An Unexpected Commission

The afternoon sun bathed the terrace of Cafe Akademeia in warm, golden light. Before me sat a blond man wearing a monocle, his neatly trimmed golden beard marking him as middle-aged.

He took a sip of his coffee with a soft slurp.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

“Thank you for making time for me, Mister Arthur.”

“Not at all. I’m grateful for the opportunity you’ve given me today.”

It really was an opportunity. As a brand-new trainer just starting out, I wasn’t in any position to be picky about jobs. I stirred the reddish tea in front of me with a spoon, savoring its aroma.

“First, I’ll inform you of the many changes and revisions our client has requested.”

Revisions…? Curious, I asked, “Then… what about the original request?”

The man who had introduced himself as Paolo smiled.

“Even for him, personally doing such things to his own wife felt rather burdensome… Fortunately, he has acquired a new slave and wishes to make a different proposal.”

The request had changed? Well, I suppose kidnapping and training your own wife without her consent was crossing a line. It seemed the client had finally realized that. Honestly, it would have been strange if he hadn’t been served divorce papers after pulling something like that.

I kept my expression neutral and smiled as politely as I could.

“Haha, it seems ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Lord Sadi found the previous request a bit too much to handle.”

“Haha, there was certainly an element of that. Our client recently attended the slave market and obtained a premium specimen, so he would like to make a new offer.”

With that, he pulled a letter from his breast pocket and handed it to me.

The sudden change in the commission left me somewhat bewildered. Still, the fact that he said I could use her myself wasn’t bad at all. If he had forbidden penetration, I might have turned it down. Training someone purely for entertainment without being allowed to insert was far too restrictive.

Penetration was permitted, but given the nature of the request, it looked like this would take quite a bit of time. There was another sheet of paper behind the letter—one adorned with an ornate seal. I read it carefully.

I scanned the slave certificate once more. A virgin who could use magic… For someone still relatively unknown like me, this was an overwhelmingly high-grade slave.

Hmm… What was going on here?

First of all, slaves capable of using magic were rare. On top of that, she came from a fallen noble family. That alone would add a hefty premium. A 4th Tier Mage in her twenties was already a genius-level talent. If she really was from a ruined noble house, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠there probably wouldn’t be any troublesome aftermath either.

And they were handing a slave like this over to me?

Unless she was extremely ugly… it felt suspicious. No, it felt very suspicious.

The owner using such a slave for entertainment, the fact that they were commissioning me for this job—everything about this situation felt off.

Could she be an incredibly hideous woman?

But if they used an extremely ugly slave for entertaining guests, wouldn’t that just anger their partners instead?

All sorts of thoughts raced through my mind.

Still… if the pay was good enough…

I asked about one of the parts that concerned me.

“For a request like this, it will likely take quite a lot of time. Is there a deadline?”

Paolo rested his chin on his hand, thought for a moment, then answered.

“The client has not set a specific deadline. Since he seems to value quality highly, I believe three months would not be a problem.”

Three months. It was neither too short nor too long.

Normally, a request like this wouldn’t be given to a rookie. Even though I hadn’t been in this industry for long, I had confidence that my skills were among the best. Was this man aware of that and deliberately giving me the job?

No matter how I thought about it, the most likely explanation was that she was incredibly ugly and that’s why they were entrusting her to me. There were plenty of nobles in this city with extremely refined—and sometimes bizarre—tastes.

But custom orders like this came at a high price, so I spoke frankly.

“Custom work of this nature tends to be rather expensive. Are you aware of that?”

Yet the man named Paolo simply smiled.

“Haha, our client is an extremely well-known and wealthy individual. Please feel free to name your price without hesitation.”

Just who was this client? For a moment, curiosity flared, but I didn’t ask. I valued my life too much for that.

The base price of a slave alone would be at least eight gold. Even if she could use magic and came from ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a noble house, if she was ugly, she’d still be worth around eight gold. Adding sexual training on top of that would easily push the value to twenty gold or more.

Of course… this was the first time I’d ever heard of someone teaching sexual techniques to an ugly woman…

Hmm… Strange.

But I couldn’t say that out loud. There might be some circumstances involved, or perhaps the client had such perverse tastes that he actually found ugly women attractive.

Well… I decided to go with that assumption and began calculating the costs. Scrolls, potions, necessary artifacts, living expenses… I ran the numbers in my head.

“Understood. I will take ten gold as an advance payment now, and another ten gold upon completion.”

“Very well. Let us draw up the contract.”

We wrote down the terms of our agreement on paper. I made sure to include a clause stating that no separate compensation could be claimed in the event of training failure. The signing and sealing went as smoothly as flowing water.

In my hand was a ten-gold check.

“Then, I will deliver the slave to your workshop by this evening. Until next time.”

Paolo left his seat. I also stood and headed to the Francesco Grand Duchy Bank to deposit the check into my account.

On the way back home, I stopped by the blacksmithing guild to pick up the items I had commissioned, then made my way to my workshop.

Hoo… It was suspicious, but the conditions were simply too good to refuse. Twenty gold for a single training job… In this world, that amount of gold was equivalent to roughly two hundred million won. Of course, after accounting for the potions, tools, scrolls, food, and other expenses required for training, I’d be left with about a hundred million. Not as much profit as it first appeared.

That was inevitable. Potions, scrolls, and protective gear were all ridiculously expensive.

Still, even if the training fee came to a hundred million, it made sense when you considered that the job required precise knowledge of the slave’s condition and the ability to develop her exactly in the direction the client desired. One needed exceptional understanding of magic, psychology, and biology. Otherwise… in the worst case, the slave might die.

“But still… why would the client trust someone like me with a request like this?”

With these lingering questions multiplying in my mind, I eventually arrived at my workshop.

In front of the door stood a large box. It was too big to simply call it a box. It looked… exactly like a coffin.

So this was the fabled “coffin of suspended animation” I had only heard about.

What now…? It looked incredibly heavy.

The massive coffin gave off an unmistakably ominous aura. Fortunately, I noticed wheels attached to the bottom and felt a wave of relief.

I unlocked the workshop door with my key and pushed the coffin of suspended animation inside.

“Light.”

I tore away the paper wrapped around the box.

Riiip.

What appeared before me was a crimson coffin. Hanging on its front was an envelope. When I opened it, I found a ring and two letters inside.

The next page contained the instruction manual for the coffin of suspended animation and a slave description sheet.

The ring was a magical tool that activated the Slave Brand to inflict pain. However, its weakness was that anyone capable of using 6th Tier or higher magic could easily remove it.

“Hmm… Not bad.”

I continued reading the manual.

— Furthermore, once the coffin is opened, the suspended animation state will begin to wear off after one hour. We strongly recommend applying the brand as quickly as possible after opening.

A brand that inflicts pain when the slave disobeys… I didn’t particularly like it.

“Hmm…”

It didn’t align with the aesthetics my master had taught me. This was hardly the method of a gentleman.

Maybe I should stop by the scroll shop? What time is it now?

I headed toward the scroll shop. Fortunately, it was still open.

Ding-ding.

The chime of the bell rang out.

“Welcome.”

A seductive black-haired woman in her early thirties with large breasts greeted me.

“Good afternoon.”

At my greeting, the woman smiled brightly, as if something pleased her greatly.

“Yes, what can I help you with today?”

“I’d like to purchase a scroll suitable for use on a slave.”

I handed her the scroll and the ring. The shopkeeper opened the scroll and looked it over. I explained what I wanted.

“Something with roughly this kind of effect would be good.”

The shopkeeper gave a bitter smile.

“It will cost a bit extra, but it is possible.”

I paid the amount and waited for the work to be completed.

In a dark space, a beautiful blonde woman stood waiting. She had an enigmatic aura, with large breasts and a narrow waist. Completely naked, she sipped on wine.

“Darling, did you deliver the goods to him safely? How was it? Did he seem pleased?”

The middle-aged blond man standing behind her answered.

“The goods have been delivered. I even confirmed that they were moved into the room.”

The blond man slowly began to melt into a grayish hue.

“Hmm… I wonder if he’ll like the gift I gave him?”

—He was simply happy because a lot of money came in. But why go through such a complicated plan?—

“Why not? It’s fun, isn’t it? I’m curious to see how that arrogant princess who always acted so haughty will end up falling.”

—I have no interest in such vulgar tastes—

“Hmm, vulgar tastes? Darling, you really lack any sense of ‘aesthetics.’”

The woman took another sip of wine.

—I simply dislike all this unnecessary hassle. Slut.—

“Hehe, you’re such a fool~”