episode_0005

Episode 5

“Father, please buy me a slave. If possible, a girl.”

The duke’s face frowned slightly after hearing my story.

“Please be patient until you become an adult at 15 years old.”

The duke, with an expression on his face as if he were looking at someone with ‘lewd’ attributes, rebuked me in a slightly stern voice.

“No, that’s not it. I need a maid to work exclusively for me, but the maids I have now are a bit unstable, right? Like what happened this morning.”

“That’s true… but do you really have no impure intentions?”

Even if a 15 year old is an adult, it’s still a crime by my standards.

The little child inside me whispered that I absolutely could not do this until I was 20.

“I’m not the type of person to lust after children.”

The duke nodded, seeming to remember that I was not ordinary, as if he was about to say, “You are a child too.”

“Then you’re saying that from the beginning you’ll raise someone who won’t betray you.”

“Yes, most of the servants already in the mansion will be reluctant to serve me, so I will have to bring in new ones.”

“Well, it’s reasonable, since it would be nearly impossible for a slave to betray his master even if he wanted to. Instead, I’ll allow only one.”

“Thank you, Father.”

“I’ll go buy a slave in a few days, so wait.”

Of course, getting a slave won’t solve everything, so you have to get along well with the people who were already in the mansion so as not to become isolated.

Tania and Serena still don’t like me, but if I keep hanging out with them, they’ll eventually start to hate me, so as an adult, I guess I’ll have to keep putting up with their whining.

The Duchess, her mother…

It’s clear that he doesn’t like me, but he hasn’t done anything to me yet.

I’m not sure if the Duchess just has a big bowl or if she’s secretly preparing something.

#

For a few days, I learned the etiquette and writing of a nobleman.

The letters are very similar to English, so I learned them more easily than I thought because I just had to memorize the words.

It only took a little while to memorize the words, but my teacher who taught me writing was surprised at how quickly I learned grammar.

Thank you, Jito.

“That’s it for today’s class.”

The teacher finished class and left the room, and Alfred came in right after.

“Your Majesty, the Duke has called you.”

“I’ll go right away.”

“This time, he said he was going out instead of going to the office, so he asked me to get ready and come to the front door.”

“Okay.”

When I got ready to go out and arrived at the front door, the carriage I had seen before was ready.

“Are you here?”

“Yes.”

“I will go buy the slave you mentioned before.”

After following the Duke into the carriage, after quite some time the carriage stopped in front of a somewhat luxurious-looking building.

As the security guard waiting at the entrance approached and bowed to the Duke and me and guided us to the entrance, masked women approached and handed us masks that covered our entire faces.

“Is this an illegal facility?”

“No, usually buying slaves for chores or physical use is as easy as buying an object, but when buying slaves for special purposes, there are cases where it is not honest, so this is how it is done.”

I nodded silently, as I had a rough idea of what the special purpose was.

“He will be a slave who will stay by your side from now on, but you can’t buy just any slave, and to meet the conditions you mentioned, you have to buy him here.”

“I see.”

There may be those who purchase girl slaves of a similar age to me for nefarious purposes, and even if they don’t, it is understandable to wear a mask to avoid being misunderstood.

I put on my mask and followed the guide until I arrived at a hallway lined with neat rooms.

The rooms were long and close together, with no walls or windows, and only iron bars dividing the hallways and rooms.

“Do you have a slave you want?”

“I need a girl around 10 years old.”

“…I have a few items for sale, so please follow me.”

As I followed the guide and turned my head to look inside the iron bars, I saw quite a few nicely dressed women.

I see some handsome men here and there, so I guess it’s something that ladies of high status also enjoy.

We went down a few more stairs to find the slave we were looking for deep inside.

Soon we arrived at the hallway where the girls and boys were locked up.

“The youngest child is currently 10 years old. If you are looking for a younger child…”

Well, it does exist.

“No, it’s okay.”

However, children under 10 years old are too young to be made to work as maids.

“Please choose one.”

“You choose, it will only be meaningful if you choose it yourself.”

“Yes.”

I walked slowly and looked inside the iron bars.

Inside the cage, children were looking at me with expectant eyes, hoping that I would choose them.

I guess he thinks it would be much better to be chosen by me than to be sold to some old pervert.

“Hmm…”

To be honest, I didn’t have any clear criteria for who to choose, so I just decided to look around.

Every time I pass by, everyone looks noticeably disappointed.

Ignoring their gazes, I looked around every nook and cranny, and before I knew it, I had arrived at the last iron cage.

“I’m sorry, sir. That child has only been here for a short time and is not fully educated yet.”

Inside the iron bars, a blonde girl was sobbing with her face buried in her knees.

Looking at the girl, I suddenly remembered the old days.

The day my mother left the house with all our belongings and money, my father, very angry, got drunk and smashed the few pieces of furniture in the house while looking for my sister and me.

‘Where are you! Me and you little shits! Let’s all die today!’

-Wow! Clang! Clang!

‘Oh, brother…’

‘fizzle…!’

‘Where the hell did all these motherfuckers go! Did they run away with their dirty mothers?’

-Bang!

At the time, my younger brother, who was in elementary school, and I, who was in middle school, were sneaking out through the window to avoid our drunken and excited father, and we were listening to the sound of furniture being smashed in the house.

As a middle school student, I couldn’t even earn money without my parents’ permission, let alone pocket money. I didn’t have even a few tens of thousands of won, so I couldn’t even take my little brother, who was shivering and sobbing in the cold on a cold winter day, to a motel.

All I could do was hug my knees on the cold floor and hold my sobbing little brother. I was so angry at myself for being so helpless that I started crying.

The man who was my father, who had been throwing and breaking things in anger for a long time, soon became drunk and went into his room and fell asleep, snoring.

Since we had nowhere to go, we shivered in the cold for a while longer before quietly going inside the house so as not to wake up my sleeping father, closing the door, and falling asleep hugging each other.

That night, I covered myself with the blanket and fell asleep without even breathing properly, afraid that my father might wake up…

“That’s unpleasant…”

“I’m sorry, we will definitely educate that child separately later.”

“Ugh…!”

When the guide, who had reacted to my unpleasant remark, glared at the girl and spoke in a firm voice, the sobbing girl began to tremble in fear.

“No, I want to buy that kid.”

“… Are you okay? This child doesn’t yet have the awareness that he is a slave. ”

“It doesn’t matter, and it has to be that kid.”

“Okay, then I will guide you through preparing the contract.”

I nodded to the guide and spoke to the girl who was looking up at me with tearful, purple eyes.

“…I’m waiting.”

“…”

This time I won’t just watch helplessly.

We followed the guide and arrived at a luxurious-looking room with the duke.

“Who is the party to this contract?”

“This is the kid.”

“Okay, I have prepared the contract and the contract document. Do you need any explanation?”

“This is the first time this child has bought a slave, so explain.”

“Yes, first of all, the slave contract is a document that transfers the ownership and contract of the slave we have to the new owner and proves the slave’s status. ”

“What is the contract?”

“The contract is a magical contract engraved on a slave for the safety and convenience of the master. A slave who has the contract engraved can be forced to follow any command of the master through the contract.”

“Is it the kind that controls the mind?”

“No, it’s just forcing actions, so it doesn’t control the heart or mind. And that’s illegal in the first place.”

If slaves were truly treated as objects rather than people, a contract would be convenient, but it would still be reluctant.

“Do you really have to write that contract?”

“Most guests engrave, but only the contract is required, not the contract text. There are also some guests who engrave the contract text and then erase it later.”

“Then why don’t you sign the contract?”

“Okay, but please note that we are not responsible for any problems that may arise from not signing the contract.”

“Okay.”

“Then I will help you write the contract. First, the slave’s name is Alice, she is 13 years old, and she is female…”

“…so the price will be 23 pounds.”

‘It’s definitely a high-class slave, so the price is quite high.’

I listened to the explanation given by the guide in charge of the contract, filled out the contract, and signed it.

After finishing writing the contract, the tour guide gave some additional instructions and handed me the contract.

“All procedures are complete. Please wait a moment and I will prepare the slave and bring it to you.”

“Yeah.”

The guide left, and the Duke and I were the only ones left in the room.

“You seem a bit emotional and impatient. Do you know that girl?”

“No, it was my first time seeing that kid.”

“Hmm?”

“I just thought of someone I know.”

“Well, it seems like you don’t want to talk, so I won’t ask you any more, but you should definitely take care of it.”

“Yes, of course, I have things to do that take priority over my feelings.”

“If you know it, that’s enough.”