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

Just like I said, since I am already here, then it will not hurt me in any way to just go and have a look at what Alan-san is offering in his Slave Shop right now. It is certainly a better option than going back so soon after taking the time to come all the way here, and he must be feeling the same way. I guess that is jus the businessman side of him speaking: he has a customer right in front of him, so he probably cannot help it but to want to try and sell some of his slaves to me.

If it is all right with you, Michio-sama, then I will allow myself to remove all of the slaves whom you have saw the last time you were here to make a purchase. How about it?

Of course, I dont mind it at. . .

But no, wait a second. When I was here last time as a customer it was when I bought Roxanne, and before that I was introduced to a bunch of other female slaves, but none of them managed to catch my attention, that is how utterly remarkable they all were. But if he does that, then. . .

. . . I mean, if you do that, it will leave only the men in the room.

Yes, that is right. But this is an unavoidable scenario if you do not want to look at the slaves whom you have already seen during your last visit, would you not say?

Hmm, he is definitely right. But on the other hand, I have already decided that I did not want any guys in my Party, so maybe. . .

You know what, it is fine. I do not think that I need to see anyone else besides that Dwaren girl. . .

Oh, so you remembered that she is a girl after I mentioned her gender only once during the entire conversation? I have to admit, you have quite the attention to details, Michio-sama.

T-Thank you very much.

I regretted allowing those words to leave my mouth as soon as I have said them, because that was a huge fuckup on my part. It might have been nothing more but a slip of the tongue, but it does not change the fact that I allowed it to slip that I do not care about the other slaves and am only interested in the dwarven woman!

Now, before we go see the slaves, including the Dwarven girl you seem to be interested in, do know that she has only arrived here recently.

Hmm? Is it just me, or is Alan-san looking a bit more flustered than usual today? What a rare sight.

I-I see. Is that going to be a problem?

No, not particularly. While her education as a whole might still be a bit lacking, she has already shown that she has a good memory and aptitude towards learning new things as they are introduced to her. For instance, she has only been here for a few days, but she has already mastered the Brahim language to such a degree that she should not have any trouble speaking it fluently and communicating with you without any problems. Her overall training might still be incomplete, but other than that, she should not be inferior to any of the other slaves offered in my shop in any way.

Yeah, I think I might be onto something here. Normally Alan-san looks and talks like he is all confident, and perhaps just a little bit smug, but right now, he seems to be unusually. . . meek, or defensive, even. Could it be because of that one tidbit that he mentioned? The one about this Dwarven girl not completing her training as a slave just yet? Yes. Yes, that has to be it! He said that she has not been properly educated yet, and no matter how you look at it, that is obviously her biggest weak point!

When I came here to buy Roxanne, her price was so high because she was already through with her training and she learned Brahim and proper etiquette so that she could serve any master who would have bought her properly. It was all so that her value as a commodity could increase, but it is not like that with that Dwarven girl. According to Alan-san she has only learned Brahim so far and the rest of the necessary skills has yet to be taught to her, and if it is like that, then it means that is a weakness that I can definitely exploit, since they have not finished fully increasing that girls value just yet.

I see. Thank you for giving me this warning. Still, if you do not mind, then I would definitely like you to show her to me anyway.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Certainly. Although I cannot say that she is someone whom I can present to my customers with my head held high just yet, you have shown incredible kindness to this shop and my business before, so I will gladly bring her to you, Michio-sama.

Next, Alan-san left the room, saying tha he needed some time to prepare everything for me. Taking advantage of the fact that we have been left alone in the room, I took a glance at the cup with my herbal tea. Even though I clearly stated that my intentions in coming here today were not to sell Roxanne, that servant asshole did not bring the third cup for Roxanne, and while Alan-san was here I was too nervous to drink as much as a sip of it, but it would be a waste to let it go cold, so instead of me having it. . .

Would you like to drink my tea for me, Roxanne? I do not know why, but for some reason I am still not used to drinking this.

Thank you very much, master.

And so I gave my herbal tea to Roxanne. Haha, suck this, you slave-hating servant. You did not want Roxanne to drink this herbal tea? Well too bad, because now she was able to have a taste of it anyway! At least now I do not have to worry about this tea containing any kind of weird medicine or drugs in it like I was doing when I came to pick Roxanne up, because after that little Bandit raid incident, I think I have done more than enough to get on Alan-sans good side and succeeded in showing him that I do not have any ill intentions in regards to him or the business he is running. Thanks to that, we not only managed to secure ourselves a letter of recommendation for a slave trading company in the Imperial City, but we also (probably) cemented our business partnership as the merchant and his customer, so I think that our visit here today can be describe as an all-out win-win for all parties involved.

Roxanne, since that new Party member of ours would be fighting together with you in the vanguard position, are there any specific things or qualities you would like them to possess? Any suggestions or wishes at all?

Hmm. . . no, not really. I think that whatever master chooses to go with is going to be the best choice possible.

Whatever I choose will be the best choice possible huh? The thing is, What I want is exactly why I am so troubled right now. Well, that was more or less the answer that I was expecting. Well since Roxanne herself said that she is going to leave that to me, I guess there is nothing to worry about, aside from if she is going to end up getting along with the girl that I will end up choosing. I got Roxanne because Alan-san assured me that she is going to be amazing and it turned out that he was right, so if we look at it from that perspective, the Dwarf girl should be amazing as well, even though her training is still incomplete. I just have to keep my mind open and judge her as she is without being prejudiced towards her.

I talked with Roxanne for a bit, and after a while, Alan-san came back to us.

She is going to be here soon, but before that, I would like you to take a look at the male slaves first. Pardon me for suggesting this, but would you mind having your companion wait in the other room while I bring all of them here? I think that this is going to be the best thing to do safety-wise.