After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World

The next one made Eian pause, and he looked at the next in line: A brunette with a delicate face.

She looked a little unsightly and dirty, but somehow her beauty shone through.

He recognized her.

Even when living a slightly better life, Eian was still a slave. However, because he was favored and had relatively important and 'public-facing' jobs, he was given a decent room in the 'higher slaves' dormitories. This was where the stronger slaves, including many of those sent to help in the Inko war, lived.

Further, he had better food and clothes, so he was never unsightly and embarrassed the territory in events like these. He also got paid some bonuses whenever he did a good job, and he often used that to treat himself and his friends with some food.

He had met her when she was hauled in with a batch of new slaves, and he was shopping for the treats.

They were quite new, just sold to this territory for about two or three weeks. She had soil all over her face and her body, but somehow his eyes followed her the moment he saw her.

And because he was doing this, he realized what she had been doing. She, in her uncomfortable cover of smelly mud, always seemed to stand between the slave drivers and some of the smaller girls right behind her.

She was protecting them with her body, and her eyes were so determined that he could not look away.

"Hey!" someone hissed from the side, finally pulling him back to the present. It was a big man trying to get his attention.

He paled. It was the guard in charge, making sure everything was in line in this part of the stage.

His eyes flickered and he resumed his announcements. "Next one is this old man!" he said, redirecting to the bearded man next to the girl.

"A Level 7 Fire User…" he said, adding more force in his voice. "He's very strong, too, and could be said to be as passionate as his fire!"

"51 Gold!" a voice sounded and Eian focused on his job for a while.

The bidding continued on. "51 Gold, 50 Silver!"

"52 Gold!"

In the end, the man was sold for a nice 59 Gold, despite his low level and advanced age.

Then the next in line came and he skipped the girl again. She looked at him in confusion, while the guard's eyebrows furrowed.

"What are you doing?" he asked, looking at him suspiciously, no doubt prepared to teach him a lesson if he didn't answer well.

"I know her," he said, whispering with a solemn tone. "Old man Thet slept with her the day before, you know," he said.

"What?" the guard paled and he immediately stepped farther from the girl.

Old man Thet died a few days ago due to a disease that caused him to have rashes all over.

Eian was sociable and gossiped a lot. He also had a noble temperament despite being a slave and many people actually forgot or didn't know he was a slave in the first place.

Anyway, somewhere in his social calls, he heard about the mysterious death. Apparently, the cause was unknown, while some healers said it was something the man ate, though the Lord didn't care enough for the commoner to investigate properly.

This was why the official answer was unknown and was a mystery, and this was what the guard knew as well.

"If they bought this one, are you prepared to receive the consequences of your choice?" he asked, tone completely serious. "Who chose her to get up here, anyway?"

"I—"

At this, the guard could only get the girl off the platform. This happened quickly and the next slave was on display so most of the audience didn't notice what was happening at the back of the line.

Hopefully, the Lord didn't notice this and, if he did, Eian knew he had to come up with a better excuse.

To save himself, he had no choice but to sell up the slaves that came after to give the Lord more profit and therefore would be kinder to him. It was selfish, and could possibly be bad for the slaves when their expectations were not met.

However, in his own efforts to help them, he would subtly tell them about the master who bought them. Because he was a good host, he studied his audience and naturally knew some public information about most of them.

"And SOLD to the gentleman from Luwi Town for 67 Gold~! I heard you like to hunt? This one will be a good companion for you! Take care of him!"

"Ah, SOLD to the gentleman from Sasa Town for 72 Gold!! As handsome as always! You really like the graceful and quiet types, huh?"

When he escorted them down the stairs to be passed on to the next servants, who'd then prepare them for their masters, he would often whisper a lot of tips, hoping it'd help improve their standing somewhere, wherever they'd be sent.

Anyway, the auction went on for another hour, with the audience happily hoarding elementalists.

It was such a unique operation.

Although Elementalists weren't too rare in towns, they were still uncommon. Seeing so many at the same stage was really a new experience.

Dozens and dozens of slaves were sold like this and the ruling party's eyes shone just imagining the gold that was going to their hands.

"Now for the final entry, and the best one!" he said, faking an excited smile on his face despite feeling extremely stretched inside.

"...don't underestimate this kid. He looks like he can't take on a Gugu bird, but, in fact, this kid… is actually a rare sand user!"

The guard pushed a young boy forward. It was a light shove, but the boy almost fell down on the stage, not giving much of a beautiful entrance.

Anyway, he was nothing special at first glance. He even seemed a bit wimpy as he shivered in fear under everyone's scrutinizing gaze.

If Sarah and Gurnam were there, they would shoot up in shock.

It was none other than Milo, after all.