Mature Content Warning: Strong Language, and mention of sexual fetishes.

Author's Note: Soooo, this happened. lol. Enjoy. The story is moving right along now. Yay.

Chapter 3: The Virtuous Slave Master

The city of Eizen was a lively place filled with a multitude of people. Scott could see the hustle and bustle from atop the hill that his group stood upon, and it promised to be quite the interesting locale. People streamed into the gates of the city from various directions, and from that distance they looked like a river of massed humanity that wound its way through the city entrances and out of the exits.

“The guy we are looking for doesn’t live in the city proper, right?” asked Scott.

Shade, the ninja who had been assigned to guide their way nodded his head once. “Correct. The slave master lives on the outskirts of town where he sells rare monsters and humanoid non-citizens of Eizen to the highest bidder.”

“Do you know if he has sold the mermaids, yet?” asked Scott.

Shade glanced toward the city then looked back to Scott. “The people who we have in pace have not seen any mermaids leave the area, but we cannot be one hundred percent certain. At the very least there are eighteen of them currently held in place.”

Rhea frowned down at the city. “Unfortunately, enslavement of monsters and demi-humans is considered improper in Eizen, but is still legal. We can choose to rescue them by force, but we would definitely have to leave the kingdom if we did so.”

“So, let’s save that for the final option.” said Scott.

“Right, we should just see how much the slave master wants for them. If he is willing to sell, we can just buy their freedom and maintain access to Eizen.” she said.

Scott was not thrilled with the idea of paying a man who had basically purchased kidnapped girls for resale, but the important thing was to get those girls out of there. Though, if pressed he would admit that he had a strong desire to just kill the man and be done with it. Whatever process had caused the growing bloodlust within him, he did not mind it in this instance. Anyone who would buy and sell young girls as a business was horrible.

Ero, currently seated within his mind, piped up, “Scott, it will be alright. We’ll save those mermaids.”

“Yes, you’re right Ero.” he thought strongly. He could feel the warmth of his fairy friend’s response to his agreement. She loved it when he agreed with her confident statements.

“Let’s get going.” said Scott.

“I will take you to the slave master’s quarter, and show you the proper tent. However, Crimson Shadow has not been paid to directly intervene.” said Shade.

“That would be fine, thank you.” replied Scott. He had not expected the mercenary ninja to get involved in any conflicts. They too, ran a business, and killing would cost extra. Though, Sharde had offered a twelve percent discount on assassinations for the rest of the month. When pressed about the reason for a twelve percent discount, she had simply said that it was less common than ten percent and not as good as fifteen. In short, she had chosen to be arbitrary.

Shade led the trio down the hill and then helped them to cross the road by using a specialized aura to cause people to step aside without even realizing what they were doing. It was an assassin’s secret skill that allowed them to move through crowds without being noticed or running into someone.

Scott could not help but notice the man’s professional nature as they moved swiftly. The entire time that he had been in this world, all he had done was murder wild animals and worry about his ability point advancement.

However, the ninja who carefully moved before them was definitely a creature of the world despite the fact that he was a player. Was that the result of actually becoming part of the world instead of treating it like a game, or did level increases slow down so considerably after level one hundred that mission based guild assignments were simply more interesting?

The sorcerer considered those thoughts carefully while they moved through the busy roadway. They eventually joined a small crowd on a side road and continued forward on leisurely course along the side of the walled city.

It took the better part of an hour to navigate the lengthy road as Eizen was a massive town with a large and powerful wall. Such a thing was to be expected of a capital city.

Eventually, they came within sight of the slave master’s quarter, a place where various people sold various other people for fun and profit. It was surprisingly cheerful and had a festive atmosphere. Scott thought that he might be sick after he had spent a moment walking through the area.

He glared hotly at a man who lashed a whip across the back of a small child. Said child had a golden ring through his nose and the horns of a bull, but he was still a child.

Rhea reached over and squeezed his shoulder. Scott glanced at her and saw that she had a grim expression, but after a

moment she shook her head.

His expression became sour and he resigned himself to the task at hand. It would be problematic enough to rescue eighteen mermaids, much less every other slave in the quarter. Had they a small army and a way to move rapidly, they might have at least tried. At present there were only three of them who would fight a battle here. The ninja who led them was just a guide after all.

After spending a few minutes witnessing the horrors of slavery in a fantasy world, Shade had led them to a large tent in the center of the area. Dozens of heavily armed and armored guards were seen throughout the area, only a few of which were human.

“I should caution you, as a favor to the guild master. The guards here number a minimum of thirty-seven at any given time and each of them is at least level one hundred twenty and is assumed to have reincarnated at least four times according to their stat distribution.” said Shade in a casual, yet still professional, manner.

Scott had to fight down a hiss of annoyance. Even Rhea would not be able to simply cut them down if that was true. She had managed to reach level twenty-five, like she had thought that she would, but that would only help her go so far.

Unlike monsters, players and playable race locals had powerful mitigating factors that dropped the damage dealt to them by a large margin in order to make player-versus-player events more interesting and to keep too many local people from dying from collateral damage when players fought in the streets. Between the levels, stats, and gear of those guards, Rhea would have a severe issue attempting to survive a fight with one of them in a one-on-one battle. Thirty plus guards was suicide.

Scott had a higher level, thirty-six, but compared to those guards he was a gnat. Taking the mermaids out by force had been rendered moot. They did not even have legs, so they would have to be carried out one-by-one.

Of course, he might just be thinking that. Rhea might be able to take them out. He asked her that very question through party chat. “Rhea, would you be able to take out one of these guards?”

She replied quickly. “No, not with what I have at the moment. If I had all of my best equipment, put all of my banked ability points into my combat oriented stats, and had the element of surprise...”

She thought for a moment then continued, “...there might be a small chance that I could at least survive the opening rounds of a fight with one of these guards. I don’t know if I could do enough damage to kill one at this level. Maybe, if I was fifty or sixty... maybe.”

“Is the damage mitigation due to level differences the problem?” Every moment could be a teachable moment. Stats were not everything, and equipment could only take someone so far. A monster one hundred levels higher than someone’s current level would be a problem, no matter how many times that person had reincarnated.

“That’s a large portion of it. If I did damage at all it would be in the single or double digits, even with a sword that negates defense.” she said.

Scott thought for a moment then said, “It would be like swinging a butter knife at a stone wall, then? It might chip away at the wall, but it is going to take time to see the other side.”

“Exactly. Though, in this case the stone wall has a blazing bastard sword of exploding death that can deliver five digit damage numbers per swing.” replied Rhea.

Scott groaned inwardly upon hearing her clarification. He had forgotten that damage mitigation was less effective if you went backwards. The guards were at least three milestone levels ahead of her. She would have practically no special defense against them.

The interior of the tent was a strangely modern area. It was clean, well-lit, and somewhat cheerful. A rotund man stood behind a wooden counter, complete with an old-timey looking cash register. He greeted them with a hearty wave when they walked in, and then called out, “Welcome honored guests. Whom can I find for you today?”

Scott cringed a little at the whom statement. It readily brought back to mind the fact that they were in a slave dealer’s tent.

Rhea spoke up, “We’ve come to discuss terms regarding very special sort of purchase.”

“Oh? Have you?” asked the rotund man, a small smile on his lips.

Rhea started to speak again but the man’s eyes widened slightly then his mouth split apart in a soft ‘O’. “You, would you be the lovely Rhea Ardente?”

The elf girl’s eyes widened slightly as well, and then narrowed. “Yes, I see...”

“Rhea, how do you know this guy?” asked Scott.

She looked to him then sighed. “He’s a player, I think.”

“Yes, yes indeed.” replied the slave dealer. He smiled at them in a jovial fashion then turned to look at Scott. He eyed the blue-haired sorcerer for a moment and then his eyes began to sparkle.

“This man... Is he the one?” asked the slave merchant.

Rhea’s face became slightly reddened at the implication but then she coughed once, “Who he is, is of no concern in the matters that we wish to discuss.”

“Ha ha, he is, isn’t he! He’s the legendary blue-haired boyfriend!” The fat man practically cackled in delight upon realizing who Scott was to Rhea.

Scott’s expression shifted to one of confusion and his nose rankled slightly as though he had smelled something terrible. Silently he mouthed the words, “Legendary blue-haired boyfriend?”

Ero giggled sweetly inside his mind then corrected him. “Shouldn’t that be Legen- wait for it-dary?”

Scott groaned mentally at his goofy little friend. She must have been watching television re-runs that were stored in his memory once more. “Thank you so much, Ero Stinson.”

Her laughter only grew after that. Soon Scott’s mental landscape was bombarded by images of Neil Patrick Harris. Of all of the shows that she could have chosen to review inside his mind, he had no idea why she had chosen the situation comedy How I Met Your Mother.

Rhea frowned at the overweight wholesale people redistributor. “We’ve come to discuss something, and it does not relate to our personal lives.”

“Ah, have you come to perhaps, make a purchase?” he asked.

“Yes.” said Rhea.

“Good, good. Whom are you seeking?” asked the man.

“Mermaids.” said Scott.

The corpulent man blinked then looked to him. “Oh? I did not advertise them for sale. Did my sister send you?”

“Sister?” asked Scott.

“Yes, she calls herself the mermaid queen. The mermaids generally go along with it.” replied the slave dealer.

“The queen of the mermaids is your sister? You’re selling her people into slavery?” asked Scott incredulously.

The fat man laughed jovially then shook his head. “No, I bought them off of those idiot Shar-Shar so that they would not be sold off. I sent that dumb ho several messages, even a few offline, but she never responded.”

“Dumb ho?” asked Rhea.

“Yeah, my sister isn’t the brightest tool in the shed...” said the slaver.

After Scott heard how badly the man had mangled that old saying, he could not help but think that the man’s sister was not the only tool in the shed that could use brightening. “So, you sent her messages and she did not respond?”

“Sadly, yes. She’s probably still angry about my refusal.” he said.

“What did you refuse?” asked Rhea.

“She was a nice girl, quite innocent if a bit dumb. Ever since she took up with that perverted playboy fiancé of hers she’s become something obscene.” he said.

“That... OK, what does that have to do with anything?” asked Scott. The mermaid queen was obscene? It was an interesting bit of news, but it seemed sort of like too much of the wrong information.

“Well, it does after a fashion. The queen, as she calls herself, became enamored of a perverted man with too much money and free time on his hands. Since then she has slipped further and further down the ladder of perversity.”

Scott glanced over to Rhea. She looked to him then shrugged. She did not get the point of this conversation yet, either.

The slaver took a deep breath then sighed. “Her fiancé is one of those people. I’m sure you have heard of them...? They like to be humiliated by their women enjoying the company of other men.”

Scott blinked. “So, he’s into being cuckolded?”

“Yes, I believe that is the term I would use. She calls it something like a notary though.”

“Netorare.” said Rhea.

Scott glanced at her again and she smiled sweetly at him. It was mildly disturbing that the term came so easily to her mind.

“Yes, that’s the one! Well, the pervert is not just satisfied with seeing his lover squealing another man’s name. He’s gotten her convinced that the only man that could really do it for him is me.”

The room grew silent then. The boldness of the statement that had just been stated was a lot to process.

“Can’t you just kill the guy?” asked Scott after a moment. Anyone who could only get off by demanding that his lover have sex with her fat brother was someone who needed serious mental help or an axe to the skull.

“I’d love to, but he has a private army and my sweet naive little slut of a sister to defend him.” replied the slaver. He unleashed a sad sigh.

“OK, not to change the topic... Which I really do want to change... What does any of this have to do with the mermaids?” asked Scott. This conversation was a bit outside of his comfort zone and it was obvious.

“Right, well I bought them to return them to my sister. She’s a sweet girl, even if she’s a pervert now. However, those overly excitable girls are eating me out of house and home and my sister hasn’t answered any of my messages.” he said.

How much could a few mermaids eat? Whatever, it did not matter. Scott was more interested in securing their release than hearing about how much of a slut their queen was, or how much the girls ate. “She was offline for a while doing something.”

“Ah, I suppose that must be it. I rarely log out this time of year. Business is booming, after all.” said the slave dealer cheerfully.

“What do we need to do to free the mermaids?” asked Scott. He wanted to get on with things, and this conversation was more than a little disturbing.

“Well, pay for their care and housing mostly. Though, there is one other thing.” said the slaver.

“Yes?”

“How do I know that you have their best interests at heart? You claimed that my sister did not send you, and seemed to be aware of her. Yet, I don’t know you.”

“Why would a slave trader care so much?” asked Scott.

The man snorted at him. “You misunderstand my trade, good sir. I don’t typically deal in innocent merchandise.”

“What do you mean?” asked Scott.

“What I mean is that I am part of the labor acquisition and redistribution force. I acquire people of ill-repute and redistribute them among the populace for a nominal fee.”

“You buy and sell criminals?” asked Scott curiously.

“Primarily, yes. Sometimes someone will owe too much money to repay it properly, so they sell themselves into my service for a time to pay the debt off. Mostly though, I buy captured humanoid monsters such as the Shar-Shar who menace the water ways, and sell them to the government or the entertainment guild for arena purposes.” replied the slave trader.

“I see, so the mermaids are something you would not normally deal with?” asked Rhea.

The slaver turned to her then shook his head. “No, I do have a policy of buying the non-monster demi-humans for sale in the market so that they can work off the debt of purchase then be sent home, but I never sell one of them off unless they prove to be too troublesome or refuse to perform simple tasks too often.”

“You try to make it sound so noble.” said Scott.

The fat man shrugged his shoulders. “It’s a living, and a needed service. There are many who sell non-citizens into slavery. I’m one of the few who give the poor enslaved bastards hope to return home.”

He took a breath then continued, “Notice the size of my tent? Do you see any sick or dying people? No. I might not be noble, but I won’t regret my actions at the end of the day.”

“Well, fine... That’s great. What do we need to do to secure the release of the mermaids?” asked Scott one more.

Fatty rubbed his chin then nodded. “I don’t know you, but you seem honest enough. If you can do some sort of significant service for Eizen, and pay for the cost of housing, feeding, and transporting these overly enthusiastic fish-tailed Jezebels, you can have them.”

“What sort of service?” asked Rhea.

The fat man shrugged. “Anything that will get you a writ of meritorious service from the city. That would put you on the city’s radar, so to speak. If I find out you have harmed those poor enthusiastic creatures, you can be tracked down easier and for less expense since I can put a legal bounty on your heads.”

“Sounds fair, but what would constitute such a service?” asked Scott. He did not like the mention of a bounty placed upon his head, but he was willing to give this a shot.

He thought about it for a moment then nodded. “You could go clean out a bandit group, regain a lost national treasure, any number of things. Ask at the government office. There should be something. A writ of meritorious service is not particularly difficult to receive and it comes with a few perks like discounts from purchases at government storehouses.”

“Do you have one?” asked Rhea curiously. She figured that if a slave trader could get one, anyone could.

“Of course. I sell a lot of monsters to the government. They make for excellent foot soldiers and sailors in privateer armies once their loyalties are secured. Besides that, every single one of my guards has a writ. Despite the profession that I chose, I run a clean and useful operation for this country.”

Scott was still far from convinced about the necessity of the man’s profession, but he seemed sincere in his convictions. They would not be able to kill his guards and he did make an offer that was possible to accept.

“Alright, but is there some sort of contract that we might sign to allow us trust you more in this matter?” asked Scott.

“I will gladly draw one up! If nothing else, I might be able to see those buxom fish-tailed girls find their way back to the sea safely.” said the man cheerfully.

Scott, Rhea, and the slaver sat down to discuss terms. The contract was an incredibly simple affair in the end. Bring the slaver fifty thousand Fayth, and a writ of meritorious service, and he would release the mermaids into their care. Fail to do so within one month and he would release them into the sea and they could try to fend for themselves as they made their way back home.

Either way, the girls would be released. However, the sea was dangerous and the Shar-Shar might recapture them on their way home. While the queen was busy saving the other five groups of her people, she would not be able to help.

They could try to get a message to the queen, but in the end this was a task that had been left to Scott, Rhea, and Ero. The mermaids were not in danger, and this side quest could prove to be quite interesting in the long run.