As such, we made our way to the Brolsenul slave market.

 It might be called the corner of a street but it was a raving trade zone in the royal capital of the world. It wasn’t that I had no opinions of it as a former modern j.a.panese, but that was that, and if there was nothing to force my hand, I should be able to tolerate it to that extent. All hail the principle of letting the sleeping dogs lie.

 The subordinate tasked by father to act as my bodyguard and to look after me spoke with ostentatious bravado.

 “Mm, I want someone who would serve as a study material for my education on va.s.sals…...if possible, someone who is young and close in age would be nice. I am also eyeing the possibility of having the slave as my helper so it would be even better if the slave has foundations in magic.”

 “Eh? Something like being pretty and all, isn’t any of that part of your scope?”

 Additionally, having that kind of enjoyment at my age would be too early. Well, having a pretty and cute appearance might be good for my mood but throwing a large amount of money for that purpose was absurd.

 A slave of a young age would be cheap as long as it was not an anomaly. A child of a similar age that I have requested should be relatively concentrated in the marketplace.

 The attendant replied and switched to a business-like expression. (TN: Not sure about this. 返事をする従者も、顔つきを事務的なそれに変える。) Fine by me. What he might be thinking of now was of no concern to me. Doing what I have to do and not doing what I don’t need to do was all I should be concerned about.

 Thinking with zero charm of a child, I scanned through the slaves.

 The roots of magic. These were determined innately, and so, to some extent, magic could be inherited from parent to child. Above that, magic requires chanting and skill to be used so children have to be taught properly to use magic. This was fundamentally a trait of the high society. Besides that, in Itousera, science was undeveloped and thus the main choice of weapons were swords and magic. It would be disastrous if the populace starts a revolution and therefore, people talented in magic and important texts for magic acquisition were strictly regulated by the n.o.ble cla.s.s. Utility men that might be called adventurers might have magicians among them but these people were probably bound to the wills of aristocrats or were fallen aristocrats.

 These thoughts ran through my mind, as I checked the slaves one by one in the order of price.

 That was when I felt it.

 I could feel something attracting me. A rather fine quality of magical aura. Though it was certainly a feeble sensation, it was quite refined. Still, the attraction was in no way weak. As far as I know, the quality of magic was usually proportional to the quant.i.ty of magic. It was considerably rare to feel this excellent quality of magic yet meagre quant.i.ties of it.

 Could it be that the source of it, was dying? I have always secluded myself and focused on research, and so far, the people I have met were all healthy people. I hardly had any experience with people gasping for survival who were on the brink of death. All the more people with such scarce quality of magic. I have witnessed countless scenes of slaves being killed after incurring the rage of father or brother, but these victims never did possess any roots of magic. At any rate, the way brother killed without any hesitation was indeed testimony as to how slaves were not treated as humans.

 “This one’s condition is kinda severe…...”

 Indeed, this slave was in a tragic state.

 I took a glimpse at her price tag.

 I unintentionally muttered.

 Well, a slave market isn’t a magician service office. Even if the shop vendors knew the amount of magic one has, they would not be able to be able to understand the true degree of it. I can sense their lack of effort in the trade but all the more I have no duty and intention of demanding improvements.

 The male attendant lightly pulled on my sleeves.

 “Wait a moment.”

 I made another inspection on her and as I had deduced, her hands show no trace of labour. Her right wrist appeared to be fractured having been grabbed strongly on it but otherwise, her palm was beautiful.

 Her barefooted feet had been grazed by the stone bed but the shape of her nails were intact. The tip of her feet and her ankles had not been in contact with the bed and so, were unhurt. She must have been using shoes or socks before being sold.

 All this points to her being a child raised in a well-to-do household. Either her family has met with ruin or she was kidnapped, ending up in this slave market.

 …...I brooded over this for a short interval.

 First of all, she was near my age, so father would find her a suitable subject matter to train me in using retainers.

 And…...her magic was top-tiered.

 To put it bluntly, if we include the possibility that she might be an outstanding talent in the future, this doesn’t seem expensive at all. It was actually a bargain sale which placed the price within my reach.

 It goes without saying that my standing would decline sharply. Father would probably show less affection towards me. However, what of that? The real issue is that father has been showering excessive care for me and might make me the next successor. If that happens, it would be inevitable for a clash to occur between brother and I. Even if I won against him, I would have to pursue a career in politics as the head of a Count Family and would have to abandon my research. No, in the worst case, the authorities might use domestic quarrel as an excuse to crush us.

 With that in consideration, more or less losing points now would be within the range of making an investment for the future. It should be okay to rely on brother who was sincerely motivated to take on the role as family head. As long as I can receive a certain extent of financial support and can continue to conduct my experiments to achieve immortality, I am satisfied.The only inconvenience of buying a dying slave, in fact, one who next to death’s door, might be that the temporarily halting of my research. In any case, I have already reached the limits of what I can do alone for my research. If that actually occurs, all I have to do is to save up money while thinking of it as a long break that the G.o.ds are giving me.

 If I missed, I would be back to zero; but if I hit the mark, I would profit. Thinking of it that way does make it look like I was buying a lottery ticket.

 “Alright. This child, I’m buying her.”

 The male attendant following me opened his eyes wide in exaggeration. “I cannot believe this,” was plastered all over of his face. A typical and normal reaction.

 “What is your name?”

 The young girl with a swollen face, mumbled something inaudibly. Did she give her name as instructed or did she hurl some vulgarities in a fit, or was she just muttering incoherently? I could not make an accurate a.s.sessment on that.

 She brought me to the person as I had asked of her. The deal was brokered within two replies from the slave vendor even though he gave a suspicious look throughout.

 　――With that, I managed to procure her.
 I did not know what kind of meaning she might bring from hereon.

/