I walked to the end of the row.
True to the trader's word, they were all young women. There were even a few who were quite cute. Under different circumstances, any one of them might have been a fine choice.
If I hadn't seen Roxanne first.
Roxanne’s beauty was so overwhelming that by comparison, every other girl felt like a disappointment.
The slave trader’s strategy had backfired. He should have shown me the plainer ones first and saved the beauty for the finale.
I glanced over the line of women one last time before returning to the front.
The slave trader and I stepped out of the room. Waiting for us in the hall were Roxanne and the middle-aged woman from before.
She must have just finished serving drinks. Seeing her again, her beauty struck me all over again.
Roxanne bowed her head.
Ah, there they were. The dog ears.
She had changed her clothes and removed her hat, making those distinctive features impossible to miss. They were large and soft, drooping down like a Golden Retriever’s ears. If you weren't looking for them, they were easily hidden by her hair.
"Well? What do you think?" the slave trader asked.
"As I thought... after seeing her, I find I have little interest in the others. It’s unfortunate."
"I see. It seems the gentleman has taken a liking to you," the trader said, addressing Roxanne directly.
"..."
Roxanne gave me a silent look. When our eyes met, she immediately cast her gaze downward, averting her eyes in a way that seemed both troubled and shy.
What was that just now?
That was incredibly cute.
But no matter how much I wanted her, facts were facts. I didn't have the money. In life, knowing when to give up is essential.
"How about this? I can hold her for you for five days."
"What?"
"The market is held once every five days. I will wait until the next one opens. In the meantime, you can sell what you need to at the market and prepare the necessary funds."
The slave trader was pushing the deal forward on his own.
Was this his plan all along? Show the premium item, show the budget options, and then wait for the customer to realize they can't live without the first one?
I had let my guard down.
"Ah. No, wait..."
"The gentleman desires you, but since this was a sudden meeting, his current funds are slightly short. Therefore, I have agreed to wait five days for the contract."
He announced this to Roxanne as if it were a settled matter.
"Thank you very much," Roxanne said with a bow.
What a well-oiled machine they were. At this point, it was becoming impossible to say no.
A part of me wondered if she was in on the scheme with the trader, but even if she was, I didn't particularly care. I’d be the one walking away with a woman this beautiful.
Besides, even if they were working together, how would they actually scam me? The trader had explicitly stated she was a virgin. She didn't seem like a troublemaker, and it would be difficult to sell her to multiple people. Even if they tried to reclaim her later, if the trader's explanation of the slave contract was true, Roxanne would die if I died.
The only real risk was that they’d wait for me to gather the money and then kill me to take it.
If they were just working together to ensure a sale, I had no reason to complain.
"I can't guarantee that I’ll have the money ready."
"If that is the case, I will simply find another buyer. With her beauty, I am certain someone will snap her up immediately."
"A customer with even better terms might show up for her during those five days," I said, attempting a final bit of resistance.
"That is not something for you to worry about, sir."
"Wouldn't it be better for her if a wealthier patron appeared?"
"As for me," Roxanne whispered, "I shall be waiting for you."
Wait, what? When did she learn how to sell herself so effectively?
Roxanne looked up and gave me a brilliant smile. Her white teeth peeked through the gap in her glossy lips.
She was breathtaking. Transcendently beautiful.
"Very well. Move her to the sold room," the slave trader ordered the woman.
Game over.
"Understood. This way, dear."
The woman led Roxanne toward the opposite side of the staircase from the viewing rooms.
"Yes. Um... I look forward to being in your care."
Roxanne bowed to me a third time. Her dog ears wobbled with the movement.
Yeah. It’s fine. Game over or whatever. I was buying her.
"Shall we?"
The slave trader began to lead the way down the stairs.
"I’m telling you, there’s no guarantee the funds will be ready," I repeated as I followed him.
"I doubt that will be an issue. I heard you defeated a group of thieves. That alone should have brought in two or three hundred thousand Nahl over the last day or two."
The man’s calculations were cold and precise. He had a very good handle on my wallet.
I wondered if the price of 422,800 Nahl had been calculated with that specific knowledge in mind. Even if it was, when you're buying a one-of-a-kind item, the seller sets the price.
However, there was one thing the trader didn't know. Before the day before yesterday, I didn't have a single Nahl to my name.
"Even with that, I’m still short."
"I’m sure you’ll manage."
I had no idea where he got that confidence from. We returned to the room where we had started.
Currently, I had two ways to earn money in this world.
The first was to grind in the Labyrinths. If a monster drop sold for 100 Nahl, and I could collect 200 a day, that would be two gold coins. In five days, that’s 100,000 Nahl. Honestly, that sounded grueling. Rabbit Pelts only went for 10 Nahl, so expecting 100 per item was optimistic.
I didn't even know if I could hunt 200 monsters a day, or if 200 kills would actually result in 200 drops. Every monster I'd killed so far had left an item, but that might not be the rule for everything. Stronger monsters probably had rarer, more valuable drops, but I didn't know if I was ready to face them yet.
The second method was hunting thieves for their bounties.
The bounty for those two thieves had been over 160,000 Nahl. I only needed to earn a bit more than half of the total price. I suspected this was where the trader’s confidence came from.
But I felt a certain psychological resistance to it. When I fought in the village, I still thought it was a game, and I had the justification of self-defense. To kill people purely for money, when I wasn't exactly starving... that was a heavy thought. There was also no guarantee I’d even find more thieves in the next five days.
Beyond those two options, I could try using my knowledge from Earth, my Appraisal skill, or try to invest my current capital, but I couldn't think of any concrete plans. Something might turn up, but five days was a very short window.
"I heard you cut those thieves down with ease. You must possess a fine weapon. You might find a buyer at the weapon shops during the market," the trader noted as soon as I sat back down on the sofa.
Durandal. So that was the source of his confidence.
He was right. If I sold Durandal, it would easily fetch over 100,000 Nahl. The Copper Swords the villagers used didn't have the power to slaughter thieves so easily. The trader had seen through me immediately.
When I first arrived, I only had the Copper Sword, but now I had a Scimitar at my waist as well. He probably thought I was some kind of sword collector.
The slave trader's foresight was terrifying. If I combined the bounty and the reward from the Village Chief with the proceeds from selling Durandal, I would likely have exactly 422,000 Nahl.
That was his target...
But I couldn't sell Durandal. The loss of the Bonus Points was too high a price to pay, and losing access to it permanently was out of the question.
Even if obtaining Roxanne felt like winning everything, losing Durandal would be like losing everything. Even if I got her, how would we survive afterward? Without Durandal, I couldn't even get my foot in the door of this world’s economy. I’d just end up being a burden to her.
Besides, if I put a weapon like that on the open market, people would start asking questions about where it came from, and I’d likely be targeted by thieves or worse. Even a pawn shop or a buy-back contract felt too risky.
"Can I earn enough if I enter the Labyrinth?" I asked, trying to gather information without sounding too suspicious. I needed a different way.
"Indeed. It isn't a massive income, but it is a steady way to earn money. Depending on your skill and luck, you might even strike it rich with a rare find."
Skill and luck.
I supposed that made sense. But if he said it wasn't a massive income, then relying purely on common drops was going to be difficult.
"Strike it rich, huh?"
"Though it might be difficult to do so in such a short period."
The five-day limit was the real killer.
"Can I sell items at a guild?"
"The Explorer Guild and the Adventurer Guild are both in this town. To reach the Explorer Guild, head to the main street and it’s the second building on the right on the far side. The Adventurer Guild is on the west side, across the town center. They don't get along with the Explorer Guild, you see."
So the two guilds were rivals. I wondered if "Explorer" was also a job.
"What about going after bounties?"
"I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, but it certainly pays."
"Is there a problem with it?"
"Well, for one, the Bounty Hunter Guild only exists in the Imperial Capital."
"Bounty Hunter..."
Was that a job too? I mentally checked my Job Settings. I had gained "Thief" when I stole and "Hero" when I saved the village. Maybe if I turned in a bounty...
I checked, but nothing had changed. Maybe I had to join the guild first.
"I've heard that one must have extensive experience as a Warrior to become a Bounty Hunter," the trader added.
"I see."
So there were probably level requirements. Something like Warrior Level 10.
"No matter how strong you are, you can't protect everything. To a thief, a bounty hunter is an enemy that must be eliminated at all costs. If a Bounty Hunter Guild were built anywhere outside the Imperial Capital, it would be burned down immediately."
From a thief's perspective, bounty hunters were the ultimate threat. Naturally, they would retaliate. Or seek revenge. I wondered if I was already in danger for killing those thieves.
"So if I collect too many bounties, I’ll be targeted?"
It seemed the reason he didn't recommend it wasn't because of a moral objection to killing, but because of the consequences. Kill or be killed—it was the simple rule of this world.
"Precisely. Furthermore, unless a wealthy relative of a victim puts up a private reward, the standard bounties aren't particularly high relative to the risk."
Perhaps the bounty for the thieves from the village had been unusually high for some reason? No, the trader had estimated my income too accurately for that to be the case.
Regardless, hunting thieves had to be a last resort. I should try to earn what I could in the Labyrinth first.
"I understand. One last thing—I’m staying in town for a while. Do you have a recommended inn? Nothing too expensive, but it needs to be safe enough for me to sleep soundly."
"The Vale Inn, located southwest of the central rotary, is run by the Innkeeper Guild."
"I'll check it out."
I wasn't sure what the Innkeeper Guild was, but if a guild ran it, it was probably reliable.
I stood up. My plan was set, and I had no more business here for now.
"Very well. I shall look forward to seeing you in five days."
The slave trader saw me to the door, and I stepped out into the street.