Slave Harem in the Labyrinth of the Other World (LN)

When we arrived at the slave shop and knocked on the door, the young servant came to greet us.

Welcome. What can I do for you?

Is Master Alan inside? Could you get him for us?

Yes, of course. And please, do come in.

We came inside, just like the servant told us to. As I was going through the door I glanced back over my shoulder, but I wasnt able to see the Bandit, meaning that he must have retreated deeper into the alleyway where it would be more difficult to spot him.

Roxanne and I were guided to the back room, where Alan-san was meeting with all his customers. His servant opened the door for us and told us to wait inside, leaving us with a short Please wait here for a moment.

I entered the room and sat on the sofa. If Alan-san is really meeting with some customers right now, then it is possible that we will have to wait quite a bit for him to come down to meet us.

You can sit down if you want, Roxanne.

Thank you, master, but its fine.

So youre just going to stand the entire time?

I think that will be for the best. Besides, I am used to it, so its not a problem for me.

I sat down, but Roxanne continued to stand up, just like she said she would, but I dont know about that. What does she mean by it will be for the best? anyway? I want her to be treated as my equal, so maybe I should tell her to sit down, or stand up myself? Well, Roxannes judgement in those kinds of situations is probably way more accurate then mine, since I cannot read the mood of peoples intentions for shit, so I just decided to nod and drop the matter entirely.

It wasnt long before Alan-san came down to greet us.

Oh, now what do we have here? Welcome, and thank you for stopping by my shop once again.

Sorry to bother you. Werent you with another customer just now?

No, not at all. I am free at the moment.

I see.

Yup, now I am absolutely sure that this place is 100% targeted.

So, what did you wanted to discuss today? Because I assume that is the reason for your visit?

Alan the Slave Merchant sat on the sofa. After giving Roxanne a brief but stern look, he joined his hands together and leaned forward in front of the table.

Ahh, I get it. He thinks that I came here today to discuss a refund for Roxanne. I cant say I really blame him it that is really what he thinks. After all, if I was in his shoes and a customer who bought a slave from me returned after just a few days, I would also assume that it was either to make a complaint or to try and get his money back. *Sigh* Maybe Roxanne was right about not sitting down after all?

I remembered that the first time I came to this shop in order to sell the Villager who has become my slave because he tried to steal the Bandit Bandana that rightfully belonged to me, instead of being sent to this very waiting room he met with us inside of the shop itself. But the fact that we are sitting here right now seems to be indicating that he is not treating me as a random customer anymore, but maybe that was because that young aide, or worker, or servant or whatever you want to call him didnt tell him I came here to sell Roxanne? Then again, assuming that would have been kinda dickish of him, when we only asked him to announce to Alan-san that we wanted to speak to him. Well, I guess theres nothing I can do about it right now. I just have to go with the flow.

Allow me to cut right to the chase. This place is being watched.

Watched, you say?

Yes, that is indeed what I said. We came to warn you about it, because Roxanne said that she couldnt ignore the shop that helped her out so much and the people who work here.

That should make it clear enough that I am not here to sell Roxanne today, but now everything hinges on how is he going to react once he realizes that I will probably not be buying any new slaves as well.

Is that so? Ohohoho, I guess Im getting so old that even I fail to notice such things more and more often.

The corners of Alan-sans mouth rose a little.

Duly noted. I will be sure to be more careful in the future.

Thats it? I told you, there is a suspicious-looking man watching your shop from the outside.

I understood that, and I realize full well that things like that might be happening from time to time, due to the peculiar nature of my business. Nevertheless, I thank you for you attention and the time you took to inform me about this matter.

He told me with a gentle expression. Looks like hes not taking me seriously. Again, I can understand why he is acting like that. Everybody would have done the same if someone suddenly came to them and told them that their business is being eyed by some shady individuals.

For him, I am not a regular customer, not a nobleman, a great knight, a big-shot or even someone well-versed in the matters of slavery. To him, I am just your regular one-time customer same as all the others he probably has to deal with on a regular basis, no different than a total stranger. Thinking about it that way, its not surprising that he dismisses the words of such a nobody as a mere triffle.

Anyway, we just wanted to give you this warning, so we will be on our way now.

Once again, thank you for going through the trouble of informing me about this, but running this kind of business often makes us a target of many-a-different people, many of whom are too indecisive to actually set foot in the shop, loitering around the entrance.

Trust me, the customer we saw outside definitely didnt look like that. He seemed to be one of the more problematic kind, the one that is not interested in simply buying slaves.

Or perhaps he was a private eye hired by a wife suspecting her husband of infidelity.

Is he trying to say that this shop being monitored is an occurrence so common that he stopped paying any mind to it? I guess thats true given the shady nature of his business, but still

Uhm the person who watches your store right now is a Bandit.

Perhaps she was bothered by the fact that we were not being taken seriously as well, so Roxanne chose to open her mouth with such bold words.

Hou a Bandit, you say?

Alan-sans face tightened visibly.

Yes, thats right.

What makes you think that?

When I confirmed Roxannes words without batting an eye, Alan-san inquired further. Well, I knew that sooner or later it had to come to this. Even if someone is really eyeing the shop, that alone does not make them a criminal just yet, so obviously he wanted to know what I based that assumption on. But I cannot tell him that I found out about it by using Identify on that guy, so I have to feed him the best possible lie I have in my repertoire.

Hes one of the people whom I got to know while I was making money to purchase Roxanne.

I managed to scramble up the necessary amount of money to buy her only because I decided to do some Bandit Bounty Hunting, but I imagine that since he is a Slave Merchant then he must at least have an inkling of how someone like me managed to get that much money so fast. He might not be getting the entire picture here, but he can probably guess enough to know that I wouldnt be lying about something like that.

If you wanted to take on Bounty Hunts related to Bandits, naturally you had to know where to look for them and how to discern them from ordinary citizens. And I dont want to sound like Im bragging, but after all the investigating that I carried out in the slums, I guess you could say that I got to memorize quite a few suspicious faces rather well.

I see nowSo thats how it is.

Alan-san sank deeper into the sofa. He then closed his eyes and let out a big sigh. Was he finally going to seriously listen to what we had to say?