Chapter 75: Suspiciously Wealthy (1)
Elisha became a slave.
No, the majority of the leadership from the Sylvan Magic Tower, including Elisha, became slaves.
The summoning of spirits originally carried the death penalty… but it was halted at the planning stage due to the whistle-blowing of an internally panicked informant.
It was an unexpected stroke of luck for me.
If it had followed the original scenario of H&A and led to execution, I would have been utterly powerless.
However, if it was the slave penalty, the story changed.
After all, like with Carla, couldn’t I just buy them with money?
“That’s why I’d like to take a leave of absence, Professor Iona.”
“Yandel… So you want to take a leave of absence to buy back your friend, who’s now a slave?”
“Exactly.”
“Once Elisha, who has become a slave, becomes your attendant, will she attend classes under the pretext of escorting you?”
“We plan to join social events and hunt monsters together later.”
“That sounds fun! Go on!”
And so, Carla and I temporarily left the academy.
As for the specifics… Well, I was sure Iona would handle it.
Inside the carriage to Gef City.
Carla, sitting closely next to me, deactivated the floating magic circle in mid-air.
Recently, I’ve been learning the Lindelheit family’s arcane magic circles from Carla, and we’ve reached a milestone.
Initially, I tried applying Korean or Chinese characters to the magic circle since they could convey intuitive meanings, but for some reason, it didn’t work.
The reason was simple.
Whether Korean or Chinese, they were types of ‘characters’.
You need to interpret these characters when you see them, while symbols in magic circles should be instantly understandable.
Certainly, a character or two would work in a magic circle.
But when you start combining them, simple words become sentences, requiring interpretation.
In essence, they move away from intuition and into the realm of rationality, making them ineffective.
That’s why I’m now learning about the Lindelheit family’s arcane magic circles that Carla had previously suggested.
Carla, who was looking proud of my clumsy magic circle, suddenly poked my thigh.
“Master, Master.”
“Hmm?”
“I have a question. Can I ask?”
“Go ahead.”
I retrieved the mana from the magic circle and met Carla’s ruby eyes.
“I’ve been wondering… Why did Elisha receive the same slave penalty? I still don’t get it. Do you know something?”
“…I have some suspicions.”
The head of the Sylvan Magic Tower tried to summon spirits for Elisha, but Elisha herself had no direct involvement.
Yet she received the same punishment…
Plainly speaking, she was framed.
Elisha was involved because the summoning was for her and due to bad rumors in the academy.
Seeing Carla, her one-time rival, as a slave and feeling the accumulated inferiority of losing her place at the academy led to my success in hunting down Edmerek in the first year. This triggered her involvement in the spirit summoning.
All for the sake of obtaining greater power.
All to dominate at the pinnacle.
…that was the whole impression of the story.
Elisha was portrayed as a magician who was power-hungry.
They proclaimed this fabricated story as an official investigation result and slapped the slave penalty.
It was a stereotypical but plausible story. And being an official announcement from the Unified Church, everyone just accepted it.
But to someone like me, who had directly heard about her fall, it was just ludicrous.
Even without that, from my experiences with Elisha in H&A, I knew she wasn’t that vile of a character.
So, she was framed.
“It’s probably the doing of the ‘Boiling Silence Church’.”
“…Isn’t that the ‘Evil God Church’?!”
“Right. Those guys who are good at infiltrating and causing disturbances from within.”
If the corrupting lust in the ‘Tainted Unity’ represented gluttony and the grotesque proliferation represented lechery, then the ‘Boiling Silence’ was the master of sloth.
But the twist was that to achieve their sloth they were paradoxically quite proactive.
“Followers of the ‘Boiling Silence’ are always ready to do anything to win without fighting.”
Whether it was manipulating territory wars, framing someone for punishment, or even setting major facilities on fire.
Most of the incidents that plagued our side could be traced back to them.
The very ones who framed the Lindelheit family for a demonic cult were Apostles from the Boiling Silence who had infiltrated the Levantine Empire’s Royal Court.
… I should tell Carla about the truth behind the Lindelheit family’s downfall.
But not now. The time wasn’t right.
As I pondered this, Carla, flipping her platinum hair, chimed in.
“Can’t we just reveal the truth behind the false charges made by the ‘Evil God Church’?”
“Who would believe us? Especially without any evidence. Even if we had some, any careless move would just backfire. The level of manipulation suggests they are very powerful.”
The ‘Boiling Silence’ was everywhere.
And their main storyline involving the Levantine Empire hadn’t even begun. So, targeting the ‘Boiling Silence’ here without any leads was impossible.
“Let’s just focus on Elisha for now.”
“Hmm, you’re right. One wrong move and things might get more complicated… Ah, should I act a bit pitiful at the auction?”
“Why?”
“You’ll be buying everyone out, right? If I, who became a slave first, am comfortable by your side, won’t the Boiling Silence Church find it difficult? Their plans to break me down by making me a slave might be rendered useless.”
“That’s… a good point.”
While they successfully devastated the Sylvan Magic Tower, if the spoils (like me and Carla) remained unscathed, it was all for naught.
If I, as always, treated Carla well, especially if they found out her mana core was intact, they might try to intervene in the auction, or… they might even attempt to assassinate me.
An excellent spy could also be a formidable assassin.
“Alright, let’s do as you suggested, Carla. Should I act like a cruel slave owner?”
“Hehe. I have something in mind…”
Carla’s ruby eyes sparkled with enthusiasm.
The meticulous detailing in her expressions, dialogues, and actions radiated her deep desires.
… She didn’t think of this as some kind of role-playing game, right?
A few days later, on the day of the auction at the Gef City Auction House.
The Gef City Auction House, still acclaimed as the best on the continent, was its usual dazzling and bustling self.
No, it seemed even more chaotic than usual.
“Long time no see, Merchant Filrap.”
“I didn’t expect to see you here, Count Lano.”
“I’ve heard a very valuable item will be auctioned today, so I made my way here.”
“Same here. I suppose that’s the case for most people present.”
“Hehe… I came hoping to grab something, but it feels like I might have to loosen the purse strings more than expected.”
Yes.
Today was the day the elves from the Sylvan Magic Tower were being auctioned.
As Carla had mentioned earlier, slaves usually undergo a training period before being auctioned.
But this time, they were put up for auction immediately upon arrival… and there was a reason for that.
Firstly, most of them were mid-tier magicians, and the tower lord was even a high-tier magician, making them hard to manage.
The entire leadership of the magic tower tried to summon a spirit, so in the wake of this sensational news, the decision was to sell them off quickly.
And lastly, due to the image associated with the elf race.
In this world, there was a significant fantasy surrounding the allure of elves.
It was more profitable to sell elves who still possessed their pride than those already broken.
Hence, the rushed auction.
And the swarm of affluent attendees.
In the more animated atmosphere of Gef City, I was…
…fondling.
With Carla by my side, I stood at the entrance of the auction house, blatantly groping her rear.
“Ugh…”
With her head bowed, Carla, half leaning into me, looked like she was either crying or trembling from shame.
But one thing was certain: there was a thorn vine tattoo on Carla’s neck, and she showed no resistance to me.
The gatekeeper, after alternating glances between us, bowed deeply at 90 degrees.
“Welcome! Please, make your way inside!”
“…….”
What’s this? I came with my regular appearance, but why was I being treated as a VIP?
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