episode_0026

“Hey, if I pack the right equipment like this, I’ll look like a mercenary king, right?”

“It causes a plague. I have to be good enough to look like that, not you.”

After placing two skeletons as mannequins, the number of people showing interest in the items increased significantly. In particular, mercenaries were showing a lot of interest because they were equipped with martial arts weapons.

“How much is this? Warlock teacher! How much would it cost to buy all the items here?”

“57,000 meds.”

“Wow… … . It’s a bit expensive, though.”

“Hey, if you want to buy something like this somewhere else, you have to pay 150,000 med, right?”

“That’s right. But I really want this sword. I need to buy this at least. Wouldn’t it be nice if I held it like this too?”

The mercenaries seemed to be fascinated by the sight of the skeleton holding a weapon, so they each bought at least one item. Perhaps because they held their swords in a slightly cool-looking pose, all of the mercenaries who purchased the items were in a pose similar to that of a skeleton.

“How about it? Are you in good form?”

“Your limb proportions are terrible and you don’t look good.”

“This bastard?”

Thanks to this, there were times when people compared themselves and were a little disappointed, but sales were actually increasing quite a bit. This was because the mercenaries, who had only entrusted me with the maintenance of the equipment they used, began looking for new products.

While I was smiling happily at the increase in sales, a few memories from my past life suddenly came to mind, and there was a story about how people’s desire to buy changes depending on the way they are displayed when selling products.

“… … I don’t need to recall the memory of being scolded for not displaying things properly.”

It wasn’t a good feeling to suddenly remember being scolded in my past life. Still, it was a different life now, so I roughly shook my head to shake off the random thoughts.

After shaking off the unwelcome memories, I took advantage of the lull in the number of guests and ran to my father.

This is because the problem of lack of manpower, which was the reason why Teft, who is currently working hard as a skeleton, was hired. I was in desperate need of someone to take charge of the store and manage it instead of me. In order to do so, employees were needed, but due to Taft’s atrocities, any thought of hiring ordinary people had disappeared. Since I had to manage my money, I had to find someone I could trust or someone who was clearly shackled.

And the only thing that suited that purpose was slaves. In this world where the caste system is firmly established, slaves are treated as property. If you were a slave, there was no problem with placing a curse that restricted your actions.

Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t treat it like a toy, kill it, or use it as an ingredient for black magic. No matter how much you consider it to be property, it is considered a living thing, so killing it at will is against the law. This was not something that happened to warlocks; it applied equally to everyone. This is because slaves accounted for a significant portion of the country’s production, and killing them at will was prohibited.

Anyway, I entrusted the blacksmith shop to my father with the intention of saving slaves, and immediately began preparations. This destination was not a nearby city I used to visit often. Since it was the capital, Barka, there were some things to take care of.

Because markets for trading slaves were large in scale and involved a lot of money, they were usually located only in very large cities such as capital cities. This was because most of those who could mobilize such funds were concentrated in very large cities. For that reason, the closest legal slave market to my current village was located in the capital.

“Let’s see… … . Food and blankets needed for moving… … . Oh, how much should the slaves cost? Should I take about 2 million meds? If you look at it that way, there is quite a lot to take care of.”

Since I was moving for a long time, I needed quite a few things. It would have been possible to simply pack some food and move, but then it would have been difficult to purchase slaves. Even if it was a high-denomination coin, it was large enough to save a slave. Considering food and the weather getting colder, there were quite a lot of things we needed.

In the end, I decided to use the skeleton transformation magic, even though it is still unfinished. The skeleton was transformed into a cart that could be dragged around by attaching it to the tail of a skeleton horse.

It was a cart whose durability was incomparable to that of ordinary wooden carts. There was no need to worry about durability as the wheels would not break even if the skeleton horse was dragged around at a full sprint. If it were an ordinary cart, it would be unthinkable to ride at full speed on a skeleton horse, but it was possible with a skeleton cart. This was possible because the wheels were made not from wood, but from the ribs of the skeletons connected in a circle, so the wheels did not wear out.

In addition, the arms and legs of the skeleton could be connected to the wheel axle and configured to absorb shock, so there was no need to worry about ride quality or damage to the loaded luggage. Although it was a theoretical story as it had not yet been applied in practice.

“… … The problem is that I still don’t know how to restore it to its original state, but it might be useful somehow.”

Of course, it was not without drawbacks. As it was still an unfinished magic, there was a problem that although it could be transformed, there was no clear way to return it to its original state. There was a way to restore it to its original state by transforming it again, but it did not completely return to its original state.

In fact, one skeleton that had changed its form and then transformed again through transformation magic was making a creaking sound every time it moved. So this time, I used the skeleton first to make the cart. Because one skeleton was too small, a total of three skeletons had to be used, but it wasn’t such a waste, perhaps because I thought I had solved one problematic skeleton.

Anyway, the cart created in this way was loaded with various items, such as boxes of food, winter supplies for sleeping on the street, bundles full of money, etc.

After completing my preparations, I immediately started moving towards the capital. He connected the cart to the skeleton horse and ran at very high speed.

“Oh, isn’t the performance a joke?”

And, even though it was running at an incredible speed, the cart was performing 100% of the theoretically expected performance. I was riding a cart to experience the performance for myself, and even though it was running on a bumpy road, I didn’t feel the impact.

I thought it would be okay to lie down on the cart like this and take a nap and wake up. Of course, it wasn’t put into practice. This is because, unless specifically instructed, the skeleton horse just goes straight regardless of whether there is an obstacle or not. It could hit someone, or crash into a fence or castle wall of a village or city.

“I should try making a highly intelligent skeleton horse later.”

I continued to move comfortably, thinking that one day I would make a skeleton horse that could move to its destination on its own. We made a small fire using magic on the cart and lightly grilled beef jerky and ate it. We also wrapped ourselves in blankets and moved around for a while as the sun set and the weather got cooler. We moved around like that, and when the sun completely set, we settled down nearby and ended the day under the protection of skeletons.

After running in that way for ten days, I finally got a glimpse of the capital. This was the first time I looked for it since I registered as a certified warlock in the past, but nothing in particular had changed. So, even though I wasn’t familiar with it, I was able to get to the gate where the inspection was taking place without getting lost.

“Stop. Are you a certified warlock?”

“Yes. Here is the certificate.”

There was no particular difference in the inspection. In order to become a certified warlock, you had to visit the temple located here in the capital Barka, so there was no atmosphere of ostracizing them as a warlock. Still, I couldn’t help but feel like I was a spectacle. Seeing a skeletal horse riding a cart made of bones would have made me want to take a look.

“Andrew, certified warlock. Confirmed. Welcome to Barca.”

Anyway, after passing the inspection with the certificate, I organized the skeletons. Anyway, we had used up most of the food on the way here, and we were throwing away the winter supplies with the intention of buying them again. After making sure to take the bundle of money, he reduced the size of the skeletons and kept them in his arms.

As something that would attract people’s attention disappears in an instant, people’s interest also disappears quickly. Feeling much more comfortable as all the eyes on me disappeared, I headed straight to the place where the slave market was held. Someday, I would like to open a store selling my blacksmith products in the capital, but that wasn’t possible yet, so I had nothing else to do in the capital.

“Welcome. Have you come looking for a slave?”

“Yes.”

As I approached the slave market located not far away, I was greeted politely by someone who appeared to be a guide.

“For what purpose are you looking for a slave? If you are looking for slaves to use as workers for farming, etc., go to this side of the street, and if you are looking for slaves to do babysitting or housework, go to that side. And, Seongno and other special slaves can go to the building in the center.”

Hearing from the guide who gave directions like a living sign, I decided to go to the slaves who could do housework and look around. I thought that if I could do housework, it would also be possible to sell things.

However, there was no slave there that I particularly liked. Even so, we needed slaves who could at least do the four basic arithmetic operations, but most of them were even wrong about basic addition. It was impossible to use it as an employee.

In the end, I had no choice but to go to the central building where Seongno and other special slaves were said to be gathered. Just by looking at it, it was obvious that only expensive slaves would be gathered there, so I wanted to avoid going there if possible.

I don’t know if it was because it was a kind of high-end store as I had feared, but the moment I entered, a person who appeared to be a guide followed me by my side. He was dressed neatly and was holding a book of unknown origin in his arms.

“Do you have a slave you would like? A beautiful woman, someone who can use mana, a member of a fallen noble family, a competent butler, a different race, etc. Several slaves are ready.”

The guide was so friendly that I thought, “Maybe we should lure this person to work as an employee at our blacksmith shop.”

However, given Teft’s precedent, the staff did not back down on their decision to unconditionally rescue the slaves. Therefore, I talked about the slave I was looking for.

“Is there a slave who knows how to write and calculate numbers?”

“Of course. Come this way.”

The guide seemed confident in answering my question and immediately guided me somewhere. As I followed him for a moment, I was able to see the slaves being displayed in a different way than from the outside. While outside they were confined in a large iron cage, here each person was in an independent space.

“Most of the people here are scholars or people from fallen noble families. Everyone who meets your requirements is here.”

I nodded lightly to the guide’s words and began to look around at the slaves present.

A man who was a butler of a noble family but became a slave because he could not repay a debt, a daughter who was sold into slavery after her family was defeated in a fief war, a former merchant merchant who committed fraud and was reduced to slavery, etc. There were all kinds of people.

However, there was one slave that stood out the most: an elf known for his long ears and beautiful appearance. The face of this female elf that I see right now looked more beautiful than any other woman I had ever seen. She was so beautiful that she could be compared to celebrities she had liked in her past life.

However, due to the gag being put on his mouth, the traces of saliva flowing around his mouth were putting his appearance to shame.

I never imagined that the first elf I saw would be a slave elf with a gag on and drooling.