Tondemo Skill – 306 – Sad News, Dreams Fall Apart
“Not to question your strength, Mukouda-san but I thought it would be better to be prepared. After all, if you plan to continue as Adventurers and travel around the world, your house would be left alone… your slaves wouldn’t be able to rely on the Knights much for protection since Knights can’t protect your mansion against technically legal assault…” [5]
“Technically legal…?”
[9] “Ahem, I should let you know, the products we get from Mukouda-san sells very well and we have been getting a lot of attention but not all of them are good.”
[9] “Eh? Eeeehhh!!”
[9] “For now, they are more annoying than dangerous,” Lambert-san made an ‘ahem’ sound and continued. “The Merchant’s Guild has been keeping an eye on a certain organisation but there’s nothing much we could do since they’re in a different country.”
[9] “So, you know who they are?” I was incredulous.
[9] “Well, we have some idea. They are, humm, I should say, ambitious? Their organisation grew to its present situation in just one generation, so that’s always suspect. However, there’s nothing the Merchant’s Guild could do about them so long as we can’t find evidence of their… mischief.”
[9] “Are they targeting your company, Lambert-san?”
[9] “There have been some small movements. I believe they are backed by a few aristocrats at least,” then he shrugged. Looking not the least bit concerned. “Well, if they try to do anything illegal, I’m happy to send them straight to the Knights.” [5]
[9] “Ahah, sorry for the trouble…” I’d be really troubled if something happens to Lambert-san and Marie-san over some shampoo and soaps.
[8] “Oh, don’t worry about it. The lord of this area, Count Langridge-sama favours me a lot. I know that Mukouda-san is an S Ranker so they won’t target you directly, but they might target your place while you’re not at home.” [5]
This… is troublesome.
Here I thought I could leave my stocks of soap and shampoo for Lambert-san to collect now and then but with the threat of this ambitious organisation out there… [5] I’d have to seriously think about security on top of secrecy.
For now, I should follow Lambert-san’s advice and purchase slaves with fighting ability. [5].
“Lambert-san, I trouble you to guide me on this,” I said.
“Oh no, it’s no trouble. I shall write the letter of introduction now and recommend a reputable place where you can purchase good slaves.”
[9] I wish he’d stop saying ‘slave’ but I guess it can’t be helped. I need to hire help and for now, the people that fit the requirement I wanted are, well, slaves.
[5]
Please read this at dot com ~
““Hey, where are you going? Let’s go hunt!””
“”Umu, I, too, wish to go hunting.””
… I’m just glad that Sui is currently sleeping in her leather bag.
“Not today, I have to visit the… slave dealer… now,” [10] I wonder if I could ever get used to the word.
““Ehhh…Why!””
“”Why? That’s boring,””
Boring you say…
“If you think going to the… slave trader’s… is boring, would you like to stay in the mansion and clean the place? Mow the lawns, clean the bathroom, sweep the pathways, pick up the leaves, clear the drains and-”
““What? No!!””
I wasn’t sure who said that…
“If we don’t have people to manage the house, we can’t leave because outsiders might break-in. So, we’ll have to stay here forever to guard it.”
“”No!!!”
“”Nuu, I refuse. There are other dungeons to explore.””
““And hunting!””
“Well, if you want to do any of those things, other people would have to clean up after you. I’ve just bought a house and I need to make sure it’s properly settled. [6] Who was it that wanted that big house anyway?”
““Nuuu,”” [5]
Anyway, that quieted them down. I followed the directions given by Lambert-san and came to a very large building that did not look like a store at all.
“Is this it? Wait, there’s a signboard here…”
There was indeed a small signboard. It says: Radoslav Company.
“Well, that’s the name Lambert-san gave me, so here goes…” [3] I used the knocker to rap on the door [6] before stepping back and waited.
Before long, the door opened to reveal a large and tough-looking skinhead peering through a small gap.
“Erm, I’ve been introduced to this place by Lambert-san…”
When I showed him my letter of introduction, the skinhead took the letter and closed the door to my face. Silently.
A while later, the door opened again. This time it was swung open properly, a sharp and slender man in his 50s appeared at the doorway.
“I am Radoslav, the owner. Apologies for keeping you waiting.”
“My name is Mukouda. Please to meet you,”
“I have seen Lambert-sama’s letter of introduction. Please, do come inside.”
[6] And so, I stepped into my first slave trader’s shop.
The skinhead man stood by the entrance like a guard. Perhaps, he’s in charge of security? [10] To keep bad people out and the… other people… in? That’s kind of ominous…
Anyway, I followed after Radoslav-san down a corridor. We passed by a lot of doors, all of them closed. [10] I guess… slave trading is something like a close door business, huh?
[6] Still, after passing half the doors, I ventured to ask, “Um, where are we going?”
[7] Radoslav-san turned to me and said with a professional smile, [4] “This store will not entertain new customers without a letter of introduction. We deal with slaves and hence, a lot of money is involved in every transaction. First-time customers usually come here first.”
‘Here’ being the last door at the end of the corridor.
“Please,” Radoslav-san opened the door to a very understated room. The furniture and wall colour is all in very calm and muted colours. The furniture are all plain looking but exuded a certain something that made even a middle-class person like me understand that it’s all very, very expensive.
I sat down in a chair.
A maid came in and served us tea.
I took a sip of the tea just for something to do.
Oh my, it’s very good.
“From Lambert-sama’s letter of introduction, it appears Mukouda-sama is looking for people who could manage and protect a mansion?”
[11] “Yes, that’s true…” I blinked and flushed a little. “Uh, I’d like someone cute and pretty as the head maid, and maybe a few pretty looking maids…”
[6] “Is that so?”
[11] “Ahem, yes. Well, if it’s possible, someone who would be alright in making a contract for certain… services…” [5]
[11] “… …”
[11] “… …”
[7] Radoslav-san set his teacup down and laced his fingers together. There was… an odd look in his eyes. It was… pity? Was that pity in his eyes?
“Mukouda-sama, are you perhaps, from a different country?”
“Yes? Yes,” I mean, I’m from a different world but [6] I guess some countries are so different even on earth that it’s almost like a different world.
“What you are requesting for by every definition is sex slaves. We do not deal with sex slaves in this country. While you can, theoretically, make a contract with a girl and enter into a physical relationship, not many would accept it.”
“Eh?”
“Basically, it’s because there’s no demand for sex slaves.”
“Eh?!” h-how can there be no demand… I mean, it’s good there’s none but men are creatures that would want women, right? So why-?
“For the amount of money you could purchase a girl willing to enter into a contract as a sex slave, you could visit the red-light district and enjoy the favours of several girls.”
… th-that’s true… [6] wait, is that true?
[6] Wait, why are we talking about this?
“For women, and men, who are willing to trade sex for a living, they will first head over to the red-light district and do business there,”
[11] “So, in other words…”
[11] “If Mukouda-sama intends to obtain certain… specialized services, the red-light district would be your best bet.”
The red-light district…
To be honest, I really want to go and have a look. I’ve never been to one before but… my eyes trailed towards the corner where Fer and Dora-chan were napping.
Wherever I go, they will insist on following.
I wonder, is there a way to trick them into… no, Fer will eventually track me down with that nose of his. The last thing I want is to cause trouble while looking for… special services.
Should I just take them with me-
Nope, nope, nope, that’s an even worse idea.
…my hope and dreams…
My maid-chan…
Sob.
[Gumihou: Reworked the sex slave conversation, hopefully, it’s more fun and interesting than the original]
[1] Structural Change: Combine 2 paragraphs
[2] Structural Change: Combine 3 paragraphs
[3] Structural Change: Combine paragraph & dialogue
[4] Structural Change: Change passive sentence to dialogue
[5] Delete Repetitive or Pointless Information
[6] Additional Information for Aesthetic Purpose
[7] Add Dialogue Tag
[8] Creative Licence Taken
[9] Awkward conversation on trade rights. Also, businessmen are generally more euphemistic. Also, switched flat boring text to more lively dialogues.
[10] Mukouda-san adjusted too quickly to the idea of slavery, which is kind of OOC especially for someone from the modern slave-less era. Adjust details.
Gumi also supplied some of his wild thoughts and expectations of what slave-trading might be.
[11] Mukouda’s request for cute maids was summarily treated via:
I frankly told him I want to hire cute maids for the house management, someone who would be fine making a contract to be with me…