Estimated reading time: 8–10 minutes
Chapter 23
The first half is a side story from Chapter 14.
◆
【Gehena’s POV】
My name is Gehena Duke.
I run a slave shop specializing in defective slaves in a corner of a certain slave market.
Well, defective slaves don’t sell for much and it’s not a very profitable business. But since I have no backers, this is the only business I can do. I don’t have connections to procure decent slaves.
My days consist of taking in defective slaves, selling them, disposing of them…
But then one day, something strange happened.
A strange customer who comes to my shop often – his name is Eld Schmerzen. He’s just a kid, maybe around 10 years old.
But strangely, he happily buys defective slaves from me.
I don’t know what he uses them for, but it’s creepy beyond words.
Eld always brings his slaves with him as guards – one is a female elf slave named Arde, I think, and the other is a male dwarf named Domingo, if I remember right.
One day, as usual, Eld came to my shop to make a purchase.
During the transaction, one of the slaves suddenly pulled out a knife from who knows where!
Damn, I thought I did a thorough body search… where did he get that from!?
Oh well, I want no part in this mess.
But the slave brandished the knife at Eld!
Shit, if my customer gets injured, it’s my head on the line…
Just then, Eld’s accompanying slave jumped in front of her master.
「Watch out, Master!」
「Arde…!?」
Incredibly, with no regard for her own safety, Arde leapt in front of Eld to shield him.
And the slave’s knife stabbed into Arde’s belly.
I was dumbfounded by the sight.
What the hell, a slave willingly shields her master with her own body!?
Even a guard slave wouldn’t go that far normally.
And unless my eyes deceived me, this Arde was genuinely worried about her master!?
It didn’t seem like she was forced to move by the slave crest either.
I was filled with disbelief.
Just how much devotion does this kid Eld command from his slaves…?
Slaves are usually freed when their master dies, so you’d think they’d be indifferent.
Even more shocking, Domingo immediately moved to subdue the attacking slave.
Pinning the man to the ground, Domingo restrained him.
「You scoundrel! To Master… What do you think you’re doing?!」
「Tch… You slaves too… Why are you getting in my way?!」
「Even though we’re slaves, Master treats us with kindness. That’s the kind of person he is. I won’t forgive anyone who tries to hurt Master!」
Domingo’s loyalty also seemed considerable.
Both Arde and Domingo were genuinely concerned for their master.
I was filled with awe for this kid Eld.
For his slaves to willingly shield him, and appear to genuinely adore their master is…
Just what kind of training did he put them through to make them like this?
If I didn’t know better, I’d think this Eld fellow is a slave merchant of tremendous skill…!
That would explain why he only buys defective slaves.
He probably has the skill to make even defective slaves sell.
Even more surprising things happened after that.
Eld immediately treated Arde’s stab wound that she took for him.
Would a normal master go that far for a slave…!?
This guy is more and more unfathomable.
◆
Well, that was a story from 5 years ago.
Since then, Eld has continued to be a good customer at my shop.
I’ve kept an eye on him ever since, but I still don’t really know what kind of person he is.
Just that he’s young but has a lot of money, and for some reason only likes defective slaves.
Then one day, another strange thing happened.
One of Eld’s slaves, the elf woman Arde, came to my shop alone today.
「Um, I’d like to purchase some slaves please…」
「Oh my, if it isn’t Lord Eld’s slave, Miss Arde. What happened, where is your master today…?」
「Well, starting today I’ve been tasked with making purchases alone.」
「What the… A slave coming to buy slaves alone…!? I don’t get it at all. Your master does eccentric things as always…」
「Yes, well. Master Eld is an exceptional person after all.」
I was even more incredulous.
I’ve never heard of a slave coming to buy other slaves!
And without her master too…?
Letting a slave run loose and even sending her to buy slaves, what’s he thinking!?
Sounds insane if you think about it normally.
「I’d like around 15 defective slaves please…」
「Whoa now… That’s something else alright…」
And Arde wants 15 slaves!
I really can’t imagine what she plans to do, only buying defective slaves in such large numbers.
It was a complete mystery to me.
「Well, whatever… So Miss Arde, you’ll be entering into their slave contracts?」
「Yes, Master Eld instructed me to do so.」
「What kind of master makes a slave control other slaves… Never heard of such a thing.」
Theoretically it’s possible. But of course, no one who would have a slave do even that exists.
Between the incident from 5 years ago and now, just how does this Eld Schmerzen train and control his slaves… it’s a total mystery. Damn, it’s so intriguing…
The devotion and loyalty from the slaves was considerable, but Eld himself also seemed to greatly trust his slaves.
I have no idea how he built such a trusting relationship with them.
The number of slaves that can be controlled with a slave crest depends on the master’s magical power.
For an average adult male, the limit is about 100 slaves bonded at one time.
So if you want to control more slaves than that, I guess having your slave make the contracts like this is…a valid method…?
But no one other than Eld would think of or try something like that.
Eld was always a mysterious guy, but with this incident, he’s become even more unfathomable.
What does he intend to do, having his slave purchase other slaves…?
I’ve decided I’ll keep a close eye on Eld’s movements going forward.
◆
【Arde’s POV】
As Master instructed, I purchased 15 slaves.
Since I’m an elf, I have more magical power than humans, so controlling this number of slaves is easy.
I think I could probably handle cresting up to around 1000 slaves.
Well, I’ll never have to control that many slaves…
Or could I, with such an exceptional master?
I had the purchased slaves transported to the mansion.
Then I healed them using healing orbs, just as Master always did.
Using the healing orbs takes a small amount of my magical power too.
It feels sentimental to experience what Master always did.
So this is how Master saved us.
「Oh… thank you very much!」「Thank you so much!」
As I heal the defective slaves, they all come to thank me.
But all I did was use the orbs. The original magic belongs entirely to Master Eld.
And the money too, everything is thanks to Master Eld.
「No, give your thanks to Master Eld, not me. I’m just a slave after all.」
「What… master is a slave too…!?」
「Please stop calling me master. Your true master is Master Eld.」
「I-I see… Thank you very much, Master Eld…?」
Though Master Eld isn’t here, I have the slaves bow towards where he is.
I really want them to thank him directly, but Master is busy.
Since I’m conducting slave purchases in busy Master’s stead, I shouldn’t trouble him.
「Now then, I should catalog them…」
Next, as Master instructed, I’ll take them to Master’s father’s trading company and have them catalogued there.
Some nobleman should purchase them from there.
After some time, they were all sold without incident.
The slaves sold by Master Eld are known for their loyalty and uprightness, and have a great reputation. Of course, they strongly recognize Master Eld as the one who saved them from being defective slaves.
I feel the same way. Without Master Eld, I would have rotted away in that slave market.
I’ll just repeat this process, continually selling slaves and earning profit.
By the way, the profit from selling these 15 slaves was 98,000G.
The trading company receives the occasional letter from nobles who purchased our slaves, mostly praising the slave training and thanking Master Eld.
Word of Master Eld’s fine slaves spread among the nobility. Thanks to that, requests keep pouring in.
I’ll just keep using orbs to purchase more and more slaves accordingly.
I hope I’ve been of some use to Master Eld like this. I wish I could repay his kindness even a little… Am I helping at all? I hope so.
Check out my Patreon for early access to upcoming updates. Patreon Link