Chapter 47: Slave
The farewell between Yuki and me passed in gentle silence. Leaving her behind to tend to Alex, I felt a strange void in my mind. My footsteps carried me away from that place. As the heavy door swung open, the sound of silence rushed in, enshrouding the space.
"Today was truly a sequence of breathtakingly exciting situations," I muttered, my voice echoing in the empty room.
After two days of sinking into a deep, prolonged sleep to fully recover my physical strength, my body now felt lighter, but the lethargy in my soul remained.
I realized an ironic truth: despite possessing power, I had no interest in wealth or mundane vanities. Opening the refrigerator, the cold air hit my face; I grabbed a random packaged food item and pulled out my phone to call Glow.
Long, drawn-out rings echoed, breaking the stillness. Finally, the other end picked up.
"Hello? Why are you calling me at this hour?" Glow’s voice sounded somewhat irritable; perhaps he was busy with work.
I leaned back against the wall, looking out the window where the city was beginning to light up, and replied distractedly: "Are you investing in any companies? Or any potentially lucrative projects?"
"Why are you asking suddenly? Is something important going on?" Glow asked curiously.
"Nothing major, I just want to throw money into a few places to earn a bit for upcoming parties," I shrugged, my tone as nonchalant as if I were talking about buying a pack of cigarettes.
Glow sighed on the other end: "Investing isn’t just dumping trash, you know. You have to carefully research charts and the market, otherwise, you’ll just end up losing every cent."
"Why worry? I have the money. Just point me to a few places to dump it, don’t be long-winded," I cut him off, my patience already thin.
Glow was silent for a moment before replying: "Fine, have it your way. I’ll send you an app. It has every type of stock, from basic to high-end. Do whatever you want, just don’t come crying to me if you blow your account."
After a few minutes of installation, I looked at the phone screen with boredom. Too lazy to read dry financial reports, I decided on the fastest method: "throwing money." I randomly selected over a hundred companies, focusing specifically on small, obscure names. For each company, I poured in a round figure: 100 million dollars.
Tossing the phone aside, I cast my gaze into the distance, watching the skyscrapers under the night lights. "System, take me to the Fantasy world," I whispered.
In the blink of an eye, reality vanished. When I opened my eyes, the space had been replaced by the familiar room in the other world.
The pendulum clock on the wall struck 10 AM, signaling that Elizabeth was currently busy with government meetings. Not wanting to waste time, I stepped out onto the street.
The city under the brilliant sun was bustling. I walked past roadside taverns where the scent of grilled meat mingled with the strong aroma of beer, and crowds of people surged back and forth.
Suddenly, my eyes caught a group of people leading a line of slaves toward the market.
The sight of chains and downcast faces triggered memories of dark scenarios from novels.
I turned into a dark alley, using a black scarf to cover half my face, concealing my identity before stepping out and beginning to tail the slave traders.
I quickly caught up to the leader, a guy with spiked hair holding a blood-stained leather whip in his hand. He was swinging the whip at a slave walking slowly.
"Hello, I want to buy some slaves," my voice sounded cold and monotonous from behind the cloth mask.
The slave trader stopped, his eyes filled with a mixture of wariness and greed. He lashed the whip once more at a slave nearby before looking at me: "Oh, a distinguished guest? You haven’t inspected the goods yet, but you want to buy immediately?"
I kept my voice as expressionless as possible; the air of mystery prevented him from acting rashly: "No need, that’s not important to me."
The human trafficker narrowed his eyes. With this attitude, he immediately understood that I was perhaps an eccentric individual needing subjects for the experiments of my depraved pleasures. He smiled meaningfully.
"So, who do you choose?"
I pointed toward three iron cages placed side by side, where three girls were trembling.
"I want those three. How much?"
The slave trader looked where I pointed and held up three fingers.
"Because they are in the group being prepared for sex slavery, the potential profit is very high. 15 gold coins each, no haggling."
I pulled out a heavy money bag and tossed it straight into his hand.
"Here’s 50 gold coins. Take it and go drink."
His eyes lit up. He cackled. Experienced as he was, he only needed to toss the money bag a few times to estimate that there was enough money.
"Haha, you are truly generous! Thank you, sir."
He handed me three yellowish papers with strange, incredibly complex patterns.
"Sir, drip your blood onto these to establish the mark."
I pulled out a small knife, made a thin incision on my fingertip, and dripped fresh red blood onto the bizarrely patterned charms. The slave trader nimbly approached each cage, sticking the paper onto their backs.
Immediately, a crimson mark in the shape of handcuffs appeared on the back of each girl’s hand – the sign of having one’s freedom completely stripped away.
"Can you feel the mark, sir?" he asked.
"Yes," I nodded coldly.
The three cages were opened, and the three girls were dragged out by another soldier using cold iron chains.
I grasped the end of the chains, my gaze sweeping over them: a beast-kin girl with vibrant orange hair, cat ears, and a long, flexible tail; a girl with pure white hair and eyes as sharp as razors; the last one bore the characteristics of the dog tribe, her face clearly showing fear.
As I prepared to leave, my gaze suddenly stopped at another slave standing in a dark corner. Her skin was smooth and bronzed, with long, pointed ears – she was an Elf. This girl radiated an otherworldly beauty even while in captivity.
"Hey, is that one for sale?" I asked, pointing toward the Elf.
The slave trader rubbed his hands together, his voice full of obsequiousness.
"Ah, that is a purebred Elf. A premium item, the price is very high, sir."
I didn’t want to waste any more time: "How much?"
"100 gold coins," he bowed his head with a servile smile.
I didn’t hesitate, taking out another money bag and tossing it over.
"Here is your 100 gold coins."
The slave trader nearly dropped the money bag when he saw the glittering gold coins inside. He hurriedly shouted at his subordinates.
"Stop the cart! Hurry!"
He carefully counted each gold coin, then broke into a wide grin.
"You really are a wealthy master."
After completing the marking procedure for the Elf, he unlocked all the chains for the four girls.
"From now on, he is your master. Do whatever he says."
I waved my hand to signal: "Go, quickly."
As we passed through a deserted alley heading toward the public bathhouse, a minor incident occurred.
The cat-eared beast-kin girl secretly glanced at her companions, her sharp claws suddenly growing long. Seeing my completely undefended back, she lunged with terrifying speed.
"Die, you bastard! I’d rather die than be anyone’s slave!"
But at that very moment, gravity suddenly soared, crushing her into the ground and cracking the pavement. I turned back, removing the face-covering scarf to reveal eyes that stared coldly at the four of them.
All four girls froze when they felt the pressure from those eyes. The gravitational force not only bore down on the beast-kin girl but the other three were also pressed hard against the stone floor; their bodies trembled violently, unable to utter a sound.
"Daring to attack me? It seems you still don’t know what your status is," I growled.
The cat-eared girl looked at me with extreme horror. I stepped closer, reaching out to touch her soft ears.
"I... I apologize, master..." the girl uttered, each word spoken with great difficulty, her eyes still glimmering with hatred but unable to resist.
I released the gravity. The dog-eared girl stammered, tears streaming down her face.
"Please... please don’t hit me."
I didn’t care and turned to walk away.
"Get up and keep moving. Don’t make me repeat myself a second time."
I led the four newly purchased goods toward the bathhouse.
Walking to the proprietress’s counter.
"Proprietress? Bathe these four for me." I threw 3 glittering gold coins onto the table, making the fat proprietress’s eyes widen.
A fawning look appeared.
"Thank you, sir, I will do it immediately."
I gestured, ordering them to go inside.
"Buy some clothes for them for me."
The proprietress bowed her head and happily ran off.
"Yes, sir, please wait a moment."
The four slave girls lowered their heads, walking in a line one after another inside. I watched them, noting that they were also very beautiful. Although their faces were dirty, my eyes, which were very accurate, appraised them.
Having these four slaves also makes it easy to earn points with the system through sexual intercourse. I won’t have to worry about finding someone every day.
Their figures were also very beautiful; judging them briefly with my eyes—my eyes with the system—I saw that they were all virgins, and their breasts were also very large. Perhaps even very large, larger than those in the world of Earth.
It seems the slave traders are accustomed to this, so they aren’t interested. Or perhaps selling slaves who are still virgins carries high value, and they have some way to verify whether or not they are virgins.