System's POV-Chapter 100.1: A Fateful Encounter [Part 1]
"You are not allowed to commit suicide, or anything that will directly, or indirectly, end your life."
"You will forever be loyal to me, and obey my every word as if it was the reason for your existence."
"You will not hurt or harm me, or any of my allies, in any way, whether it be directly or indirectly."
"You will always do things to further my interest, and will not do anything that might harm my interest."
This was the first batch of orders that Thirteen had given his slave, and the Slave Master made sure to take down notes after hearing the orders from the seven-year-old.
"Amazing! All of these orders summed up the things that a good slave must do for his Master," the Slave Master looked at Thirteen with a satisfied look on his face. "Would you like to join the Slave Industry? I can make you my right-hand man if you're interested."
"I'll think about it," Thirteen replied, still keeping his foot pressed on the back of the Tigerkin's head, while continuing to grind his servant's face to the ground.
He then glanced at the chubby boy, who was looking at the Tigerkin with pity.
"Cristopher, aren't you going to train slaves as well?" Thirteen asked. "You better not waste Master Jubei's generosity."
"R-Right! I almost forgot!" Cristopher finally remembered that he was also allowed to purchase slaves, so he hurriedly went to the Tigerkin Cages to purchase the most beautiful Tigerkins that were for sale.
Rianna also decided to purchase some slaves.
However, instead of Beastkins and Monsters, she decided to purchase the Human Slaves, using all of the money that was given to her to free them.
Thirteen looked at Rianna with a calm expression on his face.
He already knew that the young lady wanted to free the children that were being sold as slaves, so he purposely gave her exactly 1,000 silver coins to purchase them all.
Each human child only cost 30 Silver coins, so she was able to buy all thirty-three of them, with a few silver coins to spare.
Thirteen didn't treat Rianna as his direct subordinate like Cristopher.
He knew that the girl was only accompanying him because she believed that she had a higher chance of completing her mission by being with him.
Thirteen understood that, so he allowed her to do what she wanted to do.
But, since she was under his wing, he decided to teach her a lesson and that lesson was "taking responsibility".
Since she had chosen to purchase all the human children, she would need to be responsible for them.
He could tell that Rianna had the makings of a Leader, and if possible, he wanted to let her remain a compassionate person as she grew up.
However, he also understood that this was impossible.
The moment she entered society, she would understand just how corrupt the world was.
Thirteen could tell that she was brought up in a loving family because, unlike the children of the Monarch Clans and the Prestigious Families, Rianna's gaze was pure.
She wasn't exactly innocent, but she still believed that hard work, and good deeds would be rewarded.
This was why he wanted to teach her a lesson about responsibility, while she was still young.
By doing so, her pure heart would be protected for a few more years before reality gave her a good slap on the face.
The Slave Master didn't even bother to assist Cristopher and Rianna with their purchase, allowing his servants to assist them instead.
He couldn't explain it, but for some reason, he felt attracted to Thirteen.
Although the boy was simply standing and stepping on the Tigerkin's head, he couldn't help but feel that the boy was overflowing with charisma.
Because of this, he decided to walk towards him and whisper something in his ear.
"Kid, do you want to take a look at my special slave collection?" the Slave Master asked. "Originally, I was planning to sell them off to the auction, but I'll give you special treatment and allow you to purchase one of them for a fair price. So, how about it?"
Thirteen's impression of the Slave Master went up by a notch.
He had been to many worlds where slavery was rampant, so he didn't think of the Slave Traders as bad guys.
In fact, one of his Hosts was also a Slave Trader, who sold slaves to people, whom he believed would take good care of them.
There were always two sides of a coin.
Depending on how one looked at it, there were many stories where slaves actually had a happy ending, and found joy despite the circumstances they were in.
He was once a System.
In a world where morality was only a thin line away from depravity, he knew more than anyone else, that not all bad guys were bad, and not all good guys were good.
"Sure, I'll take you up on your offer, Mister…" Thirteen looked at the Slave Master in askance.
"Norris," Norris said. "You can just call me Sir Norris."
"In that case, just call me Zion. It is a pleasure doing business with you, Sir Norris."
"Good. Come this way, Zion"
The Slave Master led Thirteen inside his compound where he stored some of the most unique, slaves, and creatures that he had caught during his journey across the Houdini Desert, and the Sumatran Kingdom.
"Remember, you can only choose one, Zion," Norris said. "So choose wisely."
The boy nodded and began to check the cages one by one.
There, he saw many exotic beasts of different shapes and sizes. There were even Rank 5 Monsters for sale, which made the seven-year-old arch an eyebrow.
'Cristopher will definitely drool after he sees this,' Thirteen thought as he looked at an Empyrean Baby Boar, whom he believed was only a few months old.
However, even though it was young, it was already a Rank 5 Monster.
Empyrean Boars were Jinns. They were stronger than most creatures, and an adult Boar was a Rank 7 monster.
These monsters could grow up to five-meters, and their tusks were very good material for crafting weapons.
In fact, the Mythical Weapons that Arthur, and Lady Callista currently possessed were crafted from the tusks of Empyrean Boars.
After looking at the little boar, Thirteen shifted his gaze to the other monsters that were for sale.
He even saw some Nymphs, and a Dryad among them, which would make Cristopher ditch his Tigerkin Girls in order to buy them in a heartbeat.
The boy only finished looking at half of Norris' collection when he felt a strong attraction pulling him towards a cage.
He didn't know why, but something was compelling him to go to the farthest end of the room, and ignore the rest of the amazing creatures that were up for sale.
This was the first time that Thirteen experienced something like this, so he followed his gut instinct.
Inside a glass case, and resting on a branch, was a black snake that was only half a meter long.
Sensing that someone was looking at it, the snake raised its head.
It flicked its tongue in the boy's direction as if trying to discern why this Human was looking at it.
Thirteen then placed his hand over his chest because he felt something warm spreading inside his body.
He didn't understand what this feeling was, but if he had to put a description on it, it would be similar to finding a long lost friend that he hadn't seen for a long time.
If the boy only opened his Status Page to check why he was feeling this way, he would have noticed that one of his Unique Abilities, Destiny Bond, was blinking in gold colors.
The Unique Ability kept on blinking for a few more seconds before it returned to its original state.
Norris, who had noticed the sudden change in the boy's expression, smiled.
He saw everything from start to finish, and couldn't help but remember the words that the Shaman of their Clan had told him, when she entrusted him with the Black Snake, that was now part of his collection.
"Whoever this Black Snake recognizes as its owner is a friend of our Clan," the Shaman said. "Form connections with that person because one day, it might be our turn to ask for their help."
Norris walked towards the seven-year-old, who couldn't keep his eyes off the glass cage where the Black Snake was resting.
'Elder, I think I found the person you were talking about back then,' Norris mused. 'Don't worry. I will keep your words in my heart, and ensure that he becomes a friend of ours.'
