“This child is the finest!”
The child Karl brought over was indeed beautifully featured, befitting the description of finest quality.
However, the problems were that Rowy’s own face, which he met in the mirror every day, was cheatingly beautiful, and that Rowy absolutely detested children. But Karl was desperate.
“Come on, call him Master!”
“M-Master.”
The boy, who had been slapped on the buttocks by Karl’s fierce hand, opened his mouth pitifully.
“…Master?”
Rowy, who had been about to gesture for him to be sent away, paused for a moment. Master?
“Hmm… Do it again.”
“Pardon?”
“Do it again.”
“…Master?”
The finest quality boy, not understanding, tilted his head saying “Master?” It was quite a spectacle, but Rowy had absolutely no interest in whether he was finest quality or what. He just fell into thought.
I was going to raise a dog, but come to think of it, dogs can’t talk. Naturally they can’t understand words either. No matter how he thought about it, he didn’t think he could put up with that. Rowy knew himself well. And so Rowy mercilessly gave up on the idea of raising a dog.
In that case.
“Don’t you have any grown ones? I absolutely detest children.”
“……!”
Whether the boy who had been secretly hoping to be sold to this beautiful man shed tears in shock or not, whether Karl thought he preferred the dominant type after all or not, Rowy resolved. He would bring in a strong slave who would loyally call him Master and bring back prey.
“Hehe, come this way! Over here! They’re handsome and strapping!”
Karl, who had finally grasped the customer’s tastes, guided Rowy with confident steps.
“Now choose from here! Every single one is very big down there too. Hehe.”
Karl grinned wickedly from the side. Of course, Rowy wasn’t listening to Karl’s words at all. He was too busy selecting a slave that matched his aesthetic sense.
That one looks sleazy. Rejected. What’s with that one’s hair color? Rejected. That one’s muscles are lacking. Rejected. Rejected. Rejected. Rowy, as picky as his own appearance, scrutinized them meticulously. He had looked through all of them, but there wasn’t one that caught his fancy.
“Don’t you have anything stronger?”
“Stronger?”
Karl’s eyes widened. He likes big ones! The misunderstanding grew like a snowball. Of course, Rowy wasn’t one to care.
“If you want a bigger one, there is one… but he only recently became a slave so he’s still being trained. Ah, of course he’s wearing restraints so it’s not dangerous!”
“Hmm….”
“His sword skills are amazing too. Originally we were going to use him as a combat slave….”
Having heard that far, Rowy immediately gestured. Bring him.
‘A combat slave….’
The first time Rowy, of noble body, saw a combat slave was 2 years ago when he took the long journey to the island.
From the Empire to this Seraphila, they had to pass through several other countries. Even if it was a journey into exile for displeasing the Crown Prince, Rowy was still a child of the Irad Duchy. They couldn’t just send Rowy off alone on the long journey across borders, so guards were necessary. However, they couldn’t cross borders with a large number of knights either, so instead mercenaries and combat slaves were prepared.
The combat slave he saw then faced monsters with a sturdy body without even proper weapons. That was the first time in Rowy’s life he had felt such strong killing intent. Certainly, if he was going to make something hunt, it seemed right to bring in someone that strong. Though he didn’t know what he’d have to catch… There wasn’t even a single rabbit, common as they were, living on the island where Rowy lived.
“Here’s this one!”
The slave Karl brought was made to kneel before Rowy. Jet-black hair fluttered with that vigorous movement. For a moment, their eyes met. At the sight of even his eyes being jet-black, Rowy smiled slightly. Rowy liked the color black.
“He wasn’t originally a slave, but his disposition is mild so he should be fine. He’s wearing a magical restraint so he can’t disobey orders either. There’s also the pleasure of personally training him for that purpose.”
Karl added insinuatingly. Whether Rowy was listening to Karl’s words or not, he examined the restraint fastened around the slave’s neck. It was a device with a simple spell that would deliver an electric shock if orders were refused. You can control him with that? As a high-ranking mage, Rowy tilted his head at the crude magic.
“Hmm.”
“What do you think?”
“Thinking about it.”
When Rowy’s response was ambiguous, Karl pressed the slave.
“Greet your Master!”
“……”
“Hurry!”
“…Master.”
When Karl grabbed and shook the restraint from behind, the slave reluctantly opened his mouth. The restraint seemed to have some effect after all.
“Hmm, what to do.”
The voice is fine too. The hair and eye color are to my liking too. But… honestly, I’m not that drawn to him. In an instant, Rowy’s expression became indifferent. Josef didn’t worry much about Rowy’s depression, but in fact it was quite serious and chronic.
Rowy, with severe mood swings, became tired of choosing a dog—no, a slave—as if he’d never been excited. However, thinking about returning to the island again made his heart feel stifled. The island was… too quiet and lonely.
‘Should I just go with this one after all? He seems decent enough.’
He quite liked the black eyes. Rowy examined the slave with an observing gaze.
‘He doesn’t look that mild though.’
The slave didn’t avoid Rowy’s eyes. Rowy also met those challenging eyes. For a while, their gazes were entangled.
“Fine. I’ll take this one. Ring it up.”
“Ah! Yes! Come this way. Hehe.”
It was Rowy who looked away first. The slave’s black eyes continued to chase the back of Rowy walking away with his back turned.
* * *
‘……’
He’d really been sold.
‘O Elion.’
Calming his churning insides, Daer silently recited a familiar prayer. It was a meaningless prayer. Now Daer had to serve a new master instead of God. How did things end up like this? With a dizzying feeling, Daer squeezed his eyes shut.
The name of the man just sold was Daer. He had no surname. Priests belonging to the Elysion Temple didn’t have surnames. It meant dedicating one’s entire life to Elion.
Elysion was a very small religious order. However, the Elysion Temple wasn’t very interested in expanding its influence. Because they thought protecting the mission given by God was more sacred.
The Elysion Order had received only one mission. Namely, demon extermination. Daer, who was born and raised there, was also raised solely to uphold the mission. Daer, who grew up in the hands of priests instead of parents, grew up to be an excellent swordsman without anyone’s teaching, as was God’s will.
When the time came and he received the position of Commander of the Holy Knights and departed on an expedition to subjugate the archdemons to fulfill his mission, Daer was filled with strong conviction about his life, no different from any other priest.
However… only after finally slaying Mammon, the archdemon who had been their long-cherished wish, did Daer begin to feel that something was going wrong. When he completed that mission that he had believed was his everything, Daer realized instead that nothing was left in his life.
‘What should I do now?’
The feeling of having achieved his life’s goal was very… empty. Of course, such trivial emotions were immediately blown away by the matters that came crashing down right away.
“This is serious. We were so focused on demon hunting that the Order’s finances collapsed.”
“Pardon?”
“We’ve already sold all the holy relics. We’ll have to sell your holy sword too.”
“The holy sword… No, you already sold the holy relics?”
“That’s what happened.”
The tiny Order of Elysion, after completing the great undertaking of hunting the archdemon… went bankrupt!
Of course, no matter how small an order, it didn’t make sense to suddenly fall like this over such matters, but the problem was that the place the head priest had urgently borrowed money from happened to be a notorious criminal guild.
If they had even a little capability, they could have requested mediation from another order or country, but the priests of Elysion had focused only on battles with archdemons and were severely lacking in practical sense.
Unable to handle the debt that swelled like a snowball, the Elysion Order thus couldn’t even protect the main temple with thousands of years of history and everyone scattered in all directions. In the midst of that storm-like situation, Daer tried his best to somehow protect at least the holy sword.
The holy sword was different from the other holy relics. The only sword that could kill demons. The holy sword Ignis was the very spirit of the Elysion Order itself. If even this was taken away, truly nothing would remain of Elysion. That’s why Daer truly tried desperately.
However, like the other priests, Daer also didn’t know much besides combat. The things he tried to earn money somehow got twisted. It was a series of incidents too pitiful to enumerate one by one. Why are there so many scammers in the world? Aren’t they afraid of divine punishment? In an instant, debt began to pile up on Daer too. The holy sword was taken away long ago, and now even his own body had been sold.
Everything continued to flow only in bad directions. …To the extent that he thought Elion had abandoned His servant who had now served his purpose. Still, Daer didn’t despair.
‘They said God only gives trials that are necessary.’
His newly acquired master was probably also part of God’s will. That’s why Daer decided to focus on his new master for now. Since this person had paid for his body, it was right to stay by their side until he fulfilled that worth. Having served God for a long time, he should be able to serve a master well too. Probably.
‘My new master is… how should I put it.’
Daer looked at the master before his eyes with a subtle expression.
