My Dungeon Life – Chapter 2829-2831

Chapter 2829

“That’s three gold! Sold again to the man in the back!”

“This guy…”

“He’s bid on every slave at this auction.”

“Just how rich is this guy?”

I lowered my hand, ignoring all the hateful looks of any would-be slave owners as they glared at me. So far, there had been twenty people brought up, and I had made the winning bid on all twenty of them. This was a valley in the middle of nowhere. Even compared to Chalm, the prices were quite cheap. I was just glad I had managed to recover my treasury; otherwise, this wouldn’t have been possible.

“They weren’t even from our village!” Hope hissed at me. “Did you decide to pick up a few extra slaves along the way?”

Rather than relieved, Hope seemed to have become annoyed over my bidding on our former villagers. It was like she had made up some strange intentions I had never had. At least, the villagers themselves seemed to understand my intention. Everyone who recognized me immediately broke into a relieved smile when they saw me cast the winning vote. Although I had my hood up, I couldn’t help but reveal my face when I voted. As contentious as slavery could be, it was considered an open business in this world.

“Ahem…” The auctioneer cleared his throat, looking a bit embarrassed. “My lord, do you intend on bidding for every slave we’re selling?”

“I do,” I responded simply, causing the crowds to grumble unhappily.

“In that case, I will be ending this auction early. There is no point continuing if the sales are all predetermined. Come back with me, sir, and we’ll negotiate a group purchase, shall we?”

His words resulted in more disgruntled words, but he made a sharp gesture, and the guards stepped out. The grumbling stopped as the people quickly made their way. Compared to single-order purchases, someone with the money and power to make bulk orders was someone any slave guild with a spattering of intelligence knew they couldn’t afford to offend. Although they kicked out most of the merchants looking to buy slaves, two guards approached me far more politely, bowing and escorting me into the back.

I allowed them to take me to a familiar-looking waiting room. A pretty slave brought out hot tea. I had been through this process countless times in Chalm. This was how large slave transactions were performed. Even the slave servant was part of it, an enticement and potential award should the contract move in a positive direction. She gave me a flirtatious smile, leaning forward a bit too far as she poured my tea. She had been ordered to catch my eye and try to get me to ask to buy her. Of course, she was trained for this and was likely their most expensive commodity.

This would have been a position Lydia would have taken had she managed to complete her training. The trained slave courtesan. This girl had horns on her head, and I couldn’t help but glance behind to see a bovine tail switching back and forth. True to her heritage, her chest was also quite impressive. I felt a painful pinch in my arm.

“That’ll be enough,” Hope growled.

The slave’s smile faltered slightly, and she stood back up, her tail swishing as she had a slightly pouty expression on her face. As she walked away, Hope glared at me.

“Is that what you like? Milk tits?

“Why buy milk when you can get the cow for free?” The words just slipped out.

Hope was less amused. I was glad I no longer had the Pervert job to level up at…

[You have touched upon the Law of Perversion. You’re current understanding of Perversion is Red 50%.]

“…”

Chapter 2830

How would I even use Law of Perversion? How could I attach the concept of Perversion to how I warped the world? No, it was better that I didn’t think about it.

“If the bovinekin girl has taken your interest, I’m naturally willing to add her to your order if you’d like.” While I was fretting, an old man entered the room.

He had a long beard, and we walked with a slouch. However, it was hard to say that he wasn’t playing it up to seem disarming. Not every slave dealer was as straightforward as Figaro. I did recall Figaro had a disdain for the way Imperial Cloud Meadow handled slaves, and for the same why I bought any slaves from the slave guild, Figaro used to buy any slaves that crossed the borders into Chalm from the Imperium.

“Don’t bother,” I responded, pushing a sheet of paper in front of him. “Rather, I’m looking for particular people. This is the list of descriptions if you’d like to pull them out. Of course, I’ll also take anyone in the valley who has been recently enslaved for tax violations.”

The horned girl let out a quiet sigh of disappointment over my cold words, but I ignored her.

“Tax violations? There have been a lot of those recently.” The slaver chuckled. “I have to say, I wasn’t expecting to have such a sudden influx of human slaves. I’m afraid there just isn’t a market for it in such an out-of-the-way location. I would have already sent some off to the capital to sell had this undead situation not presented itself.”

“If you sell to me, I’ll give you a fair market price.”

“It’s not that I doubt your veracity, my lord, but perhaps you can provide some proof that you can handle such a large order?”

I waved my hand, and a moment later, a small mountain of treasure appeared. It had been harvested from countless dungeons. I had created a vault to keep the most valuable treasure inside after losing my soul world so many times, and it had turned out to be a good decision, as the vault had survived. He used some method of confirming it and then nodded.

“Very well. I will return after confirming your list.” The slaver gave a broken bow before getting up and walking away.

Once we were alone again, I could feel Hope’s eyes glaring at me once again. I couldn’t help but let out a little sigh.

“What is it?” I demanded.

“Why are you doing this?” she asked.

“Excuse me?” I tilted my head. “Why am I buying and freeing all of those people?”

“Those people should never have been slaves to begin with,” she shot back. “They were illegally taken and forcibly enslaved.”

“I’m freeing them, aren’t I?”

“You’re giving the slavers money! You’re rewarding them for their despicable deeds!”

“And?” I stood up and stepped toward her. “What would you have me do?”

“That…”

I took a step forward. “Kill all the slavers?”

“N-no…”

I took another step toward her. “Should I overthrow the government?”

“That’s not…” She backed up a step, suddenly looking uneasy.

I took another step forward. “Should I enforce my own idea of justice on this world?”

“D-deek…” She looked up at me shakily.

“I could become the Demon King. I could make this world different. I could make it follow my laws. Is that what you want?”

Her eyes teared up. “You know it isn’t.”

I spun away. “Then, when you actually have a solution, you can criticize me for not using it.”

Hope slumped in her seat, unable to say more.

Chapter 2831

I didn’t know why I snapped at Hope. I had been dealing with the slave situation in this world since I had first come here. I had already decided to live within the system. I’d improve what I could, but I wouldn’t try to change what already existed. This was something I had decided some time ago. This was a world bound by Gaia’s laws, and in Gaia’s world, slavery was allowed; it was supported by the world’s magic. If I tried to stop slavery or defy its existence, I’d be going against this world’s natural order. In other words, I’d become a dungeon, a rival existence that countered this world.

“Good news, my lord.” The door opened, breaking up the tense silence between Hope and me. “I have managed to find most of the slaves on your list. A few have already been sold, but I’m working on repurchasing them. Given your temperament, I presume you’d be willing to pay double or triple to get them back.”

“I would,” I responded.

“In that case, I’m sure there will be no more problems.” He handed me back the list, but that was when I noticed that there were a couple of names not checked marked.

“You said most of the slaves, what does that mean?” I asked.

“Ah…” He scratched his cheek. “It means they were never sent to the slave guild. We can only put up for auction what we’re given on behalf of the original owner. If we don’t receive a slave, it’s possible that they decided not to sell that one.”

“What is happening?” Hope noticed us speaking and got up to look around my shoulder.

“People are missing from the list,” I told her.

“They could have… died on the journey. We don’t know how many made it, especially since… since their bodies can get up and walk away.” Hope looked a bit uneasy.

“No.” I shook my head. “Most of these names are young women. Most everyone that we just bought were either men or elderly. Every woman within a certain age is missing. These would also be the most valuable slaves, usually, given their beauty and… ahem… status.”

The slaver nodded. “If they were virgins, then they definitely would have sold for more. Everyone we were provided was… ahem… lightly used.”

“You didn’t find that strange?” I asked.

“I… am just a merchant.” He gave a helpless smile. “It’s not my station to ask questions or dig into the history of the slaves. I can only sell them how I receive them.”

Hope shot him a glare, but he had a thick enough skin to ignore it. I preferred her glaring at him rather than me. Rather, my hand tightened on the paper, nearly shaking. Hope noticed it, raising an eyebrow.

“What is it?”

“Lord Bastion is the one keeping those slaves. You won’t need too many guesses to realize what for.”

Hope thought for only a moment before gasping. “He couldn’t really be…”

“Hope… Lily is on that list.”

That was the name at the top, the one that made me the angriest. It looked like I was going to have a reunion with the Slave Master after all.