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

I need the Goat Skill Crystal quickly though, since it increases magic attack power, and that is exactly what we need right now.

After ordering the kobold & goat Skill Crystals, I leave Luke and walk out of the room. But instead of leaving the Merchants Guild through the portal on the wall, I am doing so by walking out through the front entrance on foot. That is because there is another place where I want to go right now: the nearby Weapon Shop. And that is because I have to find a good weapon for Sherry and myself.

Is a Steel Spear going to be a good choice here? Most likely, because it comes with an Empty Skill Slot in it, but as a downside, there are only two of them. The rest does not even have Empty Skill Slots in them. It would have been ideal if we managed to find the ones with two or perhaps even three Empty Skill Slots in them, but you know what they say, right? Beggars cannot be choosers.

Choose one of these two, Sherry.

I pass the two Steel Spears with the Empty Skill Slots to Sherry.

Um.. I will do my best.

Sherry sounds like she is straining a bit as she answers.

Even if you does not choose well, I do not think there will be that much of a difference, since all of these Steel Spears are basically identical anyway.

Um. Master?

Yeah? What is it?

You know that If I fail at fusion with this, I will not be able to remake it, right?

She is muttering in a quiet voice. I see, she is still worrying about Skill Crystal Fusion.

It will probably be alright, so there is no need for you to worry yourself too much.

I pat her on the shoulder, and then turn to the racks with wands, staffs and canes lined up on them.

Hmm.. perhaps this one is going to be all right? A Damascus Steel Rod that is cherishedly displayed in the back of the store. I think that this is the best one that is going to be available here, unless of course the shopkeeper is hiding the truly good stuff under the counter, only to be sold to his most trusted of clients?

However, this is a Rod, not a Wand, so it does not meet my current requirements, and above all, Identify shows me that it has no Empty Skill Slots in it. I guess I should have expected that it is going to be like that. After all, the advantage of having a lot of cheap, bottom tier weapons is that you can freely choose from among the literal dozens of them, and you are still going to have pretty high chances of happening on the one that is going to have an Empty Skill Slot in it, but with expensive-looking weapons and armor that all seem to be beautifully decorated, this is not the case.

The really expensive, good-looking items are only displayed as a single piece of an item instead of many copies of it, so as soon as I see that such an armor or weapon does not have any Empty Skill Slots in it, I immediately lose all interest in it.

The only good thing about such pieces of armor or weapons is that an expensive, good-looking items, are going to have more Empty Skill Slots in them in comparison to their cheaper counterparts, but as a general rule, it is relatively find a weapon or a piece of armor that is going to strike that perfect balance between a good price and a large amount of Empty Skill Slot when you are practically being denied the ability to choose them because the shopkeeper only placed one item of each category on display.

When it comes to the Steel Spear, there were only tow of them available that had three Empty Skill Slots in them, and when it comes to weapons and armor that are made from truly good materials like Orichalcum, they can only be bought at the auctions, which means that you are forced to buy them while being blinded as to the amount of Empty Skill Slots that they are going to have. You might get lucky and end up with a weapon or armor that is going to have one, two or maybe even three Empty Skill Slots in it, but at the same time you might draw the short end of the stick and end up with something that does not have any Empty Skill Slots in it.

I worry for a moment as I think about the future. I go to the weapons and armor shops frequently, so I will need to keep it in mind to check for good items with Empty Skill Slots every now and then.

I am also selling off the items that Sherry makes, so I will not have any problems with coming regularly to these shops, and honestly, the owners are saying that a steady influx of items is good for business anyway.

In any case, are a Damascus Steel Rod and steel Spear the best things that I can get from among the mass-produced goods? Apart from the number of Empty Skill Slots in them, there is probably not much difference between them, so I ended up choosing a Rod that was the most appropriate for me in terms of both price and the Empty Skill Slots.

Sherry also gives me the Steel Spear she chose, and I buy them both. I did not buy a weapon for Roxanne this time, because just for the Rod and the Steel Spear I already had to pay three gold coins.

If I think about it, Ive bought Roxanne the Hardened Leather Jacket, and the Amber Necklace recently, so that should even itself out.

Sorry that this time were just getting weapons for Sherry and myself, Roxanne. I promise I will make it up to you when I get the chance.

It is okay, master. I do not mind.

I comfort Roxanne as I leave the weapons shop. However, it is true that I just cannot continue to buy things only for her all the time. I have to make sure to keep a healthy balance between her and Sherry.

At the current moment I do not have any problems in particular with the Scimitar that I have been using.

Okay, as long as you are satisfied with it, that is all that matters for me.

If our circumstances were any different, I probably would not have hesitated even for a moment to give her anything that she might have wanted, but as things stand now, I am her master, and she is my slave, so I cannot favor her too much, or else Sherry might end up feeling neglected. And besides, if I really was doing everything for her at her every request, Roxanne might have started acting too spoilt, so every now and then I have to show her a firm and decisive attitude, even if it might end up coming off as a bit cruel.

We will need to increase the amount of Party members to strengthen our battle potential. I cannot just invest all of our money into equipment alone, because then we would not have any of it left for other purposes.

Yes, that is most certainly the truth.

I cannot be a sweet master to you all the time, Roxanne, this world would simply not allow it. I cannot spoil you, and I definitely cannot pamper you. If I did that and people would caught wind of that, I would definitely be branded as a weird master who is not establishing his dominance over his slaves properly, and that would put me in the spotlight and the center of attention, and right now, such attention is the last thing that I need and want.

I need to think of our income and how to balance the things that we absolutely need with the ones that we can do without for the time being, because I do not want you to think of me as a bad, incompetent master.

You are not a bad master, master, and you will never be.

If you think that you might be bad or incompetent, then how is it possible that we have a whole house to live in instead of living in an inn? How is it possible that we have good armor and equipment that allows us to fight in the Labyrinths without putting our lives in danger, not to mention that you are always hunting and exploring it with us when you do not really have to? And how is it possible that we are capable of eating such luxurious meals every single day? If master was a bad master, then we would never had any of those things.