iine

“It is a beast-man Here, we consider them, in most respects, people”

“A beast-man?”

I recognized the idea, as beast-ames

“I realize that I’m a hero and all, but I still don’t know all that much about this place Can you tell me a little more about it, please?”

Unlike the other heroes, I didn’t really know anything about this place I didn’t even knohat I was supposed to know

When I alking around town I noticed so” ears, or cat-like ears perched on their heads Every time I saw them, I’d realize that I really was in a fantasy world But there didn’t seem to be very many of them

“The Melroher order creatures than these other types It can be a tough place for beast-men and demi-humans to live”

“Huh…”

Sure enough, I saw demi-humans and beast-, they were nor ainst, and were only able to obtain lower-level work

“Ok, fine But what exactly are these demi-humans and beast-men?”

“Demi-humans look just like humans from the outside, but they have some differences on the inside They are considered a type of human Beast-men are technically a type of demi-human, the sort whose beast-like characteristics are particularly powerful”

“Gotcha So they are in the saory”

“That’s right 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”

I guess every world has its dark side And because they weren’t technically humans, they were perfectly suited for slavery here

“So yes, and these slaves have this particular feature…” The slave trader snapped his fingers loudly When he did so, a ical aura appeared around his arm, and at the salow

“Arrrgggh! Awooo! Awooo!”

The olf began howling in pain, as if so its chest The slave trader snapped his fingers again, and the glowing shape on the wolf’s chest slowly faded away

“… Punishers”

“How convenient,” I whispered, my eyes on the olf, now sprawled, face up, on the floor of its cage “Can I do it too?”

“Naturally It can even be arranged so that a snap of the fingers is not necessary It can be worked right into your Status Magic”

“Huh…”

It did seem very convenient

“However, a ceremony is necessary The owner’s information must be shared with and absorbed by the slave”

“So that the slave can always understand the owner’s intention?”

“You have a very good head on your shoulders”

The slave trader flashed a sinister smile

He made me uncomfortable

“Sounds fine to me How much does this one cost?”

“Well you ht Naturally this affects the price”

No doubt, gossip concerning uy’s ears He could say whatever he wanted I wasn’t going to start throwing money around Think about it: He kneas in trouble, and he approachedto try and swindle me

“How about 15 gold pieces?”

“I don’t know anything about the ood deal?”

One gold piece was apparently worth around 100 pieces of silver

There was a reason the king provided our funds in silver, not gold The gold pieces orth so e It was much easier to buy and sell in silver, and so the vast old

“Of course”

“…”

The slave trader met my silence with a deep smile

“You know that I can’t afford that, so you started with the ht?”

“Yes, well, I can tell you are going to be a great custoardless I would be a poor business man if I didn’t start with our best wares”

This guy was slimy

“For your own information, please take a look at this slave’s information”