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I Came to the Slave Trader

私は奴隷商へとやってきた

Due to the arrival of refugees, it seems that the information about the fall of the Alchemy Kingdom has finally spread to the general public.

ついでに難民がやってきた影響で、ようやく錬金王国が滅んだ情報が一般にも広まっているらしい。

 

“Ugh. I wanted to visit the Alchemy Kingdom… I never thought it would be destroyed.”

「うう。錬金王国、行ってみたかったんですが……まさか滅んだなんて」

 

Recently, dear Diya, who has just started getting into alchemy, was a bit down after hearing the news that the Alchemy Kingdom, the holy land of alchemy, had fallen.

最近錬金術を始めてハマったディア君は、錬金術の聖地である錬金王国が滅んだ情報を聞いてちょっと落ち込んでいた。

…Even if I go now to see the destroyed town, it wouldn’t mean anything.

……今から行って滅んだ町を見たところで、何の意味もないよなぁ。

 

And sorry, but it was our god who destroyed it.

そしてごめんな、滅ぼしたのウチの神様やねん。

If the king of the Alchemy Kingdom hadn’t claimed to be the god of chaos, it wouldn’t have perished!

錬金王国の王様が混沌神を名乗らなければ滅びなかった！

Well, if the god hadn’t tried to destroy the Alchemy Kingdom, I wouldn’t be here either, so it’s all balanced, right?

まぁ神様が錬金王国を滅ぼそうとしなければ私もここにいなかったわけだし、相殺ってことでいいよね？

 

 

 

 

So, after parting ways with my seniors, the next day, I came to the slave trader.

というわけで先輩達と別れて翌日。私は奴隷商へとやってきた。

After all, you can’t talk about reincarnation in another world without mentioning slaves…!

やっぱ異世界転生といえば奴隷は外せないよなぁ……！

 

There are a lot of people here. …It seems that most of them are slaves for sale. There are so many that they can’t all fit in, and they look like ordinary people, still in the clothes they were sold in. They might be a bit dirty since they were refugees.

なんかめっちゃ人いる。……これほぼ商品の奴隷さんだって。あんまりにも多いから入りきらず、服も売られたときのままでフツーの一般人っぽい。難民だったから多少薄汚れてるくらいか。

 

And here comes a long-awaited explanation from the basic knowledge.

と、ここで久々の基本的知識さんによる解説だ。

Slave traders are the last safety net that even criminals can buy from. By purchasing those who would be discarded as a burden, they contribute to maintaining public order, and generally, they don’t refuse to buy. They seem to be connected with the authorities as well.

奴隷商は犯罪者ですら買い取る最後のセーフティーネット。口減らしに捨てられるような者も買い取ることで治安の維持に貢献しており、基本的に買取拒否するようなことはない。行政とも結びついているらしい。

…Come to think of it, the slave trader in Verald was also a vassal of the lord. Yeah.

……そういやヴェーラルドの奴隷商も領主の子飼いだったもんな。うん。

 

So, the result of buying the refugees from the Alchemy Kingdom as they were put up for sale is this overflowing crowd. They will surely be shipped to other towns in the future.

そんなわけで錬金王国の難民が売り出すままに買い取った結果がこの溢れる人混みということなのだろう。今後彼らは他の町へと出荷されていくに違いない。

 

 

Now then, it’s time for my long-awaited shopping at the slave trader.

さて、そんじゃ念願の奴隷商でのお買い物です。

 

“Excuse me!”

「すみませーん」

“Yes, yes, are you looking to sell? Trade-in? Or are you considering a purchase?”

「はいはい、買取？　下取り？　それとも購入ですかね？」

“I’m thinking about making a purchase.”

「購入を検討してる感じです」

 

When I said that, the slave trader’s face lit up.

私がそういうと、奴隷商はぱぁっと顔を明るくした。

 

“Welcome! We are very pleased to have you, dear customer. As you can see, we have an overflowing stock, so if you decide to make a purchase, we would be truly grateful. …Ah, however, since we haven’t been able to provide proper training, there are only a few slaves that are actually ready for sale. But! If you’re willing to provide the training yourself, we can offer you a discount!”

「ようこそ！　歓迎いたしますお客様。ご覧の通り在庫は溢れているほどなので購入していただけるならホント大歓迎ですよ。……あー、ただ、教育を施し切れていないので実際に売り物になる奴隷は少ないのです。が！　お客様の方で教育なさるのであればお安くなります！」

“By the way, how much would that be?”

「ちなみにその、おいくら位で？」

“Normally, for trained slaves, the price ranges from one gold coin to several dozen, but for newly arrived untrained slaves, we can deduct five large silver coins from that! It’s a great deal. Seriously.”

「通常、教育済み奴隷であれば金貨１枚から十数枚のところ、入荷したての未教育奴隷であればそこから大銀貨５枚を引きいたします！　おススメですよ。いやホント切実に」

 

Oh, that means the minimum price is fifty silver coins. It seems like I could manage that with the money I have as Karina Shonin. Well, I still have to borrow money from Diya since I would lose my business capital.

おお、となると最低値は銀貨５０枚。カリーナ・ショーニンとしての手持ちでも手が届きそうな程だ。まぁ、商売の元手が消えちゃうからディア君から借金することは変わらないんだけど。

 

“It seems cheaper than I expected.”

「覚悟してたより安そうですね」

“Well, taking care of slaves costs money, and that cost is added to the price of the slaves. It’s only natural that untrained slaves are cheaper when they just arrive. …In other words, it’s a limited-time bargain price.”

「そりゃ奴隷の面倒を見るだけで金がかかりまして、その分が奴隷の値段に加算されますからね。入荷したてで未教育な奴隷が安いのは当然ですよ。……つまり、今だけのお買い得価格というわけです」

 

It seems that the slave trader’s true intention is to hope that someone will take the untrained slaves before they become a liability. As long as there’s some profit, that’s a win for them.

どちらかというと負債になる前に未教育の奴隷を引き取ってほしいというのが奴隷商側の本音だろうか。多少でも利益が出れば万々歳、みたいな。

 

 

“That said, if an untrained slave does something wrong, the master is responsible, right? I’ve heard that some slaves wait for their masters to be trapped by that and get bought again.”

「とはいえ、教育されていない奴隷が何か悪さしても主人の責任になるんですよね？　中にはそれで主人を陥れ、再度買われるのを待つ奴隷もいるとか聞いたんですが」

“Hahaha, that’s a legendary rare case. Normally, they would be disposed of as unsellable stock. Or perhaps they were in cahoots with the slave trader.”

「ハハハ、それは伝説級に希少な例ですよ。普通なら不良在庫で処分です。あるいは奴隷商とグルだったかでしょう」

 

Putting aside the previous slave trader, it’s not like that now, so you can rest assured, the slave trader smiled.

前の奴隷商はともかく、今はそんなことないので安心を。と奴隷商はにこっと笑った。

My seniors, did you scare me? Well, it’s actually helpful to be warned strongly like that, so I appreciate it.

先輩め、さては私を脅したな？　まぁ、あれくらい強く言ってくれた方が注意深くもなるから助かるんだけど。

 

I guess I just need to not take the slaves out of the storage space. That should be fine, probably. Yeah.

最悪奴隷を収納空間から出さなければいいか。問題ない、多分。うん。

 

 

“So, what kind of slave are you looking for?”

「それで、どのような奴隷をお求めでしょうか？」

“Hmm. First, something not too expensive, a cute girl, and maybe a hidden gem with some skills. Around one gold coin?”

「うーん。まずそんなに高くなくて、可愛い女の子で、ついでに何か技能のある掘り出し物でもないかなぁって。金貨１枚くらい？」

“…That’s quite a difficult request.”

「……流石に難しい注文ですねぇ」

 

I thought so, but isn’t there something like that? There are so many here after all.

ですよねー、でも無いわけじゃないんだろうか？　流石にこれだけ居るし。

 

 

(By the way, the updates on Kakuyomu are half a day earlier. There are no embedded illustrations, though.)

（そういえばカクヨムの方は半日早く更新してます。挿絵の埋め込みはないけど）

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