The Wanderer's Rebirth: Other Paths

“What do you mean, ‘don’t worry’? He looks like he’s going to buy slaves!” Myra whispered as quietly as she could, not understanding the need for discretion, but she still knew that if Asami was whispering there was a good reason for it.

“Just watch,” Asami whispered back, nearly causing Myra to grind her teeth in frustration as she watched Joram inspect the slaves in the first cage.

There were four of them, all varying animal-kin. She was fairly certain that there were two cow-kin and two sheep-kin given their ears, hair, and tails. The cow-kin were… buxom, with long drooping ears that were white with large black spots on them. The sheep-kin were likewise buxom, but not quite so… disproportionate as the cow-kin. Their ears were also white, but without any other additions, looking as though they were covered in the softest wool that she’d ever seen.

They also looked… beaten, spiritually speaking that is. They didn’t have much life in their eyes, making Myra wonder what exactly they’d been through.

Joram then stepped to the next cage, this one with five women of varying ages, though she was willing to bet that none were older than her, or even close. The humans in that cage varied in skin tone from the purest white to very lightly tanned- possibly due to having a skin tone slightly darker than the others-, making her think that they weren’t the sort who’d be working in the garden. Especially due to how downtrodden they appeared to be.

Looking around, she noticed that almost every one of the females in the cages had that same despondent look in their eyes and their posture, though they seemed to be trained to sit up whenever anyone came close to their cages.

Turning back to Joram, she noticed the tell-tale signs of him getting angry. Very angry. How his shoulders seemed to be slightly further back than normal to how his hands were very still at his sides, even his expressly blank expression as he looked at the slaves…. She very much worried that he would do something rash.

Myra looked over to Asami quickly, but found that she was still as calm as could be, even grinning slightly. Which threw her for a loop, enough to stop worrying about how Joram would react and start worrying that perhaps Asami would be the one to start the bloodbath.

“Rude,” Asami whispered, then used their linked arms to pull her a bit closer so that she could poke Myra in the side.

Suppressing her natural reaction to that, she turned her attention back to Joram so that she wouldn’t try body-slamming Asami.

*Snort*

Myra once again stopped herself from grinding her teeth as she watched Joram.

He took his time going from one cage to the next, seemingly appraising the “goods”, as it were. The other person there left soon after, muttering about how the prices had gone up. Joram didn’t pay him any mind, though. But he did stop at the centre of the square of cages.

“Are these… demons?” he asked, turning slightly so that he could look at Matun from the corner of his eye.

“Good eye, young master,” Matun said, sounding as obsequious as Myra had ever heard anyone sound before. “They’re premium product, recently acquired on our way here.

“The one on the left is colloquially known as a ‘dark elf’. The one in the centre is called a succubus, and the one on the right is an erynese,” he said, pointing at what looked to be a well-tanned elf with silver hair and somewhat longer ears than Myra was used to seeing.

He then pointed to a red-head with blood-red hair, very smooth horns coming out of her head just above her temples and a little back, wings that came out of her shoulder blades, and a long and narrow black tail that ended in an odd shape. Almost like an aspen leaf, but smooth along the edges.

The third woman looked just as stunning as the other two, but with raven black hair that matched her raven wings. She also had horns, but much shorter than the succubus’ horns, though equally smooth.

“I see,” Joram said, nodding as he stepped over to the next cage to continue his inspection.

It took him another five minutes to finish at the last cage, prompting Matun to step forward again.

“So, do any of these lovely women meet your needs?” Matun asked, making it pretty clear to Myra what he meant by ‘needs’.

“Are the prices on… their collars accurate?” Joram asked, seemingly ignoring the obvious innuendo.

“That they are,” Matun replied, now looking excited to make a sale.

Joram nodded, then swept his left arm out to indicate every cage in the tent.

“I’ll take them all,” he said simply, causing both Myra’s and Matun’s jaws to drop as Asami finally began to chortle in delight.

“Ah, young master, each of the cheapest slaves are two gold coins each, while the most expensive ones run a gold bar each,” Matun said, now looking as though he was dealing with an unreasonable person.

“Yes, so the total would come to five gold bars, one gold half-bar, and twenty-three gold coins for all forty-nine slaves,” Joram said, nodding, causing Myra’s eyes to bug out in shock. “That said, would I get a discount for paying in cash?”

“Young master,” Matun started, sounding beyond skeptical. “If you can pay in cash, I will sell the lot of them for only five and a half gold bars. Not only that, but I’ll even include the cages and wagons that they came in,” he finished, obviously not taking Joram at all seriously.

“Oh, that’s mighty kind of you,” Joram said, nodding as a grin finally broke out on his face. “Then I’ll take them all. Please have them all prepared and loaded within the hour,” Joram said, handing Matun six small crystals that the man just stared at for a moment before nearly dropping them.

“I’ll take whatever change you can provide for that extra core,” Joram said causally as he looked around again. “Also, we should get the ownership papers, and such, dealt with before they’re all loaded up.”

Matun now looked as though he’d swallowed a cow patty.

“How?!” Matun managed to choke out as he stared at the six cores in his hand.

“I’m good at what I do,” Joram replied simply. “Now, hurry up. I don’t have all day.”

Matun seemed as though he wanted to argue, but then looked back at the cores in his hand and obviously thought better of it. Myra supposed that arguing with a person who could get that many Grade A cores wouldn’t be a wise life choice.

Matun then shook his head as though to clear it, then retrieved what looked like a wand from a pouch of holding before guiding Joram to each cage and waving it around. From what she knew of slaves, they each had a magical brand that bound the slave to their master.

The brand, or seal, would then force the slave to listen to anything the owner of that seal said. Anything. It would also prevent the slave from harming their owner, directly or indirectly. She wasn’t sure about the next part, but she was pretty sure that if the owner died before the slave, the slave would die along with the owner.

Shaking her head, she watched as Matun produced a small medallion for each slave that he waved his wand in front of, then handed each one to Joram as he finished, then went on to the next. He repeated this for each and every one of the forty-nine slaves as they looked on in shock.

Myra didn’t know how long any of them had been slaves for, but the budding sparks of life she could see in their eyes brought an inexplicable pain to her chest as Asami began patting her arm gently. She was suddenly glad that Asami was still holding onto her arm, for she felt her knees weaken a bit as the pain in her chest increased with each new spark.

But, what is he thinking…? She couldn’t help but wonder.

* * *

“Ah, I’m sorry young master, but I don’t seem to have enough spare change on me to provide the needed change for you,” the slaver- Matun- said, once more looking slimier than an old-time used-car salesman.

“That’s fine,” he said just to get the man’s hopes up before he continued. “We can just go to the bank as your men load up the wagons,” he finished, secretly enjoying the man’s disappointed look.

He looked over to Myra and Asami, then nodded at them as he used [Ectoplasmic Creation] to make a small cloth pouch. He then “dug” into his pocket and took out six Grade B cores and nine Grade C cores from his inventory that he then slipped into the pouch.

“Feel free to go shopping while we head to the bank,” he said, handing the pouch to Myra because Asami would likely spend it on meat.

Myra just nodded at him as she took the pouch and left the tent, her arm still linked with Asami’s as Asami shot him an annoyed look before leaving.

‘What’s with that?’ he asked Avi in the hope that she would have an answer.

‘No idea, but you sure made her day, that’s for sure,’ Avi said as she floated along beside him as he walked with the slaver.

“How about looking at some of the other slaves? I’m sure you could pick up many fine deals,” the slaver said, obviously hoping to keep that last gold half-bar he would have to give up.

“Nah, I’m good,” Joram said as he continued walking, now mostly ignoring the slaver as he walked.

It didn’t take them long to get to the bank, though Joram had to endure more than a few strange looks shot his way from the various citizens of Kirkwall.

As it turned out, the bank didn’t carry that much liquid currency, so they instead provided him with ten Grade B cores as his change. With the cores in hand, Joram then had a thought related to the purified cores he had stacked up in his inventory.

“Say, how much for one of these?” he asked the teller, producing one of the Grade C purified cores.

“May I?” the fellow asked, extending his hand palm up.

Joram obliged, then waited as the man inspected the core for a few moments, then gave Joram a weird look.

“This is a core?” he asked, looking dubious.

“Yes?”

It was then that the slaver gasped out loud, then gave Joram another shocked look.

“Is something the matter, sir?” the teller asked, obviously picking up on the slaver’s shock.

“How in the hells does this backwater-,” he cut himself off before he could finish thoroughly insulting the room. “Ahem. How did you come to possess a Crystal Core, young master?” he finished, trying desperately to regain his composure and dignity.

Pfft, too late for that you damn slaver, Joram thought as the teller’s eyes grew wide. He then noticed the bank manager excitedly making his way over, so he waited a few more seconds before speaking.

“Dungeon,” he said simply, not wanting most people to know that he could make the things, let alone a damn slaver.

Said slaver just gave him a blank look, then seemed to give up.

“OK, then,” he said, then regained a bit more of his composure. “So, out transaction is concluded. Please stop by to pick up your wares before the end of the day,” he said, then gave a short bow before promptly leaving the bank.

“Well, that was rude,” the bank manager said with a soft snort, making Joram want to laugh at hearing Asami’s favourite word.

“I’m sure his pride is just a bit sore,” Joram said, smiling now. “I got over eighty gold coins in savings because he didn’t believe that I could pay in cash,” he finished, getting more than a few laughs from the bank staff.

“Well, I’m sure if he’d asked around before making that deal, he wouldn’t have made that deal,” the teller commented with his own grin.

“Kirkwall’s hero definitely has money,” another teller, a woman this time, said with a broad smile that had a few too many teeth for his comfort.

But at least her comment got a few more laughs before they got back on topic.

“So, this will get you…” the bank manager said as he referenced a small book in his hands. “A gold half-bar and nineteen gold coins,” he finished speaking, then looked at Joram seriously. “Again, we don’t carry that much currency at this branch, but I would be happy to add the funds to your account.”

“No worries,” he said, then handed over his bank card/ID to the teller.

A few minutes later, Joram was once again outside, happy that his bank account had gotten a bit more padding. That said, he supposed that he could just deposit more of the coins that were just sitting in his inventory. But seeing those numbers was just too… nice.

Shaking his head, he headed back out of town.

* * * * *

“Just who is that young man, anyways?” Matun asked, extremely vexed by having been taken for a ride by a young kid.

“People say that he’s the village hero,” one of his guards replied.

“They say that he solo’d an A-Rank Dungeon in Overflow,” another piped in, getting a look of scorn from Matun.

“A kid that young? Please. I’m sure that he had a party waiting for him or something. You’d have to be an S-Ranked Exterminator to even stand a chance of surviving an A-Rank Dungeon solo, let alone one in Overflow.”

“Just say’n what I heard, is all,” the guard said, shrugging.

“I hear that he’s a sex fiend,” another piped in, looking a bit jealous. “You saw those girls with him? They’ve apparently been practically glued to him for months now. I also heard they all live together now.”

“That’d explain why he only bought girls,” another guard piped in, shaking his head. “I mean, damn! That’s just crazy.”

“Enough!” Matun growled. “Whoever this young man is, I’m sure that we can make more profit from him the next time we come back this way. Anyone who buys that many women usually goes through them pretty quickly. So, we’ll just have to make sure to bring more women the next time we come around,” he said, then chuckled. “Maybe we can even bring some more exotic wares that’ll bring more profits,” he finished as he rubbed his hands together in anticipation of future profits.

“Now. Is everything loaded up?” Matun asked as he looked towards the staging area.

“Yeah, we’re just waiting for the rich kid,” the first guard who’d spoken piped up.

“Good. Just make sure that you haven’t harnessed any of the horses, as they weren’t part of the ‘deal’,” he said, once more annoyed at having been played by the relatively poor-looking kid.

“Don’t worry, they’re just sitting there,” guard one said, grinning stupidly.

“Good, then back to work,” he said, waving them all off as he made his way to the waiting wagons to take a last look as his premium wares before they were carted off.

As he arrived, he noticed that the kid, Joram, was already there inspecting the wagons and merchandise. He hoped that he’d be able to get a rise out of the kid given just how stone-faced he was most of the time.

“Everything good to go?” the kid asked him as he turned towards him.

“That they are,” Matun said, giving the kid another warm smile. “I look forward to doing more business with you in the future.”

“Yeah, thanks,” the brat said, nodding at him like he was a noble or something.

“Will you need any assistance moving the wagons?” Matun asked, very much hoping that the kid would comment on the lack of horses.

“Nah, I’m good,” he said, waving him off as the air began to shimmer in front of the gathered wagons.

The wares in the cages started to murmur softly as they too noticed the odd phenomenon. Then everyone stopped talking all at once as two… things appeared in front of two wagons. Then another two, then two more, all the way until each wagon had a… thing where the horses would have been hitched to the wagons.

He wasn’t sure how to describe them. The things looked like… he really didn’t know what they looked like, they were so alien to him. But they did have wheels… or a sort, that were much wider than those of the wagons. They also had what could have possibly been a compartment vaguely similar to that of a carriage, but was for some reason smaller, and at the front of the… thing. The back end was open and flat, and also where four of the six wheels that he could see were located.

Then they… rolled backwards and somehow attached to the tugs, or shafts, of the wagons. In moments, a convoy of weird… things and wagons were leaving the compound as the product looked nervously to one another, murmuring all the while.

Matun looked over to where Joram stood watching the wagons go and felt an inexplicable shudder run down his spine. He had no way of knowing what caused it, but he suspected that such a casual display of absurd [Summon]ing was part of it.

“I look forward to doing business with you again, young master,” Matun said, trying to hide his unease through the rote of business.

“Mmm, yes. But I do hope that the next ones are in much better condition than these were in,” Joram said, sending another chill down his spine.

Just what the hell is this guy?! Matun silently wondered as he smiled his best smile under that look.