Chapter 4: Chapter 3: Slave Shopping

A new bright day to go shopping for slaves!

Cal left early for work at the dawn, dragging away his lanky body.

Kei’s funds were lackluster from his own understanding. He owned a grand total of 30 copper coins, 25 silver coins, and 3 gold coins. What can he do with that? Considering the cost of lives of people, someone could be worth a fruit to a lavish yacht.

There was only one thing he can do… Rob the rich.

Then Kei had a sudden realization:

Why rob the rich if you can just rob the slave trade? Then the money I had wouldn’t matter. If I kill the slave master, would all the slaves under his ownership become free? Owning slaves were cool but…

Kei was confident in the idea that he can do anything. His life was out ahead of him with riches, splendor, and comfort galore; he just needed to plan it right. He could overthrow a kingdom, become a mob boss, or a mercenary king. But then he remembered his promise with Deco: to save her children, the demon race.

Kei scoured the shack and it had little to offer in insulation, comfort, or protection. He wondered how Cal survives the harsh winter if this area of the continent was affected by it. Kei walked around the slums yesterday before being found by Cal, he discovered that most of the slum’s residents were demons. He knew that he was obligated to save them. What he mostly concerned is however, if Kei can help them. I'm just a brute. I didn't even finished high school.

Kei shook his head of doubts. “I got to focus on the present. There might be demons on sale at the slave trade. First priority? Save them. Probably.”

In front of a slave auction building, there was a sign hanging above double wooden doors: “Bagit’s Slave Trade.”

There were a few unsavory people eyeing Kei but he paid them no heed. He opened the doors and went straight in expecting something slum-like, but found something more similar to a hotel lobby. There was a reception desk at the opposite side of the entrance and ordinary tables and chairs scattered around the area. There were a few men with the large swords strapped to their backs, very likely to be hired goons.

Kei casually moved along to the man sitting at the reception desk. He was an egg-shaped man with a twirly mustache, and a colorful clean suit paired with a top hat to top it off.

Did the circus came to town or something?

“Welcome to Bagit’s Slave Trade. A humble establishment in the business of slaves for any of your various needs, sir.”

Kei was surprised by the man acting humble in front of himself, a demon. Kei raised his eyebrow and Bagit caught on Kei’s noticeable gesture.

“Sir, please believe me when I say this; I do not discriminate against my customers based on their race. Even the slaves are from multiple races. As long as you have gold and are willing to pay, you are a customer. So, how may I help you, sir.”

The salesman seemed to be quite mysterious yet shown what it means to be a professional. His words felt genuine and not at all sarcastic.

Kei bit the bullet and asked, “What are your most expensive and cheapest slaves?”

“Currently, sir, the highest is 2000 gold for an elf and the lowest is 1 silver for a human.”

1 Silver? I cannot fathom the cost of human life, but I didn’t know it was that low. There must be something wrong here. I don’t even know if the 2000 gold would get me an elf that is a special or top-tier individual, but then again, it’s an elf. Non-human beings must be harder to get than humans.

“I have some jewelry and gems. Can I exchange or trade them?” Kei managed to retrieve the jewelries during both the gate incident. Kei needed to act collected in order to not arouse suspicion and asked a few more questions.

“Yes, sir. Luckily for you, sir, I also have a side business in jewelry. I can appraise whatever jewelry you can bring me. It will also help my jewelry business as well. Let’s discuss business in a private area.”

As both of them left the reception desk, they went into a reception room not so far away. The décor in the room was very lavish, decorated with beautiful furniture such as a fur carpet and flower-filled yet intricate vases. Contrasting the plain entrance, this was obviously made to entertain the wealthy.

Kei took a seat on the comfortable couch, united a pouch from his side, and spilled the contents onto the wooden table between them. The pile included various gems; from rubies and amethysts to diamonds, a silver pocket watch, and even a diamond-encrusted necklace. Despite the small amount, Kei was impressed with his own haul.

I didn’t even have the time to look but I can tell that these bandits had hit the jackpot. Too bad for them though, they’re feeding the ground now. I should do more bandit hunting.

Bagit grabbed a magnifying monocle from his breast pocket. One by one, he carefully examined every item with observant eyes. He took a look at every corner and rubbed his hands all over them, determining the carat, clarity, color, and cut.

An hour passed and Kei was beginning to become impatient and hungry. “So, how much can I get out of them?” Kei asked the man in a trance.

Kei had received no response after a few minutes of silence. The man was too fixated on few objects from the pile.

Kei slammed the table hard, shaking up the beautiful stack of treasure, and disturbed Bagit.

“Wait. Who… what?”

“Welcome back to reality. There is a customer waiting for you.”

“Apologies, sir. Please forgive my actions. I was mesmerized by your jewelry: from common gems and beautiful handcrafted jewelry to a few magical items!”

Magical Item? Kei did included a few items from the dead mage’s pocket. Kei thought for a moment if those magical items would be of any use, but nothing came to mind.

“How much can I get from this pile?”

“To answer your question, sir, the majority of this pile are common gems, but there are quite a few valuable gems and skillfully crafted jewelry pieces. By current market value, they all come out to a total of 2,100 gold coins. The magical items here are uncommon and pricey enough that commoners can’t get their hands on them."

Bagit figured out that Kei got his hands on the jewelry through unsavory means. Magical items can do an array of actions, from storage, a single-use powerful spell, and even long-distance communication. Some magical items were used by adventurers and the others were strictly for Military purposes. Magical items were rare, expensive, few and far in between. This was due to the fact that magic institutions and the state monopolized them. What Kei had in his hands, though, was a pair of high-quality healing items, which was monopolized by a major religion. In other words, they inflated the price because their items were “blessed” by divinity.

With the addition of the magical items, the sale came to a total of 3,600 gold coins.

I’m not really in business or entrepreneurship or business, but I certainly don’t want to get ripped off.  I didn’t get the feeling that Bagit was malicious, but he might be really good at acting. I thought it was as simple as killing the bad guy at the top and everyone goes home, end of story, but in complete honesty… I have no idea what I’m doing.

Kei decided it was best to relax before his mind was consumed by questions asking himself on every action he does. The best thing to do was to be himself. He decided to be a customer through and through.

“How many people do you have and what races are they?”

“We have 23 in total, sir; 16 females and 7 males. We have one elf, a mix breed, two demons, and the rest of them, humans.”

“Is that considered a small inventory in the industry?”

“No sir, in fact, it is considered quite moderate. I’m nothing but a small-sized shop competing with other small-sized shops in the same town. You have too much expectation on ‘lil old me, sir.”

Out of all the shops, this one has my recommendation. The lapdogs of all the other establishments chased me out and even attempted to capture me.

Kei decided to let loose and waste a bit of his newfound fortune to possibly grant freedom to a few select people.

“Mr. Bagit, is it possible to have all of the female slaves in your inventory to present themselves?”

Bagit gave a quizzical look, reacting to Kei’s unusual but reasonable request. He usually makes the customer look at the slaves’ cells personally, but his odd customer wanted to see all of them at once.

“Alright sir, but there are two female slaves who have the inability to move due to the severity of their conditions. They are, of course, the cheapest because they are wasteful and broken goods. Would you still like to see them despite this?”

“Yes.”

“Then please have patience sir, we will see them after seeing the other slaves.”

Kei looked up at the ceiling for a brief moment and thought: Broken goods, huh?

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“Sir, here they are. Beautiful specimen, are they not?”

Soon after his words, the 14 girls in tow lined up, all wearing thin-fabric white dresses reminiscent of négligée along with white lace underwear; except one. The girl wore a pink dress paired with pink underwear, accentuated by knife-like long ears. She had long platinum blonde hair, golden eyes, and silky smooth white skin despite being a slave.

She looked like a goddess sculpted out of gold. 2000 Gold is definitely a price worth to pay, if not more. She gave a strong aura and a burning passion within her beautiful golden eyes.  It hurt to stare at them. She very likely has quite a unique background.

Kei’s gaze zipped from right to left over and over, examining their bodies and faces.

One elf, two demons, a mix breed, and the rest consisting of humans. Quite an interesting number of races.  He could see the peaks of their breasts; some looking large, some squishy, and some flat-chested. From their appearance, he can deduce that the age ranged from pre-teen to a full-fledged adult. There was one thing in common with all of these enticing sights; they all had a metal collar around their necks.

Some had anxious faces on them, while a few showed lifeless eyes because they could only lament in their pitiable situation, being powerless. They all gambled on fate to be acquired by a generous master who can at least treat them like a servant, or perhaps give them sweet death. The only thing worse than death to these girls was to be bought out by a cruel master and endure a long tortuous existence.

Kei stood in front of the row of women and said, “My name is Kei. As you can see, I am indeed a Demon. I’ll cut straight to the point – you know why I came here.”

Some gulped the saliva stuck in their throats, but everyone stood attention to hear whatever their possibly new master would say.

“I wish to give you freedom should you choose to have me as your master, knowing what is at stake.

I want is a servant who can do the simplest of chores to having sex with. Don’t like it, you can stay here and wait for prince charming to save you, I won’t stop you. Just so you know, I’m living in a shack that belongs to someone else and I’m a very dangerous person. I won’t mince words, I had kill people. I know that is a deal-breaker for some but I just want to let you know.

But, if you follow me, the possibility to free yourself from your collars isn’t impossible. I’ll protect you to the best of my abilities, provide for you, and maybe even help you make whatever dreams you have come true. But this comes at the cost of following me right now, and not when you leave.”

As Kei was saying this, he stood straight; exuding confidence. He was neither too arrogant nor was he spiteful.

“Any questions?” Kei asked.

The room was filled with silence as the slaves stared and murmured to one another. Nobody ever gave them the choice to pick their master before; it’s unheard of. While the law of rights existed on the continent, they mostly didn’t apply to slaves. Hence, when given a choice, they were frightened. Some even formed doubts. He seemed strong, but what will their life be, serving under a demon? This is the sole reason why everyone remained cautious. The fact that he mentioned that he was a murderer was a sign that he was probably a psychopath. He was also living in a shack! How will they live? It might just be another gamble.

Suddenly, the elf with a body sculpted by the divines themselves stepped forward.

“Is it true? Is what you say true? What if I want revenge?”

The elf clenched her fists, driving her nails into her flesh deep enough, drawing blood. She stared deep into Kei’s eyes as if she was staring directly at his soul.

Kei stared back into the burning hate in her eyes and nodded his head.

“I will definitely try. Whether or not you trust me is entirely up to you.”

The elf then lowered her head and stepped back into line, thinking deeply if this was the moment she had been waiting for? She then thought: What could be worse than this, though? What if she missed this sole chance and became under the ownership of someone with a disgusting fetish or violet tendencies on their slaves? The sheer thought of that situation made her quiver in anger.

Suddenly, a young one-horn, bruised blue-skin demoness raised her hand.

“Yeah, what is it?”

“What happens if I have a baby?”

Kei flinched a bit at the unusual but relevant question. She said it so innocently that people can’t help but become awkward. They knew that they were slaves; female slaves. They will most likely be bought to satisfy the lust of their masters. Having children was a common occurrence, but it was such a taboo topic that the female slaves just ignored the thought outright. The fates of those children were always on a dark path. Most of the times, it just became a story worthy of nightmares.

It’s awkward, but it’s definitely a good question.

Kei closed his eyes for a brief moment and thought about his response. In a pre-modern era, there wouldn’t be any synthesized contraception such as birth control pills or condoms (Editor's footnote 1)Then again, magic did exist. In this world, it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility to fetus deletus (Editor's footnote 2).

Had no mages thought to prevent unwanted pregnancies? Or did Kei just not know the existence of them yet? An abortion was indeed possible with a coat hanger (Editor's footnote 3) and possibly magic, but Kei was just too unfamiliar with abortion and its process to do so. Kei had to figure something out with magic.

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Ha… I guess the only thing I can do is take responsibility other than pulling out when it’s too late.

Kei just shrugged his shoulders, opened his eyes, and looked straight at the young demoness. He gave a charmingly Adonis-like smile and relaxed his shoulders.

“I’ll be a responsible father. I will treat them no different or lesser than what a normal parent would do when they love their kids. I’ll promise you that!”

He said that so wholeheartedly that a few women can’t help but hide their faces from Kei, as their cheeks were particularly rosy. The young demoness covered her face with her soft and supple hands to hide her embarrassment.

I will always keep my promises and debts.

A long stretch of silence covered the room, and not one other person asked a question. It seemed everyone arrived at their own conclusion.

“Okay. I think time is up. Those who wish to be bought by me, stay here. For the rest, I hope for the best for all of you. Mr. Bagit?”

“Yes, sir. If the customer wishes to see the other goods, please follow me.”

The girls who didn’t want to be bought went back with Bagit and Kei to the cell room, leaving the pink dressed elf and the one-horned demoness alone.They both stared at each other and thought that the situation had no other words to describe it except bizarre. The demoness wanted to strike a little chit-chat with her future slave buddy while waiting.

“I guess we will be bought by the same master, hehe.”

She seemed to be unusually joyful considering she was going to be bought.

The elf just shrugged since she was in the same boat. The elf could only think about getting what belonged to her and burn that deplorable and traitorous man. If she had to sway her hips and warmed his bed, it was just a small and insignificant price to pay for a glorious return.

“Stay focused on the goal, Elen. Focus. Eyes on the goal ahead of you,” The elf mumbled to herself.

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The elf and demoness were left in the reception room, while Bagit led Kei deeper into the cell room where the slaves were kept. Kei was a little surprised to see that some of those cells were furnished with a bed, a small chair, and a bucket from their wastes. There were candles to light up the area, and there was even a slave reading a book.

“You seem to be treating your slaves very well. I’m actually a little surprised.”

“Yes, sir! Products are best sold in the best condition. I do not understand why others mistreat their products, lowering their value. A shame, such a shame indeed.”

This is quite a humane trader I have on my hands… but then again, he’s the only one I’ve met. But I think I understand why the other slaves refused my offer and stayed here. He seems to take quite good care of them. Why go with a mysterious stranger when you already have your basic necessities provided and handled, even if you were living in a cell?

Kei was disappointed that the other two demons didn’t agree to his offer. He thought that since they were of the same kin, they would think that they won’t be maltreated.

Maybe revealing that I didn’t have a house per se and that he kills people isn’t a good idea. Or is it? People with weak hearts will always be stuck in the sidewalk and don’t move.

They passed through another open door. Once they entered, Kei reflexively pinched his nose from the pungent smell, heightened by his senses.

What an awful smell! It smells like shit! No, even worse!

Bagit then pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and covered his nose.

“Sir, this way.”

Kei continued to follow him down the slope while trying not to throw up.

In front of him were three cells occupied by one corpse-like body each. There were hundreds of flies hovering around these bodies, brown piles of mush by their lower half of their bodies, with some of their skin beaten black and blue. They barely had meat on them; they were all skin and bones.

I retract my statement on Bagit being humane! If he is, he should’ve mercy killed them already. Actually, now that I think about it, only one of them is breathing!

Kei coldly stared at Bagit. “What the hell is going on here? Why didn’t you euthanize them before? Only one of them is breathing.”

“Sir, they were in a gruesome condition before they arrived here a week ago. Two out of three died as soon as they arrived. As for the remaining breathing one, there’s nothing more I can do for her. These wastes came from another seller that I consigned with. Since he didn’t want them giving off this awful stench at his shop, he had me sell them for him with a portion of the sale going to me. Giving a merciful death is against our consignment agreement unless they die on their own.” Bagit responded.

Kei can only rack his brain over this and swallow the cruel reality this world had to offer. He gazed upon the lone survivor. He ordered, “Open the door.”

“Yes, sir.”

Kei went straight in, jumped over the mush, and stared down on this barely-breathing; no, barely alive person. She had long and greasy dull chestnut hair with a few bald patches on her head. Her left eye was swollen with white iris and pupil. Her right arm was completely mangled, with a broken left leg with pus and maggots infesting an open wound.

She had been defecating and urinating on the ground with no one tending to her. The air was simply suffocating to any being. If death, desolation, and decay had a scent, this would be it. It was a miracle with the same chance of the stars aligning and lightning striking the same place twice (Editor's footnote 4). At the same time. She was lucky, needless to say, to even survive this long.

It was disgusting beyond belief.

Kei squatted down to stare at this person’s (if you could call it that) only good eye. Her eye was like a void, violet and seemingly endless. Her right eye stared back at him, with seething hatred like a swirling black hole. The elf had a burning passion for revenge and sought out justice for herself earlier. But this one was on a completely different level; she was a cocktail of madness and pure rage, engulfing the entire world through her only eye.

“What’s her name? What’s her story?”

“Sir, does it matter?”

“Just very, very curious.”

Bagit opened his ledger and skimmed through a list of names and notes. He then stopped on one page.

“Her name is Bridget Jol Ruther, 33 years old, and committed theft and murder five years ago. Her punishment is stripping off her noble rank of marchioness and confiscating her possessions, estate, and selling her into slavery to pay for damages.”

Bridget twitched.

“Isn’t that too harsh? If it was a civilian that was killed, then it would be no problem if she was a noble.”

“Sir, the victim, in this case, was a royal crown prince of the Chesire Kingdom, who was also her former fiancée.”

Ah, what bad luck. Even if she was a fallen noble, how can she be treated like this? Just look at her.

Kei scratched his head and thought to give this woman a chance. He lowered himself to move his mouth closer to her ear.

The stench was disgusting but he wanted to get his message across clearly and effectively.

“Someone has done you wrong and that person and his cohorts are still alive. Whether you care about me being a demon or not, only I can help you.

I’m offering you a choice like the other slaves. You can serve me or rot here.

If you still have the will to fight, spread your plague throughout this world wherein everyone has forsaken you. Make others suffer like what you have suffered. Kill, slaughter, assassinate, break, burn, poison, do whatever you want, and some more. Never forgive, never forget.”

To the woman, Kei’s words were like sweet nectar, enticing her to commit the most heinous atrocity that could be done.

“So, will you follow me?”

“Yes.” Her voice was raspy and barely audible. Letting out a simple word was painful on her throat.

Bridget gave such a wide grin. A grin so wide, so abnormal, that it stretched from cheek to cheek. You could see a few missing teeth and could practically her chapped lips cracking apart.

Kei showed a brilliant smile as well and caressed her rough and cold cheek. Bridget looked at him as if he was a contradicting benevolent evil god who had come down to give warmth and offer the greatest banquet in her name.

A banquet of flesh and blood. It will be the greatest feast held in her name, where everyone who did her wrong shall be attending, voluntarily or not.

“I’ll buy her Mr. Bagit. How much?”

“Sir, considering her condition and state of being, she is 1 silver.”

“Then do we have a deal?”

Both Bagit and Kei grasped each other’s wrist firmly and do a shake, like a handshake but with wrist. Kei had seen these wrist-shakes a lot in the market, whether it was buying food, clothing, or groceries. The act was a traditional form of courtesy to accepting the terms of the deal after negotiation or transaction. Whoever goes back on a deal met misfortune - or so the rumor goes.

Mr. Bagit wasn’t able to make out the strange conversation between the two, but it definitely wasn’t something normal people could fathom or even want to understand. He didn’t understand why anyone would buy a broken product either – unless they were weirdos. As a businessman, he made a sale and got rid of what he considered waste, and that’s all that matters.

Bagit shook Kei’s hand without hesitation and genuinely thanked Kei, “Thank you for your purchase, sir.”

Kei then raised his hand over Bridget’s body and performed the highest level of restorative spell he can muster.

A warm, golden glow washed over Bridget’s body. Her skin was rejuvenated, she grew new hair from her bald spots, and her hair returned to its natural brilliance. Her bruises and her left eye was no longer swollen. It returned to its originally dazzling violet color. Her right arm and her left leg were properly restructured. Even new teeth were forming from the grand scale of the spell!

It was a painful process for her, but she never made a sound through it all. When you’ve gone through even greater pain, perhaps this would seem insignificant. She was still skin and bones, but it was, suffice to say, that she is far from death’s door.

Bagit’s eye bulged out, and Bridget was similarly shocked.

“S-s-sir, how can you perform such a high-level healing spell? Only powerful figures of the Church of Life can achieve such a feat.”

Even I’m surprised by its effects. What did Bagit mean only people from the Church of Life can do it? Does my magic match theirs?

With nothing else to do, Kei said, “Mr. Bagit, please take care of Ms. Bridget and clean her up.”

Bagit snapped himself out and responded in a soft tone, “Yes, sir.”

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Back to the reception room.

Bridget was cleaned up and looked more appealing to the eyes compared to before, but she was still too weak to move and showed no facial expression. When she was staring at Kei, there was a twinkle in her lifeless eyes.

All three girls were wearing a thin grey tunic that reached to their thighs. They wore flat sandals and a golden collar around their necks. The gold collar was just for appearance’s sake, which cost 50 gold per piece.

They were seated at the opposite of Kei, and they all stared at him. The slave contracts had been signed with blood and were painful. After looking at the remaining amount, Kei was left with about 1,600 gold coins.

“Sir, the slave contracts are connected to their collars. With your blood on the contract, the collars will also be connected to you. If they disobey your orders, you can spare a bit of mana in order to send a shock to them. The collars can also trace their location. They are your responsibilities now.”

“I understand. Can I make a further request?”

“If it is within my means.”

“I would like to purchase clothes, sleeping bags, blankets, travel gear, armor, and weaponry for them and I.”

“Yes, sir. I can procure most of them, except for armor and weaponry. They are not within my area of expertise. It is best to take a look at the various blacksmith armories to see what you like. Of course, there is a fee for this kind of service.”

Kei then placed 100 gold coins on the table. Hopefully, it will be enough to get what was necessary.

“Subtract the fee from that. I want mostly female clothes for traveling, with resistance to harsh weather. I want at least 4 sleeping bags, and all the necessary travel gear for long travel for 4 people. Please tell me if there a storage magical item for sale.”

Fortunately there were some for sale in the market. But the cost varies due to storage size. Bagit elaborated further, saying, that the least expensive one can hold a closet’s size of content, for 25 gold coins. What Kei needed, however, was one that can hold a house worth of goods, so he can carry everything that he needs, and then some. Bagit said, “That would be 1000 gold coins, sir.” Kei swallowed the lump in his throat and placed an order for it.

“Please come back tomorrow to pick up your order, sir.”

All set and done. Finally get something to eat.

“Do you know a place to eat where I don’t kick out?”

“Yes, sir. There is a restaurant that is located between the slums and the market district. It is called “Ford’s Diner.” It is a reputable establishment that serves affordable yet delicious food to everyone. I can testify to that.”

“Thank you. I will come by tomorrow.”

“Thank you for the business, sir.”

They both shook each other wrists again and Bagit personally escorted them out of the door.The sun was high in the sky, and a warm breeze passed through all of them.

Meanwhile, Kei was carrying Bridget as if she was a princess because her body was basically nonfunctional. Kei turned around and stared at the two other girls.

“Let’s get something to eat and let’s talk then. I’m sure I’m everyone is hungry, especially the one I’m carrying.”

Kei winked at Bridget but she showed no response and just laid her head on Kei’s chest and closed her eyes.

Grumbling sounds were heard from everybody’s stomach.

Yeah, food first. Talk later.

All three started walking towards the supposed direction of Ford’s Diner.

While walking, there were shady people following their trail from the moment they left the slave trade.