While we waited for the slaves to be brought to us, I had Nix hide in the shadow of Algust who was responsible for bringing the slaves.
I used my connection to Nix to share his vision, all I wanted was to know how slaves are treated in this world.
From Nix's vision, I saw Algust walking through corridors full of small rooms with iron bars in front, the rooms were, all the same, having a single bed, a basin, a chair, and a desk, in some rooms there was an open book on the desk.
Most of the rooms were occupied by mostly human people, but there were also many of other races, all wearing similar clothes, simple pants, and a short-sleeved shirt.
The slaves didn't seem to have any injuries, they didn't look hungry either, but I could see in their expressions that they didn't want to be there, I even saw some crying.
"(Looks like a good slave market treats its slaves well.)" (I)
"(But that makes sense, slaves are the merchandise of this type of store, all stores should take good care of their merchandise to sell for a higher price.)" (I)
"(If I remember correctly Freya and the others were also in pretty good shape when I bought them as slaves back then.)" (I)
I kept looking through Nix's eyes, after a while Algust came back with the slaves, at the door there was a clerk who handed some papers to Algust before entering.
As soon as Algust walked in he made all the slaves with the traits Jay asked for line up next to each other in an open space in the room that should be used for this.
"Here are the slaves, these papers describe their background, status, and abilities in more detail." (Algust)
Algust hands the papers to Jay who starts to leaf through them calmly, meanwhile, I use my parallel thinking skill to share Layla's vision that is still on Jay's shoulders looking at the papers about the slaves, meanwhile, I'm also looking at the slaves.
Nix takes advantage of the paper delivery moment to stay in Jay's shadow, meanwhile, I noticed that some slaves were looking at us with fear and suspicion, in their eyes we must look like a suspicious group that is wearing hooded clothes and masks.
The papers Jay is holding have detailed information about these slaves along with a picture of them.
So I'm comparing the information with their appearances, the group with construction experience by the information were only able to build, this was useless to me, their skills were mostly enhanced stamina, enhanced strength, and group coordination.
Their stats were also weak, they could be compared better than ordinary people, but Orcs and Ogres will be much more useful when starting construction.
Among the people qualified for alchemy there was a White Elf, there was also a Beastman from the Cattle Tribe, and three Human Men.
From the information the three humans are criminal slaves, they were assistants of an Alchemist who will be killed in a few days, this Alchemist will be killed for having been caught red-handed doing drugs, these three humans were his assistants but their punishments are lighter just forcing them to become slaves.
It seems that this Alchemist had committed many crimes that amounted to such a large amount of fine money that he was not able to pay, so he will be killed.
I don't want to have anything to do with these three people who were drug dealers.
The Elf and the Beast Man seem to have been from the same alchemy shop, it seems that the previous owner died leaving the shop in the hands of his son who didn't know anything about alchemy, this man took all the money from the store and even asked for a big loan, so he fled to another Kingdom with the money, because of which this man's shop, house, and belongings were confiscated by the government and sold.
It seems that because these two were employees of this store they were considered accomplices, so they were forced to be debt slaves, the money from their sale will be to pay the debts of the loan that fell on them.
From the information, it seems that the Elf is a researcher on potions in general, while the man is an Alchemist specializing in healing potions.
Neither of them seems to have a family, the man is an orphan from a war years ago in another Kingdom, but the Elf abandoned her original village to become an Alchemist here, both are promising and will be bought.
Mages are different, there are many, but most are combat Mages with no experience in theoretical research.
I studied each one's information before spending a few minutes thinking, then chose the theoretical Wizards who seemed to have the decent ability but who by their backgrounds were just poor.
I also chose the same number of combat mages, among them there was a fire mage who was the son of one of the theoretical mages, there were also two sisters who were combat mages of the wood and metal element, they were two Dark Elves.
With that, I have duos of theoretical and combat mages of almost all elements, if not counting the Space element, the Dark element, and the Light element.
I also didn't find anyone who was good with non-elemental magic, unfortunately, I didn't have anyone who studied more exotic magic like barrier magic, curse magic, or blood magic.
I spoke to Layla through our mental link for her to relay my slave choices to Jay, in the end, the list of slaves we were buying was a bit long.
1. White Elf: alchemy researcher.
2. Cat Beastman: Alchemist specializing in healing potions.
3. 2 Men Human: Theoretical fire mage and combat fire mage, they are father and son.
4. White Elf: theoretical Madeira mage.
5. Dark Elf: Fighting mage of Wood, older sister.
6. Dark Elf: Fighting Metal Mage, younger sister.
7. Dwarf: theoretical metal mage.
8. Human: theoretical wind mage.
9. Human: Combat Wind Mage.
10. Human: Theoretical earth mage.
11. Human: Combat Earth Mage.
12. Runic: Theoretical ice mage.
13. Human: Combat ice mage.
14. Human: theoretical water mage.
15. Woman Beastman Dog: Combat water mage.
16. Runic: theoretical thunder mage.
17. Beastman Bird Woman: Combat thunder mage.
I did my best to avoid choosing people classified as criminal slaves, the two Dark Elf sisters look like they were adventurers who had a big debt and couldn't pay it off, so they are debt slaves.
Almost all of these Mages are debt slaves, after having already chosen these the others were taken away, Jay went on to discuss the pressure of all these slaves who were some of the most skilled this place had available, the starting price was too high, but Jay discussed the value until he came up with something they could both agree on.
"The final value for all these slaves will be 12 crystal coins or 120000 gold coins, I think this is an acceptable value." (Algust)
"I agree, let's close on that value then." (Jay)
"I will prepare the sale documentation, I will also prepare for the change of the slave owner." (Algust)
Once again I see them signing contracts for each slave separately with three copies for each, one copy for us, a copy for the store, and a copy to deliver to the God of Commerce as an offering, which also serves to validate the contracts, for Because of that, it took a while.
After the contracts ended the custody of the slaves was transferred to Jay, the shop provided a special carriage to help transport all the slaves to our boat, some slaves were scared of us but there was no reason to be, I don't like to keep slaves and so I'm going to make a tempting proposition for them.
I hope they accept the proposal because if they refuse, I'll just release them to their own luck and leave, I'll be giving them back their freedom, but they'll have to take care of themselves.
I don't plan on letting anyone into the Dungeon without first confirming that they've accepted the lifetime job offer.
After finally finishing everything and leaving the slave shop we hired another carriage to go back to the port, this time a big carriage with the back like a cage was following us with the slaves we bought.
"< Sound Barrier >" (I)
"Was the price much higher than I thought?" (I)
"The master gave preference to the most talented and young, that increases the price." (Jay)
"All the women and most of the men were beautiful, it raises the price, especially for women." (Jay)
"There were Elves among the slaves we bought, that raises the price." (Jay)
"There were women who still kept their virginity, that also adds to the price." (Jay)
"The funniest thing is that most of the reasons the price goes up to don't interest me." (I)
"I believe they were good buys, I hope they accept to serve the master, it would be a shame to waste all that money just to let them go." (Nix)
"I agree." (I)
As we were riding in the carriage towards the harbor we started talking a little after I put a sound barrier around us.
"Why didn't master Zenos buy any sex slaves?" (Jay)
"I thought this was a good time for you to get the skills you wanted so badly." (Jay)
"And what would I do with that kind of slave after I get the skills I want?" (I)
"Never mind, I can go to a brothel at night to get the skills I want…" (I)
"…" (Diana)
"The master said where are you going?" (Diana)
It took me a while to calm Diana down, she said she'll wait until later to have a good talk about it with the others.