[Author: 10 chapter mass release to celebrate getting Weekly Feature. Thanks for the support and enjoy!]
…
Ayame clicks her tongue and gives a gentle flick of the reins, setting the mules into motion. The carriage lurches forward smoothly, the enchanted wheels absorbing the unevenness of the cobbled streets as we leave the merchant coalition behind. As the city gradually fades into the distance, a sense of freedom washes over me. I can’t wait to see more of this wonderful new world.
Leaving the gates of Aldoria was an easier task than it should have been, admittedly. The guards ignored us completely, maybe save for a few tired and uninterested glances. I drew up tons of different answers to all their possible questions in advance but no actual conversation took place.
Just to be safe, I instructed Blossom to stay hidden near the town and keep an eye out for potential pursuers or other threats. It doesn’t hurt to be cautious, especially when you’re a mass murderer who killed an adventurer party, a single adventurer, and an entire slave merchant household.
Fortunately, no bodies have been found yet, or at least not reported. The longer it takes, the less worried I am. Since the duchy of Greenveil borders the Beastman Confederation, there are plenty of beast-kin slaves around. With Blossom’s name changed to Luna, thanks to my [Slave Status Modify] ability, she blends in as just another dog-kin among the vast sea of them.
My Slave Master class is proving invaluable in keeping us inconspicuous. It’s supposedly a rather disliked class, often thought of as one of the weakest, as it doesn’t do much.
First of all, it’s a civilian class, which means it offers little chance to increase one’s Normal Levels, so anyone stuck with it will likely die before reaching 100 years of age.
Second, it doesn’t do all that much actually useful stuff. I don’t know what would happen if I level it high enough, but I have to admit that at lower levels it is a horrible choice if you can’t have four classes at the same time like I do.
If you are going to have many slaves without becoming a combatant you might as well get the Slave Merchant class to get better deals on them, or some commander type class to lead them better if you are going to create entire slave parties.
Lastly, it is just plain stupid to not become a combatant instead of a Slave Master in my opinion. If you are going to have many combat slaves, just surround yourself with them as meat shields, grab a good bow and farm some XP.
You might not become a top tier combatant, and you will probably struggle to level up once you are in the double digits, but your life expectancy will still increase a good amount.
Well, enough thinking about this stuff. In the end, to each their own.
After an hour of driving we reach the vicinity of my hidden stash’s location. Blossom joins us and reports that no one acted suspiciously or tried to follow us.
We then spend the next five to ten minutes hauling the crates onto the carriage. I must admit that seeing the petite Ayame outshine my towering, muscular frame in this task is rather humorous, but I’m not so far behind her any longer. She has 49 Strength while I do 30.
The gap is closing in at a rapid pace, though I don’t plan to invest in that attribute for a good while if I can become a spellcaster finally. Intelligence and Wisdom, here I come.
I will let Ayame be the muscle of our party.
Besides the crates there’s the pouch filled with coins we found in the greenskin treasury. After a brief glance I estimate that there are close to 2 gold coins’ worth of currency in there. Absolutely amazing. Once I realize just how much hard cash we got I can’t help myself from hugging and lifting Ayame up into the air while twirling her around, which earns me some rather threatening growls.
She is just so adorable.
We are so going to get kitted out once we sell the rest of our stuff. It’s going to be amazing; new eastern blades for Ayame, a nice dagger and a few useful tools for Blossom and she also needs an entire gearset as she, just like me, only has civilian clothes for now. I also have to get some good new armor and settle on my new weapon type that I wish to try out.
The Wizard potion that either turns me into a corpse or a badass spell slinger is also on the ‘must get’ list. A few magical artifacts won’t hurt either.
Besides the pouch and the crates there are also the trinkets we’ve found in the troll’s lair and Julia’s rings and necklaces are worthy of mentioning as well. Now we just have to get to Braedon safe and sound.
Speaking of which, the journey should take us about three days and two nights, as the distance is roughly 100 kilometers (60 miles) between the two towns. There are about half a dozen small settlements along the road, though, so we can stop and rest for a bit every once in a while. However, I don’t plan to sleep at such a place as I’m rather worried for the safety of my beloved wares.
Some destitute farmer boys might get grubby hands all of a sudden. We can’t have that.
We then spend the rest of the day chatting amongst each other amicably. This journey is quickly shaping up to be an excellent decision team-building-wise on my part. Especially Blossom and Ayame open up to each other much better by the end of the day.
We also spent a good few hours trying to finally explain to Blossom about my origins of being an otherworlder and a primordial. She was nodding along quite vehemently, but I get the distinct impression that she doesn’t get it at all.
Her Master is here, safe and sound, and that’s all that matters as far as she seems to be concerned.