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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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‘Did I grow a little?’
Although subtle, I could feel that my vessel had expanded.
However, as a price for using magic beyond my level, I would have difficulty handling magic for a while.
‘I shouldn’t use it for about two days.’
Not that I would have a reason to use it anyway.
I just needed to grow steadily like this. If I could let go of my impatience, I could rapidly become stronger.
Once the magic was cleared away, erasing the remaining traces wasn’t difficult.
I just had to bury them deep in the ground.
Nature would take care of the rest.
‘As long as there are no traces of magic, there’s no need to sell this place.’
After completely disposing of the corpses, I spoke to Athena, who was still standing with a stiff expression.
“Let’s go.”
She silently followed me.
Clatter, clatter.
A skeleton followed behind us.
“What are you planning to do with that?”
“I’ll shove it in the basement.”
It was a natural outcome, if it could be called natural.
‘For now, I’ll have to put it in a dormant state and gradually strengthen it…’
I was really lucky. I never imagined I would have an undead under my possession at this point.
“That unpleasant energy…”
“Concealing it isn’t too difficult.”
“…Do as you please. Just don’t get caught. I’m in the same boat as you now.”
I nodded roughly at her words.
After bringing her to the house, I served her a meal.
It was apparent that she hadn’t eaten for days, so I prepared the food, and as expected, she couldn’t take her eyes off the meal.
“Eat for now.”
Sensing that she was conscious of my gaze, I took the skeleton and briefly left the room.
The basement was where Nenson had kept the humans he captured, so it wasn’t difficult to store the skeleton there.
However, when I killed him, this place was empty.
I put the skeleton into a dormant state and retrieved almost all of the magic.
It was a temporary measure since my body couldn’t easily use magic at the moment, and with such faint magic, even a fairly skilled person would have a hard time noticing it, so it would be safe for the time being.
‘The basement is quite deep too.’
Nenson had dug it deep for his specific purpose.
Come to think of it, it was a bit amusing.
The very person who created this space had become a skeleton and was now trapped here.
‘How ironic.’
Of course, I felt no sympathy.
As I headed to the living room of the house, Athena was there, gobbling up food without even noticing my arrival.
Belatedly sensing my presence, Athena’s actions came to a halt.
Slurp.
She put down the meat she was eating with a slightly embarrassed look.
I sat across from her and said.
“Eat comfortably. Don’t mind me.”
“…You’re telling me to eat comfortably while staring at me from the front?”
“I’m not particularly hungry.”
I had eaten a little beforehand. I wasn’t in the mood to eat anyway.
“By the way, what’s your name?”
I already knew, but it would be strange to know a name she hadn’t told me, so I asked in advance.
“…Athena.”
“Alright, Athena. Tomorrow, I’m going to buy your sister.”
“Buy her, you say?”
“Didn’t you roughly guess it?”
I had already hinted at it.
“When you said you might have the opportunity to buy someone with money this time, were you referring to my sister?”
“Of course. Even though I’m a collaborator with Kuman, I can’t just forcibly take his merchandise.”
At the word “merchandise,” Athena’s brow furrowed.
“Don’t make that face. It’s precisely because of that situation that I can get her out without any repercussions.”
She began tearing into the meat again with a slightly displeased look.
‘As expected, she doesn’t have a strong sense of justice.’
In the first place, she had agreed to work under me, a Warlock, and when I first mentioned buying people with money, she seemed to speak with disgust to insult me and express her dismay at her sister being in that situation.
‘Or maybe it was an attempt to gauge my tendencies.’
It meant that even in that situation, she was trying to find a way out.
However, her anger towards Kuman and me at that time seemed genuine.
After she finished her meal, I handed her a room, and as soon as the day changed, I instructed her to wash up.
“Come with me.”
“I have no intention of showing you this side’s hand. And even if we go together, it’ll only be a loss for us. If they find out about your existence, even if I have a cooperative relationship with Kuman, they won’t easily let go of your sister, right? Just tell me her age and appearance.”
“…Black hair and red eyes. She’s 17. Three years younger than me. But… she’s probably quite small.”
I nodded roughly at her words.
It wasn’t a common appearance, so finding her wouldn’t be difficult.
‘I roughly knew it already.’
“Understood. I’ll bring her back. If you don’t want to greet your sister in such a shabby state, wash up beforehand. You know the location of the river, right?”
“…Got it.”
Eventually, Athena reluctantly nodded as if she had no choice.
Perhaps because of the oath on mana, or maybe it was her original personality, but there wasn’t a single instance where she obeyed immediately.
‘Is it because she still can’t trust me?’
But at least she did what she was told.
After grabbing a coin purse and the leather I had set aside, I headed to the center of the barony, the development castle.
Perhaps my face was already known, as the guards allowed me entry as soon as they saw me, and I went straight to Kuman’s mansion.
Upon hearing that I was the guest, Albert personally came to greet me.
I handed him a piece of leather and said.
“This is the hide of the beast I caught this time.”
“The condition is quite good. It seems like you used a trap…”
Perhaps because I had put in a good word, I was able to dispose of the leather at a better price than expected.
As soon as I sold the leather, I brought up the main topic.
“I’d like to purchase a slave.”
“…A slave, you say?”
“Yes. Since I’ll be working with Sir Kuman, it seems I’ll be staying here for a while, and I need someone to do the household chores.”
“Nothing strenuous, just attending to me and doing odd jobs. Anyway, my pockets are light at the moment.”
“My apologies. I never thought you would request to purchase a slave…”
Well, it didn’t seem like there would be anyone in this area with the financial means to purchase and maintain a slave.
At most, perhaps the lord?
There was no reason for someone with the purchasing power to keep a slave in such a dangerous frontier territory to come here.
‘If you think about it, this place is closer to a supply point.’
Although Kuman was here in person, he was nothing more than a novice among slave traders.
That’s why he came to this dangerous place himself and treated me well to establish a connection with the Magic Tower.
“Understood. Please wait a moment.”
I stopped Albert, who was about to leave.
“If possible, I’d like to see and choose for myself.”
“See for yourself… hmm…”
Albert seemed a bit troubled, but soon nodded.
“Since you’re someone the master told us to treat well… Alright. Please follow me.”
The place I followed Albert to was a familiar underground space.
As the size of the mansion was large, the basement for storing and educating slaves was also immensely huge.
Three underground floors. Honestly, it could be considered larger than the aboveground mansion.
It was a scale that could be considered excessive for a novice slave trader to have, but if it weren’t for the frontier development territory, it would have been impossible for Kuman to own a building of this size.
“The 1st floor is mostly empty. This is where we keep those who have received some education, but most of them were taken by the master this time, so the timing isn’t great, I must say.”
“It’s fine. As I mentioned, I’m not looking for trained individuals.”
Such individuals were expensive.
“The 2nd underground floor is where we gather those whose spirits have been broken, although they’re still lacking. The 3rd floor… To be honest, they don’t even have the awareness of being slaves, so they can’t be sold.”
I knew that well.
I, too, had started on the 3rd floor.
The 2nd underground floor we entered was completely different from the 1st floor.
Iron bars existed like a prison, and various people were confined inside.
I felt a strange sense of emotion.
“For household chores, a female slave would be most suitable.”
“Yes. It would be good to have someone a bit younger, easier to handle.”
Perhaps because I was choosing a slave in the place where I had been imprisoned in the past, I felt nauseous, to be honest.
Since it was right after my return and memories from Earth were still fresh, my mood continued to worsen as I spoke.
However, I thoroughly concealed such feelings.
They knew that I had engaged in slave hunting in the past.
If it became known that I was feeling such emotions now, it would only be detrimental to me.
Therefore, Albert calmly spoke only what he had to say.
“A young slave, you say. Then please come this way.”
The place I was guided to had young female slaves.
“Although they’re small in stature, that’s only because they haven’t eaten well. They’re all over 15 years old. They understand words well. Their education is still lacking, but at the very least, they won’t resist.”
None of them had particularly outstanding appearances, probably because I had mentioned that my financial situation wasn’t great.
I calmly searched for someone with black hair.
“Among them, those who have experience with household chores…”
I interrupted Albert’s words and said.
“That black-haired one over there.”
“Pardon?”
“I’d like to see the face of the black-haired child.”
“Ah, that child is…”
Albert, who looked in the direction I was pointing, showed a somewhat troubled expression.
Thea. Unlike the other children, she was left alone in a separate room.
‘Is it because of an illness?’
At the words that pointed to her, the black-haired child raised her head.
‘Red eyes. Definitely.’
I thought she somewhat resembled Athena in appearance. However, while Athena had a slightly bold appearance, her younger sister Thea had a gentle impression.
Perhaps because she was definitely Athena’s sister, she had the most outstanding appearance among them.
However, her complexion was pale, and her color didn’t look good, as if she was clearly sick.
“Hmm… That child has excellent beauty, but well, she has an illness.”
“An illness?”
“Yes. We called a doctor, but they couldn’t figure out what disease it was. We even took her to the temple, but we were told to take her to a high-ranking priest.”
‘A high-ranking priest…’
It was understandable why Kuman had given up on Thea.
Although she was Athena’s sister and practically her leash, summoning a high-ranking priest wasn’t something that could be done with money alone.
It required a large sum of money and a certain level of power.
In simple terms, it meant one had to be a noble or have connections with the temple.
Even ordinary nobles were out of the question.
Even after finding out that she was Athena’s leash, he couldn’t cure her, and at this point, there was even less reason for him to make such an effort.
‘…But why does it feel familiar…’
I quietly observed Thea’s face.
She lowered her gaze with a slightly fearful look.
Then, I suddenly realized that I felt a familiar energy.
‘…A curse, it’s a curse.’
It wasn’t a disease.
That was a curse.
‘Right, that’s it.’
It was extremely subtle. I understood why the priest had told them to go to a high-ranking priest.
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