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On the one hand, I know that buying and owning slaves is morally wrong. After all, it was outlawed in my world for a reason. But on the other hand, she is such a beautiful girl that I felt that if I won’t step up now and claim her as my own, such a chance might not present itself to me anymore, and I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself to the end of my life if something like that ever happened. I need to make a decision now!
「Of course, if your Party consists of people you know you can trust with your life, there will be no problem with betrayals. Or if you still worry about that, you can purposefully hire the people who are weaker than you. Thankfully, cases of such happenings are fewer now than they were just a few years ago.」
He was practically spoon feeding me valuable information, but Roxanne was all that I could think of.
If this was a game, having conflicts within the Party wouldn’t be such a big deal. Worst case scenario your in-game character would die and simply respawn at the nearest church/temple (whatever the spawn point was) and you could go on to exact revenge on the Party member who thought he could screw you over. Even in MMORPG’s, where the interaction was almost exclusively between living, thinking players stuck together for better or worse, the possibilities for betrayal and PK (Player Killing) were limited by the game’s systems.
Reality, however, was a totally different nut to crack.
No matter where you go, people around you are all ultimately complete strangers whom you don’t know if you could trust at all. I mean seriously, let’s consider the following: you’re going to the Labyrinth with your Party members, you fight monsters, one of them drops some valuable item that one of your Party members wants so badly that he’s willing to kill for it, and he does just that. What am I getting at? Considering that death is probably nothing unusual in a monster-filled dungeon like a Labyrinth, no one would probably even be suspicious when someone would die in there, since the culprit would be able to just play the whole thing off as a 「He bit off more than he could chew」 scenario. And while we’re on the subject of valuable drops and treasures…
「A question, if I may. While in the Labyrinth, is it possible to get stabbed in the back by one of your Party members?」
「There is such a possibility, yes.」
I knew it. It would have been too good if that wasn’t the case. Knowing that she might as well try to kill me if she doesn’t find me to her liking or that if the opportunity to run off with a valuable treasure presents itself to her, do I still want to buy Roxanne?
「I see. That’s not nice to hear.」
「However, Parties consisting of a master and his slave have some unique rules to them. Since a slave is a possession of its master, the same principle applies to any item or money the slave might obtain.」
That’s one concern out of the way. But if I want to make Roxanne mine, there is still one thing that I have to know about.
「Hypothetically speaking, if I bought Roxanne from you, would she be able to stab me in the back and run away with the treasure even though I’m her master?」
「Something like that would not be possible. You see, master and slave are bound to one another by a pact. If the master dies, his slave dies with him.」
「For real?! Isn’t that too harsh?」
So if Roxanne ends up being bought by someone else and that someone kicks the bucket, she will bite the dust as well.
「Perhaps, but everything depends on how the master intends to live out his life. And if you decide that you no longer want a particular slave as your property, you can always release them from servitude or prepare a document which transfers the ownership rights to someone else.」
「Oh, so there is such an option. That’s good, very good.」
Knowing that I can release her before I die was a very useful piece of information. Sentencing her to die prematurely simply because something happened to me would be too cruel.
「But if you aim to be an Adventurer, and one who aims to explore Labyrinths at that, you might as well prepare such a document beforehand, although having it on you would amount to nothing if you ended up devoured whole by some monster or disintegrated by a trap. My best advice would be as follows: if you want to have slaves, you’d better resign yourself from exploring Labyrinths or other dangerous places. Or know exactly when to tuck tail and run if you value your life. I know that for someone young and eager like you the prospect of being an Adventurer might be the one which yields the biggest financial gain, but trust me, there are more safe, stable ways of securing a source of income. Not to mention the fact that you’d need to have a place where you and your slaves could stay, eat and sleep and I’m not talking about renting rooms at an inn all the time. If you want to be a slave master, your own house is an absolute necessity.」
I’d definitely want to provide Roxanne with a place where she could live, eat and sleep in peace. Especially sleep, with me in the same bed…. Nonono kid, get your goddamn head out of the gutter and start taking this seriously by thinking of anything other than doing morally questionable things to that maid girl and that bombshell body of hers! I want to stop with the lewd fantasies that go through my head, but try as hard as I might, the picture of her perfect tits and the vision of what I would do to them…
「On the bright side though, if you manage to pillage enough treasure from one successful Labyrinth raid you’ll have enough money to quite possibly afford a comfortable lifestyle for the rest of your days. But there are a few things that you also need to have in mind before making the final decision. First, when it comes to their status and social standing, slaves are only slightly above Bandits.  Actually, the biggest difference that sets these two groups apart is that you are legally obliged to kill Bandits, Thieves and other Brigands and you can claim their possessions as your own whereas killing a slave who has its master is considered a punishable offense. But those who ran away from their master are treated just like any criminal.」
So they are only slightly above Bandits and their ilk, huh? Looking at someone like Roxanne, this is truly hard to believe.
「Besides adventuring, are there any ways to make money?」
「Of course there are. As long as you’ll be a member of a proper Guild and are willing to learn the ways of your new trade, you can become anything you want.」
「Okay, I get it.」
The biggest problem here is that you can’t form a Party with anyone unless you trust them. I came alone from Japan to begin with, but even before getting isekaid out of the blue like that I had severe trust issues coupled with disdain for other human beings, who I assumed were all out to get me and pour salt onto my open wounds, so how can anyone expect me to form bonds of trust with the denizens of this world when I don’t even know what are the laws of this land and what counts as common sense here?!
And will I be able to procure enough money to buy food for both myself and Roxanne without delving into the depths of the Labyrinth? Well, I can always not buy Roxanne and begin my career as a solo Adventurer. With a weapon like Durandal by my side making a name for myself shouldn’t be anything difficult.
「So how about it, Michio-sama? Would you be interested in buying Roxanne? She’s a Beast Warrior, so I’m sure she’d be a great addition to your Party.」
「Beast Warrior…」
「Yes, because she’s a Werewolf. Beast Warrior is a Job that only a Werewolf or other Beastman can acquire.」
「Werewolf huh? Gotta say, she doesn’t look like one at all.」
Of course I knew about her Job and its level because I used Identify on her.
「Well, what do you say? Pretty tempting offer, am I right?」
「Yeah, but…」
「And to top it off, she’s the most beautiful one among the female slaves I happen to have in stock now. With her stunning looks and the intellect to match it, she’ll be a perfect companion for a first-timer like you. And she’s a Werewolf Beast Warrior at that!」
The Slave Merchant continued to pour his honeyed words down my ears.
This is nice and all, but I need to keep a clear head. I mustn’t make a hasty purchase under the influence of that sweet-talking of his! Besides, there must be a catch somewhere! There always is!