In the morning of the slum district, which has been renamed to Kars' Domain ever since the grand reconstruction and renovation of the slum were completed two days ago, five wagons filled with people could be seen being led inside one of the large warehouse buildings near the slave resident zone by Kars' homunculi.
"Everyone out!" A low, raspy voice resounded inside the busy warehouse as one of the homunculus soldiers used the butt of his spear to knock loudly on the side of one of the five wagons to urge the people sitting inside to get out.
"C-Coming...!" One of the people in the wagon that was hit by the spear hurriedly said as he and the rest quickly stumbled out from the wagon, their faces filled with anxiety and fear as they looked around the warehouse that was filled with random objects nervously.
As for who these people are, they are Kars' new indentured slaves who just arrived and are now about to be sorted into various available jobs in Kars' domain to work and repay their debt.
Among them is a young woman with melancholic brown eyes, short brown hair that is tied in a side ponytail, a shoulder-length hair strand hanging on the right side of her face, and four moles on her face: two under her left eye, one on the lower right side of her mouth, and one on her left cheek.
She is wearing a slightly oversize white kimono with mismatched patchwork, giving off the vibe of misfortune, and she has two red hair clips on the left side of her head.
The young woman in the oversized kimono was fidgeting behind the others of her group as she tried to make herself unnoticeable as much as possible.
"Line up!" The homunculus soldier's spear butt thumped against the ground as he ordered the clueless new arrivals into formation before the on-standby slave workers that were responsible for sorting the newcomers, immediately moving in front of the lineup of new arrivals with clipboards in their hands as they began calling out the people with special skills such as craftsman, farmer, or merchant first.
"Kobeni, come forward!" After those with special skills got led away, finally the name of the young woman in the oversized kimono was called. She flinched slightly, her fingers tightening around her clothes as she shuffled forward, her head lowered timidly.
One of the sorting workers that called her name, an old woman with glasses and an outfit that looked like an old-school teacher, barely glanced at her as she was looking down at the clipboard, reading Kobeni's profile silently.
"Hmm, with your poor rating, there are only three available jobs for you at the moment..." the old woman muttered with no emotion on her face while she pushed her glasses up her nose as she skimmed over Kobeni's info.
"Option one, a kitchen assistant. Your duties will be preparing ingredients, assisting cooks, cleaning cooking utensils, and occasionally serving food to the other workers. And as for option two, a cleaning staff—this job's duties will be cleaning anything that can be cleaned, maintaining a good sanitation level in the boss's domain, and also doing laundry for the other workers." The old woman listed the first two jobs' descriptions and their duties to Kobeni with an even tone before she suddenly gave her a subtle gaze that made Kobeni uncomfortable. "Or option three... a maid serving in the boss' residence... this job will require some 'commitment' from you, however."
"So which one would you choose, girl?" The old woman is then staring at Kobeni as she asks.
"Uhh... I'm..." Kobeni's back began sweating slightly against the fabric of her oversized kimono as she glanced at the old woman with apprehension.
The first two options sounded easy and safe enough, but the third option, which is serving directly under Kars? That's a hard no-no for Kobeni since the silence implication from the old woman definitely means that she will have to offer her body to Kars if he demands it.
"I—I chose the...!" Her voice cracked slightly from speaking too fast before she tried again, slower. "I-I chose the kitchen assistant, please..."
"Are you sure...? You are of suitable age and not bad-looking, and if the boss sees you favorably, your debt might be gone quickly..." The old woman's eyebrow rose as she tried to tempt the young woman to reconsider.
Kobeni's heart skipped a beat at the old woman's words, and she was slightly tempted to change her mind, but she also didn't really want to lose her last precious thing that she was left with after her parents sold her to get rid of their debt, which is her virginity.
She wanted to be able to give it to someone she loved who would appreciate it rather than to someone like Kars, who was likely going to just treat her like a plaything that he could discard as he pleased.
"The kitchen assistant, please." Kobeni's expression becomes more resolute as she nods, her voice firm with her decision made.
"Very well... I guess the girls these days are not that ambitious anymore... ahh, if only I were 30 years younger..." The old woman mumbled with a regretful tone as she marked Kobeni's choice before she called out to one of the homunculi to lead Kobeni to her dormitory room that she would share with the others.
Kobeni kept her head down, focusing on the heels of the pure white-skinned man in front of her as she followed the silent soldier through various buildings and the indentured slaves walking around Kars' domain, which really changed from a depressing slum it once was to a decent place with clean streets and functional sewers if you can ignore the heavy presence of the homunculi and the very few signs of freemen walking around here, of course.
"Maybe this is not so bad..." Kobeni mumbled as she felt a little bit better now that she realized that she wouldn't have to deal with her family anymore.
"I just have to wait twenty years for my freedom, hehehe..." Despite saying that with a cheerful tone, she wonders why sweat is coming out of her eyes...
÷×÷×÷×÷×÷
Meanwhile, inside the living room of Kars' mansion, Kars was sitting lazily on the couch with a small, creepy green glowing ball of a wailing man's face in his hand as he used it like a stress ball. Next to him was Kruri, who was also lazing around on her stomach together with him while her head rested on his lap.
"Pet me, you should..." the dupe girl says in a monotone voice as she moves her head left and right with her chin dug into Kars' hard thigh, acting like a spoiled baby girl wanting to be spoiled by her daddy. "And spoil your coolest daughter, you must..."
"I'm not your dad, though, and why do you even speak like Yoda...?" Kars glanced down at Kruri with a snort and petted her head like she demanded as he slowly stroked her long back hair that she let loose and unlike that silly horns hairstyle her sister loves to do with her hair so much.
"Mmmh..." Kruri hummed with narrowed eyes, feeling quite content as Kars' fingers ran through her hair.
"Hmph..." Juri, on the other hand, was quite confused at what she was currently feeling right now as she saw the two of them acting all chummy like that and could only huff with unexplainable dissatisfaction as she ate candies from a big jar that was sitting on her lap on another couch next to them.
The three of them just finished their training, and today's training was only focusing on stamina and agility, so Juri is not too exhausted like usual when she fights with Kruri, but tomorrow Kars is definitely going to make them spar with each other again, and Juri doesn't really look forward to being beaten by her smug dupe very much.
She feels herself getting stronger from what Kars put her through, of course, but no matter how much she improves, Kruri will always beat her in their spar since her dupe seems to have more experience than her. She even complained to Kars that it is unfair, but he just laughed and called her stupid. How infuriating it was when he was messing with her hair while he was mocking her.
Under Juri's inconsequential glare, which is being ignored by him as usual, Kars is currently thinking about what he should do next, as the construction of the Kolosseum is about to finish and he has no big project he is planning to do next since now it's just a waiting game for his power and influence to grow passively.
"Should I start some shit with one of the council members? Mei Mei also said that some of them are bitching too much about me having too many soldiers..." Kars mused aloud, squeezing the wailing green ball absentmindedly until its screams became higher pitched as he popped it like a balloon in his hand, making Juri quite uncomfortable as someone's soul was being crushed just like that.
"Please don't make such a ruckus without justification." Sophia, who just coincidentally arrived inside the living room and was carrying a small stack of papers under her armpit, sighed as she saw Kars' fingers still glowing slightly with the remnant of green energy from the soul of the man who annoyed him quite a bit when that guy decided to foolishly commit suicide to escape his debt.
"Our infamy is only useful when people think we are still capable of reason... otherwise it just becomes inconvenient if everyone treats us like monsters," Sophia continued, placing the papers on the low table before she used her telekinesis magic that Kars bestowed upon her to ruthlessly pick up the grumbling girl from Kars' lap like a small kitten, and then she replaced the dupe girl there as Sophia leaned her body against Kars with her head resting against his shoulder. "You won't want people to label you as a bandit, right?"
"Bandit, huh? That's not too bad actually..." Kars chuckled like he considered it, though Sophia knew that he was just joking as he wrapped his strong arm around her waist. "How easy that would be if I could just act like a bandit and take anything I want... and besides, I have a feeling that someone will definitely slip up and give me an opportunity soon, so you can rest easy..."
"Haa... right, we are just too eye-catching, I suppose..." Sophia sighed before she relaxed completely in Kars' arm as the room became quiet, but somehow the atmosphere oddly felt like a moment before a disaster hit.
"By the way..." Sophia muttered as her hand petted Kars's lap softly before her dark red fingernails traced towards his soft spot...
"Yeah...?" Kars responded to his concubine while he was unconsciously bracing himself since he also sensed something off about the atmosphere.
"Do you really need more maids in the mansion, I wonder?" Sophia asked in a calm voice, but her fingers that were already pinching on his thigh said otherwise.
"Well, Siesta might just drop dead otherwise if she doesn't have backup soon..." Kars' lips twitch as his concubine's fingers tighten even more on his thigh when she hears that, so he has to explain what he means. "I mean... the housework, you know?"
"Hmmm..." Sophia's fingers stopped twisting, but they remained in place. Her pale blue eyes glint with an unsettling light as she tilts her head to observe Kars' expression closely.
"So what you are saying is that you are not going to touch those new maids; is that right?" She asked, her eyes locked onto Kars's face, who refused to make eye contact, with a dead stare and a sharp edge in her voice that made even Kruri, who had been sprawled lazily on the floor, turn to glance at them.
While Sophia was trying to drive Kars into a corner, Juri, on the other hand, sensed the opportunity to get back at him and immediately seized her chance, crunching candy loudly between her teeth as she grinned.
"Hmph, he just wants more girls to grope!" She chimed, though the instant she spoke, Kruri's foot shot out and kicked her ankle to make her quiet. "Ow?! What are you doing, you idiot?!"
"Oh?" But alas, Juri's word has already made Sophia's fingers more aggressive as she is pinching against Kars' thigh again while the man himself is giving the loudmouth girl a glance that promises pain.
"An interesting hypothesis," Sophia said, her eyeballs almost touching his at this point. "Perhaps Juri is on to something, don't you think so too...?"
"..." Kars can only stay silent as he receives his concubine's jealous wrath while he intends to teach Juri a harsh lesson later...