Chapter 36 : Chapter 36
Chapter 36: The Jurgen Family and Nika's Hesitation
Rudolf still wanted to push the price even higher.
But in the very next moment, a chill ran through him, cold sweat breaking out all over his body.
He looked at Ryan and saw that Ryan’s eyes had narrowed.
He could also tell that the dangerous aura he had just felt had come from Ryan.
And he himself was the target.
He had a vague feeling.
If he kept raising the price, Ryan would probably still agree to pay.
But he might live long enough to earn the money and not long enough to spend it.
In truth, Rudolf’s instincts were not wrong.
Ryan really had felt a surge of killing intent just now.
He had only restrained himself for Nila’s sake.
Otherwise, he would have pulled out his gun and killed this greedy bastard on the spot.
It was just a piece of information, yet the man dared ask for 50 Gold Coins.
That was only because Ryan had not gotten the information yet.
Once he did, one way or another, Ryan was going to make Rudolf taste what death felt like.
Trying to extort him of all people—this man truly had no idea how close he was to dying.
“N-No need for that much. It’s only one piece of information. I’ll tell you for free.”
Rudolf spoke in a trembling voice.
As a merchant, one had to be good at reading people. Otherwise, one could offend someone without even realizing it.
At this moment, Rudolf could clearly feel that Ryan had developed killing intent toward him.
Fearing for his life, Rudolf immediately caved. He no longer wanted the money and rushed to tell Ryan everything.
In truth, there were guards in his Slave Merchant Guild.
If they all swarmed Ryan at once, they might even be able to kill him.
But as he had said before, Rudolf was a merchant.
And merchants weighed costs against benefits.
If his greed for 50 Gold Coins made him an enemy of someone who was obviously powerful, then from Rudolf’s point of view, it was an utterly terrible bargain.
If he could keep Ryan here forever, that would be one thing. But if anything went wrong—
Then he would have to spend the rest of his life worrying about Ryan ambushing him and killing him.
The thought alone made his heart tremble.
That was why he had decided to tell Ryan the information for free.
He would rather lose some money and avert disaster, then send Ryan away as quickly as possible.
“Oh? Weren’t you charging me just now? Why is it free all of a sudden? You’re not trying to fool me with fake information, are you?”
Ryan sounded puzzled.
“I wouldn’t dare, I wouldn’t dare.”
Rudolf wiped the sweat from his forehead, then laid out everything he knew.
Nila really had been sold here from the Kingdom of Mia some time ago.
Because slaves from the Fox Tribe were relatively rare, Rudolf had remembered her clearly.
Unfortunately, there was one problem.
Nila had already been bought three days ago.
“Who bought Nila? Do you know anything about that person?”
“Yes, I do.”
Rudolf nodded and continued, “The one who bought Nila was a noble family here—the Jurgen Family.”
After that, Rudolf told Ryan everything he knew about the Jurgen Family.
The Jurgen Family had originated five hundred years ago. Its first family head, Balthasar Jurgen, had been a wandering knight. During a battle against a monster invasion, he saved a local lord and was granted a fief. From then on, he settled there.
In the family’s early years, they established themselves through military strength. Balthasar’s three sons all inherited his talent for swordsmanship and repeatedly distinguished themselves in conflicts among the surrounding territories, allowing the family’s lands to gradually expand.
The third-generation family head, Heinrich Jurgen, began studying magic and cooperated with a wandering mage, incorporating magic into the family’s combat techniques and further increasing the family’s strength.
During the tenure of the tenth family head, the family endured two major crises.
The first came when a plague struck their territory, killing half the population. The family head organized people to isolate the sick and burn the infected areas, and in the end managed to contain the outbreak.
The second came when nobles from a neighboring country joined forces to suppress them. The family relied on warriors trained in both magic and martial arts to break through the encirclement, then formed alliances with other powers and resolved the crisis.
More than three hundred years ago, the family reached the height of its power, controlling three towns and vast stretches of farmland, with its own magic tower and swordsmanship training grounds.
Among the successive family heads, seven had been granted the title of Royal Advisor by the king and had taken part in the kingdom’s affairs.
The family’s collection of ancient books recorded many lost magic incantations and swordsmanship manuals, which were passed down only to direct heirs.
Although the family’s territory had not expanded much over the past century, its strength had remained steady.
Many members of the family held positions in the kingdom’s army or the Magic Council, and they maintained marriage ties with other noble houses.
The family’s castle was built on a hill from gray stone. Inside were a dedicated magic laboratory and an armory. The guards were all warriors trained by the family, each proficient in at least one discipline, either magic or martial combat.
The current family head was Alfred Jurgen, forty years old.
He began learning swordsmanship at the age of five, displayed magical talent at ten, and by fifteen he could cast intermediate fire magic while wielding the family’s inherited two-handed sword at the same time. At twenty, he defeated three knights in the kingdom’s martial tournament. At thirty, he deciphered a high-level defensive spell recorded in the family’s ancient books.
Now, his mastery of magic ranked among the finest in the kingdom, and his swordsmanship was second to none. He had even slain an adult Red Dragon by himself and enjoyed enormous prestige throughout the kingdom.
Alfred’s daughter was named Isabella Jurgen, sixteen years old.
She was slow in sensing magical elements. She could not even properly cast the simplest lighting spell, and after three years of swordsmanship training, she still could not skillfully wield a Longsword. In the family’s tests, she had repeatedly ranked last.
Though Alfred was disappointed, he still hired the best tutors for his daughter, yet none of it produced any results.
In the end, Alfred decided to choose a clever and physically agile maid for his daughter.
When he heard that a young girl from the Fox Tribe was being sold at the slave market, he felt that her racial traits might make her better suited to serving his daughter, so he sent someone to purchase her. In the end, they selected Nila.
After listening to Rudolf’s explanation, Ryan fell silent.
The good news was that Nila’s whereabouts had been found, and from the looks of it, the master who had bought her seemed fairly decent.
The bad news was that the person who had bought her had a formidable background. Taking Nila away from them would be extremely difficult.
Ryan looked at Nika.
After hearing Rudolf’s explanation, Nika immediately let out a sigh of relief.
Her younger sister’s situation was still acceptable. It was far better than the worst outcome she had imagined.
Becoming a noble young lady’s maid could be considered one of the best possible destinations for a female slave.
As had been mentioned before, male slaves could be sent to mine, serve as guards, and so on.
Female slaves had far fewer possible destinations.
The best placement was to care for middle-aged or elderly men in their later years.
Because the master was advanced in age, the slave usually would not be required to serve him at night.
She would simply be treated as a caretaker looking after him.
Moreover, for such men, using a slave to care for them was much better than directly taking another late-life spouse to do so.
After all, a slave would not plot to seize his property.
But a new spouse might come precisely for that property.
And when that happened, whether he would even live to the end of his natural lifespan would be another matter entirely.
The next-best arrangement was Nila’s current one: serving as a noble young lady’s maid.
If she had been made the maid of a noble young master, then nighttime service would certainly have been expected of her.
But with a noble young lady, there was no need to worry about that.
Still, Nika had also heard Rudolf’s description of the Jurgen Family.
Even from that description alone, it was obvious how powerful the family was.
Trying to take her sister Nila away from such a family would no doubt be extremely difficult.
At that thought, Nika unconsciously looked toward Ryan.
Ryan already had some ideas.
But with Rudolf still standing nearby, it was not convenient to explain them.
“Boss, would it be possible for you to introduce me to Lord Alfred Jurgen?” Ryan asked.
“Uh... well...”
Rudolf gave a bitter smile and shook his head. “You overestimate me, sir. I’m only an ordinary merchant. How could I possibly be qualified to introduce you to Lord Alfred?”
“Actually, if you want to meet Lord Alfred, you can simply go to the Jurgen Family estate and ask.”
“All right. Thank you, Boss.”
Ryan tossed down 10 Gold Coins, then turned and left with Nika.
“Thank you for your patronage!”
When Rudolf saw the 10 Gold Coins Ryan had left behind, he understood that today’s matter was finally over.
That was why his final words of thanks had only been for Ryan’s patronage. He had not said that he hoped to see him again next time.
As for a customer like Ryan, whose killing intent was so intense, Rudolf wanted no part of another encounter.
Next time?
There had better not be a next time!
But the strange thing about this world was that the more desperately you wanted something not to happen, the more likely it was to happen.
...
Ryan took Nika out of the Slave Merchant Guild, found an inn, and rented a large room.
Once they were inside the room, with no outsiders around, Nika finally could not hold herself back any longer.
“Master, that Jurgen Family...”
Originally, Nika had wanted to say that the Jurgen Family was powerful and influential, and that taking Nila away from them would be very difficult.
Besides, Nila’s current position as a noble young lady’s maid was not a bad one.
So Nika found herself wondering whether they should simply leave Nila there after all.
That way, Ryan would not be put in a difficult position.
It could be said that, between her younger sister and Ryan, Nika chose Ryan.
Of course, that was only because Nila’s circumstances did not seem too bad.
If Nila’s situation had been truly miserable, then even at the risk of making Ryan dislike her, Nika would still have asked him to save her sister.
Ryan waved his hand, cutting her off.
“Nika, leaving aside whether Rudolf was telling the truth or not, since we’ve already come all this way, we definitely have to go and see for ourselves.”
“If Nila really is living a fairly decent life, then we’ll ask what she wants. If she wants to stay, then she stays. If she wants to leave with us, then I’ll go speak with the Jurgen Family.”
“But Master, the Jurgen Family has many people, and many of them are powerful. If it’s only the two of us, then I’m afraid...”
Nika said this anxiously.
“Hahahaha...”
Ryan suddenly burst into laughter as he looked at Nika.
“Uh... Master?”
Nika looked at Ryan in confusion. Had she said something funny?
“I say, Nika, you don’t seriously think I’m planning to deal with the Jurgen Family with guns, do you?”
“Isn’t that the case?”
“Uh... guns are the last resort. At the start, I definitely can’t just pull one out right away. The reason I directly pulled a gun on those two people who were following us before was because they clearly meant us harm.”
“This situation is different. The Jurgen Family has no grudge against us. If we really want to get into the details, they’ve actually done you a favor. After all, if the family head hadn’t bought Nila, there’s no telling where she would be now.”
“Then Master already has a plan?”
“That’s right. Just watch me when the time comes.”
Ryan nodded confidently.