An Important Villain

Dreams & Reality

For the first time in a long while, Ian dreamt. And surprisingly, it was a good dream. He dreamed about the river he saw today. It was even prettier than what he remembered. Everything was sparkling. The heat was also just the right temperature. The cold water splashed as he started walking in the shallow water.

He could feel the grass under his foot. They were soft. He could see them clearly as well, since the water was crystal clear. Small fishes were swimming here and there. The birds and the bugs, the dragon flies were flying around as if they were happy.

Ian wanted to go deeper into the water. He started walking. Step by step. Then he finally started running till he was deep in the water. He couldn't find the soft grasses below his feet anymore. The small fishes were also nowhere to be seen. All he could see was a deep blue color. 

It was iconic. If someone saw them from above, Ian could bet that they won't see him. After all, his hair was also the same colour. They matched really well. 

Inside that deep blue, Ian started feeling really warm and fuzzy, as if he was meant to be there. The water looked like it was a part of him. Something from within it was drawing him near it. Slowly he started going deep down. But unlike the time he jumped down the bridge, this time felt different. It wasn't painful, rather it was the complete opposite. He lost count of how deep he dived, as if the lake had no bottom. 

In the beginning, he could see fishes, then underwater plants. But at some point all of them disappeared. All he could see was a deep blue. After a long while, he finally reached the bottom. There was something warm glowing a soft  golden colour there. But as soon as he reached out to touch it, he woke up. 

When he opened his eyes, it was already bright outside. The warm sunlight was shining down on his face through the glass window. He was in a daze from the dream. His bed hair was sticking out from everywhere. In his daze, he could hear a knock at the door. 

'Must be Rob'

"Come in."

"Oh? You're awake, young master. Good morning. "

"Yeah, I just woke up. Do we have any plans today? "

"We do not. The duchess thanked you for your consideration. She asked you to take it easy and not overwork yourself for a few more days. "

"Alright, thanks. By the way, what's my monthly allowance?"

"7 million franc, young master. "

"I see. 7 mil-million?? "

'Wow this bastard. He really had it all. 7 million franc on earth would be somewhere near 60k dollar , right? Even I didn't have this much money! Gotta use all of it properly.'

"Hehe"

Seeing Ian laugh by himself, Rob was thinking that he must be up to no good again. After all, a person doesn't change so suddenly.

"I'll be going out today. Shopping. Report to father and say I requested for the same guards as yesterday."

" As you wish, young master. "

The servants came in after Rob left. After getting ready, he went down to have breakfast. Since it was already late, he had to eat alone. After finishing his meal, he turned around and could see Arthur and Corner standing near the door. 

"Did you guys eat?"

"We did, young master. Are you full, young master? You didn't eat much." 

"I'm full. I was just too excited to concentrate on the food. "

"Did something good happen? " Art looked curious as he asked.

"I had a good dream. And now I'm gonna go shopping."

"Will you take the carriage today?"

" Yeah, it's a bit far from here. "

" The shopping market? "

"No? The slave market. It's practically on the other side of the duchy, correct? "

Hearing the word 'slave' both Arthur and Corner's face hardened. It was a place that disgusted them to death. And there was only one reason noble's would go there. To buy slaves to torture.

But they still hoped that that wouldn't be the case for Ian as they looked at him.

"Is-is there anyone you know there?"

"Are you going there to meet someone?"

"Hm? No? I'm going to buy slaves of course. I told you I was gonna shop today. "

"Why would you need slaves?" 

Curiosity and suspense could be seen in their eyes as Arthur spoke.

"Hmm... I haven't thought that far yet. But the only thing that they can offer me is their body, right?"

Hearing his nonchalant answer, they didn't know what else to say. The carriage was moving silently while Ian was busy doing math in his head.

He was calculating how much he'd need to spend on buying the slaves and how much their monthly expenses would cost. 

While Ian was thinking, they slowly arrived at the slave market.

The first thing Ian noticed after coming down the carriage was the smell. It was worse than he thought. The only things he could smell was blood and rotten flesh. His insides almost turned upside down smelling the familiar scent once again. It was the smell of his previous world. 

The good feeling he had till now disappeared as if it didn't exist to begin with. Arthur and Corner also noticed the change in his expression. Realizing that all this must be too much even for Ian, their expression softened quite a bit. 

"Are you all right, young master?"

" Yes, I'm fine. Let's go in."

The market was inside a single three story building. Although their were many different categories, they were all under the same shop owner. 

The inside resembled more like a prison than a market. Screams and cries could be heard every once in a while. But Ian didn't even glace towards them and walked straight.. His destination was the 3rd floor. 

The first floor contained common races, such as snakes, birds, cats etc. The second floor had rare races such as elves and wolfs. They all glared at them or made threating noises when they passed by their cages. Seeing them walk through the second floor, an employee came to their aid. It was a fat man with a huge mole on his face.

"Welcome, young master. Do you need any help? We have all the best products here. They're also taught not to disobey their master. hehe"

Disgusting. Looking at that man, Ian wanted to throw up. They were both humans, yet how could they be so different? Of course, this "they" included Arthur and the slave dealers. 

Ian wasn't a good person and he was well aware of that fact. But he still had his own principles. And that definitely didn't include treating living beings like slaves.

"It's a special order. Take me to your boss."

Hearing the word 'special order', the servants eyes started glowing. He took them upstairs without any further delay while ordering another servant to bring snacks for them. 

The third floor was rather different than the rest of the buildings. The cages didn't have bar, instead strong walls. They couldn't see what was inside those rooms. They continued walking till they reached the last room of the floor. The servant knocked on the door and went in first.

After a few moments, he came out and brought them in. 

The inside of the room looked rather neat. One man was sitting on the other side of the table. Ian went ahead and sat on the sofa while Arthur and Corner stood guard behind him. 

"Welcome, young master. You wished to place a special order, correct? Then we'll need some proof of your identity first, before we can continue."

Ian took out a badge from his pocket which proved his identity as the Dukes heir. Seeing the duchy's badge, the man suddenly stood up in a hurry. He surely wasn't expecting such a big shot in his shop.

"Forgive me for not realizing sooner. This servant will try his utmost to fulfill your order. "

"That's fine. So how much?"

"Yes? Which one?"

"Everything here. How much?"

The owner and the ones standing behind Ian all had dumbfounded expressions on their faces. The store owner started sweating as he looked at him. 

"By everything you mean-"

"Every fucking slave you have here, I want them all. What? you think I can't afford them?"

"N-no, of course not. Please wait here for a moment. I'll be right back!"

With that he hurriedly left the room. Arthur and Corner finally came to their senses then. 

"What? huh? Everything? Uh?"

"Are you sure, young master? Do you really need that many?" 

While Corner was blankly muttering words, Arthur's expression looked dark as he asked those questions. Ian knew why he was acting like that but decided to feign ignorance as he answered.

"Yeah, as many as I can get my hands on."

"May I ask why?"

"Hmm...Why? Cause I have a lot of money?'' 

Ian replied absentmindedly. 

Right then, the door burst open and the owner came back with a lot of papers on his arm. His face flushed red as if it was a overheated engine. He was also having problem catching his breath. The papers in his hand contained the details of the slaves and their slave contract.  

"I don't need to see those. I'm taking them all, down to the eggs. Just give me a number. How much? "

"Uh-um the total, yeah, 2.1! 2.1 million franc in total.''

''Alright. Here's the money."

Ian moved his hand and the money was in front of them. The spatial dimension ring was glowing in his left ring finger. It was where his pocket money was being kept. Rob gave it to him in the morning. It still had  4.9 million in it.

The owner bastard almost choked seeing so much money at once. He looked like he wanted to snatch them right away but was hardly controlling himself.

"The contracts."

"Oh-yes! Certainly. But will you make the contract yourself ? "

"Mm-yeah, so hurry. And also, whatever you get your hands on in the future, I'm buying them, no matter the price. So don't you dare sell them to someone else."

Ian glared as he warned the shop owner. He looked quite intimidating.

"Y-yes! Please don't worry. This shop will only sell to you from now on." 

He was the duke's son after all.

"By the way, how many slaves did I buy?"

"250 common, 30 rare and 3 unique slaves; 283 in total, young master. And  there were 6 eggs." 

'That's quite a lot. Well whatever. I have too much money anyway.'

"Alright. Where do you need my blood?"

A huge pile of paper was placed in front of him.  They were all slave contracts. They bonded the slave and their master in a life and death curse. Till death, the slaves cannot harm their master. They must obey each and every order of their master but their death wouldn't harm their master in any way. It was a one-sided, unfair contract.

'Oh shit. I need to stamp them all??' Ian was cursing in his head looking at the huge pile of paper in front of him.

After a long time, he was finally done stamping them all. He finished almost all the snacks brought for him while he was stamping. Arthur and Corner also helped sorting them out.

"Are we finally done? Wasn't that the last one?"

"Yes, young master."

"Then Corner, take one of the guards and make a list of your own, of everything we bought today. I'll be taking the rest of them and head towards the duchy. I'll be doing some more shopping. Leave the slaves here for now and wait at the duchy for my next order." 

"As you wish, young master."

With that, Ian left the slave market.