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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Therefore, the slaves that I thought were unnecessary seemed like they would be quite helpful.
‘I can have them manage and assist us with various chores.’
It seemed possible to create an environment where we could focus solely on training.
It started with compassion for her former disciple, but the result was beneficial for my group.
I instructed Kayla and Mutre to secure the basement of Kuman’s mansion as well.
Since Kayla could use aura, if she cooperated with Mutre, it wouldn’t take long to secure the basement of Kuman’s mansion.
Since the 1st underground floor served as a warehouse, Mutre would also obtain various tools, so the speed was expected to be even faster.
After the two left, Athena and Thea left to decorate our living space.
As a result, only Baldur and I were left alone in one space.
“What about the other slaves?”
“They are all in the passage.”
“When we secure the underground of Kuman’s mansion, we’ll make a living space for them there.”
Baldur’s face darkened a bit at the mention of returning to the same place as the past.
It couldn’t be helped since that space reminded him of the old days.
Moreover, his status was still that of a slave.
However, I had no intention of treating him purely as a slave.
“From now on, you will continue to receive Kayla’s teachings together with Athena.”
“At the same time, as I mentioned earlier, you will also be in charge of managing the slaves.”
“The slaves will be in charge of overall dungeon management, serving us, and general miscellaneous tasks.”
“Since they’re doing that much work, there should be compensation. Is there anything you want?”
He had been answering the same thing with only a change in tone.
“I don’t really like slaves. Those without hope are too passive and inefficient.”
I didn’t want to see one person’s work being done by two or three people.
“Although they are called slaves, they won’t receive the same treatment as before inside here. I have no intention of selling them either. They will be given proper rest, and an adequate living space and food will be generously provided. Well, they’ll have to cook for themselves. Hmm… yeah. It would be easier to think of it as an employee-employer relationship.”
“…So you’re saying we won’t be slaves, but servants or maids…?”
The work may be similar, but the treatment was different.
Slaves are literally the owner’s property and don’t receive human treatment, let alone wages.
However, servants are different.
Basically, it’s an employment relationship, and they receive wages, rest, and even accommodation if necessary.
Since it’s a class-based society, it’s common for servants to be treated no differently from slaves, but officially, that’s how it is.
However, given the situation here, the compensation wasn’t in the form of money, but protection from danger and resolving food, clothing, and shelter.
It wasn’t a bad deal for them either.
Perhaps knowing that, Baldur looked at me with an unexpected expression.
That expression suddenly felt familiar.
‘…It seems similar to how Mutre looked at me…’
“If that’s the case, everyone will like it.”
After hesitating for a moment, Baldur continued,
“Even if they find out that you’re a warlock… that is.”
Of course, there would be some aversion or difficulty.
That was not a bad thing.
At least it meant they didn’t take it lightly.
‘As long as they’re not fools, they won’t act recklessly at the point where I have power in my hands.’
Still, it’s not very good to be stiffly rigid and always filled with fear.
The fear that may arise from me being their master and a warlock would gradually improve as good treatment is maintained and time passes.
‘Because humans are adaptable creatures.’
“As I said before, you are entitled to better treatment and compensation as you do different work from the others. So tell me what you want.”
He helps in terms of force, becomes Athena’s training partner, and also manages the slaves.
He’s a kind of middle manager.
Moreover, since he was once Kayla’s disciple, it was unreasonable to treat him the same as the others.
At my question, Baldur couldn’t say anything for a while.
However, perhaps thinking it would be rude to keep me waiting too long, he soon slowly opened his mouth.
“…Nothing.”
“Hmm? You don’t want anything?”
“…Yes. In the first place, I’ve never thought about such things.”
“…Were you a slave since you were young?”
“That’s right. I was sold by my parents when I was about 5 years old.”
Then it makes sense.
He doesn’t even have the concept of thinking about what he wants.
He had lived such a passive life…
‘Even though he’s so passive, seeing that he learned everything from Kayla, he must certainly have talent.’
It was understandable that Kayla thought it was a waste.
“Don’t you want freedom or something?”
“What’s the point of gaining freedom in this situation?”
Well, that was true.
The magic engraving doesn’t disappear, and the outside is a monster den.
Freedom gained in this situation had little value.
Rather, working as a manager inside here and being provided with food, clothing, and shelter had the highest probability of survival.
“Then think about it while you’re here. About whether there’s anything you want. If you think of something, tell me or Kayla.”
“You can go. Go and help Kayla or something. And pass the message to the others.”
It meant to tell them that they would be treated as servants, not slaves.
“I understand. I will take my leave.”
Baldur bowed deeply to me and left through the passage.
“It’s not bad. Employees rather than slaves.”
“…When did you arrive?”
“Around the middle? It’s amazing. If he has absolutely no desires to that extent, why did he train and how did he become that strong?”
If he just did it because he was told to, it was certainly amazing to that extent.
Of course, there must have been some rewards in the process.
Better clothes, better food, better treatment, etc.
He might have trained with those as goals.
Or he might have received excessive corporal punishment if he didn’t do well.
Because Kayla didn’t tell me about the training process.
However, such methods would have only had short-term effects…
‘In the end, it’s talent.’
In this case, there was no other way to explain it except for that.
Even if the teacher was good, it wasn’t the best environment, and even though he only trained with short-term goals, if that was the result, it could be considered talent.
‘Although Kayla rated Athena higher.’
“It seems like he’ll be an interesting opponent if he starts doing it properly… Ah, I’m looking forward to sparring.”
A sudden thought occurred to me, so I asked Athena,
“Come to think of it, why do you want to become strong?”
She had saved her sister and, in a way, succeeded in her revenge.
It would have been understandable if her motivation was dampened once, but Athena showed no such signs at all.
Rather, after taking revenge, she seemed to have increased motivation with a refreshed face.
“My reason for becoming strong? Hmm… there are many. I’m pretty weak, right? To continue protecting Thea, I need to become much stronger. I have no intention of being satisfied here. And I have to repay my debt to you, and I can also live a better life the more I do. And above all.”
Athena, who smiled lightly, continued,
“Becoming strong is also fun. If I just become strong, I don’t need to live the same life as before.”
Her memories of the past and the results gained from becoming stronger seemed to be the motivations driving her.
“What about you?”
“To survive. And to be free.”
It was something I always thought about.
That was why the answer came out in less than a second.
Athena showed a slightly surprised expression at my firm attitude.
Then she soon laughed as if she had lost.
“I’m still not there yet. I need to work harder.”
She shook her head and tried to leave… but turned her body and asked,
“I almost forgot. Do you have a room you want?”
This seemed to be the reason she had come to me.
“Anywhere is fine. Each one looks good.”
Since there were many rooms, even considering accommodating the servants, and although they were less luxurious, they were at a level where there was no problem living, I said I didn’t mind.
“Really? Then I’ll handle it.”
With those words, Athena returned to Thea.
After Athena left, I started organizing the 1st underground floor.
Since it would be used as my lab, it would actually be the place I paid the most attention to.
In the meantime, Kayla and Mutre succeeded in connecting the basement of Kuman’s mansion to the underground passage and rescued the slaves.
Fortunately, there were no particular problems thanks to the relatively early rescue.
Baldur followed my instructions, successfully explained the situation to the slaves and controlled them, and reported that although they feared the fact that I was a warlock, they weren’t taking any particular actions for now since a better life than before was promised.
I named the basement of the lord’s mansion where we would stay as the main building and the basement of Kuman’s mansion as the annex, and then ordered Mutre to renovate the annex.
The 1st and 2nd floors would be used as accommodations, and the 3rd floor training hall was scheduled to be renovated by gathering opinions from Kayla and Athena.
With Mutre taking the lead, the slaves cooperated, and Athena and Kayla enthusiastically conveyed their opinions to Mutre.
Thus, a completely different environment from the chaotic situation on the surface was being formed underground.
When the annex was organized and we became accustomed to living underground, I received a piece of news through Thea.
“The food situation is getting worse?”
“Yes. It’s not urgent yet, but since there are quite a few people, I thought we should prepare in advance.”
The number of people residing in my dungeon was 23 in total, combining the main building and the annex.
The reason was that the number of slaves rescued from the annex was higher than expected.
In fact, if you think about it, even this was a small number, but before he died, Kuman prioritized trading with magic towers over slave trading, neglecting slave trading and reducing the supply, leaving only that many people.
Excluding my party and Mutre and Baldur, the total number of slaves was seventeen.
Among them, only five people stayed in the main building: me, Kayla, Athena, Thea, and Mutre. Baldur and the rest of the people all stayed in the annex.
The gender ratio was four men to thirteen women.
Three of the men were learning combat from Baldur, and the rest were living as servants and maids.
The gender ratio was a mess, but it wasn’t very important from my perspective.
“Since it’s been quite a while since the surface has quieted down, wouldn’t it be okay to start exploring?”
The reason Thea reported this to me instead of Baldur was simple.
She was effectively in charge of overall internal management.
She realized that she wasn’t suited for combat and constantly searched for what she could do.
Athena said it was enough for her to just live, but a person can’t just breathe without doing anything for more than a day or two.
Especially now that my dungeon was not in a situation that could be considered dangerous, Thea’s desire could only grow.
In the end, Thea took the initiative to do what she could one by one, but it overlapped with the maids’ work.
People in the annex couldn’t help but find it difficult to deal with Thea, who belonged to the main building, and even those who knew her when she was still a slave felt the same way.
Therefore, instead of working together, Thea started managing them.
No one went against her thanks to her position as Athena’s sister and a person from the main building.
As a result, she unexpectedly succeeded in internal management, and Baldur gradually became more comfortable.
Baldur was the busiest among the people inside the dungeon, taking on quite heavy workloads alone, such as training, annex management, servant and maid management, training combatants, and being the link between the main building and the annex.
However, when Thea took over all the management of servants and maids, the link between the main building and the annex, and the annex management, Baldur was able to focus on training combatants, and the efficiency started to increase.
When she also started helping with the material management that Mutre had been doing, synergy began to occur.
As a result, Baldur and Mutre came to greatly respect Thea, and Thea also started living with confidence as soon as she judged that there was something she could do and that it was helpful to the group.
Athena was also satisfied that Thea was not doing dangerous work, so Thea’s actions ultimately resulted in a happy outcome that everyone was satisfied with.
‘I don’t have to pay much attention to other things either…’
That’s why I didn’t easily dismiss Thea’s opinion.
Because she did well, I was able to focus solely on my work.
Thea could also be considered to have become a necessary member of the group through her own power.
“Certainly, it wouldn’t be bad to start exploring around this time.”
“Then…!”
“For now, I’ll send the specter to check, and if it’s okay, it wouldn’t be bad to start moving soon.”
Just in time, the skeleton warrior made using Rankbink was also completed.
To be precise, it was a higher-grade skeleton warrior, not a skeleton.
‘It’s a shame it’s not a knight… but it’s difficult at my current level.’
No. 1 was still a regular skeleton though.
Recently, I had been focusing on creating a living armor and restoring the staff.
Since the material for the armor was the shell of the Giant Ant, I had no choice but to seek Mutre’s help, but thanks to Thea, Mutre was able to focus on helping with my work.
“I’ll check and let you know the results later.”
“Yes!”
Perhaps pleased that her opinion was accepted, Thea answered brightly and left.
I summoned the specter, gathered my equipment, and headed towards the passage.
‘Rather than near the exit at the rocky hill, this place would be better.’
Instead of the main building or the annex, I headed to where our house used to be.
It was now an empty space with nothing, and the food that was once here had all been moved to the main building.
There was an opinion to use it as a warehouse, but it was rejected because it was too inconvenient.
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