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Chapter 41 : Slave Auction
🕑 Added 2022-05-24 02:13:38 +0000 UTCTL:SummerPeanut
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I and Misha woke up at about the same time.
Misha was not sure where we were and started to panic but since Clarice and I were there, it didn't turn into big trouble.
“Where is this?”
Misha said, to which I replied
“Misha, don't be surprised. We were caught. However, this is not the same situation Misha had been in before. We got caught on purpose. We got caught on purpose, to find Misha's mother.”
“What? Why? Let's get out of here!”
“Calm down. If we run away here, we might lose Misha's mother again.
There is a good chance that Misha's mother will come to this town looking for you. We just have to be patient.”
“No, no! We have to get out of here now!”
Misha said and tried to leave the room.
I and Clarice did not move. Misha looked at me and Clarice who were not moving and said.
“W,why? Aren't you coming with me?”
“Misha, listen to me, Clarice and I are doing this for Misha's sake.
Besides, we have our own agenda. We can't stay with Misha forever.
Of course, if Misha gives up on seeing her mother and comes with us to a more distant place, we can run away together. What do you want to do, Misha?”
Misha suddenly began to cry, perhaps because my words had been too harsh.
But I continued.
“You can either get out of here right now and come with us while giving up your mother, or you can stay here with us, and actually you have one more choice.”
Misha looked at me with tears.
“That is to get out of here and take action separately from us. You could be captured again, or worse, attacked by magic beasts. What do you want to do? Think carefully and decide. If Misha has thought it over, I'll go with your choice.”
As I said this, Clarice opened her mouth
“Misha, I know you are confused. But calm down, it is possible that Misha's mother was in Gilburn, a labyrinth city northeast of this city. But I don't think she's there anymore, and I'm sure she's out there right now frantically searching for you.”
Hearing that story from Clarice, I thought about Zeke, Maria, and Ike.
I wonder if they have already received my letter that Count Beetle sent. I can't wait to see them.
When I think about it, I think I understand a little more about Misha's feelings.
If Clarice hadn't been in Grantham, if I hadn't had a former Japanese compatriot, I would have been anxious, too.
Not to mention, it will take time before Misha can truly trust us.*1
“Misha, I was out of line. I apologize. I just want you to believe me. I will get Misha to your mother, that I promise. Please.”
Misha cried harder.
“I'm sorry too. I just don't know what to do anymore...”
We talked for the rest of the night as we prepare.
In the end, there wasn't much we could do.
The only thing we could do was to go with the flow and do our best to deliver Misha to her mother when she arrived.
We also had to make sure that we would not fall prey to any strange magic so initially, we thought we had to infuse magic into our eyes at all times while we stay on alert, but come to think of it, I have not checked the performance of the Clairvoyant skill after its level had been raised.
When I appraised the Clairvoyant, I found that I could use Foresight (Vision)(Weak).
I seem to be able to see 0.5 seconds into the future. It is nice to be able to know beforehand the opponent's attack during a battle.
However, it consumes 10 MP per second. How much MP will be lost in one second if I use the magic eye and Sylphid together? And the further away I am, the less effective it becomes. So it only works against those near my surroundings.
In the end, it’s better to not use it unless it’s an all-out battle.
The sun was setting and the house was getting noisy.
The security of the room is very careless, by the way. This room has a window.
I can normally see out of the house through the window.
I can see people who are being handcuffed leaving this house one after another.
Was there a basement? More than 20 people have already been taken.
Then our room opened.
I thought they would tie me up with a rope but they didn't do anything.
But we were surrounded by more than 10 guards.
I was really suspicious so I asked one of the adventurers surrounding us.
“Why aren't you handcuffing us?”
“Because no matter how hard you kids try, you can't escape us.”
I see. I replied and cut off the conversation. I thought these guys were so stupid that even Misha alone was able to escape from them.
They don't even equip any equipment. Don't they realize how incredible Clarice's equipment is?
Or are they thinking that she’s a product including her equipment?
Then we arrived at what looked like a slave auction hall in the northwest part of town.
There were many people dressed in fancy clothes like aristocrats in the auction hall. Some of them were even blindfolded.
The place was quite heated.
Then the auction began.
“Now we are going to start the auction of slaves. Today's last three slaves are the finest in recent years, so please join the party.”
A man who looked like an emcee said that, and first a man wearing a hand rope came out from the opposite side of the room from where we were standing.
Clarice and I couldn't help but let out an involuntary "ah" as the tied man came out from the opposite side of the room.
“The first one is a former baron of the city of Grantham, the easternmost city of the Kingdom of Zarkham.
As a former noble, he is well educated and should be able to do all the basic things.
Now, we’ll start with one gold coin. Go ahead, ooooh!”
There was Dames Barker, handcuffed and gagged at the mouth.
He seemed to be desperately shouting something but since he was gagged, I couldn't understand what he was saying.
The reaction of the audience was bizarre.
“・・・・・”
The audience that had been so noisy until now was as if a lie except Dames's moaning.
There was a terrible silence. No one had made a bid.
The moderator panicked.
“Come on, it's one gold coin! It's a former baron! It's a bargain! Go ahead and bid!”
but no one responded. The host, numb to the situation, said
“Five silver coins, then! It's a bargain!”
He desperately tried to appeal to the audience.
However, the hall was as silent as ever.
Dames was stunned silent, not even moaning anymore.
In the end, Dames came back to us because there were no takers.
When I saw the look on Dames's face as he returned, I felt a little sorry for him. A man who was worth less than 50,000 yen…
After that, the slave auction proceeded smoothly.
It seemed that the market price was roughly 20 to 30 gold coins.
Women are more expensive, and men seem to be more expensive the better they look or the higher their status.
And this is where the Dames’s hell began.
Whenever a sale was concluded, a Dames was always put on display, and each time this happened, there was silence.
The second time Dames would be sold for four silver coins, the third time for three silver coins, and so on, and even if the price was lowered, it was always silence.
How many times had Dames appeared on the market I wonder?
The price of dames had dropped to seven iron coins. Still, no one raised a voice or hand.
Then he came back to our side with his shoulders slumped again.
I don't want to be a slave but I guess it is despairing the fact that one’s value is decreasing rapidly.
It was then that his eyes met mine.
Dames's eyes, which had been dead until then, suddenly came alive.
“yOUuuu BASTARDDdddd!!!”
He began to rage at the same time as the strange voice, but suddenly he started laughing strangely and became quiet.
I guess he probably thought I had fallen into slavery, too, and was thinking that I got my serving.
Well, at any rate, I'm glad he cheered up.
Finally, it was my turn.
“Now let me introduce you to a young child yet well disciplined.
He has a promising future, blond hair, blond eyes, good looks, and no flaws at all! He starts at 50 gold coins!”
Oh, I'll start with 50 gold coins.
Then, the place was filled with unprecedented excitement.
In the blink of an eye, we were over 100 gold coins when a comment was made.
“I have a question for the organizers. How many more are there? Depending on that, I'm prepared to call out some white gold coins.”
said a man with a mask covering his eyes. Then the host said
“Two more, sir.”
The man asked to see them all at once, and the audience encouraged him to do so.
“This may be unorthodox, but I will now introduce you to two more people.
The first one has silver hair and blue eyes, so beautiful that once you see her, you can never take your eyes off of her. She is a mysterious and saintly girl. If you adopt her, you can have her for yourself as is, not to mention a lucrative marriage to another nobleman!”
With that, Clarice came out. The audience was in a frenzy.
“And last but not least, a girl with green hair and red eyes!
Yes, she is an elf! An elf, a very rare elf in this land! You won't see anything like her in the future!”
With that being said, Misha came out.
The three of us on stage caused the greatest enthusiasm from the audience.
No one noticed that Dames had been sneakily brought in from the side too.
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Author’s note:
If you feel the series is even a bit interesting and would like to know more of the story’s continuation, please consider giving ★★★★★ and bookmark as it will really help with my motivation. m(__)m
I’m using Twitter too.
I will be very grateful if you can follow me.
https://twitter.com/qdUYSDZf8XzNaUq
TL’s note:
- He’s trying to say that Misha is unlike him who can easily trust Clarice thanks to his past experience in japan with her and that’s why he wasn’t as anxious about being alone.
