What’s she talking about?
Curious, I checked to find that the coat I had over my shoulders bore a bull and a blade on the back. It was our family crest—the monstrous behemoth and the magic sword used to defeat it. For the record, this was just a tall tale, as there was no magic sword at home.
Anyhow, enough about my family’s crest.
“I was wearing this the whole time?”
How did I not notice this when they changed my clothes? How embarrassing.
Before I could get too down in the dumps over the unwanted fashion choice, the woman from the store beamed at me.
“I knew it! Now, now, come right in! What are you searching for? We have everything you could possibly need! Ah, I am Rosalie, by the way. It is an absolute pleasure to meet you.” Rosalie offered an animated curtsy.
“The marquis…?” The man groaned, and I glanced over at him. His face was pale, and he inched away from the scene. Considering his unscrupulous use of the law to sell his own child into slavery, he was probably nervous he might get arrested.
With that in mind, I turned back to Rosalie. “A question, if I may. That man came to sell off his own child. How much would the boy go for?”
Rosalie glared at the man in question. “A boy of about eight… What’s his magical aptitude?”
The man shrank in on himself. “Th-thieving magic.”
“No more than three large silvers,” Rosalie answered immediately.
Despite his apparent confusion, the man fought back. “W-wait just a second! This store is supposed to offer five large silvers or more no matter what kind of slave it is! This brat’s still young! He’ll be good for years! He should fetch a higher price!”
Rosalie snorted and folded her arms. “Any shop is going to offer half or less of his value. You should be happy your child would fetch you three large silvers. That said, the shop’s going to sell him for six or seven large silvers. You’d probably get double or more if he were a girl, but boys aren’t useful when they’re small. They have to be raised and taught, so that factors into the pricing.” she explained, causing the man to grind his teeth and look down at the child.
“Damn it all!” The man ground his teeth, and his head snapped toward the boy. “Useless brat! Fine, I’ll take three large silvers! Cough up the cash!”
He shoved his son forward with brutish force. The boy stumbled, sprawling on the ground with a groan.
Rosalie stared daggers at him. “How can you treat a child like that? Isn’t he your son? Can’t you be more—”
“Shut up! Stay out of my business!”
That was enough to push her over the edge. Her shoulders quaked as her anger reached a fever pitch. “Do not make a fool of me! I can just as easily decide I don’t want him! If you’re really trying to sell him, then even if you have to lie, you could at least—”
“All of you bastards look down on me! I wasn’t planning on sellin’ him to you people anyway! C’mon, we’re goin’ to another shop!”
“Aah!”
The man’s face was bright red with rage as he yanked on the rope, causing the boy to cry out in pain. His eyes shone with tears, and Rosalie was fuming.
“I’ll buy him,” I heard myself say. “How does five large silvers sound?”
If the boy continued down this path, he might suffer an early death. When that thought flashed through my head, I couldn’t stand by any longer.
The man and Rosalie both gaped at me, but instead I turned to Till. “Do I have the money for that?”
Till quickly pulled out a leather bag. “Um, yes! The money is right here!” She retrieved a handful of coins bearing the raised image of a horse—but they were gold.
“Do we have any silvers, Till? Five of them, to be exact.”
My maid rummaged faster, but Rosalie reached a hand out to stop her. “We can do an exchange at the store. Leave it to me.”
She stepped inside, and soon she returned with ten large silvers and gave five back to Till.
“You’d best be grateful for Lord Van’s kindness,” she spat, tossing the money to the man who’d just sold his son.
He looked furious, but when the coins landed on the ground, he scraped them all into his hands and left the scene. The poor boy he left behind had no clue what to do, so he simply squatted down in terror.
“Hey, what’s your name?” I asked him.
The boy looked through the opening of his long, unkempt hair and whispered, “Khamsin.”
While I’d certainly never planned on it, I had bought a slave. I felt like a terrible person, but I’d just have to live with that for the moment.
“Khamsin, great. And Rosalie, since we caused you so much trouble, we’ll buy him some clothes and necessities from here, all right?”
Rosalie lit up. “My, thank you very much! I would be delighted to select something nice for him. Come now, Khamsin. Let’s pick out a new outfit together. Ah, but before that, the slave contract…”
She brought Khamsin to his feet and over to me, then took both of our hands. Immediately after, a gentle sensation flooded through my whole body, and my hand began to glow. The light spread across the back of my hand, sketching out a symbol. It turned out to be a seal of some kind, depicting a winged horse.
“What is this?” I asked quietly.
“That’s the symbol of a slave contract. I am a contract mage, you see. There will be no contract fee this time around, since this is your first time here,” Rosalie told me, puffed up with pride.
I never intended to form a contract, but oh well.
“Thanks,” I said with a smile.
After her moment of glory, Rosalie snapped back to her senses with a shout and gave a reverent dip of her head. “My deepest apologies, sir! N-now then, follow me! I shall lead the way!”
Evidently, she’d only just remembered that I was a member of the marquis’s family and snapped herself back into customer-service mode. I trailed behind her, my smile growing wider.
“Here’s the food section, and these are our spices. Daily necessities can be found over there. We also sell tableware and sundries. Oh, would you like to pick out Khamsin’s clothes first?”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Come along, then!”
She escorted us to the clothing section, which had all sorts of attire: Western-style garb, traditional dress, and simple sack gowns with holes for one’s arms and head.
“This is fairly standard for slaves, and it’ll run you one copper coin. Anything with fine needlework and good-quality cloth will cost one to five silvers.”
Going by the groceries, a single copper was equivalent to about 1,000 Japanese yen as far as I could tell, which meant a silver coin was something like 10,000 yen and a large silver 100,000.
So Khamsin himself cost me roughly 500,000 yen?
I perused the clothes as I pondered the value of currency in this world.
“I like this one,” I said, pointing at a particular set. “If he’s going to be around Till a lot, this will help him blend right in.”
Rosalie’s smile went taut. “Um, those garments are made with a rather fine cloth, so they cost three silvers.” Her gaze slid over to Till, as did mine.
My maid thrust out her chest. “Leave it to me! I have Lord Van’s money right here!” she cried, as though the money were her own.
I took the bag from her with a smile and withdrew the appropriate amount. “All that’s left is some underwear and shoes, I think.”
“Thank you so much! In that case, we have shoes that match that outfit perfectly!” Rosalie said.
Thus, my very first day out consisted of me buying both a boy and his wardrobe. To call it unexpected would be an understatement.
“Um, Lord Van? Deputy Commander Dee has been looking for you,” Khamsin said, looking fidgety even in his sleek black butler uniform.
I handed him a cookie. “Take this and tell him I’m not here.”
Khamsin scrunched up his face. A solid scrubbing had washed away all the dirt, revealing his plain features, scrawny build, and deep-blue hair. Much to my surprise, formal attire suited him well. Darn.
“I think he already knows you’re here, though.” Nevertheless, he chomped down on the cookie and slipped out of the room. When he spoke next, his voice was muffled. “Erm, Lord Van is not in at the moment.”
“Is that so? But I heard he went into this room earlier!”
“I looked for him, but he wasn’t there.”
“Huh?! Young man, are those crumbs around your mouth? There was nothing there a moment ago!”
“…I have no idea what ‘crumbs’ you’re talking about.”
“You just ate them! Argh… You’ve been paid off! You have a lot of nerve ignoring the orders of the deputy commander of the Chivalric Order!”
“I-I’m Lord Van’s slave, so…”
Khamsin refused to bend the knee to Dee’s pressure, plainly proclaiming himself my ally.
Dee groaned loudly. “Fine! Talking back to me takes guts, you know. I think I’ll train you in his stead! Consider it an honor!”
“Wait, m-me?”
What a delightful conversation.
Dee ended up dragging Khamsin off, which meant he was going to endure the hellish training in my place.
Poor kid.
Feeling guilty, I quietly followed them.
After Khamsin had turned into a pile of mush, I appeared in front of Dee to take on the rest of the training session. From here on out, I’d have Khamsin do the first half, then I’d handle the second. It was unfortunate that I couldn’t leave Esparda’s lessons to him too.