Speaker 7

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Of course, even with those words, she still remained silent.

It felt like talking to a wall.

And it wasn’t just a metaphor—she was quite literally putting up a wall.

Even though my voice was reaching her, trying to [Persuade] her in her current state was pointless.

No matter how high your charisma, you can’t have a conversation with someone who has no will to speak.

“Everyone.”

So for now, it was time to [Persuade] the others first.

“I’ll help you get out of here.”

I turned to the rest of the group who were staring blankly at me.

“But for that to happen, I need your help.”

At those words, they all reacted cautiously.

They still seemed unsure of the situation.

And among them, some appeared to suspect this might be a trick to test them.

“……”

There wasn’t even a flicker of fighting spirit.

That’s how hopeless their life as captives here must have been.

“……”

Then, one of the skeptical ones hesitantly raised his hand.

It was the man who had earlier shaken his head in response to my question.

“Why… are you helping us?”

“Saying it’s because I don’t like seeing people being treated like slaves… would probably only sound more suspicious to you.”

Because to them, a gesture of goodwill with no strings attached was unimaginable.

“So I’ll be honest with you. I plan to use you.”

For a moment, unease spread.

“I have an escape plan, and if I have your cooperation, it’ll go a lot smoother.”

That was good news.

So I seized the moment and continued.

“This isn’t some altruistic act with no payoff. If that’s what you’re thinking, that actually makes it harder for me.”

That small stir in the crowd was proof they were reacting to my words.

In other words, we were finally having a real conversation.

“In my plan, I can’t guarantee your safety. To be blunt, if things go sideways, I might use you as shields.”

“…!”

That also meant there was now a chance to use my ‘Charisma.’

[Persuade]

Difficulty 10

CHA Modifier +25

“But.”

It meant the dice was rolling.

“There’s one thing I can guarantee.”

Rattle

“I am your only path to freedom.”

If they were in a situation where they couldn’t even see a thread of hope,

“Then just as I plan to use you, you should use me too.”

Even if you have to punch a hole through it yourself, just thread that hope through.

“This is your only chance.”

Success.

The slaves, who had quietly listened until now, looked at each other and then slowly nodded as if they had made up their minds.

Then—

“…You’re right.”

One by one, they began to stand.

“Instead of waiting here for a life worse than death, I’d rather die fighting.”

“Exactly. Though if everything goes well, we may not have to fight at all.”

[‘Slave group’ temporarily joins the party.]

With that, I gained six additional allies, excluding my ‘Companion.’

That said, I couldn’t expect much from them in combat.

From what I remembered, only the man who raised his hand earlier and that muscular woman over there knew how to fight.

And even they were weakened from long captivity—both were practically at half strength, and the rest were treated as non-combatant NPCs.

Still, they were better than nothing.

And much better than turning a blind eye and fleeing without them.

“So what do you want us to do?”

Unfortunately, our strongest asset, my ‘Companion,’ was still in that same state.

And I had no way to change that right now. I had to at least get her out of here before I could try anything.

“Please understand.”

When I grabbed her arm, she didn’t resist or react at all.

It felt like holding a doll, not a person.

“I’ll carry you for a bit.”

Even with a measly Strength stat of 2, she was small enough and light enough that I could carry her for a short while…

“…”

“Sir?”

“…Could someone help carry her instead?”

***

[A pathetic little bastard who can’t even do his job.]

“Gah!”

The guard’s mind broke under my [Mockery], and he collapsed on the spot.

I looked around once more, confirmed there was no one else nearby, and then signaled behind me with a hand gesture.

At that, the slaves waiting on the stairs began to come up.

And once the last man—carrying our ‘Companion’ on his back—reached the top, the muscular woman who had arrived first began changing into the uniform of the guard we’d taken down.

“Sir, was that… magic?”

“Something like that.”

Just like the man carrying my ‘Companion’.

“It’s a powerful spell—strong enough to knock out most of the guards here in one shot—but I can only use it on one person at a time.”

The idea was to have the two who knew how to fight disguise themselves as guards (thus increasing their defense with armor), while the rest pretended to be slaves being escorted, to avoid suspicion.

“And it takes a bit of time to cast again, so if a fight breaks out, I’ll need you to buy me that time.”

“Understood. Leave it to us.”

“Oh, and if I happen to lose this disguise, please try not to look directly at my face.”

“Sorry, what?”

“This face is a kind of magic too. So if we end up fighting, it’d be better for you to look away from me while doing so.”

“Ah, that’s why you said… Got it. I’ll let everyone know.”

“Thanks.”

While she was changing, I opened the status window and decided to quickly allocate the stat points I had been putting off.

I had already planned this out when I built the character, so I didn’t have to think much.

Charisma, the most important stat, was already maxed out at goddess-tier beauty, so I couldn’t raise it further even if I wanted to.

That left me with four other stats to choose from, and naturally, I picked Mental Strength.

Strength and Agility weren’t going to be much use right now anyway, not when increasing them by one or two points would barely make a difference.

I’d still be a weakling either way.

But Mental Strength was a different story.

In this world, even if your body breaks down, there are ways to patch you up—anyone can learn a basic healing skill at level 1, for example.

But if your mind breaks? Unless you’ve got a truly top-tier healer, that’s not so easy to fix.

So every point in Mental Strength was precious.

Intelligence was tempting too, since it was often the most used stat in non-combat situations after Charisma, but survival came first right now.

MEN 06 → 07↑

Next up: skills.

This also didn’t require much thought.

One of the core skills for this build would unlock at level 3.

So honestly, I could pick anything for now.

Of course, I didn’t want to waste it entirely, so—

[You have acquired: [Bard’s Song: Healing]!]

I chose Healing Song.

It was a variation of my existing class skill, [Bard’s Song].

The original five songs each boosted one of the five base stats, but this one, true to its name, was a healing skill.

That said, it was nowhere near the power of a real healer like a Cleric.

Its healing output was so minimal that using it in place of a proper healing spell was unrealistic.

Its main purpose was for emergency first aid.

Still, being able to pull someone back from the brink of death made it worth picking up.

“I’m changed.”

Just as I finished selecting my skill, she seemed ready too.

The muscular woman tossed the now nearly naked body of the guard down the basement stairs, and I immediately shut the door.

“Follow me.”

It was time to move to the next step of the plan.

First, we had to find their slave contracts.

These contracts weren’t just scraps of paper.

They were magical items linked to the slave brands carved into their skin the moment they were brought here.

By signing them in blood, the magic bound the blood to the brand, creating a master-servant relationship.

That meant unless we destroyed the contracts completely, the slaves would never truly be free—even if they managed to escape.

The contracts were kept in a vault in the office.

Since the auction was still in full swing, there weren’t any people near the office, which was tucked away in a corner.

It also wasn’t far from the basement, so we didn’t run into anyone on the way.

Only one guard stood watch outside the office.

“What the…? Why are they already—”

[Why the hell are you dying already, you worthless piece of shit?]

“?!”

Seeing two people dressed as guards didn’t seem to raise any alarms for him, so I easily took him out with [Mockery].

The keyring I took from the merchant had keys for both the office and the vault.

The only issue was figuring out which key was which, so I had to try them one by one.

On the third attempt—click!—the lock opened, and I swung the door wide open.

As expected, the office was empty. That made the item on the desk stand out even more.

A small box-shaped vault, clearly expensive at a glance.

It was easy to tell which key matched—it was the shiniest one, made of a different material from the others.

It fit the ornate keyhole perfectly.

Inside the vault was a pouch with a few gold coins and a stack of contracts.

“Everyone, please find the contract with your name on it.”

I took them out and laid them on the desk.

The slaves quickly found their own and took them.

“Don’t do anything with them yet. You know why, right?”

“Yes. We understand.”

Naturally, I held onto my ‘Companion’s’ contract myself.

Eastwood.

The name on the contract wasn’t her real name.

She hadn’t spoken a word, so we never learned it.

“Eastwood” was just a crude label someone gave her because she’d been found in the forest to the east.

Even so, the brand on her neck would strip her of all human dignity without even knowing her real name.

“…Damn it.”

So, even if it was for the worst-case scenario, the fact that I had to sign my name in blood on this thing just felt shitty.

There were two ways to ‘wake’ her from her current state—essentially an empty shell of a person.

One of them couldn’t be done here. Whatever it was, we had to escape first.

“Sir, that… is…”

The other way was to form a contract.

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