Chapter 17: 15 – Touring the Dormitories

I enter the main lobby. Thankfully for my eyes, the interior is not pure red. It looks like they decided to use it for smaller details like some tapestry, hanging banners and a pinch of paint here and there. The walls are decorated with dark wood while the floor is made out of red square tiles.

The room is decently spacious and features two counters in the far corners with an employee behind each. There are two segments with chairs and tables just near the entrance. The staff wears black tuxedos and uniforms, obviously with red shirts and finishings. Both of the men seem to be already busy with customers so I sit on a sofa and glance around. This place really gives professional and high-class vibes. Hopefully, I’ll be able to achieve a similar feeling. Well… Maybe without slapping purple on everything…

A few minutes later, another person in the company’s outfit emerges from the door between the two counters. He exchanges a word with his colleague and starts walking my way with a smile. Since there’s no one else besides me and the other two customers, I stand up expecting him to be approaching me exactly. He quickly arrives at my place and bows lightly.

“Greetings honoured Sir! My name is Lucas and I’ll have the pleasure of assisting you today. How may I serve you?”

He speaks without dropping the smile. I glance at him. A fine young man around my height with short blond hair neatly swept to the back and blueish eyes.

“The pleasure is all mine. I’ve come to take a look at some slaves. I’m in need of servants and my recruitment isn’t really fruitful.” 

I explain without mentioning the cook yet. It would be a good idea to check some generally.

“I see. Anything that interests you in particular, Sir…”

“Carter. And I’d like to have a general look first. Anyone who can work as a servant in a typical mansion is fine. Is that okay?”

He bows again. “Naturally! Please follow me then, Sir Carter.”

We exit through a door on the right, and after a moment in a short corridor, we take stairs down by one level. We enter a slightly wider one, much less decorated but still in the dark wood and red fashion. There are tens of wooden doors, which as I assume, are to the rooms where the slaves stay. He leads me further, and after a few intersections, we go through a door, walking into a spacious room with a sofa, a low table and something akin to a theatrical stage in front of it.

He gestures over the sofa. “Please make yourself comfortable, Sir Carter. I’ll go through our records and quickly introduce the merchandise in waves.” 

Saying that, he first walks to a door on the other side and knocks four times. Then he bows and leaves the way we came from. A minute later, the other entrance opens and a woman in a maid outfit, with red details, appears in the room while holding a tray with a glass, some cookies and a jug with water. She has short orange hair decorated with a headband and a pretty mature face painted with a professional smile.

She places the tray on the table and pours some water into the glass. Then, she bows and leaves me alone. I’m left quite surprised. That is because I'd have thought they'd employ cute young girls in more revealing outfits to get an edge over a customer, but here they have this fine woman in more of a Victorian-style outfit. Am I disappointed? Not really. 

「Who said that the maid outfit has to barely cover anything to be hot? Whoever did, they definitely haven’t seen a great woman in a perfectly tailored suit.」

While I’m wildly exploring my imagination, someone knocks twice and Lucas comes back with a line of people of various ages and genders, and they have only underwear on. All of them are Humans. I count around twenty. They walk over to the stage and turn to face me. Lucas stands in front of them with a notebook and a pencil, already taking some notes.

He starts introducing them shortly while asking me questions. Most of them are poverty slaves with a few being debt ones. While those terms might seem similar, they are different types of slavery in this world. 

There are debt slaves who enter a temporary slavery service due to not being able to return a debt. But it doesn’t have to involve money. It can also be about broken agreements, promises, destroyed property or anything that includes some kind of a loss for one of the sides. It’s kind of like servant work but with more restrictions and monitoring. They often end up serving that other side, but it doesn’t have to be accepted and they will end up in a company like this. They are freed after finishing their sentence. It’s more like renting a slave than buying them, so their prices are usually lower. Sometimes they end up staying at their new workplace.

Poverty slaves are those who literally went broke or lost everything and have no other way to survive. They enter slavery mostly by their own decision and register in a company. They can negotiate some terms about their future owner with it and those have to be presented and respected if someone wants to buy them. They can be released by the owner with proper payment to the company. It’s usually quite high.

Then there are criminal slaves. They naturally end up that way due to breaking the law, there’s not that much to explain here. The more severe their crime is the more restrictions might be placed on them. If someone doesn’t end up beheaded, the worst thing in slavery for him would be heavy labour in a mine or something. For a lifetime, naturally. They often bear the strongest slavery marks, completely sealing off most of their abilities. Naturally, they are treated way worse by their owners and slavery companies.

And the sad thing here is, that all of this is mostly related to Human slaves. Demi-humans are usually slaves in their own category, having much fewer rights that would protect their well-being and the companies care way less about who buys them and what happens after. It’s rare to find debt or poverty demi-human slaves. They almost always end up as ‘general’ slaves without any means of breaking out of it. In some ways, they have it even worse than the criminal ones. Who knows how many of them were just randomly captured without doing anything wrong.

Lucas presents four batches of people to me in around two hours, noting down the ID of those that I spend more time asking questions about. After the last one, he guides them back and joins me in the room.

“What do you think, Sir Carter? Did any of them catch your attention?” he asks.

「I can’t really go for a debt slave, even though a few of them were quite decent. From the poverty ones, only like five seemed adequate and even they might be problematic while working alongside non-humans. Since I’m already here, should I check their demi-human slaves?」

I take a sip of water before answering. “Yes, there were a few which I’m considering. Although, let me ask, don’t you deal with other races besides Humans? You didn’t present me with anyone else.” I pry a little bit for information.

His smile falters a little. “Ah, my apologies! We don’t tend to move those out of their dormitories and we don’t showcase them alongside normal slaves, but yes, we naturally possess a wide array of other races.”

「Normal slaves, huh...」

“I see. Would you mind if I take a look at a few too? I might have some use for one.” I try to sound like it’s just my daily thing.

“Esteemed Sir doesn’t have to bother himself with looking at those things.” He tries to keep his professional facade, but the intonation of his words make it clear he has the usual view on them. “If I know of the purpose, I can quickly grab one suited for it.”

“Does that mean that I can’t check them personally? I think it would be better if I did so, rather than having to bother you with bringing another one each time I would be dissatisfied, don’t you think?” I pressure him a bit.

“I apologize for sounding rude, Sir. If that’s what Sir wishes for, I’m obliged to lead you to them.” 

He makes a low bow. I catch a glimpse of grimace on his face, but it disappears quickly when he raises himself again. We exit the room and he leads me through a different corridor to another set of stairs. This time we descend around two or three levels. We enter a small room with a single counter and an employee inside. There is a door leading out in every way. They nod to each other, the other person stands up and proceeds to open one of the doors with his keyring. I go through them after Lucas and the door closes behind us.

「Dormitories? Oh, come fucking on...」

My eyes fall on a four-meter-high stone corridor with its walls reaching up only to half of its height, so this might just be a secluded part of a bigger hall. Everything is from grey stone bricks. Floor, ceiling and walls. The only things that are not out of stone are metal bars and gates on both sides. To my left and right are literally prison cells, coming out of said walls, matching their height. Or perhaps cages would be a better term here. 

There are people of various races placed in those dormitory rooms. Yes, those are clean and definitely being properly managed, but all that is inside them is just a single wide wooden bench hanging chained to the back wall and covered with a long cushion filled with straws. I guess that’s supposed to be a bed.

I notice a slightly glowing symbol on one of the bricks there. From what I remember, it looks like some kind of communication glyph, perhaps to signal for someone to come. The slaves here wear ragged clothes, mostly brownish t-shirts and shorts or pants. Surprisingly it’s not cold here.

Suddenly, a loud sound of metal clashing against metal makes me flinch. I quickly turn to the source and see Lucas holding a pole and banging it on one of the cell’s bars.

“Wake up, you trash! We have a customer! Line up in front of the gates!” he shouts.

His professional, kind smile is gone and replaced by a cold and scornful expression. Everyone around starts standing up and walking to the front. Lucas turns back to me with a new smile.

“Please have a look, Sir. If you have any questions about a certain slave, just ask. You can also interview them as you wish. Most know Common or understand it partially,” he explains with a bow and moves behind me.

I take a deep breath to compose myself and start walking while looking around. This corridor has around twelve cages per side and splits somewhere at the end. I pass a lot of Elves, Beastkin, both pure and half-bloods, a Gnome, two Tieflings and what I guess is a Satyr. They all look really miserable, with some already having empty eyes devoid of life. It really hurts just to watch and I’m slowly starting to regret coming down here, even though I only made a few steps.

「Come on, you gotta keep up the act...」

I stop by an Elf woman, seemingly looking at her with interest. Tall, slender figure and long blond hair and green eyes. She glares at us but tries to look disinterested. Lucas quickly catches up with me and moves to the front to speak.

“She is quite a fine specimen of her race, which is Wood Elves. Nimble and quick on her feet. Also knows a lot about forests. Would serve as a great monster lure during hunts. Not that strong, so I’d advise against it when it comes to the labour force.”

He presents her like some sort of a tool. I shouldn’t have expected anything else.

“How did she end up as a slave?” I ask.

“She barged into someone’s property battle-ready, holding a bow with a nocked arrow in hand.”

Her expression fills with anger and she shouts, “I was chasing my prey when you humans kidnapped me!”

“Silence!” Lucas hits her in the arm with his staff. “Speak only when asked! And do it in Common, you filth!”

This makes me realize that she spoke in Elvish. It doesn’t look like he understood. But still… I don’t think they cared for any explanations from her. I start wondering how many others in similar situations, with an assumed crime, have been enslaved.

I shake my head and we move to the intersection. I can see tens of rows of corridors similar to the one we came from. Trying to act like I’m looking for something in particular, I walk from place to place with Lucas in tow. He lists some details about the slave I stop around, always suggesting some absurd way to utilize their strong points. Sometimes it’s a quite strong Class. I’m not sure telling him I’d like to see someone who knows how to cook and not to act as bait will be good in this situation.

We walk a bit more until I hear a clang of rattling chains to my left. I stop and take a glance inside the cell where I heard it. A girl of a quite short stature sits in the far corner of the cage, huddling her knees and hiding her face in them. She has small but slightly pointy ears and long cinnamon brown hair woven into two braids behind her head. She wears the same ragged clothes as others. Both her legs are restrained together by manacles and linked with a metal chain to the wall. Looking at it, it seems to be long enough to allow her to almost reach the front bars.

There are countless bruises and cuts over the visible areas of her body. She has a few bandages here and there and I think one covers her eye or that part of the face. Can’t say properly since it’s hidden.

“What’s up with her?” I ask Lucas curiously. She’s the first slave we encounter locked that way.

“Ah…” He glares at the person in question with disdain. “That thing there is a criminal slave. A female Dwarf. Dear Sir shouldn’t concern himself with such—”

“Criminal slave, huh? What did she do?” I interrupt him.

“Ekhm… Attempted murder. Or rather an assassination. She worked as some noble’s food tester. Two months ago, out of spite, she brewed a strong poison that doesn’t work on Dwarves and sneaked it into the dish.” He grips the staff stronger and spits to the side. “Poor guy was saved but ended up in a coma. Healers still can’t get him up.”

“And she hasn’t been executed on spot?” I ask, feigning a shocked expression.

“She was swearing that it was not her, but after a month she finally admitted it. They decided that a quick death wouldn't be enough and sold her here. If nobody picks her up in the next 3 months, she will be beheaded.”

「These scars must be from all the torture during interrogation… Why does this stink like your typical setup?」

Someone starts shouting in the distance and the sound of something banging against the bars echoes through the hall. We both look its way, but it’s too far to spot anything. Lucas turns to me, slightly hesitant.

「Perfect!」

I fake a sigh. “Go. Better safe than sorry. I’ll wait here for you.”

“Thank you, Sir! I really appreciate this!” He makes a quick bow and dashes away.

After he disappears from my line of sight, I step closer to the bars and crouch. I try to speak in Common first. It would be slightly suspicious for a Human to talk in Dwarvish casually.

“Hey. You there, in the corner. Can you understand me?”

Her ear twitches a bit and she pulls her legs even closer to her face.

“I can get you out if you are willing to come with me.”

She raises her head. As I suspected,  her left eye is covered with a patch of bandage while the other one seems fine. It’s of a light brown colour. She has a very cute face, stained with a few bruises and cuts. It’s pretty, but I wouldn’t call it childlike like those of Halflings are. She’s definitely lived a few tens of years. If she stood up, I guess she would be around 130-140cm. Dwarves average around that range, with 150 being tall and 120 starting to be short.

Anyway, she gazes at me with her clearly absent look. I ponder about what can I even say to gain a little of her trust.

“I’m looking for someone who would cook for my non-human servants. Would you like to help me?” I try asking with a warm smile but she does not respond.  “It’s better to live than to just wait for your death, right?”

I start hearing running footsteps. Lucas must be coming back already.

“I can give you a place to stay. Think about it. I’ll come back tomorrow.”

Soon, he arrives at my side, panting heavily. I rise up.

“Thank you for your patience, Sir. We can continue.”

“I thought a bit when you were gone. I have a few of them on my mind, but I’d like to consult that with someone first. I’ll end here for today and come tomorrow to pick up the goods. Do you respect reservations?”

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“A single day is fine. Which ones does Sir want to book?”

“The Elf woman from the beginning, that one Tiefling with red skin and this Dwarf here.” I list three of them to sound less suspicious.

“I… see. Consider it done, Sir!” He notes all of them down.

I leave the company and head back home. It’s not yet that late, but I’d like to think about everything at my own place. I enter the mansion expecting to get jumped at like yesterday, but it does not happen. I turn around after closing the door.

“Oh. My. God.”

I’m taken aback. Safi and Emi walk towards me and stop a few meters ahead, on both sides of the carpet. Then, they turn their sides to me and make a bow towards each other. What’s so special about that? Perhaps the fact that both of them wear those frilly, skimpy maid outfits. Short black skirt and top with short sleeves and white details, also showing a great deal of cleavage. A cute headband on their heads. And what’s best, black over-the-knee socks covering their legs.

Why best? Because of how jiggly and squeezy Emi and Safi are. And also thanks to the fact that they are slightly chubby here and there, these kneesocks depict a perfect definition of the word THICC. Their thighs are seductively squished by them, creating beautiful small mounds of body which barely spills out.

“Where the hell did you get those?” I ask, completely stupefied.

[We found them when looking for the entrance,] Safi explains.

[There were exactly two! Cornelia said we would look great in them!] Emi happily announces.

“And she was right. Both of you look gorgeous and stunning.”

「They must have been for the VIP’s personal maids.」

Emi breaks the bow and jumps to hug me so I start patting her head. Safi comes closer too, but she’s more reserved, just standing there with a smile. Naturally, I pull her in for a few pats too.

They lead me to the back and show me the entrance to the secret area, which is located in that corridor near servants quarters, under the west stairs. I enter the underground part of the mansion where a lot of rooms of polished stone are located. One of them has a secret door in the wall. And yes, it obviously opens by tilting a lantern… Amateurs…

There are two sets of tracks laid down in the tunnel. There’s a manually run trolley on one of them. I guess there’s another on the castle’s end.

We talk a bit and they tell me that they have nothing against taking in more people if I like them. For the next thirty minutes, I try to explain to them that I do not plan on collecting girls just so I can personally sleep with them and that there will be those just working here, like servants, or just taking shelter, but I don’t think I get through them.

We arrange the room next to mine as their own. Not many changes yet. Perhaps in the future. I’d definitely want every tenant to have a personalized room so that they can feel at home. Well… They still end up sleeping in my bed. But I guess that’s fine. I don’t really want to kick them out if they enjoy it.

※ ※ ※

I go to the company quite early in the morning. Lucas guides me again. They must take notes of who served who, to build better relationships. Without useless chatter, we move down and head to the Dwarf’s cell. 

Arriving closer, we spot three people in front of it. From their attire, they look like adventurers. Two girls and one guy. The first one wears dark robes, a pointy hat and holds a staff. Must be some kind of a mage. The second one wears leather armour and equips a dagger, giving roguish vibes. The guy wears a studded leather chest piece and pants, with a longsword on his back.

They look pretty young. Perhaps sixteen to eighteen years old or something. We approach closer and hear them talking.

“How long does it take to pick a key? Geez…” the man complains.

“We sure one is enough? What if she dies early?” the roguish girl asks.

“Then you will have to do your job properly and disarm all the damn traps, Sasha,” the mage answers rolling her eyes.

“Come on Tirelia, you know that she doesn’t have a lot of experience yet. Let’s not be mean,” he tries to defuse the conflict before it happens.

I arrive with Lucas at their spot in front of the cage. The Dwarf girl still sits huddled in the corner. The boy, having short red hair, steps in front of the group.

“You need something?” he throws his question at me.

“Yes. I’d really appreciate it if you guys moved. I came here to pick up that slave,” I say and point at the Dwarf.

“What? No way! We just decided on her! Our guy went for the key already!” Tirelia raises her voice, annoyed.

“Then we have a problem. I reserved that slave yesterday.” I glance over at Lucas, who holds an awkward smile but nods.

“There was nothing about any reservations. And we need that Dwarf.” The guy crosses his arms.

I look at Lucas with one brow raised. He starts sweating a bit.

“I’ll talk to him.” He bows and runs away.

I turn back to the party. They don't look like they will back down easily, even if the guy guiding them made a mistake.

“There are plenty of other slaves around, why are you so fixated on this one?” I ask.

“She’s perfect for what we need. And the same could be asked about you,“ the boy responds.

I glance over them and the Dwarf girl, trying to figure something out.

“She wouldn’t be that good as a luggage carrier. Yes, Dwarves are quite strong, but a Beastkin or an Orc would fare a lot better.”

“We don’t need her for that. She will be spotting traps. We are entering some dwarven looking dungeon,” Sasha explains. She seems the least hostile out of them.

“Wouldn’t a Mountain Dwarf be more suitable than her then?”

“What? How do you even tell them apart? And which one is she?” Tirelia looks confusedly at the girl inside the cage.

「Houston, we have a chance!」

I straighten up, cross my arms on my chest and speak while looking like I’m explaining basics to some annoying students for the twentieth time.

“Simple. Mountain Dwarves have a lighter skin colour. Sometimes even slightly in shades of grey. They are also a bit shorter and more burly. They usually have dark hair.” I tap on the bars of the cell. “This one here is a Forest Dwarf. Look at how thin she is.”

They glance at her and me in turns. The mage and the swordsman look perturbed while the rogue seems surprised by my knowledge. 

“How do we know that you are not lying just to get her?” The guy squints his eyes my way.

「Fuck...」

I look at the girl. She seems to be awake and listening.

“Why not just ask?”

I hit the bars with my fist and shout in Dwarvish, acting slightly angry. “Hey! You heard why they want you! I can save you but you have to play along!”

The girl raises her head from her knees and looks at me, surprised to hear the language of her people. Her eyes are a bit less absent than yesterday.

“Do what I tell you! Act scared!” I shout again, even more angrily.

“What are you shouting?” Sasha asks.

“I know a bit of Dwarvish since I deal with them often. I told her to wake up and come here or I’ll let my dogs chew on her limbs straight after the purchase.” I kick the bars before shouting in Dwarvish again. “Come on! Help me!”

She stands up hesitantly and starts slowly walking our way, trembling a bit.

“Good. Walk faster, but stop before they can reach you! And kneel!” I continue in Dwarvish, less shouty but still with a raised voice full of spite. She complies with my instructions, quickly trotting closer and falling onto her knees while looking at me.

I turn to them and speak in Common. “Finally. From my experiences yesterday, I’m sure that she knows enough of Common, so you can ask her yourself.” 

I look back at her and talk in Dwarvish again. “Look at my right hand. Fist is a nod, palm is a shake. GOT IT?” I shout the last part to keep up the act. I nod at the group, switching to Common. “She won’t dare to not answer now.”

“Are you a Mountain Dwarf?” the mage asks and she frantically shakes her head. 

“A forest one?” the guy follows and she nods accordingly to a fist behind my leg. “Do you have experience or knowledge about dwarven construction?”

She shakes her head.

“Fuck. We almost wasted our money on a useless tool!” he bangs his fist on the bars.

“If I were to give you a piece of advice, you should try looking for a Gnome. Most of them are masters of mechanisms and traps. Mountain Dwarves are pretty rare in this region,” I suggest.

“Thanks…” he blurts out without looking at me. “You can have this one. Come on, we have a Gnome to find.” 

He starts walking away and the mage follows him. The rogue girl stops for a moment and makes a light bow before running after them. When they disappear, I sigh in relief while smiling at the still kneeling Dwarf girl.

The sound of slow clapping arrives from somewhere behind me. Shivers run down my spine and I freeze.

“My, my… What a beautiful spectacle… A Forest Dwarf, hm?”

The voice of an adult woman follows it. I cautiously turn around and see a lady clad in a beautiful long red dress out of some high-quality material, with her shoulders covered by a classy fur coat; a hat with a very wide brim of the same colour decorates her head. I gulp involuntarily.

「Shit... I’m screwed...」

Saileri

And if we are talking about the skimpy maid outfits, I guess I had something like THIS in mind but with inversed colours. More black with white details. Or we can add an obligatory Chocola ❤

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Enormous gratitude towards our S-rank Guild Member - Magiwarrior! We couldn't have such epic adventures without your support! This Guild Master is greatly honoured by your presence!

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