Chapter 2: Ellie Michelle (1)

Elli Michel, a rabbit beastman known to most adventurers and wealthy individuals in the city for her white hair, white eyebrows, and outstanding yet refined appearance.

The recent incident had been quite significant, so it was inevitable that rumors would spread by word of mouth.

Therefore, at the city’s official slave trade office, where Charles Locke and she were located, curiosity and concern about who would buy her had recently circulated.

Most of the exchange employees anticipated a bad outcome, but the story changed when the party involved in the incident appeared at the city’s official slave trade office, bringing his somewhat recovered body.

Charles, who had been present at countless slave transactions, had met various slaves and various buyers.

And most of them met with rather unfavorable ends.

The rich b*stard with sadistic tendencies bought slaves several times a month, and it was unknown where all those slaves disappeared to.

One adventurer tormented his slave so terribly that he was eventually butchered by his own slave’s knife.

For him, who knew the immense price of disobedience, it was not difficult to estimate how vast that slave’s resentment must have been.

Even with just extreme examples, it was like that, and it wasn’t easy to guess how many slaves were being tormented out of his sight.

Of course, not all slaves were pitiable.

In some cases, most were criminals, especially if one excluded examples like Elli Michel, who was part of today’s transaction. Serial pickpockets or thieves, bandits, etc.

He approached his work with the feeling of making criminals pay their dues.

But in the case of some unfortunate slaves, there were transactions he couldn’t stomach without drinking.

If it was like this even at the city’s official slave trade office, how much dirtier would the slave trade offices in the shadows be?

However, Charles thought today’s transaction would be different.

Of course, it might be that his attitude appeared that way “because he had no memory,” but he guessed that at least he was an inherently good man, deeply empathetic to her plight, and showed anger.

Therefore, if today’s transaction concluded safely, and if the man before him had enough money, he would be able to finish the day with relief.

Creak, the door opened.

“You…!”

Her wide eyes trembled for a moment, then her head dropped weakly.

“Marcus Ahn, before we begin, I would like to announce the nature of this transaction. We have confirmed your status as a victim in the recent ‘Novice Adventurer Killer’ incident, and due to the bankruptcy of ‘Elli Michel,’ who was involved in said incident, her status has been downgraded…”

“Hmph…”

Elli Michel seemed to be crying. Her head was bowed even deeper, and her hands gripped her skirt tightly, creasing the fabric. The visible veins starkly revealed her heightened emotions.

What had to be done, had to be done.

“Elli Michel, proper posture.”

“Ugh… Yes.”

Before I could say anything, she heard the words and hurriedly clasped her hands together again, standing in a proper posture. Then, she bowed her waist toward me once more.

“I apologize.”

Her appearance made me unable to speak. The institution of slavery was not something I found agreeable. Witnessing the treatment of slaves, which I had only read about in books, was not pleasant either.

“I apologize. Of course, I knew beforehand that you were a very gentle person, but I ask for your understanding that I regrettably had to show you this kind of display.”

Perhaps he knew I was uncomfortable; Charles politely apologized to me. He accompanied it with a slight bow of his head. I took a deep breath through my nose and slowly parted my lips, which had been heavy all along.

“I would like to know her price.”

I simply wanted to get her out of this uncomfortable situation as quickly as possible. It seemed like the best option. Charles looked at my promissory note, nodded, and handed me a pen.

“First, her description. Elli Michel is 24 years old this year. As a female rabbit beastman, she is generally characterized by a nimble body and acute hearing. Furthermore, her strength has been measured to be above that of an average rabbit beastman—ah, to give you an idea, perhaps…”

“Hmm, Elli Michel. Please lift that weight over there.”

“…Yes, I will.”

She carefully moved her feet and lifted the weight at the back of the room with one hand. She lifted it so effortlessly and silently that I couldn’t quite gauge how heavy it was. As if Charles also knew this, he gave Elli Michel the next command.

“Now, hand it to Marcus.”

“Understood.”

She, who had easily lifted the weight before me, carefully set it down in front of me and stepped back three paces with her head bowed.

“Would you like to try lifting it?”

When I lifted it with one hand… it was quite heavy. If asked if I could lift it as effortlessly as she did, I probably couldn’t.

“Her strength is about that. Additionally, Elli Michel is proficient in housework, labor, and self-defense… and as you probably know, having worked as an inn guide, she can read and write, and is quick with calculations.”

Thud, I set the weight down. Seeing this, he gave a slight smile and continued speaking.

“Her diligence has already been proven, but due to the recent incident, this point is slightly deducted from her evaluation, please understand. Furthermore, in addition to her uniquely beautiful appearance, if I were to add one more characteristic, she does not know a man’s body… would you understand what I mean?”

“…What did you say?”

“That is, she… has no experience. Sexually, I mean. She is an amateur. That is why she will be valued a bit higher.”

Standing next to me, she bowed her head once more. The veins in her hands prominently appeared, but soon she clasped both hands and lifted her head again. D*mn it, do they even consider this a commodity?

“Is that… so.”

Although her face tried to maintain composure, the fact that her face was considerably flushed and her hands were clasped and trembling slightly made it clear to anyone that she felt ashamed.

However, the man in front of me calmly finished explaining her value as if it were nothing.

“This is all I have to explain. Her ‘personal’ characteristics would be rude for me to elaborate further on, so I will conclude here. Now, for the price. Summing up the money she owed and the characteristics mentioned above… it will be 1,200,000 Dikats.

Marcus Ahn, are you willing to pay this amount?”

She was certainly outrageously expensive.

Here, Dikats are the unit of currency, calculated in gold, silver, and copper coins. One gold coin is 10,000 Dikats, one silver coin is 100 Dikats, and one copper coin is 1 Dikat.

And to roughly describe her value, with that money, I could acquire a good house in the city center, furnish it with suitable furniture, and still have enough leftover to live somewhat comfortably without working.

‘…But it was as I expected. Her appearance was incredibly attractive even to me, and her ability to perform various professional tasks was a clear advantage. And her strength, greater than mine. That, too, would help with my intended work of exploring labyrinths.’

‘The question was, did she want this? Was she satisfied with this whole process? That was a rather troubling aspect for me. Of course, if she became my slave, I would gain a tremendous amount of profit.’

‘If I ignored her will… I could obtain pleasure, enjoyment, and vast wealth from her.’

‘However, that was not what I wanted. I… though it might sound truly foolish to say this, I wanted to treat her as a person, at the very least. Perhaps the term ‘partner’ would be more fitting.’

‘She had accidentally become entangled in my incident, and I wanted to show regret for that. Of course, the first step in that, ironically, would be to make her my slave.’

Combining the bounty and the money left over after spending Paul’s inheritance, I had exactly 1,300,000 Dikats… it was a close call. If the price had gone up even a little, there would have been a big problem.

Curiously, although I could read text, I didn’t know how to write, only barely knowing how to write my own name. So, I signed the promissory note and handed it to him, leaving the amount field blank.

“Ah… I understand. I will definitely write in 1,200,000 Dikats for you.”

With a graceful hand, unlike my own handwriting, he elegantly wrote the numbers and held up the promissory note before me.

“Yes. I have confirmed it is a promissory note from the city bank for 1,200,000 Dikats, and I have confirmed the signature. With this, I officially declare that ownership of Elli Michel is transferred to Marcus Ahn. Marcus Ahn, would you please give me your identification again? I wish to register the ownership relationship on her and your identification documents.”

“…Here it is.”

“Alright, let’s see…”

Charles, who had taken my identification, then pulled out her identification from his pocket and alternately inserted them into a device. The device displayed glowing patterns each time an identification was inserted, and after taking them out and examining the identification documents thoroughly, he nodded once and handed both of them to me.

“The engraving has been successful. Please take good care of her identification.”

“…Without returning it to her?”

“Of course, you may, but usually, the master takes charge of and manages it. It has been customary, so to speak.”

I silently looked at her, then stood up and handed her the identification.

“…This is yours. Take it.”

“I, I…”

With both hands placed near her chest, she looked at me as if troubled, but I had no intention of backing down. At least this identification was hers. After hesitating for a while, she finally took her identification with both hands and bowed deeply to me.

“…Thank you.”

I put my own back into my pocket and sat down again. This was because I saw Charles diligently preparing something. He handed the documents over to me and gave a brief explanation of several clauses.

Most of it detailed the social standing of a slave and the relevant laws, as he had already explained. And lastly… it was a clause about sundo.

Sundo (殉死), or ‘death in service of the master’. This was one of the reasons that virtually subjugated slaves to their masters and made them absolutely loyal. If the master died, the slave would naturally die too. This was one of the reasons slaves sometimes harmed themselves to thoroughly protect their master’s life.

“Of course… you can change this part, but for the slave owner’s safety, I recommend not doing so.”

“If you’re talking about her, it’s fi—”

“I’m not talking about her, Marcus.”

He swallowed once and quietly continued speaking.

“There are many crazy bstards in the world, and many unscrupulous ones too. There are lunatics who kill, rpe, and do all sorts of unspeakable things to a person for trashy reasons. If you die and she is freed, who do you think will protect her?”

He sighed deeply and pointed at Elli Michel with his finger.

“Her appearance is above excellent. The work she can do, her body—honestly, her value is more than 1,200,000 Dikats. If this were an illegal trade house, they might have asked for more than double this price. There might also be crazy b*stards who would try to take her from you by force.”

He let out another deep sigh and continued speaking.

“Of course, the law and the contract will protect you and her as much as possible. So, leave this clause as it is. If you truly wish, there are ways to add a few more clauses. For example, ‘The owner shall not force the slave to do anything against their will.’ How does that sound?”

There was no part of his words that I could refute. Indeed, this clause also served to protect her from external threats. Moreover, her characteristics were something anyone would covet.

“…Alright.”

With a flourish of his pen, he added the clause, writing the sentence. Although I didn’t know how to write, I could read, so I confirmed the sentence thoroughly and then showed her that the clause was also written there.

She read it blankly, then quietly bowed her head to show her agreement. Confirming her reaction, Charles then brought out an object with a small needle, carefully wiped it with wet cotton, and placed it before me.

“Marcus, Elli Michel, I ask that both of you press your thumbprints.”

She and I extended our thumbs, pricking our fingers with the needle, and then pressed them onto the document. Then, Charles pulled out a cylindrical tube from under the table, put the rolled-up document inside, placed his hand on it, and muttered something.

Clang.

With the sound of something strongly locking, the cylinder glowed faintly, then faded.

“With this, I will conclude the sales contract. This officially announces the completion of the master-servant relationship contract between Marcus Ahn and Elli Michel.”

She was now truly a slave. A slave that I had to take responsibility for and protect.