After saying goodbye to his stepmother and younger brother, Dante began walking toward his room, completely immersed in his thoughts.
Setting aside the initial shock, he began analyzing Marla's proposal with a cool head. Although the sudden marriage had completely caught him off guard, he ultimately accepted it without protest. After all, why would he reject such an opportunity? Thanks to his memories of the novel, he knew perfectly well who his potential fiancée was.
Liria.
Although she was not part of any protagonist's harem in the original work, she was an extremely famous and beloved character among the readers of his past life; the epitome of an imposing and mature warrior. Not only was she destined to become the strongest barbarian among the northern tribes, but also the mother of the future Barbarian Emperor: the man who would unite the entire Kaelen Confederation and serve as the main hero's most powerful military ally.
In the novel, Liria's husband died in battle long before the plot began, so many readers lamented that she remained the perfect candidate for the protagonist's harem but that it never came to pass.
'But now, thanks to my reincarnation and the butterfly effect I caused, I will be her husband...', he smiled to himself, feeling a genuine interest.
Although he had not immediately responded to his stepmother's proposal, in his mind the decision had already been made. There were far more advantages than disadvantages. By becoming engaged to her, Dante would not only gain a powerful wife, but the future unifier of the barbarians would also be born from his own bloodline, ensuring absolute loyalty.
'Besides, it doesn't matter who the father is in the original story. After all, the talent and divine power to unite the tribes come directly from her bloodline,' he thought with relief, knowing that his intervention would not ruin the birth of that future legendary warrior.
'Well, putting that aside...'
Dante shifted his attention to his immediate plans. It would not be long before he managed to force the creation of his Aura Core.
Once he reached Realm III, he would have to begin his journey north to unearth the complete manual of the Eight Hidden Realms. But before embarking on such a dangerous journey, he needed something indispensable: trustworthy subordinates.
Dante stood in front of the mirror, adjusted his clothes, and took a heavy bag filled with gold coins from his safe. He was preparing to go to the market to buy a martial slave.
As someone born in a modern era, the concept of slavery had initially caused him a certain moral repulsion. However, after years of living in this harsh reality, he had grown somewhat accustomed to it; and even more so now that, in this hostile world, the system of subjugation suited him perfectly. He needed to find someone to watch his back, and magical slave marks guaranteed absolute obedience free of betrayal.
Many light novel protagonists tended to follow the cliché of buying slaves, immediately freeing them, and earning their supposed eternal loyalty through gratitude; Dante was not naive enough to bet his life on something so volatile. He would keep the contract active, and once the slave demonstrated genuine loyalty over the years, only then would he consider granting freedom.
With the money in hand, Dante left the family estate without drawing attention and made his way through the streets of Oakhaven until he reached the underground commercial district, where the slave market stood.
The place was gloomy, permeated by the smell of iron, sweat, and despair. Armed guards watched over iron cages displaying prisoners of war, criminals, and captured demi-humans. Dante walked with steady steps, ignoring the auctioneers' shouts, searching only for those who possessed Aura or Mana fluctuations within their bodies. Although their prices would be considerably higher, his family inheritance gave him complete financial freedom to purchase them.
Suddenly, as he passed in front of one of the high-security cages at the back, Dante came to an abrupt stop. His eyes widened.
Bound by heavy energy-suppression chains was a young woman with an imposing yet refined physique. She possessed a pair of curved horns protruding from her head, soft bovine ears, and a voluptuous figure that her tattered clothes could barely conceal. She was a demi-human of the cow race.
'Minerva?'
Dante's mind reeled as he recognized her.
Dante stared at her and licked his dry lips. The main reason he recognized her immediately was the peculiar collar she wore and the fact that, although she was not the main heroine of the central plot, she was one of his favorites for a very obvious reason... His eyes inevitably drifted for a second toward her prominent bust. 'She definitely has one of the largest chests in the entire novel.'
She was destined to become one of the original transmigrator's heroines. She was not merely a frontline warrior with monstrous physical talent; she possessed a latent magical quality that would prove astonishing to any mage in the future.
'But here's the problem... Why the hell is she locked up here?' Dante thought, bewildered as he gazed at the first heroine he had seen face-to-face since arriving in this world.
He frowned, confused by the temporal inconsistency, but the logical answer came to his mind in a flash.
'Of course... In the novel she appears in the Empire a few years from now, but Oakhaven is the closest human kingdom to the Southern Demi-Human Lands. Any trafficker who captured her at the border would have had to pass through this frontier city before transporting her to the markets of the great imperial powers.'
In the original plot, Minerva spent years suffering abuse in different merchant caravans before being rescued by the other MC, which completely hardened her character. But at this precise moment, she had only just been captured; her indomitable spirit had not yet been broken, and her sale price in a small kingdom like Oakhaven would be ridiculously low compared to the astronomical value she would reach in the Empire.
A cunning smile appeared on Dante's face as he observed the fierce and defiant gaze the demi-human directed at the merchants. Fate had just handed him one of the greatest trump cards in the story on a silver platter, long before the original hero even knew of her existence.