Volume 3 Chapter 12 The Side Story of the Village Butcher – Part III
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
When Chaa was still a little boy, a traveling knight who stopped by the village once caught some bandits.
I don’t know much about the details, but I clearly remember the big sale of the loot that happened in front of the guild hall.
Sitting on a bench, the knight watched as the captured bandits’ stuff was auctioned off one by one.
The things weren’t anything special, but they sold for absurdly cheap prices, again and again.
Every time stuff sold for cheap, the villagers──who usually barely spent any money──started getting more and more excited.
The strange, exciting feeling sucked the villagers in like magic.
At first, folks just watched, but then they scrambled to gather every penny they had to join the auction.
Some brought shiny stones or weird metal scraps they didn’t even understand, but the traveling knight just smiled and nodded.
The villagers’ hype kept building; the auction turned into a wild festival.
At the festival’s peak, the bandit himself, his wife, and daughter were auctioned off as slaves.
No longer just small change──rich villagers even brought out gold coins, raising the excitement sky-high.
Even village kids knew that slaves cost dozens of gold coins, at least.
Sure, people could get enslaved for doing bad things, but nobody ever thought about owning slaves themselves.
Not until that day.
But the bandit’s daughter was bought for only one gold coin.
Little Chaa stomped his feet in frustration, wishing he had a gold coin of his own.
She wasn’t what you’d call pretty──big wild eyes, not cute at all──but somehow her image burned deep into Chaa’s heart.
A slave who obeys without question.
That idea had a huge effect on the young stirrings of Chaa’s desires.
In his imagination, he was the girl’s master, and he did terrible things to the girl who fawned over him again and again.
Now that he’s grown up, Chaa understands what happened that day.
The loot auction was a leftover from the old times when humans fought wars.
Looting was the winner’s right, but when battles were far away, bringing back spoils was hard.
Still, some bold merchants, ignoring danger, went all the way to the frontlines to buy the spoils.
Of course, it’s a buyer’s market.
Better to get a little cash for it than just throw it away, so the battlefield loot was sold off for peanuts.
On a battlefield where supplies are scarce, the value of things can get pretty screwy.
The merchant guild had no choice but to turn a blind eye to the selling that went on there.
Whether it’s true or not, the story of a beautiful slave girl being sold for just one onion at the battlefield in Chunik during the Basket Fortress War is famous.
* * *
Suddenly, a rumor spread through the village that the Hero of Quail had taken down a rotten noble.
The kids in the village were excited by the tales of the hero, but the adults were all skeptical, half-believing.
It was hard to believe that the guy who always seemed so meek and mild could be stronger than a nobleman.
”The best he can do is hunt quail.”
When Chaa heard the rumor, he laughed it off, but somehow it didn’t sit right with him.
Lately, there’s been a guy who’s been talking a lot of smack about that weak, young punk.
First, it was the kids, then the women of the village.
As far as Chaa’s concerned, that little punk is just a pawn, and it bugs him that the guy’s getting more attention than he is.
”I better teach that punk his place before he gets too big for his britches.”
But the roughnecks in the village didn’t agree with Chaa’s words.
There have been plenty of people who’ve tried to mess with the Hero before, but they all ended up like reeds in the wind, disappearing without a trace after that.
Even when they try to follow him on a quail hunt, he vanishes like smoke.
That Hero has a spooky, ghost-like aura that’s hard to pin down.
After calling his underlings cowards for getting scared, Chaa realized he doesn’t have any cards to threaten that Hero with.
He could try to muscle in on the quail meat business, but if he can’t get the meat, he’s the one who’s screwed.
He could try to freeze the guy out, but somehow he’s already buddy-buddy with everyone in the village.
Threatening with brute strength won’t work, since the roughnecks are already on edge.
Chaa’s no dummy; he won’t make a move without a plan.
You can bully the weak ones, the ones who won’t fight back.
Mess with them, and they get scared, and do whatever you want.
That Hero is a wimp, but he won’t just cry about it.
If you mess with him, he’ll snitch right away, and if he cries to the village head, it’ll be a pain for Chaa.
He needs to find something to use against him.
He must have some secrets he doesn’t want anyone to know.
After the gossip went around the village, the village head confirmed it was true.
Then, the villagers wanted to know if there would be a sale of the spoils.
If they sell them in the royal capital, they’ll get a lot of money, but they need people and a wagon.
If there’s a sale in the village, maybe they can buy something too.
”He just got some strong guys, the Hero kid didn’t even fight.”
Chaa was even more annoyed, but he was glad he didn’t mess with the Hero this time.
Any other guy would’ve been fooled by his weak look and gotten beaten up by his underlings.
But look at him, he’s like a cunning wolf in a legendary forest, a big, smart wolf that won’t get caught in any hunter’s trap.
”That guy is just a kid, showing off because he has strong friends.”
The underlings started to suck up to Chaa and trash-talk the quail Hero.
”He’s selling off the female slaves he got, a virgin who doesn’t know women.”
The female slaves are being sold.
When Chaa heard that, he remembered being excited when he was little.
”If they’re selling them, they must be ugly old ladies, right?”
”I thought so too, so I went to see them, and they’re both as good as Flare. It’s a waste, I would’ve taken care of them.”
One of Chaa’s underlings kept moaning, saying he would have been in the auction if he had more money.
When he realized it, Chaa was running to the guild hall.
Some of the warehouses behind the guild hall are made to be used as jail cells.
The curious villagers were peeking into the jail cells.
Chaa came closer, and the villagers didn’t want to deal with him, so they ran away.
Chaa looked into the warehouse, breathing hard, and saw 2 Goddesses.
The big woman had a pretty face with eyes that looked like slits, but she didn’t show any feelings.
Chaa thought, ‘She’s the nobleman’s mistress, she’s different from other women.’
She had shiny black hair cut at her shoulders.
She looked to be around 30.
Maybe a little younger than Chaa.
The woman’s body was full and perfect, just what Chaa liked.
Chaa thought Nora, who played with his pure feelings, was trash compared to this woman.
His buddy said she was like Flare, but Flare was stuck-up, and didn’t have this woman’s sexiness.
This woman’s whole body was like a ripe fruit, so sexy.
Flare was just sour grapes.
Chaa felt luck, and his knees shook.
It made sense that things didn’t work out with Flare or Nora.
He was born to meet this woman.
The other young woman grabbed Chaa’s heart in a different way.
Chaa thought, ‘This is what perfect beauty means.’
She looked like she was in her late teens, and acted like a brat.
She looked a bit like Anita.
Her long, brown hair was slightly wavy.
In the dim light, she reminded him of red-haired Anita.
Her body was a little too skinny for Chaa’s taste, but that made him want to be mean to her.
He wanted to make this perfect beauty’s face twist with humiliation.
After all, she was a slave who committed crimes.
She should have been hanged, but she was still alive.
Giving this woman pain was how she would pay for her sins.
He could satisfy his twisted sense of justice and his desire to hurt people at the same time.
Chaa couldn’t stop his heart from beating fast, and he let out a hot sigh like a girl in love.
Two women, better than anything for Chaa, appeared at the same time.
He felt guided by luck.
Chaa *really* wants those 2 girls, so he checks how much money he has.
Good, he has lots of money from quail, trying to get Nora.
He has 37 gold coins, and 100,000 gold in the guild bank.
If he gets all his silver and small change, he’ll have tens of thousands more gold.
If he wants to buy beautiful girl slaves, he needs at least 100 gold coins, but if it’s a fire sale, it’ll be even cheaper.
If he thinks the selling price is ten times the buying price, he can guess the buying price is about ten gold coins for one.
The best girl slaves can cost any amount, but probably won’t be over 3 common gold coins.
And it’s a fire sale price, so he can get at least one.
If he has to choose one, he’ll pick the big girl, because the slave traders will pay more for the young one.
Chaa’s guess wasn’t too wrong.
The day the slave trader came to the village, Chaa went to the guild hall with all his money.
* * *
”I’ll sell them for 3 common gold coins each.”
Inside the guild hall’s meeting room, there are 11 slaves, looking clean, village head Laken, quail Hero, Hero’s doll princess, and the slave trader from the royal capital and his helper.
Some of the slaves are hurt, but the slave trader doesn’t care about small stuff like that, and just keeps talking business.
The quail Hero doesn’t seem to care about any of this, so it seems like the deal will be done soon.
”Then I’ll buy the two girls for 3 gold coins and one gold!”
Suddenly, Chaa bursts in, looking like he ran here.
”What is this guy?”
The slave trader’s helper yells.
”Oh, that’s Chaa, the butcher in this village,”
Village head Laken says without being surprised.
”What right does a butcher have to butt into a slave deal?”
The slave trader’s helper is already ready to fight.
The slave trader thinks less of his helper.
If he loses his cool over this, he can’t be trusted with big deals.
”Rights? This is just a war spoils auction, right? Or are you planning to open a shop in this village too?”
The spoils auction is an exception by the Merchant Guild where anyone can join.
For a slave trader, it’s a chance to buy slaves on the cheap, but if a rival shows up, of course, it turns into a bidding war.
If this were a regular guild-approved transaction, a butcher wouldn’t be allowed to buy slaves, but to make this a regular deal, you need a business permit in this village.
And on top of that, you’d have to pay the standard purchase price.
Chaa is grinning mischievously, playing the part of a perfect little scoundrel.
The slave trader thought, “Here comes a pain in the ass.”
A butcher is a member of the Merchant Guild, and you could easily mislead a naive villager, but you can’t pull much with this guy.
”I’m like family to this Hero, so I’m joining the auction. It’s cool, right, Mr. Village Head?”
The slave trader watches Laken’s expression.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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