If you want to support, you can do so at: https://www.patr eon.com/finlegost
There, you can find 18 chapters in advance.
Thanks to my patrons and to those who comment on the chapters. It means a lot to me and motivates me to continue this hobby of mine.
And, of course, thanks to everyone who reads this novel.
*************************************
'I know I can't save them all, as I don't have the means to take responsibility for so many people...
But that elf will be mine!'
On the dais is an elf girl, of about apparent 17 years of age, who possesses an almost unnaturally pale skin.
Her skin is so pale that it seems to glow slightly in the candlelight.
Her eyes are very dark, almost black, and contrast beautifully with her skin, as does her captivating, straight, silky black hair.
All these features harmonize perfectly with her slender face and slim, athletic body.
However, it wasn't her body measurements that caught my attention, as the elf, despite her enticing sylvan beauty, has a tiny bust.
Practically nonexistent.
No.
What caught my attention powerfully is her class.
[Arya] [Magic Archer Lvl 13] [Elf]
[(Slave)]
My left hand moves upwards at lightning speed to bid for the elf.
"30 gold coins bid by the gentleman of balcony 3..." says the auctioneer cheerfully.
"... No one bids higher for this wild and charming elf?"
"You have a good eye, boy. Elves are tireless in bed and are very unlikely to get pregnant even without using contraception," says old Gerald while giving me a mischievous look.
"That's not why I'm buying her!" I say, but I can't help but smile as I see the old man's stupid expression.
'He's an impotent old man... What can he know about what elves are like in bed?'
At my words, the old man lets out a loud laugh and says, "You have nothing to be ashamed of, boy. You're a healthy young man. It's normal for you to be interested in such things. When I was your age... Unfortunately, life is very cruel in some cases."
After saying those words, the old man's gaze turns somber and he stops talking about the subject.
But I am not the only one interested in the elf, for, while Gerald and I were talking, people have been bidding to win the beautiful slave.
"43 gold coins we have over here..." says the auctioneer with his perpetually cheerful tone of voice.
"... Anyone bidding more?"
According to the auctioneer, Arya is 39 years old, despite her youthful appearance.
What is surprising is that, even at her age, the elf is still a virgin.
But that's not what's important.
What is really special about her, according to the auctioneer's words, is that she is a purebred adult elf.
While it is true that many half-human slaves have already been presented at the auction, they all had only a few noticeable distinguishing features of their race.
However, Arya's pointed ears, the pallor of her skin and her unnatural physical beauty make it impossible to mistake her for anything other than a purebred elf.
The other thing that makes her very special is that, despite the fact that she has a rare and powerful combat class, she took no physical damage in the process of her capture.
That class is what makes this elf someone extremely interesting in my eyes, as it is possible that, through her, I may be able to learn what I need to obtain the Mage class.
"65 gold coins"
"70 gold coins"
"80 gold coins"
"81 gold coins"
However, it seems I am not the only one interested in her, as the price of the elf starts to escalate at a worrying rate.
Money is not really an issue for me, but I have no intention of spending too large a sum simply on a guess.
'If we keep raising the price a bit at a time, we may end up at a value I'm not willing to pay...
I have to offer a sum high enough to give a clear message that no one will be able to compete against me on this...
If Alessia's price was 120 gold coins?
How about something similar to that amount?'
"I bid 150 gold coins for the elf," I say as I raise my hand confidently.
"Hey, boy, are you sure about what you're doing..." Gerald whispers to me, looking at me with eyes like saucers.
"... I don't deny that she's a beautiful slave, but with that kind of money you can buy dozens of slaves."
"I offer 151 gold coins," says, after standing up, an obese man of about 50 years of age who was sitting on one of the neighboring balconies.
'Son of a bitch... But I'm not going to play your game. If 150 gold isn't enough to impress you...'
"I'll give 300 gold coins for the elf," I say in a firm and threatening tone, looking with open hostility at each and every person who has offered to buy the elf, but focusing especially on the last man who tried to compete with me.
The obese man at first seemed intent on continuing to compete against me, but then suddenly paled noticeably under my hard stare and sat back down with a blank stare, visibly trembling.
'I believe this got the message across.'
"Is no one bidding more for this beautiful elf? Think again, ladies and gentlemen. This may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity." says the auctioneer, looking at the audience intently.
But, despite the auctioneer's words, no one seems willing to bid any higher anymore.
Next to me, old Gerald covers his face with his hands while repeating in a low voice over and over again, "300 gold coins... 300 gold coins... 300 fucking gold coins."
'I don't understand the old man's reaction... after all, it's not his money.'
"Then… Sold to the gentleman on balcony 3 for 300 gold coins!..." says the auctioneer enthusiastically.
"... And now, to continue, we have..."
After the appearance of the Magic Archer elf, no other interesting slave appeared.
When Gerald finally recovered a bit from the shock of the amount of money I had spent, he returned to tell me several facts about the elven race.
According to him, despite their eternal youthful appearance, which makes them virtually immortal, elves lose their fertility as time goes by until they become sterile around 100 years of age. For that reason, it is common in their culture for a single virile male elf to be the mate of multiple female elves.
This he told me as he assured me that, with that in mind, I would most likely have no problem getting the elf to voluntarily agree to become a member of my harem.
But that's not something that interests me in the least.
I am perfectly happy with Alessia, Delia, and Melisa in my life.
I don't need any more love affairs.
However, despite the little enthusiasm I showed on the subject, the old man kept talking and told me that elves need very few hours of sleep a day, so I could give the female elf several tasks and thus amortize a little what it cost me to get her.
But I'm not worried about that sort of thing either.
I still have plenty of money in my inventory, and even if I didn't, the possibility of acquiring the secret about obtaining the Mage class is worth a hell of a lot more than the gold coins I spend on the elf.
After all, elves live in the wild.
That being the case, it is ridiculous to think that they could have access to such rare things as grimoires.
That means that they know an alternative method to get the class.
And if there really is an alternative way to get the class, I'm going to discover it.
After the section of the event dedicated to the slave auction, a section dedicated to combat-oriented objects began.
Thanks to this experience, I was once again able to notice that many times normal people have no idea of the effects that certain magic objects have.
At least when it comes to items coming from the labyrinths.
And that was the type of magic item that occupied the starring role in that section, unlike the first section of the auction.
Most of the runes and items were simply presented by name, and everyone had to make their own guess as to their effects.
Due to the rarity and uniqueness of most of the items, the auction workers could not simply waste one of the magic objects in stock to test their effects, as that would possibly involve a huge waste of money.
Besides, many items were one-of-a-kind.
But people bid anyway, even without fully knowing the effects of what they were buying.
At the end of the day, if something is so rare and unique, that object instantly becomes valuable simply because of those characteristics.
Unlike everyone else, I do get to see more or less the effects of most of the objects presented.
For that reason, even though sometimes the description given to me by my interface was extremely sparse and confusing in information, I had a distinct advantage over the rest of the people in the room.
Because of that advantage, I was able to avoid items that seemed harmful or useless, at least to me or my girls, and focus on acquiring those that I found more appealing.
Unfortunately, although I kept my eyes peeled to see if I could get a better weapon for Alessia at this place, I didn't see any particularly interesting swords.
I imagine that's because of the 'pacifist' policy of the Ephire kingdom, as most of the items presented were for skills.
And in almost all cases they were items geared towards protecting and strengthening people's bodies.
Still, I was able to get a lot of interesting things.
Gerald also bought several items at the auction, but not as many as I did.
All in all, the total sum of money I spent at the auction equals 9 white gold coins, which is the same as saying 900 gold coins.
That's a sum of money that, probably, many nobles would have trouble matching.
But for me it's no big deal.
True, I spent most of my money at the auction today, but I still have lots of runes in my inventory waiting to be sold.
After the event was over, a clerk led Gerald and me to a small room where all our acquisitions were ready.
Including Arya, the beautiful elf who now belongs to me.
But she came with a little surprise that the auctioneer had not mentioned.
Arya needs glasses, as she is extremely short-sighted without them.
That bothered me a bit, as it is a very important detail for a person with combat classes, let alone someone who has a class focused on agile movements and ranged attacks.
That's possibly the reason they were able to capture her unharmed, as they only had to remove her glasses to greatly limit her movements.
I guess they deliberately omitted that detail from the auction so that it wouldn't hurt her price.
Fortunately, I didn't buy Arya for her combat potential.
It's true that I'm going to try to take advantage of it, but that's not the important thing.
What is really important is her knowledge.
What I will do with her after I acquire that knowledge I haven't decided yet, but something will occur to me.
When Arya officially became my slave, her image instantly appeared on my interface, along with Gerald, Alessia, and Delia.
[Arya] [Magic Archer Lvl 13]
HP=13 || MP=20
Agility=25 || Strength=14
Intelligence=10 || Luck=6
[Resistance]
Physical=5 || Magic=5
Poison=5 || Curse=0
I found it curious that she has so many points placed in her resistances.
But maybe it's an innate characteristic of her race or something like that.
The skill that Arya has by possessing the Magic Archer class is [Magical Arrow Lvl 6].
[A magical archer does not only shoot wooden arrows. The mana itself is his arrow, allowing the magical archers to give various effects added to their shots. The variety of effects depends on the archer's magical capabilities]
Also, browsing through her status, I saw that, apart from her active class, Arya could also activate [Adventurer Lvl 1] [Archer Lvl 7] [Mage Lvl 5] [Explorer Lvl 3].
But I'll figure out later how best to optimize her status.
I wish I could change her attitude as easily as I can change her status.
The elf's attitude is anything but pleasant, as she apparently deeply despises humans.
That's another thing they didn't mention when she was being auctioned, but I can't say I'm surprised by her attitude considering her past.
However, I am her master now.
Admittedly, I could order her to change her attitude towards me, but I don't like the idea.
Just like when I got Alessia, I dislike the idea of constantly ordering things to a person, knowing that person has no power to refuse my orders.
I know it's stupid.
For, being so, I should never have bought slaves.
But life is complicated.
And Arya is still a slave, regardless of who her master is.
I guess she will sooner or later realize that not all of us humans are as despicable as she thinks we are.
After we finished paying for everything, and the auction clerks handed us each and every item we won the bid on, we went to a spacious and luxurious room inside the same auction house building where an old acquaintance of Gerald's was staying.
To my surprise, after a brief chat, the whole matter of my 'agent at the auction' was quickly settled.
We agreed that Gerald would remain as my intermediary and guarantor at the auction and that he would be in charge of maintaining a channel of communication with the person I hired.
All in exchange for a commission, obviously.
Still, I was very surprised that the old man offered to do that, since he is basically risking his money and his image for me.
I guess he is pretty impressed with the amount of money I spent today.
Now I feel a little uneasy about the idea I came up with when I saw his strange status, but if all goes well, I'm sure he'll thank me for it.
That will make 2 times I've used the old man as a test subject today.
I will feel really bad if I end up killing this old man after he supported me in front of his friend.
But I'm at least 80% sure there's no risk in what I'm going to try.
Anyway, I'm going to wait until we get back to his house to tell him.
I just hope I'm not wrong.