Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord

The Slave Market gathered on the outskirts of the capital city.

Here, two types of slaves were sold at the same time: those newly enslaved and those who had been left unsold at storefronts.

The newly enslaved had received at least basic education, and their selling point was that they had never been slaves before.

In other words, they had never belonged to anyone, and were unspoiled in a good way.

On the other hand, those who remained unsold at the slave market or storefronts were displayed with their skills as selling points. Since store clerks didn’t pitch each slave individually to customers, these slaves had to rely on their special skills as weapons to attract buyers.

I was one of those unsold slaves. My skill was hunting. I could hunt small demonic beasts alone.

However, it seemed such skills were not in demand for slaves.

For a woman like me, the skills sought after were housekeeping, singing, dancing, and if possible, useful magical aptitude.

Female slaves who possessed these skills would sell quickly, as long as they looked reasonably acceptable.

Of course, if bought by someone who treated slaves cruelly, one might think it would have been better to stay under the slave traders.

But I had no time left. I thought I looked quite ordinary, but my muscular, sinewy body was not feminine, and I was unfriendly in demeanor.

Some men looked at me with curiosity, but when I glared back unintentionally, they never ended up buying me.

Among the slaves at the same shop, some were bought but then put back on sale. These slaves usually had faces that looked like they had lost the will to live.

Such slaves would fail to find the next buyer. They joined the ranks of unsold, just like me.

No, once a slave was bought and then sold again for some reason, they were even harder to sell than I was. That’s why they lost the will to live, despairing in their slave life.

In the market where such slaves lined up, I was once again sitting quietly in a cage at the edge today.

If I remained unsold for a month or two, I would probably be sold at the lowest price as a slave with some problem. Then, like injured or sick people, I wouldn’t know what kind of treatment I’d receive.

Thinking that, I plastered on an unfamiliar smile from morning and sat quietly, when a loud murmur rose from the middle of the market.

I heard the excited voices of merchants and customers, and the heat of the crowd quickly reached us.

Looking over, a line of onlookers had formed deep into the street. That crowd moved toward us like a living creature.

At the center of that excitement walked, apparently, the young man.

And that young man finally came to the shop where I was held by the slave merchant.

“Show me the healthy slaves in this shop.”

At those words, our merchant smiled politely but hurriedly lined up the unsold slaves in front of the store. After confirming we were all lined up, he brought forward the new faces, his top picks.

“These are the slaves our shop proudly offers! All are physically sound and free from illness, and each has a reliable background…”

The merchant introduced each one.

There was the young man, a former knight from an enemy country. The daughter of a fallen noble. Others included famous adventurers and those with strong magical aptitude.

From my perspective, these slaves were attractive enough to not even stir jealousy. But no matter how I thought about it, they were expensive. Probably buying one of the top slaves would cost as much as two or three of the cheaper ones like us.

Just as I thought that, the young man spoke calmly to an elderly man standing nearby.

“What about the fee for the slaves with magical aptitude here...?”

“No fee is needed. But normally, for one such slave, a fee of one to three gold coins is charged. Make sure to properly report this to van nei fertio, the new baron.”

“Thank you. Then, how about all the slaves here for two large gold coins?”

The young man smiled as he turned back and said that.

His words shocked not only the merchant but also us. We had never even seen a large gold coin in our small village. Since I would never be worth a single gold coin, even with the fees waived, this was probably a high price offer.