“Let’s start the bidding at 500 gold…!”
Before the auctioneer could finish, Herace pressed the button.
“One billion gold.”
The room froze.
Even the finest slaves rarely started at more than 100 gold, and final bids seldom exceeded 10,000 gold.
But a billion?
That was enough to buy a small rural estate.
Whispers of speculation filled the hall.
Who was this masked, lavender-haired man, and could he really pay such an outrageous sum?
Before the murmurs spiraled out of control, the auctioneer’s amplified voice sought to regain order.
“Of course, I must ask… Our auction requires full payment upfront. You are aware of this, yes?”
Herace nodded calmly.
Not only was he aware, but he was more than capable.
He had already prepared for this.
After a brief hesitation, the auctioneer plastered on a businesslike smile.
Whether the payment was made or not, the spectacle would increase the starting bids in future auctions.
“Then, Luke is sold for one billion gold!”
The auctioneer entertained the notion that the bid was merely a publicity stunt.
But…
“Here. One billion gold.”
Gold coins materialized, shimmering in the air.
For an archmage, money was trivial.
Sure, creating this much gold could destabilize the economy, but replication magic made it easy.
Excessive use of power was technically against the rules, but come on.
Preventing the protagonist of a fantasy novel from being sold as a s*x slave?
That was a necessity.
Herace deemed it a reasonable exception.
The slave merchant, who had come to see the face of a mad aristocrat willing to pay a billion gold in a single payment, broke into a wide grin as he saw the gold spilling across the floor.
At first, he had assumed it was some spoiled young noble flaunting wealth, but it turned out to be a genuine VIP.
A VIP who could create rivers of gold coins!
There was no downside to befriending a noble who thought nothing of spending money lavishly.
The merchant, exhilarated at the sight of such a tremendous fortune, rubbed his hands together in excitement.
“You don’t seem to be the lord governing this area… Perhaps you’d like to rest at a hotel operated by our trade guild?”
The nobles attending the auction all wore masks in accordance with the rules, but familiar features—like the shape of their eyes or the contours of their faces—always stood out to those who knew them.
Since the merchant conducted his business by regularly bribing the local lords, he knew all the nobles in the vicinity.
This was a distinguished figure who had traveled from afar after hearing about Luke Clayton’s situation.
If only he had known earlier, he would’ve acted sooner!
“Considering the sum you’ve paid, we’ll gladly provide you with a room for free!”
The merchant’s assumption wasn’t entirely wrong.
Herace had indeed come from much farther away than the merchant had imagined.
Of course, that also meant he didn’t have a place to stay at the moment.
“Then I’ll take you up on that offer.”
Herace could create as much money as he wanted, but disrupting the economy unnecessarily was never a good idea.
“Th-thank you! I’m very grateful!”
The merchant bowed deeply to Herace, his joy unmistakable.
“Shall I prepare the slave for you? I’ll have him cleaned and sent to your room.”
Herace thought of Luke, who had been on display as merchandise.
They’d dressed him up to make him presentable for the auction, but he had thrashed and screamed so much that he was probably drenched in sweat by now.
“Yes, do that.”
There was no need to refuse a service they were offering.
If only he’d known how much he’d regret those words later, he might’ve reconsidered…
He hadn’t realized that “cleaning and preparing” meant making the man ready for s*xual use.
This was a disaster born of the fact that Herace came from a world where slavery didn’t exist.
Luke, a young man who had once been the son of a prestigious family, had fallen into slavery overnight.
To make matters worse, he had been violated, stripped of his dignity, and prepared to be raped by a stranger.
No one could expect him to be in his right mind.
When Luke was finally “delivered” to Herace’s hotel room, he immediately began screaming at the top of his lungs.
He lashed out, kicking ferociously at anyone who dared come near.
Even when the slave merchant’s employee kindly explained how to handle him, Luke’s rage didn’t subside.
“You see this collar? Keywords are programmed into it so the owner can set commands. The default setting is ‘quiet.’”
“Ahhhhhh!”
The moment the employee finished speaking, electricity sparked and crackled from the collar, making Luke shrink back with wide, terrified eyes.
Herace, who had already read about how these collars worked, still found the treatment appalling each time he witnessed it.
Administering electric shocks for disobedience?
They didn’t even see slaves as human.
“Would you like me to change the keyword to something else? I can adjust it for you right now.”
“No need.”
“Then I’ll activate voice recognition. All set. If you encounter any issues, feel free to contact us.”
The employee left after bowing to Herace, ignoring Luke’s seething hatred and bloodshot glare.
To him, Luke was nothing more than an object.
The moment the employee exited, Luke turned all his hostility toward Herace.
“You perverted bastard!”
“I haven’t done anything to you yet.”
“Shut up! You think I can’t kill you just because my hands don’t work? If you touch me, I’ll rip every one of your fingers off!”
Despite being a nobleman, Luke’s language was crass, befitting his reputation as a troublemaker.
It made Herace’s role as the antagonist easier—after all, it was always simpler to be ruthless toward someone who hated you.
“For the record, I’m not remotely interested in you. So relax.”
“What?! You think I’ll believe that? You spent a billion gold! What kind of sick, depraved bastard does that? I thought my father had come to rescue me, but no—it’s some disgusting creep!”
It was logical to assume someone who spent that much money had ulterior motives, but Herace’s goals were entirely different.
“I only came here out of curiosity to see who caught his attention. Yet they threw you into this mess themselves. Humans are such fools.”
Herace deliberately spouted a line reminiscent of some over-the-top inhuman villain.
It seemed fitting for a third-rate mass-market fantasy novel.
However, Luke was unimpressed and continued to thrash about.
“What’s with that ridiculous act? Roleplay? Are you one of those lunatics into weird kinks? Ugh, why did it have to be you?!”
“……”
Herace decided to cut his losses and throw this unruly noble into the monster subjugation squad as soon as possible.
But first, he’d have to unlock the cuffs, heal Luke’s severed tendons, and dress him in proper clothes.
Approaching Luke carefully, Herace was met with another outburst.
“Damn it, touch me, and I’ll kill you!”
“I’ve already told you—I don’t intend to do anything.”
“Stay back! Don’t come closer! Do you even know who I am? I’m Luke Clayton, the eldest son of the Clayton Count Family!”
As if Herace didn’t already know.
Most of the nobles at the auction had attended specifically to see the Clayton heir.
“I just want to unlock your cuffs and help you get dressed. Calm down.”
“Crazy bastard! I said, stay away! Get lost, you son of a—ack!”
Even a great mage couldn’t avoid pain when kicked full-force by a larger man.
Herace immediately cast a healing spell to dull the pain, but his irritation was evident.
“For the last time, I’m not going to touch you!”
“You bought a male s*x slave despite being perfectly fine yourself! And you let them violate—ugh, never mind!”
Herace ran his hand through his cascading hair in frustration.
He genuinely had no such intentions, but explaining that he was here to rewrite this fantasy novel and avoid it becoming a BL plot was out of the question.
Not that Luke would believe him anyway.
“Fine, fine. I won’t come any closer if that’s what it takes to convince you.”
But not removing Luke’s cuffs would only make things harder.
He’d be freezing in that flimsy bathrobe, too.
With a sigh, Herace perched on the edge of the bed, observing Luke with a crooked smile.
“I only wanted to unlock your cuffs and give you proper clothes. That’s all.”
“How could anyone believe a filthy pervert like you!”
The words were crude and unrefined, typical of a delinquent.
Herace let Luke’s rant pass in one ear and out the other.
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