After a long day and a night that felt even longer, our team of fools finally got their sweet time to rest. The moment morning rose Demi barged in to take them all back to work and do it all over again. They were once again tasked with monster extermination but this time what they notice is that the cleared part of the beach and the city were filled to the brim with construction workers. They looked like they were working as hard as they could and had a lot of basic foundations for buildings. As they were riding the carriage they were thrown off at the infested part of the beach and it all went the same way it did the last day.

About a week after they started they managed to clear out all the parts that could be dangerous while a massive amount of buildings already rose to the skies. It seems like by the time they finished Demi pulled a few strings so the sea city of Monia was pretty much his property now. Because of that he recruited a large number of labor workers, both slaves and free men, and decided to make a paradise for himself. By the looks of it the town would be completed in a matter of months, the reason is probably that some people that were employed had abilities related to construction, and it would be a destination everyone will visit at least once.

Melton was a bit surprised by seeing slavery for the first time in his life and decided to ask a few questions about it.

"So. How do you even get these slaves?"

"You buy them darling" Demi replied

"Of course you buy them. I mean where and how" Melton said

"If you want I can introduce you to the right man. He has everything from fighters to hot women." Demi said while trying to tease Melton a bit

"And who do you exactly buy from him," Melton said trying to corner Demi

Demi started rubbing his hands together and said " The ones who are cost-efficient. He is not worth it if I can't milk him for all his worth."

"Isn't that cruel?" Melton asked

"Maybe. But the money keeps rolling" Demi said

"Anyways. When can we meet him."

Demi immediately pulled him in the carriage and they drove off to a cave near some smaller city. There was a very well-decorated shop with a bunch of cages full of slaves belonging to all the races you can think of. There was a man in there and he greeted them. The man was very short and had a funny-looking mustache.

Melton turned towards Demi and whispered " This looks very shady"

Demi replied "It's legal. He just likes being in caves. Guess something about the atmosphere or the feeling like it should be illegal."

"Greeting dear customers. Is there perhaps any way that I can assist you today" the mustache man said

"Uh. I am here to buy a slave. May I look around a little bit" Melton said

"Of course my friend. Since it is sir Demi that brought you here I already expect you to be a person of high standards with a sharp eye"

"Ugh. I guess." Melton said awkwardly and went to look around

In the cages, you could find everything from strong devil warriors to beautiful elf women. After searching around for a while he stumbled upon quite an interesting find. It was a tall elf woman with brown skin and green hair. She seemed to have quite a lot of bruises and even a few nasty injuries. Melton decided to ask the seller about her.

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"Oh her? Quite a nice pick my friend. She was a spy that got caught in another country and got sold as an assassin a bunch of times. Eventually, the number of injuries she got decreased her value and nobody bothered picking her up so that is why I got her for a cheap bargain. If you manage to treat her wounds properly you can have a great scout and assassin."

"Why didn't you treat her? Wouldn't that increase her value for you?" Melton asked

"Nah. Too much of a bother. " The seller said

Melton tough that, even though the seller's logic made no sense, was a great opportunity. He also felt that the seller was the exact type Demi would introduce someone to.

"So. How much for her?"

" 2 platinum," The seller said

Melton pulled out the cash and gave it to the seller. Upon taking the money he gave Melton a contract. It was a paper where you can transition ownership from one person to another if both willingly put a drop of their blood on it. Upon finishing the transition contract the seller explained a few things about slaves to Melton.

"You see. The contract works uniquely. Once it is connected the slave is forced to obey all your orders. If a person is willing to they can also free their slave but enslaving them once again is a bit harder and pricier"

"I see no problem in that," Melton said and brought the woman in the carriage.

Upon reaching the hotel room Mathias, who was trying to drink some liquor, and Henry, who was trying to stop him, got to see a big surprise. When the doors opened they saw Melton being accompanied by a bruised woman in ragged clothes.

"So you got a woman now. You know beating them isn't a good idea if you want to keep them?" Mathias said in a higher pitch voice.

"I bought her. She will be our scout and assassin." Melton said

"You can't let her be a scout. She is nearly crippled" Henry said

"We are going to treat her wounds with a healing elixir," Melton said

"Why bother though?" Mathias asked

"I got her cheap" Melton replied

"Good point I guess," Mathias said

"If it is then piss off. I need to treat her" Melton said

"Can we peek?" Mathias said

"No," Melton said coldly and kicked them out of the room

Melton then proceeded to apply healing balsam made from magical grasses on her body slowly. The girl was just watching him without saying a single word. Once he covered all her bruises and bandaged the wounds she looked a lot healthier. Melton got some food from his bag and gave it to her. The moment she saw food she began eating very aggressively like it was her first meal in ages. Once she calmed down a bit Melton began talking to her.

"Hi. My name is Melton. What is your name?"

"Niha" The girl quietly replied. It seems like she was still insecure around Melton

"Well, Niha. Welcome to the party. The guys you saw are my friends Mathias and Henry. We are going to travel together from now on"

"Ok," She replied. This time she seemed like she was starting to open up.

"Do you want to go to a restaurant? There is a lot of good food in this town."

"Yup," She replied. It seemed like mentioning food gave her face a bit of cheerfulness.

After that Melton gave her new clothes to change into. It was black clothes with golden embroidery which suited her quite well. After that, they went to the restaurant together with Henry, Mathias, and Demi and had a long and happy dinner. They talked about a bunch of things from politics to food and Niha seemed to get more and more comfortable around them. She also shared her story after getting some confidence and was accepted by the rest of the team. After dinner, she followed the rest of the team to the hotel and got her room. She felt happy for the first time in a while. Ever since she was a spy she had to live a fake life and deceive others. Even after getting captured her life did not get any better since she had to fight for her life even harder. Once she got too hurt to keep her work and she believed she will finally rest she was dropped like a tool that got no more uses. It gave her quite a mental beatdown but she kept living in hopes of achieving happiness. After all, you can only search for and find happiness if you are alive. After getting bought once again she felt it was going to be the same story again but her luck and effort finally bore fruit. What she got was not only a new job and meaning but also friends she can enjoy life with without lies and deception. Those thoughts were slowly putting her to sleep.

On the other side, Melton was also quite satisfied since he got a nice catch and finished clearing monsters. He believed Niha can be a crucial member of his party and a person he can rely on. After thinking about a few things Melton fell asleep too