Melvin-san brought me to a two-story building in the western part of the city. The building was almost twice as big as the surrounding buildings.

So this is where they sell slaves, huh? As we were walking towards this building, Melvin-san explained to me a lot of information about slaves.

First of all, the owner is forbidden to abuse or be cruel to a slave. If a person breaks this rule, they will be treated as a criminal.

The owner is required to provide food, clothing, and shelter to their slaves, but most of the time, a lot of owners are providing their slaves with commodities that are lower than those that are received by ordinary people. If a slave is injured, the owner is required to provide medical treatment.

Slaves have no freedom; their daily lives revolve only around working, eating, and sleeping. Also, a lot of slaves are forced to work under harsh working conditions.

There are two ways to hire a slave. One is that a person can rent them to a slave trader. The slave is still owned by the slave trader, so there's a heavy penalty if the renter commits an atrocity to a slave or if a slave is injured during the time that it is being rented.

The second way is to purchase the slave from a slave trader. In this way, the ownership of the slave will be transferred to the one who purchases the slave. The one who purchases the slave will be responsible for providing the slave with food, clothing, and shelter. If a slave dies, the cause of its death will be investigated, and if the investigators find out that the owner is responsible for the slave's death, the owner may be punished.

Slaves cannot harm their masters because they are restrained by a magic device.

The owner is also required to pay a wage to their slaves, and slaves have the right to buy themselves back with wages they earn from their work.

That's pretty much the gist of it. The reason why Melvin-san recommends a slave to be my bodyguard is that when a slave is treated well, they will serve their master to the best of their ability. A master can sell their slaves at any time, so a slave that was treated well by a master will serve their master faithfully so that they won't be discarded.

"If it's you, Yamato-kun, I'm sure that you wouldn't treat your slave badly. On the contrary, there's a high possibility that you would let your slave live the same way as you do. Hahaha"

Melvin-san was just joking when he said that, but for me, it's hard to live a luxurious life while a slave that guards me every day and night is having a hard life. I mean, as a person who will protect me, isn't the utmost hospitality required?

...that's what I believe in.

"Gehehehe, boy! If you hire me, your life will be a lot easier. Gehehehe."

"Kid! Get me out of here! Or I'll kill you!"

"Ara? A cute little boy. Do you want to do something good with Onee-san?"

....It would be impossible for me to live with the slaves around here, as most of them are either men at their wits' end or old men.

And most of them look really dangerous, I'm safe because of the bars that separate us, but I don't think my eyes and ears are prepared to see and hear what's happening around me.

"As usual, this is really a terrible place to be. That's why Yamato-kun be careful and let's find some slaves that are relatively decent and perfect for you."

"This is really impossible! Also, aren't most men around here just old men? "

"It can't be helped as young men are an asset to a war effort, so most of the time they are taken by mercenaries or by the military. Women, on the other hand, have jobs that only women can do, which is why you can find them in a different building. Also, this building is like a warehouse for the leftover goods.

Thank you for that explanation that ruined my hopes and dreams.... Also, seriously, Melvin-san, why are you looking at a place like this? 

"Melvin-sama, please don't say something so terrible."

"Why did you come here? Also, it looks like the child with you is already scared. "

"Oh? You're the kid who was at the gate earlier, right?"

"Eh? Are you the old man from the Olivine Firm?

Before I entered this city, the old man in front of me was the first person with whom I had my first conversation in this world. He told me that if I couldn't find work, I should come to the Olivine Trading Company for help. But seriously, did he really intend to make a child work at such a facility?

....Or was he going to sell me to slavery?

"Yamato-kun, he just looks like that, but he's a government official too. Slave traders are under the jurisdiction of the local lord, so that means that this man is also a vassal of the current ruling lord of this area."

"Just like he'd said Yamato-sama, but still a lot of people from other countries have a misconception about slave traders, but in reality, the slave traders in this country, especially in this city, are all respectable people. We only deal with criminal slaves or debt slaves, and as for the treatment of our slaves, we don't do anything inhumane to them because if we do that we are going to get punished. I heard that in other countries it's a rare occurrence for a slave to have their freedom, but here in our country we have a buy-back system in which a slave can free themselves and live their life freely after a few years of working for their owners.

Enslavement as a part of punishment? Well, I guess instead of putting them in prison and having them rot there while they receive free food, it would be better for them to work and complete their sentence that way. Also, if a criminal slave had become a veteran in a certain field, when they got released they would have a higher chance of getting employed.

"But are there people who want to put these feeble old men to work?"

"Hahaha, even if they are weak and old, they are still useful, particularly for mining, flood control, and land reclamation. Like I've said before, we are under the jurisdiction of the lord, so every labor is essential to the development of the territory."

Ah, I see, so the leftover slaves here are used for the territory's development, and the proper slaves that can be used for other things can be found in another slave house. However, since the slaves that can be used for combat are gathered in this slave house, I must do my best to find a decent slave. Also, I guess that's why a lot of slaves here are appealing to me because it's better to protect a ten-year-old boy than to do hard labor developing a territory.

"So Melvin-sama, what's your business here today? Also, isn't it still too early to train new soldiers?"

Wait, Melvin-san, you are renting slaves to train your soldiers? .. Isn't that a little villainous? Although I understand that if the soldiers train while assuming that the slaves are bandits, I'm sure that they will make a lot of progress in their training.

"I came today to find a bodyguard for Yamato-kun. He's an apothecary. Can you show us around?*

"... I see. Well then it's those women, right?"

He said women, didn't he? Does that mean there are women here? I didn't expect to see a goddess here! After seeing a lot of these disgusting old men, even if a very obese woman came out, I would still be satisfied!

We then followed the slave trader up the stairs to the second floor. It looks like the first floor is reserved for the old men, and the second floor is reserved only for women. I had thought why didn't they tell me about this earlier, but it seems that women rarely stay here because this facility houses slaves only for hard labor and combat-related work.

There are only two women staying here right now, and it seems they are sisters. If those two women can do hard labor and fight, does that mean that they are like female professional wrestlers? I need to stop dreaming and imagining things, as I'm sure there's something amazing waiting for me beyond my imagination. That's what I think because, otherwise, if I saw them while having too many expectations, I might be disappointed.

"We have arrived. They don't have any ill intentions towards us. That's why we haven't put them in jail. If it were Yamato-sama, I'm sure that there would be no problem... I'm sure it's too much to ask you on behalf of our slaves, but please treat them with kindness and sincerity."

He said to treat them with kindness and sincerity. So, really, what kind of women are they? A giant woman? A woman with a super obese body? A woman you can't tell if she's a person or not? A middle-aged woman? Don't tell me it's already a senior citizen? Damn, I don't have any ideas at all. Old man, what are you trying to achieve by confusing me?

When I was thinking about such things, the slave trader opened the door to the room in front of us. It was a small room with about 4 tatami mats, with one bed and no windows.*

And inside the room, there were two beautiful women.

Note:

1. Melvin introduced Yamato as a potion maker.

2. One tatami mat is measured around 3 ft. by 6 ft. so the size of the room is 12 ft. by 24 ft.

3. The MC is calling the slave trader ojii-san but considering the translation of a lot of sentences in this chapter using ojii-san or old man isn't really suitable in those sentences in my opinion that's why I changed some of them to slave trader.