Fifteen minutes later…
Ray was following the employee through the establishment, where slaves were kept in all kinds of manners. Some in cages, some just chained to walls, while some in independent rooms. They were separated according to quality, age, demand, rarity and all sorts of various factors.
If one was interested in someone, they would have to ask the employees and negotiate prices.
Ray had already appraised more than three hundred slaves, but even though he found a few interesting ones, nothing caught his eye.
The shop employee also seemed confused. Even the strongest knights or the most beautiful elves didn't interest this customer.
'Is he just wasting my time?'
Finally they reached the top most floor of the building, and he had appraised every single person already.
While he was thinking if he should visit another establishment, he remembered something.
"Hmm… It's all mediocre… nothing interests me."
"I'm sorry but new goods will arrive in a week, so customer would have to wait for a new batch…"
"But… I believe we haven't visited the basement yet?"
"… I'm sorry but that can only be visited by the VIPs."
"How much?"
"Huh?"
"How much for a VIP membership?"
A hint of surprise crossed the employee's eyes, but she smiled immediately afterwards.
"Well, there are four levels of the VIP memberships dear customer can purchase!"
"Please explain the benefits."
Even though he knew it, not asking for the first time would seem suspicious, so he put up an act.
"A silver VIP membership costs 100 gold coins. It allows you access to the basement. A gold membership costs 1000 gold coins and allows access to the basement and a custom communication device which will remotely show all goods available in the shop at the moment. Platinum costs 10,000 gold coins and in addition to the features before, allows the customer to reserve and book goods remotely from home."
"And what about the last level?"
When the employee observed that this customer was not intimidated by the prices but rather interested in the highest level VIP membership, she moved closer to him and with practiced expertise bent forward to show her cleavage and appear as intimate as possible.
"The diamond VIP membership costs 100,000 gold coins, and the user can view goods in the different branches of our establishment, and remotely book any good anytime with forward payment. There is even a request function where you can put in the request for a specific slave and we would try to obtain it for our esteemed customer!"
Ray began thinking for a few moments.
He just needed access to the basement, but getting the diamond membership would let him access the request board of the entire slave market. He could view requests of slaves people would put in there, and even though everyone used a custom communication device provided by the establishment and registered under a fake name, it would still be extremely helpful to him in the future.
"Let's go with the diamond membership!"
"Esteemed Customer will not regret it!"
'Yes, but you guys will.'
Ray immediately transferred a hundred thousand gold coins through his special storage ring.
This ring was an extremely special storage ring, that didn't have a storage space of its own, but was connected to an external storage. In this case, this ring was connected to Ray's personal treasury back in the empire.
When Ray requested something, like gold or weapons or artifacts, the ring would scan his mana signature, and after verifying it belonged to Ray, it would transfer the requested item or items from his treasury to himself.
Only five of these rings existed in the empire. One with Ray and the other with the Empress, while the other ones remained in the royal treasury.
Since these rings would always verify the user's mana signature, someone couldn't use it even after stealing. And even worse, its location could be traced from the storage place it was linked with.
Anyway, after the funds were transferred over, Ray was handed a communication device, which was a small black crystal orb. Putting it in his ring, he followed the employee to the basement, walking past a few buff looking people who were apparently guarding the passage.
The basement has long rows of jail rooms, with bars separating them, while only a bed and a few other minimal facilities were provided within each.
Each cell contained only one slave, while some were empty.
"Let me explain the rule here, dear customer. The basement has slaves which were previously booked or specifically requested by other VIPs…"
"So I cannot buy them?"
"Not directly. But the details and prices for each slave here can be viewed if you touch the orb installed in the wall beside every cell. If you are interested in any particular slave, you could put in a request to talk to the buyer and negotiate a deal with him. You could also pay us double the price and we would give the slave to you if the previous requester doesn't pay any more."
"Alright."
Ray began touching every orb viewing the registered slaves, while also using appraisal on them.
While he touched the orb for the seventh cell and used his appraisal, he suddenly narrowed his eyes.
The slave in this cell was a woman with golden hair, pale skin and slightly long elongated ears. While Ray was observing her, she was sleeping in the bed, under a sleep spell.
She appeared to be around twenty from her information in the orb. She had small breasts that almost appeared flat in the baggy dress she was wearing and was a bit on the short side.
The orb stated the girl's name was Claire and she had a rare ranked 'Disguise System' and she could apparently take on the appearance of someone she had seen before.
But when he appraised her…
[System: Ultimate Deception System (Unique)
Name: Claire
Age: 21
Skills: Perfect Disguise, Random Look Generation, Presence Disguise, Stealth, Fluent Lies, Persuasion, Existence Devour…
Stats: …
Titles: …]
He looked at the selling price, and it was a whopping 11 million gold coins.
To give perspective, 100 copper coins made 1 silver coin and 100 silver coins made 1 gold coin. Just one gold coin was enough to stay in a high class inn room with good food for a whole week. A mediocre plot of land in the central empire would cost around twenty thousand gold and with 11 million gold, one could obtain the best of the best artifacts or weapons from auctions. Even barons generally didn't see this much money in their lifetime.
Ray's own treasury had something like five hundred million gold, and the royal treasury had a few hundred billions or probably a few trillions including the artifacts.
So… to pay this much for this slave…
'It was either a big organization or someone high up the nobility ranks…'
But the reason this slave caught Ray's attention wasn't due to the high price or the unique system she possessed, but rather…
'I have seen her before.'
She was one of the people who were leading the rebellion against him during his second life.
He only remembered her because of a specific skill in her system screen that he was extremely familiar with.
'I'm pretty sure whoever is buying her played a major role in the rebellion during my second life…'
But he didn't make any notable expression, and after viewing the rest of the slaves, left the building.
'Seeing as the orb doesn't show the real information, and no one would pay millions of gold for someone with a rare ranked system, I'm sure someone within the establishment is in cahoots with the buyer.'
He didn't know which employee or employees were linked with the buyer, but showing interest in the slave would bring him unnecessary attention.
After all anyone who was interested in such a slave who wasn't even a top notch beauty for such a price was either a brain-dead fool or… someone who knew something about whatever the buyer was planning.
'What a cunning bastard. Staying anonymous and plotting from the shadows… and even planting traps as precaution… Interesting…'
Even though Ray left, he wouldn't leave them alone.
Even though he had pre-made plans, with such interesting developments, he couldn't help but improvise.
Ray calculated a few things in his mind before he made another plan.
A devilish smile appeared on his face as he thought what his next actions would be.
The slave would be sold off the next day, and as it was just daytime, he had the rest of the day and one night to make preparations.
'I'm really lucky in this life!'