“This is the slave quarters. The slaves that you wanted to buy are over there in the training area.”
Miroir pointed towards the part.i.tioned section.
I see, they divided the room into sections by putting up curtains.
The tent was more or less used for high-cla.s.s slaves, but it was also divided to be shared with the low-cla.s.s slaves. Unlike Mark’s tent, the low-cla.s.s slaves are even separated by the category they fell into.
For example, the laborers were in that corner, while the housekeepers were in the other corner.
There weren’t any decorations here since it wasn’t a place meant to showcase the slaves to customers.
The slaves should also be dressed when being presented to potential customers.
Though maybe not for the labor slaves, since it was better to show off their muscles.
I headed directly towards the back of the room.
There were a lot of child slaves in one section.
These were indeed the cheap slaves.
“These are them?”
“Yes, please check them at your convenience.”
Miroir said it while smiling.
A child slave was surely worth about 2 gold coins.
And why was that? Because they were purchased cheaply in the first place.
There were times when a farmer or a nomad had a bad harvest and could no longer afford to raise their children.
In those hard times, they often sold their children to reduce the number of mouths to feed.
They lacked the strength needed to be a labor slave; they simply didn’t have the physique or muscles to carry heavy loads.
And they couldn’t do clerical work because they couldn’t read or write; there was no chance for them to be educated.
That’s why child slaves were typically so cheap.
Miroir’s shop seems to have a program to raise and train these kinds of kids.
Kids who had the right qualities were raised to be pleasure slaves or were trained for professional work.
Sometimes they stocked up on hopeless low cla.s.s slaves to be sold as disposables,or maybe sell them cheaply to someone who was in the same trade like me.
It was very practical.
It wasn’t a good idea to think about the ethics of the practice, it was simply an evaluation of Miroir’s management practices.
(……Status Open)
By using the Appraisal Skill, I was able to look at the attribute values and skill data.
Normally you would select a child that only had high stats.
Skills didn’t matter at this point.
“These children are a good find, right? Including the procedural expenses, your total would be 2 gold coins. What do you say?”
“You’re right, the stats are indeed high.”
I thought I was going to have to do some old-fashion negotiating, but it was actually settled rather smoothly.
And here I was thinking she was going to overcharge me by at least 50 silver coins because of my youth.
As it was, she seemed fine with just charging me the the market value of 2 gold coins.
“You sure seal the deal quickly, Miroir-san. You’re really helpful too.”
“It is a pleasure to serve you. So, will you be purchasing one from this group?”
“Ah, hold on, give me just a moment.”
It was too bad, but the one I sought was not among the cream of the crop.
The one I really wanted was the little Harpy over there.
Name : Eris Harpya (Slave)
Age : 11 Years Old
Level : 2
HP : 13 MP : 4
Strength : 3
Agility : 5
Magic Power : 2
Endurance : 3
Inherent Blessing : Descendant of the Winged Beast King
Special Skill: Wind Magic Lv. 0
Special Skill: Singing Lv. 0
There was nothing special about her stats, but I immediately noticed her high potential when I saw her skills.
Inherent Blessing: Descendant of the Winged Beast King
A descendant of the King of the Winged Beast race.
Wind Magic Support +
Singing Support +
That was it.
The harpy had an apt.i.tude for Wind magic.
No amount of money could buy this kind of blessing.
“This child seems best suited for what I have in mind.”
I looked at Miroir while I said it because I wanted to see her reaction.
“I see, this child then?”
“I have no problem with paying the 2 gold for her, but it’d be nice if you could also include some clothing……”
“……Let me see.”
Miroir was perplexed for a moment.
This little Harpy wouldn’t be overly extraordinary to Miroir if she could only see the stats.
(Is she aware of it?)
The only reason for her to hesitate was if she knew the little Harpy had skills.
I kept my poker face so as not to show any sign of nervousness.
I just waited for Miroir to answer.
But…
“I understand. 2 gold coins will seal the deal.”
Miroir bowed her head as she said so.
When I saw that, I was instantly relieved.
Surprisingly, Miroir was also the seal engraver.
I had already seen she had the skill Seal Engraving Lv. 3 when I used my Appraisal Skill, so there was no doubt she was the seal engraver.
She was both the slave merchant and the seal engraver.
She did everything herself.
As expected of a slave merchant in the Oasis District.
I absentmindedly thought Miroir to be an excellent shopkeeper.
“Then let’s move on to the procedure. Please sign here.”
“Understood.”
She gave me the contract and the ink.
The contract was a long one, and I saw phrases like “The former employs the latter as a slave, and all rights of enslavement will be obtained” and so on.
And the name field was blank.
The name “Eris Harpya” was written underneath the blank name field.
I understood that magical power was used in the ink.
When I carefully a.n.a.lyzed it using the Appraisal Skill, I could see a thin thread of mana connecting Eris to the contract.
Eris had been staring at me the whole time.
The little harpy was quiet, but she seemed to know I would be her new master now.
I had seen this kind of behavior before, she was being cautious.
I suddenly saw an image of Mina overlapping her.
“Your name, please.”
“Of course.”
I wrote my name the way I had practiced it. “Toshiki Mitsuji”
I made sure the spelling was correct.
The engraved seal on Eris’ body shone as soon as I wrote down my name.
At this point the slave seemed to feel some amount of pain for a moment.
But Eris didn’t even let out a cry of agony.
“Can she not speak……?”
I intended to keep it to myself but I murmured it unconsciously.
Miroir confirmed my suspicions.
“This child doesn’t speak very much. But she can talk if necessary. It’s nothing much to worry about.”
“……Miroir-san, she wouldn’t happen to be defective merchandise, right?”
Miroir reply was short. “No way.”
” I verified that she can speak. Her voice was like an angel.”
“All right then, please introduce yourself, Eris.”
Just to make sure, I immediately gave my newly enslaved Eris an order.
Eris began to talk slowly as she received the order.
“……Yes. My name is Eris. I’m 11 years old. I’m a harpy.”
“I see.”
She indeed had a beautiful voice.
I couldn’t see it being a problem in the future.
I once again bowed to Miroir.
“I had a great shopping experience. Thank you very much.”
“Not at all, thank you very much for your business.”
At first I thought she might have pushed a problem child on to me, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
I was certain Miroir and I would have a good relationship from now on.
That’s what I was thinking about as I left her shop.