Rank Up!

After dismissing Edmund's speculation, I bought two jewelry sets—I'd only meant to get one for Selena, but ended up grabbing one for Hana too—paid for, of course, with the count's check. A few days of lounging around later, word arrived that the expedition that had gone out to mop up the remnants was on its way back.

And not long after that, Selena came bursting through the door.

"Master!"

Spotting me on the sofa by the table, she cried out and ran over, pressing herself against my side.

"Master. Everything all right? Have you been eating properly? You didn't get snagged by any weird people like last time, did you?"

The questions were a little off, but I knew she wasn't teasing. I gave her hair a light stroke.

"Yeah. Nothing happened. Good work out there. You too, Hana—thanks for the hard work."

"They were just small fry. And even those she wiped out with area magic because she insisted we had to get back fast, so it wasn't even fun."

Hana sounded genuinely disappointed she hadn't gotten a proper fight. I gave her a wry smile, peeled Selena off me, and pulled out the gifts I'd prepared.

"Here. I felt bad making you two work so hard on my account. Hope you like them. This one's for Selena, and this one's for Hana."

Selena took the sapphire-decorated jewelry box.

"Master… you didn't have to get me something like this… Thank you so much."

Hana accepted the ruby-decorated one.

"You bought these with the count's check, didn't you?"

Unlike Selena, who simply offered her thanks, Hana was already lifting the curtain to peek at the truth. I shot her a look, then said,

"Just open them."

Both boxes opened slowly, revealing matching sets of necklace, ring, and earrings.

"Master… they're so beautiful. I'll treasure them forever."

"Well. Not bad for something you picked out. These can take enchantments, right?"

Selena's eyes sparkled as she spoke in a voice thick with emotion. Hana tried to sound casual, but she couldn't tear her gaze from the ruby-centered set. Satisfied, I grinned.

"Glad you like them. Good thing I went shopping with Cassandra."

At the mention of Cassandra, both of them looked up from the jewelry.

"Y-You didn't… you couldn't hold back and did it with her while we were gone…? Th-That's why I said I'd stay behind…"

"What? You said you had to deliver her to the crown prince. Is she even fair game?"

Flustered by the outrageous misunderstanding, I waved my hands wildly.

"Wh-What are you talking about?! Why would I touch her?! I just asked her for advice! Don't say stuff like that!"

I protested hard, then hastily changed the subject.

"M-More importantly, try them on."

The two slaves eyed me with lingering suspicion for a moment, then lifted the jewelry from the boxes.

Having somehow cleared up the misunderstanding, I opened my Status Window to check my Slave Merchant rank.

I squeezed my eyes shut at the triple-F Strength, Agility, and Intelligence, then opened them again—and inwardly cheered at the radiant E gleaming behind the words Slave Merchant.

Yes! It went up! I can take on more slaves now!

But joy turned to disappointment faster than I would have liked.

Why…

I'd hoped for at least three. I'd even greedily wished for five. That the slave slots had only gone up by one—to a mere two—left me staring blankly at the Status Window. No matter how long I looked, the number two refused to change.

In the end, I swallowed my tears and accepted the cold, unkind reality.

F-Fine. Percentage-wise, that's a hundred percent increase. Doubling is plenty. It'll keep growing like this. Yeah. D rank will be four, C will be eight… yeah, that's definitely how it'll scale.

Rationalizing my way back to composure, I decided to go ahead and perform a Slave Summon right away. Part of it was wanting to shake off the disappointment. Part of it was practical: I'd stack conditions so the candidate would register as easily as Selena or Hana had—but if, by some chance, a rebellious slave appeared, better to summon now while I still had the two of them to help.

Mind made up, I began adding the conditions I'd settled on during those idle days of rolling around alone.

Virgin, Obedient, Slave, Lewd, Sexy, Large Breasts, Service. Those are the basics.

After locking in the essentials for a slave, I revisited the memory of that first night with Hana—the humiliation of my stamina collapsing from sheer lack of technique. I'd concluded that applying what I'd learned from adult videos only got you so far; you needed to learn from a professional. So I added the attributes I'd chosen for that.

Sex Master, Teaching… problem is, those might conflict with Virgin… i-it'll be fine, right?

Pushing the small worry into a corner, I tacked on the job-related attribute Healer as well, then initiated the summon.

A flicker of greed urged me to pile on more attributes for an even more perfect slave, but I remembered the scolding I'd gotten from Ronald and reined myself in. I pulled out a check and wrote two hundred gold.

Yeah. This should be enough. Selena was summoned with exactly ten conditions, after all.

I glanced at my first slave—and the successful product of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that summon—Selena, who was fidgeting with the ring while wearing the sparkling sapphire earrings and necklace, gave a small nod, and offered the check as sacrifice.

I watched the slip of paper dissolve into nothing, then waited for the magic circle to form.

But no matter how long I waited, the circle that should have announced the start of a Slave Summon never appeared. Sensing something wrong, I checked the Slave Summon window.

…? Why?

The sacrifice value hadn't budged at all. Puzzled, I tilted my head.

What? Did I write it wrong? I'll just write it again.

I was pretty sure I'd written it correctly, but as a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠humble man who admitted he could make mistakes, I wrote two hundred gold on a fresh check.

- 2 0 0 G o l d

Carefully. In clear block letters. I double- and triple-checked, then offered the check as sacrifice.

Just like before, the slip dissolved.

And just like before, the sacrifice value didn't change. The Slave Summon circle still refused to appear.

This time I'd verified the amount over and over. Confusion set in.

…??? Why? It's two hundred gold. I checked it several times.

But the translucent window floating in front of me offered no answer.

It accepted formless stats as sacrifice before, so it can't only take physical goods. What the hell is the problem? Haah… looks like I'll have to go see Kylie again…

No matter how I turned it over, I couldn't figure out why the check wouldn't count. I decided to stop the summon, find Kylie, and get a proper explanation.

But the situation did not go the way I wanted.

…And what is this supposed to mean…?

The message basically said stop thinking useless thoughts and just hand over a sacrifice. I was speechless. But I couldn't ignore the alert. Sighing, I took stock of what I could actually offer.

Haah… good thing I didn't get greedy. If I'd stuffed in a bunch of conditions like when I summoned Hana and just ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠trusted the check… Okay, a few coins… clothes… does a pen count? Problem is, even all of that together wouldn't fill a single point… Haah…

Relieved I hadn't overreached, I dug through my belongings, only to confirm that the only usable sacrifices left were my stats. I opened my triple-F Status Window and hunted for something I wouldn't mind giving up.

But every expendable stat had already been stripped bare when I summoned Selena. What remained was my precious, precious Potency S—the thing that let me stand tall in front of my slaves—Training Technique C, which I needed for disciplining them, and Slave Management F, which let me summon and manage slaves in the first place. There was nothing I could spare.

Messing with body measurements feels wrong too. And the efficiency is terrible. Hmm… what do I do…

While fretting over how to fill the sacrifice and poking through the skills on my Status Window, I discovered a sub-skill of Slave Management: Skill Management.

Yes! This! This is it! How did I forget about this?! I can transfer the skills Selena and Hana don't need!

The warning about obedience was concerning, but I figured worthless E- and F-rank skills wouldn't count as "critical." I opened both of their Status Windows.

Let's see… hmm… leave the stats alone… combat skills too… ah! Selena doesn't really need Close Combat, does she? She's got Hana as a reliable frontliner… and even if she does need it later, raising it back to E shouldn't take that long… that gives me forty… what else. Ah. Cooking. Neither of them needs that. That makes a hundred. Perfect.

Calculations done, I stripped the skills from both slaves.

"Huh…? Just now, something…"

"Mm? What was that?"

Selena and Hana tilted their heads, apparently sensing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the loss. But since the skills hadn't been "critical," their reaction was no stronger than feeling a sudden breeze brush past their bodies.

Whew… thank god.

Confirming their obedience was intact, I offered the harvested skills as sacrifice.

Immediately after, an elaborate magic circle began to form on the floor.