V1C2 Part2

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Part 2

A lone Visitor and a lone Demon travelling together, sounds like a fitting match.

“Welcome, dear customer, would this be your first time buying slaves?” The slave trader asked, looking me over as if to appraise me.

The man clapped his hand and a middle-aged woman rose up from her seat. She opened te door to the back and went to another room, and after a while she came back with someone else in tow.

It was a Demon girl with an appearance of a brown-skinned dark elf: Cecyl Pharott was taken out.

She wore white, shabby clothes, with a leather collar on her neck. She wasn’t chained up but, you can’t see any intention to flee coming from her.

Astarte was right; she did have beautiful brown skin.

Her long ears were drooping down in sadness, and I couldn’t see much of her red eyes as it was cast downwards. Her long silvery hair seemed as if it was well-kept – maybe the woman earlier took care of it? – as it gleamed from the light of the lamp.

She was much smaller than me in height. Simply put, if I walked around with this girl while she’s wearing a collar, it will definitely look like I’m committing a crime.

“I would not recommend this girl for new slave owners as she is a dark elf, and they’re well reputed to be difficult to handle. I picked this one up in the battlefield near to where she lost her relatives from the war, yet to this day she remains unfriendly.”

“Hmm…”

“She’s called Cecyl, and according to the person herself, she’s around 14 to 15 years of age. Dark elves’ growth varies from person to person, so some grow fast and some, slow. She has a high affinity for magic, however, she also has a high temper. I don’t believe I can recommend her as a combat personnel…”

“I have something I want to talk to her about, is that fine?”

The small man nodded, so I approached Cecyl. Her silver hair swayed softly. She glanced at me with her red eyes, but turned away almost immediately.

“Astarte sent me, Cecyl Pharott.” I whispered softly so that the slave trader wouldn’t hear. “Well, we’re not all that close though. I’m here to buy you, but in exchange I’d like you to teach me about this world. In other words, I’d like you to act as my teacher.”

“-?!” Her eyes widened as if she’s seen something incredulous, but it was cast down back to the ground immediately.

Ah, that face is familiar. It’s similar to the face I’d make at my part-time jobs. It’s like when you’re promised an hourly wage but in the end they couldn’t uphold their end of the deal, and you keep on doing it until eventually, it’s too painful to even hope.

When I look at this girl, I remember myself from when I was in my original world.

Alright, let’s get you out of here. I don’t care that you’re a demon, and that I’m a Visitor.

“Shopkeeper, how much does Cecyl sell for?”

“She’s 180,000 Arshe, since she’s a precious dark elf.”

“How about 120,000?” When the small man realized that I could see through the market price, he stopped looking down on me.

“I apologize, dear customer, but do you have money for purchase? Our store’s policy is to pay upfront.”

“Is it fine if I barter with skills?”

“Skills?”

“You can trade skills here right? There’s a skill shop next door. It’s faster to do the exchange directly than going there first.”

“Would you mind if we call an appraiser?”

“It doesn’t really matter to me.” The small man exchanged looks with a shop assistant. The middle-aged woman from earlier started to run to the shop next door and brought back an employee from the skill shop.

I remember Astarte mentioning that if they have the consent, they can find out about the skills that are taken out. Conversely, if you don’t give consent they would have no idea what kind of skills you possess. I think it’s better that I hide my [Skill Structure].

“The skill I want to sell is a skill that ‘blows away surrounding low-leveled monsters using cleaning tools.’” I hold my hand to my chest and call out [Monster Sweep: Lvl 1]. It has a weird slimy feeling. A crystal ball the size of the palm my hand came out.

“[Monster Sweep]? I haven’t seen anything like this…” said the skill shop employee with glasses.

I’m not surprised; I just made it after all.

“The effect is… yeah, it’s exactly what he said it was. How much do you want to sell this for?”

“120,000 Arshe.”

“Hmm…” The employee scrunched up as if he was having a hard time accepting my proposition.

“It’d be faster if you could see the effects. Can I borrow a broom, also, is there a harmless monster here nearby?”

“We have some slimes that we use for magic practice.” Huh, I guess that’s a thing. The skill shop employee went to his store and returned with a clear and transparent slime. It was rooted by magic to make it unable to move.

We went outside of the shop. Cecyl was looking over here, her face filled with more expectations than earlier. She was grasping both of her hands tightly in front of her chest. Her silvery hair was swaying. The color of her skin and her eyes were really mesmerizing. If what she was wearing were those frilly dresses that we had in my old world instead of these shabby slave clothes, she’d be much cuter.

Her eyes met mine briefly, and after a moment of hesitation, fully stares back. It looks like she finally understood that I was here to save her. She gave me a small, awkward smile.

Yeah, she’s definitely cute.

I’ll show off a bit of my good points.

“Come and see for yourself whether this skill is worth 120,000 Arshe or not.” I return [Monster Sweep: Lvl 1] back to my chest and held the broom. Since I was the one who made it, naturally, I know how to use it. I lightly swept the non-moving slime and then,

*Whoooooosh*

The slime was flung skyward. It was like I was doing a golf shot. It went over the heads of the people in the square, and even went past the buildings overhead.

Wow, it actually flew. That was more than I expected. Since the slimes were transparent, I couldn’t see them that well, but I’m pretty sure that they flew about 300 meters away. Amazing.

“How about that?!”

“I mean, even if you say that, I don’t really see any use for it.” The slave trader said, looking at me strangely.

Oh, Cecyl looked surprised. Looks like she understood what the use of this skill was.

Alright, here comes the negotiation part.

“You’re a slave trader right? And I assume that you’re in the business of stocking people so you must travel pretty frequently. Monsters probably attack you often during your travels right? You can use this skill during then.”

“No, but, we also hire bodyguards. We can’t even get close to places with unbeatable monsters.” The slave trader shook his head as if it wasn’t even worth talking about. “We already have able-bodied men assembled, we don’t need to resort to strange–”

“So you can defeat monsters if you fought?”

“Yes.”

“Then, how long does a battle take?” I asked, and suddenly the slave trader’s complexion changed.

“You guys travel from town to town, so fighting monsters must be time-consuming. If you weren’t able to get to town by nightfall, the threat of monster attacks increases even further. With this skill, you can get rid of weaker monsters, and save lost time considerably.” I continued my spiel, trying to make it sound as grandeur as possible. I’m not really good at these kinds of things.

However, there would always be scum everywhere that will take advantage of your weakness. I’ve seen it a lot in my old world. That’s why, I can’t let my guard down; I can’t show them any weakness, so that I won’t run into similar problems in this world.

“Listen carefully, you handle people right? So if a monster gets to them, they’re dead, they’re a worthless product. If they become injured, or sick, they lose some of their worth. The longer you spend outside, the more dangerous it becomes.”

“Ugh…”

“What I’m selling, is not the skill itself,” I say as I took [Monster Sweep: Lvl 1] once more, “What I’m selling, is the time you can save with this skill.”

“Is it really worth 120,000 though.” The slave trader shot me a scrutinizing look.

I’m new to this world, and I have no one to back me up, so prolonging the conversation will be bad for me. I need to wrap this up quickly. I need to conclude negotiations while the slave shop still thinks I’m an expert. The skill shop guarantees that I’m trying to match the offered product to the sale price after all.

“You’re the only who can decide its worth. Think about it. How often do you encounter monsters on your business trips? How long does fighting them take? After all the travel delays, you have to consider food for you, the bodyguards, and the slaves; cost for weapon maintenance, and medical expenses, but with a reassurance against low-leveled monsters? You can go home quicker and spend more time with your family.”

If I also add making a Contract as a condition, he probably won’t have any more complaints. For now, I just need to give him one more push.

“If you don’t think this is worth 120,000, then it might be better if I sell it elsewhere.” This is a one-off skill made by [Skill Structure], after all. In actuality, there would most likely be people who would want such a skill. If I just wanted to sell it, it’ll happen naturally.

“Ughh…” As if to ask for help, the slave trader looked to the direction of the skill shop employee.

“It’s a rare skill, there’s no doubt about it. It can go from 50,000 to 1.5 million Arshe. The only person that can decide whether it has value is you.” The employee said with a shrug.

“I get it! We’ll exchange [Monster Sweep: Lvl 1] for this child!” The slave trader groaned for a while before finally, nodding.

YES!!

I did a fist pump in my head.

I somehow managed to bluff in such an abrupt “performance”… Thank goodness…

“Alright, then let’s seal it with a Contract.” I say calmly.

“Best regards, can I get your medallion please?”

“Medallion? Oh, this one.” When I first appeared in this world, there was a pendant that appeared on my chest. It was a golden pendant, and it had a crystal on its head. I asked Astarte how to use it before.

It seems in this world, you use this medallion to make Contracts.

“In the name of the god of Contracts,”

“We hereby agree to exchange the skill, [Monster Sweep: Lvl 1] with Cecyl- Contract!”

The arranged crystal ball emitted a light with a ka-ching. At the same time, Cecyl’s collar rang, then a ring appeared on my left hand. It was a ring with a small, red crystal ball. Is this the proof of our master-slave contract?

“With that, the contract is finalized. If you would like to find out about Cecyl’s skills, please do check once you’ve turned to your inn. Since you’re her master you should be able to do it- you probably already know this anyway.”

“Yeah.”

“As I thought, you weren’t a mere amateur, dear customer… Be that as it may,” Both the skill shop employee and the slave trader were looking at me with probing eyes. “Where in the world did you get this?”

“I only came from an Eastern country. There were a lot of things that happened in my hometown that led me to get stuck with that skill. Cecyl’s matter is a different story. While on a journey, I chanced upon one of her relatives and they requested me to get her.” I answered vaguely. I mean, I wasn’t lying. I just embellished some parts.

“I see, well, tell me if you have other skills you want to sell.”

“I’ll think about it, anyway, I’ll be off.” I don’t feel like coming back a second time though.

I waved goodbye to the slave trader and skill shop employee and left the vicinity. As we left, Cecyl and I held hands as she stared at me strangely.

Skills Used This Time:

[Skill Structure: Lvl 1]

By using two or more skills, their contents/concept can be interchanged with each other. All skills produced will result into a rare skill. This is only the case, however, if it was restructured by yourself. If restructured with two or more people, however…

[Monster Sweep: Lvl 1]

Blows low-leveled monsters away using cleaning tools. Anything that can be recognized as a cleaning tool can be used. Distance flung can reach around 300 meters.

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