After we were through the city gate I said goodbye to Randy and went to manor. While I would tell the ambassador about the situation as soon as possible, I couldn’t be sure he would come and meet Randy to ‘discuss business’ today, so ‘see you shortly’ didn’t seem appropriate. When I got to the manor the guards welcomed me back and let me inside. I quickly made my way to the Ambassador’s room to give him the news. If he wasn’t there then I would ask about him. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was in the room of one of the women of the family instead.
When I got to the room there was, indeed, a woman in his room, but she was only level one, about eight months pregnant, and wearing a simple maid outfit. As she didn’t seem to be the proper type for him to dual cultivate with, being at too low of a level to be a good match for a late level three like him, I assumed she was just here to clean. “I’m back, sir.” I said, and heard a chair scrape against the floor. The ambassador walked out of the side of the room where I couldn’t see but where I knew there was a desk.
“Welcome back.” he said, then looked me over. “Congratulations on your advancement as well.” he said. “I knew you were hoping to break through during this trip, but didn’t think you would do so this quickly. I guess I need to give you a raise.” He smiled at his own joke. A level three guard would earn two hundred stones per month in most jobs, more for combat pay, ten times what a starting level two would earn. If I was an actual hired guard from that world I would indeed start earning a higher wage now that I had advanced and my combat prowess had greatly improved, but as I was getting paid primarily in US dollars which were transferred into my bank account the stones I earned here were just a way to keep up appearances.
“Yes, sir. Your cultivation seems to be going well too.” He nodded and I got to the point. “My trip to the White Tiger Sect was a success.” I said, then pulled the beast bag and book out of my storage bag. “Their sect master, Mike Douglas, surname Douglas, has also gifted you this beast storage bag and a copy of their sect’s manual, as well as a wild beast they caught on the way to the city, about two hours ago, a half blood Oak boar. He brought a strong blood flame quail with him as the gift, but thought that one which had some combat ability would better demonstrate their ability to acquire the beasts we wanted. If you follow me outside I can give you the beast.”
The Ambassador nodded. “Interesting. You should probably hold onto it until I have studied their manual, however. Without understanding how they control their spirit beast companions, I won’t be able to replicate the feat.”
“It’s okay, sir. I learned the technique and can control it until you are ready for me to transfer ownership. I actually spent a few days in a hidden realm where I got extensive practice with the technique.”
“I am also familiar with the technique, if you wish to learn about it from the beast’s perspective.” said the maid while bringing over a pot of hot water for us to make tea with.
“Are you saying that they use the same contract spell on slaves that they do on animals?” the ambassador asked, a bit shocked.
She nodded. “Pretty close. Sometimes the teenagers and young adults will practice using the slave spell on the animals. Of course, they release them when they are done, so it doesn’t clutter up their minds and because they have other ways of controlling the livestock. With humans, though, it is best to keep us under contract so that we can’t harm them and have to obey. After all, a human is much more dangerous than a goat that has broken out, since we can plot and scheme.”
This seemed exactly like how a slave owner would think to me. Humans were much more dangerous than animals when you thought about it. Using such a spell to force humans to comply, however, seemed cruel to me. Couldn’t they just use normal contracts and a proper criminal justice system? “That’s a horrible thing to do to a person.” I said. That’s when I remembered something. “Wait, are you Five’s mom?” I asked, and she nodded. “It’s good to meet you, then. She was doing a good job keeping my room clean from what I could tell. Speaking of that, I thought she was the Ambassador’s maid too. Did they decide to replace her and send her somewhere else?”
The mom looked sad, but didn’t say anything. After a few seconds of silence, the Ambassador spoke up. “They punished her for stealing from you yesterday, and she is in her room recovering.”
“Stealing from me?” I asked, confused. “I didn’t notice any of my things missing. Did I leave something in my room?” That didn’t sound like something she would do, so I assumed it was a misunderstanding.
“It was a talisman you made.” Mrs. Qin said. “She showed it to one of the other servants and got caught. You probably just thought you had miscounted or misplaced it.”
“You mean a lantern talisman that uses no qi from the user to operate?” I asked, and the mother nodded. “That wasn’t stolen.” I said, a bit confused. “I gave it to her. I was thinking about making them as luxury items and selling them to rich people in town. She was testing them for me so that I could see how long they would last during normal usage and make sure there were no errors in their production.”
The mother looked surprised. “You mean she was telling the truth?” she asked and I nodded. “But they are so expensive. Surely no one would just give away something that is worth so much without expecting something in return.”
“It only costs fifteen taels or so to make them, and I did want something in return. I needed someone to test the product so that I knew the rich customers wouldn’t have anything to complain about, and was hoping to test her to see if she’d make a good employee. She might be a bit young to work in a shop now, but five or ten years from now I hope to open up a store here and thought she might be able to run it as well as make the basic talismans for me. If she did a good job I was going to teach her to make talismans and maybe return in a few years to see about buying her contract and making her my apprentice. I just wanted to check with my Dao companion first, as she would have to live with us as essentially our adopted daughter until she was old enough to live alone.”
“Oh.” said the mom, then bowed her head. “I didn’t know that. I thought that surely she had wronged you and that you would want her punished, which is why I didn’t challenge the decision.”
The Ambassador looked at me like he was confused. “Well, I’m not sure how we would exactly handle you taking an apprentice and bringing her back to our homeland, but that isn’t really the point. I was in meetings when everything happened and just assumed that they had done a proper investigation. It now seems that I was wrong.”
“You said she was still recovering?” I asked, and the mother nodded. “Surely the punishment wasn’t that bad.”
The mother looked sad at this comment. “She was caned twenty times, the standard punishment for a first time offending thief in the city when they recover the stolen goods undamaged. I applied an ointment to her back, but I’m not sure it helped much.”
“Let me see her.” I said, and the mother nodded. The ambassador and I were lead to a building in the back of the mansion where the servants lived. I was lead to one of the rooms, where a little girl laid on the bed on her stomach, trying to sleep but failing to do so because every time to got close she would suddenly wince from the pain. There were several thin red lines on the back of her shirt.
“Five?” I asked, walking inside, and she opened her eyes to look at me.
“Oh, Master Li. Thank you for coming to visit me.” She started to sit up, but winced several times from the pain as she did so.
“Of course I’m going to visit you, I’m the one that caused this problem in the first place.”
Five shook her head. “No, you didn’t have any way of knowing that this would happen. You were just trying to be nice and have me test a new product. I’m the one that showed it to everyone and made them think that it was stolen.”
“They shouldn’t have assumed that, and should have done a better job investigating. I could have told them that it was a gift, but they didn’t wait just one day for my return. Do you mind if I examine the wound?” Five nodded and reached to lift up her shirt, but I stopped her. “I actually have a technique to let me examine it better than I can with my eyes.”
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I grabbed Five’s wrist and used the Taking Pulse technique. This was my first time using it, so the thread made her quite uncomfortable for about ten seconds until I fixed the few places I was letting my qi leak. Thankfully the leak was such a small amount that this just counted as a dual cultivation exercise and didn’t damage her meridians.
When I reached the area I could tell that the skin and some of the muscle in the area was damaged. Whoever had carried out the punishment was two heavy handed and, instead of just leaving painful marks, had actually torn the muscle in a few places from the force of the blow. Thankfully, however, I didn’t see any damage to the bone or nerves, and only some swelling in the tendons. They hadn’t caused permanent damage, at least.
I released her wrist and balled my fist in anger. “Who was in charge of the investigation?” I asked, opening my eyes while trying to not snap at the two of them. After all, they weren’t the ones that did this to her.
“Ji Terron.” said the mother. “He is the one in charge of the servants, including overseeing the punishments. After hearing about the situation, he had her brought before him, asked her a few questions, then pronounced her guilty and ordered her caned. Your talisman was also taken by him as evidence.”
“Five’s Talisman.” I said, then stood and started to leave when the Ambassador stopped me. “You can’t go and beat him over this.” he said. “Not only would that result in you being sent to the local prison and probably banned from the mansion, but it could cause serious problems for me in my negotiations, and might destroy all of my work here.”
“He needs to be punished.” I said.
“Yes, but you need to go about it differently than just knocking his teeth out, no matter how satisfying that might be.”
I sighed. “You’re right.” I said, then walked back over to Five. I pulled out two pills from my medical kit, a late level one skin pill and an early level one muscle pill, as that damage was less severe and it was always better to err on the side of caution with these pills to avoid side effects. “Here.” I handed them to Five. “Do you know the technique for getting the most out of pills?”
Five nodded. “One taught me, though I haven’t tested it.”
I nodded. “Then take these and use them. That should fix your back, or at least get close. I’m going to go talk to Master Terron.” Not feeling that she should be alone and unprotected right now, I pulled the lion cub out of my bag and told it to protect her. I could tell that it was sleepy but understood my order. I then pulled out a paper bag full of those dried spicy fish snacks. Something about the fish’s body and the way they were dried made them be about as tough as an overbaked cracker, something that was solid enough for the lion cub to get used to solid food with, but soft enough that she would be able to eat them. “I’m leaving this cat to protect you, okay?” I asked, and Five nodded and started petting it. I could tell she liked cats. “You can eat the fish snacks too, if you want, but the kitten needs them too, as she can’t eat most solid food yet, so make sure to let her eat whatever she wants from them.” Five nodded.
I got up and started towards the door. The Ambassador was about to speak when I stopped him. “I know, don’t attack him. I’m just going to go talk to him, then I’ll think of a way to hurt him that doesn’t break the law or cause problems for you.”
The Ambassador nodded and Mrs. Qin lead us to the servant office. The three of us went inside and I saw a slightly overweight man sitting behind a desk while talking to his assistant. As a middle level two cultivator he would only be overweight if he wanted to be, so I assumed it was a stylistic choice meant to show his affluence to the mortals in the city, as many of them got overweight when they became rich and influential.
“I am Li Kev.” I said, and he held up a hand to stop his assistant from talking.
“Ah yes. The victim of the recent theft.” He opened up a drawer on his desk and pulled out a wooden tray with the talisman on it. “Here is your stolen property. The thief has already been punished, so I assume we won’t have any further issues.”
“Unfortunately you caused an issue by not waiting to ask me about the situation.” I responded.
“Really?” he asked, interested in where I was going with this. “And what issue is that?”
“The fact that the talisman wasn’t stolen.” I responded, and he paused, looking surprised. “I gave it to her to test it, and to test her. I was hoping to see if she had what it took to not only teach others to use the talisman, but to get other people interested in a product, while also seeing if she had any interest in talismans as a whole. In short, I was considering buying her as an apprentice and shop assistant in a few years when she was old enough to leave home, so that I could start a talismonger shop in the city.” In truth, I would probably take her back to Earth and give her a proper education before seeing if she wanted to return, but if she wanted to I wouldn’t mind having a Taylor and Good branch on this side of the gate to sell our products to a larger group of people.
“Oh, I didn’t realize that.” he said, then thought for a few seconds. “Still, it was only a slave, so the damage was minimal. We can just give her back the talisman and give her a few taels for the mistake and that should be the end of it.”
“Only a slave, huh?” I asked, and he nodded like he assumed I was agreeing with him. “In that case, why not sell her to me, then? Of course, she’s a bit too young to be taken from her family, so how about I buy the entire family? How much did you pay for them? Ten, twenty stones maybe? I can pay you double.” I pulled fifty stones from my bag and floated them over to his desk.
He looked at the stones and shook his head. “The father was in twenty seven hundred taels of debt when we covered his debt, so that is a good estimate, but unfortunately I can’t accept the offer. If it were two years ago before we knew the mother and daughter were cultivators, I would have accepted, but now that we know they have spiritual roots and have started training them, they are far too valuable to us.”
“Then how much are they worth now? A thousand stones? I can afford to pay that, if that’s how much you are asking, though it will be most of my funds. Still, I can make that back if I teach them a production job, and the mortals can always do manual labor.”
“The mother and daughter together will likely earn us more than a thousand stones over their lifetime, even more if either of them has the talent for alchemy, possibly several times more. We just haven’t tested them yet, as it costs a few stones to do so.”
I thought for a few seconds, then smiled. “In that case, do you like gambling?” Terron nodded. “Then how about a bet? You sell them to me for one thousand five hundred stones, then test them for alchemical potential. If neither of them have the potential, then you made more than they would earn you, and profited. If, however, either of them have the talent, you will have lost a valuable resource for your family.”
He thought about it for thirty seconds before speaking. “Technically, I can’t agree to any sell of slaves over five hundred stones without the approval of the family head, Ji Quan. I do want to take your bet, however. So, I will go speak with him and tell him about the bet you proposed. If he agrees, then I will have two alchemy tests prepared.”
I nodded. “Then may I know what will be on the test, so that I can prepare the two of them?”
Terron nodded. “Of course. There are four parts to the test. First, they will need to pick out the ingredients for three common pills from the names of the pills. This proves their herb knowledge. Then they will need to make a pill embryo for the three pills. This proves their ability to mix the herbs properly. Then they will need to control a fire under a cauldron well enough to make Purple cloud tea. This proves their fire control ability. Lastly, they will prove their alchemical skill by following the instructions and making at least one full set of pills successfully, or any combination of fifteen successful pills from the three sets. This proves that they have the skill to make pills. Of course, while it is considered a success if they can make even one set of pill successfully, our family doesn’t hire any alchemist that can’t manage at least two successes, as failures use supplies without producing something that can be sold. This is why our pills are better than the competition while being cheaper.”
I nodded. “Then I assume that only one success is still enough for you to acknowledge that you lost money for your family, as the second is likely just a matter of practice?”
He nodded. “While not everyone can succeed with two full sets of pills with enough practice, eighty percent can, so I can agree to that term. I will be considered to have lost if even one of them makes a successful pill set in the final step.”
I returned his nod and he left to go ask his boss. Thirty minutes later he returned and informed us that the family head had accepted the offer, then got out the paper contract so that he could transfer ownership. Once we were finished, he did a few hand signs and I realized that nine new contracts had appeared in my head. While they seemed slightly different than the ones I had with my beasts, the slave contract was definitely a variation of the familiar beast contract.
I stood, sent the stones to him in one of the small backup storage bags, then bowed. “I ask that my new slaves be allowed to live in their old quarters for one more week. I have a place for them to go after that, but I can’t easily send them there for one more week.” Terron agreed, and, after agreeing to them being tested the morning of the day after tomorrow, I thanked him and left.
“You know,” said the Ambassador, “I didn’t expect it to go that way, but you did find a way to solve the situation without violence. I don’t know how we will handle the fact that you purchased slaves when we get home, nor what we can do with them, or how that was supposed to teach Terron a lesson, but I’m sure we can find a solution to the first two.”
“Actually, I already have a solution to the first two. I will ask Mike to accept them into the White Tiger sect. They already accepted a family because the father was a cultivator, and in this case the mother and daughter are, so that should be more than enough, even with the family being so large. As for how it will teach him a lesson, you’ll see that when they both make successful pills in two days.”
The way I saw it, alchemy might have a talent component to it, but like any skill if you studied hard enough and learned the right things you could get competent in it. Some people just had an easier time at getting competent. I had learned talisman making in a matter of days, however, so I had some ideas on how to get them to that level quickly.
