The Slippery Mage

"Tell me again your intention for buying Julian," the slave trader says.

"To be honest, I don't want to buy Julian. I want to buy him his freedom so he will be free. What I need most is Julian's sister's recognition. So that you won't misunderstand, it's not because I have a crush on his sister. In fact we haven't met yet," I say.

"You're using Julian for your own selfish desire, huh?"

"Says the guy who bought Julian from his parents who need money to pay for Julian's sister's tuition without his own sister's knowledge. You're the one separating him from his sister," I say.

What does he want? He thinks he's a good person because he's selling slaves to the buyers he thinks are the right one? He's still a slave trader.

"Now that you put it that way, I guess I'm also selfish to put my own value in this conversation. So, you just want to buy Julian and return him to his sister?" he asks.

"I'm also thinking of buying other slaves but I need a place where they can stay first. Maybe some other time. I just need Julian now because I plan to meet his sister tomorrow," I say.

"Alright. Then… wait. I thought his sister is in Dahlia. You're going to meet her tomorrow? Tomorrow there's no train scheduled for Dahlia," he says.

"And I rushed here from Dahlia in just a couple of hours. Magic is amazing," I say.

"…Fine, I'll trust you for now. The price you need to pay is—"

He offered a high price for a young boy slave. He must be thinking that I don't have that kind of money based on my appearance. But I do. That's a lot of money but I have a lot in my bank account.

"Here you go. This should be enough," I say.

"…No hesitation?"

"I have money."

"…Fine. The transaction is over. You said that you wanted to buy other slaves once you have a place for them to stay, right? I think it will be a good idea if we get to know each other. My name is Kyle, the boss of this slave trading store," Kyle introduces himself.

"I'm Miroslav. For now, I'm just an adventurer," I say.

"A rich adventurer. May I see your ID?"

I then grab my adventurer license. Good thing I'm a B-rank adventurer. If I was just a C-rank adventurer, my rank would drop or I may even need to re-register again as an adventurer because I was stuck in the Training Zone for a year and a half. Being a B-rank adventurer, I don't have to take mission so often.

"A B-rank adventurer? No wonder you're rich. You're just a step away from A-rank," Kyle says.

"Say it louder so your bodyguards who are eavesdropping can hear it and hopefully they won't make a mess with me after this. I can tell they're listening," I say.

I'm just being paranoid. Maybe they're here for Kyle's protection. But if they're listening to figure out what kind of person I am, whether I am someone that they can mess with or not, I can guess that they're having malicious intent.

Yes, there were some events where bodyguards of a merchant in the game attacking the protagonist because the protagonist wasn't a noble. They attacked the protagonist because the protagonist just finished a transaction and spent a lot of money as if without a care so the bodyguards believed that the protagonist was rich.

I don't want to trigger that kind of event here so I hope being a B-rank adventurer is enough to stop them.

"…You don't need to worry. They're just listening for my protection," Kyle says.

"It's good if that's the case. I'm just being careful because I have problem with trusting people I don't know. Especially if they're eavesdropping. In case something I don't want to happen eventually happens, don't be confused if you have fewer bodyguards by tomorrow," I say.

"I'll be careful. But you don't have to worry at all. I picked them myself. They're not the type to do that. So, now that the transaction is over, you can pick up Julian in an hour. Our store is known to treat the slaves kindly and get them cleaned before we give them to their new master. Though you're not Julian's master because you're buying his freedom so there's no slave magic involved," Kyle says.

"Then I'll return later."

I'm hungry. I was stuck in the Training Zone for a long time, then I rushed to Dahlia, then I rushed here, without eating proper food at all. I want to eat something that is not dried.

I open the door to the exit, take a step out of the store, close the store, and finally, after my second step out of the store, it happens.

"I know you're rich. Give me your money or you will die."

A guy who is a bodyguard in the store is here with some other people from the outside. He's one of the bodyguards I saw with Kyle before. Seriously? Just two steps?

"Kyle, you fucking bastard! You picked your own bodyguards? You picked wrong!"

Right now, I'm back in his office again. With the bodyguard from before. I grab him by his neck after beating him up and bring him with me to Kyle's office.

"Two steps! It's just two fucking steps from this store until this guy tried to rob me! I know you have great soundproofing in the store so your customers can shop in peace without any noise from the outside. But he tried to rob me in front of your store! You need more bodyguards at least at the entrance of the store," I say as I throw the beaten up bodyguard to the side.

From Kyle's expression, it doesn't seem like he's aware of this at all. He's staring angrily at the thrown bodyguard. Then his other bodyguard who is with him walks over to the defeated bodyguard.

"Put him in the prison. He's another slave to be sold," Kyle says without a hint of emotion.

"Wait! Boss! I was wrong! I'm sorry!"

The other bodyguard is stronger as he drags the bad bodyguard with one hand. Though I'm stronger because I lifted the bad bodyguard with one hand. This bodyguard just drags him.

"I guess we need to reevaluate our workers. Thank you for telling me. In exchange, you said that you want more slaves in the future. If you have any type of slave you want to get, you can tell me now. Next time you come to visit, I'll prepare them for you to see if you're interested in them," Kyle says.

"…That's a very businessman-like reward. Making me into a regular customer for the future. I don't mind it. Well, I don't have any type I want for now. But at least I want a slave with combat-related talent if you have one next time I visit to buy some. Then, I'll return in an hour," I say.

Leaving the store again, this time, there's no one stopping me. I enter a tavern and get some meal before returning to the store with the cleaned up Julian already prepared to go.

"Julian. Nice to meet you. I'm Miroslav. I will reunite you with your sister," I say.

"…Do I have a choice to not meet her? I hate her. Everything is always about her," Julian says.

He never felt loved at all in his house. That's horrible. Sometimes, kids like this appear in my school back in my previous life. And a good adult is needed for the development of their mind.

I don't think I'm a good adult. But I do think I'm a good liar. Though sometimes, I don't need to lie at all.

"Don't worry. Your parents might have sold you and I know you can't trust me because I kept saying that I want to bring you to your sister. But one thing I know about your sister is that she cares about you. I'm sure she will be angry at your parents for selling you as a slave. We will meet her tomorrow and you can tell her everything you've hidden deep inside your heart. You two siblings need to listen to each other. As much as you need to feel loved, your sister must have a problem she needs to resolve as well. Don't worry, I'm sure you will not be abandoned this time," I say.

I know a bit about Cornelia from the game. So I know how important Julian is for her.

In the game, even through the text dialogue, I could feel her emotion when she found out that her own brother was sold as a slave. That's when she cut off her relationship with her parents who expected her to be successful for their sake.

And because she can't explain everything to her brother, even though she has put Julian in a place that she thought she could trust, Julian ended up running away. Most of her story in the game was about her looking for Julian.

The two need to talk and listen to each other. Before talking about us being reincarnators, she needs to talk with her brother first.