Ball of Nothing - Chapter 500

As the staff explained earlier, there were three general classes of slaves in the new system. Duke Connie went into details of the slave classes and Truen had to cast a spell to cover Zero’s ears when he talked about the duties of bedroom slaves. Zero was slightly confused when he heard nothing coming out of the duke’s mouth until Truen explained that it was too vulgar for Zero to listen on.

“That said, I believe that we should be able to register and clean up the slavery situation in Smargdas within the next two years. Sure, some southern district residents think that they can still skirt around the new laws about slavery but it should be sorted out soon enough after I implement the purge stage.”

“Purge stage?” Truen didn’t like the sound of it and cancelled the sound isolating spell that he used on Zero.

Duke Connie had an unpleasant smile on his face. “But of course. Rubbish has to be taken out in order to clean the filth. Any unregistered slaves by the end of the year will be executed on the spot and the slave owners will be heavily fined. Slave traders will all be required to register with the slavery guild to be given permits based on the requirements matching the institute. Living standards will be raised according to the slave classes while in the trader’s possession until they find an owner.”

Zero felt his qi turn cold when he heard that. Unregistered slaves would be executed and the owners or traders will only be fined? That was like a slap on the wrist! What wrong did the slaves do if they weren’t registered?! This was as good as a massacre, he couldn’t allow it!

Without needing Zero to contact him using the party call function, Truen already understood what his doctor friend might be feeling.

“Unacceptable,” he told the duke. “What a waste of perfect resources! Slaves that are unregistered should be given a chance to find new owners if their undeserving owners couldn’t be bothered to register them. You should fine the irresponsible owners and traders but the guild should take responsibility for those slaves.”

Unfazed by Truen’s demands and objection, Duke Connie laughed and in an amiable tone like teaching a misbehaving child patiently, he shook his head. “I’m afraid you misunderstood. The guild is taking responsibility by executing them on the spot. It’s not a waste of resources at all. IN fact, we would be spending more resources by confiscating unregistered slaves and taking them into the institute. Most of these unregistered slaves are usually unwanted for various reasons. They’re either too old, too dumb, too ugly or just already on the verge of death. It’s not a good investment for anyone.”

Zero who had been holding back this hold time felt the anger boil in the pit of his stomach and his fingers curled into a ball beneath his lab coat’s long sleeve that hid it. Truen noticed the subtle gesture and quickly told Zero to control himself for a little longer with the party call function.

“Is that so?” he raised a brow and kept his voice level. If he failed to find a solution and save those slaves, Zero would probably kill this man and absorb him into the void. “I don’t think you know how to do business well, Duke Connie. A man like yourself rumoured to be one of the best businessmen within Green Hawks is only so-so in reality. I guess I’ve overestimated you. Sorry for taking up your time, it looks like we have nothing further to discuss if you are only concerned about chasing minor profits. Half Moon Village will look for a better sponsor.”

Truen stood up and Zero followed his lead to walk out when the Duke let his mask fall.

“Wait! Please stay for a little longer. I apologise for being hasty earlier. It was my mistake for failing to look at the bigger picture. Indeed, if Half Moon Village is willing to partner with us, we could find a different method or even make some adjustments to the law.”

At this, Truen pretended to be sceptical and Zero wondered if he should still walk out.

“You? Adjust the law? A mere duke?”

Duke Connie didn’t take offence. Instead, he laughed heartily and openly. “Please sit down,” he grinned. “I might only be a duke but you don’t have to worry. My word is as good as law. All I need to do is to convince my half brother who sits on the throne and everything can be possible. You might not know it because you don’t stay in Smargdas very very long but I’m the King’s proxy and hold the royal stamp for internal matters. It’s a pity I don’t have the royal seal for military matters because that is in the hands of Duke Zurich who is the King’s right-hand man and advisor but it will not concern the passing of the new slave laws.”

Truen walked back and gestured for Zero to sit again. Zero gave the duke a side glance before sitting back down with Truen following after him. This time, the doctor crossed his legs in an imposing manner and slouched to one side, resting his head on a hand looking very bored unlike earlier. Truen praised Zero for the good acting and observed how Duke Connie was tenser than before.

“I see. If that’s the case then perhaps we can discuss this again. I’ll be straightforward. Change the laws. Those unregistered slaves will have a second buyer. All the guild has to do is take the deed back and process them like any other slaves and put them in a new category of unskilled if they don’t fit any of the existing criteria. By the end of three months if nobody buys them, sell them to my contact. We will take them all in.”

Duke Connie raised his brow. “All? Including the disabled and sickly?”

Truen smirked. “What we want aren’t skills. We just want the numbers, hence the unskilled category if you get my drift. Who do you think we are? It’s expensive to feed monsters. Of course, I want to fix the price for the unwanted slaves because we’re not fools here to be paying for overpriced used goods. At best, we will pay the same amount you invested in them so that you can break even plus ten percent for administration. Make no mistake, this is not a request nor a negotiation.”

Duke Connie couldn’t reply and Truen downed his tea in one go before he stood up. “My contact will find you for your response with a copy of the terms. Don’t worry, you will benefit from it handsomely if you cooperate with us without making things difficult. Half Moon Trading is looking for a distributor for some of their goods.”

After dropping that alarming announcement, Truen and Zero left. Duke Connie remained frozen on his chair for a few minutes to understand what Truen was hinting at. A distributorship agreement in return for slave management? Who would reject such a brilliant opportunity?!

“Jackpot! We caught the big fish! HAHAHA I’m RICH!”

Truen and Zero quickly made their way downstairs, led by a senior staff while Duke Connie continued to laugh upstairs.

“May I know where the reception is? I have a search request for a slave.” Zero asked and the guild staff guided them to a special room where they waited to be served for official business now that the meeting was over.

Zero quickly put up a soundproof barrier when the door closed and turned to Truen. “You have no idea how much I wanted to rip his face off to feed Kerberos. Also, why did you tell him to sell the slaves to us? We could have simply demanded that they changed the law to set unregistered slaves free or something…”

Truen shook his head. Zero was still too inexperienced and naive. “If I did that, they would have suffered more and end up like the beggars on the streets. At least in our care after the transfer of the deed, we can offer them treatment, education, jobs, food and lodging at the Humanitarian Guild to slowly earn their freedom and slave deed back. I asked for a fixed price and low cost for that very reason so that these slaves can choose to stay with us or leave when they are in better condition. If they do not wish to live in Smargdas, we could offer them refuge in New Moon Village or something. Of course, Duke Connie doesn’t have to know this. It’s better to let them think that the slaves were eaten by the monsters at Endow Hill to also deter others from trying to invade our territory.”

Now that Truen mentioned it, things made more sense. “Understood. You did very well!” he said and patted Truen on the head with a bright smile.

Truen wanted to retort but there was a knock on the door so they quickly composed themselves and cancelled the spell. There was still some unfinished business and Zero did his best to stop the corners of his lips from turning upwards.