"You want to buy a slave?"

A secretary, or something like that, came when I told them that I had some questions about their "wares". The appraisal of the items I brought is still underway, but it should be a decent sum. I got some cash saved, but more is always better than less when it comes to money. 

"No good?" - Garami

"No, it's possible. We have a few slaves in this branch. Some of the locals are more into debauchery than cleaning up their place." - Secretary

Ah, that's right. Most of the port town consists of cosplay-loving succubi. This makes me wonder if the slaves bought are only doing housework or not.

"I'll go and get the papers about the slaves we have. Got a preferred type?" - Secretary

"What sort of type?" - Garami

Is she talking about my fetishes or if I want a battle slave or something? I don't own a colosseum, yet, so I couldn't use such a slave even if I had one.

"You don't know? There are different types of slaves, depending on how they turned into slaves. How you can treat them according to the law depends on what type they are." - Secretary

"Even slaves are protected by the law?" - Garami

The secretary then started to explain to me the slave system. It was created to give people who were backed against the wall a final chance. How much the law protects the slave depends on their circumstances, but they're not seen as humans no matter their reasons to be slaves. It's a horrible system, but it's a game, so I'm not gonna start a slave revolution or something. Other players may take that path or not.

Simply put, it's something like this:

• Criminal slaves
  • They're criminals who are forced into slavery to pay for their crimes. 
  • They got almost no protection from the law. Some countries see them as nothing better than tamed monsters. Some people on death row may get the chance to work as a slave instead of being executed if their crimes are "light" enough. They cannot be released from their slavery.
• War slaves
  • Simply put, war prisoners.
  • Killing them is out of the question, but since they're from an enemy country and all that, "less wicked" stuff is okay. If their country pays a fine, they will be returned, however.
• Debt slaves
  • People who've sold their lives to pay for their debts. Some bad parents may even sell their children. 
  • They got more rights, and they can gain freedom if they can pay their debts. That is if their owner even pays them at all.  

There are also "birth slaves", meaning children born from slaves. They're treated like debt slaves, and some rich people even buy them to adopt them, so some slavers try to raise them as attractive as possible for such families. They can also buy their freedom, regardless of what type of slaves their parents were, but the price varies between who their parents were. 

Looking at the list, what I want is...

"Criminal slaves. Female only. Also, young adults." - Garami

The secretary froze for a second before going to get the papers. I'm not gonna eat them or something. Rude girl. But I wanna experiment with them.

One of the skills I still don't have much data on is [Demon's Presence]. It's supposed to "corrupt" people that are exposed to it for too long, maybe as a side-effect of the Fear-inducing one, maybe as a stand-alone ability. But I got no clue what that means. 

I gotta test it out one day, and criminals are the best option. For my kind soul's sake. Those guys deserve some roundhousing. 

...somehow, I feel like people are laughing at me. I'll go and trash them if I find them.

It took a while, but the secretary returned with a bunch..., or not. It's just a few papers. Guess my request isn't easy to fulfill. 

There are five papers here, each explaining the slave's physical information like their weight and height, their numerical stats like their levels, their race, and their crimes. Even the reason why the Blackmarket are the ones responsible for the slaves! And they are...

1. A cat-type Beastkin.
   She's been stealing from merchants for a long time and given nothing to the poor. A typical crook.
   She's got a lean body, fitting for a thief.
   The reason why she's in the Blackmarket's "stock" is because nobody wants to buy her, even if she can't steal anything from her masters.
2. An Elf.
   She was swindling people into buying a potion that would lengthen one's lifespan. It could have worked, as she had faked the status info on the potion, but it turned out that one of her customers was allergic to the potion, which caused it to be more thoroughly researched and the bluff was busted and the elf was captured.
   She's got curves that you wouldn't believe on a typical elf. An orc would buy her at the first sight.
   Turns out that it was the lolicon who busted her bluff. In return, the Blackmarket got her slave contract.
3. A Slimenoid.
   A slime-creature that's originally humanoid-shaped, even if she could change her appearance however she liked, just like your standard, high-ranked slime.
   She used this ability to impersonate people and steal from their friends and families before she got caught. 
   She didn't expect that the last person she impersonated, which was Glock, had a broken vocabulary. Which ended up in her being stuck here.
4. A Human.
   A witch who tried to perform dangerous experiments on people she'd kidnapped. 
   She got a pretty face, the kind that would make people shocked if they heard that she's a criminal. 
   One of the kidnapped persons was a child, and as the Lunalatics can attest to, the Blackmarket hates people that mess with kids.
5. An Automata.
   A magical doll is the best way to describe her, even if her origins are more robotic than being a living doll. She looks like she's designed after a typical Yamada Nadeshiko. A warrior-variant of it.
   To keep it short, she was a street slasher. With a katana of all things. 
   But they must be joking about the cause of why the Blackmarket is in "possession" of her. Because there's NO way that the lolicon was the one to capture her.

Thinking about it, there's quite the selection of slaves they got here, despite this place being closer to a backwater-town compared to the capitals. Especially when you look at these girls' variety. 

It's a tough choice. They all cost more than 10.000 sol, which is around what I have stored in my Player Room now. What I get from the sale is gonna have a say in who I could choose, but..., I'll skip the Beastkin and the slime-person. The former's got more than just cat-ears. She's practically a furry. And I got no interest in slime-play.

Hmm? Yes, I wanna make use of my R-18 DLC. Got a problem with that!? Anyway, that leaves me with the elf, the robot, and the witch as my possible options.

The elf is sorta tempting, considering she's probably one of the better targets to "corrupt". I'm not against her voluptuous body as well. The Automata is straight out cool, but it's not certain if she can be affected by the skill or not. But the human witch... Humans are what demons normally go after...

"Miss Garami? The appraisal is finished now." 

Nice timing. Let's see how much I can spend on this idea of mine.

---

"......sorry, can you say that again?" - Garami

I asked the appraiser, a man named Johnatan. His biggest characteristic must be the gas mask he's wearing. But I'm not gonna be nasty and point that out. I don't have the composure for it.

"No biggie. The total amount of cash for this stuff 'ere is around 235.000 sol. That's a big golden birdie ya shot down, girl." - Johnatan

...that's almost 10 times what I got the first time I met Glock, selling the rare stuff from the old Fort's storage room. And it's more than 20 times of my current assets, Dungeon not included.

"It's no big surprise when ya look at what's part o' this haul of stuff. All these Venomydra Leaf Scarfs, for example, are worth their weight in gold, even if they don't weigh too much. Have one of these bad boys over your mouth, and ya can cross even the poisoned swamps near town like a walk in the park. 7.000 sols per piece." - Johnatan

...okay, that's useful. And looking at the heap of items, I can see tons of monster materials from Poison element monsters. Did the Lunalatics hunt monsters when they didn't kidnap brats? That could explain why they tried such a risky move as making a move on the mayor's kid. Maybe they were damn tired of risking their lives dealing with poison monsters?

"...I'll sell them all except 5." - Garami

"For you're own use? Sure. There are still tons of 'em left for us. Something else ya wanna save?" - Johnatan

"No, it's fine..., but I need a bigger vault to store the money." - Garami

"I can recommend the stuff the brass uses at the HQ. The model that cost 50.000 sol can store up to 500.000, and it comes with a function that lets ya transfer money from the vault with a special card." - Johnatan

Like a debit card? That's useful. 

"I'll take that. Also, I want this one as well. Who do I need to talk to for the transaction?" - Garami

I showed him the paper for the slave I wanted to buy, but he said: "Leave that to me. I'll get it over with for ya. That's another 35 grand taken from the selling sum, but that's fine, right?" 

"Sure..., is it weird to ask if you can deliver it to my Player Room...if you know what I'm talking about?" - Garami

"That weird place ya Migrants stay in? Sure, no prob. But I'd recommend being there to receive the "package". But man, it's been a long time since crime slaves got sold." - Johnatan

"Not popular?" - Garami

"They're criminals. Why would they?" - Johnatan

Figures.

After doing all the remaining paperwork, I said farewell to Johnatan and left. The money's in my Inventory now, and I don't wanna walk around with it in a city filled with such a surprising amount of people from the underworld here. Besides, I have to receive my "package".

Then..., I should start planning for the next event. It's around a week until it starts, and I got a good, if not a little spartan, method that could help me with the training. I gotta figure out how to properly use all my abilities after all.