Chapter 75: Suspiciously Wealthy
Chapter 75: Suspiciously Wealthy
Elisha became a slave.
Actually, most of the leadership of the Sylvan Magic Tower, including Elisha, became slaves.
Normally, spirit summoning is a capital offense... but because a frightened internal whistleblower reported it during the planning stages, it ended as a mere attempt.
For me, it was a stroke of incredible luck.
If they had been executed as in the original H&A scenario, there would have been nothing I could do.
But a sentence of slavery is a different story.
In the end, isn't it just a matter of buying them with money, just like I did with Carla?
"For that reason, please sign this leave of absence, Professor Iona."
"Student Yandel... so you're asking for a legal leave of absence to go buy your classmate who just became a slave?"
"Exactly."
"And the enslaved Elisha will become Student Yandel's attendant and attend classes with you under the guise of being a bodyguard?"
"Later on, I plan to hunt down cultists and monsters with her."
"How interesting! Make it happen!"
And so, Carla and I briefly left the Academy.
As for the specific details... well, Iona will handle them.
*
Inside the carriage heading to Gepp City.
Carla, sitting close beside me, deactivated the magic circle floating in the air.
The lesson on the Lindelheit family's secret magic circles, which I had been learning from her lately, had reached a stopping point.
Actually, at first, since she said the patterns allowed for intuitive communication of meaning known only to oneself, I tried substituting Hangul or Hanja into the magic circles.
I thought it would work since it follows the same principle of autosuggestion as chanting... but strangely, it didn't.
The reason was simple.
Whether it was Hangul or Hanja, they were ultimately types of 'characters.'
A magic circle needs to be a schematic of what one imagines, something that can be recalled the moment it is seen. But characters require reading and interpretation, don't they?
Of course, inserting one or two into a magic circle still worked properly.
But once I started combining them in earnest, simple words became sentences, which inevitably required reading comprehension.
In the end, it crossed from the realm of intuition into the realm of reason, meaning it could no longer perform its original role properly.
For that reason, I was learning the Lindelheit family's secret magic circles that Carla had suggested before.
Perhaps because they were designed for magic circles from the start, the patterns expressed various magical elements quite well.
Carla, who had been looking at my clumsy magic circle with a proud expression, suddenly poked my thigh.
"Master, Master."
"Yeah?"
"There's one thing I'm curious about. May I ask?"
"Go ahead."
I withdrew the mana from the magic circle I was maintaining and met Carla's ruby-colored eyes.
"I'm only asking this now, but... why on earth was Elisha sentenced to slavery as well? I still don't understand. Do you happen to know something, Master?"
"...I have a bit of a hunch."
The Sylvan Tower Lord tried to summon a spirit for Elisha's sake, but Elisha herself had no direct connection to the summoning.
Despite that, the reason Elisha received the same punishment was...
To put it bluntly, she was framed.
They took the fact that the spirit summoning plan was for Elisha and pieced it together with the nasty rumors floating around the Academy to write a whole novel.
The story went that as she watched her former rival, Carla, fall into slavery, her misplaced inferiority complex began to pile up.
This manifested in the form of her pressuring me—Carla's master—within the Academy to heap all sorts of humiliation upon Carla.
But even that wasn't enough, so she tried to make me her subordinate...
However, when I succeeded in the feat of subjugating Edmerec—an achievement unfitting for a first-year—her accumulated inferiority complex exploded, leading her to participate in the spirit summoning.
All of it was solely to gain greater power.
And thus, to reign at the pinnacle.
...They made Elisha out to be a power-mad mage along those lines.
Then they announced that as the official investigation result and slapped her with a sentence of slavery.
It was a cliché but quite plausible narrative, and since it was an official announcement from the Church Alliance, everyone likely believed it and moved on.
But to me, who had heard directly from Elisha that she was taking infamy upon herself, it was nothing but bullshit.
Even without that, having seen Elisha many times in H&A, I knew well enough that she wasn't that malicious.
So, this was a frame-up.
"It's probably the work of the Boiling Silence cult."
"...Isn't that an Evil God cult?!"
"Right. They're experts at infiltrating while pretending to be normal people and sowing discord."
If Confused Unity is the Evil God of Gluttony and Ugly Prosperity is the Evil God of Lust, then Boiling Silence is the Master of Sloth.
The problem is that they are strange fellows who move more diligently than anyone else just so they can be lazy.
"The followers of the Boiling Silence cult are prepared to do anything to win without fighting."
Inducing territory wars, framing people for punishment, turning major facilities into seas of fire, and so on.
It's to the point where you can assume they are the cause of most incidents that tear this side apart.
Even the framing of the Lindelheit family on charges of being cultists was the work of an Apostle of Boiling Silence who had infiltrated the Levantine Imperial Family.
...I'll have to tell Carla the truth about the Lindelheit family's downfall eventually.
But that time isn't now. Not yet.
As I looked at her with a complicated heart, Carla tilted her platinum-blonde head.
"Can't we just reveal the fact that it's a frame-up by an Evil God cult?"
"Who would believe us? We don't have any evidence. Even if we did, if we touch it clumsily, we'll only face a backlash. The fact that they can manipulate things to this extent means they're quite powerful."
In the first place, the followers of Boiling Silence are spread out everywhere.
Furthermore, the story where one truly digs into the Boiling Silence cult and defeats its Apostle takes place in the Levantine Empire.
If it were the Levantine Empire, I might know, but I have no idea who has infiltrated the Church Alliance, so I can't even make a move.
"So for now, let's just focus on Elisha's matter."
"Mmm. You're right. Just as you said, Master, things could get even more difficult if we make a mistake. ...Ah, then wouldn't it be better if I acted a bit pitiful at the auction house?"
"Why bother?"
"You're going to buy them all anyway, right, Master? But if I, who became a slave first, am acting all comfortable by your side, it'll be troublesome for the Boiling Silence side too. Their plan to break them by making them slaves might go down the drain."
"That... is true."
They succeeded in turning the Sylvan Magic Tower into an empty shell, but it would be meaningless if the contents they pulled out were perfectly fine.
If I showed my usual side of cherishing Carla—and especially if they found out that Carla's mana core was intact—then they would try to interfere with my bidding by any means necessary... or in the worst case, they might even try to assassinate me.
A great spy is also a great assassin, after all.
"Fine. Let's do as you say, Carla. Should I go for a 'wicked slave owner' vibe?"
"Hehe. I've actually thought of a few things..."
Carla's ruby eyes sparkled as she burned with motivation.
Seeing her meticulously lay out every expression, line, and action, her own desires were clearly bleeding through.
...You're not thinking of this as some kind of roleplay, are you?
*
A few days later. I arrived at the Gepp Auction House just in time for the auction.
As expected of a place called the continent's greatest auction house, it was flashy and bustling.
No, it's even noisier than usual.
"It's been a while, Viscount Pilaf."
"I didn't expect to see you here, Count Rano."
"I heard a very precious item is coming out today, so I hurried out."
"The same goes for me. Most of the people here are likely the same."
"Haha... I came hoping to snag at least one, but I might have to loosen my purse strings more than I expected."
That's right.
Today was the day the elves of the Sylvan Magic Tower were put up for auction.
Normally, as Carla had, slaves must undergo a period of education.
But this time, they were put up for auction as soon as they arrived... and there was a reason for this.
First, most of them are intermediate magicians and the Tower Lord is even a high magician, making them very difficult to manage.
Second, they wanted to sell them quickly before the buzz died down—the sensational news that the entire leadership of a magic tower, not just an individual's deviation, had tried to summon a spirit.
And finally, it was because of the image the elven race holds.
Even in this world, the fantasy of elven degradation is quite significant.
A merchant wouldn't ignore the demand of those who want to personally train a proud elf rather than one whose spirit is already broken and submissive.
For those reasons, the auction was held quickly.
And people with money flocked like a swarm of bees.
As for what I was doing in Gepp City, which was in a more excited mood than usual...
Squeeze, squeeze.
I stood at the entrance of the auction house with Carla tucked under my arm, kneading her buttocks.
"Ugh..."
With her head hanging low, Carla was half-collapsed in my arms.
She looked as if she were crying, or perhaps trembling with shame.
But what was certain was that a thorn pattern was engraved on Carla's neck, and she wasn't resisting me.
The gatekeeper, who had been blankly looking back and forth between Carla and me, bowed ninety degrees.
"Welcome! Please, head inside!"
"......"
What the. I came with my original face this time, so why am I getting the VIP treatment?