Mibu

“...Oi...”

Kris slowly blinked his eyes.

“Oi mate, you're in muh bed.”

Kris fully opened his eyes. There was a bit of pre-dawn light filtering into the alley, and he could barely see a bald man towering over him.

He quickly jumped off the crates, holding his hands together. “I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please don't...”

The man started laughing, “Haha, mate, I ain't mad, it's not like I was using it. Well, I do want to use it now, but you're already out of it.” He reached under the blanket, opening one of the crates and grabbing two beers out from underneath. Sitting down, he opened one and handed it to Kris. “'Ere. Name's Colby.”

“Kris,” Kris replied, taking the beer.

“I ain't seen you around, you new in town? Or just hit a mite o' bad luck?” Colby asked.

“Uh, both, actually,” Kris said, giving a weak smile. Taking a sip, it was warm, but in the circumstances, tasted great. “Thanks, by the way.”

“Haha, of course, not everyday you meet someone new. Since you're on the streets, you need a job?” Colby asked.

Kris shook his head. “No, I'm...part of the Adventurer's guild.”

Colby nodded as if he understood. “Yeah, you can make some great money, but if things go south...” he made a slicing motion over his throat.

Yeah that seems to be the case. “What do you do?”

Colby smiled, “I'm a tender.”

“Tender?” Kris raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, for....actually, you wanna see?” Colby asked.

Kris shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

Colby led him down the alley a way, to a locked door. Pulling out a large key, he opened the lock to reveal a poorly lit room. Grabbing a lantern next to the door, he knocked on it twice to turn it on (presumably with magic), and revealed the rooms contents.

There were cages upon cages with people inside. Some were sleeping on hay, some were staring hopelessly into the distance, and some were even reading books by candlelight as if there wasn't anything out of the ordinary. All of them, however, had the crest on their hand that Kris had seen the previous day.

“You...” Kris started.

“Yeah, I'm in charge of all the riff-raff, lower-tier slaves,” Colby said, looking proud of himself. “It's not much, but it's honest work. Plus I get to sleep outside in case I need to take care of an emergency.”

“Emergency?”

Colby nodded, “Yeah, sometimes they start flinging crap at each other. Or sometimes they start hurting themselves. That kinda thing.”

Kris didn't know how to respond. After a bit of looking around, he asked, “Is this... is this normal?”

Colby seemed confused. “Yeah...why wouldn't it be?”

Kris just looked around.

Colby, assuming Kris was just in awe, decided to continue. “Come on, I'll show you the high-level stuff.”

Kris followed Colby through a few doors, past more rows of cages, until they got to a room more lavishly decorated. The slaves were still in cells, but they had large beds, some had shelves full of books, and one elf lady was even eating a juicy-looking cut of steak. She wordlessly sneered at them as they walked by before turning back to her meal. These look more like luxury apartments...if you ignore the locked cages.

Colby started pointing some out, not seeming to care if they could hear. “That one there is a young noblewoman, she's a couple hundred gold. That elf over there is a high-level healer, five-hundred gold coins. And that dragonkin man over there is over level one-hundred just in fire magic. He's already got a bidder at eight-hundred, but might go higher.”

Kris was taken aback at the extreme prices, and the circumstances. “How do they even get to being slaves if they are that powerful?”

Colby shrugged. “Could be any number of things. Caught and sold into it. Maybe family auctioned 'em off for money. Or, like that dragonkin, he committed a crime and got sentenced into it. The funds from his sale will pay for the damages he caused.”

Kris nodded along. I guess that makes sense. Kind of hard to stomach though.

Colby looked at Kris. “You alone mate? “

Kris nodded.

“Why don't you get one then? I know this is probably out of your range, but we got a few combat slaves on the cheap end...and some of them are pretty hot,” he said with a lewd smile.

Kris shook his head, “No, I don't think-”

Colby cut him off, dragging him to a different room. “Haha, at least take a look. If you do decide on one, make sure you say I showed ya, since I get commission that way.” In this new room, he explained, “This here is our mid-tier combat slaves.” He started showing them off, explaining the merits of each.

Seeing that Kris wasn't engaging much after showing off a few, Colby asked, “Alright, let's try this. What do you think you need for your party?”

With this, Kris closed his eyes and thought, although only one thing really came to mind. “Healing.”

Colby grinned, “Alright, now we're getting somewhere.” Walking along like he had a destination in mind, he stopped in front of the cage he was looking for. “Here ya go. Only level one, but this one's got the Healing skill. She's not actually being sold as a combat slave, but you could still use her for that if ya want.”

Kris looked in the cage. Inside was a dogkin girl, sitting on her bed, staring at the ground.

“Show this man your status card, he might wanna buy ya,” Colby said sternly.

The girl looked up weakly, before slowly walking over (he could see now she was maybe close to his height if you included the ears) and silently opening her status screen towards them. It also seemed like she 'sniffed' a couple times.

Mibu? Interesting name.

Colby quickly scrolled through her status screen, showing him the level 1 Heal skill.

That's low, but I guess it would go up, right? And it's not like I have any room to talk.

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Colby then scrolled down her Doings list. “And you can see here, she is a virgin too,” he said, elbowing Kris. Colby was pointing to the Sexual Partners box, which currently showed zero.

Kris blushed, “I don't...”

Colby nodded, “I get it, dogkin not your thing?”

Kris shook his head, “No, she's plenty cute, I-”

He stopped talking as he noticed Mibu's ears flicker, and her tail wagged a bit.

Colby had also noticed, “Haha, I think she likes ya...”

How much can she really like me?... He shook his head. Having a healer would be nice, though...

Colby, seeing Kris was considering it, continued, “She's three gold.”

Kris was taken aback, “There's no way I can afford that. I'm lucky if I make one silver a day at the Guild right now.”

Colby tried counting on his hands, “Yeah...that'd be a long time until you can buy her. She'd probably be gone by then. She's actually pretty cheap for a healer. It's prob'ly that price since she's only level 1. Normally virgin's fetch a higher price, but that's offest by her being a dogkin. They aren't super popular for sex slaves, since people think they smell, although that's not really true, you just have to make sure they wash properly, and-”

Kris, not comfortable with the conversation, held up his hand to stop him. “I...appreciate you showing me but I can't afford her.”

Colby shrugged, not to be put off from his sale, “Can't you get a loan from that guild o' yours? That happens all the time with the more expensive ones. Sometimes companies get them too if they're gonna buy a bunch of labor slaves all at once.”

A loan? I mean, I guess that might work...no, wait, why am I even considering this? Looking over at Mibu, she was looking at him, almost...expectantly, as if she was waiting on him. That can't be true though...right? Does she really want me to buy her? Or...maybe getting purchased is better than being stuck in here?

While he was thinking through this, Mibu held up a hand.

Colby raised an eyebrow, “You got somethin' ta say? Go ahead.”

Mibu held her hands in front of her, and bowed down at Kris. “Please buy me, sir.”

Kris just stared blankly. What!?

Colby started laughing, “Haha! See? She wants you to buy her. Don't see that too often.”

Kris just looked between them. Closing his eyes, he made a decision. “Alright, I'll see about this loan...”

When the guild opened in the morning, Kris walked in while it was still fairly empty. Corinne, instead of being at her desk, was pinning up papers on the request boards.

As Kris walked up to her, she glanced over at him. “I'm glad to see you aren't injured today.”

Kris gave a nervous laugh, “Haha, yeah....”

“Do you need something?” Corinne asked, grabbing a new stack of requests.

Kris nervously asked, “Um...is it true the Guild gives out loans to Guildmembers?”

Corinne sat the papers back down, motioning for him to follow her. Instead of stopping at the desk, she took him into a room in the back.

She sat down on a couch, motioning for him to sit across from her. “What do you need this loan for? We do offer loans, but they must be for a good reason.”

Kris sat down, weighing what he should say. Should I make something up, or just tell the truth? Colby did say it happened all the time. “Um...I was thinking of purchasing a combat slave. For healing, specifically.”

Luckily, he had calculated correctly, as Corinne nodded. “That's understandable. I'd rather one of our new Guildmembers not die due to not being able to afford healing. How much do you need?” she asked as she grabbed a paper and started writing.

“Err...three gold.”

Corinne stopped writing just as quickly as she had started. “Three gold? That's...quite a bit for a Wood-Rank. I'd worry about if you can pay it back.”

“What happens if I can't?” Kris asked tentatively.

“We'd try and recover the balance, probably by re-possessing the slave, or if that didn't make up for all of it, selling you into slavery as well,” Corrine explained.

Kris closed his eyes. Well...I don't feel like I have much choice at this point. Having a healer would be easier than trying to afford healing every time he was injured, and...the thought of Mibu looking at him through the bars wouldn't leave his mind.

“Do you still want the loan? If so, I'll need to check your status menu, to make sure you aren't a heavy gambler or anything of the sort. We get people trying to get loans for that sometimes.”

Kris nodded, pulling up his status menu and letting Corinne rapidly scroll through different menus.

After a minute, she nodded and turned the screen back to him so he could close it.

Another few minutes later, and Corinne had written up the loan paperwork. “It's a 10-month contract. You'll owe us forty silvers at the end of every month.”

Doing some quick math in his head, So basically the interest is an extra gold, that's a pretty steep rate...but I guess I don't have much 'credit' in this world. “Alright,” Kris replied, nodding after reading it.

As she had when he first joined the guild, she quickly pricked his thumb and put it on the contract, making it glow blue. She then left the room with it, returning a few moments later with three gold pieces.

Kris carefully put them in his coinpurse, and didn't take his hand off it when he closed it.

Corinne gave a smile, “Make sure you bring her in to register before doing any requests.”

Kris was confused, “You register slaves, too?”

Corinne also seemed confused. “Of course. If they're going to be completing requests they must be registered. Plus, we can register you and her as in a party together, as well.”

Kris nodded, before getting up and leaving. As he went through the door, he realized, Wait...how did she know the slave was a 'her'!?

After leaving the guild, he headed straight back to the slave house. Despite it being mid-morning now, Colby was sleeping on his crates outside the door.

Kris gently shook him to wake him up.

Colby kept snoring.

Not sure what to do, but also not wanting to wait, he kicked the crates Colby was sleeping on, which only caused him to stir slightly.

“Colby, I got the money,” Kris said, jingling his coinpurse.

At this, Colby bolted up, “You did?”

“Were you even asleep? Yeah, I got the loan like you suggested,” Kris explained.

Colby rubbed his hands together. “Good, good, I have Mibu getting ready.”

Getting ready?

Going inside, Colby led him past the cages (he noticed Mibu's was empty) and to a room in the back. Inside, sitting behind a desk, was a short, rotund man, sporting a handlebar mustache and a monocle. What kind of generic villain is this!?

“Hoho, nice job Colby,” the man said, sliding a stack of silvers over to him.

“Thanks boss!” he said, before pocketing the money and exiting.

Turning to Kris, he asked, “I presume you have the money?”

Kris nodded, taking out the three gold coins and sliding them over.

The man inspected each one individually, before depositing them in in his own coinpurse. “Come in,” he stated sharply, before grabbing a paper.

The side door opened, and Mibu came in.

Um...what...why...

Mibu was wearing a maid outfit.

Seeing Kris's expression, the man laughed, “Hoho, yes, I figured she would look quite good in that. I always aim to please my customers.”

Kris wasn't sure how to respond. Is that just...part of the purchase?

While Kris was trying not to stare, Mibu kept glancing over at him, a nervous look on her face.

While this was happening, the man pricked his finger, putting a print on one of three boxes at the bottom of the paper.

Kris tentatively took the instrument, carefully pricking himself just enough (and wincing in the process) and putting his print down where directed.

Mibu then came over next to him, pricking her own finger and stamping it as well.

After all three prints were on it, the paper started to glow blue, similar to ones he had seen at the guild.

The man asked, “This is your first purchase, yes?”

Kris nodded, assuming he meant purchasing a slave.

The man smiled and continued, “Just a few basics, then. Put this in your status screen,” he directed.

Kris did the same thing as when he picked up a request. A box on his screen opened up, saying 'New Slave acquired – Mibu'. A box under his name was on his screen, with 'Mibu' in it.

“If you click here, you can check her health, stats, etcetera. You can also manage the slave contract magic here,” the man explained.

What...I can see everything! This feels too intrusive. Although, I guess I had to show mine when I signed up at the guild, and when I got my loan...

Seeing Kris didn't have any questions, he motioned to the door. “I appreciate your business. Please come again when you're ready to purchase another,” he said with a warm but devious smile.

While he had a million questions, he felt uncomfortable in the situation, so he just nodded and left, with Mibu following.

After they exited the front door onto the street, Mibu held up her hand.

She did that yester-...err, this morning, when she wanted to talk, right? “You can talk whenever, I don't mind,” he said, thinking it would be annoying (and a bit mean) to make her ask permission whenever she wanted to talk.

“Um...” she started, before bowing deeply. “Thank you for buying me.”

Kris shook his head, “I don't know if that's something to thank me for. Especially since I'm going to have you work at the Guild with me.”

However, Mibu shook her head back. “No, I mean it sincerely. I was worried I would get sold to someone who would treat me poorly,” she paused for a moment, looking at the ground, “but you smell like a good person.”

“I smell like a good person?” Kris asked, making a 'really?' face.

Mibu nodded, before sniffing a few times. “Yes. You can tell a lot about somehow by how they smell.”

“Um...is that a dogkin thing?”

Mibu nodded, “I think there's other races that can, too.”

At that point, Kris's stomach growled.

Mibu gave a smile, “Do you want to get something to eat?”

Kris shook his head, holding his stomach. “No. We, uh...need to work first.”

Mibu seemed confused, but didn't protest, and simply nodded.