“A twin-swords user that has lost one of his hands. Naturally, he can’t fight the way he did when he still had both of his hands. But even without his previous strength, he can still wield a sword with one hand and is still strong enough at worst to defeat a level 3 slave. He also worked as a gladiator, so he has plenty of experience fighting against other people. Normally, he serves as a sparring slave with combat skills. I’m sure he would be able to help Fei-sama in teaching your new slaves.” Orest

It’s true that he’s probably strong enough to guard the store. And if he can teach others, then he might even have some good prospects, but… I’m a bit worried about the note under his character evaluation that states he’s deeply attached to his identity as a swordsman. Moreover, the price for him is 8,000,000 suits. That’s more expensive than the others. On what basis are they charging that?

I honestly asked Mr. Moulton that and he replied.

“He has made a living solely through his sword. He carries a kind of pride with him. Despite losing one of his arms, he continues to train everyday restlessly and hopes that the person who purchases him, does so because of his skill in the sword. Moreover, he actually didn’t cut off his hand and instead used a special magic potion to buy him time to look for a way to cure his wounds.” Orset

“A medicine to buy him time… Are you talking about the ‘Stop Medicine’?” Ryouma

“You’re informed, I see. Yes, it is exactly as you’ve inferred.” Orset

Stop Medicine… Just as the name implies, it’s a magical medicine that prevents a wound from worsening. It doesn’t maintain the state of the wound through conventional methods such as through disinfection or some kind of treatment, instead it works in a way that is akin to stopping time. It’s strange, but it’s a medicine that exists in this world. If I recall correctly, it should be fairly expensive.

“As a famed gladiator, he was actually quite wealthy, but he kept using his money to buy the medicine, and eventually, he went into debt and wound end up here. The remaining debt after selling off his house and all of his possession is included in his price. Basically all of his possessions have been sold off, but his swords are still with him.” Orset

“The swords were the only ones that you didn’t sell?” Ryouma

“Yes. He said that was the one thing he absolutely couldn’t let go of. We tried persuading him many times, but he said that if he had to sell his swords as well, he would rather die.” Orset

“I see that is quite something, isn’t it?” Ryouma

It’s a bit worrying, but he should still be able to do his job as a guard, right?

“Although he’s a bit uncompromising when it comes to his swords, he’s actually down to earth when it comes to other things. He’s been teaching the slaves of this store how to handle a sword. From that I can guarantee that he has a sense of responsibility in the work he is given.

As for the price, it’s your first time and you’re coming here on everyone’s introduction, not to mention that I learned a lot from you, so I won’t mind if you choose to pay in installments. Moreover, you don’t have to pay until you form the contract, so why not add him to your list of candidates first and then see how things go?” Orset

“If you’re going that far, then very well. Let’s add him to list of candidates.” Ryouma

He went out of his way to recommend him, and I’m also going to be meeting the other slaves, so why not?

Adding just one more slave should pose no problem.

Going back to the topic at hand, I wonder if I should narrow down the list even further.

This time I tried asking Mr. Moulton for advice while thinking it over.

When I did that…

“How to narrow down the candidates further? In that case, why don’t we narrow down the candidates to women willing to engage in some barney-mugging?” Orset

…What?

“I-I’m sorry, but I’m not looking to purchase slaves with that kind of purpose in mind…” Ryouma

“Why that’s precisely why! If a customer came to me with such hanky-panky business in mind, I wouldn’t recommend him a soul. If someone had the money to buy a slave just for some good ol’ in-out in-out, I would unabashedly tell him that a visit to the brothel would be many times cheaper and less problematic in the future.

Of those that fall into debt slavery, there are women who are agreeable to such services in hopes of being released from their bonds even a moment sooner. But slaves like those have a tendency to fall into despair, and when the time comes, they tend to be a source of trouble. The human mind can’t be categorized so easily, so I can’t speak for all women, but that is usually the case for women who haven’t resolved themselves to sell their body.

On the other hand, women who have properly resolved themselves to sell their body beforehand, tend to have experience working at a brothel before becoming a slave. They sell themselves to try and pay back their debts. When it comes to women like that, debt collectors can – to some extent – afford to be patient and wait for their payment. It’s not impossible for them to pay off all their debts like that too. This might come off as a bit vulgar, but there are people who don’t really care much about appearances so long as they can attack the pink fortress, and besides… It’s more money for the debtors if their customers take longer to pay off the debt. At least, as long as the money continues to flow.” Orset

Oh, ohh… So that’s why.

I thought he was just messing around, but he was actually pretty serious. Fairly intense too.

I say… This guy’s pace is seriously a mess. I just can’t seem to grasp it.

“Orest-kun. As one might expect, this topic is a bit too early for Ryouma-kun.” Reinhart

“Your Grace, with all due respect, it is imperative that this topic be tackled when purchasing slaves. Especially for Takebayashi-sama, given that he is purchasing slaves for the first time. Besides, he might be a little angel now, but one day he’s going to reach that, erm… sensitive age, and just in case, he accidentally gave one of his slaves some good ol’ biggus-dikus, at least it’s already in their contract, right?

Of course, Ryouma-sama is very adult-like, and I doubt he would be the sort of person to hide behind his status to chase after some skirts, but… It’s not really uncommon for employees to lay a hand on a slave they’re working with. And while I may not recommend purchasing slaves solely with that particular activity in mind, I do recommend slaves that are fine with it just in case the unexpected happens. Wouldn’t want any problems with the law now, would we?” Orest

Mr. Moulton wasn’t about to back down.

Serge-san and Pioro-san joined the fray to try and convince him otherwise, but he was unconcerned.

Since then he’s continued to talk seriously while sprinkling some comments here and there to try and rattle me.

Even if I didn’t want to, being on the receiving end of that serious and yet teasing smile of his for so long, left me with no choice but to realize it.

That all this time, since the beginning, he’s been observing my reactions.