.

"Hmm… So, twenty-three remain." Kazuya smiled and looked at the people who had stayed to undergo evaluation after listening to his words.

He had expected only a handful of people to stay but surprisingly, only two people that Nell brought with her had decided to go back with the ones that had decided that they did not want to take the risks that Kazuya mentioned.

"(I will teach those pieces of trash a lesson…)" Raizer cursed in his mind.

Majority of the people he had chosen had turned out to be cowards who did not think twice about turning their backs on such an opportunity. He felt ashamed since his Nell had obviously done a better job than him.

The black-hearted merchant felt nervous as he did not know if the young man would blame him for such an occurrence. Kazuya looked him in the eye as he gave the slaves a choice to make sure that he did not interfere with whatever the slaves chose to do.

"I apologize, young master. It seems like I had brought you a bunch of cowards. They are certainly not a match for the people who work with the young lady that you had already chosen to join your entourage." Raizer turned to look at the ladies that gave him displeased looks.

He did not want to lose to a mere slave so Raizer had hinter that Nell's victory was not at all due to her superiority when it came to having an eye for people.

"They are your subordinates?" Kazuya turned to Nell and gave her a curious look.

He was unfamiliar with the faces of the people that stood behind her. Kazuya had an idea of who they were so he wanted to confirm with the person herself.

"No. They are people like me, whose principles are an eyesore to those who only live for themselves." Nell gave a rare serious reply.

"I see…" Kazuya decided not to ask any further and just nodded.

"I did not influence their decision in any way as there were also those who chose to leave after hearing the perils in joining you on your quest. I only brought them here because I knew that the majority of them are very similar to me when it comes to how we see things." She explained.

"There is no need to say anything. If you had influenced their decision, I would have sent them away myself." Kazuya smiled confidently.

Nell had successfully retained 18 people while Raizer had 5 remaining. 15 of which were female while 8 were male.

Kazuya felt a little troubled that there was almost twice the number of women compared to men but since this was a world where mana affinity transcended the capabilities of each gender, there would only be minor compromises made for what he had planned for them.

"I'm curious. You say that you are in dire need of people. Why did it seem like you were discouraging us from staying behind just to be evaluated?" Nell asked.

"Because there will not be an evaluation… or you can say that all of you who had stayed behind had pa.s.sed the evaluation."

"What!?" Nell was the only person who voiced out her surprise but it was clear to the faces of those who were brought to the room that they had not expected such a thing.

Raizer and Nell never forgot to mention that the people they brought with them needed to give a good impression towards Kazuya when they evaluated them. They had anxiously been wondering just how this young man would evaluate them after the warning he had given earlier but nonchalantly saying that there was not going to be any evaluation left them speechless.

"The path to greatness requires the person to take a step forward no matter how perilous the road may be. If none of you have the courage to even take a step out of your predicament and choose to remain in your cages, I will not force you to do so."

All of them looked at each other and thought that the young man before them looked to be unlike any of the people that usually pa.s.s through this G.o.ddess forsaken place.

Many of them sighed in relief as the Kazuya's cold demeanor had calmed many of their reservations towards him.

Kazuya was a little puzzled. The way that these people looked at him had changed. He had yet to explain any of the benefits that were included in joining him and had reserved that conversation after they had left this place, but it seems as though he had gained some of their respect.

"Is there something on my face?" Kazuya turned to ask the quiet little girl who was sitting beside him.

*shake* *shake*

Lucia shook her head sideways after examining the curious look on his face. It looked like her eyes were saying something but Kazuya was unable to discern what it was.

"Do not misunderstand. Just because I said that there was no evaluation does not mean that I will be lenient on those people who are unable to do the work they are a.s.signed to or to even dare laze around." Kazuya followed up while misunderstanding why they were looking at him strangely.

"No that's not what everyone is thinking." Nell stepped forward.

"Why are you looking at me strangely then?"

"Anyone else would have just asked and brought people to do whatever they wanted and if they weren't able to, the slaves would either be returned or turn up dead," Nell mentioned in a serious tone.

"You have clearly given us something that any regular rich person or n.o.ble coming in here would rarely do, a choice. I believe everyone who stayed behind was able to notice this." Nell turned to the other slaves who were nodding after hearing her explanation.

"A choice… huh…" Kazuya pondered as he gave a nod towards Razer signaling for him to begin the next process which was to transfer the slaves' control over.

Even Kazuya did not take into consideration how sensitive the people were when it came to how they are treated before they were officially bought. They may not have had a choice if they were selected to be bought by individuals, but, every single one of them would prefer to choose their own owners if they could.

This was why many of them saw Kazuya as a different kind of person who had been wanting to purchase slaves. He had given them a choice after warning them of the dangers of serving under him. It was the complete opposite of what a normal slave seeker would have done.

Though the young man in front of them looked like he had a heart as cold as ice, his words had actually brought them a bit of warmth. Kazuya had unintentionally given them a sign that working for him may not be as bad compared to serving some n.o.ble who would see them as commodities.

None of them could afford to act as Nell did. The only reason why she was still alive after defying Raizer and Etha for this long was because Raizer had been hoping for an eccentric n.o.ble to pay good coin for her untamed allure.

.

"This…" Etha wiped the sweat on her husband's forehead after Raizer had finished transferring the control of the last slave to Kazuya.

Raizer quickly gave his wife a stern look before she could say anything that could have given them trouble.

Kazuya noticed this but knew exactly why they were reacting in such a way and ignored them while masking a grin.

"(Did you really think I wouldn't know that you were still testing me?)" he scoffed in his mind.

While mostly anyone who can afford to buy a slave can control them via the transfer of control over to another person, the minimum requirement for an owner was to be, of course, be able to use a small amount of mana.

One might have overlooked the process that involves commanding a slave due to the minuscule amount of mana used to issue a command but this is also one of the reasons why slave traders do not recommend people from buying too many slaves.

Having too many of them may lead to the owner having a deficient amount of mana if he or she continued to issue them orders using the power of the crests.

Raizer and Etha had expected the whole process of transferring the slave crests' control over to Kazuya to take a few hours. They purposely did not inform him the process involved Kazuya branding his own mana over the slave crests for him to be able to take complete control.

They were, of course, shocked that the young man in front of them continuously used his mana to gain control over the slaves that even Raizer himself had to call on others to a.s.sist him because he started to have problems with his own mana reserves.

The merchant had earned a reputation amongst his patrons that he had given them special treatment for a.s.sisting them with the contracting process himself. This was the first time that a customer who was supposed to have been using twice the mana he was had been able to exhaust him like this.

"(This young man has enough mana to even rival officers at the castle!)" Raizer shuddered after noticing that Kazuya had not shown any sign of fatigue.

He was now more certain than ever that Kazuya was heading towards the city of Vane. There was no other place where the potential of someone like him could be nurtured.

"(I must not fail in taking advantage of this chance!)" he clenched his fist with determination.

If it were any other potential student of Vane, Raizer would have put in some effort to gain a connection but he wouldn't care much about the result. If it were any other time, he wouldn't bat an eye over losing a little profit over the matter.

But the present had been different. Not only was the young man a member of the Crimson Manor, but he would also be joining the Vane Academy's recruitment that includes not only Sodina Eberbach and Princess Alicia, it would also most likely the batch that the hero that was recently summoned would be joining.

A golden age of recruits was headed right towards the most prominent of all academies in the continent. The Zweifel kingdom who would be sending most likely to be the strongest candidates had been those people limiting their interactions so meeting someone like Kazuya was like a pie that fell from heaven in Raizer's eyes.

"Now then, shall we talk about the compensation?" Kazuya watched the slaves go and follow Etha out of the room before turning towards Raizer.

"About that…" Raizer was having hesitations about their previous arrangement.

"Don't tell me you won't be accepting any recompense. If so, I will transfer all of them back to you." Kazuya looked at him sternly.

"N-no! I was just thinking that we should discuss this another time since the young master must have expended a bit of mana in the process just now…" Raizer tried to buy himself some time.

"Nonsense. I am fine. I really do not like owing people anything which is why I accepted your initial proposal in the first place. I am only interested in hearing what ideas you might have to capitalize on using this peculiar talent of mine. This way, not only will you be gaining a bit of profit but I will also be able to clear my debt and focus on developing these people so that I could continue on with my journey."

"Ah, yes…" having realized that the young man did not want to stay for too long in Maynira, Raizer felt that he only had a limited amount of time to build a good relations.h.i.+p.

Disagreeing with Kazuya now would only make him lose his favor. That is why he quickly thought of several proposals that would not only benefit himself but also benefit the young man as well.

They had a discussion about Kazuya's carving ability as well as various other materials he was able to use them on. The more valuable or rare the material he could carve on, the more they would be able to charge for it so Raizer already had a few ideas he had in mind even before he knew of the young man's peculiar background.

As much as Kazuya did not want to admit it, Raizer was actually a talented merchant. He had a quick wit and knew how to make the most profit out of his customers. If it weren't for the fact that he was afraid of the Crimson Manor's influence, Raizer would have probably worked him like a slave for little pay.

"With this, everything should be settled. I will start making them after you send the materials as well as the portraits of the people whose carvings you think will sell well." Kazuya gave a satisfied smile.

Despite Raizer's relief after seeing his smile, the black-hearted merchant was not aware that it was not because Kazuya was satisfied because of Raizer's decision to take fewer profits. In fact, that was the least of Kazuya's concerns.

With the acquisition of his very own personnel, together with his unexpected discovery of Nell, Kazuya finally felt that he had taken the first few steps that he had planned to do after his initial arrival.

The unexpected events had kept piling up made Kazuya feel like he would have more than just a b.u.mpy ride in this trip back to this fantasy-like world. He had finally done something that he initially planned out to do after he got back to Edea.

"(An odd dozen or so people is definitely better than one person against a kingdom. I wonder how I should start training them…)"

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