“What kind of goods are you looking for?” She asked, once they finally entered the lobby. The lobby looked quite sparse – there was a desk, a few chairs ordered next to the wall, and a soothing yellow floral wallpaper plastered onto the walls. Two doors stood on either side of the desk, completing a pretty peaceful image. Contrary to the reception’s ‘peaceful’ atmosphere, however, the people within were fully on alert. The receptionist, and the two older kids standing next to her, were looking at him like he was some eldritch monster.

Of course, unlike the kids outside, the two older kids had donned ‘proper clothes’. The official excuse for this was quite simple – the younger kids hadn’t yet picked up any ‘jobs’ and so the orphanage couldn’t afford stuff for them. They would only be able to access clothes from second hand donations, or the fund assigned for clothes. But the older kids, they had begun working for their keep – thus, obviously, they could afford clothes, and unnecessary luxuries such as those.

It was a bit confusing, if you thought about it just the slightest bit more – the orphanage obviously took a share of the money obtained by the older kids. In reality, they took pretty much all of it – why couldn’t they just buy the younger kids some clothes? Complete the facade as a premium orphanage fully? But then again, why would a normal premium orphanage stay in the slums? He kept forgetting that they weren’t supposed to seem as a ‘premium orphanage’ for anyone except their noble clients. Seem like a normal, just the slightest bit rich orphanage with older kids who worked and bought nice stuff for themselves to everyone else.

It was only after that major scandal did Alea and the orphanage’s true face be revealed to the slums and ordinary residents. This time, though, he’d not take that much effort to try and bring her in front of ‘the law’. He had a few other ideas for her, especially since he had the Head Mage’s support from the onset.

The receptionist – eighteen, or perhaps nineteen years old – donned a red silk dress. The boy – he looked like he was fourteen years old? Which, wow, he was about the same age as him, wasn’t he, at least in terms of physical body – donned something that looked akin to a suit, while the girl, also fourteen, wore a fancy skirt.

He could already tell that all three of them had been sent on tasks. Unlike the kids outside, there was a sense of weariness to the way they stood. A glint of fear as they took in his and Raven’s appearance – both Raven and him had a sense of ‘nobleness’ to them, he was sure. Well, Raven definitely did with how she conducted herself ‘outside’, but he was sure he was the farthest thing from noble. Unless he tried, in which case he was sure he could pass off as noble. He did observe nobles for quite the long time, after all.

He hummed, “Broken goods.” This made all of their eyes widen – Raven’s, Alea’s, the onlookers’. Broken goods were quite the rare order, after all.

“Broken… goods?” Alea repeated, “Ah, I never thought I’d meet a dark magician after all this time.”

Alastor smiled kindly. “We did become quite rare, these days.”

“What kind are we talking about?” Alea asked, “Mentally, physically… Any specifications?”

“Your worst goods, basically.” At those words of his, Alastor and Alea both chuckled at the same time as if they had some inside joke.

“So you’ll need a lot of them, then.” Alea nodded, seemingly feeling less stiff and awkward with him now that she’d affirmed he was scum, too. “Fair enough. I can’t give you a discount, but their rates are pretty cheap.”

Saying so, she gestured at the receptionist, who bent down and pressed something below her desk. Then, she walked towards the door at the right, a small smile present on her face.

Alastor naturally followed, Raven tagging along behind him. She had a mildly disturbed expression, to say the least.

What's got you so disturbed? He asked, poking into her mind with his mana – mana speech, an ability exclusive to mages. It was a pretty handy thing he learnt quite early in his first reset from Raven herself.

Raven’s eyes widened, seemingly surprised that he knew mana speech. She quickly recovered, however – he was a special hero, after all, it wouldn't be all that out of the world that he knew how to use mana speech. Are you… actually a dark magician?

He tilted his head at that. Well, it wasn't all that surprising of a conclusion to come to, he guessed. Especially with the way he behaved with Alea. I won't say I'm not. I did delve into a lot of dark magic, but my purpose today is not to use these kids for experiments. I only intend to rescue and heal them.

This seemed to both soothe yet also confuse her, as she fell into a daze. Alastor turned his focus back to Alea, following her through the seemingly never ending corridor.

The corridor had the same exact yellow wallpaper as the lobby – however, unlike the lobby, there was a certain… unsettling feeling to it. Perhaps it was because of the blood red doors passing by on both sides of him, equally spaced and bloodlike.

They passed by several, several, doors – it made him have the urge to turn around and see just how much of the corridor they’d covered – until finally, they reached the last one on the left. Alea pushed the door open and beckoned towards them.

The room that met their gaze was pretty large, furnished with several beds. A few shelves were placed against the walls, the only other decoration present in the dismally minimal room. However, unlike the rest of the hallways, this room was exceptionally neat, and everything inside looked brand new.

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Of course, Alastor knew it was only because of the switch the receptionist had pressed below her desk – it was always surprising what a little bit of illusion magic could do. There was no way Alea was cleaning these rooms, especially for her cheapest, most broken goods only bought for experimenting.

Teenagers littered the beds within the room, seemingly sleeping peacefully. There were a disproportionate number of boys, only two of them being girls. None were as young as Alastor – the youngest amidst them looked seventeen. Not a single one of them looked sound; some had missing limbs, some had no eyeballs, even their eyelids gouged out, while some were morphed grotesquely, barely looking human.

"I'm not sure why you'd want to buy them," Alea muttered as she gestured her hand at the teenagers, "I’ve heard that dark magicians have some other, better sources these days. But they're pretty cheap, all things considered. I'd not recommend buying them," she pointed at the distorted, morphed kids, "You know how it goes when customers get too carried away… They’re beyond repair and use, those things. There are no return policies."

Alastor chuckled. "There is no need to worry about that. How much does a single one cost?"

Alea seemed mildly creeped out about his nonchalance about buying even the deformed teens, but she nodded, "Each of them costs twenty silver coins. The deformed ones cost only ten."

Alastor let his gaze wander over the series of beds. There are five deformed teenagers, and around eight that have a missing limb. Seven of them have no eyeballs. So the total price would be… 3.5 gold coins.

He could just not buy the deformed teenagers. Either way, it would be hard to get them healed, so he’d not be getting any reputation points from them, who have slim chances of waking up. Hell, that was why he’d even targeted this orphanage as a point farm – these kids would be better off dying in a painless, simple manner. Of course, he didn’t grant that luxury to the ones who run it.

However, the thought of not buying all of them pissed him off. Alastor prided himself on completing the tasks he started fully. How’d he be completing it fully if he didn’t buy all of them?

Heh. It’s time to exhibit my excellent bargaining skills.

“Come on. Eight of them have no eyes. How could they also cost twenty silver?” Alastor took a deep breath, entering into his asian aunty squabbling mode. “Just reduce their price to ten silver too!”

“No.” Alea refused flatly. Seeing him about to bicker once more, she continued, “Not a chance. Shall I call the security?”

“Think about it for a second, really, think about it…” He made one last attempt at bargaining, “You know just as well as me that no one is going to buy the deformed ones – as you said, even black magicians have found better, newer sources. Asking for a price of ten silver for the deformed ones is far too pricey, and you know that too. I’m not trying to rip you off, however – so, sell them for five silver?”

Of course, it was true that even if Alea accepted his offer, he’d only reduce the price by twenty five silver – he’d still be over his budget by twenty five silver.

Alea hesitated, seemingly genuinely taking his words into consideration. “Look, you know how it is.” She negotiated, “Five is too low. I’ve got to show the accounts to those higher up, too.” She sighed, “Seven, final. If you continue to negotiate, I will call the security guards.”

Alastor bit his lower lip, pondering about what to do. Seven into five was thirty five, so he’d still have to pay 3.35 gold coins. Do I really have to begin revealing her secrets? Like how she’s embezzling money? Or perhaps… Do I have to end up blackmailing her? Would it even be effective to threaten to reveal her affair with the maid to her husband—

Suddenly, Alastor felt a gentle pressure on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw Raven clasping onto his shoulder, a firm expression on her face. Don’t worry, she talked to him in mana speech, I’ll pay the deficit.

Alastor’s eyes widened in surprise, Wait, isn’t she saving up to buy her own house or something?

Are you sure? He asked, leaning towards her with narrowed eyes. Absolutely sure.

Jerking back slightly, she nodded, “Mhm.”

How much do you have on you right now? He asked, leaning back. You do know you can’t just go to a bank and withdraw money right now, yeah?

I have sixty silver on me. Raven exclaimed somewhat indignantly. I know I can’t just go to the bank.

What’re you carrying around sixty silver for? Alastor quipped, but ignored Raven’s reply as he turned his attention back at the middle aged woman, narrowing his eyes slightly – did he really have to bite into Raven’s house-buying-funds? Or carrying-along-just-in-case-funds?

Couldn’t he just kill Alea and take away all the kids with him? He pondered about it for a second – he did have the Head Mage’s support. He could probably smuggle the kids out of this place and give them newer, better lives without anyone knowing, even with the underground organizations and nobles backing this scandal trying to find their goods.

Alastor let out a soft sigh and stopped his thought process there. He’d just take Raven’s help for now – he could come back at a later time and uproot all of it from its very roots. He wasn’t in a mood to massacre right now. However, whether that would stay the same after an hour, however, he could not say.

Thus, in an almost scoffing manner, he declared, “All of them. I’ll buy all of them.”

“Alright.” She stated, clicking her fingers. The female teen he’d seen at the lobby entered the room, handing her a silver cube which had lines of translucent blue embedded at its edges. She pressed at one of the edges, and its translucent blue formed a halo and enveloped the room – as soon as she traced her finger over it, writing some commands, all the teenagers within the room disappeared along with the halo.

She dangled the box to him, “Fulfill your end of the bargain, now.”

—

“The Chosen One did… what?” Severine gasped as she listened to what Raven told her.

She had to admit, when Raven first came to her room, she didn’t expect there to be anything interesting – it hadn’t even been a full two hours since she and the Chosen One had decided to go outside, after all. She thought that he simply wanted to take in some fresh air, inspect this world, you know, get a grip?

But instead, he directly entered one of the slave selling orphanages, knew the passcode to get access to it perfectly, and spent his monthly allowance to buy the most ‘broken goods’. And now he was putting forth a request to grant him enough money to help them, and also assign them healers to help them.

Why would the Chosen One even do something like that now? How did the Chosen One do something like that?

—