During Twilight Auction, Angor saw an otherworldly slave called a “Crystal Folk” being offered. He still remembered how Twilight introduced it:
“A Crystal Folk is from Grand Plane, a born craftsman. They do wonderful jobs when constructing buildings, either above or under the surface.”
They usually looked like dwarves but with crystal-like scales growing on their skin. Of course, they were still a lot bigger than Krakoks.
Angor chose to ask for a Crystal Folk because he could either keep one with him or send them back to his family. Unlike maids and women, a craftsman like that wouldn’t cause any moral problems.
“Crystal Folks from Grand Plane...” Pierre considered and shook his head. “I’m sorry, I do not have such costly slaves here.”
Costly? Angor grew doubtful as he remembered that the one that was sold at Twilight Auction only valued at 1,500 crystals.
Truth was, Angor had the wrong impression regarding the prices of slaves because he only saw slave-trading once during Twilight Auction; an auction that only offered the best of the best to their customers.
Angor wondered if he should buy the maid instead and set her free as soon as he learned what he wanted.
“Speaking of Grand Plane,” Pierre spoke up again, “I have a Fibber with me, who also came from there. Fibbers are skilled crafters as well. But instead of processing mineral like Crystal Folks, Fibbers are good at handling fabrics and beast hides. If you put some effort into him... He can work with tiered materials as well. Oh, they can build houses too, if you ask them to. But that will just be standard houses without special traits.”
Fibber? Angor never heard of such a race before. Still... Since Fibbers originated from Grand Plane, they should also be targets that were repelled by the world’s consciousness.
Speaking of fabrics... Angor happened to plan to work on making alchemy clothing recently. He believed this “Fibber” would work well with his plan.
Of course, he wasn’t going to show his ideas to Pierre. He still feigned an indifferent look as he put up a hesitant attitude. “I’m not sure a Fibber is what I’m looking for, Mister Pierre. Can I look at him first?”
Pierre, on the other hand, was anxious about how his guest seemed to be only interested in Crystal Folks. Even though he did not know how to approach that strange-tempered Fibber properly, he figured he might as well let Angor meet with him first.
Each of Pierre’s slaves had his or her own temperaments and needs that he had to take care of. The Fibber set up some really strict personal rules for potential buyers. Pierre wasn’t sure that the young man in front of him could accept all those conditions.
Well, got to let them see each other first.
While using the smile of a professional salesman, Pierre silently prayed that nothing would go wrong too soon.
“Follow me, please. The Fibber lives on floor B3.”
Underground? “Live”? Again, Angor noticed that Pierre wasn’t treating his “goods” as slaves.
Also, while following behind the fat shopkeeper, he saw many people whispering to each other while giving him curious glances.
Since he was the “first guest of this month”, he assumed that the other people were either slaves on sale or other individuals who sought to sell their manpower.
But why do they look as if we’re going to meet with some kind of monster? Is the Fibber dangerous?
They arrived at a large bronze door, which was almost three times bigger than the shop’s front as well as prettier.
Compared to these, Angor was more interested in the strange design of the gate. There were many paints of different colors blended together, such as bean green mixed with wine red. The door was too bright to look at, if not bothering to the eyes. Surely nobody in their sane mind would admire such a chaotic coloring style.
“This is the Fibber’s room.” Pierre gestured at the door.
“Are Fibbers perhaps, bigger than us?” Angor was very curious when he saw the extra-large room door.
“No, sir. All humanoids from Grand Plane are of moderate sizes, including Fibbers, who are usually similar to Crystal Folks. As for this door...” Pierre’s expression slowly turned into that of embarrassment. “He... designed it himself. ‘Inviting’, as he said.”
While introducing the door to Angor, Pierre’s voice slowly became smaller as if he didn’t wish the room’s residence to hear him.
“Did he?” Angor raised an eyebrow. “Such... ingenuity.”
Pierre let out a silly laugh and knocked on the door, hoping to avoid Angor’s further questions.
One full minute later, someone who appeared pretty pissed off yelled from inside the room, “Who the f*ck is it? I’m sleeping here!”
“It’s just me, Nano. You have a visitor!” Pierre yelled back at the door.
“Visitor?!”
Angor heard the sound of someone dressing up.
“Heh heh, sorry for that,” Pierre explained. “Nano is a bit... fickle, when someone wakes him up. He’s pretty nice otherwise.”
Angor saw Pierre blushing when saying “nice”, but he chose not to mind Nano’s personality too much. “So, he can speak the universal tongue?”
Pierre nodded and before he could answer, the bronze door was pushed open.
“I’ve been in this goddamn sh*thole for five years. Of course I learned your language. You take me as a fool or something, eh?”
Angor narrowed his eyes as he looked at the speaker. This figure looked pretty small by human standards. He barely reached Angor’s knees, hat included. Such body height was five or six Krakok standing on top of each other.
The Fibber was wearing a miniature tail suit sided with a wide-brimmed hat. The clothes were fine if one did not mind the abnormal color combinations—a bright red suit and a bright green hat that looked extremely off when used together.
Nano appeared as a male. Upon closer look, Angor noticed that the Fibber’s skin was glossy and lustrous like fine silk.
Nano’s goatee was maintained into the shape of an anchor, which was usually favored by traditional noble gentlemen.
Meanwhile, the Fibber was also inspecting Angor carefully. “You are the visitor? At least show me that face of yours, will you?”
Without waiting for an answer, he turned to speak to Pierre, “Must be another of those shady vagabonds. He’ll just take me on the run all day. I’m not going with him.”
Angor frowned. How did this guy come up with such a conjecture just because of my hood?
Pierre put on more apologetic smiles since he didn’t want to lose a precious customer.
They decided to talk inside Nano’s room next.
The room looked fine, if not luxurious. Glazed glasses with decorative carvings on them, soft curtains that blew like river streams in the air, wooden furniture with delicate details all over them... This place looked as bright and as comfortable as Angor’s “castle hall” in his Nightmare Domain.
Again, this was if he did not consider the disturbing colors. He thought the door was already the upper limit for offbeat designs, but he almost felt dizzy looking at all the colors in the room. It looked as if different kids who had just learned how to paint decided to work on a collective project.
Nano seemed pretty proud when he saw Angor looking around his room. “Nice place, right? I created everything by myself, by the way. My effort paid off!”
“They... must have taken a lot of your time.” Angor chose to use a neutral comment, which was accurate enough.
“Of course.” Nano looked up and puffed up his chest. “I’m the most talented prince among my people after all!”
“Prince?”
“It seems Nano is the prince of his clan,” Pierre explained.
Angor failed to understand why a prince ended up as a slave in the wizarding world. Also, the Fibber mentioned that he had been staying here for five years...
Has he always live in this room? Angor pondered. That’s not very slave-like.
While Nano kept boasting about his fine works, Pierre saw Angor’s doubtful look and sent a voice transmission, “As you see, sir, I don’t really treat them like slaves. They’re... Let’s say, my friends. Family, even. Certainly, I don’t wish to lock my friends in cages and shackles and get bought by people who will only treat them in worse ways. If you wish to take anyone from here, sir, please understand that you have to agree to certain conditions, and as long as you keep it that way, you will find them to be the most loyal servants you can ever find.”
Angor now understood why Pierre’s shop looked so neglected. People said that Pierre tended to have some bothersome rules for anyone who wished to buy slaves from him, and Angor just realized what that meant.
Wizards usually considered otherworldly creatures as expendable laborers or research materials that could be disposed of at free will. With all these rules, Pierre wouldn’t get many customers in his shop.