“Tss… ouch…” I stretched after waking up in the morning. My muscles felt stiff for some reason. “Damn, I didn’t feel so stiff when I was sleeping inside the dungeon.”

It could’ve been me, but sleeping in my hammock felt so much better and my muscles didn’t feel stiff or sore. The bed I slept on felt soft and comfortable enough, but I’ve been sleeping in my hammock for so long now, my body must’ve been used to it now.

It was late when I came to the inn last night. Navirei was the one who greeted me, looking as gorgeous as ever. Those beast-women really had some curves and both of them seemed to be very luscious and lustful too. I had my doubts if I get a room for the night, considering how I looked, but Navirei was very sweet and welcoming. She even offered to wash my clothes for me. The shocking part was, Navirei said she can come collect them from my room after I get undressed. That was… another unexpected offer to say the least. After stuttering like a dork, trying to find the right words to politely decline, I agreed to leave my Carnabbit mantle with her to get it washed. She was very pleased.

“Hmm… they are dry enough I guess…” I checked my clothes that I hurriedly washed after washing myself before going to bed. They looked no more like rags now, unfortunately. “Damn it, they don’t hold very well, do they?”

I knew I will need to buy new clothes for myself, but considering the quality of the ones I bought before, I decided to buy the cheapest ones this time. If they fall apart so easily, I’d rather not waste a lot of money on them. I dressed up and went downstairs to get my fur mantle.

“Good morning, Rockin,” Navirei was behind the counter again. She looked stunning, like a flower on a sunny day. Navirei was wearing a different dress and no scarf today. Her dress was in sharp yellow color, had no sleeves and had a ribbon around her neck which held the dress on ribbon laces, fully covering her chest, but that didn’t make her look any less beautiful. I could only guess, but she probably liked wearing loose clothing, hence, kimono type dresses. I couldn’t help but stare at her for a brief moment. “Did you have a good rest?”

“Ah, yes, sorry…” My staring was interrupted by her question and I felt dumb again. “Right, about my fur mantle?”

“Yes, it is all cleaned and should be dry now. Let me just go get it for you, Rockin,” Navirei smiled. She disappeared behind the side door and was back in a few minutes, carrying my mantle in her hands. “Here you go. I thought I’ll let you know that your mantle is slightly ripped over here. It’s… not a big issue I suppose, but I thought I’ll let you know, so you could take it to the leatherworker who made it to have it mended.”

“Oh, thanks. I’ll fix it later,” I said after picking it up.

“You want to fix it yourself?” Navirei gave me a curious look.

“Yes. I made it myself. I guess it’s not as good as I thought it was, after all,” I tried to laugh about it.

“Wow, I didn’t know you were a leathercrafter, Rockin. Mind if I ask you a favor?” Navirei was very polite.

“Sure, what is it?” I was curious.

“Could you craft me a Carnabbit fur scarf, please?” She had the sweetest smile on her face.

Craft a… Baah, not this again… I honestly didn’t want to. Crafting that fur mantle for the old barber took me long enough and the pay was just so-so. Crafting a scarf wouldn’t take as much time or materials but still.

“Of course, I’d be willing to pay for your work,” Navirei added, seeing me hesitate.

“Aah, well… I’m not that good of a crafter, really,” I rubbed the back of my head.

“If the scarf comes out to be of a similar quality to your Carnabbit fur mantle, I’ll be more than happy with it,” but she wouldn’t let go.

“You see… I don’t have any materials on me and… I don’t know how long it might take to craft it,” I was just piling additional excuses, because I couldn’t refuse her outright.

“That’s ok, I can wait,” Navirei was still pushing for it.

“I… don’t know… I mean, I wouldn’t know how much to charge for it, since… I’m not really in the crafting business…” it was the last thing I could come up with to hopefully have Navirei change her mind.

“Oh, in that case, I could offer an additional payment for you. I’m sure… you’ll be very satisfied,” Navirei squinted her eyes before licking her lips.

Eeh! She’s not implying what I think she’s implying? They are freaking sisters alright. I almost slapped myself.

“Ok, ok. I’ll make one for you, but honestly, I don’t know how long it will take or how good it will turn out and… you don’t need to pay me more than the normal price, really.” I finally gave in.

“But I’ve already promised, haven’t I?” The look in Navirei’s eyes made me think whether the scarf was the reason or the excuse for why she wanted it.

“Right, I think I’ll be going now. Thank you… for washing my mantle, Navirei,” I put it on.

“My pleasure, Rockin. Thank you for staying at my inn and I look forward to seeing you again,” she smiled politely.

Oh man, those beast-women are unreal. Do they jump on every man they see? I didn’t even want to try to imagine an answer to my question.

My next stop was Savirei’s diner. A piece of roasted Carnabbit meat for breakfast would fill me up for most of the day and it was cheaper than eating breakfast, lunch, dinner and some snacks in between. And it was delicious too, not like the ones I cook for myself in the dungeon.

“Thank you for the meat, Savirei,” I said after I finished my breakfast.

“My pleasure, darling,” she said.

“Oh, by the way, I have two pieces of Lesser Trent wood. Do you want them?” I totally forgot I had them yesterday.

“Yes, please. Let me just put them away and bring you the payment,” Savirei took the wood away and then returned soon after. “Here you go. Did you go to the dungeon today already?”

“Ah, no. I had it with me since yesterday. I just… forgot about it,” I said.

“Forgot?” She gave me a cheeky smile.

“I was… distracted… by something else,” I averted my flushed face away.

“I see. Thank you,” Savirei chuckled, covering part of her mouth with one hand. “What will you do now, darling?”

“Well, I need to buy new clothes and I think I’ll go check out the Slave Market just like you suggested.” I told her.

“Is that so? Well, good like on finding a useful slave for yourself,” she said.

“Thanks and bye,” I turned to go.

“Come again,” I heard her say before walking out of the diner.

I honestly didn’t want to waste too much money on the clothing that I’ll need to replace in no time again, so I bought the cheapest ones I could find. It still cost me a silver and six bronze coins in total. After that, my next destination was the Slave Market.

This must be the place. Huh? I stopped at the entrance with big sign on it that said Slave Market.

The area looked nothing like Shopping District or even Crafters District. There weren’t many buildings around. It looked more like an entrance to a theme park only this one looked not so welcoming. The whole place had a wooden fence built around it, about seven feet tall, maybe taller, which obstructed the view to see what was inside, but I could see the rooftops of some buildings sticking over the fence. They didn’t look like normal houses, but more like a warehouse type of buildings. Next to the entrance a bulky figure was leaning towards one side of the gate.

Nice. Very welcoming… I slumped my posture before straightening up.

“Buying or selling?” A big-ass bald human, wearing nothing but a brown sleeveless jacket, black leather pants and heavy boots growled at me. I noticed he had some bruises on his arms and shoulders. The first thought was he was getting in fights a lot.

“Buying,” I blurted, adding a frown.

“One silver coin to enter. It will be added to the balance if you buy something, but you get nothing back if you don’t,” he told me, not bothered by my grimace.

Ok, that’s… not entirely bad. The entry fee is added to my balance if I buy… wait, did he just call slaves ‘something’? I certain not so pleasant realization hit me. I had to accept the fact that the slaves weren’t considered to be people here. They were wares for sale, just like the clothes I bought a moment ago. Right, I better keep my cool.

“Here,” I passed him the money.

“Humph…” The man smirked at me which looked rather disturbing. He must’ve realized I never had a slave before. I thought he’ll try to say something smart, but he turned to the side instead. “Hey! Hanzo! You have a customer!”

“Yez, yez. Whzz… welcomez… how can I helpz?” A short beast-man, wearing a shabby, but clean, brown in color two-piece suit with a face resembling a ferret came to greet me. His fur was neatly brushed and looked well kept.

“This guy is looking to buy a slave. Show him around,” the big guy scoffed at him.

“Yez… of courze… Pleazze… whzz… follow me… zz… zir…” Hanzo motioned with his hand.

“Ok,” I said before following him.

“If I may azkz… zzir… what iz it you looking for?” The ferret person was rather polite despite having difficulty pronouncing some words.

“Hhm… I want a companion to help me fight monsters inside the dungeon,” I thought I’ll be upfront with him.

“Yez… I underztandz… What levelz you needz… zz… zir?” Hanso kept asking questions.

Level, eh? I grunted to myself, hearing him ask about level. It wasn’t my favorite topic for sure. Right, they probably have different level slaves here. Higher level slaves would probably cost more, but higher level didn’t mean they’d be stronger fighters. Well, probably… I better get more information from him first before telling him anything else. I paused to think before answering.

“You seem like a smart guy. Could you tell me more about the slaves you have for sale here?” I put my poker face on.

“Yez, certainlyz… We have zz… zlavez human, beazt, and half-beazt. Beazt slavez are ze ztrongezt… zz… phyzically, zey carry heavy loadz, fight good, but eatz more. Humanz good workerz, good wiz weaponz, but need to drezz more. Half-beazt good fighterz, can do good workz too, but can be ztubbornz.” Hanzo had no problem telling me more about the slaves.

“You mean stubborn?” I stopped before turning to him to confirm.

“Yez. You givez food to beazt, zey happy. You drezz human, zey happy. Half-beazt, zometimez givez food, zometimez drezz. But all will lizzen to Mazter.” He added.

Basically, give them food and clothes and they will be happy? That’s like pets, but… worse. I tried not to frown.

“Do you wantz higher levelz zlavez, dear zz… zir? Higher levelz are alwayz ztronger,” Hanzo rubbed his furry hands at one another.

“Humph…” I almost scoffed at him saying higher level person would always be stronger, but managed to pretend I was touching my chin instead. An idea suddenly jumped into my head. “Hey, will I be able to see their stats before making a decision?”

“Yez, yez, certainly,” Hanzo was nodding his head frantically.

“Ok, can you show me slaves that are… level four?” I thought having someone who was the same level as me would be better.

“Level four, yez. Ziz way, pleaze…” Hanzo squirmed, trying to hide his excitement.

We went into a bigger building that could’ve been a warehouse for how it looked. I tried to imagine how it will look inside. I thought I would be shown to a room where different people would be coming and going, humans and beastfolk alike, for me to inspect and maybe find one I would want to buy. Unfortunately, the view inside the building was nothing I expected it to be. There were cages, like, real metal cages set all over the place. Some were bigger and some were smaller, but all of them had people inside them. The inside of the building lacked good lighting, so it was a little difficult to see. Just like Hanzo said, they had normal humans, beast-humans and half beast-humans for sale here. However, the view wasn’t appealing at all. In fact, it almost made me feel sick.

The hell? They honestly don’t treat them like humans. I clenched my fist to help me keep my poker face on.

“Here, pleaze. Good, ztrong, level four bear beazt-human,” Hanzo came to one of the cages where a single person was sitting in.

The dim light was set in a way for the path through the warehouse to be visible well enough, but it provided little brightness inside the cages, making it difficult to clearly see people inside them. The beast-man made an impression at first. He definitely looked strong, but something seemed off. Worse yet, it was too dark to see him clearly.

“Can he come closer, so I could take a better look?” I asked.

“Yez, yez, of courze. You, ztand, come clozer!” Hanzo ordered in a stern voice.

I see, so that’s why. I let out a disappointing sigh. When the bear person was sitting down, hunching and leaning forward with the minimal lighting around him, I couldn’t see how he actually looked. But when he stood up and came closer, the bear person didn’t look as strong as my first impression of him was. He was skinny for a bear, clearly not being fed properly. The beast-man tried to hit a pose, straightening up and flexing the muscle of a jackal he still had. Shit, for real? That’s not something I expected to see.

My fantasies of buying a strong slave were busted after Hanzo showed me the very first slave. I wanted to be hopeful, but something was telling me the other slaves wouldn’t look much better. It was a sorry sight indeed. However, working several years in marketing didn’t allow me to leave it like that. I thought I’ll put my negotiation skills to the test here. Who knows, they might have a slave I will actually decide to buy in the end.

“You call him strong?” I pointed a finger at the bear-man, giving Hanzo the biggest disappointed frown I could muster. “Give me a break. He can barely stand on his own. When was the last time he had something to eat?”

“Aah… it izz… a little earlyzz… for ze breakfast, but… but all zlavez are fed regularly, zir,” Hanzo clearly didn’t expect for me to lash out like that.

“Really? Geez…” I touched my forehead, shaking my head a few times. “You said he’s level four. Can I see his stats?”

“Yez. Hey, zlave, zow ztatz,” Hanzo ordered.

“Yes, sir. Show Status,” the bear beast-man uttered. He tapped with his hand in front of him and a transparent window materialized in the air. The salve motioned with his hand and the Status Window turned towards me, so I could see it.

***

Vurza: slave. Class: none.

Master: Rigg Geldsir

Character stats:

Stamina – 13

Strength – 15

Agility – 6

Spell Power – 1

Magic Energy – 3

Luck – 4

***

You’ve got to be kidding me. I stared at the slave’s stats in disbelief. He’s so weak…

“Ahem… And how much do you want for him?” I held my fist close to my mouth.

“He iz worth five gold coinz, zir. He’z very good,” Hanzo said, nodding his head a few times while rubbing his hands.

“Pfff… ahaha! More like five bronze coins!” I couldn’t help but laugh. “Are you kidding me? He’s strong? Seriously? He won’t be able to kill a Carnabbit on his own. This is a waste of time…”

“No, no, wait, zir…” Hanzo became nervous all of a sudden. “Maybe… maybe four goldz coinz, zir?”

“Oh, no. I’m definitely not buying him,” I waved with my hand, ready to leave.

“Pleaze, zir. I… I can zow you ozer zlavez too…” Hanzo was rubbing his hands nervously.

He looks nervous. Well, the slave owner’s name was different from his, so he might be just another worker here. Maybe Hanzo get’s his fare share of punishment for not selling any slaves too. I could use it to my advantage. A sleezy salesman was pulling his strings inside of me.

“Ok, show me around some more. But no more weak slaves,” I put an act of being hesitant to agree.

“Yez, yez. Ziz way, pleaze…” Hanzo cheered up, looking relieved.

He showed me a few more slaves. Two beastfolk and three humans. A dog beast-woman and a human man were level four each, the other three were level three slaves. All of them were underfed and looked pathetic. One human woman looked slightly better, but she looked and acted she’d do anything to please me just so I would buy her. That just put me off.

The sad fact was, I had to work really hard to keep it together. Seeing slaves, real slaves, was a real shocker. I thought the companies in my previous world were exploiting workers, forcing them to work overtime and underpaying them, but the work back then looked like heaven compared to the life of the slaves here. I felt so sorry for them I could barely hold in my tears. When I felt like bursting to tears, I’d lash out in anger instead, finding some fault to complain about to Hanzo. It somewhat worked in my favor, but by the tenth’s slave inspection, I simply wanted to leave despite the fact one or two slaves I saw might’ve been good after feeding them well.

This is depressing. I just want to leave. I rubbed my eyes to help me see better. The dim lighting put extra pressure on them. By now, I already knew why they had such poor lighting in here. It was to prevent the buyers from being able to take a better look at the slaves. I was honestly ready to leave, but something pulled my eyes towards the cages set further away from the rest. Huh? What’s over there?

“Hey, what about the slaves over there?” I pointed with my finger.

“Aah… zey… zey need rezt. We put zem away for more quiet,” the way Hanzo said it made it sound suspicious.

“Can I take a look?” I asked.

“Zey… well… yez, yez, of courze…” Hanzo was hesitant but then went back to his overzealous sweet attitude. “Zeese are level one zlavez, zir.”

“Ok, huh?” I came closer to one of the cages to take a closer look and saw a human lying on the floor, beaten up. He looked to be on a brink of death. “Is he dead?”

“Ah, no, no, zir. Zome zlavez were… a little ztubborn. Zey needed… dizzipline,” Hanzo put on a smile as if it was a normal thing around here. In all honestly, it probably was.

Humph… right. I guess no slave for me today. I scratched my cheek with one finger. I was about to turn around and leave this time for sure when I noticed something stick out from one of the cages. It looked like a long cat’s tail.

“Hey, Hanzo! You in there?!” Suddenly, a harsh male voice was heard at the entrance of the warehouse.

“Ah, zz… zorry, zir. I will be back. Pleaze… pleaze, wait,” Hanzo was rubbing his hands apprehensively. He looked tense too.

“Yes, ok. Go ahead,” I didn’t mind.

“I be back zoon,” Hanzo rushed off.

I was left alone, so I decided to check to whom that black cat’s tail belonged.

“Huh?” I squatted and was about to touch the tail when it curled and was pulled inside the cave. It was much darker around here, so I could just barely see the person inside. I blinked several times rapidly to help my eyes get used to the dark, so I could see better. “Oh…”

There was a woman lying inside the cage, not too far from the metal bars where I was squatting at. Well, she was a beast-woman to be more precise. The long, black cat’s tail and cat’s ears gave it away. Although, her tail was rather long and her ears had an unusual shape for how normal cat’s ears looked. The good thing was, she didn’t look to be starved and had a nice figure as far as I could tell. The sad thing was, she was badly beat up, just like the other guy I saw earlier. Thanks to her barely wearing any clothing, I could see her body being covered in bruises all over. Hanzo called it discipline, but it was nothing other than cruelty. I was staring at her tail for a brief moment before it curled and moved up, with the end of it hiding behind the woman’s head. Only then I noticed she was looking at me. I instantly was awestruck by her beautiful, green cat-like shaped eyes and a cutely shaped nose, slightly resembling a cat’s nose.

Wow… I gasped quietly, staring at her. Hey, don’t be a moron. Say something.

“Hi,” was all I could muster at that moment.

She didn’t say anything. Instead, she closed her eyes and laid quietly, her body becoming stiff and motionless.

Huh? Is she… Ah, no. She probably thinks I’m here to hurt her. I realized after seeing her clenched fists.

“Hey, I’m not here to hurt you. I… I’m here to buy a slave,” I thought I’ll tell her that. I saw her body relax a little and she opened her eyes. “What’s your name?”

“Ranalaiya” she whispered quietly.

“Ranalaiya? That’s a beautiful name. Listen, that Hanzo guy is about to come back, so we don’t have much time. I came here looking to by a slave, but honestly, this place makes me sick and I want to leave here sooner rather than later. My question is, would you like me to buy you?” I didn’t know why I spoke to her the way I did.

“I…” She hesitated to speak, but then pulled herself up to sit in front of me with her knees under her butt. “I’ll be a good slave, Master. I’ll do as I told. You… you can do whatever you want with me, Master…”

“Huh?” That was not what I expected to hear from her, but then a harsh reality set in. She was just another slave in here and she was probably beaten up for not listening or whatever the reason was. Unfortunately, a dull, senseless slave wasn’t something I was looking for, even if they were obedient. I stood up to leave. “I see… Ah, well, whatever…”

“Please…” I heard her say as soon as I turned my back to her. “Please, buy me. I… I made a mistake, but… but I want to make it right. So, please…”

“Listen…” I rubbed the back of my head, thinking what to say. I couldn’t find any words and was about to leave, but when I turned to look at her one last time, my heart sank to my ankles. She was crying and her eyes were telling me she wasn’t faking it. I couldn’t help but squat back down in front of her. “Listen, I am not looking for a slave to use and abuse. I am honestly looking for a companion I could explore the dungeon together. Can you fight?”

“Yes,” her answer shot out like a bullet out of a gun. “I grew up in the forest. I… I can fight.”

“Have you ever been into the dungeon before?” I wanted to know.

“Y…” she leaned forward slightly, her eyes burning with intense fierceness. I thought she wanted to say yes at first but she stopped for some reason. “N… no, I have not.” Her voice trembled. She dropped her head, leaning on the floor with both hands while looking defeated.

“Ok,” I stood up, bracing myself for the hardest negotiation yet. “Put yourself together and don’t show your face to that Hanzo guy while I talk to him.”

“Huh?” Her gaze shot up, eyes catching that hopeful fierceness from before. She started wiping her tears after seeing me motion with my hand and then laid down on the floor again, facing away from me.

“Zz… zorry, zir. We have been brought new zlavez juzt now. One of zem iz really good. Let me zow you,” Hanzo was rubbing his hands at one another again.

“Don’t worry about it. I don’t think buying a level four slave is the right choice for me right now,” I had to pull all of my tricks to put on the best act yet. This time, I actually wanted to buy someone, but I couldn’t show it to Hanzo. “Listen, I checked a bunch of slaves you have here, and as bad as they are, I’d rather have a measly, pathetic slave than none at all. At least I’ll be able to use them as a distraction if I want to get away from monsters inside the dungeon. So, how about I buy… this… no, that one?”

I pretended like I was randomly choosing one, but I ended up pointing at the cage where Ranalaiya was.

“Ah, yez, yez, of course, zir,” Hanzo became so excited, the fur on his head stood up straight. “Zat Zlave iz very good. Worth buying.”

“Hah, don’t you try being sleezy with me. They are pathetic at best,” I frowned at him, adding some intensity in my words. “Anyway, how much for that one?”

“Zat… zat one iz two gold coinz, zir,” Hanzo said with a cheezy grin on his face.

“What?! You must be joking. She’s all beat up and barely has any clothes on. Healing and dressing her up will cost a fortune. Not to mention feeding her while she does nothing at all. She’s worth two silvers at best,” I threw my hand to the side, acting like I was feeling aghast with the price he wanted.

“Aah, no, no. Can’t zell her for two zliver coinz, zir. Too low,” Hanzo reaction told me that my price was far from reality, but I didn’t have two gold coins either.

“Well, I am certainly not paying two gold coins for a beat up slave,” I scoffed, crossing my arms in front of me.

“How about one gold and eight silverz, zir?” Hanzo lowered his price but it was still too much for me.

“No way, still too much. If she hadn’t been beaten up badly, I might consider it. She will have to stay in bed to heal up for at least a week or I will have to buy a Healing Potion to heal her. Do you know how much Healing Potions cost?” I pointed a finger at him. Truth was, I had no idea how much the potions cost here.

“Pleaze, don’t be angry, zir… H… how about one gold and five silverz, zir?” He lowered his offer again.

“Seriously? Are you saying they sell Healing Potions for three silvers somewhere? I’d love to know where,” I looked Hanzo directly in his eyes.

“Aaah… ok, ok. One goldz and three silverz, zir. But zizz izz the lowezt I can go,” Hanzo said, but I still wanted to push the price down.

“Hmm…” I pretended to consider it. “I’ll give you one gold and one silver.”

“No, no, can’t zell for that much,” Hanzo didn’t look like he was to go down any lower.

“Humph… Fine, I’ll give you one gold and two silvers, and I paid one silver coin as the entrance fee. That’s one gold and three silver coins in total for you,” I remembered the entrance fee.

“Yez, yez, Zat is correct. One gold and three zilver in total,” Hanzo was a happy ferret.

“Ok, you have a deal,” I tried doing everything I could to keep a frown on my face.