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Versam von Elsa. She is the marchioness of 60 years old. The Versam family is a famous family which excels in sorcery, and in the war with the Hedeta Empire 250 years ago, Versam family made numerous contributions to the Juka Kingdom’s victory. After that, they were granted a title of marquis and ascended from their commoner status.

…And this is a short story of my buyer, at least that’s what I heard from other people.

「Thank you very much」

She saved my life, I need to show some gratitude.

「You should refer to her as Master」

Said white-haired man beside Versam-san. Who the hell is he?

「My name is Falco. I’m a magician of Versam family. At the same time, I’m Elsa-sama’s escort. Thanks to Elsa-sama’s mercy, you are now a slave of Versam family. Rejoice」[ ¹]

「Thank you very much, master」

「Mrs. Versam, thank you very much for visiting our establishment. I will carry out the procedures to change the ownership of this slave immediately」

Before I noticed, the slave dealer was already beside me, and then he graciously asked for Versam-san’s hand and muttered something. Elsa extended her hand as asked and it shined, and at the same time, my hand shined too.

「This slave is now a property of Versam-sama. We can also repurchase slaves. Please do not hesitate to come if you ever need it」

First, he was saying that I will be disposed of, and now he talks about repurchase with respectful expression.

「That won’t be needed, please transfer the ownership to me. Also make Falco an overseer」

「Acknowledged, well then」

Elsa’s body shined again, it seems the procedure was completed.

「Madam, what should we do about this slave’s name?」
「Let’s see….Rinos. Let’s call him Rinos. All right, Falco, the rest is up to you」

Elsa turned around and entered the carriage. Apparently, there are guards inside the carriage. Falco silently follows the carriage with his gaze, and I stand beside him with a lowered head.

「I will take you to the mansion, but before that」

I was brought all the way to the well, stripped and splashed with three buckets of water. After that he passed me a piece of cloth.

「Wipe yourself. I will give this piece of cloth to you, use it however you want」

The climate wasn’t too cold or too hot, but it felt pretty cold with all this water splashed on me. A hard cloth is better than nothing at all. I washed away my dirty body and wiped myself.

Then Falco casted a spell called「Clean」. The smell and the small dirt all vanished without a trace. Apparently this spell makes something dirty clean again. [²]

「Follow me, Rinos」

It seems the servants are required to go on foot. After a while we passed by a big castle in the middle of the lake. Seeing the castle I spaced out for a little.

「This is the Juka Castle belonging to his highness the king, gaze upon it to your heart’s content」

It’s a western-style castle, but still, it’s just too big. If you ask someone, you can know that this castle is  considered impregnable. The are farms behind the wall, so until the enemy broke through the wall, the people inside will not starve. Besides that, there is only one bridge extending to the castle gates. It really is difficult to siege this castle with power alone.

「Emm……..why was I bought?」

「You don’t even know about your own skills? Well, it’s understandable. You have a「Barrier skill」. Still Lv1 though. My Versam family has a lot of political opponents. For the sake of Elsa-sama’s protection I thought of developing your barrier skill」

Eh? I can use magic? Falco looked at me with a heavy gaze.

「If you learn how to use magic, you will be able to see other people’s skills. So called「Appraisal」. You seem to have a fair amount of mana, it should be worth training you. Since you are a slave, the barrier magic might be enough for you, but still, might as well learn other kinds of magic. Prepare yourself」

Looking at the grinning man, I figured that my life would be filled with thorns from now on. I dropped my shoulders in resignation.

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The market was overflowing with people.

He planned to sell 8 people here, including me. Everyone is young. There are two who look like skin and bones and there is an idol-like pretty boy too. There is also a cat beastman with a robust build, who looks like a warrior. I am the only kid here.

The owner is talking to someone in the market. Apparently, he wants to decide my price.

「Please start with a 1000G. If you want, you can lower it. His clothes……will do. Just sell him for at least a little. If he doesn’t sell……..dispose of him」

…. I’m pretty worthless, am I? Well, no one wants to buy a useless child after all. If he doesn’t sell……..dispose of him…….that might be bad.

My arm was suddenly gripped. Ouch! I’m being dragged away rather violently. You should treat kids better!

Before I noticed, I was dragged on top of the stage.

「First one. Man! 6 years old! Starting price is 1000G! 」

The noisy audience instantly became quiet. It seemed that no one wanted to buy me.

I can clearly see the audience from on top of the stage. No one meets my gaze. Well, that’s not surprising. After all, no one was looking at me. Most of the customers are looking at the entrance from where I came from. Their interest has already shifted to a slave that will come after me. Other customers are either working with documents or talking to a neighboring customer. They held no interest in me at all.

「How about 900G?….800G! ….700G! 」

Countdown started. My life will end when it reaches zero. I was reincarnated for an unknown reason and suddenly became a slave. For the last thing I will see in my life to be a slave market….

I thought of those things while dumbly staring at the audience. At that time my eyes met with a certain old lady’s. Her eyes were small but held a strong will within. But then she took her eyes off me and started talking with a white-haired man next to her.

「Then, 500G! This is the lowest price! …. Is no one interested??」

Absolute silence.

「Is it fine? All right, №1 is over! 」

I was pulled down from the stage, as violent as always. I want to run away, but his grip strength is quite something. Escape seems no longer possible.

I was violently thrown into the room. This is the place where I’ll die.

「This is the merchandise you were looking for, Mrs. Versam」

The old lady from the audience was standing there.

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We finally reached the capital.

The capital is protected by the high rampart wall, so we will enter from one of the checkpoints situated in the north, east, south and west side of the city. It seems we will enter the capital from the「West Gate」, the Beard is talking with an armored gatekeeper about something.

「I’m a slave merchant! Here is the proof!」

「Umu, I see. Let me check the cargo…….Oh, only kids? All right, you can pass」

The soldier was wearing a western style armor, he also was handsome and had a blonde hair. For some reason, I felt a little irritated.

Our rattling carriage proceeded through the streets of the capital. Looking outside, I can see the variety of different people and attires. This look like a cosplay site. Soldiers in armor, ladies in dresses, priests in robes…..and so on and so forth. And I’m currently wearing a shirt and half pants made out of hard fabric, quite shabby if I say so myself. I’m really a slave isn’t it.

Apparently, this world is of the western style, there are plenty of people with blond and silver hair. By the way, my hair is black. This is the only thing that resembles my previous self.

After some time the carriage stopped and we were taken out. I can see a big building with businesslike atmosphere. It’s probably the slave store. A neat middle-aged man came from the inside of the store. He seemed to be the owner of this place.

「So it’s Gaim, you have returned. Good work. The female slaves are to do the washing. Take them to a well. The guy is……I will sell him on the market」

「All right then, I will transfer you the ownership rights right away 」

Gaim (the Beard) gripped my hand and muttered something.

「With this, this kid is in your possession. I will take the rest away. Oi! Don’t dawdle! Follow me!!」

The girls started moving. The girl who took my portion of that terrible meal didn’t look back and quietly followed after Gaim.

「Well then, come with me」

The owner started walking away and I followed after him.

Is this my chance to escape? There are plenty of people around. The owner doesn’t look like he has a lot of fighting power too. All right, let’s do it.

The owner doesn’t look back at all. This will work. I slowly increased the distance between us. This much distance should do. But the moment I thought I had a chance, an electric current assaulted my body, bringing the intense pain with it.

「Ah, the slave magic can shock you, so be careful. If will bring you pain if you are far away from me. If you think of killing me or running away, you will suffer tremendously and won’t be able to move for a while. If you don’t believe me, you can try」

I shook my head vigorously. I can’t possibly tolerate even more than this. It was already too strong.

I desperately tried to keep up with the owner. He seemed to be walking relatively slowly, but I was a child. As our strides are totally different, I had to walk quite fast. It was really hard.

While I was about to fall into a dangerous situation, the owner’s feet stopped. Apparently, we arrived at the「Market」.

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I opened my eyes to the loud voice of a man.

Did I fell asleep on the toilet? I get it, stop screaming already.

Suddenly a big hand lifted me and carried me like a baggage. What the hell? I looked around and found a man with a beard. The man said:

「So you survived! You sure are annoying for a little slave!!」

The Beard violently threw me into the carriage. It hurts. Just what the hell is happening?

There were several children in the carriage. Their age was between 5 and 10 years old, and their eyes were dead. Apparently, I am the only man here, the rest are all girls. To confirm my situation, I decided to speak with the oldest girl. ⌈¹⌋

「Emm, can I have a minute of your time?」

Hearing me, the girl only directed her unfocused dead eyes my way.

「It was better for you to die there」

What the hell are you saying, kid? Her unexpected answer made me speechless.

「If you die, you can finally take things easy. It may have been your last chance to find an easy death, you know? 」

Such rude words for a kid! After a while, the coachman stopped the carriage.

「Hey, Brats!! It’s dinner! Come down! If you don’t hurry up, you will get nothing! 」

The Beard was screaming loudly. The children got off the carriage while trembling. And I too followed after them.

The food given to us tasted like ****. Eating even a single piece was a torture, it was at such a level. Children lifelessly stuffed the food into their mouths. And I gave my portion to the girl, who spoke with me earlier.

It seems there was a rain until a little while ago, there are puddles of water all over. The one beside me is especially big. When I looked in the puddle, I saw a child’s reflection on its surface.

The child reflected in the puddle moved according to my movements. It raised the right hand, raised the left hand, lowered the right hand.

–Is this me?

It was a figure of a 5-6 years old kid however you look at it. Just what happened to me?!

Then the Beard lifted the frozen me up.

「Ora! Time is up! Get in the carriage, damned snails!!」

I have been shoved in the carriage again. It really hurts, I must say.

In the rattling carriage, I try to understand my situation. Why am I a kid? Where is this place? What happened with my work? ⌈²⌋

「If you won’t eat, no one will buy you」

The girl who received my portion said.

「What do you mean?」

「The slave merchant said that a man should have a large build to be sold as a soldier or a miner. Did you get hurt when you fell from the carriage a while ago? You may be disposed of if you are sick or injured, you know? 」

「No, I’m not injured」

「I see. I thought you couldn’t eat because of the injury」

It seems she was worried about me, the only guy here. After that, I got a lot of information from this girl.

• The Beard is a slave merchant
• Everyone in a carriage is a slave (including me)
• Female slaves are sold to a brothel or as a maid, rarely as an adventurer
• Male slaves are sold to perform a physical labor or in the mines
• The future of slaves is determined by the owner. If you are bought by a pervert serial killer, your corpse might be found later in some ditch

The girl said that it was rare for boys of 5-6 years old to be sold as slaves. The man is a valuable worker for the village, even if his house is poor, the villagers will cooperate to raise him.

It seems that I was stuffed into the carriage, then cried for a whole night and tried to escape. There, I fell from the carriage and hit the ground with my head. And this is how we arrive at my current situation.

「It seems we will arrive in the capital by tomorrow, so I will go to sleep now. Probably, this would be my last opportunity to sleep all I want」

「You won’t run?」

「Idiot. I will just become a feed for monsters. I don’t want to end up in someone’s stomach」

Really? There are monsters in this world.

After a while, the girl quietly fell asleep. You sure are amazing to sleep in this rattling carriage. The rest of the girls seemed to be asleep too.

Apparently, I was reincarnated. In the body of the child. With a status of a slave.

In the end, I didn’t manage to fall asleep till the morning.

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Help me, help me, please help me.

My name is Kubo Tamotsu. 34 years old. This is a toilet room. And my situation is bad. Seriously bad.

I am a programmer. A so-called IT warrior. And my work is not easy. ⌈¹⌋

When you manage to show some ability, you will be asked to take on a number of projects, each project with its respective deadline. We are never able to finish the project relying on the schedule (although it seems doable at the first glance), we are repeatedly working overtime and overnight to finish the work. It’s such an industry.

Today I am also suffering from a certain Daruma project. The phone on my desk rings nonstop. ⌈²⌋

「Kubo-san, I am at my limit. Please let me quit」

Does he want to retire by just calling me once? Although he thought as such, this unexpectedly happened a lot. But right now the situation is different. The deadline for this project is tomorrow, and the person on the other side of the phone is the main programmer. Without his assistance, we won’t be able to finish in time.

I don’t have a solution. First, I need to cool my head and think it through. Thinking about it, I entered the toilet and released a big sigh.

Why is this happening? What do I do? Relax. How long did I work without rest? When was the last time when I returned home regularly? I want to rest; I want to rest so much. I want to have a date with a girl. Weren’t they saying that IT industry is popular with women? I don’t understand. Aren’t all the girls looking at me with dead eyes? Just where did I go wrong? Someone, please help me, help me, help me.

Slowly, my consciousness drifts far away.

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