Chapter 56
Chapter 56 Beginning of Mayhem The sun is still high up, the veil of night is still a long way away. Two sisters are unloading goods from a horse carriage at a pleasure quarter in the corner of Gramada.
Once the two are done, they talk to a woman in charge of inspecting the storehouse as they wipe their sweat.
"Ane-yan, we"re done with the load."
"Yes yes, Futsuno-chan, Mitamchan, thanks for your help."
"...We"re hugely indebted to Kirishnneesan, so this much is nothing..."
The woman in her 30s called Kirishna smiles cheerfully at the two. Wearing bold black suit-like clothing that empathizes her body lines, with three fox tails growing out of her rear.
"Fufufu, Mitamchan you"re such a good kid. I"m sure you"ll be a good wife and wise mother someday."
"Only Mitama? Ane-yan, how "bout me?"
"Ufufu, since Futsuno-chan keeps acting like an elder sister, and can"t be honest with men, you"ve got still a long way to go."
"...Correct. Nee-san is always acting behind her mask. I can"t think of a man she could open her heart to."
The two are looking at Futsuno while smiling. Futsuno who finds it awkward puffs up her cheeks.
"What"s with ye two! Even I could easily get a man or two if I just put my mind into it ok!?"
"My my, you"re really saying that?"
"...Un, as expected of Nee-san, so staunch."
"Uuu, you two meanie."
This time the two laugh out loud to see Futsuno like that. While Futsuno herself pouts at the two. It"s quite a heartwarming spectacle to happen in the tumultuous pleasure quarter.
Geez, what"s with Ane-yan, and Mitama too. Do they really think I"m that dense with men?
...Oh no, I cannae think up a single thing to deny that. It"s true, there isn"t a whole lot of men I could open up to.
Cannae be helped, I mean with the reasons we got ta flee the village and all. Mugugu, I gotta catch a wonderful husband one
day and brag "im to the two into silence.
Kirishna ane-yan is the manager of this slave company, 『Beastfolk Expansion』. It"s a famous store in many ways. The slaves here are of all races but General Human. Customers cannot pick their slaves, only slaves recommended by the manager can be bought out. Ya might wonder how she could stay in business with such an odd custom, but ane-yan store is in fact flourishing. I heard a rival company tried to mimic her method, but it quickly went out of business.
Ane-yan and her insights are capable of finding the right slaves for the right customers. The slaves are educated well and adore ane-yan, so they truly trust in the owners she introduces them to. The store"s reputation is the real deal even with the pick-customers part, hers is one of the leading stores in this town.
Ane-yan herself acts like a cool beauty while she"s taking care the store, I long to be like her. Yet she has mother-like broad mindedness behind the scenes. One of the reasons we ended up drifting to this town was because ane-yan is a distant relative of our mom. Truly, we"re really indebted to her.
There"s a shadow of a person looking at the three from afar.
Kukuku, hahahahaha. Found you, finally found you. Fufufufu, ahahahahaha.
The person let out an ugly smile and disappeared into the shadow.
◇◇◇A week has pa.s.sed since I moved in here.
From my point of view, it was a very eventful week... Special training with Master and Eleanor-san, once it was over, experiments about magic development began. In addition, whenever I could get back home, I had to cram making medicines in my free times. Phew, just when did I bid farewell to my retirement-like depraved lifestyles again.
Right, I"ve also sorted out the stuff I stealthily borrowed
borrowed from Jamito. The gold and silver coins amount to around 10,000,000 mani in total, which translates to around 100 million yen. An amount that shook a lower cla.s.s person like me. I have completely no idea about the jewels" worth. Quant.i.tatively speaking, there are enough to fill up a common small container.
As for the magic tools, Discerning-sensei managed to identify them as such.
Ring of Water Soul
Quality: Excellent - Enclosed Mana: 10/15
Ring that enables user to create up to Lv2 Mana Water by putting in mana. However, it"s hard to control for those who aren"t used to it. Not a disposable item, it can be reused many times over so long it"s supplied with mana.
Earring of Solace
Quality: Good - Enclosed Mana: 5/10
Ornamental magic tool infused with Heal spell. Cast heal if user equips the earring and wishes for it. However, be warned that the Heal only affects the user.
Water Spider
Quality: Good - Enclosed Mana: 9/9
Magic tool originated from the east equipped on top of shoes. Enable user to walk on water. Effective on marshes and mud too.
Lovely Fake Hair
Qualit: Good - Enclosed Mana: 8/8
Magic tool equipped on head. When put on, it can be activated by wishing for its appearance. From afro to mohawk, it can deal with any needs. A gem for those on the brink of baldness.
Bracelet of Scapegoat x 4
Quality: High - Enclosed Mana: 1/1
Bracelet that can take over damage that would have resulted on death of the user once. Once activated, it will lose its effect and disintegrate.
Besides these, there"s a number of soul stones inside the magic rucksacks. I haven"t tried it myself, but apparently you need soul stones to create magic tools. As the origins of these things would have cast doubt on me, I"ve put them away along with the jewels. Actually, I"ve stealthily created a stone hut using magic deep beneath Sefi-san"s house. Since it"s quite deep down, it should be impossible to dig out without
out without magic. Even with magic, as the thickly made stone hut has been reinforced with my mana, it shouldn"t be that easy to break.
I"ll gradually take a few of these items over time and make it like I found them in dungeons.
Come to think of it, I should ask Sefi-san about the things Jamito mentioned that bothered me.
"Sefi-san, do you know about slave collars?"
"Yes, I do. Eh!? n.o.bu-chan, did you want to put one on me? Iya~n, I wouldn"t mind if n.o.bu-chan wants to~"
You"re wrong. Please stop your delusions.
Apparently, slave collars are prohibited goods now. Since with one, even a commoner will be able to make more slaves. Amongst slave merchant network, slave crest is used instead.
What I wanted to ask is whether there is a way to counteract the collar. According to Sefi-san, there are.
First, you have to have a resistance against curses. Like Kagursan and Onifolk in general. But this method depends completely on the individuals, so let"s forget about this for now.
Next, put up magic barrier, then deal with the collar somehow while you"re resisting. For example, you could apparently break the contract down if there is a vast gap of mana between you and the person trying to activate the collar. But the amount of mana needed is not definite.
Lastly, the slave collar"s contract can be annuled by binding yourself to a contract of a higher order. Of course, this also depends on the amount of mana the main contractor has.
Lastly, the slave collar"s contract can be annuled by binding the victim to a contract of a higher order. Of course, this also depends on the amount of mana the main contractor has.
Just imagining what could happen if Sefi-san were caught as a slave back then horrifies me. Since there"s no guarantee that we won"t face similar situations in the future, I should mainly focus on acquiring more mana from now on. Not sure how much I need, and it"s not like there"s a disadvantage in having much. Which means thereWhich means there are more reasons to increase my level now.
The plan to create new products with the help of Tamchan"s new skill 【Medical Element Mixture】 is still currently on-going.
Tama Soup (Temp)
Quality: High - Enclosed Mana: 30/30
Undiluted solution created from pickling of a Moss Ball carrying the effect of robust nourishment. Since it is too thick, be careful not to take a large quant.i.ty of this nourishment.
I might have gone a bit too far, but I do think it"s usable if I just dilute it and add flavoring. The ratio and flavoring are the next challenge to tackle for me. By the way, here"s how it"s made.
n.o.busada"s Three Hour Alchemy~♪
1: Prepare a big container (about 1 meter in diameter) and thick mana water, have Tamchan get ready
2: Pour mana into the container till I"m beat
3: Let Tamchan dive into the mana water
4: Have her take it easy inside for about three hours
5: Scoop out Tamchan and it"s done
Yep, it"s got zilch to do with alchemy. Tamchan is quite multifunctional. For now I"ll keep this solution in several bottles and iterate further. I"ll have Master and the guys at the guard station serve as my guinea pigs, I mean, a.s.sistants in this experiment.
While I was thinking that, the door was suddenly beat down loud.
I looked at Sefi-san, inquiring if we were expecting guests, but she tilted her head in confusion. The beating sounds are getting more intense, looks like the guest is in a hurry, so I run to the front door.
Opening the door, Mitama who has wounds all over her body is there, looking like she"ll collapse any minute. The moment she saw me, she fell forward and clung on me.
"...n.o.bu, please. Save Nee-san. I don"t have anyone else to rely on anymore..."
After saying that, she lost consciousness.
Just what"s going on? I laid down Mitama in a guest room and treated her injury with potions and magic while pondering what to do next.