From each seller we only bought 5 or so of the more promising labor slaves, allowing us to select the best products. For these purchases, I used my real name. They were cheap after all. I added a secrecy clause to all of the contracts that were loose enough to potentially cause problems.
Ayame’s contract, for example, gave her lots of freedom, so back then I also added it to hers, but I didn’t need to do it for Seraphiel, because her contract was airtight. She had no rights whatsoever and had to do whatever I told her, so simply commanding her not to divulge my secrets was enough.
I dumped them at the stronghold location where Ronan and Iselda were waiting for them with open arms. For safety reasons, I also got a few guard slaves, but since strong combatants were expensive I could only buy ones that were below level 10.
Their job was to hold off any hostile entity that could wander into our territory even if it cost their lives while the rest either escaped or I had enough time to open a portal to send reinforcements.
The chances of it happening were low, but just because the territory was veiled by an artifact doesn’t mean nothing will stumble into it.
All the labor and combat slaves I bulk purchased were males. I had multiple reasons behind this decision. First, I didn’t want to deal with issues that would arise from forcing the two genders to live and work together constantly.
Second, labor slaves were low-level, almost always level 1-3. At this progression point, males had significant physical advantages, making them the ideal labor slaves. Third, it would be easy to motivate them to work extra hard by handing out cheap brothel visits as rewards for continuous great work.
If I had female slaves living with them, I would either have to forbid relationships, which would make them hate me, or deal with the myriad of issues that love between my slaves would cause. It was a bit cruel, yes, but I needed them to be efficient for now. I had basically no money, no passive income.
Once I got more established and ventured into other, female-dominated industries, like tailoring and hospitality I would let them mingle. For that, though, we first needed to organize some strict slave hierarchies and systems that would automate their management, like administrative slaves and stuff.
As for buying them sex slaves, that was a big no-no, since I had multiple slave lovers. My ladies would definitely not appreciate it. Well, I imagine Lucille and Aurora wouldn’t either. It’s just not ethical, so I also wasn’t overly keen on going through with it, even if it would be cost effective long-term.
I will happily pay some brothel workers a few silver coins every few weeks to keep the well-behaved ones company for a night.
There was a long road ahead of us. Join us at freewebnovel
With this bulk purchase completed, I was now the proud owner of:
– Ayame
– Blossom
– Seraphiel
– Ronan
– Iselda
– 20 labor slaves (specialized in construction work)
– 5 low-level guards.
As for the current slave hierarchy, it was very simple; Ayame (my right hand) > Blossom (party member, my lover) = Seraphiel (party member, Healer, giga expensive) >Iselda, Ronan (expensive, educated, important slaves.) > Labor slaves = low-level guards (these two groups had to listen to any other rank’s orders, but in case of emergency, the guards could tell laborers what to do.)
Lucille and Aurora as my other lovers would be equal in rank to Blossom. Anna and Beatrice were equal to Ronan and Iselda. I’ve grown to like and trust them, and they were improving as servants rapidly, so I was hoping to give them leadership roles among my maid squad when the time came to recruit them. For now, the twins would remain with Robert and Mavena to learn the ropes of the trade.
I was going to hold some grand speech for my new slaves where I would introduce myself, my expectations towards them, their ‘rights’, and the like, but decided to postpone it until we were finished with the Phenom trials. For now, I’m sure Ronan and Iselda will take care of their management.
I’ve planted the artifact in an underground basement we dug for it, a budget version of what the kingdom used to hide it in its outpost, then planted cheap magical traps on the outskirts of our stronghold territory.
Afterwards I brought Geim over, who had truly blossomed since Aurora finished her research into yours truly’s extract and created the most ideal fertilizer. The old Geim said that the pot it gave us should be sufficient to house its child for months, but only after a few weeks, the new Geim was ready to break its confines apart from all the strong roots it grew.
However, something was worrying; this Geim wasn’t showing signs of being sentient. It was just like a tree. I hope it just needed some time to develop a conscience and we didn’t make it stupid with using my fluids instead of water.
As for the Geim’s feeding, it fell to Iselda, who wasn’t very happy when I introduced her to the barrel of my ‘water’ she would have to drizzle onto the plant, but she did accept the extra job. It was meant to be the twin’s task, but they were going to be staying in the inn so that wasn’t going to be possible. At first I debated leaving Geim there with them, but it would be much safer here.
Even if a monster or humanoids were to find this place, why would they bother with a simple tree? Even I couldn’t sense life from it, so I doubted others would.
Afterward I brought over lots of building materials and tools, which would let the construction of the slave dwelling begin, followed by barrels of cheap wine, water, and preserved food. I don’t know how long we will be away for the trials, so I had to set them up for at least a month just to be safe. In the beginning, they would be living out of tents.
Feeding this many people hurt my heart. Now we were penniless once again, and the construction materials I got were nowhere enough to finish my mansion, or even start it. They are just good enough for some of the lesser buildings that will surround it.
As for Seraphiel, I haven’t introduced her to this location for now, instead, I kept her in Braedon with Lucille and the rest. I didn’t want her to come into contact with Geim yet, because I suspected that she might end up having a very strong reaction as a nature-loving elf. Well, that is if she could recognize this lifeless creature.
For now, I just wanted my team to focus on the Trials.
Since it was Broderick who introduced us to Aurelion, and thus the Consortium itself, we were thought of as his proteges, thus the syndicate contacted us through him- and because they had no other way of contacting us- to let us know where the Trials would be taking place.
With the location and date known, it was time for us to set out so that we could reach our destination in time.
The Phenom Trials were about to begin!