Chapter 8: Give and take

I slowly open my eyes when I get back in to the virtual world. I think it’s a miracle that my body isn’t feeling any pain… I wonder how many bones broke when I was slammed in to the ground.

“Oh good, you’re finally awake.” I hear Arthur’s voice as soon as I sit up. I was in a room that I had never seen before. “I had the recruits carry you here after I hit you a little too hard. Oh well, can you check your level for me?”

“Uh… sure.” I carefully check my Assistant, continuing to be wary of Arthur. “What!? Level 6? I went up two levels because you hit me once? How’d you do that!?”

“That’s a trade secret. It won’t work twice though. I’m glad you benefitted. Anyways. I guess we can start the real training now.”

“I don’t know if I’m ready… also, before we start, I have something I need to ask you.”

“Go ahead.” Arthur stands up and start to put his plate armor on again. He was super bulky without it… I wonder why he even had it off…

“About a week and a half ago, was there a large group of people that came to the city gates without Assistants?”

“Yes, there was.” Arthur frowns, “Did you know them?”

“Actually, the entire group was people from my world, not that it really matters, but one of them is someone of slight importance to me in the other world.”

“Oh! So no wonder that blond dumbass thought he was better than me.” Arthur sighs, “But unless you want to buy them, there’s no other way. They were all turned in to slaves. I may be a royal guard, but the law is the law. If they would have properly explained the situation, they may be in a different situation, but all I can do for now is say it was their bad luck.”

“I figured that would be the case.” I sigh.

“Is this person male or female?” Arthur asks, “No, you said they were important to you, so I’m going to guess it is female.” I nod my head. “Then she’s probably been sold by now.”

“No, she hasn’t. Her looks are completely average no matter how you think of it. I talked to her just moment before I woke up here. She still hasn’t been sold.”

“I see.” Arthur scratches his chin. “You’ll owe me one, but I’ll get her out. Oh, I don’t want her to be my slave, if it makes you feel better, I can just give you the money and you can go with a friend of mine.”

“Thank you so much sir!” I bow my head down so far it almost touches the floor.

“No, no. Don’t mind it. However, you will owe me one. How about once you train up a little I get you to deliver a letter to my family in the capital?”

“That should be simple, I just have to get to the capital, right?” I frown, knowing there’s a catch.

“Yeah, the path is straight and it is only three days from here on foot, half a day by horse.” Arthur frowns, “However, there are some crazy monsters between here and there that only attack humans. The monsters there are so scary that even I almost died on my journey through. Killed my horse.”

“That’s a big catch.” I sigh

“Slaves are expensive.” Arthur shrugs his shoulders

“I see. I vow to the gods above that I will complete the task as soon as I have finished my training. It will be a good way to make sure I’m not completely inept. If I die, I can only blame myself for failing. However,” I narrow my eyes, “I don’t fear death.” Of course it a bluff though, death is scary~!

“Here ya go.” Arthur hold his wrist out that has his Assistant, “I’ll transfer you some money.” I hold out my arm and both our Assistants make a ‘Beep’ noise.

I look at my Assistant:

Accept transfer? 1 000 000 Silvers from Arthur? Yes/No

I slam my finger on to the ‘Yes’ button. I then check my balance in my status:

Money: 1 000 225

I’m rich! No! I’m filthy rich!

“You can keep the change after you buy your friend.” Arthur leans in a little, “You should also keep her as a slave for a while. Have some fun with it.”

“I just might. Who is the person you are going to send with me?” I stand up, my legs hurting from bowing for so long.

“An old friend. Oh, cover your ears for a sec.” I do as he says as Arthur takes a deep breath and goes to the window. “JACOB! COME HERE!” He shouts so loud that I thought my ears were going to explode… they might have if I didn’t seriously cover them.

Very quickly a man in a long robe comes in to the room.

“You needed me sir?” the old man looks at me with a smile, and then back to Arthur, his smile never wavering.

“Yes, Jacob, could you please take Sir Phillip here to the slave trader’s place. His friend was captured and I have loaned him the money on basis that he will do a favor for me after I finish his training with him.”

“Of course, sir.” Jacob bows, “Anything else?”

“Oh yeah, buy him a place to stay and to keep his slave friend. Just get a single room in a half decent inn or something. No less than three hundred a night, but no more than a thousand I night. I’ll leave it to you.” Arthur nods his head, “Then bring him back quickly so I can continue his training.”

“Leave it to me sir. We will be done before the sun reaches the highest point in the sky.” Jacob bows once more as he gestures for me to follow him. I nod my head towards Arthur and I politely say my temporary goodbyes.

Jacob takes me down a set of stairs and through a familiar set of doors and leads me out to the main street where I had my first talk with Arthur.

I look around and notice that all of the buildings looked quite modern. The city was surrounded by a large stone wall that was taller than any of the houses. The roads were a mix of gravel and a smooth stone not too different from paved roads.

Many people were moving around the streets and very few people were moving in and out of the gates, but that was probably normal, considering the fact that not many are strong enough to fight against the monsters that roam the roads outside the cities.

“This way, Sir Phillip. We have to take a few back roads to avoid large crowds. Slaves are common, but not many people condone the purchase.”

“They’re okay with using them?”

“I’m sure it’s the same where you come from. A group of people will complain about one thing, then they do it the next. Hypocrites we call them.”

“They definitely exist where I come from.” I look at Jacob as he quickly walks forwards. “How did you end up working for Sir Arthur? He’s says you are a friend, but you do tasks for him.”

“I was once a homeless man. He picked me up from the streets after he asked me a few questions. I’ve followed him ever since. I now work as something similar to an assistant, but probably more closely related to that of a butler.”

“Do you enjoy it?” I ask with smile.

“Every moment of it. It beats having to fight small children for scraps of food on the ground.” He smiles weakly as we walk through some really scary looking places. He suddenly points at an unmarked stairwell that leads to the basement of a large house. “We have arrived.”

“Thank you for bringing me Jacob.”

“No worries, it was a task assigned to me so I will complete it to the best of my abilities. Please wear this hood before we go in.” He hands me a hood and I put it on, it completely covers my face. “Would you like my help negotiation prices, or just as a fallback just in case something goes awry?”

“I want to try my hand at this. I want to experience it at least once while I have the chance.” I smile, but inside my head: I can’t believe I have to buy Cecilia from here!

I slowly walk down the stairs as Jacob follows me. I enter through a door and a man happily greets me.

“Welcome to Innisgrale’s one and only slave market. Are you here to buy a slave sir?”

“Yes.” I think in my head. “I am interested in humans, and I would like them to be female.”

“Sir, I would like to warn you that we do not sell slaves here for sexual purposes. If the slave denies to serve you, you are obligated to listen to them. However, if the slave agrees to it, then there is no issue. Slaves however, are meant for labor and menial tasks, not sexual needs.”

“That’s a good policy. I still would like to see human females please.” I say with confidence and the man nods.

“Right this way then.” He leads me to the other side of the room. I look at all the cages and see plenty of male and female slaves separated by gender and race. The clothes they wear are actually quite comfortable looking. Similar to that of prison clothing, but white instead of orange.

“There are a lot of slaves here. They all look quite… well, not what I imagined slaves to look like to be honest.” I smile weakly.

“That’s a common reaction. People usually think of slaves as tools and pets, but we actually care for most of our slaves. We give them two meals a day and water whenever they request it. There are many rules here that we have to obey or we could get shut down.” The slave trader sighs, “I guess it is all part of the business though. Anyways, please have a look around and see if there is any slave you particularly like.”

I nod my head and start to look around. I look to see if I can see Cecilia, but the way the cages are, I have to get right in front of them to see in to them. I am wearing a hood that Jacob gave me so that I can hide my face. Not that I care to hide my identity, but mostly so Cecilia doesn’t recognize me and cause a scene.

I walk down the rows and I quickly find Cecilia. I point at her and the slave trader nods his head.

“That one is a slave that came in a little while ago. Female slaves usually go quickly around here, but she is so average that no one really wanted, nor needed her for anything. Her price is two hundred thousand Silvers.”

“I’ll take her.” I nod my head and smile towards Jacob who just shrugs his shoulders saying with his eyes, ‘You could have gotten it down a bit, but it’s still a good deal for a slave.’

“Okay. Give me a second and I will show you her Assistant. Just recently, they started giving these white colored Assistants to slaves. Normal ones are black and high class ones are gold or silver in color, depending on the level.”

“That’s good though, now you can tell the identity of a slave using their white Assistant rather than forcing them to wear a collar or put some form of marking on them.” I say with a smile looking at Cecilia.

Cecilia stares at me. I wonder if she has found at that it is me yet. The slave trader carefully grabs Cecilia’s arm and shows me her Assistant:

Name: Cecilia

Age: 20

Race: Human

Height: 5 feet 10 inches (178cm)

Current occupation: Slave

Current Owner: Phillip Tethers

Level: 0

Oh, it looks like her transfer to me is already done.

“Sir, if you could please hold out your Assistant to pay for the slave.” The slave trader holds out a silver Assistant. It’s almost too shiny. I don’t think I could use that. I hold out my arm and complete the transaction.

I still have so much money and Arthur was willing to call this much change!? I have endless respect for the man.

“Thank you. I will come back again if I require another slave.” I nod my head as I walk towards the entrance of the slave… warehouse? Basement? Shop? Oh well. I leave with Jacob and Cecilia following close behind with her head down, still wearing the white prison uniform.

“You two gonna talk at all? I feel awkward and I’m just a third party!” Jacob complains as we walk back towards the main streets.

“I can’t believe you had enough money to free me Phillip, whose feet did you lick to get that much money?”

“Sir Arthur of the royal guard.” I sigh. “I didn’t lick his feet, but I do owe him a favor and I have to go back for training as soon as I can. I have a feeling I am going to get absolutely destroyed during the training.”

“Sir Phillip, I believe the phrase you are looking for is, ‘He will wipe the floor with you’.” Jacob smiles wickedly as we walk towards an inn. “I will purchase the room now. You two can wait out here and I will give you the key when I come back, Sir Phillip.”

“Thanks Jacob.” I smile as Jacob wastes no time moving his way to the end of the line inside the inn. “So Cecilia, when you log out, I want the best dinner you’ve ever made in your entire life.”

“I guess I do owe you that much. Any ideas on what you would like, ‘Darling’.” She smiles happily as she leans her head on me.

“I think… something with steak.” I completely disregard her comment. I know I said I would be more honest with her… but hey, don’t catch me off guard like that and you will get a better response.

“I think I can do that for you. Are you going to go in to the room with me… or…”

“I have to go back to Sir Arthur as soon as I can. Every second we waste here is another second he gets to plan my death.” I sigh as I see Jacob coming back, “But you can go in to the room and log out.”

“Here you go Sir Phillip. You are the first room on the left after going up the stairs on the other side of the inn.” Jacob hands me the key. I hand it directly to Cecilia. It looks like modern house key…

“Cecilia, you go on, I’ll see you later.” I smile as I give her a hug.

“See you later, Phillip!” Cecilia happily hugs me back and skips towards the stairs after she finally lets go of me… I hope she doesn’t fall.

“Shall we return to Sir Arthur then?” Jacob sighs, “It’s the first time I’ve done an errand in months. No one even recognizes me around here anymore.”

“I’m sure that’ll change eventually. Let’s go back, before I die.” I lower my head and follow Jacob.

“It’s already too late for you, Sir Phillip. I have a feeling Sir Arthur is going to have fun training you from the ground up. Especially after he used his one-time special move on you.” Jacob smiles sadistically.

“I’m actually very, very scared.” I say with a trembling voice.

My body is not ready.