“Wake up Daisuke”- Someone touched my shoulder, is it morning yet?
“Great Sage?”
“Yes, you feel asleep”
“Are you ok?”- Senri was keeping her right hand on my head
“Yes, sorry.”- I got up
“So, what happened last night? I can’t remember anything. Why were you by my bed side?”- Senri looked around her room
“I helped you clean last night. We went outside and”
“And what? Did I do something embarrassing and faint?”- Senri’s face turned beet red
“Kinda, you cast a spell that exhausted your mana a lot, or many more spells at once, it was fast that it seemed like one spell”
“Really?”
“Yes, it was pretty good. Don’t worry too much”
“Damn it”
“Are you feeling ok Senri?”- Okura entered the room quietly
“Okura?”
“Yes, are you feeling ok? What did you really do last night?”
“Daisuke told me I consumed too much mana on a spell, but that’s it. I can’t remember anything myself
“Well, let’s not worry about that now. We got a royal mission from the king”
“Royal Mission?”- Senri’s face was white
“What’s wrong?”
“Royal missions are reserved for high rank adventurers, we are around level 55, those missions are for level 80+ as it might involve another country as well”
“Daisuke, you will accompany us”
“Great Sage?”
“What is it, Daisuke?”
“Explain more about these missions, please?”
“Well, prepare yourself to go then, I will start”
“Ok, I will get a quick shower, get dressed and go with them while you explain”
“Ok, so these types of missions are handed out to high-rank people, The 4 heroes are not high rank because of their level, here to gain the rank of hero you need to save many lives or do something extraordinary”
“What do these missions involve?”- When I am talking to Great Sage time passes differently, I go into some sort of autopilot doing whatever is needed.
“Dealing with big threats and commanding an army, in cases of war and such. My assumption to why level 55 heroes like them are called is to deal with something simpler, maybe it is something of an internal war with another race of monsters or something similar. I can’t say that my assumptions are correct 100% of the time. Another thing to mind is this might be a trap, you don’t know if the heroes have been involved in some conflict with the king and might want to trap all of you. Be on the lookout and never lose your weapons”
“I won’t lose your knife, don’t worry”
“No, that knife is tied to me, so it will come back to you no matter what. Plus no one else will be able to use it aside from you, this knife never breaks and cuts through anything with ease.”
“Why didn’t you tell me before?”
“Well, it wasn’t needed information”
“Is there anything else, Great Sage?”
“Yes, the mission will be discussed with the top politicians in the country. Keep in mind that all of them will be cloaked but look very similar uncloaked, with white skin, brown eyes, and quite short men, their hair is always jet black, they only wear a different ring on their finger stating what they generally do in the government. But I doubt they will come to a mission like this. This has to do more with the king than with other countries”
“Maybe it’s better to let you speak with them”
“Suit yourself”
“Daisuke, are you ok man?”- A hand was touching and poking my face
“Yes, I was talking with Great Sage”
“Come on, let’s go. No time to waste”- Okura was the first to open the door, I need to take one last look at myself, everything was ready, yes autopilot mode worked again, no need to waste time talking with Great Sage, now I can do other chores at the same time
“On it”
“So, where are we going?”
“To Wiefra’s law hall”- Senri was silently sitting near me
“Man, we didn’t expect a royal mission so soon”- Noni and Sakamoto were chatting ahead of us
“We need to hurry”- Okura is getting ahead of the group
“Wait for us!”- Noni and Sakamoto ran toward him
“Are you Senri?”- Her down, eyes fixated on the ground
“Yes, just tired. Every second I felt like I am going to faint”- Looking closer at her, she moved heavily, like she was made out of the lead
“Want me to carry you in case you fall asleep?”- Senri’s head tilted, her eyes wide
“Sure!”- Senri hoped on my back, her weight was almost nonexistent, she was light
“Is it ok if I sleep while you carry me?”
“It’s ok.”
“Great Sage, is there a way to catch up with them?”
“Yes, you need to hold Senri tight”
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*Use Skill: Feral Frenzy*- Whenever using a skill, there is a weird feeling going through my body, my veins tingling, light pressure around my joints and so on, Feral Frenzy only lasts about 20 seconds
The group wasn’t far ahead of me, catching up was easy but exhausting
“Has anyone seen Daisuke and Senri?”
“No, maybe they stayed behind, you know reasons. They had been sticking together a lot recently.”
“Maybe we should focus on the mission instead of gossiping on them!”- Okura’s lashed back at them
“We are here guys!”- That conversation is the only thing I can hear where their jokes
“You sure took your time”- Noni and Sakamoto were barely holding their laughter
“Daisuke, go to the guild first, leave Senri here and get the papers from Petra”
“Great Sage, autopilot”
“Sure”
There are some things I suck at, one of them is directions and finding buildings, navigation, in general, is hard for me. Great Sage’s auto mode is great but has a drawback, I can’t remember how or when I did that thing
“Daisuke!”- Petra’s left hand was hitting my back with increasing force
“Yes!”
“What happened? Did someone cast a confusion spell on you? You were wandering around the guild, aimlessly searching for something. What is it?”- Petra was just like a statue, her eyes locked in place
“Sorry, I came on the behalf of the 4 heroes to grab a paper”
“Sure? Did they hire you to do their job or something? You have any proof of this?”
“No”
“Then let one of them come. You spent months at their mansion for nothing, they haven’t told you about their official badge you need to present here”- Petra walked up to a door, a door that I didn’t notice before, or a door I couldn’t remember, 5 minutes later she handed me a paper
“Here. Get out of here faster, kid!”
“Great Sage, autopilot”
5 minutes later:
“Daisuke?”- I feel a heavy pounding in my chest
“Yes, here”
“Don’t worry, we got it, let’s go. The king is supposed to be in the center of town”- Okura’s hand gripped my wrist tight and dragged me with him.
The town’s center was just a huge circle in the middle of the town. Local farmers were selling their crops for this year, and some 2nd rate weapons from blacksmith trainees, exotic medicine from witch doctors, and some potions have weird effects for different monster species. In the exact center of this circle, big cages stand with 2 shopkeepers, near one of those cages 2 people dressed in jewel embedded clothes were looking at the cages.
“Great Sage?”
“There are slaves in those cages Daisuke, currently I only 12 adult male demi-humans of dog-person race, 3 adult female cat-people, and 1 child fox-person”
“Slaves again. I hate this place for the way it treats demi-human. What the hell is wrong with them?”- Well, Petra has a good reason for her attitude of hating humans
“That’s how things are here, Daisuke”
“Well, I am the smartest student in Japan, I might have a plan for this.”
“I know you have one, but even if you try to put it in motion, you won’t achieve much. You are too weak to do anything”
“That’s why I have you and them, you will help me, won’t you, Great Sage?”
“I do, but my suggestion is to go along with the 4 heroes”
“That’s the king, time to go, Daisuke!”- Noni was carrying me on his back.
“You are here”- The person’s voice was deep
“Yes, we arrived with the paper, give us the details please”- Okura was leading in this conversation, he had the best skill when it comes to diplomacy
“First, let’s get to the law house. But let me get some merchandise”- Merchandise?
“He means slaves, Daisuke”
“I hate him already”
“If I were there in person, I would have killed him”
“Killing is wrong”
“Matters the context, Daisuke. Sometimes you have no choice but to kill”
“I hope things don’t come to this”
“This world is different from modern-day Japan. One wrong step and you are dead”
“Why are you entertaining the idea of murder so much?”
“I am stating the obvious, anyway. That king wants to speak with you”
Snapping back to reality, the king was fairly young and fair-skinned, black eyes with short blonde hair, a small crown with 3 rubies, he looked so perfect
“Is there something with this person, who is he?”- The king’s meaty finger was pointing at me
“Daisuke Suzuki, I am a helper of the 4 heroes, a magic trainee”
“You are kinda slow, to talk aren’t you?”- His eyes were fixated on me
“Sometimes, but what you, the king doing at a slave market, that’s what I was pondering”
“Ohhh, I come to buy merchandise by myself”- He winked and extended his right arm to point at a cage with the female monsters
“Those are living people, not merchandise”- Trying to keep my cool is hard, making an angry expression is taking all the power out of me
“No, you got it all wrong, these aren’t humans, they are demi-humans, not humans”
“That makes no sense, your proposition has no logic, as long as they maintain the human characteristics and intelligence, then they should be treated as equals, you are factually wrong”- This was my only attempt at coming off as Cold and Logical, or at least make the others cringe
“Kinda lost in the logic I see. Magic does require a lot of logic tho, I am happy to see you have someone so dedicated and absorbed into magic studies”- The king extended his hands to touch my shoulders, meanwhile, the 4 heroes were watching as the king continued to gain interest in me
“I am not interested in a court. Magic is more interesting, plus I really need a test subject for my next magic experiment”- Why am I lying to the king?
“You are lying because of me, this is the most credible lie I came up with to save you. Daisuke, you need to continue with this narrative I created”- Great Sage? Yes, I forgot about his curse, that he can influence or take control over me at any time he wishes
“Are you sure, plus you look pretty tired”
“I failed a certain spell that put me in this state, it should wear off in a few hours. Excuse me, I will go buy a test subject”- Turning my head to look at the king, staring at him for a few seconds looking at the 2 cages
Which ones should I pick, maybe the one with the kid in it
“The kid is a female fox person, she is the only one there, she is cheaper than the monster there, plus you lack the money to buy any other monster”
The cage on the right was filled with male demi-humans
The cage on the left was filled with females. In the corner of the cage a fox-person kid, with a black and orange tail was sleeping, her skin was dark, her fur wasn’t the best, rough and tangled.
“Great Sage, how much money do I have on me, from all that monster killing?”
“15 gold Daisuke”- That should be enough
The slave owner stared me down on the other side of the cage
“I want to buy this one”
“The fox girl?”
“Yes? How much?”- I was dressed with the clothes from my old world, they had bigger and more secure pockets to hold money, well I always store money in them. I am surprised that my clothes survived this long
“5 Gold”
“What are the prices for the adult slaves?”
“50 gold to 1 platinum each. That fox kid is close to dying, you don’t look like you have much money on you”
“Here, I will take the fox kid”- I gave him the coins, and he checked each coin separately, counting
“It’s yours”- Opening the door of the cage, he grabbed the fox-person by the shoulder with a tight grip leaving a red mark on her shoulder
I grabbed her, carrying her in my arms, she smells horrible and has torn clothes, only a few unrecognizable noises are coming from her mouth
“Let’s go to the law house”- Senri had her eyes on me, getting closer to Senri I extended my hand to touch her shoulder
“Auto-Pilot”
I had bought a slave, this might upset Petra, but who knows, maybe we can do something about it? How is something like this allowed? Maybe if we complete the mission, we can maybe plead to the king for slavery abolition
“Daisuke, look. You might be mad at this guy but be patient, he will have his share, change your mood the next day or hour, and play nice with the king, and then leave the rest to me”
“Do I have a choice, Great Sage?”
“No”