Name: Luna
Age: 17
Level: 1 [Sealed]
Class: Dragon Princess
After using [Inspect] on Luna, Kio didn't know what to comment on first.
"What the hell... her level is sealed, and her class is a … dragon princess?!"
Kio unknowingly muttered under his breath. Every new piece of information had shocked him to some degree.
However, the bigger question is, how come he can see a field for her level this time?
Since the only change that happened between the two uses of [Inspect] is becoming her new slave owner and inviting her to the party, Kio decided to test something.
He used [Inspect] again, but this time on Riko.
Name: Riko
Age: 20
Level: 1
Class: Spiritualist
'I see… looks like I can inspect the levels of other people, as long as that person is in my party.'
Riko and Yuki were standing close to Kio ever since he overwrote Luna's slave crest.
When Kio muttered his words, they didn't catch it, but Luna was able to hear him since she was literally right next to him.
"You! How did you see my status?! My father should've casted his skill on me to render all [Inspect] skills to be useless."
"Eh? Well… you joined my party, so I could see it…"
"Party? Didn't you invite me to your adventurer's party? What are you talking about?"
"Well, you see… let's just say we have a special skill that allows us to see our party member's details."
"Do you know what you have just done!? I have already told you that outside of my family, only my fated partner is allowed to know about my class and race."
"You did mention that earlier, but you pretty much gave me permission to see it by accepting my party invite."
"Kuu… since this has already happened, there's only three options available for us."
"Huh, why? Can't you just pretend it didn't happen? Besides, you didn't inform any of us about your class or race."
"Discovering my details has the same meaning as me personally telling you about it. My clansmen would say the same thing if they heard about it, and if anyone breaks this rule, the clan elders would eternally imprison the offender."
"Can't you just hide it from them?"
"My clan elders can see through all forms of deception with their artifact."
"I see… well, what are the three options then?"
"One, you die."
"Pass, I don't want to die."
"Two, I die."
"Uhh… what's the third option?"
"H-how could you say that!? Can't you be as firm in rejecting this as the first option?"
"Ehh.. let's hear the third option first."
Pouting her mouth, Luna told Kio the third option, "Three, you become my fated partner."
Releasing a deep breath, Kio thought, 'Sigh, I knew the third option would be something like that. She pretty much gave it away based on what she mentioned earlier…'
So, he told her, "Well, it's either option two or three then. Do you want to die or become my partner?"
"Kuu…"
"Well?"
"I… give me a few days to think about it."
At this moment, Luna already had some positive impression of Kio.
Compared to all the other humans she had met so far, he was much better than them.
However, looking at Ren, who was only saving the voluptuous, sexy female slaves, she felt disgusted.
Since Ren and Kio were part of the same group, she was worried that Kio was also another lecherous human male.
Luna had only observed Kio for a few minutes ever since they arrived, so she couldn't decide on whether to become his fated partner or not.
At this moment, Riko interjected into the conversation.
"Hi, Luna? Do you mind if I call you that?"
"Yep."
"Mmkay. Nice to meet you Luna, I'm Riko. Can you explain to us more about the fated partner?"
Although Riko had her suspicions, she wanted to know exactly what it meant to be her fated partner. She had liked Kio for a few years already, and she didn't want to see him get stolen away from her so suddenly.
"Being fated partners would mean connecting our souls together. For the females of my race, when we reach adulthood at the age of 21, we must bear our partner's offspring before the age of 25, otherwise we will lose our chance at ascending. If we fail to ascend, our remaining lifespan diminishes to a human's standard."
"Becoming a human isn't so bad..." Riko uttered, trying to get Luna to drop the idea.
"You! An outsider who knows nothing should stay out of this! Whether I choose to not take this man as my partner or fail to ascend, I will be imprisoned either way. This is the duty of our clansmen to safeguard our secrets."
"Ok ok, calm down Luna," Kio calmly told her as he patted her on the head. "I'll leave the decision to you on whether you want to be my partner or not. For the other matters, we can deal with it in the future, alright?"
"Hmph!"
Luna and Riko turned their heads away from each other while their arms were crossed across their chest.
'It's been awhile since I've seen Riko get upset with anybody. Luna's clan traditions must have really irritated Riko.'
Although Kio was technically correct about the reason for Riko's anger, he had also missed the mark.
He didn't know how he should ease the hostile atmosphere between them.
For now, he has a more immediate issue to deal with, so he took out some items from his inventory.
"Luna, here's a bottle of water and a towel for you to wipe yourself clean with."
Although he wanted to get her to take a bath, he knew now wasn't the time or place for it.
"What is this bottle…? Wow, this cloth is really soft, how was this made?"
"I'll explain about these later, so can you quickly rinse yourself? Riko, can you hold this for now to give her some privacy away from the other's eyes?"
"Kay…"
Taking out a second towel, he passed it to Riko and turned away from them. Luckily for them, Luna's cage was at the edge of the slave building, so with just a towel to block the view from one angle, everybody else wouldn't be able to see her wiping herself.
After Luna quickly cleaned her body, although there was still a faint odor on her if one paid close attention, it was somewhat bearable.
"Here, wear these for now."
Kio passed her a disposable panty and pink sports bra, along with a matching red track pants and jacket, which were originally packed for Kaori.
Briefly looking at the naked Luna, he hoped that Kaori's size would fit her after estimating Luna's body proportions.
"Kio, are you liking what you're seeing?"
Riko glared at him, with a smile that wasn't exactly a smile.
"Woops, sorry. I just wanted to check to see if she was around the same size as Kaori."
Kio quickly turned around, hoping that Riko would accept his excuse.
"Size? Are you sure you don't mean breast size?"
*Cough*
"Ahem… I might've accidentally looked over there for a bit."
Pinching Kio's waist, Riko told him with a bit of anger in her voice, "I could've given her some of Miyu's clothes instead! Kaori and Miyu usually wear each other's clothes anyways."
"Sorry…"
Knowing that he shouldn't anger her any further since he was the one in the wrong, he apologized and decided to stay silent until Luna was done wearing her clothes.
After he turned around, he saw some of the others were still in the process of overwriting the slave crest.
"Hey Jay, where did the others go?"
Outside the slave building, only Jay and Ren were present aside from the slaves and the three girls near Kio.
"They went into the building since they heard there were more slaves in there. The battle-oriented slaves are all inside. Out here, there's only female slaves and cheaper slaves.
Jay repeated what he heard from the old human slave during their conversation.
'I see, that explains why Ren is still out here. With all these female slaves, I hope he would stop having any idea towards Riko or Yuki, and possibly Luna too.'
Looking at the slaves who hadn't gotten their slave crests overwritten yet, he noticed they all had long pointy ears, but their chests were non-existent. Although some of their pretty facial features are still visible, all the dirt along with their gloomy expressions had hidden their beauty.
"Kio, you can turn around now," Riko spoke with a bit of dissatisfaction. Although she was still pouting from Kio's ogling at Luna's chest, she couldn't remain upset for long after she noticed his sympathetic look toward the other slaves.
"Luna, you're looking a lot better than before."
Since she only briefly wiped herself down with a wet towel, her face and limbs were still somewhat dirty.
However, at least most of her scars are now hidden under her clothes. Her unkempt, ashen gray hair showed how long it had been since it had been washed.
'I'm sure she must've been quite the beauty before all this happened to her,' Kio thought, slightly fascinated by the difference from earlier.
Although he knew it was a waste of water, he thought it would be fine since they have a lot more plastic water bottles in their inventory, and they should be able to refill the bottles in the future.
After he stored the empty bottle in his inventory, Riko also wanted to help out, so she asked him, "Kio, can you pass me some of the blood in that cup?"
"Isn't it gross for you?" Kio didn't want to expose her to this dirty process of overwriting the slave crest, but seeing her determined face, he complied.
Taking out her own cup from her inventory, Riko moved towards the elven slaves with a bit of blood in her cup.
She then repeated the same process as Kio did for Luna.
Kio also started to free the elven slaves close to him while Luna and Yuki followed close behind.
"Hey Luna, how come your level is sealed?"
She had already anticipated this question ever since he mentioned her class, so she quickly answered him.
"My father used a special concealment skill on me, which would normally prevent all forms of [Inspect] skills from displaying my information. However, after the slave mark was branded on my body, it triggered a reaction which sealed my level and skills to 1."
From her words, Kio realized that there is a way to conceal one's status from the [Inspect] skill.
He continued to chat with her, hoping to gain more information.
"What was your original level then?"
"I'm not sure. I don't know what my levels were before it was sealed because I hadn't checked it in awhile."
"Is there a way for you to check?"
"Yea, by using a Status Stone, people who don't have the [Inspect] skill will be able to see their own details."
"I see. How do you get those Status Stones?"
"I don't know. You would have to ask my clan elder about how to get one."
"Forget it." He had the [Inspect] and [Minimap] skill anyways, so this Status Stone isn't too important for him.
"Luna, what would happen if multiple people can see your skills?"
"EH!?"
Dread appeared all over her face as if her life was over.