After arriving in the city I went straight to the place where the knights told me the slave trader was.

It was in the most hidden part of the city, no light was shining on it due to the size of the buildings that covered it.

It seems that no one must know that there is one.

I went in and was greeted by a mysterious looking man.

I told him I wanted this guy to be my slave.

Before telling me how much the slavery spell cost, he explained how slavery worked in this country.

For starters, slavery is illegal as it is frowned upon by society.

The Avrora Empire is the one who gave this order to everyone as they would be punished with economic sanctions.

Sounds pretty nice, doesn't it?

They did it so that they would be the only ones to own slaves, but since slavery is like any illegal business, it seeks to be legal and avoid jail.

Many clauses were made to achieve this.

There are three types of slaves.

Work slaves.

These slaves are those who are to be exclusively criminals, be they bandits, corrupt, traitors or tax invaders trying to escape.

They will work them to death, regardless of whether your debt is paid.

Slave traders love them, as they are their main source of income, they are always in need of workers, and if you don't want to pay them to the workers or pay their families when they die by accident, they are the best option as they have no rights.

Then come the domestic slaves. They take on any job that is cleaning, sweeping, looking after your children, being your coachman, etc.

Unlike the first one, domestic slaves are people who sell themselves for a large sum of money.

Money that can be easily recovered, the family of the sold slave can even live well for a while.

The slave who is sold must be legally of age, if they are sold as a minor you can end up dead because of that.

The slaver told me that you should always make sure that they are in good condition as it is possible for that miracle to happen again.

What miracle is he talking about?

Well, he tells me, a long time ago.

A man bought a slave girl to use for his most wicked purposes, he had divorced his wife and was a very resentful man.

He bought a young, handicapped girl... you would expect a repulsive story, wouldn't you?

Well, it wasn't.

Without anyone noticing, the girl treated the man as he had never been treated before in his life.

It was such a degree of affection that he fell in love with her.

Although she was already used by her previous owner, the man made her his wife, the chief butler refused and the man said "If you think she is lying to me, spy on her all you want and in the end you will tell me if I was a fool".

The butler investigated her for a long time, and one day, the man died of old age.

The girl owned everything as the man had no children, she stayed by his side for two days before she was taken away by the guards.

The butler asked her why she was behaving like this towards him and she replied "He was the first person who cared for me and that is why I will not leave him even if he is dead". The girl took out a dagger and went to the man's room, slit her own throat after lying down next to him and hugging him until his last breath.

The butler realized how sincere her love was and decided to use the money his employer entrusted to him in case she or he died to found an orphanage.

That story spread all over the world and it is thanks to this that domestic slaves are a precious commodity, it may be that from one of them will come a girl who becomes a queen and wants to reward the slaver for uniting him with her rightful love.

Leaving that sad story aside, we come to the last type of slave.

Sex slaves, as the name suggests, are people similar to domestic slaves.

The difference is that domestic slaves can go unnoticed as servants while those destined to give only pleasure to their owner will live like animals in heat.

There are different causes, but a domestic slave will always be needed as a brothel.

By the way, there are black market slavers who sell abducted people and children in any kind of slavery and that is punishable even by legal slaveholders who pay their taxes.

Back to Russell, the slaver put some kind of paint on his neck, asked for blood from my finger and an invisible necklace manifested on his neck.

A phantom chain ended up in my hand.

"The process of the enslavement spell is complete. You can pull the chain just by thinking about it, the maximum range the slave can be separated from his master is 50 meters."

"If he is separated more than that. Boom! In many pieces."

I looked at Russell with a smile.

"Did you hear? If you get away from me, you'll die for sure."

"Damn you brat!"

Just like a dog, I pulled the chain and his collar choked him, I'll have a lot of fun with him.

◇

After I went to the adventurer's guild, Jessica was there, waiting for me and looking at me with burning eyes.

She told me "Never again while you are in this city will I let you go on a quest alone that requires the company of other adventurers, did you hear me correctly?

And after that a week passed.

The most annoying thing was that I couldn't have Russell sleeping on the street as it is forbidden, so I had to pay for a room for him.

Also, I had to take him to the guild to get an adventurer's card.

◇

Days passed by as I waited for Russell to become a rank E adventurer.

So, we were going to have our first special training to learn how to handle the sword.

We came to a remote part of the city to train in peace.

Or maybe he's trying to kill me, since the slavery spell wears off when the master dies.

I asked him something while we were doing push-ups.

"Hey, what is this place? It's really weird compared to the rest of the forest."

"Umm? Ah, this."

We stopped doing push-ups and he pointed to the horizon.

"From there to... over there, it's unknown terrain. This place is known as the [Forest of Darkness]."

The Forest of Darkness, from what he tells me, this forest with black trees reaching up to almost ten meters tall is unexplored territory.

Apparently there is a legend that it is cursed by something and when someone tries to enter to cut down the trees, madness strikes them or monsters attack them.

Not only that, rumors of an adventurer who managed to escape said that there are ruins of an ancient civilization somewhere in this huge forest.

"Sounds like a fairy tale."

"Fairy tale or not, this place bodes ill for everyone, that's why any adventuring or exploration mission should stay away from this place."

"Enough talk, get into the position I told you to take the sword."

"Right~."

I replied in a mocking tone.

After taking my new sword, I got into the stance he said.

One foot forward and one foot back, forming clock hands with both feet.

There are two styles of sword to use, one is the [Crimson Knight Style] where you place your sword on top of your belly.

This style is to protect yourself or attack the opponent as you have the option to react quickly.

The second is the [Dark Knight Style] where you hold the sword close to your ear or if you prefer, keep it in its sheath.

This style is suited to the quick attack, which makes it vulnerable to side or rear attacks as your eyes and senses are focused on attacking straight ahead.

I am using this style as defense is not my strong suit at the moment.

A Sword God doesn't defend, as he cuts you down before you attack him.

I want to achieve that, so defense seems unnecessary to me.

But I'm not an idiot, so I analyses my opponent and the way he behaves to attack me.

"Ready?"

Russell asked after making the stance of having his sword sheathed.

"Ready."

I responded by tightening my grip on the handle of my sword.

"First lesson of a swordsman, never expect your enemy to know you are ready."

"...?"

Before I knew it, Russell was gone.

Within my range of vision, I could notice something approaching from my left side, it felt like time was passing slowly, but I could see it.

It was the blade of his katana.

I quickly moved the sword vertically to block it.

But for some reason the blow was so strong that I went flying.

"What the hell was that? That was unfair!"

He lit a cigarette and after puffing once he answered me.

"I told you, the first real lesson of a swordsman is to never know when you will be attacked. To believe that the enemy will tell you he is ready is foolish. Didn't you do the same with my comrades?"

I felt ashamed not to think that.

"I-I knew it. I just didn't think anything of it."

"Second lesson, never look away from your enemy."

Again, Russell disappeared.

"Where are you?"

I looked around for him.

A small cut appeared on my cheek.

I turned around and there was Russell laughing.

"This is a high-level foot technique, learning it is difficult, of course, it doesn't reach the level of a sword saint or a [God of War] but I manage as best I can."

"The correct name for this style is [Ghost Feet]. It allows you to move in stealth when you send your magic power to your feet."

"Ah, I forgot to tell you this."

Again he disappeared, but I could see his shadow, he was behind me.

"The third and final tip is this. When you have your enemy's back uncovered, use the power of your [Magic Sword] to eliminate him in that instant!"

I used the sword to block the attack, but stronger than I thought and it broke it into many parts.

I fell backwards in shock.

"What the hell was that? That was awesome!"

Russell bragged to me again.

"This is a magic sword technique, I was wondering about this."

rat. You don't know what a magic sword is do you?"

Again I felt ashamed for not knowing that, Luke had his memories blocked, so if I knew about them I don't know now.

"Yes... No."

*Exhale*

"Right. To make it simple, this country is known to be very free in many things, but what it will always be known in being a military country, sometimes called as the [Country of Swords] or also the [Kingdom of Knights]. Too ostentatious for my taste."

All in all, it was a very ostentatious name.

"I don't understand, why didn't the bandits I killed know how to defend themselves like that?"

"... You really don't know anything?"

"How do I explain it to an idiot brat?"

(Hey. Who are you calling a slave brat?)

"Okay. To make it quick and short, there are two types of knights, conventional knights and [Royal Knights]. Royal knights are those who are ranked as the elite among the knights, among them always come out one or several sword saints."

"They are trained in the magic sword style, as not many know how to use the magic power within them. In short, your magic power defines who you are as a knight."

"No matter how hard you try, knights trained with the magic sword will always be the best."

"You're at the bottom of the shit for not knowing that, while I'm in a nobleman's garden like shit that defecated on his dog. Get it now?"

"I get it. You didn't have to compare me to shit."

I stood up and dusted myself off.

"How do I channel that magic power?"

I asked very intrigued, his cigarette was almost gone and he lit another.

"I have no idea. I hear they have special training to do it."

"Hah? Then how do you know how to use it?"

"I trained as a kid pushing my limits. It took me years to be able to do a simple slash. Imbuing your magical power into an object is harder than doing it."

"Imbuing? What's that?"

"It's kind of like letting it circulate freely. Let your magic power flow like a river current."

"That sounds suspicious."

"Who cares. Just do what I tell you, you snotty little shit."

I listened to this dirty bum and closed my eyes to concentrate.

(Imbuing my magic power.)

(Ether is the source of life, therefore, I must let a part of me flow into an object, my broken sword.)

(No, wait. Isn't that risky?)

(I say so since I am a guest in this body. According to My Creator I will die in this body as an old man, but what if something goes wrong and a part of me disappears)?

(Wahh, I don't want a part of me to disappear.)

"Hey."

(I don't want to disappear. I better stop this ridiculous magic sword training and concentrate on training my muscles.)

"Brat, hey brat."

(Yeah. That'll be best, I'll pretend I can't channel my magic power into the sword and we'll move on to the next training.)

"Brat, I'm telling you to stop!"

(Huh? For a while now this idiot has been saying something.)

I opened my eyes to see what the hell he wanted.

"Waah, what the hell is this!"

I watched as a huge wave of green energy emanated from my sword.

"What is this thing! Russell!"

"You idiot, I told you to imbue your magic power! Not fill it completely!"

"Huh?"

"That thing is your magic power and you're making it grow to such a degree that we can see the [Mana] perfectly visible!"

"Is that so? Isn't that amazing?"

"No it isn't! That thing is a time bomb! Drop it before it kills us!"

"Bomb you said!"

Bombs are small spheres that have spells on them and are used to cause explosions in mines or on the battlefield.

Let's leave that out of the lake and focus on this.

I listened to him and raised my sword as high as I could.

"When you lower your hands cut the magic power flowing into the sword, quick!"

As I lowered my hands, I felt it cut a small invisible wire, as it did so, we noticed how it formed a green sphere of at least 30 meters heading into the forest.

"Run brat!"

"Uwaaaaaaaaah!"

We ran for our lives, leaving our stuff behind.

I don't know how far we ran, but we had been at it for a couple of minutes, suddenly... we felt the sky darken a bit and then the earth shook to such a degree that it made us jump and a draft sent us flying straight into a tree which also flew out.

As we turned around while flying with the tree, we noticed a huge green mushroom which was my magic power.

Amazing, isn't it?

My Creator said he gave me 5% of his power. Is this going to be 5%?

Or maybe 1%?

Or maybe 0.000000001% of his power?

I am amazed, My Creator is wonderful indeed.

His power is enormous.

Long live My Creator.

"A-Are you okay?"

Russell asked as we both lifted our faces sunk in sand.

"Y-Yes, I am."

We sat in the sand and watched as the mushroom climbed into the sky.

"I'm not doing that again."

"I don't think you should do it again."

"Shall we stop the training for today?"

"Please."

We stood up to get out of there and go back to the inn.

(Help...)

"Umm?"

"What's the matter?"

"I thought I heard something."

(Somebody... help me...)

Again I heard a voice.

Is it a symptom of the stroke?