Episode 12
“Confirmation completed. Welcome to Harun.”
Harun, a fiefdom in the central region, arrived at in two days on horseback from Kyle.
The outer wall of this place also had thick gates built in two layers, tens of meters apart.
Therefore, Logan had to undergo a double inspection even though he showed his identity card, unlike when he entered Kyle.
There was a good reason for Harun to be on such strict guard.
Buzz.
As soon as the inner castle gate opens, what you see is countless waves of people.
The sight of the bustling crowd was complex and unique in a different way from Kyle.
This is because many of the moving crowd had their limbs shackled.
“Move quickly, you guys!”
“Stop procrastinating!”
slam!
Slaves could be seen everywhere, overseers wielding whips, and among them, men with sturdy stature and fierce looks carrying weapons passed by.
It looked very different from the general territory, but here it was just a very natural scenery.
“As expected…”
It was his first visit in this life, but it was a very familiar sight to Logan.
Harun is a city under the direct control of the royal family that manages agriculture in the Grandia Plain, the largest granary in the central region.
It was originally a territory created as an agricultural city, but as slaves to work in the wide plains and mercenaries to supervise them continued to flock, it became increasingly called by nicknames that had nothing to do with its original intention.
It was a city of slaves and mercenaries or a ‘human market’.
‘I first started working as a mercenary here in my past life.’
For Logan, the scenery of Harun was bound to be a new experience, but like Kyle, there was a lot of work to be done before he could reminisce about his past life and get lost in the sentiment.
‘First of all…’
The top goal was to find an engineer to make the weapon he used in his previous life.
But before that….
‘We have to find an instructor first. No, he’s an escort now.’
Even though the slave market where the technician Logan was looking for was located within the city, it was a dangerous place to travel alone.
No matter how confident Logan was in his power, it was a place where he could suddenly get stabbed in the back.
Taking care of such things one by one was labor, so I needed an escort to relieve me of the hassle.
‘Instructor and escort. There is someone just right for me, but I wonder if that person would be here right now…’
Logan’s steps, recalling memories of his past life, headed toward a familiar street he had walked countless times.
chin.
“Let’s be careful about that.”
“What dude?”
A person carrying a knife or other weapon travels a much longer distance than a person without one.
Two giants passing by bumped their shoulders and glared at each other.
“Watch your eyes.”
“You really need to watch the back of your head.”
However, he soon turned around to avoid the flashing gazes around him, leaving behind only harsh words laced with threats.
Harun’s ‘second famous street’, Mercenary Street, had an unwritten rule.
Lynch the person who takes up arms first.
This simple but certain rule maintained public order in this bloody street.
And in that harsh yet free atmosphere, Logan headed to a place where buildings with swords and shields drawn on one side of the street were gathered.
The Harun branch of Teinan, the largest mercenary guild in the Kingdom of Grandia.
The spacious first floor, which at first glance appears to be over 100 pyeong, was so noisy today that the sound of the bell on the door was meaningless.
It was so crowded with people that it was hard to believe that it was only one of the three mercenary guild buildings.
“Here’s a request to the southern region….”
“Empire-bound escort request, five B-class first-come, first-served~!”
“Do you have any requests to go east?”
A bulletin board with all kinds of requests written on it, urgent clients talking loudly next to it, and dozens of mercenaries gathered in front of it.
Among them, Logan fortunately found his target.
‘bingo.’
Fortunately, as if things were going well, the third guild building was the target.
If I had to go out on a mission somewhere far away, I would have tried to find another mercenary, but fortunately, I had found the top priority recruit.
‘Kai…’
A gray-haired mercenary chatting with someone who appears to be an employee of the mercenary guild at the counter.
He looked younger than the face Logan knew, but he had a square face and a proud physique. The emerald eyes and scar on his cheek were the same as Logan had seen in his previous life.
‘Still… no, this was the prime time.’
He was simply an A-level mercenary because he could not awaken the Force, but he was a master of martial arts whose weapon skills and fighting power could defeat even a knight if he were to let his guard down.
His weapon skills, which include bows and spears, were not enough to make him the strongest A-level mercenary.
In addition, Kaisolon, who was still in his mid-40s and possessed excellent horseback riding skills, was a mercenary with both skill and skill.
‘But his value as an instructor is much greater than now as a mercenary.’
A mercenary unit he created just about a year from now after he retired from the front line after receiving a serious wound.
The mercenaries he raised there boasted superior skills than any other mercenaries of the same class, and the name ‘Kaisolon Mercenaries’ was imprinted throughout the mercenary world.
Logan in his previous life had also experienced their skills by working with them several times.
They all chose Kaisolon, the leader and instructor who taught the mercenary corps, for his teaching ability as the best.
However, I heard that before he retired due to injury, he much preferred fighting himself rather than teaching others.
‘I guess I should spend more money.’
In any case, he was a perfect fit for the mercenary force that Logan was currently drawing.
“Kaisolon?”
Kai looked blankly at the pale-haired master who suddenly spoke to him.
Then, only after checking the emblem on the armor did I cautiously open my mouth.
“…Is that so?”
“I want to hire you long-term.”
I wondered if he was some kind of young nobleman, but if he had at least some common sense, he wouldn’t cheat with contracts within the mercenary guild.
Kai’s eyes changed to Ho’s young eyes and looked at Logan.
“Oh? Long-term contract? Okay. So what are you thinking about?”
“At least one year.”
“Oh great. So what should I do?”
“I would like you to take charge of the education and training of C-class mercenaries that will be hired separately.”
“Education and training? Oh, you mean me?”
Kai was embarrassed. Are you asking me, who is a very expensive Class A mercenary, to be your instructor?
I couldn’t help but sigh at the request I received for the first time in my life.
“…I’m sorry, but I don’t know what you’ve heard about me. I’ve never trained anyone in that specific way.”
“I heard that you are often good at teaching your colleagues when necessary.”
“Where did you say that? Okay. I just thought it would help with the mission, so I taught some young guys some tricks, but that’s it…” “
So you’re saying you’re going to refuse?”
“That’s not it… I would understand if you were a combat mercenary, but I’ve never been an instructor before…” A
euphemistic sign of refusal.
But the answer was different from his expectations.
“I’ll give you 4,000 gold per month.”
Kaisolon’s eyes wavered slightly at those words.
The maximum ransom for a class A mercenary is usually 2,000 gold per month.
That noble master who came out of nowhere immediately asked for twice that amount.
“I’ll tell you again, I’ve never been an instructor before…”
“6,000 gold. A month.”
“I’m sorry, but I prefer fighting missions. No matter how much money you can make a ghost,…”
“8,000 gold. This is the maximum. No more.”
Kaisolon, who was speechless for a moment as the ransom price quadrupled in an instant, laughed arrogantly and held out his hand.
“Haha, it’s better to be a warrior than a ghost. I’m Kaisolon. Call me Kai, employer. But what do you do?”
Young boy. No, Jaesin (財神) smiled and took his hand.
* * * Kai was surprised for a moment when he heard that Logan was not the son of a margrave preparing for a war somewhere, but the archduke of Baron McLane.
But that fact did not interfere with the contract.
“Aren’t you curious? Why am I trying to hire mercenaries in Macline, a remote country estate?”
“There’s no reason you should wonder about that as long as your employer gives you the money.”
“Your mindset is clear.”
“Of course.”
Kai answered with such enthusiasm, but the moment he heard Logan’s next destination, his expression became strange.
“Slave market?”
Mercenaries and slaves. The purpose of traveling from McLane Estate to Harun was clear, but I could not guess why the son of a noble family would do this alone.
However, as per his usual belief, he did not ask the reason, and Logan did not bother to explain either.
“Yes. Something troublesome may happen, so be sure to be on guard around your surroundings.”
“That’s no problem. There’s no way anyone here wouldn’t recognize me.”
Hearing Kai’s rant, Logan looked at him again and nodded.
Although he was not very tall for a mercenary who was about 180cm tall, his lean body shape and the scars on his face and the various weapons he had equipped all over his body made him feel very threatening.
It seemed like if you knew about him, you wanted to avoid him.
A market where people are traded, so people are always the problem. It was a perfect impression to be used as a slave market escort.
“Welcome! What kind of slave are you looking for? If you tell me the conditions…”
“Hey Confucius! Come and have a look! We are supplying slaves cheaper than anywhere else!”
Harun’s main street.
The huge, spacious tents lined up on both sides of the main street all had wide open entrances, and inside them, dirty, naked slaves were lined up under the watchful eye of mercenaries.
The slave market can be said to be Harun’s first specialty.
Although it was not created with formal permission, the number of tents that began to increase at some point continued to increase in number one by one with the connivance of the territory.
Eventually, the largest human market was created in the Kingdom of Grandia, and it has grown to such an extent that it is now considered common sense to come to Harun’s slave market to buy slaves within the kingdom.
‘That much trouble happens every day.’
Descendants of enemy nations defeated in war, descendants of serious criminals, refugees who were caught while trying to avoid taxes or labor, or people who had debts they could not afford.
Logan walked quickly, receiving the dark gazes of various people, each with their own stories.
‘I can’t get used to it.’
Is it because in my past life, I saw many refugees who were reduced to slaves after the kingdom collapsed?
In Logan’s eyes, both managers and slaves seemed to be in similar situations.
And regardless of his complicated feelings, every time he took a step, the crowded crowd was split in half as if it were a lie.
It was thanks to Kai, who followed right behind him.
The group of gangsters who were approaching with a sinister spirit, perhaps thinking that Logan was a child with no sense of the world, ran away to avoid him as soon as they saw behind him.
Thanks to this, Logan, who was relieved of the troublesome work, smiled with satisfaction and arrived at his destination without much friction.
A small red tent with a closed entrance.
Such small tents could often be seen in the corners of the slave market.
And despite its small size, there were more guards and mercenaries stationed there than in other large tents.
In front of such a tent, an old man escorted by mercenaries spoke leisurely.
“Young Confucius. Do you know where this place is?…”
“I came to buy a dwarf. Open it.”
“Oh, you got it right. Slaves of this race are rare and receive special care. Please come in here.”
At Logan’s words, the slaver’s attitude changed and the red tent opened.
Then, Logan saw slaves with a slightly different appearance trapped in a sturdy-looking iron cage.
The first thing that caught his eye was the light in their shabby clothes. They were two beauties with pointy ears whose flying beauty was not hidden. They
were sitting helplessly with dead eyes that seemed to have given up on everything, but even their appearance looked beautiful.
“These are elves that we found with difficulty. Have you ever seen elves anywhere else? As for these people…”
They were elves, who maintained their youth for hundreds of years and were always the most popular slaves because most of them far exceeded human standards of handsomeness and beauty.
“Huh….”
The Kaido elf, who has been based here for a long time, couldn’t take his eyes off the beautiful sight of a different race that even Logan in his previous life had seen only a few times, and continued to exclaim in exclamation as if he hadn’t seen it often.
The old man continued to explain with a smile, but in reality, The water owner showed no interest at all.
“That’s okay. Take that slave out there.”
Rather, what he wanted was the small, stocky slave next to him.
“Ah… yes, yes. You said you were looking for a dwarf, right? Of course I will. Take them out!”
When the young man showed no reaction even after seeing the elf beauties in front of him, the old man gave instructions to the mercenaries with a shocked look on his face.
Looking at him like that, Logan chuckled to himself.
‘I refuse to buy on impulse, old man. That too. Mere decorations…’
It was clear that the elves were the most preferred slaves, but it was because of their appearance.
Logan, who was only interested in war right now, had no reason to pay attention.
To Logan, they were especially uglier next to them. The dwarf slave you could see was worth much more.
“Ugh. Damn it.” A dwarf
with a long white beard that was about as tall as the waist of a normal human, with wide shoulders and down to his navel, reacted nervously to the mercenaries who tried to lift him up. He was chained to the
shackles that seemed as heavy as his thick hands and feet. Even though he was tied up, he didn’t seem to be dispirited.
“As you can see, he doesn’t look like a dwarf at all. If you take it with you, there will be plenty of places to use it. They say he is one of the few master-level craftsmen among the dwarves, a race of craftsmen, and has great strength and stamina…”
“Master-level!?”
Logan’s eyes naturally widened.
As the old man said, the dwarf race has delicate dexterity that does not match those thick fingers. They are born with this.
A race of people who create and refine things from childhood until they die of old age and find meaning in life through it.
‘And they are masters among them.’
He was exactly what Logan needed right now, a ‘technician’ who exceeded his expectations.
If that was the case, then there was no need to worry.
“Understand, and how much?”
At the blunt question that interrupted the explanation, the old man smiled awkwardly and held up two fingers.
” Haha, it’s a reward, so give me at least 200,000…”
“Tsk. Do I look like a brat?”
At those words, Logan immediately turned back without hesitation.
No matter how valuable a slave of a different race was, hundreds of times the price of a sturdy slave was an amount that would be difficult to come up with unless you looked down on him.
Moreover, for a dwarf slave, Despite their fame as a race of artisans, they had a fatal ‘disadvantage’.
“The red tent is not the only one here…”
“Now, wait a minute, Confucius!”
The slave trader hurriedly called Logan over and started bargaining.
And In the end, the deal was only concluded after the price of the dwarf fell to 50,000 gold.
“Human. It was terrible.”
The dwarf blurted out while looking at the slaver spreading salt behind his back.
It was a tone that was completely unsuitable for a slave, but Logan did not react unpleasantly to those words and just shrugged his shoulders.
“Hmm, what. It’s basic.”
It’s easier to kill a dwarf slave than to make him
treat them with respect. The more they are oppressed, the more they rebel. That’s why they were a race that was not easy to treat as slaves.
We know the fate of a forgotten race that tries to protect its pride even in words, even if its body is restrained. It was common knowledge on the continent that everyone knew.
“Where am I going now?”
“I will be going to the McLane territory in the southwest. And you will make the items I asked for.”
“I guess so…”
A gloomy light flashed in the eyes of the dwarf who answered.
In fact, most people who wanted to buy dwarves, a race of craftsmen, wanted the same thing.
However, they were forced to become slaves. Few masters were completely satisfied with the work made by dwarves.
Even if they were a race of craftsmen, an item made without enthusiasm could not become a real work of art.
However, even taking that into account, they showed superior skills than human blacksmiths. It was only sold at a high price.
Moreover, the difference in performance of the dwarf Hamar sold to Logan was greater than that of ordinary compatriots due to
whether or not he had motivation. Even as a dwarf advanced craftsman, there were times when he was worse than a human blacksmith.
Because of that, It was fortunate that he was resold instead of being killed by the angry previous owner.
‘It’s not that I want to die, but…’
Motivation is not something that can be controlled on its own.
But his eyes flashed as if the new owner knew that fact. Tui brought out a proposal:
“20 years. If you ‘do your best’ to make things for me for the next 20 years, I am willing to send you back to the mountain.”
Hamar’s eyes shook greatly at those words.
