In an aristocratic mansion facing the main street in the center of the Royal Capital.
In a city where taxes on houses vary depending on the width of the road it faces, a huge mansion with a garden and an iron gate was a dazzling example of luxury.
Gideon’s voice echoed in a room overlooking the beautiful garden.
“That Rion killed the kobold!?”
Slamming down his wine glass, Gideon glared at the informer.
Gideon is about 20 years old. He is a well-dressed young man, but his narrow eyes gave off a cold impression and his contorted lips highlighted his arrogance.
The leader of the Adventurer’s Guild standing at the door hugged the document he was still carrying. His face is completely pale.
“Y-yes, that is correct……”
“Is there anything else?”
“According to the slip, it seems that he also delivered a magic stone yesterday. It must be the one dropped by the kobold.”
“……That lowlife!? A magic stone? Since when did he know how to defeat a monster?”
One thing that came to his mind is the girl who helped Rion in the back alley.
He thought she was a high-ranking magician because of her sudden appearance, but according to his investigation, no adventurer had formed a party with Rion. Above all, there is no reason for such a powerful magician to enter the beginner dungeon with Rion. What he was certain is that it is not for the sake of money.
Remembering his still aching jaw, Gideon grimaced.
“Uhm….…”
Glared at by Gideon, the guild leader nearly dropped the documents in his hands.
“Hmph!”
“Hiii.”
There are many old noble families in the Royal Capital. Among them, Gideon’s Warburg Family is one of the four major nobles who rule the Royal Capital by dividing it into four equal parts like a pie.
The Adventurer’s Guild was a multi-nation institution, but in the Royal Capital it was only a pawn of the nobility.
“Bullshit!”
Fuming, Gideon threw the wine glass against the wall.
“That trash with useless skill is like the scum that the Lord God has forsaken! Now you’re saying such sudden change is happening!? ……It irks me!”
Rion’s father was an adventurer who was known to everyone in the Royal Capital. Possessing the aura of the sun, he had brought together the depressed adventurers in the Royal Capital and has defeated a boss monster before the knights.
And so, without realizing it, he had caught the eye of Gideon and the others in charge of the Royal Capital.
“I have to put his son into slavery……”
Gideon gets up from his seat and walks over to his desk.
An opened letter was still placed there, and it read:
『I am buying slaves with rare skill at a high price.…. 』
He traced the initials of a powerful noble, 『V』, with his finger.
Gideon suppressed his irritation as he thought of a way to ruin the life of the family of the commoner he hated.
“……Tell the guild and the stores to buy Rion’s materials at a bargain price.”
“Ah? B-but buying and selling materials is the lifeline of adventurers…..”
“That’s exactly why you’ll do so! It would be better if he could not sell his things…… No, rather than that, wouldn’t it be better if I actively let them buy inferior products? Kuku……”
He grinned evilly as he thought his plan was foolproof.
Adventurers make a living by finding items in dungeons and selling them. With a sick sister who eats up a lot of money just by being there, and with Rion having a difficulty finding work, he could only succumb to his terms, and eventually, he will not be able to repay his debts.
“Even though it was a useless skill, there is a noble who is very interested in its rarity. You’re already good as ‘sold’, Rion.”
Commoners who are unable to pay their debts are obliged to do forced labor under the noble.
In short, they are a de facto slave. It’s called “de facto” because the Royal Family does not approve of slavery.
――God do not permit slavery. Because if it is a profession approved by God, there should be a skill of slave or slave master. But there is no such skill. That’s the real reason. Whether it is to gain popularity with the people, a policy is a policy.
However, the nobility secretly enslaves commoners under the pretext of “forced labor because of debt”. Rather, the slave trade became the exclusive domain of the nobility, and the nobles became richer because of it. Working in debt also has the advantage of making it harder for slaves to escape. If they run away, the reimbursement will be extended to their families.
After failing to repay his debts, the son of that detestable adventurer volunteers to be a slave himself—just the thought of such thing satisfied Gideon’s self-esteem.
Kukuku, it would be fun to put on his slave collar in front of his crying family member.
But if he pays off his debts in full, it will be troublesome!
“Kuku, the buyer is an influential man…… It would be a good idea to make your name known to him.”
Since it is forbidden, there will be criticism if the sale becomes public. However, the nobles, who had become more powerful in recent years, would no longer listen to that. He recalled that there was a particularly nosy princess, but she was banished to the frontier temple as a warning to others.
“I’ll hunt them down, put them into slavery, and sell them.”
The family will be mentally weakened and their judgement will be impaired.
“I might as well sell his sister that will be left behind somewhere.”
Of course, Gideon doesn’t know about it.
—That Rion’s 『Alarm』skill now had “Unseal”. And that ancient items can also became a super-efficient way for him to make money.
“Kekeke!”
—What more, he doesn’t know that Rion’s ally is far from being “high-ranking magician”.
He is so full of himself yet doesn’t know anything….
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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