"Mr. Bunian seems reluctant to make this deal?" Luo Wei stopped Troy from drawing his sword as she narrowed her eyes.
"Miss Luo doesn't strike me as someone who would show kindness either." Zachary lowered his fist, studying her intently.
As their gazes met, the room was filled with an atmosphere thick with tension.
Troy tensed his muscles. Why did he sense such murderous intent from what seemed like an ordinary exchange?
The undercurrent surged as a cold light flashed through Luo Wei's dark eyes. "Mr. Bunian, you seem to be prejudiced against nobles?"
Zachary Bunian burst into laughter. "Prejudiced? Perhaps. I've never seen any noble lady show kindness outside their family territory."
"Especially coming to the North to show kindness," he fixed his pine-green eyes on Luo Wei, "to a group of slaves."
Luo Wei sat back in the deerskin chair, interlacing her fingers over her crossed knees. She leaned forward, adopting an aggressive and arrogant posture. "And I've never seen a slave merchant unwilling to sell slaves."
Zachary gave her a dangerous look for a moment, his beard twitching. "Sell? Why wouldn't I sell?"
He sat down in the bearskin chair at the head of the room, leaning back. "However, all our good slaves have been sold to the South. What's left are just old bones that nobody wants."
"As I said, I'll buy however many you have. I want people, regardless of their age," Luo Wei replied.
"Even the disabled?"
"Yes, as long as they're alive, I want them all," Luo Wei said meaningfully. "However, I hope there aren't any talking birds mixed among these people."
"Haha, interesting, interesting," Zachary laughed, his red hair flying, nodding repeatedly to assure Luo Wei. "You can rest assured about that. We merchants always stand by our credibility."
He reached for the sheepskin ledger on the table, finally growing serious. "Let me see... there are still 130 slaves here. Oh, this data is from ten days ago. I'll have to have them counted again."
"Grover!" Zachary called out loudly.
"Yes, sir!"
A slave trader ran in from outside - the same man who had led Luo Wei in earlier.
Zachary tossed a new piece of parchment to him. "Have someone count again how many slaves are still alive. Bring all the living ones here for this lady to see."
"Yes, sir."
Grover clutched the ledger and retreated with his orders.
The tent fell into an eerie silence once again.
Zachary sat in the main seat, his bright eyes moving back and forth between Luo Wei and Troy.
Troy kept his hand on his sword hilt, seemingly ready to begin fighting at any moment.
Luo Wei crossed her hands over her abdomen, relaxing back in the deerskin chair with her eyes closed, resting.
Her completely relaxed posture only made Zachary more intrigued.
A delicate noble lady who showed no fear when he raised his fist, sitting there as if she were in her own home - was this the fearlessness of youth, or did she truly possess extraordinary capabilities?
About ten minutes later, the sound of slave traders' shouts and the chaotic footsteps of dozens of people could be heard outside the tent. The noise seeped through the thick tent walls like boiling water.
Zachary's pine-green eyes turned to Luo Wei as he gestured, "Miss Luo, shall we?"
Luo Wei smoothed her skirt and rose unhurriedly. "Troy, let's go take a look."
The two walked ahead with Zachary following behind them.
Troy kept frowning, uncomfortable with exposing their backs to someone who was both hostile and potentially threatening.
But glancing at Luo Wei ahead of him, he realized if his employer could remain so composed, how could he show weakness?
Troy convinced himself to ignore the person behind them, though his right hand remained firmly gripped on his sword.
It wasn't due to lack of mental fortitude, but because his duty was to protect his employer, and he could never let his guard down.
Outside the tent, a sea of heads crowded on the cold grass. The emaciated slaves fearfully watched the whips in the slave traders' hands, shivering like sieves in the below-zero wind.
Luo Wei realized the cruelty of their situation.
The slaves had lost their dignity and freedom, reduced to unsold commodities, trapped like sheep in the shepherds' cage. And she was the final link in this sinful transaction.
But in this era, they would die whether someone bought them or not.
The slave traders wouldn't feed these people for nothing. If they couldn't be sold, they would become fodder in the arena or laborers in the mines.
The worst fate would be being sold at the price of a sheepskin to cannibalistic tribes for dinner.
Grover handed the parchment to Zachary, who glanced at it before passing it to Luo Wei.
"One hundred and twenty-one slaves, all here."
Luo Wei took the parchment, seeing the crooked circles and slashes drawn by the slave trader, along with misspelled words.
The parchment only recorded simple names and prices for each person, with circles representing gold coins and slashes for silver coins.
People in the North generally had low education levels. There weren't many cities, mostly concentrated in the east, and even the towns had no schools. Common people couldn't afford education even if they had money.
Among these slave traders, Grover was probably among the more educated ones.
One hundred and twenty-one slaves was no small number, considering the entire Santanle City had less than two thousand people.
Of course, slaves weren't counted as people in the citizen population.
Luo Wei rolled up the parchment and turned to ask Zachary, "Mr. Bunian, may I inspect the goods?"
"Of course," Zachary nodded, "How would you like to inspect them?"
Luo Wei looked at the group of slaves: "Have them separated by gender, in two lines."
Zachary jerked his chin at Grover: "You heard the lady, get to it."
"Yes, sir!"
Grover immediately turned to face the slaves: "Everyone, listen up! Men on this side, women on that side, form two lines, quickly!"
The slave traders also raised their whips, urging the slaves to quickly move to their designated places.
The barely clothed slaves shuffled timidly to either side, those with good legs moving first, while those with poor mobility fell behind, leaving a group of hard-of-hearing elderly and disabled slaves in the middle.
After quite a while, the slave traders finally pushed everyone into their respective lines.
"Troy, go count how many men and women there are," Luo Wei commanded.
"Yes, miss." Troy nodded and walked into the crowd.
A moment later, he returned: "Forty-six men and seventy-five women."
"How many elderly?" Luo Wei asked.
Troy recalled for a moment before answering uncertainly: "About sixty or so."
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