"You mentioned tracking the slaves, is this a skill?” I asked.
Figuro blinked, and then slapped his head. “Ah… that’s right. I never gave you the pendants!”
“Huh?”
“It is true, slave location skills exist, but that doesn’t help anyone who doesn’t have that job. For most slave owners, we assign them a special necklace. When you put mana in it, it will show you the direction of your slave. It’s supposed to be done as part of the slave mark ceremony, except that you keep skipping those!”
I let out a cough. “Is that to say you will charge for the pendants?”
Figuro let out a laugh. “You really don’t like paying any extra fees, do you?”
I shrugged. “I just want to keep things reasonable.”
“Well, regrettably, the necklaces will cost something. They will also require a drop of their blood to activate them. At that point, you should be able to track down either slave without issue.”
I shook my head. “Forget it. I don’t mean that because of the money, rather, I have a feeling it won’t be that useful for me.”
I trusted my girls and didn’t think they would run away. In Old Chalm, the thought of either of them becoming lost or stolen seemed unlikely. Rather, I figured I’d be getting a skill to track them soon enough, so it really didn’t matter much to me either way.
Figuro sighed, pulling out the small necklace with a little ruby on the end and then plopping it in my hand. “Just take it, I have a feeling given your luck, that you may find yourself needing it.”
I frowned, not quite sure how to respond. What did he mean by that? Sure, it was true that the roughly 1 month I had been in this world had been pretty crazy. I had become a hero, got trapped in a dungeon, saved a slave girl, destroyed the dungeon, bought another slave, self-exiled myself from a city, and then fought to reclaim a new city. I also died once. Well, all of that had come in order. It was simply what happened.
I pocketed the neckless without worrying about it. I wouldn’t turn away free stuff anyway. He only gave me one. Probably he hoped I would like it and then buy the other. Still a businessman through and through. I shrugged and put it out of my mind. Picking up my backpack, I readied myself for my next stop.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Where are you heading now?” Figuro asked with interest.
“Ah, I’m going to Chalm,” I said, hitting my backpack. “Our armors have all taken some damage and the shops have decided to remain open in New Chalm until Old Chalm is a bit more stable regarding ghosts. They don’t want to risk all their goods getting destroyed, so I have to head there to place my orders.”
I was a bit eager too. Both Miki and Lydia had come with me on my last trip to Chalm, and they had placed the orders for new clothing. I was going to pick them up today. As to what the girls were doing today, Miki was still doing alchemy to keep up with the demand for Rosary powder, and Lydia was moving our stuff to a new home.
The herbalist who owned the place had finally shown up to reclaim their home. It wasn’t so bad. They were very generous, offering us all the alchemy ingredients we needed to retake old Chalm from both this store’s stock and her original store. She also didn’t know alchemy herself, and thus gave us her grandmother’s old books. In the end, we ended up moving into a bigger place that was closer to the city center. We confirmed this time that the owner was dead and a deed was written up. This would be my second property after the mansion was reobtained.
“Good luck, my friend.” Figuro bowed. “When you get to the capital city, just tell them my name and they’ll let you into the slave markets.”
I smiled wryly and answered politely. He was so certain that I would want another slave. I was already happy with the slaves I had. Rather, they wouldn’t be my slaves much longer. I planned to release them. Once the mansion was mine, I would have no need for slaves. At that point, I’d let them go. That was the agreement I had made with the pair. They didn’t seem thrilled about it, but they had agreed.
I hefted up my bag with a groan. It was really heavy with the leathers in it. I sighed thinking about the trip back to Chalm. I already used my portal to get there. Did I want to use my other points up? Wait… that’s right, I was going to Chalm since it was safe again. I could just use return now. I may be a bit skinnier now, but that didn’t mean I liked the idea of trekking a few miles with a heavy backpack. One thing fantasy stories always skipped over was how much walking you had to do!
With a sigh of relief, I waved one last goodbye to Figuro and then used Return. My vision instantly changed. But rather than the familiar town square and the fountain, I was suddenly indoors. I was standing in a hallway. Looking around, I had no clue where I was.
{You have entered Karr’s Dungeon. Destroy the lore to break the curse, or complete the lore for extra dungeon points and a blessing!}
That’s when reality set in. I had given up my hero status for Chalm and only regained it in Old Chalm. My return skill must have changed locations! If that was true, then that meant that this place was… the mansion of Old Chalm! I had teleported myself right into the middle of ghost central.
“Uh… oh…”