At night,
The magus city Lonburg was, as the name suggested, a city where the old and retired magi came to spend the rest of their lives.
In the city, there also lived ordinary humans, but all of them were restricted to the southern district of the city.
The magi mainly lived in the central, northern, western, and eastern districts, which were further divided into inner and outer parts. If someone who wasn't a magus wanted to live in the these districts, then the only way would be to become a slave of a magus.
Currently, a young man wearing clothes of ordinary commoners reached the gates of the central district.
"Wait, you can't ente…!" The guard, who was a grade 3 acolyte, said as he stepped forward to stop this young man from entering, but in the next moment, the guard sensed slight magus radiation and coughed up a mouthful of blood.
"Lord magi! Forgive me!" The guard knelt on the ground as he begged for forgiveness.
"Hm." This young man was Tirus, who had rushed here after breaking through and becoming a rank 1 magus.
"Here are 5 magic crystals." He paid the guard the entrance fee as he made his way inside the central district.
The central district was tens of times better than the southern district in terms of living environment. Tirus estimated that the central district alone was at least 1200 km² in terms of land area.
A few hours later, Tirus bought a luxurious black robe for himself, befitting his official magus status.
....
Central district, Inner part, slave market,
Tirus entered the shop that sold slaves.
It was a four storied building built with granite rocks with a wooden board on which "Ekart Slave Shop" was carved.
Although this shop looked simple, it was actually one of the top 100 slave shops in the entire south coast.
The staff invited Tirus to the VIP room as soon as they noticed Tirus's rank 1 magus radiation.
"Esteemed lord magus, I am the owner of this shop, how may we help you? What kind of slaves would you like to buy?" The shop owner asked, he was a fat man who looked to be in his mid-twenties, but his low vitality stated otherwise. He was also a rank 1 magus.
"I want 5 grand knight slaves, 3 males and 2 females, and 1 acolyte slave proficient in the subject of formations." Tirus stated his requirements.
"As you say, lord magus, just wait a moment!" The shop owner said, as he ordered his servants to go and fetch the slaves.
"Anything else that you may need, sir magus?" The shop owner inquired.
"Hm, I intend to live here for a while." Tirus replied.
"Oh, lord magus, if you don't mind, I know someone who can help you find a suitable mansion." The shop owner suggested.
"Oh, then please do tell me who he is and where can I find him?" Tirus answered almost immediately.
.....
After a few days,
In the Inner parts of the Central district,
There was a huge two storied mansion made up of white granite rocks with a garden which spanned over 400 m².
In the huge, luxurious mansion lived a magus who rarely came out. This magus was Tirus, but he called himself "Robert" in front of others because he had already faked his death.
It cost him a total of 118,000 magic crystals to buy both the slaves and this mansion.
Currently, two grand knights were patrolling the surroundings.
The third grand knight was inside the experimental desk inside the laboratory.
Currently, Tirus was carefully carving a rune on the body of the grand knight.
He was converting his grand knight slave into a branded swordsman. He got the technique to carve the brands in the inheritance, for both male and female knights.
He had also done a lot of research on slave marks and had even improved the slave marking technique. Now if he wanted to, then he could even put a brand on rank 1 magi, that is, if their soul was heavily damaged.
Soon, the grand knight's muscles spasmed as spiritual force started entering his body through the brand.
"Success!" Tirus exclaimed in joy as he called his other grand knights inside. One by one, he branded them all.
"Oof, that took a lot of effort!" He sighed as he ordered his acolyte slave, whom he named number 6, to go and buy him a bird as well as a beast contract paper.
Normal beast contracts were different from undead beast contract since he, the owner, wouldn't be able to freely modify the contracted beast's body. But he didn't think that it would be necessary to modify the contracted beast's body if it is naturally strong.
The only reason he modified his previous pet, Hawke's, body was because of two reasons. First was that Hawke was just an ordinary eagle, so he needed to modify it's body to increase its power. Second reason being his curiosity about the topic of body modifications.
…
"Shriek!"
The black bird shrieked as Tirus branded his mark on its soul and made a contract with it. Now, he could freely control this black bird and it could share its sense of vision and hearing with him.
This bird was a black-headed cowbird. It had astonishing speed and could use sound waves to attack its enemies, upon reaching maturity, it would be able to easily kill ordinary rank 3 acolytes.
"Good bird." Tirus said as he caressed its head.
To be continued….