10th day of the third month.

It's finally time.

I'm currently waiting for Norton to come pick me and Faris up while I double-check my wallet. I reconfirm that I have a total of 7 platinum coins, 41 gold coins, 137 silver coins, and 15 copper coins.

Faris and I have remained hunting in Greens Filth until yesterday. We managed to find another elemental gem of the wind element which added another platinum coin to my pockets. Remembering how Norton told me the price range for the type of slave I'm looking for goes from 1 to 10 platinum coins on average, I'm pretty sure I'll be fine with this much.

We head out our front door and bask in the morning sunlight as I try to contain my excitement for the day that has finally come. Today will be the day where we will finally have another party member join us, another step closer to realizing my har--- immortal plan.

"So that day has come, hopefully, we will have a third member of our party by the end of the day. What do you think?" I look over at Faris who seems to be exceptionally beautiful today, basking under the morning sun is making her silver hair shine.

"Yea, we will be much safer now in combat with an extra pair of eyes keeping watch with us."

"Umm, do you have any preferences on who will be joining us?" I try to keep my voice loud enough so that it can be heard through the noises from the nearby carriages passing by.

I can't help but to start feeling a little guilty when thinking about our future teammate while I look Faris straight in the eye. I'm torn between two different feeling, It's like I'm about to confess to cheating on my girlfriend but also respect her wishes while I do so, though it's not that far from the truth.

"Hmm... as long as they are reliable... I'm sure master will pick the right candidate."

"Faris... like I said before, I'll be picking a girl, ...any thoughts on that?"

Faris turns to me and smiles faintly. "Will you abandon me once you find better slaves? Just so master knows, I have nowhere to turn to and no clue on where my family might be."

"Of course not!"

"Then like I said, I'll always be on your side master, no matter what choices you make." Faris wraps her arms around mine and leans her head onto me.

I really am blessed.

With that decided then, there's no more need for hesitation. All that's left is to think about what type of slave I'll be purchasing today, I do have a general idea on what I'm looking for but I just need something more defining, and no, I'm not talking about appearances. I didn't brainstorm for long before the sound of someone wolf-whistling drew my attention.

"Aren't you having fun being all flirty this morning."

"Yeah, yeah, good morning to you too."

"Good morning Norton." Faris slightly blushes.

I look at the source of the voice to see Norton riding next to the driver on a carriage, drawn by two strong looking horses. He unmounts the carriage and moves to open the carriage door before turning back to us.

"What are you waiting for, come on, I'm starving."

We head over to the carriage to first greet the driver before entering, it turns out the driver is, Otes, Norton's slave knight. We enter the spacious carriage that can probably hold up to four people each on two sides and greet the three slave girls of Norton's, if my memory serves me right, the catkin with pink hair is Zoey, Reika is the foxkin with white fur, and Iris is the cool looking beauty.

We sit across from the three gives while Norton joins the side with his companions despite the tight fit, must be nice to be mushed into your harem.

The ride took about twenty minutes though it felt like it passed by in a blink of an eye as I busied myself chatting with Norton while Faris talked with the girls. The carriage stops outside a luxurious looking inn that I find out by observing the two store signs above the entrance depicting a bed and a mug of ale.

Otes hands over the reins to the carriage to one of the workers who came out to receive us as Norton leads the way into the eight-story building. We head straight into the tavern area where we are seated and given a menu to browse.

"You come here often?" Looking at the high prices on the menu, you definitely won't dine here if you aren't pretty well off, well I should be considered in that category now too.

"Hmm? Well, from time to time, there are a few places that I prefer more but for today, this place is right next to the auction venue."

I take a look around at the other customers, there's a good balance between well-dressed people who seem to be either nobles or merchants and high ranked adventurers judging by the quality of the gear they are in.

With how much income an adventurer can make, I guess it's not surprising that they are quite a number of them in high society, and there doesn't seem to be any friction or arrogance when they are interacting too. Hell, some of those adventurers may even be nobles themselves who became adventurers in pursuit of prolonging their lives.

We proceed to order from the breakfast sets that are priced at five silvers, man, it cost as much as a stay at my previous inn though it may not have been of the best quality. I enjoy the exquisite meal as I ponder about how my value of money is being changed so rapidly recently, maybe they use magic to grow their food to lower the cost or something so I can't use my previous common sense to value things.

"So will you be purchasing a new slave today Norton?" Seeing how everyone is about done with their food, I start up a conversation with a question I've been wondering.

"Eh, didn't I tell you before? Well, whatever, yeah, I'm hoping to purchase my final member so I finally put my full focus in training, I have the Lockhart's family support too so you better not think about competing with me."

"Whatever you say, what type are you looking for anyway?" I give Norton a teasing grin.

You're looking for cute girls, right? Come on, admit it. I convey those thoughts to Norton with just my gaze.

"...Obviously someone strong and reliable... oh, a potential slave of course, not cost-effective to buy the more experienced one for me at this point." Norton manages to find an escape to my questioning and turns back to his companions for approval for his response which is met with skeptical stares.

"Really? I remember you talking about trying to look for a cute girl last time, did I remember incorrectly?"

"..."

Three hands reach out toward Norton's waist as I respectfully move my gaze elsewhere. For some reason, I can still feel a gaze that screams "You traitor!" from where sounds of pain come from. I take this chance to reaffirm that it's most soothing for my eyes to be looking at my cute Faris after all.

---

"It's about time we head for the auction, it's good to arrive a bit early," Norton says while having a last sip of his tea.

"Okay, let's go then."

Seeing how Norton has been treating us to all our meals together recently I decide to reverse the roles, just this once. I've been sensing my money-grubber side of myself growing stronger and stronger recently, having realized just how much money I need to even reach the starting line for my ambitions.

We exit out of the inn and proceed to walk along the main street instead of retrieving the carriage. The buildings in this area are all much larger and the architecture seems much more elegant, this must be the rich part of town I haven't been to yet.

After a short five minute walk, we come across a large crowd outside a grand building much wider than all the previous ones I've seen though it is about the same height, is this the tallest structure they can build with the technology they have or is this just to be in line with the entire neighborhood?

The crowd is varied, with rich-looking types to novice adventurer looking types, those guys must be here for the same reason as me so in a way they are my competitors.

They are a total of three entrances, the main entrance with a blue carpet laid out, and two off the to side through a smaller set of doors. So instead of red carpets, they use blue carpets here, maybe it's because blue is the color of the Weycorus trees or is it just from different materials?

The majority of the crowds are lining up at the two side entrances while there is practically no line at the main entrance, with the exception of a wealthy-looking man and his servants being invited through after showing his invitation card.

"The seats for this year's first slave auction is sold out, please only line up if you have already purchased a ticket." A man wearing clothes reminiscent of the guild uniform but in pale yellow yells out at the crowd.

"I assume you bought the tickets already?" I look skeptically over at Norton, remembering he barely spent much time in the city recently.

"Don't worry, I have something better." Norton flaunts around a blue invitation card like the one I've seen earlier.

With a mental sigh of relief, I follow Norton who had already started heading straight through the crowd toward the main entrance. I catch up only to be met with an arm wrapping around my shoulder.

"Come on, this city is a part of Lockhart family's domain after all, you should have a little confidence in me," Norton reassures as if he knew what I had in mind.

We swim out of the crowd that are heading for the other two side entrances and reach the main entrance where a group of people who seem to be the staff and guards awaits. Norton produces his invitation card to one of the staff before then scurry off and return with an older looking staff.

"Lord Norton, we've been expecting you, please, this way." The elder who I assume to be something like a manager bows and starts escorting us through the main entrance.

We follow the man into the main hall where columns of people are being guided further in. We climb up one of two sets of stairs that are facing each other and lead up toward the same place, below us, I can see the crowd entering through the doorway below us.

At the top of the stairs, a luxuriously decorated hallway stretches forward in a slight circular shape from where we are with multiple doors every five or so meters along the wall we are facing, reminding me of a hotel corridor mixed with a stadium entrances. We are led to enter one of the closest doors from the top of the stairs.

Upon entering the room, the first thing that entered my eyes is the huge venue I'm looking down at. The enter place looked like the classical theatres from my old world with numerous seats on the first floor and rooms with a balcony overhead surrounding the venue in an "U" shape, ending when it nears the stage. The stage is shaped like a half-circle, protruding out at the audience.

"If you have any needs, feel free to ring the bell by your seats, if you'll excuse me." The staff who led us, bows and exits the room.

"Well, not bad isn't it?" Norton smugly looks at me.

With a short nod, we take our seats that are out towards the venue on the veranda as we curiously scout around the entire gallery.

On the stage, there are currently two giant slabs of marble-like material on the two sides, positioned like Tv screens with the surface giving off a cool smooth reflection.

While we are looking around, I spot several people from the other balconies who have just arrived exchanging glances with each other, including Norton, they must all be acquainted.

"The auction is starting in 15 minutes so please be prepared as the doors will not be open during an ongoing bidding process." A strong voice sounds out like it's spoken from a microphone.

With nothing better to do, Norton rings the bell and order some tea and fruits for us from the maid who came in. I couldn't help but stare at the familiar black and white uniform as the maid came by.

I prefer the version with shorter skirts, it has to be above the knees. I definitely need to look into where I can order a set for every one of my future companions...

"Have you heard about any notable slaves to look out for in this auction?" I ask Norton who is sitting to my right.

"Hmm...they don't really release many details but you can expect at least one exceptional combat-ready slave and one slave of a rare race being the star of every auction with the rest being potential slaves. It's not often that someone powerful fall into slavery after all so don't worry, they'll be plenty of potential slaves for you to choose from."

"So how are we going to even evaluate between the slaves, we can barely see the face of the people on the stage not to talk about their abilities."

"Yo---" Before Norton could answer, the voice that sounds like it's coming from a speaker fills the venue once again as everyone quiets down.

"Welcome everyone to this year's first slave auction! My name is Allen Witsmore and I will be your auctioneer for today, and without further ado, let's start this auction up with the first lot!" A familiar figure of a fat middle-aged man emerges onto the stage.

"Isn't that the slave trader you introduced me too?"

"Yep, he got picked by the merchant guild to be the auctioneer this time I guess."

Well this is a surprise, don't they usually let someone more... charismatic do it instead?

Before I know it, two masked figures in loose robes escorts petite red-haired catkin girl onto the stage.

"May I introduce everyone to Zoey! Zoey here has completed her full courses and is a voluntary slave so she can only be sold as a combatant..."

Zoey? Isn't Norton's catkin slave also called Zoey? Is it a common catkin name? Also, full courses and voluntary slaves? My mind is assaulted with a torrent of questions and puzzles that distract me from listening further so I turn to my trusty answering machine, Norton.

"Full courses?" I whisper over.

"Didn't Allen explain it to you last time? Well maybe not, he's known for only in dealing with slaves who have completed the full courses after all so he probably thought you knew... It just means they have completed the full five years of training that slave traders give in order to prepare the slaves to serve their master adequately so they are more expensive."

"I see..." I look over to Faris who has her eyes glued to the stage with a neutral expression.

So she has completed her full courses as well? No wonder she has supported me so well despite being the same age as me.

"And what about voluntarily becoming a slave? People volunteer to do that?"

"Yea, for the sake of conquering dungeons and attain Weycorus fruits, some connectionless people who know they would sell for a high price will become a slave to receive proper training and to enter strong parties to ensure their safety. After all, strong parties or nobles would be more likely to afford them so the chances are in their favor especially since they can set some conditions on their buyers such as to be a combatant like in this case."

That still feels strange to me, maybe it's because I keep thinking slavery in the terms of the negative stigma from my old world... So is it all more related to dungeons than I thought, I haven't seen a single slave used for labor before but they do still enslave citizens of opposing countries from war I hear...This is starting to get a bit too confusing so let's put it aside for now.

"...feel free to take a look at the screen for her detailed profile, VIP members on the second floor can feel free to come inspect her up close for the next 15 minutes." The auctioneer declares as the masked people retreat behind the stage with Zoey then two flashes of light draws everyone's attention onto the slabs.

The two slabs of marble-like material I found previously are being used as a screen, light is projected onto it from two silhouettes I barely manage to make out under the stage. They're like human projectors, is this the main use of light magic? I guess this world's use of magic is more developed than I thought.

"That's the answer to what you were asking earlier, merchant guild employed light mages will project onto the screen on the information the guild has on the slave. We can also head over to the inspection room at the end of the hallway on this floor to check her out, this is the first lot but for the rest of the auction they'll always have the slave about to start bidding in the inspection room while they introduce the next slave on stage."

"I thought this was your first time here, you sure know a lot."

"Of course! I was taught the specifics by the people of my household before coming, can't embarrass the family so ask me anything."

I direct my attention back to what is being projected.

Zoey Alcott Age: 20

Magic Levels:

Strength Lv. 1

Stamina Lv. 28

Dexterity Lv. 30

Fire Lv. 1

Water Lv. 1

Unique Magic:

Night Vision

Notes:

-Completed full courses training

-Six years of combat experience

-Exceptional fighting ability to beyond her magic level, on par with the average rank four adventurer

...

It shows even more information than my identify.

"How did they gather this information? Do they just go on what the slave tells them?"

"The slave traders at the merchant guild pooled resources and bought one of those expensive identification orbs, just a drop of blood and a ton of mana crystals to power it and it'll show the status menu of the owner of the blood."

"Wow, it shows unique magic too?"

"I believe it does not but it's obvious she would have night vision as a member of the catkin race and she's a volunteer anyway so she should have confessed about any unique magic if she did have any other to make herself more valuable to the stronger adventurer parties."

Then I better probably should head to the inspection room so I can get close enough to use my identify, it'd be a good opportunity to check out the room anyway.

"Let's go take a look at the inspection room then, shall we?"