The poor employee girl almost began weeping due to my demeaning words towards her entire existence, but I have to play a character now. Well, I could’ve been more gentle, but I really wanted to act like a pampered brat with lots of cash once in my life.
I’ve read too many young master novels not to do it when the opportunity was presented to me on a silver platter.
She bowed numerous times and apologized for her uncleanliness, which was quite funny since she was perfectly clean, and then rushed away. Another employee brought us to a VIP room, this time it was much more luxuriously decorated than the one I had consultations with Marcus in regarding Ayame.
Last time I had to wait for someone to bless me with their presence, but on this occasion before I could even place myself into the warm embrace of their lush sofa I heard panicked footsteps approaching us. They were sprinting.
The door opened and a panting, out-of-breath Marcus stepped through, followed by another woman and a man. Marcus was middle-aged, but these two were well into their sixties, the owners of this establishment, I guessed, based on their rich attire.
I know that it’s a family business, so they might be his parents. The resemblance is certainly there.
“Welcome to our humble establishment, esteemed madam and sir.” Marcus voiced respectfully while bowing, followed by the other two.
They might be wealthy, but at the end of the day, they were still lowborn. Even the most destitute of nobles had to be treated with utmost reverence by the filth, no matter if they were lowborn homeless, or lowborn wealthy merchants, the commoners would be facing punishment if they spoke out of turn. With my earlier attitude, I imagine they were further agitated to please us.
No one wants a noble to antagonize their business.
“Did you bring the elf, you opportunist scum of a mudborn family? We are not here to see your atrociously ugly faces.” Ayame inquired coldly, completely ignoring their greeting. She was surely enjoying the chance to speak to her year-long captors with such a cruel tone.
The older man grimaced, “she is being prepared to make your honorable presence.”
“Are you keeping such a valuable product in the gutter where you sleep or what?” I love the sass in her tone, though it is distorted due to the imbued spells in the mask we got from Broderick.
This time it was the wife who responded, “no, my lady, she has a nice room. We just thought that not bathing and preparing her before presenting the merchandise to such esteemed guests would’ve been highly disrespectful.” fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
“Is water and soap too much of a luxury for you filth? Why not clean her every day?”
I put a hand around her shoulder to calm her down and I decided to chime in before Ayame went too hard on them. “We can wait a bit. Instead, tell me about the girl.”
<<< Author: She was mentioned in chapter 11 on the pamphlet that Marcus gave the then nearly penniless Quinlan. Her name was Aria, but since we already have Ayame and Aurora, I didn’t want another girl to have a name starting with the letter ‘A’, so I changed hers. >>>
Marcus began narrating, “her name is Seraphiel, a beautiful young elf girl. Well, young according to their standards. She is a hundred years old, barely making her an adult in the elven legal system. She is a serene girl who does not give us any difficulties as her captors and sellers, though over time she did become a bit depressed.
I believe she misses nature, so should the sir and madam wish to see her smile, I recommend letting her wander into a forest or something similar her ilk enjoys when- or rather; if- she is allowed to have free time.
She had been captured by the Ravenshade duke when the Alliance of Elvardia led an invasion against our kingdom, and since the duke’s territory is adjacent to theirs, he was the one to fight them until the royal army arrived from the central. Anyhow, the Ravenshades captured thousands of elves and dwarves, so they started an open market bid for the ones they didn’t want to keep.
They had to replenish their coffers, I imagine, since they got badly hit by the invasion. We bid for her there and brought her all the way back here to resell.
She is a level 18 Healer class, who is also proficient in archery. As a healer she is only required to use her class when someone is hurt, so with a bow in hand, she won’t be useless even if no one needs healing.
As an elf brought up in nature, Seraphiel has an affinity for anything related to it, so she is a great planter and herbalist in times of peace, making her useful to have on hand at all times.
As a war criminal, she has absolutely no rights as a living being and is considered an object as far as the law is concerned. The lord and lady can do whatever they please with her and no issue will be raised from our or the kingdom’s end.
We’ve checked her carefully, with only female hands touching her, and her hymen is intact. According to her words, she never had a boyfriend either. As for training her in the art of pleasing, we’ve attempted with a wooden tool, but she wasn’t willing to participate in this education method. We debated whether we should use firmer encouragement methods, but ultimately decided against it.
She is way too valuable to damage. If the sir or madam wish to train her themselves, you will surely be in for an enjoyable, long, and rewarding journey.”
Damn. Marcus sure can run his mouth. When he was speaking to me before, he wasn’t at all this accommodating. He didn’t even ask me for proof of having enough coins to buy her this time. In all the previous places where I visited, I had to show my coins for them to take me seriously.
I like what I’m hearing. She would be an amazing combatant to round our team out, and she will likely love living in the forest where my stronghold will be built.
“I see. What about the price? We weren’t informed of her value.” I asked, hoping for a reduction since they hadn’t managed to sell her for two months now. I distinctly remember her asking price being 65 gold. I nearly suffered a heart attack when I saw that number since I only had 2 silver coins in my pocket at the time.
‘Good old times… When I needed Ayame to protect my ass from the level 1 monsters.’ I couldn’t help but smile at the fond memory of my first labyrinth attempt. I would’ve died 10 times over without her protection on that day.
“She is being sold for 60 gold coins, esteemed lord.” It was the father who responded, though I could see a distressed expression on his face, likely hoping that I would accept it as is.
He was right to be worried.
“60 gold for a slave who isn’t even in the twenties level-wise?” I asked incredulously. “You know that she might be stuck at level 19 forever if she fails her Rank-up Mission, right?”