Tondemo Skill – 307 – Mukouda Bought Slaves (1)
Please read this at .
From the comments in some spoiler forum, I understand that a lot of readers choose to drop this novel because:
Mukouda bought slaves!!! Aaahhhh!!! Unethical! Evil!
If you are uncomfortable with the issue of slavery, that’s fine. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Thank you for journeying with us thus far.
I have said all I wanted to about the issue of slavery back in Chapter 305 and will not repeat myself.
Please enjoy this chapter.
There were nine people in front of me.
Nine people from two families.
[9] And neither have a single woman of marriageable age…
Looks like I really don’t have luck with love…
Haaahh….
[9] Because I came from modern Japan where ‘maids’ are either cute chibi manga characters or cute café maids in a frilly black and white costumes, I can’t shake the image of maid = cute from my mind.
[9] “It’s fine if they don’t want to give ‘special services’ but can’t I at least buy a cute eye candy? Eye candy!!”
[9] Radoslav-san looked a little taken aback. However, he soon calmed down and said evenly, “It’s not that we don’t have cute female slaves. However, the cute ones would not wish to do the work stipulated by Mukouda-sama.”
[9] “Didn’t I say I don’t need special services?!”
[9] “Also,” continued Radoslav-san in a patient tone. “Attractive slaves, regardless of their species or gender, are in high demand. For the first three months of their stay with us, their demands are prioritized. Generally, the ones that fit into Mukouda-sama’s definition of cute would have already been sold.”
[9] “Gununu,”
[9] “Moreover, good looking slaves would prefer to be bought by either nobles or merchants. While the wages of a slave is on the lower side, nobles and merchants are the ones who paid the highest. This is important for slaves who wish to buy their contract back and live as a free person as soon as possible. If you meet a generous master or mistress who likes you, they could gift small but expensive trinkets too.” [5]
[9] “In other words, they wouldn’t want to work for an Adventurer?” I knew I should have become a merchant instead. Ahh, but nearly all my money came from Adventuring, or more specifically, my familiars’ efforts… Still, “It’s not like I plan to be stingy.”
[9] “Mukouda-sama is an S Ranker, right? An S Ranker’s status is not inferior to a noble or even a rich merchant. However, the image of Adventurers being violent tends to colour a slave’s point of view…”
[9] “… …” is it too late to switch jobs now?
[9] I sighed, finally giving up on my cute maid dream.
Fine.
Whatever.
However, since I’m already here, I might as well take a look at the slave families recommended by Radoslav-san. I still need to hire help and it would be awkward to explain to Lambert-san why I left this place empty-handed after he had taken the trouble to write a letter of introduction for me.
This brings us to the current situation.
“These are the Toni and the Alban families,” said Radoslav as the two sets of families were led in.
First, the Toni family.
This family of four consists of father Toni-san (33), the mother Aiya-san (30), the son Costi-kun (13) and the daughter Celia-chan (9).
The Toni family had sold themselves into slavery due to their debt. Aiya-san got sick and the family fell into debt to pay for recovery magic and potions to cure Aiya-san. Aiya-san, the source of the debt, is currently in a recovery state. Perhaps she could not regain full health because she knew the reason the entire family was enslaved due to her sickness.
Though Aiya-san was standing quietly with her family, her complexion did not look good.
[4] “Toni is good at gardening, his son, Costi is also trained by Toni to a certain extent. I understand you need gardeners for your property? Aiya, the wife, used to work at a cafeteria before she fell ill, so she has a good cooking ability. She can also handle household chores and Celia is quite capable as well since she’s the one who took care of the family when Aiya was sick.”
Up next is the Alban family.
The family of five consists of the father Alban-san (30), the mother Teresa-san (28), the oldest son Oliver-kun (10), the second son Erik-kun (8) and the oldest daughter Lotte-chan (5).
[4] “The Albans used to work as farmers. They were forced into slavery due to two consecutive years of poor harvest. Alban specializes in growing fruits, so he could take care of orchard and vegetable yards as well as other miscellaneous gardening jobs. His two sons could assist too. Teresa would, of course, handle household chores. She also has some butchering ability and could dismantle small monsters. Lotte is, well, a small child.”
[6] Radoslav-san’s explanation was concise and while not particularly sympathetic, gave me all the necessary information I needed.
Looking at these two families, I finally understood why Lambert-san told me to purchase whole families together. [9] If they were to split up, where would the children go? especially little toddlers like Lotte.
[9] It would be better for them to be slaves to a smaller household and take less money if they could stay together. However, who would pay money for a family that has people who could not work like Lotte or just recovering from sickness like Aiya-san.
[6] They would be desperate to stay together, especially to take care of those who could not or could barely work…
Speaking of desperate. [5]
“I will work hard! So, please, buy us!”
Augh! Those imploring eyes.
The one who called out just now was Costi-kun, who bowed his head. Soon, spurred by his brother, Celia-chan also cried out, “Uncle, please!”
Then, the next thing I knew, Toni-san was calling, “Please, let take our family. We'll work hard together,” and bowed.
The mother is bowing too.
“Uncle, we will also work hard! So, don’t let our family break apart! Please!” this time, the cry came from the other side of the room. Five people, including little Lotte who probably didn’t know anything, were bowing at me.
Erik-kun has tears dripping down his face and Lotte was saying ‘Please, please!’
“… …” urgh, you guys sure know how to hit my weak spots. [5]
How did they know I’m vulnerable to little kids!?
“… Radoslav-san, I’ll take both families.”
“Thank you for your patronage,” [3] Radoslav-san has a big smile on his face.
The next thing I knew, the Toni and Alban families were crying again. This time, out of relief and happiness. [6] I guess that’s better than them crying out of desperation. Also, it’s not like I can’t afford it, moreover, I do need to get trusted people to help me…
After much crying and thank yous, the two families allowed themselves to be led out of the room to register their contracts with me.
For the Toni family of four, the price is 500 gold, the Alban family of 5 cost me 510 gold. [9] I wonder if the extra 10 gold is for little Lotte.
[4] “Isn’t this kind of cheap for human lives?”
[7] Radoslav said, “It might be a trifling amount to you but for commoners like the Toni and Alban families, it’s a tremendous amount. Moreover, if one takes into consideration the interest rate of debts and the time taken to save up this kind of money, they would have had to pay twice the amount back to the owners. For most people, it will be decades before they could be considered free people again.”
Thanks to my familiars, these amounts that ‘takes decades to pay back’ are just numbers to me.
This is the reality of families who had sold themselves into slavery. If it takes decades to pay back, it’s better to be sold as a family into a single household. That way, they could still be together even as slaves.
Anyway, since I’ve bought them, I should be responsible for them.
I didn’t manage to get my cute maid but that’s probably part of my fate…
Let’s forget about that sad business and focus on the future instead. I have high expectations for everyone. You are all together now thanks to me, so I hope you all work well with each other and produce great results in the future!
…….
Let’s keep thinking that way.
Tohoho.
[Gumihou: I can almost see Mukouda laughing and crying at the same time…]
[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] Mukouda is weirdly insistent on wanting cute maids. Gumi decided to address this matter in his mind and draw reference to the modern Japanese culture for reference. Filling in the blanks of why he’s the way he is, so to speak.
Also, instead of leaving it as a monologue in Mukouda’s mind, develop it into a dialogue with proper reactions from a fanatic otaku and a pro trying to work.
In short, Mukouda is currently drawing on his inner Elland-san.