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088 The Slave
Merchant
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Translator : PolterGlast
I purchased a mansion
in the royal capital. It was the second property Yamato had chosen. I
definitely decided against purchasing the former Barland Viscount residence. If
I, a Baron, were to purchase it, I could only use up to the maximum area
allowed for a Baron's estate. Even just the fact that it was the former Barland
Viscount residence made me reluctant to buy it, let alone a property with such
conditions.
By the way, Yamato's
third recommendation for a mansion was in the noble district, and its grounds
were apparently the smallest in that area. I didn't intend to establish a
mansion in the noble district as a status symbol, so I went with the second
option, the mansion in the commoner district. After all, being relaxed is best.
Furthermore, the
children's garbage collection continued. Lilith was put in charge, with Bath,
Colon, and Karon assisting her. This volunteer activity provided experience
points to the Saintess job. And quite a lot of experience, too. If this
volunteering continued, Lilith would eventually reach a level where she could
completely cure Laura.
Alright, I'd purchased
the mansion, and next was personnel. I had told Bath to bring any promising
children he found. Of course, I'd confirm them with Detailed Appraisal before
officially hiring them. At the same time, I had Gandarvan approach explorers. I
would also make the final decision on whether to hire them.
I entered Golteo
Trading Company's main store in the royal capital.
"Welcome, Baron
Footscythel!" Sharniini-san, Golteo-san's son and the President of the
company, greeted me. It seemed they were expecting me this time, as I had
informed them in advance that I would be coming to purchase slaves.
"Thank you for
your assistance," I said.
"What are you
saying, sir? We are the ones who are indebted to you. The women's underwear
designed by Baron Footscythel is very popular even in the royal capital. Thank
you very much indeed," Sharniini-san replied. So, they were already
selling the underwear in the royal capital, huh? It seemed the underwear was
quite popular in Kerniff too. Since it was underwear that enhanced a woman's
charm, it might even be a measure against the declining birthrate. Though I
didn't know if a declining birthrate was an issue.
I wondered if I should
ask Itsukushima-san to design some new items. I don't have many ideas for
women's underwear. Just imagining Anneliese wearing new underwear made me
happy. It was limited to Anneliese, but I was confident in my imagination.
"I'm glad to hear
business is thriving. Now, can you show me your slaves?" I asked.
"Yes. I
understand you wish to see all of our controlled and voluntary slaves this
time, is that correct?" Sharniini-san inquired. Controlled slaves are
commonly referred to as criminal slaves. The reason I wanted to see controlled
slaves was because there might be cases like Anneliese's. I intended to accept
any innocent or accidentally charged controlled slaves who wished to work for
me.
"Normally, nobles
view slaves in private rooms, but as there are many this time, I thought it
best to have Your Excellency view them directly. How does that sound?"
"That's fine. How
many slaves do you have in total?" I asked.
"We have 13
controlled slaves and 62 voluntary slaves, for a total of 75 individuals,"
Sharniini-san replied. Was the number of slaves high because it was the royal
capital, or was Golteo Trading Company exceptionally well-stocked?
We descended to the
basement and entered an area with cages lining both sides of a long corridor.
Four to six slaves were held in rooms about 6 tatami mats in size.
"This is the
voluntary slave area. We sell individuals, or families, so the number of
individuals per sale varies," Sharniini-san explained.
"Families are
sold together?" I asked.
"That also
occurs. Hypothetically, if parents were to sell themselves, their remaining
children would be unable to survive. In such cases, it is possible to include
the condition of purchasing the entire family at once," he explained. In
that case, the parents would be slaves, but the children would not.
"Children can
also be enslaved, but you can assume that shops that sell very young children
as slaves have questionable ethics," he added. Slaves are primarily
expected to be a labor force, so enslaving very young children is meaningless.
That's why ethical shops generally don't deal with very young children.
"In the case of
children, if they are around 10 years old, some parents even sell them to slave
merchants as if sending them to work as apprentices," he revealed. It was
a disheartening topic. Hearing such stories made me wonder if the previous
world was more ethically developed.
I also asked about
other precautions when purchasing slaves. Since I had heard about them at
Golteo Trading Company in Kerniff, he explained them simply.
Now then, I'd get a
good look with Detailed Appraisal. I quickly scanned them, and then asked for
their names.
"What I need are
soldiers and people to manage the house. Basically, about 30 soldiers and about
5 people for house management."
"Yes. I
understand," Sharniini-san replied.
"From now on, the
individuals whose names I mention are to be excluded from my purchase. Can you
make a note of them?" I instructed.
"Yes. No problem.
Please tell me," he affirmed. I excluded lazy individuals and those with
bad personalities among the voluntary slaves. I listed 8 names.
"Aside from those
8, please recruit individuals who wish to become soldiers or manage the
household. Soldiers will fight monsters and humans. I want people who are
prepared for that. For household management, they will be servants who do
cleaning, laundry, cooking, coachman duties, horse care, garden management, and
so on." I had already conveyed the detailed conditions in advance. The
final number would be determined after confirming the slaves' willingness,
considering factors like the possibility of working not only in the royal
capital but also in Kerniff.
"Understood. I
will confirm their intentions, and in the meantime, I would appreciate it if
you could take a look at the controlled slaves," Sharniini-san said,
leading me to a different area. Compared to the voluntary slave area, this one
had a slightly more ominous atmosphere. I sensed something akin to killing
intent. Controlled slaves were not only subjected to hard labor but also thrown
into dangerous battlefields, regardless of their will. In times of war, they
could sometimes be freed from controlled slavery if they achieved significant
military feats, but that also meant it was a very dangerous place.
"There are 13
controlled slaves," Sharniini-san stated. As I used Detailed Appraisal on
the 13 controlled slaves, I found only one person who was wrongfully accused.
This person was also held responsible for an accident but was not actually involved
in it. Their superiors had conspired to frame them as the culprits who caused
the accident. In cases of accidents, not crimes, this kind of scapegoating was
possible. If it were a crime, it would often be reflected in the record card,
making false accusations difficult, but accidents were different. Though nobles
sometimes used their power to fabricate false accusations.
"I will take this
Enrique. I don't need anyone else," I declared.
"Understood. I
will now escort you to the waiting room. Please wait there for a moment,"
Sharniini-san replied. After waiting for a while, Sharniini-san entered the
waiting room.
"I apologize for
the wait. First, regarding the voluntary slaves, 38 individuals wished to
become soldiers, and 16 wished to become servants," Sharniini-san
reported. That means everyone except the 8 I excluded, huh?
"Furthermore, two
families wish to be purchased together. Both families wished to work as
servants. And there are 2 children and 1 child, respectively." Family
purchases were fine. Taking care of the children was, of course, okay. I don't
dislike children.
"Regarding
Enrique, the controlled slave, he states he is fine with being purchased, but
he seems somewhat despondent," Sharniini-san explained. Well, he was
wrongly accused and made a criminal, so it's natural for him to be despondent.
"I will purchase
everyone, including Enrique. How much will that be?" I asked.
"Thank you very
much! That will be 54 voluntary slaves and 1 controlled slave. A total of
70,000,000 Grill," Sharniini-san replied, stating the amount without even
looking at the documents. He seemed to know I would purchase everyone. As
expected of Golteo-san's son.
"The terms for
voluntary slaves vary. The shortest is 5 years, and the longest is 16 years.
Enrique, the controlled slave, has an 8-year sentence. The detailed documents
are here," Sharniini-san said, placing 55 documents on the table. Each
document was on thick parchment, so 55 of them looked quite substantial.
Compared to the amount of documents on the Duke's and Princess's desks, this
was much better.
Basically, soldiers,
who do dangerous work, are more expensive and have shorter terms. If they
explore beyond the 5th floor of the dungeon, they can earn enough money to buy
back their freedom relatively quickly, so I hoped they would work hard enough
not to die.
Since I was signing
contracts for 55 slaves, it took some time. I also made sure to include a
clause that they wouldn't disclose information about me.
Also, since not all of
them would fit in the purchased house, I rented a nearby inn for a while. In
the meantime, I would have houses for servants and soldiers built on the
property. It would take a few months, but it couldn't be helped.
"Those who become
soldiers will undergo training from now on," I announced. I purchased a
large amount of weapons and armor for the soldiers. In addition, all clothes
and sundries were also procured from Golteo Trading Company. A large trading
company that has everything is certainly convenient, but it also means spending
a lot of money.
However, I also gained
benefits. By purchasing a large number of slaves this time, I acquired the
Slave Merchant job. The Slave Merchant job has two acquisition conditions: one
is to buy and sell a total of 500 slaves, and the second is to buy and sell 30
or more slaves at once.
I acquired the Slave
Merchant job by clearing the second condition. With this, I could now release
slaves without relying on anyone else.
By the way, if you
deal with 5 or more illegal slaves, your job reportedly falls to Bandit, so
slave merchants are apparently very careful. Illegal slaves are those who were
deceived, abducted, or forced into slavery.
Also, the Slave
Merchant job was blinking red, indicating that it could be synthesized with
other jobs. When I checked, I found that it could be synthesized with the Base
Magnate job. Since I didn't know what the job would become after synthesis, it
would be a waste to use Base Magnate for synthesis. Just being able to transfer
makes Base Magnate powerful enough. If I synthesized it poorly and lost the
ability to transfer, it would be a disaster.
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