The Villainess was Loved

Chapter Sixty- Two: The Joy is in the Journey!

“Come on, Tio, don’t screw me. I need an appropriate discount!”

“In this economy?”

“I have to feed, clothe and train them? Do you have any idea how much that costs?”

“You’re a Countess now; you have royal funding. I am certain everything will be fine, don’t you think so?”

“Is that how you get yourself to sleep at night after swindling your clients?”

“Swindling? This is the market price, baby? Tell you what, why don’t I knock off ten per cent? how's that?”

“Ten per cent? Are you nuts? That’s nothing!”

“That’s the best, baby! I can't go any lower than ten per cent; I’ll go bankrupt.”

“Why is that the best when you don’t issue coupons?”

“Do you want coupons?”

“That’s…that’s beside the point; we are talking about here and now. Unless you have a coupon that I can cash in now, your suggestion isn't very constructive.”

“Tell you what, baby, if you take the twenty-four slaves at full price, I’ll give you a fifty per cent coupon on any mercenary renting you apply for in all my stores.”

“Enslaved people? Tio, I don’t want slaves. I want mercenaries.”

“Oh no, no, no. No, mercenaries are my entire business; we only sell enslaved people and rent mercenaries, not the other way around.”

“Why the hell are you so proud of slave trading?”

“Oh, calm down; they are all prisoners.”

“If that’s the case, don’t you sell them a little too expensively.”

“Baby…It is business.”

“It’s highway robbery, is what it is.”

“Come on, don’t say that.”

I sighed and turned toward the exit.

“Wait, wait, wait, baby, why are you leaving without promoting my business?”

“I know where to get powerful slaves, Tio. I don’t need-”

“I have outstanding ones, though, the best of the best, all escapees from either Arkheim or Patum Correctional facility, so you know they are mana equipped.”

By law, prisoners can serve nobles as slaves to reduce their sentences. However, those caught unescorted by their owners were often dragged back to prison.

The prisoners were marked by unique mana ink that only faded once their sentence was completed. Only high ranking knights had access to it. Therefore, if a prisoner escaped, the mark would stay on and grow darker the more they were outside the prison facility.

Only nobles could capture the escapees and be granted the right to keep them on reporting them to the knight's station. The nobles would be granted a crystal that reacted with the mana, working efficiently to remove the ink marking depending on their sentence.

Once the mark was out, they were free.

This law, however, was exploited by slave traders and corrupt knights. It enabled them to legally abduct escapees and sell them to the highest bidder.

“Not interested, Tio!”

“I’ll give you half off, half off from each.”

“Tio, your desperation gives you away. If they are ‘escapees’, doesn’t that mean that, in addition to escaping prison, they tried to run from you and will unquestionably try to run from me? Is the cost of their escape attempts driving you up the wall? Are they inciting each other? Both the new and broken? Oh my, have they formed a coalition right under your nose?”

Tio flinched, merely turned his head to the side, and sighed.

“Argh! I hate bargaining with you! You are not poor, baby; why must you tarnish my pride?”

“Do right to me, Tio; give me a good price, or I am walking out of here!”

“I’ll give you the head of the resistance at seventy-five per cent off, while the rest at twenty per cent. Any lower, baby, and you will leave me without repair fees. I will have to close a branch. Can you imagine what bad luck that spells for my future in this industry?”

*

*

*

Tara Moon was the name of the woman presented before me in the VIP room, dressed in nothing but a knapsack and metal mana absorbing cuffs on both her hands and feet.

There was something familiarly displeasing about the sound of the rattling chains.

Tara was covered in mud, gunk and most of her filth from head to toe; the only thing that maintained their clarity was the sapphire of her eyes.

Her hair was a bright fiery orange trimmed unevenly to her scalp; her lips were bruised. It was hard to say if that was from a fight or malnutrition. She stood about one head taller than me.

She looked as though she was in her twenties, but it could also be external stress that piled on to her age.

“You my next owner?”

When she asked the question, a rebellious smile crossed her lips.

I took a while to respond, perhaps why she decided to rattle her chains playfully.

“Any second now…master!”

“Uncuff her.”

“Wha- she’ll run away!”

Tio chimed impatiently.

“So? Won't you find her again?”

“Babe…the cost!!”

“I’ll still pay you, and we both know I don’t chase. You can sell her to someone else.”

“C-can I have that in writing?”

Tio still held his reservations.

“Uncuff the damn girl, Tio. I don’t have all day.”

Though he grumbled, Tio did as I asked.

Tara eyed me suspiciously and rubbed her wrists.

“So, what’s your deal?”

“Tell me who I should buy.”

“What?”

“I need a militia, knights if you will, and workers I can trust around my new territory. Among those you have been in contact with, who seems capable enough to you?”

She scoffed.

“You nobles are just-,”

She stood then dashed to the door.

“Stop her; she’s running-,”

Tio dashed after her, but I tripped him and watched him fall to the floor.

“BABE!!”

“Let her go.”

“Are you crazy!? This isn’t some charity organisation; it’s a business.”

‘Who the hell would see the malnourished girl and imagine she was in a charity organisation?’

“What kind of future do you think awaits an escapee?”

Tara, who was still trying to find the door’s lock combination, stilled.

“So! It's better than here! Everything is better than here!! I might as well head back to Patum!”

“Oh yeah? Where knights sedate prisoners and sell them to traders like Tio here? Right, that’s unquestionably better.”

Tara threw a fierce look my way but added nothing more to the conversation.

“If that is your line of reasoning, it appears we have met too early.”

I stood from my seat and gestured to Breca.

“Let us go.”

“Wait! You have to pay for the enslaved person you freed.”

“Oh, for-!”

I took my coin purse from my belt and threw it to him on the ground. I am not sure why he hadn't gotten back up.

Tara, who was still at the door, bit her lip in hesitation.

“Spencer, Sheo, Lewis and-,”

I shook my head.

“What! They are good people, you…you can take them!”

“You mistake my words. From my knowledge, there are two coalitions that you slaves have formed. One encourages the other enslaved people to escape; you run that, and the other encourages them to give up, serve their purpose and move on. I only want two names.”

“So, you mean that Chester and I are to go with you and damn the rest?”

“I can take the rest if you want me to, but I will not take them without their identifying leader.”

“What…that’s-!”

“How can I manage people I've never met before? They need a leader with whom I have a rapport.”

“So in short, if I escape right now-,”

“Then I will hold a conversation with the second group's head and hopefully leave with those they suggest. Who knows if any of your people will be left behind?”

“Hah…! That’s so…so you will tear them from each other. There are children down there!?”

I eyed Tio.

‘The hell is he getting himself into?’

“You will tear families apart!!”

Tara continued.

I shrugged at her response.

“Tara, I genuinely, look at me. Meet my eyes, Tara.”

She met my gaze.

“I do not care.”

She looked startled.

Perhaps I jostled her impression of how women should behave.

Melt when we hear the words children or family.

“Now then. We have stopped here for far too lon-.”

“Why-! Why did you start with me and not Chester?”

Tara interrupted.

“How do you know whether something is alive?”

“It- it breathes?”

She answered.

“No, some live their lives as though they are dead; breathing is a luxury even plants have. The answer to that is that they kick, they fuss, and when a pillow is pressed against their heads, they rant and rave because they want the joy that comes from life. I would rather manage the angry, bitter and cynical than handle the hopeless. Both have their merits, but with only one, there exists an imbalance that feels expensive to manage.”

“Are we done here? I want to move on to the-,”

“Fine, I’ll stay! I’ll stay and become yours; however, I have conditions!”

*

*

*

The conditions were more demanding than I anticipated.

1. I am to take every enslaved person in the establishment. They were twenty-four, so I spent one hundred and fifty gold on untrained and malnourished militia and workers.

2. I am to permit all the enslaved people to go home three days a year during the new year celebration, with a badge of my territory to show to knights in case something happens.

3. I am to pay each enslaved person at least two gold coins per month.

They weren’t all bad; I just wished I could have gotten ones with actual combat experience.

All of them resembled victims of injustices that I couldn’t bring myself to correct. Or rather that I was incapable of handling with a title from lower nobility.

Still, all this means is that I still have to travel to the auction in Patum in autumn.

‘I hate Patum; everything is too damn expensive!’

Especially on the measly funds the Emperor put me on because I was handling a rural area.

My only hope for an increase in budget would be to urbanise Clay, and for that, I need the Empress’s help, which means Harrel.

‘f**k!’

The door of my room creaked open, though it could be that we just hit a harsh wave.

‘Gods, I need to adjust from relying solely on mana.’

“Oh Gods, I can hear you thinking all the way from the top of the boat.”

I turned my gaze to Breca, who was holding, yet again, fish.

It’s been five weeks since we have been on the road, and though we are to dock tomorrow, we were still a week later than the imperial knights, all contrary to my plan, even though…it was my fault.

“Tell them to slow down!!”

I wined as another bout of nausea hit me.

Travelling via teleportation was absurdly expensive for those bearing servants; plus, it makes me feel nauseous.

If I knew a ship would be worse, in that it lasts longer, I would have opted to pass by the flight station.

“I can’t tell them to ‘slow down’! We are going at the slowest pace possible! Gods, what the hell, since when do you get motion sickness? You were fine when we went on a cruise.”

“Mmm…that fish smells so bad!! God!!”

“It’s fresh; we are literally on Lake Norvig! Hell, I watched the crew fish it out!”

“Breca, I want deer meat, rare, maybe seared on the sides for that extra crunch! But it needs to be rare!!”

“How can we get deer meat when you want us to go slow!! Fish is all we have for now. When we dock, I can go hunting. For now, you need to eat at least-,”

“Eat? No!”

“ ‘No?’ Why are you so picky? I mean, what will you eat? All you’ve done is throw up; what the hell are you even throwing up when you haven't eaten since-,”

“I’ll eat tomorrow...some of the crew give me some protein sna- Urrp!”

I gagged, and Breca took two steps away from me.

“I’ll leave you to it!”

She said, then slinked out of the room.

‘I freaking hate boats!’