After the Adventurer's Guild joined us, the speed of retaking Old Chalm increased considerably. With Miki churning out Rosary powder, we were able to take one building at a time with ease. I made sure that everyone knew it was Miki's alchemy skills that made this possible, and her position in the village was cemented. Fortunately, other adventurers had other means of battling ghosts. It turned out while ghosts were immune to physical damage, magic was something that could harm them.
Spirit and mana were two different things, they clarified to me, and both could hurt ghosts. That meant that wolfgirl magician apprentice would be useful in fighting off the ghosts. Furthermore, I had more than enough coin at this point in order to buy her. Well, Lydia might be angry about it, but freeing slaves was a good deed, right?
While paying off my debt with Figuro, I asked about the girl, and he revealed that she was actually sold a few days ago. Beautiful women like her sold quickly, especially when they were that cheap. Had I known that… well, it probably wouldn't have changed much. There was no crying over it. She was gone. It was just a curiosity; I wasn't going to buy her. I respect Lydia and Miki too much, and they both make me happy.
"I hear you're going to be taking the mansion soon." Figuro spoke after he finished counting the coins. "You might want some more help on that."
"Are you suggesting I hire more slaves?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Since our transaction is finished, my caravan will be heading out. We'll be heading to the capital. I officially work for the slave union. It's like the Adventuring Guild, but for slavers. That's where the biggest Slave market is, and where I'll go to build up my stock. A lot of criminals in the capital."
"What about the slaves left in the caravans? Didn't Chalm buy up everyone honest?"
Figuro shrugged. "It depends on how much you believe in second chances. Not all criminals are the worst of the worst. A few just fell on hard times."
I suppose it doesn't hurt to look. I guess I'd like someone good at magic. It'd be nice if they knew how to craft stuff too."
"Craftsman, huh? In that case, you're talking the fae races."
"Fae?"
"Ah… do you know about the phylogeny of the species?"
"Probably not." I frowned.
"Haha… that's fine. It's not something everyone learns about. Simply put, all the current races came from one of three primordial lines."
"Is that like earth, water, sky?" I asked.
Figuro blinked and then smiled. "Ah… that's a good guess, but actually… the three lines were body, mind, and spirit."
"Oh…" I was trying to guess based on role-playing conventions, it looked like I had guessed in the wrong direction. "Isn't that like physical, mana, and spiritual attacks?"
Figuro nodded. "You're right, that's kind of the point. Living beings are made up of three things, body, magic, and spirit. Thus… if you wish to kill something, you must target one of these three."
"So, what does that have to do with this filo.. um…"
"Phylogeny of species?" Figuro nodded. "Well, every living thing does not need to have all three, body, magic, and spirit. In fact, many species outside of humans do not. The ghosts… for example, have no body, yet are considered a living entity."
"What about zombies?"
"They have a body and are moved by mana, but a spirit attack would be useless."
"Interesting…"
"Anyway, the original races were 3 primordial creatures. They were the creatures of mana, the faes. The creatures of spirit, the angels, and the creatures of body, the demons. Over time, the blood of the primordial races was diluted and crossbred. All modern creatures are said to descend from one of these primordials. Those that descend from faes are unusually strong in magic. They're good at building and creating. There are the dwarves, the elves, the halflings, the fairies, the sidhe, and so on. Those of the body are mostly considered monsters. Goblins, minotaurs, vampires, orcs, and so on. Spirit beings are very rare. They actually tend to exist on another plane of existence from those with bodies. Except for things like ghosts and elementals, there are only a handful of spirit beings that interact with other living."
"What does that mean about humans?" I asked.
"Human beings are said to be a perfect balance of all three. Demihumans have a bit more body and spirit, but only humans are considered the perfect mixture of all three. We are the perfect balance of destruction, creation, and aloofness don't you think?"
"I see…" I responded, not sure how to react.
"How about we see those slaves, huh?"
He decided to change the conversation once he saw my eyes glassing over.