Chapter 600 – Slaves
〚Slave house.〛
Inside the mine management office, there were various shops along the walls, and the slave trading house was proudly located in the gap.
“What is that?”
“What do you mean… It’s literally a place that sells slaves? It looks like they also rent them out?”
Nora answered my question calmly.
“… Are you planning on going?”
“Have you been there?”
“Yes… I’m sure other people have been there at least once?”
While I was rolling around in bed with the women in the red-light district, other people seemed to be looking at slaves.
“There’s no need to go. It’s not a very pleasant place.”
Nora looked negative about me going there.
But you can’t fall behind the trend.
I decided to see what a slave trading place was like.
Slavery still remained in Zephiria.
And that slave was Panthera.
Recently, I heard that as the image of the slave trade became bad due to the human rights violations in Zephiria, the trade was being conducted undercover.
But here, they put up a sign and do business.
The blatant name ‘slave trading post’… There is a lot of aggro.
I have never been to a slave market, even in Pantera, where the slave trade is active.
But when I saw it right in front of me, I couldn’t help but be curious.
Ethical issues aside, slavery is a disaster from the employer’s perspective.
If you pay a certain price, you will have someone you can work with for the rest of your life.
Labor costs are so expensive… As long as the price was right, it was always beneficial to buy slaves.
And everyone says they saw it, so I can’t be left out.
I headed to the slave exchange with Nora.
As we entered the slave stockade, the clerk greeted us.
“Welcome.”
Be polite.
That alone showed that he was not a military official.
However, he didn’t look like he was a prisoner…
“We are not slave owners, but only middlemen. We only sell slaves in the military.”
He seemed to be a native of the city.
It reminds me of something I heard from women in the entertainment district.
They said they had never left this city since they were born.
It is highly likely that this applies to everyone living in this city, excluding those serving sentences.
It is said that the military only manages the security of the city. They don’t come forward unless it’s a serious crime or a crime committed by a prisoner.
So, citizens were running separate vigilante groups.
I haven’t been around this city much, but seeing as there are no soldiers in sight, there is a high possibility that the stories of the women in the entertainment district are true.
Even in the prisoner’s dormitory where I stayed, I saw less than three military managers.
‘Now that I think about it, the clerk who gave the loan… ?’
Should we assume that most of the management of this city is left to the indigenous people?
I remember the women in the red-light district looking a little afraid to while talking about the military.
Aren’t they the same Zephyria?
Why are people who aren’t even serving sentences being locked up in a place like this?
“This way.”
The slave trade center guide led us underground.
As you go down to the basement, the shiny metal walls and bright lighting create a neat atmosphere.
“When I came here before, it was still crowded with people… But is it free now?”
Nora said, looking around.
The metal door in the basement opens automatically.
Automatic doors…
Suddenly it became high technology.
This is the original Zephyria atmosphere… But it feels awkward after living in an analog world for a while.
Inside the door was a long, neat hallway, and along both walls were rows of small rooms with full-length windows.
In each room, there were naked men wearing five magic suppression devices on both wrists, ankles… And even the neck.
It seems more correct to say that it is on display.
However…
They were not Panthera.
They were all blue-skinned Zephyrians.
“These are heinous criminals sentenced to life in prison.”
Nora, who was next to me, seemed to know my question.
“Are you saying that all the slaves here are vicious criminals?”
“That’s not all. They say people who are caught trying to escape or people who are serving sentences who are judged to be incapable of repaying loans also become slaves like this.”
If you can’t repay the loan, you will become a slave?
What this means is that the prisoners brought to Gregory could become slaves like this at any time.
Now that I think about it, was the loan interest compounded?
Considering that vicious interest rate, it somehow seems like compound interest.
I remember Cowra coming to see me yesterday and being angry.
Was I worried about going into the glass room naked like those guys?
If an acquaintance were to face such a situation, it would seem a bit pitiful.
But I am a capable man.
Cowra’s worries will end in vain.
The price list of slaves was written on the display below the front window of each room.
Of course, it wasn’t a price I could afford.
“Even if you purchase a slave, you cannot use it if you leave this place.”
The guide said.
“What does that mean?”
“It means that slaves cannot be taken outside this city.”
… I think I know roughly.
Leaving here means release.
In other words, he is a slave who can only be used when he is serving his sentence here. You can’t take away a violent criminal who was sentenced to life imprisonment.
As I was walking among the slaves on display, I made eye contact with one slave who was sitting down looking sullen.
When the slave sees me, his eyes widen, and he jumps up, banging on the glass window and yelling. But he had good soundproofing, so he couldn’t hear what he was saying.
I was bewildered by the slave’s sudden seizure.
“…”
But his face somehow looks familiar.
“Don’t you know him? He became a huge topic of discussion on Zephyria not long ago. He’s Fallon, a perverted serial killer called the Collector.”
From Nora’s explanation, I remembered who he was.
‘Ah… It was Fallon.’
He was said to have been sentenced to life imprisonment, and it appears he was imprisoned here.
It’s not very nice to see a man naked and glowing.
“Can slaves be this violent?”
“S-sorry. Since he came in recently, he doesn’t seem to have received much training yet. He’s usually calm, but I don’t know why he’s acting like this today.”
In response to my rebuke, the guide operates the tablet he was holding.
Then Fallon fell to the floor as if he had been electrocuted and began convulsing, urinating with white foam in his mouth.
Just as I was about to frown at the dirty sight, the front window of the room where Fallon was in turned black.
“I think we need to educate them thoroughly. Where can slaves be sold like that?”
“S-sorry.”
“But all I see is a man?”
I asked the guide with sharp eyes.
That’s right. Male slaves were not my interest in the first place.
“The female slaves are separated in another room. Would you like to see it?”
Fortunately, the female slave seemed to have been placed elsewhere.
“Please.”
“Do I really need to see it?”
Nora grumbles.
She was oblivious.
There is no way I would have come all this way for a male slave.
When the guide opened the room at the end of the hallway, another room appeared.
The layout was the same as the room where the male slaves were kept.
The only difference was that each room displayed women, not men, on the wall.
They all had average, if not average, looks and bodies.
Zephyrian doesn’t know if it’s because of plastic surgery or if it’s genetics, but she hasn’t seen anyone who would be considered ugly.
Wary eyes, curious eyes, rotten eyes, poisonous eyes, etc… Various looks are poured into me.
There was also a woman who explicitly showed her private parts to me, asking me to buy her.
If she hadn’t come to Karaz, she wouldn’t have had to look for slaves, but since the woman is poor, she also draws attention to the slaves.
The price of slaves was cheaper than expected.
If it weren’t for the money I spent at the entertainment district yesterday, I could have barely bought the cheapest slave.
I felt a little disappointed.
‘Renting makes me feel like my belly button is bigger than my stomach.’
Since she had squandered most of the money she had, from the beginning she only planned to watch.
Despite my appearance, the guide who treated me politely to the end left quite a deep impression on me.
With a sigh of regret, I left the slave exchange and headed toward the mine, promising to do the next one.
*
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*
A cliff extending up to the clouds in the sky.
On that cliff, there was a narrow path leading upward in zigzags, like a work platform at a construction site, and there were numerous holes along the path.
The holes in the cliff appeared to be tunnels for mining stone.
“It is said that it is easier to mine magic stones the higher you go, rather than mining in a mine shaft at the bottom of a cliff.”
If you think about it a little, you can figure it out.
The tunnel at the bottom of the cliff, which is the easiest to get to, must have been the one with the most people going in and out, so wouldn’t the Maseok be mined the most?
“I’ve only tried mining once, but they said the level of difficulty is similar either way. Today, Bark, let’s go where you want, right?”
Nora gave me a choice.
“Then somewhere in the middle would be good.”
