SWNOVELXO Chapter 56
“…So, you knew?”
Though I hadn’t felt the need to hide it, I hadn’t told Saioji about purchasing a slave, feeling somewhat guilty about the whole affair. It wasn’t like I had actively concealed it, but her words, though phrased as a question, carried a certain air of certainty.
“All adventurers active in the capital know that an elf was being sold at the black market… Are we on the same page so far?”
“Yeah.”
“Normally, if an elf is put up for sale in the capital, someone would buy them within a day, no matter how high the price or how rare the items required in exchange. However, the elf slave that was brought in wasn’t sold for over a month. The reason being…”
“…The red potion, right?”
“Exactly. The red potion is now nearly impossible to find. Even the merchants with shops in the capital can’t get their hands on it. And even if they did, its value might not necessarily match what they’d have to pay.”
Bank had mentioned it as well—Eurua’s rarity gave her tremendous value as a slave. Her beautiful features would captivate many men, and there would be no shortage of people willing to take her as a lover or wife.
Additionally, elves as a race are known for their naturally high magical capacity, making them excellent mages. On top of that, Eurua possessed impressive skill as an archer, making her highly valuable as an adventurer as well.
But even with all those attributes, no one in the capital—whether adventurer or merchant—would consider her more valuable than a red potion.
“For the past month, you’ve been draining your mana almost daily, haven’t you? I found it odd. As a reincarnated person with a vast reserve of mana, there’s no way you could have exhausted it all through mere monster battles. At that point, I suspected you were up to something behind the scenes.”
As a reincarnator, I had more mana than the average person. While it was nowhere near the levels of someone like Sakakibara, who came from royalty, or Rey, the heir of a great noble family, I’d probably rank among the top if you compared me to common mages.
I was confident I had more mana than most brigade members, like Camille, who specialized in magic.
That said, I still fell a bit short of someone like Saioji, who shared a similar background to mine.
“In recent years, there’s been no report of red potions being brought into the capital. Of course, it’s possible they were smuggled in secretly, but if that were the case, it would be a matter involving the government at the very least.”
“…So, you think the red potion wasn’t brought in from outside but was made within the capital?”
“That’s right. I recently learned of a man who successfully cultivated a herb used in purple potions, something long considered impossible. If he managed to do that, it wouldn’t be surprising if he also succeeded in creating a red potion.”
Without any external reports of the potion being brought in, it had to be something either hidden away in the capital or newly produced there.
Normally, no one would even consider the possibility of creating a red potion. But Saioji had recently heard about a man who managed to artificially cultivate a high-grade herb that was once believed impossible to grow.
“Half the value of a red potion lies in how hard it is to obtain. These days, the ancient dungeons that are the primary source for red potions have been heavily explored, and finding any there is now almost impossible. If we look at history, one could even say we’ve discovered too much in recent years.”
Around the time I was born into this world of Asphial, about twenty years ago, it was considered the golden age for adventurers. Dungeons, previously untouched due to their extreme danger, were being conquered one after another.
That period saw a flood of rare relics with extraordinary powers, such as red potions, being discovered in dungeons and sold on the market.
In a sense, that era was like an economic bubble in this other world. Adventurers flocked to the dungeons, and merchants, drawn by the scent of wealth, gathered to form towns around them.
Though most of those towns have since collapsed, several still exist as dungeon cities.
“So, the bubble burst, and now we’re feeling the backlash.”
“Exactly. When you consider that most of the dungeon profits back then came from relics, it’s no surprise they were mined dry within a few years. Because of that, the value of existing relics has skyrocketed in recent times.”
One of those relics is the red potion.
“For someone who can create red potions on their own, its value would drop drastically… Enough, in fact, that they might be willing to trade one for an elf slave.”
“…Yeah, I suppose so.”
The reason Saioji had given me such an extensive history lesson on Asphial was to explain the difference in value between the elf slave and the red potion, which was the biggest mystery of this deal.
After hearing all that, I raised the white flag.
“I don’t mind that you’ve made an elf your slave. I think I understand your character well enough by now… In fact, I feel more frustration toward my own lack of influence, since it caused you such trouble.”
“Frustration?”
I had expected Saioji to express some discomfort about me making Eurua, a beautiful elf, my slave. Yet, her response was far cooler, almost indifferent… It made me feel like she trusted me more than I realized.
But her talk of feeling frustrated piqued my curiosity.
“Yes. If I had enough power and influence, you wouldn’t have had to go through all this in secret, right? If I were stronger, you could have consulted me without worrying about what the brigade members might think.”
Watching her express such frustration, I couldn’t help but wonder: *Is she really the same age as a high school girl?* I wasn’t sure about the exact timeline, but Saioji should still be a minor. In this world, you’re considered an adult at fifteen, but in Japan, she wouldn’t even be able to drink or smoke yet.
“…Anyway, I want you to know that I don’t care that you kept this from me. I just want you to rely on me if something like this comes up again… Especially if it involves the opposite sex.”
With a snap, like a scene change in a movie, her expression instantly shifted back to her usual composed and dignified self. Gone was the frustration she’d shown just moments earlier.