“You should have let me work him over a bit.” The Guild Master frowned as we waited to sign the contract. “That ring is worth more than fifty gold coins, what kind of rotten deal is it that he gets the girl and the collateral!”
“Well, he didn’t take the fifty gold coins for now. You yourself said that paying it all would practically bankrupt Chalm.” I sighed. “Isn’t that why you didn’t just pay me the lump sum?”
“Geh!” The Guild Master put on a guilty expression after being caught. “We planned to discuss those issues after we bought her back.”
I shrugged. “Besides, he’s not a money exchanger or a pawn shop. He only deals in slaves and coin. The entire city of Chalm is short on coin at the moment. It isn’t because I lack the funds. My profits from the dungeon should cover the cost without issue. This is all just a technicality.”
“Still… since that’s the case, we should have…”
“Should have what? Risked losing Lydia?” I asked with a frown, causing Lydia, who was holding me tightly, to hold on even tighter. “He had no obligation to sell her back to me. I doubt a verbal agreement would hold water to the nobles of this world. He said it himself, she’s worth hundreds on auction. He could have taken any reason to end the transaction, and I could have done nothing except cry about how unfair it all is.
“His caravan had plans to leave in a few days. Since we lacked the funds, he could have just turned around and left while I desperately looked for someone to buy my goods. I accepted this deal in good faith. I refuse to play with Lydia’s life to save a few coins or execute some ridiculous notion of vengeance. I’m not some childish, prideful idiot. This is someone I care about on the line. Would you squabble over a few pennies to save your mother’s life?”
“Well said…” Figuro spoke, walking up. “You have a good head on your shoulders. Have you considered the mercantile business?”
“I’ve dabbled,” I spoke wryly, thinking back to my level 1 Merchant job.
Since our transaction was on hold, I’d like to level up the Merchant job and see if I could make this deal more in my favor. I could bring him down just with that Haggle skill, but once again, I wouldn’t bank Lydia’s life on it working. For all I knew, slavery went by different rules. After all, Slaver is a different job from the Merchant.
Don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t like I wasn’t upset that I ended up getting stuck with the bill, but Lydia was never mine in the first place. First, she was that noble’s, and then she was this slaver’s. Pretending I had some claim to her and that it wasn’t fair was just a wishful fantasy. Years of rejection had made me a bit of a pragmatist. Ignoring what could have been, if it came to how much I valued her, a hundred gold was nothing. I had obtained my current wealth after only a week in this world, and I didn’t feel it’d be long before I could obtain that amount again.
The Guild Master crossed his arms and scowled at Figuro. “I still feel like we’re getting the raw end of the deal here.”
“You can see it this way.” Figuro offered. “I’m lending Lydia out for one month. In exchange, I’m remaining here for one month in service to your town. After all, while I’m waiting for my payment, I’m not able to move my caravan and will have to conduct business long-distance. But that means you have an entire month with access to my slaves.”
“We don’t even want you around a week!” The Guild Master growled.
“That’s one month to potentially pay off debts…” Figuro sighed, then glanced over at the cage full of sick slaves. “All manner of debts.”
The Guild Master’s eyes brightened as he finally realized what Figuro was getting at. “That’s right! And with that fifty gold, we could free the whole lot!”
“Why do I have a feeling I’m going to be raising one hundred gold in the next month, not fifty?” I asked with a grimace.
“Ah hah…” The Guild Master blushed, scratching the back of his head. “Of course, we can work something out, I think.”
“I’m… I’m sorry I cost Master so much,” Lydia whispered quietly, still holding me tight.
“No… it’s my fault.” I whispered to her, so no one else heard. “I should have left your job as a Commoner.”
Lydia shook her head. “It wouldn’t matter. This slaver is thorough and has a priest in his caravan. He was able to see all my jobs, including Thief!”
Using a priest to look at and change jobs was expensive for the common folk, but if it had to be done, it had to be done. However, if it’s something you needed to do regularly, it was probably cheaper to hire a priest directly. Like, a mechanic might be expensive for me to use, but a corporation could certainly keep a mechanic on the payroll. I was not sure if the slavers had to work something out with the church, or if priests could work independently from the church. It didn’t really matter to me.
I had suspected the slavers had a method of looking at jobs, which was why I didn’t kick myself too hard when I found out he raised her worth. The only way I could have not raised her worth was to not depend on her in the dungeon. However, I had needed her to escape that dungeon alive. If I saw it as a necessary tax for both of our lives, it indeed seemed like a small debt.
“Also…” Figuro added one last thing. “Don’t forget. You can’t free her as a slave until she’s paid off.”
We signed the necessary paperwork and finally headed back to town. Lydia wasn’t officially my slave yet, so the mark on her was still set to Figuro. Well, at least she was by my side now. That was truly what mattered to me.
Since I was in a better mood, the Adventurers I had become friends with wanted to celebrate. We drank a lot, and by the time I got Lydia back to my room, I was almost passed out. I fell asleep with her snuggling next to me. We didn’t even get to do anything else. Still, she had a smile on her face, I remembered falling asleep with her smiling over me.
Whatever came next, I knew I could handle it as long as I was with Lydia.
Yay! An entire chapter of exposition specifically designed to counter every legitimate argument made by the readers over the past few chapters!
Also, just because the MC believes something doesn't make it true.
And also, having a priest on your payroll isn't like having a mechanic on your team. It's like having a dozen police officers in your pocket. Priests are obviously one of the most powerful classes in the world, since they can literally screw over anyone at any time since they're they only legitimate way to change your job, as you've personally stated in an earlier chapter.
And BTW, you haven't acknowledged how the party disbanded yet. I checked previous chapters, and you haven't mentioned it once. And no, just making the GF undead out of nowhere isn't enough, since it's a semi-common status ailment in RPGs. Similar effects don't suddenly boot party members. Not even death does that until at least the end of combat.
Oh, and finally, the slaver's gonna stay an entire month? Well, it's not as bad as some other points, but that's tough. Slaves are perishable goods, and staying around costs a ton. Or is food cheap in your world despite being a medieval fantasy? What about cleaning? Horses? Oh, and medicine. You've got a sick cage, and somehow the town's planning on buying the sick? Even though one of them has a chronic illness that only a priest can keep alive and only in the short term? But he's going to do all his business long distance? So he has a cell phone then? But then just takes one or two slaves at a time with a seperate wagon? Rather, he has brought so many slaves with him that he can do business elsewhere without going back to his home base on a regular basis? How massive is his caravan then? 100 slaves? How the hell does he keep that thing fed when he'd likely need to travel across many towns to sell most of them? Or did he expect that the first town he went to can somehow buy them despite being relatively poor? 50g is all the MC's town was able to scrounge up, and the dungeon only appeared recently. They haven't had the time to burn through tons of money buying emergency supplies and services from elsewhere.
So back to the 1 month delay. How much money is this slaver planning on burning just to satisfy the MC's drama?
on god dude stfu. you're complaining about every damn thing.
@Henryvonmouse he is making a point. Author did a lazy job here and it pissed off the readers.
Now author is actively using the MC to project his bullsh*t arguments about why it happened that way.....
Inconsistency of character, plot that defies all logic and failure to recognize cause and effect on character development in this novel is why it went from something with good potential to a smoking shipwreck in just under 10 chapters.....
if u want to complain so much don't read it
He didn’t make her undead. It was a curse that changed her status to make her count as undead and if left alone would ultimately kill her and raise her as an actual undead.
@Henryvonmouse Oh yes, God forbid criticism. However could calling someone out on their mistakes be a good thing? No no, just let people screw up and wonder where they went wrong or how they can improve but nobody dare tell them.
@Henryvonmouse "doesn't matter if it don't make sense, just shut up and read" for real, are you that dumb?
@dragon1c I read and it pissed me off, now I'm complaining before stopping reading it
The other two commenters can go suck a fat one. Comments are open here for a reason and criticism is always going to piss someone off even if it wasn't the target.
Seriously, this is almost MCU Phase 4 levels of BS. Though at least the author doesn't go in the way of calling the audience "sexist" and "racist" just because the former completely f*cks up the characters and plot like the creators of Phase 4 did.
Also, how the hell does the MC know how the Slave Traders work that intricately? I don't think the Slave Master job has anything about that (or it's not been told at all).
The only thing that's keeping me here is that the story hasn't gone stale like some others do and, I hope to see if this improves on the way.
@Henryvonmouse my guy, I'm with you, they all need to SHUT THE f*ck UP!!! The bullsh*t he complaining about is stuff that can be easily explained and is f*ckING POINTLESS to bit*h about
@SharpEnd that was not criticism though? It's literally making something out of nothing?
@DeathTheHorseman he didn't do a lazy job? There is no point to be made?? I think you got emotional reading this and that clouded your mine. Yes, that must be it.
Da hell you talking about? That was a good analogy? It made the point that he was making?
Does he have to verify that they ended the party?? And why does it matter if it happens on page or off page??
Dude really. Food and bed at the inn was 5 copper pieces. Feeding Slaves bullsh*t minimum to keep them alive cost barely anything? Horses can free range for food and the priest keeps the sick alive and he only only has a couple caravans dude so idk how you even remotely came to 100 Slaves? 30 at most and that's high balling. Making profit? That slaver is staying right here because he knows he's about to get rid of his WHOLE STOCK BECAUSE THEY JUST TALKED ABOUT IT!!!!!! Why would go somewhere else and risk not selling them when it's guaranteed here? Also... How much do you think his Slaves are worth?? He didn't bring the cream of the crop dude?? And yes dude, this town is poor as f*ck and has just enough to be self reliant. Even that noble only put in 10 gold himself, that means that the whole town barely scrounge up 40 gold. Your bucket of "criticism" has holes in it. Go patch it up with some common sense.
@winterFox2 that was not criticism though? Just bullsh*t opinions that they think is right? It's literally making something out of nothing. Just because someone can blow their bullsh*t opinion out of proportion so they can trick people into thinking it's a big deal doesn't make it criticism. And he doesn't know how the slave market works?? I don't see where you got that from? He was just making guesses base on his knowledge from Earth.
@OldSoul211 That’s… not what I was talking about.
@winterFox2 I edit what I said so hopefully it makes a little more sense. It was late and I probably wasn't thinking that clearly because ignorant people saying stupid shit. Ignorance and stupid does not mix together AT ALL so I got a little more than tipsy after drinking enough of the bullshit
@OldSoul211 Making guesses from when he was on Earth? That’s kind of making the MC look worse because he really shouldn’t do a comparison between the two worlds when he doesn’t actually know that much about his current world.
Also, I’m pretty sure ignorance and stupidity at the same time. I mean, just look at politics….
@AlwaysAdumbMC do what? It pissed you off?? Why??? Because you couldn't make sense of sense after you read it? It actually makes sense if you stop and think about it. I understand that it was an intense emotional moment and it's hard to not get yourself worked up into a frenzied mess of emotional thoughts after that and can't nobody think straight when their like that.
But if you can't control yourself from talking and making yourself sound really dumb, then I must ask you, to protect your dignity, for the safety of our sanity, for the benefit of all us as well as yourself, pretty please do stop reading
@winterFox2 you seem like alright dude so just bear with me because that's a stupid line of thinking and these are my thoughts on why.
It's awesome how when in anime and manga, the protagonist is a super cool, super awesome, super smart kid in school who gets isekaid and it's amazing how we get to watch how they use their charm to make powerful friends and win the girl/ guys heart (or make a harem), to watch how they use their genius intellect and sharp intellect to make incredible strategies to defeat world ending enemies, to solve impossible problems with minimum effort, or just to over come what ever this new world wants to their way. It's incredible watching how this all unfolds and the already incredible MC proves to themselves and their friends who helped in their adventure just why and how amazing they really are because me and you, we knew it all along.
But the truth, the real life reality of the person who gets accidentally isekaid, would most likely match up with the life of this guy. This overweight, introverted, bullied high school kid with no friends, zero social skills, and no life experiences. He knows he will never get the girl and if tried, all would get is his fat ass beaten again and it'll most likely happen in front of the same girl that he liked and who rejected him like all the others. All he knows to do is to do good enough at school so he hopefully won't draw attention to himself because that's the only way he can make it home where he can lock the door, hide in his room where it's safe, and get lost in his video games, manga, or anime where can watch someone who is not him and dream about being like them and what that heaven might feel like.
So no, he ain't always going to make the smartest choices it's stupid as hell to expect every MC to be a genius who never gets it wrong. I mean he's just a kid in high school my guy? How much should we really expect from a regular normal kid in high school and how far should we realistically set our expectations for him?
Also, I'm pretty sure most characters compare their new world to earth whether that be through observing the how inhabitants of this world act and treat each other, all the way to their views on politics, religion, and the laws they enforce. It's so compared because that's all you can do until you learn different. And he definitely hasn't gotten the chance to learn anything like that about this with just about every moment of him being here has been filled with him trying to survive all these life and death situations and struggling desperately to figure out what all he needs to do so he can live to see the next day. How can he ask about any of those world building questions when he's stuck in a dungeon and forced to think about what he has to do to not die when he takes his next step. I think it would be hard for newbie to that 😂
And another one more thing my guy, although ignorance and stupidity are often used in similar ways, they have different nuances. Ignorance is simply the lack of knowledge, either in general or about a specific issue or topic. Stupidity refers to the lack of an ordinary level of intelligence, wit, or quickness of mind.
You can teach the ignorant.
You can't fix stupid.
Politics is just corrupted men and women manipulating the ignorant into believing people of power are smarter than them and trickinging the stupid with lies, misdirection, and many many many many other falsehoods. There may be a few good ones in there but they can't do nothing when they are surrounded and outnumbered.
@OldSoul211 Oh my, you definitely have a more optimistic mind set if you think every ignorant person can be taught. Which is why I said ignorance and stupidity can go hand-in-hand… à la certain… really, vocal groups.
Also, no. What you are saying about the MC is right, it's just that I was pointing out the inconsistency of his character by bringing up how the slavery works. He had been very cautious and not assuming things much (at the very least, important things).
If the author had given a paragraph or so about his stream of thoughts in a more clear way to outline why he thought like that, there wouldn't have been a character inconsistency.
I note that this story seems to be inspired from a plethora of darker, grittier fantasy novels. Grimgar of Fantays and Ash seems to take a good part of it.
But inconsistencies are not character traits, they make the character feel like they suddenly jumped from one thing to another without much explanation. That was what I was getting at. There was insufficient thought processes to get the MC rolling on his assumption to match his prior behaviour.