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Chapter 310
Sighing, Faeyna pulled back her hood, revealing two elongated ears coming out from her perfect blonde hair. The crowd suddenly exploded into shouts and screams far greater than with any of the previous women. There was a great deal of shock and disbelief over an elf slave. Many shot extremely envious looks towards me, although many of those then realized that this same slave could end up in the pocket of Lord Tibult.
I may become a lord if I won, but the general sentiment seemed to be that Lord Tibult would win the competition. He was a noble, after all, and an existence that had been over the Commoner class. While many cheered for me as a commoner with the chance to become a noble, the true underdog story, there were just as many who without knowing my story, believed I was just a rich servant using my money to buy my way into the nobility. In this case, Lord Tibult was the hero, keeping some rich guy with a big head who exploited the commoner folk to make a profit in my place.
At least, from the jeers and screams, those were the two crowds I was able to make out. However, I was more worried about having all of my secrets revealed. The identities of five unique slave women were revealed to the world. I felt like everything had been bared. Would there be any consequences from this? I was really worried about what the Priest had seen.
I had actually unequipped everything but White Mage afraid he’d see three equipped jobs, but what about jobs like Dark Priest? The Priest hadn’t even blinked when he looked at my job list. That meant he either didn’t see it or my job list wasn’t even the strangest he’s seen. I wasn’t sure which was a better option. The Prince seemed to notice the worried expression on my face as Faeyna walked back to me. He gestured to the Priest who seemed to know what he was saying, as the man turned to me and spoke soft enough that most of the crowd wouldn’t hear.
“You need not worry about the identity of slaves getting out. Even though they are rare, the slave guild is strong in this country. No one would dare steal a slave since the owner can always track it. The Slavers Guild will also react if slaves are taken from owners. There are various precautions that exist to protect both the owner and his slaves. You may speak more with them if you are worried.”
That wasn’t exactly everything that worried me. The Priest seemed to catch that with the expression on my face. He let out a sigh.
“Although I am under the Prince’s employ, I am still under the edicts of the Church. I limit the amount I Identify. The information I declare is all that I saw. Except in the cases of slaves, upon request, or with accused, it’s considered rude to read a person’s entire status.”
I nodded and he finally turned away. He had eased some of my worries, but it was possible that he was lying. Unfortunately, what was done was done, and I just had to accept it.
“Alright!” The Prince shouted as the Priest returned to the stage, “Now, now for Lord Tibult, the challenger!”
Chapter 311
“Otto Tibult, Noble, Intermediate Magician, Level 32!”
Intermediate Magician was the second tier of the non-elemental magic pathway. If he made it to the third, he’d gain a color like me. Black Mage was the most common sense they were capable of attacking with fire, earth, air, and water. These were the first things you got as a basic magician. However, there were various other types of mages, such as me, who was a White Mage, and the one who ran the teleport in the Capitol city, show should be a blue mage.
After not much fanfare, Lord Tibult sniffed and returned to his seat. His slaves had actually been hidden out of my view, so as the first one walked up on stage, it was the first time seeing them. It was a hooded person whose features I was unable to make out. However, it appeared to be a girl, which surprised me a bit. Wouldn’t Lord Tibult surround himself with muscular men?
“Salicia, Slave, Bandit King, Level 62!” The priest announced.
When I heard the name Salicia, I made a surprised noise, but when the words Bandit King appeared, naturally I took a step forward and looked up in shock. The girl threw back her hood, revealing a woman with long blond hair. However, at some point, she appeared to have lost her eye, as she was wearing an eyepatch now. She shot me a defiant look.
“Salicia! You were captured?” I said in surprise.
I started to understand why she called herself a Bandit King. Bandit King was the name of the job. It was unavoidable. This world didn’t account for a female bandit king. Well, even if you’re a female, you were still a fireman… even though there was a pushback to call them firepeople or something. This was a similar situation. What worried me was that the Bandit King was the third tier. I had seen how powerful she was. She was much stronger than I thought Tibult would have. Suddenly, I was starting to sweat.
“Hmph!” Salicia threw back her hair. “My sister made sure of that. No sooner had I left that cave then I was surrounded by Church guards. The cardinal was furious when my unconscious sister suddenly turned into a fairy and flew away! I must say, the prank you pulled was quite amusing! In the end, it cost sister dearly, though, right, Sister?”
She was calling back to another one of Lord Tibult’s slaves, who stepped forward out onto the platform. This time the Priest looked at the woman with disgust, like he didn’t even want to touch her. In fact, he recited her information without even touching her forehead, as if he was already aware of it.
“Carmine, Slave, a former Paladin, level 70!”
Carmine threw back her hood, and I was even more shocked.
“How did you become a slave?” I demanded.
“That dragon, naturally, how could I not take responsibility for its destruction? I had even been successful with my mission, but then fled to the caves.”
“The dragon’s soul took over your body! You couldn’t help it!” I declared.
She shook her head, closing her eyes painfully. “It was my fault. I was far to conceited to think the Church would forgive my actions so simply. But don’t feel pity for me! I may be a slave, but I will fight for my master!”
“Isn’t sister so cool when she says that!” Salicia declared proudly, not even seeming to care she was a slave as she looked down on me arrogantly. “Since Master purchased us together, naturally I will fight for him.”
She tried to put her arms around Carmine, who immediately elbowed her in the stomach. “Don’t touch me, you disgust me.”
“Eee… Sister is so cruel…” She cried as the two left the stage.
Their levels had all been many times the levels of my own slaves. Except maybe for Celeste, they absolutely suppressed us! I really hoped the rest of the slaves were weaker than these two!
“I saved my strongest slave for last!” Lord Tibult suddenly shouted as if he read my mind.
Dang it!
Chapter 312
Of course, jobs didn’t really denote strength, but even a commoner could see that the numbers on Lord Tibult’s side were larger than my own. I had both women in the past, and they both had put up a fight that took an entire party to counter. Either one had the fierceness of five, and they were both on the other side! Yet, despite their levels and strength, they weren’t even Lord Tibult’s trump card.
“Only three?” I responded nervously.
“Three is all I need!” he sneered.
The crowds were quiet, and anyone who had been cheering me on before was starting to feel sorry for me. Things were looking more and more one-sided with each new introduction. As for Lord Tibult, his arrogant smile only grew as the last person walked onto the stage. Like the others, she wore a hood that hid her expression.
“Another girl?” I said in surprise.
“What of it?” Lord Tibult frowned.
“Ah… I just expected you have a lot of males.”
“What are you implying!” His face furrowed angrily.
“Ah, nothing!”
“Hmph…” He crossed his arms. “Like I would ever risk a male slave on a bet. These women are disposable!”
There was some anger in the crowds, and I could only put on a wry smile. That was actually exactly what I would have expected from Lord Tibult. He bought three of the strongest slaves in the city to throw at me to win this bet of his. It didn’t feel fair at all, and some people were saying I was trying to win with my money! The Princess, in particular, was shooting Lord Tibult a deathly stare, but he seemed to be good at ignoring it. After all, she didn’t like the purchase of slaves and calling them disposable definitely would set her off.
With his hand on the girl’s forehead, the Priest spoke loudly and clearly, “Shao, Slave, species unknown, job unknown, level ??!”
“??!” Someone let out a cry.
This one actually brought a great deal of shock to the crowd. Many more were pondering how a species less, jobless creature existed. Well, they weren’t the only ones. She was level ??! Wait, a job and origin unknown? Isn’t this the slave that Figuro was talking about? So, in the end, Lord Tibult was the noble who had purchased her? No wonder Figuro was acting so odd when he heard about the match!
Each subsequent level was harder to reach than the last, but they also gave greater boosts to the status. So, even if someone had level 50 in two jobs, it wasn’t like that made them a level 100. Even I, who could equip the jobs and take advantage of three stat boosts at once couldn’t cross a barrier that large. Every level you made in every job you had boosted your status slightly, but the status gain from a level 1 to a level 2, was negligible compared to a level 80 to a level 81. It was that kind of thing.
What she is, it will probably be a very high level. I would be surprised if she wasn’t at least Lydia’s equivalent. She was probably stronger, since I couldn’t imagine a mysterious job being a 1st tier job. Even if it wasn’t geared toward battle, it was still a terrifying thought. Simply put, not knowing what she could do was terrifying in its own right.
This girl didn’t pull back her hood or reveal herself to the crowd. She only silently nodded and then returned back to her side and sat down. Three women, two of them confirmed third-tier level 70th and one mystery woman at level ??. My confidence that we would win this was shaken to its core.
“Now that everyone has been introduced, it’s time for the first challenge!” The Prince declared excitedly.