The slave market would be open for two days and elves would only be exhibited on the first day. On the second day, the focus would be on monsters that had already been tamed by the natives or young trainable monsters.
Because they were a rare race that fetched a high price, there was a separate area where the elves could be bought and sold.
Eugene had no shortage of funds. Even at their lowest prices, he could get at least a billion sals from selling the jewels that he had managed to rip off from the Emir of Kajitan, and apart from that, before entering the forest, he had sold a portion of the jewels for about five hundred million sals.
According to Lavera, the basic price of the elves that were sold during this market was about three hundred million sals. Though the price varied depending on gender, appearance, and physical condition, most elves could still be purchased by going up to five hundred million sals.
Usually, there were at most two elves exhibited each time this market was held. This meant that with the money that Eugene had on him, he should be able to snap up all the elves.
‘It’s even cheaper than I thought’ was Eugene’s first thought upon hearing the price of an elf from Lavera.
But in hindsight, it wasn’t really all that good a deal. The elves who returned to Samar usually had a few flaws.
In the case of Narissa, one of her legs had been amputated, while Lavera had lost an eye. If an elf were able to escape slavery and travel to this distant forest, they were bound to have gone through many hardships along the way, and in the process it was also likely for them to have received irrecoverable wounds.
These wounds weren’t necessarily physical wounds either. Even elves were helpless in the face of mental illnesses. PTSD in particular was one of the chronic diseases most common among elves who had experienced slavery.
To sum up, their limbs weren’t always intact, their virginity wasn't guaranteed, they weren’t necessarily young, and even their minds might not be sound. Not only that, the chance of them being afflicted with the Demonic Disease was not zero, so it was actually surprising that elves still went for at least three hundred million sals.
‘That’s about the same price as a pair of giant’s testicles,’ Eugene recalled.
Gargith, that son of a bitch. Eugene ground his teeth as he recalled that distant relative of his that he had last seen several years ago. Thanks to that jacked-up muscular pig, his sense of economic scale had become strange.
‘I wonder if he’s still chasing after strange supplements like this?’ Eugene thought idly.
In fact, Eugene had received several letters from Gargith while he was in Aroth. Gargith had made sure to send letters of congratulations on each of Eugene’s birthdays, along with a gift of things like supplements that were supposed to be good for the body.
Of course, Eugene hadn’t eaten any of them. All of the supplements that Gargith had sent were full of questionable ingredients. These supplements were instead repackaged into gifts for Lovellian and Melkith, who were secretly worried about looking their own age, so thanks to Gargith, Eugene had even become pretty well-liked by Melkith.
“Sir Ryan,” Kristina called out his alias.
“I know,” Eugene said as he stopped his idle reminiscing and looked up ahead.
From a short distance away, a giant bald-headed man was swaggering over towards them. Eugene looked at the tattoos inked here and there on his bulging muscles, then checked the tribal markings hanging from his waist.
‘The Garung Tribe.’
Eugene wasn’t flustered. This market was a huge event that always drew a large number of the tribes in the area to participate. It was because of this that he hadn’t brought Narissa, as he was afraid that her being recognized might cause a commotion. As for the risk that someone recognized his face despite his disguise? That was nothing to worry about. Eugene had annihilated every single one of the warriors of the Garung tribe who had attacked him in their first encounter, where he hadn’t had his hood up.
“Oi, you there,” the bald warrior called out to them, his gaze looking down on them.
Eugene himself was on the tall side, but the warrior surpassed him by a head.
“That elf. Sell her to me,” the warrior demanded.
Eugene had been wondering what this guy was going to say. Looking behind the bald warrior, Eugene spotted the pig-like noble that was snickering to himself.
His skin that seemed like it hadn’t seen much sunlight, a belly fat enough that it was poking out of the fabric of his shirt, and hands that had never suffered from a day of work in his life….
That emblem on his chest… I don’t know which clan it belongs to. His clothing isn’t in the Kiehl style, either. He must be from Shimuin.’
The Sea Kingdom Shimuin was an island country found in the Southern Sea.
Eugene responded to the demand. “My apologies, but this elf cannot be sold.”
Ujicha’s face contorted into a scowl at this reply. He glared down at Eugene with a gaze filled with killing intent, but Eugene just shrugged gently with a troubled expression on his face.
“You can’t sell her? Why not?” Ujicha barked out.
Eugene hesitated. “That’s… there’s a reason why I can’t sell her to you.”
“What’s the reason?” Ujicha growled.
Even though she had lost an eye, Lavera was nonetheless beautiful, so Eugene had been expecting that someone might make an offer for her and he had already thought of a reason for which he could turn them down.
“This elf has been cursed,” Eugene stated.
“...A curse? Are you saying that she’s caught the elf-killing disease?” Ujicha asked.
“Indeed, it seems that you’re already aware of it. Yes, this elf has caught the disease. She can somehow survive by staying in this forest, but if she leaves the forest, she will die within a few days,” Eugene explained.
Ujicha’s brow furrowed at these words. Instead of pressing Eugene any further, Ujicha turned his head to look back at Dajarang.
“So what if she’s caught the disease? Why should that matter?” As if he had been waiting for this opportunity, Dajarang stepped forward with a smile. “In fact, it’s even better that she’s caught the disease! Doesn’t that just make her price cheaper? Oi, that elf, I’ll buy her for one hundred million sals!”
Eugene just let out a snort at Dajarang’s shout and shook his head. “There is no way that I can do that. Even if she’s caught the disease, an elf is still an elf, so how can I sell her for the low price of one hundred million sals?”
“Then I’ll give you three hundred. Three hundred million sals. That much should be enough, right?” Dajarang couldn’t contain his excitement, his fat ass shaking from side to side. All the while, he had been scanning Lavera from head to toe with greedy eyes.
Eugene hesitated. “...You’re offering three hundred million? But you don’t seem like someone who lives in this forest, sire….”
“Why does that matter?” Dajarang demanded. “I can just play around with her while I’m staying in this forest.”
It seemed that this guy was crazy. Was he really saying that he would pay three hundred million sals just to play around with her for a few days? Three hundred million sals was a huge amount of money, enough to buy a pair of the giant’s testicles that Gargith so enjoyed.
Eugene composed himself, “...Sire, pardon me, but may I ask how old you are?”
“I’m twenty-three years old.” Although he didn’t know the reason why Eugene was asking this question, Dajarang puffed up his chest as he replied.
Eugene let out a deep sigh at these words and shook his head from side to side.
‘Twenty-three years old? It looks like he’s just a brat who’s never once had to earn money with his own abilities and was just lucky enough to be born into a noble clan. Is he really trying to waste the money that his father works so hard to earn, just for a few days of fun?’
Eugene saw a reflection of Eward in Dajarang. The unfilial bastard who had been sent abroad to Aroth in order to study magic, only to play around with succubi and almost get initiated into black magic.
“Sire, I am truly very sorry, but I refuse to sell this elf to your grace,” Eugene firmly rejected the offer.
“What?!” Dajarang burst out.
“Although it might be hard for you to believe this, despite all appearances, I am proud of my profession and the way I do business,” Eugene said sincerely. “If my insight is correct, then your grace should be the heir of a high-ranking Shimuin nobleman, and my pride as a merchant would never tolerate selling a sick elf like this to such a personage.”
Pride? What kind of bullshit excuse[1] was that? What kind of pride could a merchant who sold such flawed elves even have?
“You lowly merchant, just what in the world do you think you’re saying? Could it be that you are afraid that I might pester you later for a refund on the grounds that the elf is diseased?” Dajarang glared at Eugene with wide eyes. “I am Dajarang Kobal. My father is Shimuin’s Count Kobal. I swear on the name and honor of my clan that I won’t try to persecute you in any way after our deal has been struck.”
To think that he would actually place the name and honor of his clan on the line just to buy an elf that he intended to use as a perishable plaything.
‘This spoiled bastard is even worse than Eward,’ Eugene realized.
Hiding his disdain, Eugene denied him again, “It’s not like I don’t believe you, sire. It’s that my pride as a merchant won’t allow me to do it. I refuse to sell this elf to anyone, not just to you, sire.”
“You son of a bitch. I’m saying that I’m fine with it, and I’ve even got the money to pay for it, so why are you putting up such a fuss and refusing to sell to me? Fine, five hundred million, I’m offering you five hundred million sals. Still not enough? Then eight hundred million!” Dajarang spat out these words with a spray of saliva, but he still kept his voice from rising too high.
While it was true that Count Kobal was a high-ranking nobleman of the Shimuin Kingdom, apart from the Garung tribe, he hadn’t been able to establish a connection to any of the other greater tribes. It was too late to throw out a new line now, as the Zyal tribe was already busy managing the current market. If a fight were to break out in the market, the Zyal tribe was sure to intervene and Dajarang couldn’t risk getting in trouble with them.
“Sire, what you’re asking me to sell isn’t an elf, it’s my pride. Even if you offered me eight billion sals instead of eight hundred million sals, I will never sell my pride,” Eugene said with a wide-eyed look of sincerity.
Dajarang was left speechless, pounding his chest in frustration, but Ujicha was looking at Eugene with admiration. What pride! Although it was only the pride of a merchant, those pride-filled words had heavily resonated with what little was left of the warrior’s spirit within Ujicha.
“Then… then if you’re not going to sell her to me, why not just give her to me,” Dajarang pleaded petulantly.
“Please don’t say something so ridiculous,” Eugene scoffed. “I’m not going to sell this elf, I’m going to take her out into the forest and kill her myself.”
Dajarang’s jaw dropped. “Why would someone who calls himself a businessman eat such a loss….”
“It’s not a loss if it’s for the sake of keeping my pride. Well then, I think we’re done here.” Without saying any more, Eugene stepped past Dajarang.
Dajarang reached out to try and grab hold of Eugene, but Ujicha managed to grab Dajarang’s wrist first.
“Y-you son of a bitch,” Dajarang cursed. “Why are you stopping me? No, before that, why did you just stay silent instead of helping me?”
“If I had come forward to threaten him, the Zyal tribe wouldn’t have stayed still,” Ujicha said in his defense.
“So what?! I… I need that elf…,” Dajarang said, panting in rage.
“Don’t worry about it,” Ujicha lowered his body and whispered into Dajarang’s ear. “In any case, he said that he wouldn’t be selling the elf. When he leaves the market and exits the Zyal tribe’s territory, we can attack him at that moment, kill him, and take the elf for ourselves.”
“...Will that really be okay…?” Dajarang asked doubtingly.
Ujicha reassured him. “It will be fine.”
Usually, such an action wouldn’t be allowed. This market had been opened following an agreement made between the various tribes. The agreement also specified that the merchants provided with plaques to attend the market were not to be attacked.
But Ujicha didn’t care about that. Although the pride-filled words that the merchant had uttered had resonated with his warrior’s soul, Ujicha would still much rather be a nobleman than a warrior.
“...Your nonsense sounded very persuasive,” Kristina said once they were alone.
“If you thought that it sounded persuasive, there must be something wrong with your head,” Eugene snorted.
“In the first place, I did call it nonsense, didn’t I?” Kristina defended herself. “Thanks to Sir Ryan, it seems that I’ve learned a rather useless life lesson.”
“Life lesson?” Eugene repeated.
“Yes. The outcome of an argument is often decided by how loud your voice is, rather than logic,” Kristina said with a sigh. “And rather than persuasion, you should just back them into a corner and give them no room to respond.”
“Tina, you really are a genius…!” Eugene gaped at Kristina with a look of admiration.
Kristina just tilted her head questioningly at his sudden exclamation. “...Huh?”
“The ‘life lesson’ you spouted just now is something I actually learnt entirely from you. But why have you only realized it just now? Could it be that you taught it to me without even realizing that you were doing so?” Eugene praised her sarcastically.
“Please just shut up,” Kristina hissed as she rolled her eyes and glared at Eugene.
The following transactions all went smoothly in their own way. Eugene bought two male elves, and one of them had even been afflicted with the Demonic Disease, so he was able to purchase the elf for less than the market price.
If there was one thing that could be called a minor issue, it would be that the last elf exhibited for sale was a female. She hadn’t caught the Demonic Disease and she didn’t have any scars, so the merchant who was selling her had been able to drive up her price until it was much higher than market price.
“...One billion sals,” Eugene raised the bid even as he felt like he was about to cough out blood.
The spectators that had flocked to this impromptu auction let out cheerful roars. In order to pay one billion sals, Eugene would need to dig into the last of his remaining gems. It might be stating the obvious, but the Lionheart clan’s Black Card couldn’t be used in a market like this.
‘Don’t raise the bid any more,’ Eugene begged inwardly. ‘Wait, no, please do raise it. That way I can just give up cleanly.’
Feeling distressed at the potential loss of so much money, Eugene clenched his fists tightly. He didn’t want to make a fuss, so if he needed to, he would reluctantly pay for the elf with his remaining jewels.
However, now that he didn’t have any money left, wasn't the only option to give up if someone had a higher bid? So Eugene still held out hope that someone would post a higher bid, so he could be free to give up. Of course, that didn’t mean he would just give up on saving that elf. He would just be left with no choice, really, no choice at all, but to don a mask and become a robber.
“A billion sals! Someone has offered a billion sals,” the auctioneer called out.
‘Please, someone, anyone, please place a bid.’
After a final countdown, the auctioneer announced, “Sold for a billion sals! Congratulations!”
“What’s there to congratulate, you son of a bitch,” Eugene cursed quietly.
“Huh?” The auctioneer leaned closer
“No… thanks for this,” Eugene said as he swallowed the anger that was welling up inside of him and took out his box of jewels.
With this purchase, Eugene had managed to squander all the jewels that he had brought into the forest with him. The slave trader who had managed to sell his elf at twice the market price had a truly gleeful look on his face. With his molars on full display[2], he calculated the total amount as he assessed each gem individually.
“All done, you’re free to take her with you.” Once he confirmed that the jewels had the appropriate value, the merchant happily handed over the elf.
“...” Eugene silently accepted his new purchase.
“I’m happy to have reached such a good deal with you. But you really are quite unusual, brother. What are you planning on doing with four elves?” the slave trader asked.
Eugene’s mouth snapped open to let out an angry reply, only for him to get a hold of his boiling emotions and turn away from the man.
All four elves, including Lavera, were riding in the cart that they had brought with them from the elven village.
Kristina hesitantly asked, “...Sir Ryan, are you feeling fine?”
“No, I’m not,” Eugene ground out.
“Your money was used to save those in need. Don’t think of it as a waste,” Kristina advised.
“Who said that I was?” Eugene huffed. “I just said that I wasn’t feeling fine. Do I look like someone who’s going to act upset just because I had to spend one and a half billion?”
“Aren’t you feeling pretty upset right now?”
“This is just how I usually look.”
Although he had never had to worry about money ever since he had been reincarnated, Eugene still couldn’t help but feel that it was wasteful to have spent so much money.
‘It’s alright… it might have been one and a half billion sals, but that’s only enough to buy five pairs of giant’s testicles,’ Eugene tried to comfort himself, but this didn’t help him very much.
While Eugene was riding the horse that was pulling the cart, the elves who were riding behind him were all listening to Lavera’s tale. The elves had all thought that they would definitely be branded as slaves and sold to other masters, but Lavera’s words brought hope to these newly purchased elves.
As they traveled, Eugene’s scowling face also began to loosen up little by little.
“...Sir Ryan,” Kristina spoke up.
“I know,” Eugene said with a grin as he pulled on the horse’s reins.
As the horse accelerated, the cart started rattling. None of the elves made any noise to show surprise. Until moments ago, the faces of these elves had been filled with hope, but now all that was seen spreading across the elves’ faces was fear.
Lavera tried to stay calm. There was no need for her to worry. The Guardian of their village, Signard, had spoken to her personally before they left. They were going to a dangerous place, but there shouldn’t be any danger. No, well, they might run into something dangerous, but it wouldn’t pose much of a problem.
Signard had said these words while trying to reassure Lavera.
…But was that really the case? Lavera’s shoulders began to shake at the sounds she was hearing. She could hear the pounding footsteps of a tribal warrior drawing closer. Why were they being chased? The natives of the forest should be bound by the rule of not attacking the merchants who were invited to the market.
“...Sir Ryan…?” Lavera sought out some reassurance.
Tension and fear was causing her breaths to quicken. Lavera placed a hand on her chest to calm her pounding heart as she turned to look at Eugene for reassurance.
Hearing a call come from behind him, Eugene turned his head around to look back at her and asked, “What’s with your expression?”
“A-are we going to be alright?” Lavera stammered.
“Of course we’re going to be alright. This actually works out great for us,” Eugene replied with a bright smile.
While their pursuers had been quickly narrowing the gap between them, past a certain point, they had stopped drawing any closer and were keeping their distance. Were they waiting until Eugene and his party had reached a point where an attack wouldn’t cause any political problems for the raiders?
’I guess I should be grateful,’ Eugen thought to himself as he continued heading straight forward, not seeing any need to change direction.
Like this, they soon left the territory of the Zyal tribe. As the cart slowly headed deeper into the forest, Eugene was left wondering when their attackers would approach. Was it now?
Yep, it was now.
Their pursuers sped up and quickly closed the distance. Then, they overtook the cart. The warrior who had been chasing after Eugene’s group appeared to have been jumping through the tree branches above the road, as he fell from the air a good distance in front of them, blocking the path of the cart. Without panicking, Eugene brought the cart to a halt.
“Urp…!” Dajarang, who had been hanging on to Ujicha’s back, covered his mouth as he held in the urge to vomit.
He quickly got down from Ujicha’s back, collapsed onto the ground and vomited.
“Get down.” Even as the sounds of vomiting continued to ring out from behind him, Ujicha did not look back at Dajarang and instead pointed his finger at Eugene as he made this demand.
As he did, he also checked to see that Kristina and the elves were still riding in the cart. He wasn’t interested in Kristina herself, since she had yet to remove her disguise of a middle-aged lady. However, after he handed the one-eyed elf over to Dajarang, that left three elves for him….
Ujicha licked his lips with a smile.
Eugene stood up without getting down from the driver’s seat.[3]
“You said that your name was Dajarang Kobal, right?” Like Ujicha, Eugene stretched out a finger and pointed at Dajarang.
“Urp… Uwaaargh…” Dajarang was unable to reply to the question and just kept vomiting.
But the truth was that his reply didn’t matter.
Eugene had spent one and a half billion sals in order to buy these three elves. Dajarang had said that he would buy Lavera for eight hundred million.
In other words, Dajarang had at least eight hundred million sals’ worth of gems on him.
‘It can’t be helped.’ Eugene suppressed the urge to laugh as he leapt down from the cart. ‘I had no intention of robbing him. But since this bastard decided to try and engage in robbery first by blocking my way, then….’
That just left Eugene with no other choice.
“Don’t you understand what kind of situation you’re in?” Ujicha’s lips twisted into a scowl as he looked at Eugene, who showed no signs of fear.
Ujicha hadn’t brought any of the other warriors from his tribe with them, but there shouldn’t be any problems. It was just a single lowly slave trader after all. Tearing someone like him to pieces would be even easier for Ujicha than catching and killing an insect….
“What?” Ujicha unconsciously spat out a surprised cry.
The slave strader, who had been right in front of them until just now, had suddenly disappeared.
1. The original Korean idiom for bullshit was ‘the sound of a dog chewing on a bone.’ ☜
2. The original Korean term has it as ‘his gums were in full bloom.’ ☜
3. Pending clarification as previously it said that Eugene was on horseback. ☜
