《To be a Demon》Chapter 4: Five hundred people for a gold coin.
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{Recruiting Prisoners with a Death sentence. Requires money. The possibility of success is of 88.75 %. Possible mistakes would be: The prisoner being suicidal -Ignorable Repercussions on self-; Your real abilities being revealed -Mild repercussions to self-; 1% out-of-project exogen factors. Good one boy! You got the gist of it.}
Dante smirked as he heard that suggestion. It was a great plan, even though it usually wouldn't be... Slaves here work in a different way than on other places, because of a specific feature the kingdom has.
The Obscura Cannabis. It is a herb that is only available for nobles, and rarely even appears on the black market. If ingested, it would bring a severe addiction that would kick in every three days. If not satisfied, the user would die. It makes the slaves loyal to their masters unless they want to die. The Obscura has fast reproduction rate as well, that is why it is cheap allowing for the nobles to buy much of it.
"Avilio! We are going to buy death sentence slaves! They are going to form our faction!"Dante said with enthusiasm. He got excited because he could get a good plan when he thought there was no way out.
"But master! Those slaves are not good enough to be the main fighting force of a faction! They are usually used as footsoldiers or fodder!"Avilio said with worry. Those slaves lacked morale, and they usually didn't last long in battles as healing them is too expensive and no one on their right minds would do it, as they are not elites, to begin with.
"That would usually be true... but there are pearls among those prisoners. Pearls that everyone sees as dirt."Dante said with an evil smile on his face, his eyes turned vicious as he thought about those people. He had a sick and insane expression on his face, he chuckled as he looked at Avilio.
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"My lord... you surely mustn't be speaking about those people! They would never work for nobles even under the threat of death!"Avilio was shocked as he knew who Dante was talking about. But it was an insane idea, as those people would never work for nobles, even if they are indeed elites.
Dante simply ignored him and got up from his bed. He took a coat from a wardrobe and a walking stick. He then stopped in front of the door while waiting for Avilio to open it.
Avilio looked at him and understood that he didn't need to know his master's intentions. He opened the door and they proceeded to go outside of his courtyard.
As he walked outside, people looked at the 'dumb prince' that had dressed up formally and wondered what was the occasion that required such clothes. As the prince was never invited to any ball or meeting, so he rarely ever wore any eye-catching clothes.
The prince proceeded to the third square and saw the crowd of people that were standing there. There were at least fifty people, but all of them were nobles or princes making anyone notice that this was a popular event among nobles.
In the middle of the square was a big stage, where there were more than a hundred ropes with wooden chairs below them. There were a hundred people that had those ropes tied to their necks. This was a hanging of multiple individuals. At the top of a platform, a man dressed in fur clothes that had golden rings on his fingers and a diamond necklace was speaking loudly to the crowd.
"These men were thieves that were captured by the soldiers, on the Ars Maxima side of the border! They are skilled in fights that don't require much strength or skill. The perfect fodder for your corps! The whole batch will start at an astounding price of A hundred and fifty gold coins! This is the bargain of a lifetime! Come closer and bid for these formidable consumable goods!"
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"A hundred and fifty-five gold coins!" "A hundred and seventy!" "A hundred and seventy-five!"As the 'auction' started. People started biding for the 'goods'. The atmosphere became bustling before they were bought for a little more than two hundred and forty gold coins. The auction then proceeded to another batch of fifty-eight deserters, that was even more expensive than the thieves.
Dante looked at the 'execution' with his confused and naive face. Before he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see who it was but wasn't surprised when he saw Agamemnon.
"What are you doing here? Do you even know what is happening here? Did you come just because I said I was coming?!" Agamemnon said as such with a snort. His face directed utter disgust towards his 'dumb' brother. As if he was just a kid trying to get his attention.
"Yeah, big brother Agamenion! You made me think it was fun, but it is just a bunch of people standing there while we scream numbers! It is no fun, and I don't like math. The last time I tried to learn, I gave up after the number nine because it was too difficult!"Dante pouted as he stomped his foot on the ground as if he was really angry at Agamemnon for misleading him.
"You are too stupid to understand. We are buying slaves here! If you buy those people, they will have to obey you! You can't even understand something so simple!"Agamemnon said as he went away. Murmuring random curse words under his breath.
After a while, the auction was coming to an end, and the last batch came onto the stage. It was much bigger though, and some armed guards had to enter along with them, as there were more than five hundred people, and most would have to be executed by sword.
The audience didn't stay though. They started dispersing after those people appeared as if they had no interest in them. The announcer then looked bored and said with an unenthusiastic voice.
"These are the rebels that entitle themselves, 'republicans'. The starting bid is a gold coin. Anyone wants to kill them personally for fun?"He said as he started getting ready to go. Only every once in a while people would bid for them, just so they could torture them to death or something. But there were fewer sadists among nobles these days.
Those people are the revolutionaries of the five kingdoms. They want to turn the kingdoms into republics and make the nobles abandon their lavish lifestyles and give more power to the peasants. They would rather die than serve nobles, and they were all fanatics for their ideology.
The announcer was going to tell the soldiers to kill them, but he was stopped by a voice.
"I-I have one coin here!"
The announcer turned around to look who was the one that said that, and he was astounded to see who it was...
"They are cheap, so I want to buy them!" Said Dante, while lifting a gold coin over his head.
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