One Year
After fiercely negotiating the price, Leylin finally cut the price down to eighteen thousand magic crystals and bought the slaves.
Furthermore, right in front of Lucia within the shop, Leylin used his own spirit brand and branded the six slaves’ minds.
That meant from thereon, the fates of these slaves were all grasped within Leylin’s palm.
Also, the nature of the soul brand was such that they had to be completely obedient to Leylin. Even if they were asked to kill themselves, they had to do so without a moment’s thought!
One could go so far as to say that if Leylin felt a sudden urge, these slaves’ brains could simply explode like a watermelon.
“Haha… I’ll stop bothering you and be on my way then!”
Once they were on the street of their villas, Crew silently judged the two gorgeous female Knights behind Leylin with a mischievous twinkling in his eyes as they returned to their respective homes.
“That old geezer!” Leylin was speechless as he shook his head, before bringing the six slaves into his villa.
“This is my villa. You’ll be staying here from hereon, and you can choose your rooms in the back. Nobody is allowed into my bedroom and the basement! Understood?”
Leylin turned and swept his eyes over his six newly-bought slaves as he ordered.
“Understood, master!” The six of them split up and left.
“Damien, you stay behind!” Leylin stopped the level 3 acolyte.
“Master, do you have any more orders for me?” Damien questioned respectfully.
“From today onwards, you are the butler of this villa and will be in charge of managing this place when I’m not around. Also, regarding the villa’s defense spell formation, I’ll give you the authority to modify it. Your task is to tidy up the entire villa, and stock up on items needed for everyday use…”
Leylin began to give a series of instructions.
In a trading centre such as Nightless City where the Magi were in charge, there were many things that only a Magi could do. A typical Knight or Grand Knight didn’t have a sea of consciousness, so how could they even control their spiritual force, chant incantations and the like?
In order to maintain the operation of his villa even after Leylin left, an acolyte-level butler was indispensable.
“Also, tell me how you became a slave.” Leylin was slightly curious.
At the mention of this, Damien’s expression darkened and he trembled, a look of suffering appearing on his face.
It was clear that his past was an extremely painful experience for him.
However, due to the control of the soul brand, he still had to adhere to Leylin’s command. “I was from the Steel Fort and was born in a regular little town. I was fortunate enough to be tested to have an affinity for magic and was accepted by my mentor into the Moonlight Shadow. Master may not have heard of it, as it is but a small Magi organisation. Even though I had to allow my mentor to experiment on my body, I was still lucky enough to survive and even became a level three acolyte…”
Until this point, Damien’s expression was still normal, but a traumatised look emerged on his face.
“Right after that was… the war! That darned war! As the powers lording over our district, the Wetland Gardens Academy began to support the expansion of other small organisations just because our leader was against them. Moonlight Shadow was conveniently used in the war, and my mentor, as well as many other seniors, died in battle. I was held captive and eventually became a slave…”
Leylin nodded in agreement. In the unwritten rules of the Magus World, Magi were typically not allowed to hold acolytes captive and use them as slaves, or else there would be no order in society.
But there was one situation where the Magi was evidently not protected by any laws or agreements — it was when they were the prisoners of war!
The prisoners of war and sub-human acolytes from established academies were the chief sources of magician slaves!
Leylin watched Damien, who was somewhat indignant and sorrowful, and suddenly felt a surge of fear.
At the beginning, if not for Abyssal Bone Forest Academy warding off the attack from the enemies, he wouldn’t be able to escape at all and his fate might have been to be killed by an official Magus or captured as a prisoner, and later be sold off as a slave.
“That’s why I’m so desperate for power! Only by possessing strength can I take control of my future!”
Leylin waved Damien away with a gesture of his hand.
“Familiarise yourself with the surroundings first. I want to go out and will only be back in the evening.”
……
The villa that Leylin was renting was extremely spacious, and there were rooms specifically meant for the servants to live in. Having six slaves moving in wasn’t crowded at all, and on the contrary, added a bit of life into the villa.