Chapter 45: Leaving Flange City

 

Whether they are noblemen in the field or honorary nobles, most of the ordinary servants in the family are bought, which are actually slaves. They just don't call them that for a better sound, after all, it is more convenient to buy them.

Therefore, Flange City has one of the largest slave markets on the continent. As long as you can afford the price, you can buy any legal slave you want. These slaves come from a variety of sources, including the children of former slaves, prisoners of war, civilians who cannot repay their debts, criminals, and even captured orcs.

Of course, this orc is not a fox spirit, which is a rare species. There are not many of these captured across the continent each year, and they are auctioned off. Instead, they are ordinary orcish elites. It is said that some widowed noble ladies choose to buy back those with passable looks and invite mages to control their minds. They work very well in daily use.

At this time, a group of cavalry escorted a carriage into the block where the slave market was located. Pedestrians on the road kept out of the way, because they knew that this was a field noble, and if they avoided it slowly, they would inevitably get a flogging.

Even in the royal capital, field nobles are so arrogant because they have land, money, an army, and the allegiance of professionals. As long as they don't violate the three major conventions and some customary rules, killing a few civilians in the street is just a matter of paying some money.

The carriage stopped in the courtyard of the largest slave trader's house, and Christine got off.

“My respects, Baron Stewart.”

The owners of the various slave traders' houses had already been waiting here, and they immediately greeted her with bows.

Elena walked up and said, “Bring everyone up here.”

“Yes, my lord.”

The owners of the trading houses immediately told their subordinates to bring all the slaves up here for the Baron to choose from.

The descendants of the Dragon's Blood have a long life expectancy, so it can be said that the servants around Christine are all too old to work. She still looks like a young girl, so she needs to cultivate new talent from a young age. It is only normal to take the opportunity to come to the city of Frank to go to the largest slave market and make some selections.

Originally, Christine did not need to be present when buying slaves, but she hoped to find some people with the aptitude for a physical profession, so she came.

This is because the way mages test can only detect whether someone has the aptitude to cast spells, but not whether they have the aptitude for the physical sciences. Moreover, if there were really slaves with the aptitude to cast spells, the merchant guild would have kept them for themselves or had someone else buy them, and they would not have survived until now.

However, Christine could tell who had the aptitude to become a physics major based on her experience before the journey. She just had to buy all the slaves she thought had the potential. Those she missed could be used as ordinary servants. She was willing to err on the side of caution.

In the slave market, all the children under the age of nine were brought in and lined up in front of Christine, and those she selected were taken aside.

There weren't many children among the slaves for sale because they couldn't fetch a high price. The hundred or so people were all looked at in a short while, and less than ten were selected. Half of them were people Christine felt might have the aptitude, and the other half were girls who might become beautiful women when they grew up.

Then came the girls aged ten to fourteen, who were purely bought to be maids. Since they were the main commodity for the slave trading companies, there were nearly 2,000 of them, and Christian selected the twenty with the best looks and figures from among them.

“Baron Stewart, these are all the slaves that meet your requirements,” said one of the company heads on behalf of the others.

Christian waved her hand slightly, and Elena immediately said, ”That's it, let's do the deal.”

The managers of the various trading companies looked at them and beamed with joy. They led the way to complete the transaction procedures, and the priest of the God of Order issued the certification documents on the spot.

Buying nearly 30 slaves at a time was already a considerable transaction. Although children were worthless, those young and beautiful virgins were not cheap. This transaction alone made them earn more than 1,000 gold coins.

The managers of the slave trading company then conferred in low voices. One of them then came over and said politely, “Honourable Baron Stewart, we have some even better ones in stock. Please take a look.”

Christine nodded, and the managers of the trading company immediately had someone bring over a dozen young girls. Unlike the previous ones, they were dressed in proper clothes, and not only were they more attractive, they also had a different temperament. These were all from noble families.

They might be collateral branches of noble families or second daughters of lowly noble families. They had received an education different from that of commoner girls, but for one reason or another they had become slaves. None of them were from the Kingdom of France, but they could fetch a high price in the city of France, so they were transported here.

Because of this, they were not cheap and not affordable to the average person. The managers of the trading company hurriedly brought them out when they saw that Christine was generous with her money.

These ten or so young girls introduced themselves in turn, naming their specialties and status. No matter what they were thinking, they had to force a smile on their faces. After all, once they entered the slave trading company, they were no longer in control.

For Christine, the specialties and status of the girls didn't matter, so she ordered two of the younger ones with good looks and figures to be kept. To do so, she had to pay 400 gold coins, an amount that ordinary honorable nobles would not waste.

The merchant house would send the chosen ones to the manor on their own, and Elena would arrange for them to be trained. Although the Stewart family was only a baron's title, due to its long history, the rules in this regard were no worse than those of the great nobles.

Kristin had been living here for more than a month since arriving in Frank City. Now that everything was done, it was time to go back. However, the group returning this time was much larger than before. In order to transport so many people and the purchased goods, they had to add more than a dozen more carriages.

Just Olivia's own clothes, shoes, hats, and various supplies filled more than a dozen boxes. Christine felt that perhaps her cousin had spent most of the gold she earned on clothes, which was why she was still a first-level mage because she couldn't afford to study.

In contrast, Mage Ramos Aiken's luggage only consisted of a box of books and a box of experimental items. He even only had two sets of robes, and spent all his money on learning.

The mages, druids, and apprentices who pledged allegiance were not alone. Their families would also migrate to the Baron Stewart's territory with them. Some of them were not free people, and Christine had to pay a ransom for them.

There is not much to say on the way back, although there are not many towns and villages on the mainland and there are many gangs of bandits and robbers in the wild. However, neither on the way there nor on the way back did anyone dare to rob the noble convoy, which was escorted by fifty cavalrymen led by a knight.