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I came home to another beating.
It was always like that.
“Augh, damn it.”
I spat out a curse.
At least it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be; I wasn’t beaten half to death this time.
I acted like I was in enormous amounts of pain, crying, begging for my life, and faked fainting in agony.
I threw away my pride and resorted to acting.
Just thinking about getting beaten so much, I acted like there was no tomorrow.
As a result, I only wound up with a nosebleed and a dirty robe.
It seemed he didn’t want me dead anyway.
However, even if I did die, I think that asshole would just laugh it off.
My hatred continued to grow.
I avoided death, but my body was battered and bruised.
“But I’m glad he didn’t find out.”
I thought about my future plan as I massaged my aching body.
Let’s go back in time a bit, to when I’d just arrived back at Mark’s tent.
I gave Eris an order, “Scout ahead and tell me if you see a big man”.
I didn’t want him to start looking into why I bought so many unrelated things.
Eris came back from scouting and reported that “I didn’t see a big man”.
And Mark certainly wasn’t there when I looked at the tent from some distance away earlier.
I snuck into the warehouse tent from a side opening and hid all the stuff I had purchased in the Oasis District, then stowed Eris in the low-class slave tent. I ordered her, telling her “You must enter that tent, Eris”.
I then went back to Mark and reported, “I just got back.”
“Unfortunately there weren’t any good clothes to choose from today. I think it’d be best to wait until the day of the flea market, so I’m returning this 1 gold coin.”
That’s what I told him.
And what did he do?
“Huh!? What if a customer comes while you’re still at the flea market, you shit-for-brains? If I miss a sudden business deal because you wasted your time dressing up Mina, what are you gonna do about it?”
I got hit by his fist and his words at the same time.
I know, I’m just a convenient punching bag to him.
――What are you gonna do about it?
I’ve heard that magical phrase countless times in my earlier life.
It even dredged up some bitter memories.
But I won’t let him look down on me for much longer.
I’ll only be satisfied when I’ve achieved my vengeance.
It was my turn for night watch duty.
I had been eagerly awaiting this day to execute my plan.
(The animal glue really stinks.)
It was a small amber-colored mass of hardened powder.
If I place it in water and boil it, it will become an adhesive.
So now, I’m boiling the animal glue to do just that.
The animal glue came from extracting low purity gelatin from the skin and bones of animals.
It was for that reason that it had a smell of an animal when boiled, or rather the smell of of an animal’s rotting carcass.
The slave nearby moved away because of the intense smell.
That was fine.
I ordered the slave saying, “I’m sorry, but will you watch the fire? Whatever happens, don’t leave this place”.
Thus, the battle slave will not move away from the fire pit anymore.
(Great, the first part of the plan was set in place.)
What to do with this animal glue?
First, I boil it and drain the water so that only the highly viscous adhesive solution remains.
Then, soak a piece of cloth in the adhesive solution.
Finally, cover Mark’s face with the adhesive soaked cloth.
And suffocate him.
(After covering him, I have to act quickly.)
After covering him, I have to make sure he can’t sit upright and peel it off.
Therefore, I have to use the blackjack and mercilessly beat him.
I think I should also splash the hot animal glue, which is about 80°C, on his crotch.
(I assume Mark will fight back along the way, but that’s not a problem.)
I checked the tile which was wrapped around my body.
This will protect my vital points such as my sides and my solar plexus.
Even if Mark went on a rampage, I don’t think he’ll be able to cut me down.
(Now it’s only a matter of timing.)
As I was thinking, I saw the slave that was watching the fire.
He was still following my command and shouldn’t be able to leave from that spot.
“Excuse me, do you have a minute?.”
“What is it?”
I began to talk to the slave by asking one question.
“Did you hear a noise coming from Mark’s tent?”
“Really?”
“I will check the situation for a moment. Meanwhile, don’t ever take your eyes off from the fire.”
“Huh, Yes, I understand.”
The slave nodded obediently.
I don’t think there would be more problems.
(……一I must settle this in an instant.)
I peeped into Mark’s tent from the hole.
Mark seems to be deep asleep now.
I can see it from the psychology graph. The consciousness level was considerably low, he was in a state called non-REM sleep.
In other words, he was in a state where he can’t wake up quickly.
I grasped the blackjack and the bucket of animal glue once more in my hand.
I could see that my hands were trembling.
(Calm down, I can see someone in the dark. They won’t see me since it’s dark so everything should be alright.)
I entered Mark’s tent while trying to convince myself that it was ok.
The interior was bigger than the warehouse as expected.
I was worried that he would wake up from the smell of the animal glue in my hands if I approached.
But Mark was sleeping soundly.
I looked around the area and confirmed there aren’t any traps.
(…… Wait, there’s a trip wire alarm.)
Trip wire alarm.
It was a primitive trap that will sound off a clanking sound if I pulled the wire.
It was totally invisible in the dark.
I would have certainly tripped it if it wasn’t for the Appraisal Skill.
Mark seems to really have thought about someone entering unannounced.
While thinking that was regrettable, I snuck up beside Mark.
It was good that his sleeping face was exposed.
Now, I will cover his face with the cloth.
(It’s time.)
I pushed away the weapon Mark uses for self-defense.
Even if he rampage, he won’t be able to fight back since he doesn’t have a weapon.
I could see Mark drawing a big breath.
I placed the bucket I had in my hand on the ground, and soaked the cloth
I almost dropped the cloth instinctively because it was hot, but I endured it.
After Mark exhaled that big breath.
(NOW!)
I covered his face before he could draw another breath.
I jumped up and sat on top of his face.
“!!”
It was only after I sat down on his face that Mark noticed something was wrong.
I immediately went after his crotch with the hot animal glue.
“ーーmmhhp!!”
Suddenly, his body immediately curled like a shrimp and was writhing in pain.
I moved his pliable body as he was about to faint in an unpleasant way.
I then hammered his crotch with the blackjack.
Mark curled his body again to protect his crotch while you could hear “mhmp! mhmp!” leaking out.
He repeatedly hit me with both of his hands but he couldn’t breathe and he seemed to be in a lot of pain.
I was not daunted at all.
The tiles were protecting my body.
“ーーーhmp!!”
Now, he changed tactics and used his nails to claw his way through.
Even if I don’t do anything, he will only scratch at my clothes as if he was trying to peel them off.
I mustered all my strength in pinning him down as this was the crucial moment.
I whacked his solar plexus with the blackjack.
Since I was aware that he might kick me, I whacked his crotch again.
Eventually, Mark really attempted to kick me as his foot struggled.
I defended all his kicks with the blackjack.
A sandbag was a convenient tool to use for defense.
Finally, he was almost about to die.
Mark grabbed my clothes with surprising strength.
He grabbed me so tightly as if he wants to bring me down to hell together with him.
But at the next moment.
Mark scratched my face and I seemed to hear something from him.
I almost screamed from the pain.
Somehow, there was a small gash on my face.
I pretended to be tough by gritting my teeth as I stall for time.
It worked effectively.
My vision was blurred by my tears.
Mark wasn’t moving anymore.
He left me scratch marks.
They said old people are clever.
I’m thinking nonsense now.
I was petrified for a while due to the lingering feeling and couldn’t move at all.
I appraised everything in the room and found the contracts.
I got it after opening the drawer with the key that Mark was carrying.
All of the contracts had the name Mark Tracey written on it.
I scratched off the names with Indigoid Ink and wrote Toshiki Mitsuji on it.
Every time I wrote my name, a sense of fulfillment enters my mind.
The feeling of accomplishment that I was finally able to take everything away from Mark.
I can actually feel it with each contract.
(This is pleasure from someone else’s misfortune.)
My face was warped with sadistic joy.
I was overwhelmed with emotions when I thought about how I was treated up till now.
No, I will say it in a clear and direct way.
I killed you.
I felt disappointed than guilty.
But every time I overwrote a contract, that feeling slowly changed into joy.
When everything was overwritten.
I removed the accessories that seemed usable from Mark’s corpse and I intend to throw away the other dirty stuff.
I decided I need someone to help me.
So I called a battle slave and ordered him by saying, “Throw it away on the junk mountain in the slums”.
The battle slave was surprised.
But his expression shown he realized everything immediately and carried out Mark’s corpse outside.
Surprisingly without trouble, Mark’s room became mine.
“I am your new master, Toshiki Mitsuji. I ask that you serve me well.”
The next morning.
I gathered all the slaves in one place and declared that in front of everyone.
Everybody was puzzled.
It was only natural when the master changed suddenly in one day.
But I didn’t mind it. I calmly behaved like I was their master from the beginning.
“From now on, I plan to be a new kind of slave merchant. It will be based on personnel development through career consulting.“
I said it while looking at each one of them.
“Each of you have your own specialty. There are things you like to do, there are thing you may want to do.”
I looked at the female high-class slaves.
They looked at me with dubious expression.
Because they don’t have that much intelligence, I wonder if they surmised the intent of the speech.
“But in reality, there is still much work other than that to be done.”
I looked at the low-class slaves.
They were also at a loss during my speech.
My story will be suspicious and they will doubt it if I give preferential treatment to the high-class slaves.
Everything seems to go along fine.
“Even though there are things you want to do, but what you are doing right now is different. Ladies and gentlemen, you have suffered from this gap.”
I then shook my head and said “However”.
“I intend to fill that only gap. In other words, I intend to let you do things that you are good at.”
I will let them do what they specialize in.
There were some expressions that seemed like they got hit out of nowhere by that speech.
I pointed a finger at them.
“Yes, your specialties. Each of you have an ability.”
I took a long pause after I said it.
“Now that I have a new life in this world, I want to leave a legacy.”
I muttered alone.
The influence of the speech was big.
As most of the slaves who had dead eyes were startled and their eyes were now wide open.
I want to leave my legacy in this world.
I want you to hear once more the desire that I must’ve been forgotten so long ago.
“Work hard on your specialty, I won’t stop you. In fact, I’m all for it.”
I quickly looked around after I said it.
“I promise you that I will sell you ladies and gentlemen on the biggest stage I can make that is suitable for you.”
That’s it.
After the speech, the slaves didn’t move for a while.
They seemed to be taken aback.
Or it seemed they were deeply impressed by something.
(Did I succeed? Did they get really impressed? This is going well.)
Using the Appraisal Skill, I looked at the psychological graph.
When I saw the changes in the psychology graph. there was no person who had any unpleasant sentiments towards my speech.
In other words, it was a big success.
(Great! I used a common speech template from the other world I came from, but no one seems to have any issues with it.)
I had a sarcastic smile in my mind.
Impressed by my speech, I was a little embarrassed with their chant of “Toshiki! Toshiki!”.
No, that shouldn’t be, since it shook my heart, I should stand proud.
This was the best.
I gave out an instruction “All right, return to your tents”.
Finally, the slaves who noticed that they themselves were already standing proudly, returned to their tents in haste.
I was gloating in my mind when I saw such situation, I was able to buy their motivation that no amount of money can buy.
(It’s been 4 months since I lived in obscurity.)
I think back to the 4 months that I was abused by Mark.
I prepared my plan step by step on overtaking his business.
That is to say, every time he told me to “Go and stock up on low-class slave”, I made sure I buy a slave that have skills.
The result of the effort I made? 10 of the 30 low-class slave in the tent had high quality skills.
I steadily increased it during these 4 months.
I was now planning the future outlook.
There will be so much fun to be had.
For instance, I was thinking of a plan now that would be the most efficient.
(Plan number 1, Slaves that had magic aptitude will be trained and sold off.)
I will make the slaves that had magic aptitude learn magic.
This was one of the strategies that I’ve always wanted to implement.
The reason was very simple, there was a high demand for magicians.
I heard that in order to use magic, considerable training is needed even if they follow the instructions of a good teacher.
In short, being magicians are special occupations that can make someone rich.
Thus, magicians automatically became the elite profession.
How much is the price for that kind of slave?
You may think it will be about 100 times more than an ordinary slave.
So if an ordinary slave is about 5 gold coins, magician slaves will be 500 gold coins.
(Therefore I must absolutely prepare a person who will be teaching magic.)
However, that was the biggest obstacle.
Where can I find a person who can teach magic?
I cannot carry out this plan if I can’t solve this problem.
Unfortunately, the plan will be shelved for now until the time comes.
(Then what plan can I use at this stage? And what would be the most efficient strategy to……?)
What feasible plan was there that was also efficient?
When I was doing the budget in my mind, I thought of something while balancing the budget.
(Plan number 2, Battle Slaves. Their upbringing and specialization.)
A Battle Slave.
A Slave with high physical stats, or those who excel on their technique in sword skills or spear skills
I plan to make money using battle slaves.
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Thanks for doing this Chapter.