35. There are no bad slaves in the world
“Did you hear from Choco?”
Cream went to coffee as soon as the day dawned.
Choco had become depressed and disappeared somewhere. Hearing Cream’s question, the butler scratched her head with a slight embarrassment.
“Isn’t it natural that slave traders naturally build grudges easily? It’s not a big deal, but I didn’t say it separately…”
“Description.”
“Whoa, I see. Could you please wait a moment?”
Coffee, who left for a while, soon returned with the store’s ledger. What is that about It’s written in professional terms, so I can’t recognize any of it.
[This is a record of the slave trade.]
The Holy Sword said with a displeased expression. Glancing at her cream, it seemed that she, too, could not read the contents of this ledger properly.
“Why is this?”
“Look this way. Come here, here Can you see the part marked differently?”
“Yes.”
“These are not slaves treated by the Merchant.”
But why is it written in the ledger? Cream tilted her head as if she couldn’t understand.
“What are you talking about?”
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“It means an illegal slave.”
The explanation of the coffee that followed was quite embarrassing.
As the Ice Chamber grew, more and more cases of securing slaves from outside through transactions with other merchants or merchants, rather than through private loans.
Of course, the upper business philosophy of ‘only dealing with legal slaves’ was maintained, and before trading slaves, they would make sure that they were legal slaves before purchasing them.
By the way, illegal slaves are mixed in the recent slave stock. Free people who were not enslaved by legal process, but forcibly branded by slave hunters.
“Originally, there is no distinction between legal and illegal in the slave market, but isn’t our guild different in their position?”
“Yes.”
As long as they have a fair amount of personal connections, once they become slaves, commoners are finished. No one listens to things, so we can only hope that they find good owners.
However, Ice Firm is a slave trader with a special position that handles legal slaves. If they distributed illegal slaves, their image could be damaged.
“But recently, illegal slaves were mixed in the records of transactions with other merchant guilds. So, if you go to the other guild to find out, that guild has never sold such a slave.”
[The ghost is about to weep.]
“Yes. It is clearly left in the ledger, and there are even actual slaves, but if you compare it with other guilds, they say that there is no such slave. That’s how it came out in the actual investigation.”
It’s amazing. So, after the slave trade, there are illegal slaves among the trade items? By the way, you don’t even know where the slave came from?
It certainly seems to be aiming for the special position of the Ice Company, but if it’s enough to intervene in the upper-level transactions of both sides, manipulate the ledger, and secretly put slaves in, wouldn’t it be better to do something else with that effort?
[It must be one of three things. Whether it’s a duke of a rival guild, an inside spy, or the work of a third party with transcendental abilities.]
“Or, it could be all three.”
The case suddenly gets exciting. The whole time he was being told, Cream looked uncomfortable, but he didn’t get angry, probably because it wasn’t such a big deal as Coffee had initially said.
Certainly, the method, the purpose, and the ingenuity are unparalleled. The blow itself won’t be that big, but it’s a good move to touch the opponent’s planting.
“First of all, I am not an inside spy. As you know, everyone in our company except for Cream is bound by a stigma. Even if you harbor feelings of betrayal, you will not be able to act.”
[Is he chocolate?]
“He is…, In fact, not even a slave on paper. They are not part of our association. I just personally follow Cream-sama.”
Choco doesn’t have the restrictions of the stigma, but she doesn’t have the means to interfere with the Chamber. Mmm. Difficult, difficult But she was just as interesting as she was.
[Well, it’s a trivial thing, but you’re not going to leave right away with this difficult problem, are you?]
“Yes.”
[Then let’s dig into it from now on.]
Of course, my preference is to use force to destroy everything, but sometimes it’s not bad to use your brain like this. It’s an ordeal that’s perfect for me, a perfectly intelligent demonic sword.
First of all, the first of the three cases mentioned above is excluded. If the effect of the stigma had disappeared in the first place, there was no way this company would still be running smoothly.
Then the only remaining ones are the second and the third, so what’s the difficulty? I’d like to know each one step by step.
*
“The merchants traded with us are the Stinging Star Merchant, Strawberry Merchant Merchant, and Mocha Merchant.”
[······No, why are all the names like that?]
“Because it is a slave trader. I also chose a cute name on purpose to offset the negative image that slave traders often have.”
Coffee explained with carefree stinginess. Seeing him wearing the brand of a slave and calmly appraising a slave dealer gave me a very strange feeling.
“Well, since the name has been changed so often for various reasons, it seems like the fortress is just being built. Still, even though I don’t know the upper class, the individual I do business with is trustworthy.”
[I see. By the way, you don’t seem to have much anger towards the slave trader, considering that you are a slave?]
Looking at his aristocratic dignity and knowledge right now, that old man seems to have a fairly extraordinary past. It’s also a shame that I didn’t read the memory properly.
However, despite my question, which stung a rather sensitive part, Coffee did not waver, only shrugging her shoulders with an elegant gesture.
“Because it’s been too long now to be angry. Well, we have arrived.”
Of the three guilds with extraordinary names, the first we found was the Stinging Star guild. As if I had contacted them in advance, someone was hanging around at the entrance at the upper level.
“Welcome!”
“Yes.”
“Yes. As I informed you in advance, I have come to check on the slave.”
Cream simply crossed his arms and nodded, but Coffee was in charge of his work. As if it made sense in advance, we entered the upper building straight and familiar.
By the way, the Ice Company was strange, but this is the average slave trader. The building was old and creaky, and the musty smell reminded me of a cattle barn.
Unlike a building that was temporarily rented and looked poorly maintained, the cages and restraints in which the slaves were confined were very hard and sturdy, and all the slaves inside were lethargic.
“This way.”
Catching the eyes of the slaves, we entered the innermost room. The slaves there seemed to be in relatively good shape, as if they had been managed at least.
“Ugh…”
Jeongjeong, it seems that only the appearance is fine. A girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, which is common, was laughing as if she had lost her soul. A few drops of saliva flowed down his lips.
“·······What is this? Why is it like this?”
“Isn’t this common? You couldn’t accept my situation.”
Because he was a slave, the merchant used a lower rank for coffee, but it was just a nominal lower rank, and it contained enough courtesy and respect.
Well, if you have to ask, it’s a relationship between a subcontractor and a large company, of course. Slaves are often known as untouchables below commoners, but that depends on the owner.
Like Coffee, who wields real power at Ice Co. Even though he is a slave right now, a slave who is favored by nobles is not easily ignored even when he goes elsewhere. After all, the back is what matters.
“Get out of the way.”
“Oops!”
Anyway, I came to hear the testimony, but what if the slave is like this? As Coffee gave him a perplexed look, Cream passed him and took a step forward.
Caught up in that powerful movement, the merchant staggered, but couldn’t argue and just looked at Cream. Ah, the sorrow of small business owners.
“Is the slave memorandum intact?”
“Yes. We used industry standards. It won’t be too different from Ice Company.”
In the meantime, he was having a practical conversation with coffee, but I wasn’t interested in that, so I turned my attention to Cream.
“Have the duty to do your best to obey the owner’s orders, refrain from taking actions that harm the owner or organization to which you belong, and in terms of personal protection……”
Flash!
Cream, which strode towards the girl, shot the light as it was. In an instant, an overwhelming flash of light exploded, robbing the surroundings of sight.
“Quaaagh!”
Coffee swallowed the pain, but the merchant jumped up and down and screamed at the eye terror. Above all, the girl who was directly hit by that light explosion.
“Kyaaah!
The girl who had been screaming as if I was surprised looked around her in bewilderment when she realized that her own body was intact. The merchant was shocked to see it.
“Come to think of it, that look from the recent public ceremony. Moreover, that divine power that heals even those who have gone mad at once is…”
“This kid is not crazy, he was pretending to be like that. I, surprised, only.”
“I see. Well, a slave trader can’t be a hero. This wild thing, dare you trick me?”
So, Cream merely exposed the true face of the girl who was pretending to be crazy with a menacing flash. The girl, who was fine even after being hit directly by her light, was really surprised and spewed out her normal words.
“Wait.”
Cream stopped the panicking merchant, who seemed to be resentful that she had been tricked.
“I have a question, crab.”
“I-I don’t know anything!”
“Hmmm. May I interrogate you from here?”
“Do whatever you want.”
Certainly, a warrior’s language skills are not suitable for digging out important information.
Afterwards, coffee appropriately teased the girl, calmed her down, and threatened her to get her information. She certainly did not go anywhere during her time as slave master, and her skill at teasing her children was excellent.
Unable to bear the tricks of her old fox, the girl soon cried and vomited out her information.
“I just stole a piece of bread! It’s not such a big crime, is it? But that night, Uncle Billy came to the back alley where I live and…!”
This girl looked quite fine, but it seems that she was an orphan in a worse situation than Cream. Children in the slums who earned their living by pickpocketing other people’s belongings.
No, but what? You didn’t ask that. I evaded the merchant and shot a sharp mental wave so that only the girl could hear it.
[I’m not really curious about your sensibility, so who instigated you!]
“Saju, Saju? Help me. I don’t know anything…”
In the end, the girl didn’t seem to know anything. When she was sold to slave hunters and traded for other slaves on a large scale, it seemed that she had been disposed of.
The key is who sneaked this girl into the big deal. Well, she wouldn’t have the mind to take care of her body, but if she had remembered the people around her, she would have been more suspicious.
“Thank you, sir!”
In the end, we only played the role of mysterious slave healers and left the upper ranks. What about that girl who got caught pretending to be crazy? I don’t know, is it my business?
[In the end, there was no harvest.]
“No.”
[Huh?]
But Cream lightly denied my exhausted muttering.
“Pupils, sweat, heartbeat. No lies, no fears, no signs.”
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You can understand that with your real senses… There’s no way that ordinary slave trader can fool a warrior’s senses, so one thing is certain.
[At least that merchant didn’t know anything about this, right?]
“Yes.”
In the second case, it’s not even a duke of another group. I’ll have to look around the other guilds, but I thought they probably wouldn’t be too different.
Then, who was the culprit who freed the illegal slaves at the Ice Company? I swayed leisurely on Cream’s hips, lost in thought.