Inspection 5: The Gryutus Male Slaves
Bronze-smooth skin. A practical, battle-honed physique with curves in all the right places and definition where it counted. Lustrous, flowing hair. Soulful, deep-set eyes. Teeth that flashed like polished pearls. A smile that could make knees weak. The faint, intimate scent of warm flesh that tickled the nose.
The bald, middle-aged merchant spread his arms wide and shouted with absolute confidence.
“How about them, Lord Franz? These are the finest slaves our trading company has to offer!”
“Whoa……”
A murmur of admiration rose from behind me—Serin or Chloe, I couldn’t tell. I didn’t want to know what it meant. My brain was still refusing to process the scene. What the hell was I looking at right now?
“What do you think? Every slave under my care is perfectly healthy, free of any disease!”
“Y-yeah.”
As if to prove his point, a row of men behind the merchant struck a variety of poses. Their bronze skin glistened under the light. They wore tight, panty-like garments that clung to their bodies, skin shining as though slathered in oil. Grinning with sparkling teeth, they proudly displayed their rugged, muscular frames. The sight nearly made me retch.
“Huk!”
“Ugh.”
“The pride of Gryutus—the finest sea men in the kingdom! Muscles forged in real combat! Tireless stamina! Smooth, bronze skin kissed by the sun! Well? Do they catch your discerning eye, Lord Franz?”
“Ahem… Yes, well. I see.”
At the merchant’s eager words, I forced my gaze back to the slaves behind him. One of the bronze-skinned male slaves met my eyes, smiled brightly, and winked.
Did he just fucking wink at me?
Aaaargh! My eyes! My eyes! I want to unsee that! Uuuuugh!
I fought down the overwhelming urge to bolt, restrained only by the need to maintain dignity. My fists clenched so tightly they trembled as I struggled to contain the rage boiling in my chest. That was when Chloe, as if only now remembering, spoke from behind me.
“Now that I think about it, the male slaves from Gryutus are rather famous, aren’t they?”
“What?”
Such utter nonsense. Those men were famous? Those sweltering, suffocating specimens?
When I stared at her blankly, Chloe looked back as though surprised I genuinely didn’t know.
Why the hell would I know something like that?
“They’re famous alongside their pearls… I assumed you knew since you’re familiar with the pearls. The people from that region need to be quite robust, after all.”
“Only the male slaves are famous?”
No. That couldn’t be right. There was no way only the men were famous. If anything was going to be famous, the women should be the ones everyone talked about!
I looked at the men again. Their skin was indeed a deep bronze. At first I’d thought it was from sun exposure, but was that their natural tone? Were they a different race? …Wait. With eye colors and hair colors this varied, there were separate races too? How did anyone even tell them apart? By skin color? What kind of genetic mess was this world running on? I’d never read anything about it in the books. Then again, in a world where discrimination based on magic power was so extreme, racial differences probably took a backseat.
Still, why were these guys famous? I couldn’t wrap my head around it. More importantly—where were the female slaves?
“The people of the Bachn Kingdom are innately skilled at controlling magic through water,” Serin explained with a bitter smile.
“There was a trait like that?”
What was this, some brand-new setting I’d never heard of?
Serin continued. “It’s only a subtle difference, but those with noble-class magic power can supposedly exert one stage higher power when using water-based spells. It’s merely a rumor, of course.”
“Hmm.”
As expected, spending time out in the world rather than buried in books kept revealing knowledge I’d never encountered before. Magic with elemental affinities was a common enough fantasy trope. Franz himself leaned toward physical specialization. Or maybe destruction specialization? Something like that. Specialization. This wasn’t even a game.
“It’s quite useful for the wealthy, so they’re very popular among that crowd. Though they’re called slaves, they’re closer to exclusive attendants. In their cities, becoming a slave isn’t considered such a bad fate.”
“I see… Hmm.”
So they were like bodyguards? Not quite Swiss mercenaries, but something in that vein. Slaves meant for rich commoners rather than nobles, then. The amount of magic power I sensed from them was certainly less than what adventurers usually possessed. With that level of power, they’d probably choose to become adventurers instead.
“Exactly! The male slaves of Gryutus, the pride of our Bachn Kingdom! What does Lord Franz think?”
“No. I don’t want them.”
“I-is that so.”
The moment I refused outright, the merchant’s face twisted with fear. He glanced at me hesitantly, then checked Serin and Chloe’s expressions. Did he think he’d offended me?
“Don’t you have any other slaves?”
“Of course we do. On our way here, I took the opportunity to study the local market and traded various goods. This is actually my first time traveling this far, so it was an incredibly valuable journey. Though I haven’t completed many actual transactions yet…”
“Hmm. There certainly aren’t many slaves in this area.”
It wasn’t that there were no commoners unable to pay their taxes, but the land was prosperous, so their numbers weren’t large. I doubted many people here had a pressing need for slaves.
“Yet you still came all this way?”
“Um, is that… particularly strange?”
The merchant wore a puzzled expression and bowed with an awkward smile.
“Taxes are one thing, but the tariff on slaves is quite high, isn’t it?”
“That’s true. However, it also adds a premium to their price. After all, Gryutus slaves are quite rare in these parts, aren’t they?”
“…That’s true.”
They really were almost nonexistent. This was the first time I’d seen them myself. Though that might simply be because I rarely ventured outside my territory. I glanced at Chloe and Serin, but both were shaking their heads.
“If you went as far as the capital… no, even to Boran Territory, the premium would be enormous. For the slaves as well, being traded at a high price is hardly a bad arrangement.”
“Still, to conduct trade across national borders shows considerable tenacity.”
“Hahaha! I am a merchant, after all. Where there is profit, I will go.”
If it were me, I’d find the whole thing too bothersome. Anyway, I more or less understood the situation.
“For now, you’re aware of the current atmosphere, yes?”
“Ah, yes. I don’t know the fine details, but I have a general idea…”
There wasn’t a single unstable factor here despite the war with Muller. Still, we had to prepare for any contingency, which was why inspections had been strengthened. And since I was curious, I might as well check what needed checking.
“The documents?”
“Yes! Here is the trade permit. We have approvals from both Bachn and Brams. These are the seals from the territories we’ve visited so far.”
Chloe took the papers the merchant offered, scanned them carefully, and nodded. Nothing out of the ordinary, apparently. I gave a vague nod of my own. There was no need for me to examine them personally. If the forgery was sophisticated enough to fool Chloe, I wouldn’t be able to spot it either. Besides, that wasn’t what mattered right now.
“Where are the other slaves?”
“These Gryutus male slaves are our finest merchandise. Showing you the others might be somewhat beneath your standards, but…”
“What would I even do with male slaves?”
I genuinely couldn’t comprehend it. The merchant looked slightly confused, but he still turned and headed toward the deeper section of the carriage as I requested. The real ones would appear now, right? The female slaves!
“You do have female slaves from Gryutus as well, yes?”
“Y-yes… We do, but whether they will meet your refined tastes…”
“It’s fine. So, where are they?”
“This way. I’ll guide you.”
“……Have they gone?”
“Shut up.”
What the hell was this bastard saying?
The bald merchant immediately spun around and snarled at the slave who had spoken out of turn. The slave lowered his head, face pale with terror. The merchant frowned deeply. Their conversation might still be overheard.
“Do not speak or act in any way that might offend the nobles. Do you want your head to fly off? Or are you trying to drag us all down with you?”
“Y-yes. I’m sorry.”
After shouting at the slave, the bald merchant wiped away his cold sweat. Though the nobles had already vanished from sight, he knew exactly how monstrous first-rate adventurers could be. He still remembered the knight who had slaughtered countless such adventurers during the previous war. Even then, he had been paralyzed by fear, unable to do anything. And now he had come face to face with a noble even more monstrous than that knight—a living, breathing disaster. It was a first for the bald merchant.
In any case, he could not afford to let his guard down. Not after coming this far. He couldn’t allow himself to be caught now and ruin everything.
“Organize the cargo and inspect the slaves’ condition. Regrettably, our failure to prepare a slave worthy of Lord Franz’s standards is a grave shortcoming for our company. We will make up for it by preparing even finer merchandise next time and welcoming him again someday. Now, hurry and clean everything up!”
“Yes.”
While speaking with careful politeness, he conveyed his true orders through a prearranged signal. No matter how powerful the noble, there was no way he could know about that. Originally he hadn’t been this cautious, but because of the war, this was his first direct encounter with a noble. Every single action had to appear perfectly ordinary. He had to play the part of a typical slave merchant without the slightest awkwardness.
Watching the Gryutus male slaves move quickly to obey, the bald merchant suppressed the sigh of relief rising in his throat and slowly let his tension ease.