第１１７掘：噴いた (Part2)
"Indeed. If you are willing, I will purchase your surplus slaves at a fair price. Furthermore, if you wish to continue your operations, I can grant you permission to open a shop within the Commercial District."
"But... wouldn't it be more efficient to simply sell them to the traveling slave traders who pass through?"
"That alone does not provide stability. Weed requires a permanent, reliable slave trader."
"I was under the impression that slave traders were not exactly looked upon favorably here in Weed."
"I will not deny that. However, there are lives that were saved precisely because you and your kind existed, are there not? I am aware of that fact."
"Staff Officer Yuki."
"I have already cleared this matter with all the district representatives. Therefore, Weed will provide you with our full support."
"Ugh... I am so sorry. This is the first time anyone has ever said something like that to me."
As tears streamed down his face, he began to recount why he had become a slave trader in the first place. He had originally been a merchant dealing in general goods. While traveling from village to village, he was repeatedly begged by the locals to purchase their people to save them from crushing poverty.
Driven by a sense of duty, he eventually bought them, but that was where his troubles began. That single act branded him as a slave trader. From then on, destitute villages began forcing their people upon him. Once he had started, he couldn't bring himself to refuse.
But the number of people he bought only increased, while his funds dwindled. Left with no other choice, he began operating as a full-fledged slave trader before he could go bankrupt. Even so, the world's gaze remained harsh; insults and condemnation were constant. The very villages that had offloaded their people onto him even went so far as to blame him for selling them in the first place.
It was a ridiculous situation. The villages had assumed he would never actually sell them, hoping to sell them off temporarily and eventually have them returned. None of this was his fault. In the end, these circumstances were what forced him to hone his skills as a merchant of souls.
Well, I couldn't decide whether to trust him based on this story alone, but at this stage, there was no reason to dismiss him.
"Please, I beg you, let me accept your offer. Here, they won't have to live in fear of cruel treatment. So many of the people I sold met tragic ends. I want to reduce that number, even if only by a little."
I checked the reactions of the three representatives watching through the magic mirror; they signaled their "approval." I, too, judged that there was no issue.
"Very well. I look forward to working with you."
"Thank you so much!! Oh, I almost forgot. I’ve hand-picked some girls who look like they could work here. Please, I want you to hire them."
With that, he dashed out of the room and returned a few minutes later with four women in tow.
"Consider this a token of my gratitude. Please, don't hesitate to make use of them."
"Ah, well, thank you very much."
I wasn't exactly prepared to have slaves thrust upon me so suddenly. Normally, they would be sent to the training facility. Thinking this, I proceeded to appraise them one by one.
Since he had recommended them, they were all quite capable, with many possessing skills in arithmetic or rhetoric. Perhaps it would be better to have Eris or Ratz guide them directly rather than sending them to the training facility.
Then, I appraised the last girl—and immediately choked.
She was undeniably beautiful, younger than Milly or Ratz, but older in appearance than Deryu. Perhaps she was just entering high school? She had white hair styled in twin-tails—a look I hadn't seen before, or rather, I had seen Labyris, but this was different. She stared back at me with piercing red eyes.
Her name was Ria.
Name: Ria
Race: Human
Status: Slave
Gender: Female
Occupation: Slave (Unawakened Hero) *Recognizable via high-level appraisal
Age: XX (All characters in this world are 18 or older)
Lv. 4
HP: 90
MP: 130
STR: 7
DEF: 6
INT: 70
AGI: 12
LUK: 8
Skills:
Arithmetic Lv. 2
Rhetoric Lv. 1
(Unawakened Love Hero Skill Tree) *Recognizable via high-level appraisal
*What are you doing here!? A Hero—!?*
I sprayed my tea, coughing violently. It wasn't a typo. It was an eruption.