Ezra looked at the five winning teams that stood behind James. As he observed their faces, he noticed anger, unfairness, helplessness and sadness.
Ezra saw this and then…
"Hahaha, did you think I wouldn't reward the winners?" Ezra said while facing them.
"Haven't you heard that you save the best for last" Ezra said with a grin, before continuing…
"Each one of you will get two plates as reward for striving, thinking and winning"
Upon hearing this, the sad looks on their faces immediately took a u-turn, as proud smiles replaced them.
Immense happiness and joy coursed through them as they moved to take their plates, before ultimately wolfing it down. The losers, who were secretly happy at their plight, became envious.
Alas, that was all to it, nothing would touch their mouths.
Ezra gave James another plate, along with two for his sister, the gang member who bought the food got two plates, gave Fredrick two plates, and eat the last one himself.
One hour had passed since Ezra's arrival when everyone was finally done eating, so Ezra told them to assemble and moved to address them.
"James has called you all here for an immense opportunity, as for whether you are really deserving of such opportunity…we shall soon see"
"I want to hire you as minions to do my bidding in exchange for stable food and shelter. As you have seen, I can either be heartless and cruel or kind and benevolent depending on the situation" Ezra said.
"So, you need to choose. Will you accept or decline? After this, any who defect will be killed ruthlessly"
"So…will you stay or leave? Be warned that your jobs will not be easy…but that also means your reward will not be small"
"You have one minute to choose. Those who decide to leave, go back to wherever you came from. While those who choose to stay, just remain here"
A minute passed and the number of those who left were…none!
What a joke! Only idiots would leave after listening to such a thing.
After all, when compared to starving daily, sleeping all over the place, and having to constantly think of how to survive each day. Working for food and shelter was far much better. Not to mention that there were hundreds of beggars looking for such a thing.
How could they let such an opportunity slip by?
Ezra nodded in approval seeing this. In fact, it was the reason why he made them play that game just now.
"Hmm, very good. From now on you shall work as shadows, carrying out my assignments. Do you understand?"
While most nodded and some didn't understand, a hand was raised. It was a short girl, the same one who had first crossed the finish line.
Ezra nodded for her to speak.
"Hmm, what does ass-in-mint mean?" she said as the word seemed too complicated for her tongue.
"You'll naturally be told later. For now, I have a job for each of you"
"I need you to find a boy not younger than twelve but not older than eighteen that had brown hair, green eyes and works at a restaurant. I don't know his name or where the restaurant is, so you'll have to split in pairs and spread over the city looking for him" Ezra said, giving them their first task, before adding…
"You have to make sure no one knows what you're doing or there will be no reward. The team who finds him will be given one silver and a plate of pheasant with coconut lime each"
Ezra said the last part to spike their competitive spirit and it worked as intended.
"Know that fighting between teams is forbidden and those caught will be given adequate punishments. Do I make myself clear?" Ezra said as the children nodded, before…
"You are to report to James and he will report to me"
"Ah, yes. None of you can tell anyone about me, or else…"
Ezra didn't need to elaborate, the sentence alone caused the kids to shiver before they quickly nodded.
"You can go" Ezra said as the children gathered in teams of two before going in different directions and vanishing from sight.
"Whew, dealing with kids isn't easy" said Ezra as he remembered other things he needed to do. Especially with how the girl had pronounced assignment a moment ago.
'The information agency needs to be started soon, since, if I'm lucky, Sebastian should come to Niton by next month' Ezra thought as he remembered that he had already tasked Cabrera with sending someone to Quarzet along with a letter Ezra had personally written.
'Now I need to find a literate slave to teach these kids. Although I tasked Cabrera with it…let's just do it now' Thought Ezra as he called one of the remaining gang members to take them towards a slave trader.
———————
They moved at a moderately decent place in the city, going through alleys like usual until they got to the back of a restaurant. There, the gang member knocked on a wall, which turned out to be a door, and said a password. The door was opened up to reveal stairs made of stone.
The stairs had ten steps at most, with two buff men standing on each side. They searched us and Fredrick was told to drop his weapon.
He hesitated a little before complying and we were led down stairs by two of the men. At the bottom, rows of cages filled with both beasts and humans could be seen in a very expansive room.
The two men lead them across this room into another one of identical size. On the way, Ezra saw that all of the slaves had faces of despair as they were pass by.
Ezra felt an emotion of pity swelling up within him, but he killed it off instantly.
'Might is always right' was a basic principle that ran through Orion.
The strong trampled the weak, getting away with horrifying atrocities so long they had sufficient strength.
In fact, the only reason why Ezra dared to come here in person was because Fredrick would be taking the lead.
He had Fredrick change from his previous peasant clothes into silver rank armor while the gang member led them here.
In the third room, Ezra and the others saw an obese man standing in front of one of cages, before he abruptly turned to face them.
"Sir, they are here to purchase merchandise" one of the two men said, before they both left to head back to their positions.
The obese man suddenly had a mischievous smile on his face as he introduced himself.
"Welcome, esteemed guests, the name's Darren Fodder. What kind of goods can I interest you in?"
"Thank you, Darren, I'm looking for one that can read and write fairly decently, preferably female, do you have such?" Fredrick inquired.
"How lucky you are Sir…?"
"Neil"
"Sir Neil, as I was saying, you are a very lucky man for coming at this moment. Our stock was replenished just yesterday and I think I have just what you're looking for"
"Sir Neil, this way please" Darren said as he led us through this hall and towards a hidden door. He was about to open it when he turned around and said…
"*Clears throat* Esteemed Sir, this is the room filled with our best merchandise, and while Sir Neil seems fairly influential, there is a need to know your purchasing power"
"Oh, is that so? Catch then" Fredrick/Neil said, flipping him a gold coin which the merchant hurriedly caught before bowing deeply.
"So sorry for such inconveniences. Shall we be on our way?" Darren said as he hastily opened the hidden door, revealing a compartment that seemed twice, if not three times, bigger than the others.
I saw multiple beasts as we passed them by, with Darren explaining some things to us.
"Those are beasts whose meat increases one's mana quality, cultivation speed, or better yet, allows for a stronger and faster constitution" Darren said giving me an idea, but I would have to wait till we got to where we're going.
And I didn't have to wait long, as Darren arrived at a cage in the deeper section. In it, I see a girl sitting silently that was definitely older than twenty but less than thirty.
She had short crimson hair, or at least she did now. Looking closely, it had been trimmed roughly when she was captured.
She was wearing peasant clothes that reached her knees as she looked at us with dead eyes. The eyes of a person who resigned herself to her fate.
"Oi, get up and talk, and you might find an owner" Darren said.
"Yes" was the only thing she said as she stood up and bowed slowly before saying…
"Hello Sirs. I'm good at sewing, cleaning, I write well and speak fluently" she said with a blank expression.
When I saw her, I silently nudged Fredrick as a sign to buy her.
"Sir Darren, how much?" Fredrick said.
"Eh? I mean, she's just fifty silver" Darren said as his nasty expression quickly took a turn around and a smile came to his face.
From this, I understood that all that talk about replenishing stock was bullshit, and that many others had come but none had bought her.
But it seemed Sir Fredrick realized so too.
"Surely you jest Sir Darren"
"No, she's an-"
"Ten silver, that's the most I can pay for her"
"What? That's too small, especially when considering-"
"Sir Darren, please stop this farce. The fact that I'm even paying ten silver to take such defective merchandise off your hands is to bring goodwill between us, but if you take me for a fool, I'm afraid I'll have to excuse myself"
Fredrick said in quick succession, while releasing the aura of an Expert Knight, as Darren's amicable face became ashen.
"I'm deeply sorry about this, I-"
"That's what you said before, actions speak louder than words, so prove it with your actions"
Fredrick said with distaste in his tone.
"Y-Yes Sir I will do so…" Darren said as he began to think of something suitable, when his gaze went back to the girl and said…
"…Sir Fredrick, as an apology, this girl will handed over to you for free if you buy any others"
A bitter chuckle escaped Fredrick's mouth, with Darren sweating bullets.
"Alright, to build goodwill, as well as the fact that this is our first meeting, I accept" Frederick said, before adding…
"Though, I hope you don't try to play me for a fool next…because things might not end so amicably. Now, take me to the actual good merchandise so I may know if I will ever step foot in here again" Fredrick said, as Darren wiped large amounts of sweat from his face and took them to another room filled with rare beasts and his 'good merchandise'.
As Darren took them here, Ezra was using Mana vision on all the slaves, trying to see which one was actually a hidden gem by looking at their mana pools.
The amount of mana contained in one's mana pool was used to measure someone's initial rank and potential as a mage.
Though the measurement had been proven wrong more than half the time, it worked about 10% of the time, for Ezra, maybe 8%, because his mana vision was just an inferior version of the real deal.
After spending close to two hours there, Fredrick bought seventeen slaves for twenty gold and took the girl for free-mostly because, most of them were capable men at the adept rank or higher with a certain.
Darren had them branded and washed, before being given to Fredrick.
After which, Fredrick bought new clothes for each one of them.
A carriage was called and we headed towards the bar, which I found being repaired.
James came to me a moment later and told me the news I wanted to hear the most.
The children had found the person who would become 'The Miser'.
I would begin my merchant organization soon.
