Profession, Merchant Volume 7 Chapter 11 (Patreon)

Chapter 11 – Female Attorney, I

Three weeks later, I was lying on the bed in a hotel in the center of Newland that I had booked since I arrived.

Right now, I am lying on my bed.

No, it’s not because I’m still having sex. It’s because the demon lord has drained me of all my seed, so I’m nothing but dry. She really didn’t let me go until I filled the jar.

“Wait, you… why do you look like one of those emaciated mummies?”

The silver-rimmed-glasses guy, the former slave trader, stood by the bed in astonishment.

But I remain silent, so the female warrior answers instead, and the holy knight follows.

“That’s… because we’ve been through a hell of a task, you see.”

“Y-yes. It’s quite a daunting task, yes.”

They stare at each other instead of in my direction, as if guilty of something.

They won’t even look me in the eye.

“A hell of a task, when it was just supposed to be a normal business meeting. Damn, it’s frustrating, but it seems you’re still a merchant or two ahead of me. I’m still not ready to risk that much to do my job.”

Silver-rimmed spoke, enough to make him swallow his saliva with a look of awe on his face.

But I’m sorry to tell you that it wasn’t because of the task of negotiating with the demon lord that I became in this state.

I looked like an emaciated man, but that was simply because I was forced to produce too much sperm.

“Looking at your condition, I think it’s better if I come back later.”

Silver-rimmed tried to walk away after saying that.

Wait. I have to stop him.

“Waa…iit…”

But even though they removed the spell that silenced me, I still can’t talk as much as I want to.

I was that drained.

“Hmm? What is it?”

When he hears my weak voice, silver-rimmed turns around.

He puts his ear closer to my face and we manage to have a conversation.

“D-did the ships land safely?”

“Yes, it’s loaded with the slaves. We’ve kept them at the standard of living you told us, so they’re keeping their strength up.”

That’s good to hear.

“Then… I’ll go… and set them to work…”

I try to stand up, but everyone rushes to cut me off.

“No, no. Don’t push yourself yet!”

The female warrior also shouts, but I think she has forgotten that she herself was one of the reasons for my ‘mummification’.

“Don’t stop me… Mm, yes. This is all for your sake, my love, so please get out of the way.”

I couldn’t choose my words properly because I really didn’t have time for them anymore.

“What is this? Do you think I’m going to move with such a clichéd line?”

Although she said this, the female warrior was putting her hands on her cheeks and wiggling her bottom, so it was clear that she no longer wants to stop me.

Meanwhile, the holy knight was, “What about me?” and tilted her head as she looked at me, but I pretended not to notice because I felt it would be excessive to say more.

But I’ll give her a pat on the butt later.

○●○●

After the dungeon, not far from the town of Newland, there is a harbor.

There, two large, familiar ships belonging to the silver-rimmed glasses guy had arrived.

I staggered over to the group of slaves on the dock.

“Ah, there’s the young master.”

“Young master! What’s going on?”

They call me Young Master, as is proper for a slave, but for some reason they adore me.

“Why are you calling me that?”

“Since you became our master, we’ve been treated so much better. Isn’t it only natural that we show respect?”

“It is true. The women are very happy to be able to bathe every day.”

It seems that silver-rimmed did exactly what I told him to do.

Then again, being slaves, they can only judge whether their master is good or not by how well they eat, sleep, and dress.

In short, they are such simple people.

“Enough of this royal treatment. And stop looking at me as if I were a saint. The only reason I’m treating you well is to make sure you’re fit and able to work hard later.”

My voice was so weak it sounded like a mosquito crying, but everyone was listening.

“Don’t worry, young master. We’ll work hard as you say. “

“Yes! We’ll work hard for our good master!”

They all shouted in good spirits.

Well, whether they really work hard or not will depend on their future guidance.

“And it’s not enough to work just for the sake of it. From now on you will have to live together. The men will do the hard work in the docks and mines, and the women will cook and do the laundry. You must look out for each other and help those who are sick or in need. If you do this well, we will not be stingy with your wages. So that in the end, you can have children and start a family.”

“Children… it would be great if we had them. But why, master? Won’t they be a burden to you?”

One of them asks curiously.

“That’s easy. Because it makes the work more efficient.”

Many still have question marks in their eyes.

“The most efficient workers are the ones who can start a family and have goals to live a responsible life. If we use you individually as disposable labor, we’ll have to get new recruits and teach them from scratch, which is more inefficient and expensive in the long run. It’s more stable and cheaper in the end if you work as a community, where you help each other to survive, with your roots firmly planted in your family, pushing you to ensure a responsible and well-behaved environment. Simply put, you must all act as one living organism.”

“I see. That’s great, young master!”

“Well said, young master!”

“You’re a genius, young master!”

Hmm, they don’t get it, do they?

In a way, making a living as an employee with a family is more painful than remaining a slave.

If you were still a slave, you would just work as you are told until you die.

But when you’re working with others and even starting a family, you have something important to protect, something to be responsible for.

At that point, the community, not the individual, becomes the focus, and you will be urged to work hard – even if you are not forced to.

This is the main reason why, between working under peer pressure and working without worrying about your peers, the latter is actually harder.

Because you will be forced to respect your peers and keep up appearances and so on – because you don’t want to be thrown out of the community that keeps you and your family alive.

In short, I did not take away their shackles and give them freedom. I’ve given them another shackle, called community, which doesn’t deteriorate and gets heavier and heavier with time.

Now, having given them their immediate instructions in an emaciated and undignified manner, I asked silver-rimmed.

“Are there any of your men who are legal experts?”

When I asked this, silver-rimmed looked doubtful.

“Well, we have a lawyer on our staff, but if it’s the law you’re talking about, you must know something about it, right?”

“There’s something I don’t understand. Introduce me to them.”

Previous Chapter | Table of Contents | Next Chapter