"Master, did you notice there was no one in that room? The Desert People are definitely not welcomed in the Empire," Anastasia says as soon as we step out of the room. "Who knows what that Slave Merchant was thinking, bringing her all the way here to sell her at the Big Auction?" She shakes her head. "Well, he is a barbarian too, so I suppose it makes sense that he didn't think things through," she adds with a small, mocking sneer.
"Anastasia," I look at her speechlessly. "You shouldn't judge a person—let alone an entire group—based on mere rumours." My tone is strict, not wanting any future issues from her when Jasmine joins our group.
Her body stiffens, and she lowers her head slightly. "I am sorry, Master. You are right… Please don't be angry." Her voice is small, and I can see the slight tremble in her frame.
I sigh. I nearly forgot how much weight my words and actions carry now—especially to these precious girls whose lives depend on me. Even the slightest shift in my mood must feel like a potential danger to them. I have to be more mindful of my tone, at least until they truly understand that I would never harm them. Obviously, Family Punishment doesn't count in that regard.
I smile and take her soft, pale hand, as we are in public this is the most I can do. "I am not angry at you, silly girl," I reassure her gently. "I just want you to keep an open mind. You said yourself that they are just rumours, so instead of blindly trusting them, we should see the truth with our own eyes."
"B-But it's not just me. Everyone thinks that way about the Desert People," she protests, looking up at me pitifully. "There are even scary children's stories about them."
"Oh? Do they happen to be called Arabian Nights? Or maybe One Thousand and One Nights?" I ask, intrigued.
She furrows her brows, thinking hard. "I… don't think so, Master," she finally says, shaking her head. "They are just stories about scary deserts and the frightening people who live there. That Slave Merchant should have known their reputation isn't the best here." Her voice drops at the last part.
I chuckle at my own stretch of logic. Well, it was a long shot to assume the stories had the same name here.
"Maybe he thought someone would buy her as an exotic product," I muse with a smirk, her brown skin, radiant smile, and long lashes flashing in my mind.
Anastasia purses her lips, gripping my hand a little tighter as her cheeks turn slightly pink. "That's still a gamble, Master. If they really came from that far south, it must have cost him a fortune just to bring her here. He might not even recuperate his costs through just a sale."
"Hmm… Then there must be a special reason behind it," I muse. "Either way, we can just ask her later instead of making wild guesses."
Anastasia glances up at me. "Master, are you really bidding for her?"
I grin. "I found her exotic, and I am also very interested in the Desert Warrior Job."
She lets out a small sigh but doesn't let go of my hand.
After a moment, I ask, "By the way, in those children stories, have you ever heard of Aladdin, or the story of a magic lamp and a wish-granting genie?"
She tilts her head. "Umm… No, I have never heard of those names," she says, thinking hard.
I smile wryly. Well, she did say the far south is too distant… Maybe those stories just never made it here. I hope that's the case because I would love for a wish-granting genie to exist in this world.
As I was lost in thought, we arrive at the next room.
"Is this the most crowded room so far?" I ask, glancing at the dense throng of people gathered outside. There were even more spectators here than in the room that hosted Erina.
And this time, it wasn't just Merchants, Explorers, and Adventurers—I could even see Knights among the crowd as well.
"It must be the Wizard," Anastasia says, her gaze scanning the packed crowd.
"I was thinking the same," I reply. "Let's go check it out."
We push through the gathering, weaving our way past murmuring bidders. Conversations filled the air—heated discussions about how high the wizard's price would go and whether they had enough money prepared.
After a few loud 'polite' requests to let us pass, we finally stepped inside.
The moment I laid eyes on who was on display, all my excitement went down the drain.
It was indeed a Wizard—but a Male one.
"Oh, Michio-san, we meet again."
A familiar voice greets me, and I turn to see a well-dressed man standing inside the room beside the wizard.
[Harvey
Slave Merchant Level 6]
It was Harvey, the slave merchant from the Imperial Capital's Trading House. He was dressed in even more luxurious clothes than before, his face stretched into a wide, grinning smile.
So he is the one auctioning off the wizard.
In the original story, Alan was the one who sold a male wizard, but since this auction was happening earlier than the one in the story, I had been curious to see who was selling a Wizard.
Well, I suppose it makes sense—Harvey must have some solid connections to be dealing in the Imperial Capital, especially while being such a low-level slave merchant. So its not far fetched to think that he somehow, even managed to get a Wizard for the Big Auction.
"Hello," I reply politely, already itching to leave.
Unfortunately, I ended up stuck listening to Harvey ramble about the male wizard's background for several minutes. Couldn't he tell I had no interest? Even if the guy had once served a fallen noble family, that didn't mean I wanted him in my party.
This is why you will always stay a low-level slave merchant, Harvey.
At least he had the tact not to mention Anastasia, whom I had bought from him before. And thankfully, someone else called for his attention, giving me the perfect excuse to slip away.
I sigh in relief as we push our way out of the packed room.
"I know you wanted to buy a Wizard for our party, but it's actually a good thing that the one on display wasn't to your liking, Master," Anastasia says, offering a small, comforting smile. "It would have cost at least a Million Nars to buy a wizard, and we already don't have enough funds for all the ones you have decided to bid on."
"Oh? Have you been keeping track of how much money we will be needing in the Auction?" I ask in surprise. I wasn't shocked that she could do it—after all, she knew how much money I had and possessed the Merchant job with the Calc skill—but I hadn't expected her to be this thorough.
"Yes, Master." She nods proudly. "And based on the general prices in these types of Big Auctions, I think you will have to give up on at least one or maybe even two of them." Her smile turns a bit wry. "Master… I suggest that, between the Icewolf, the dark elf, the elf, and the desert girl, you remove at least two to be absolutely safe."
She hesitantly looks up at me with her big blue-green eyes, waiting for my response.
I knew she was right. She was giving me a practical assessment, and even though I kept finding more and more new girls to my liking in this Auction, I was definitely stretching my budget way too thin.
But in my defense, I seriously hadn't expected to find so many waifus hidden here. I was hoping to find maybe one cute girl—not a whole damn treasure trove of them.
I had to admit, the Big Auction really lived up to its name.
"Hmm, let's talk about it after we have checked out all the rooms," I say, not wanting to think about it now.
"Alright," Anastasia nods as we continue moving to the next room.
In fact I might have already used up all my luck, because the next few rooms were downright disappointing. No new races, no interesting jobs, and even the girls were average-looking. At one point, I even stumbled across a bearded, muscular man on display, which really made me lose all hope.
With nothing catching my interest, I resorted to spamming Appraisal on random passersby out of sheer boredom, blitzing through the rooms at record speed.
"Oh?" I raise an eyebrow as I finally spot a somewhat crowded room. The real surprise? Every single person in there had the same job—Sex Maniac.
[Laurel
Sex Maniac Level 35]
I even found the Broker guy from the original story—the one who teaches about the Sex Maniac job to the OG Michio in the room, I am seeing him for the second time.
Feeling a little weirded out by so many perverts gathering in one place, I step inside to investigate.
"A Rabbit?" I mutter in surprise, my eyes widening as I spot a girl with rabbit ears sitting on a chair in the middle of the room.
[Shea
Swift Scout Level 1]
Finding a real Rabbit girl in this world—especially one with such a familiar name and appearance—leaves me momentarily stunned.
"Welcome, welcome, dear customers!" A male voice breaks me out of my stupor as a Level 10 Slave Merchant greets us with a grin.
I nod, shifting my focus to the rest of the room. Despite my concerns, the other men barely spare a glance at me and Anastasia before turning their gazes right back to the girl on the chair.
My eyes land on a familiar guy with the Sex Maniac job—the same one I had hit with Intimidating Glare before. The moment my eyes meet his, he visibly flinches, lowering his gaze as his body trembles. I ignore him and refocus on the main event.
"Today, our establishment is proud to present a member of the Rabbitkin Tribe—Shea!" the Slave Merchant announces, gesturing towards the girl.
"That's me! The beautiful and powerful Shea from the Rabbitkin Tribe!" The girl suddenly hops up from her chair, winking playfully.
"Ohhh!" A chorus of excited male voices erupts in response. And I definitely understand why.
Shea is wearing a sleeveless blue top that was totally exposing the upper portion of her breasts. When she hopped up just now, those things bounced—hard. Honestly, I was half-worried that they would pop out at any second, which explains the eager reactions from the men around us.
Judging by their size, they are probably on par with Shera's—the Elf girl I saw earlier.
Moving past her… assets, she has an incredibly cute and beautiful face, with fair skin and striking light blue hair—a hair colour that I have rarely seen—that falls all the way down to her butt. Even her eyes are a matching shade of azure.
But even more eye-catching than her breasts are the long white rabbit ears atop her head. When she introduced herself just now, they had perked up before flopping slightly forward, adding to her already overwhelming charm.
Her outfit does little to downplay her appeal. The blue tunic exposes her smooth midriff, and her lower half is covered by a makeshift blue skirt, beneath which she wears tight white shorts—similar to what Remu was wearing earlier.
I let out a sigh as I had recognised her. She isn't just a Rabbit girl—she is the spitting image of Shea from 'Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest.'
And just like that, I have got another headache. If she is here, does that mean that world exists in this one as well? Just how many different worlds are mixed into this place?
"Shea here isn't just a beautiful member of the Rabbitkin Tribe—she has also agreed to become a Combat Slave," the Slave Merchant adds with a confident smile.
"Yes! I have also acquired the powerful Swift Scout job, so I can defeat all the demons!" Shea declares, placing her hands on her waist with a proud nod. Her breasts, of course, jiggles in agreement.
Swift Scout, huh? Is that a race-specific job for Rabbitkin, or is it a general combat job? Just as I am mulling that over, Anastasia suddenly speaks to me through the party chat.
'Master, there is no point in wasting time here anymore.'
'Why? What happened?' I ask in doubt.
'Master, this girl is from the Rabbitkin Tribe.' Her tone carries an edge of irritation.
'So? What about it?' I ask confused.
Anastasia shoots Shea a deadpan look before responding.
'Master, their tribe is infamous under another nickname. They are known as Worthless Rabbits.'