Chapter 49: Edward's Curiosity
It didn't take long for Lawrence and Jayem to also choose their three slaves after Kael finished his pick from the litter.
The three slaves Lawrence picked were all beastmen: a member of the kudu race, a bighorn sheep race, and a macaque race. In addition to that, they were all sword users.
Seeing that, Kael could instantly guess the reason why, and he couldn't help smiling and thinking inwardly. "He's finally starting to get serious!"
As for Jayem, he particularly selected slaves based on their ability to fit his style of fighting, specifically all of them had the potential to become assassins. Two were beastmen, while the other was a pure human. The two beastmen were from the black panther race and the swift fox race. As for the human, he was a slender male with an aura that Jayem could easily recognize as someone who worked in the same field as him.
"Are you all done picking your new slaves?" Edward observed the nine slaves closely. As far as he was concerned, all the female slaves he showcased in this area were top beauties that could attract any male's attention. "Seriously? None of you picked a female slave? Don't tell me you guys are…"
"Don't misunderstand!" Lawrence interrupted as he could already guess what Edward was thinking. "We are not that type of people!"
"Sure, sure!" Edward chuckled before saying. "You two know how to do the Soul Binding, right?"
"I guess…" Lawrence turned to Kael. Honestly, he practiced a few times before on how to manipulate mana whenever he had the free time to rest. He admits, it's really hard.
Jayem simply nodded his head and sat with crossed legs on the ground before proceeding with the steps for Mana Binding.
Having no choice but to comply, Lawrence followed Jayem and sat with crossed legs on the ground as well.
Meanwhile, having already adapted to manipulating mana, Kael simply raised his right hand forward. In the next moment, three thin lines of mana shot out to the three slaves' respective hearts and brains.
And just like that, Kael was done with his Mana Binding.
"Impressive!" Edward started clapping his hands. "I didn't expect you'd quickly master mana binding. As I expected from someone who belonged to another world."
"So, you knew?" Kael turned serious.
"It was quite obvious, especially with the clothes you three are wearing." Edward was a merchant, so he naturally knew the types of clothing being sold in Avalon from the lowest brand to the top. "They might look the same as any ordinary attire a person would wear in the wilderness, but they're design is something that hasn't existed in our world."
"I see," Kael didn't panic since he could see Edward didn't seem to have any plans on hurting them. In fact, it might even seem like the latter wanted to connect with them more.
As for what Edward meant, he indeed expected that someone would eventually realize they came from another world based on their clothing alone. That was why he specifically picked to wear wilderness clothing since they're a lot harder to notice, as there's barely any difference between the one from Noverra to the design found in the world of Avalon.
Naturally, those cases that Elandor had told them about before were referring to players of Avalon who were walking around as if screaming to everyone they came from another world. Not everyone was like that.
"Rest assured, only people with keen eyes for clothing design could spot the difference," Edward assured as he motioned his hand to invite Kael to sit beside him.
Kael didn't mind, so he walked forward and sat on the sofa with Edward, but a bit of distance away.
"No need to be that cautious, I don't plan to harm you," Edward tried to assure one more time.
"I'm not worried," Kael glanced in the direction of Lawrence and Jayem.
Following the direction where Kael was looking, Edward instantly saw that even though Lawrence and Jayem's mental focus was on the Mana Binding, their respective hands were already on their daggers, prepared and ready to attack at any given moment's notice
"You sure have quite the loyal partners," Edward was amazed at their willpower and determination.
"Loyalty beseech loyalty," Kael kindly advises.
"I'll take note of that," Edward took it with serious consideration, as he also wanted his men to treat him like how Lawrence and Jayem treated Kael.
"Anyways," Edward coughed to change the topic. "The reason why I informed you that I know is because I want to buy information from you about the world that you came from. Of course, I will pay the appropriate price depending on the information."
"Is there any reason that you want to know about our world?" Kael couldn't help wondering the reason.
"Yes!" Edward nodded and explained. "As days go by, more and more people from your world arrive on our home planet. At the moment, our side only knows a bit of information about your side. But don't be mistaken, there have been huge breakthroughs about the name of your world, the current advancement of your so-called technology, the state of the five continents that exist in your home, and lastly but more importantly, the reason why you came here to Avalon."
"In that case, what else do you want to know from me?" Kael raised his eyebrows. Since they know pretty much everything already, there seems to be no need for him to explain more.
"I'm a merchant. Everything about the information I've just mentioned could only be more helpful to the members of the royal family, the nobility, and powerful organizations of Avalon that grew weary of your existence every passing day. As for me, what I'm particularly interested in is the information about what type of customers I am going to be facing on the opposite side of the table soon."
"The type of world, the current state of affairs of the five continents, the advancement of our technology, and our reason for coming to your world should be more than enough to answer that question, right?"
"Not quite," Edward shook his head. "I get it, you have technology that uses electricity and data to run, which I don't honestly understand how exactly it works, since your tools and gears work completely differently from ours, which use mana and magic. And more importantly, you need our resources to help save your own dying planet."
"But does that mean I should start selling ores, wood, and other useful materials in rebuilding a planet for your people?" Edward narrowed his eyes together. "As someone from this world, you know I couldn't care less about what happens to your own planet, that, no offense, your race personally brought to its dying state, right?"
"Fair enough," Kael could understand. He also felt the same, as he couldn't care less about the future of Noverra.
"Instead, what I care about more is if your people start to buy products from me, what would they prefer that I offer them in exchange for their money?"
"Oho, I thought you cared about your world, yet it seems you prefer money more," Kael smiled.
"I do, but the best way to help our side win is for me to have enough capital to supply our side with resources, as that's where my talent lies and not with warfare."
"Sure, sure," Kael repeated Edward's line from earlier before finally taking the latter's inquiry seriously. "The only information that I could tell you, and mind you, it's entirely up to you whether you'd believe it or not, is that we might come from the same tree, but not all of us are rotten."
"What does that mean?"
"That means you can treat us exactly the same way as you treat your normal customers who live in Avalon." Lawrence interrupted as he stood up from the ground. He was done with his mana binding, far quicker than Jayem, which caught Edward and Kael slightly in surprise, since the latter clearly displayed a behavior before of someone who lacks talent in mana binding.
"So, I don't need to offer them something special that would for sure catch your people's interest?" Edward was doubting it.
"If you sell us shit, then we might buy that shit, but expect that we will likewise start treating you as shit once we realize that we got that shit from your shit," Lawrence explained in a vulgar manner. He wasn't intentionally doing it. It just so happens that his mind right now could only process simple information, as it's in a state where thinking about complicated matters hurts his brain. So, he has no other choice but to explain in the most simplest way his mind could possibly think about right now.
Lawrence's response causes Edward to slightly furrow his eyebrows in annoyance.
"Don't mind him," Jayem stood up from the ground. "What he is trying to say is, ugh!" His mind started slightly hurting. "Anyways, simply put, just sell us your best quality products, and we will become your loyal customers."
"Exactly the type of people I want to serve, it seems," Edward was delighted to hear that.
"We are done here!" Kael stood up from the sofa as he could see that staying in this place any longer than necessary might just cause them a lot of trouble. To be more specific, he doesn't want to risk the possibility that Edward might suddenly do something harmful to them with the current weak state of Lawrence and Jayem.
Without wasting time, Kael quickly bid farewell to Edward and led the way to the corner where the butler had gotten in earlier.
Just like he expected, the exit led them to the opposite side of the magic tent.
A bit farther from where they were standing, they could see the butler with a silver tray carrying a slightly bigger pouch than they normally carried with them. At the same time, he was slightly bowing his head while using his other arm to motion towards the secret tunnel.
Seeing this, Kael appreciated Edward but still didn't want to trust the latter at this moment.
Without wasting time, Kael immediately ordered one of his slaves to get the pouch that he could already expect was the payment for the information they gave Edward before hurrying away to the secret tunnel in order to quickly get to a safe place where Lawrene and Jayem could finally take a rest and regain their lost energy.