Divine Protection of Many Gods Chapter 3

Chapter 3
Takami no Kago – Chapter 3

On my way back from the guild, there was already a crowd of people on the main street .
“Now then! Today’s last good is this tiger-beast girl! Since there’s some little circumstances, I’ll sell her for 2 gold coins, how about that!”
Seems like it’s a slave trade .
Slaves in this world aren’t entirely used as laborers and fighters . They are also treated as accessories, showing off one’s status . [a]
People, who brought a good slave with them, would be respected by others .
Hence, even if one isn’t a noble, as long they have the money, they could buy a slave .
In this main street, though it isn’t near the area where the nobles live, some reasonably-sized big stores line the road, and it’s also close to the Adventurer Guild .
Probably, the merchant was doing business with those kinds of people as his target market .
The crowd starts buzzing with murmuring; 2 gold coins are about 2 million yen, y’know .
Sure, it’s quite the amount of money if you only used it for living, but it is quite cheap for the price of a slave . If he messed up, he could only make at most 1/10 of the market price .
The crowd might also think so .
“What did’ja mean by little circumstances?”
“She has a [Curse] on her . ”
As though having lost their interest, the crowd started to disperse .
There are also some who run away with a displeased expression .
“Ah! Don’t you worry! It’s okay if you only stand near her!”
“Are you kidding me?! Who the heck would wanna buy a slave who has curse on her?!”
[Curse]
If [Divine Protection] is a gift from God, then [Curse] is said to be a present from Devil .
As for the effect, it has many different kinds of effects like [Divine Protection] .
For example, like my [Divine Protection] that makes me able to see people’s statuses, rise my status,
and also removes abnormal statuses .
But unlike [Divine Protection], in a [Curse]’s case, even the person who has it doesn’t know its effect .
And what makes it worlds different from [Divine Protection]? A [Curse] could spread to other people .
Hence, people hate those who have a [Curse] .
In this world, there are many things that could spread [Curse] .
E . g . , when the items from treasure chest or drop items from monsters in the dungeon were cursed, and also, among high leveled wizard monster, some could cast [Curse] .
However, people who have a [Curse] with them for a long time are few .
Even if that were to happened, one could go to the church to [Dispel] it .
[Dispel] is the church’s biggest source of income .
That’s why there are also cases where among [Adventurer], some have Sacred [Job]s like Priest or Miko .
The church gives excellent adventurers assistance . The existence of monster and dungeon is also taught in the doctrine of the church .
Under that context, they dispatch their priests to each Adventurer Guild . Their real goal is, however, to make a stable source of income from the adventurer, instead of a non-stable one . [1]
Beside [Dispel]ing a [Curse], Sacred [Jobs] could also use restoration magic and other magics to remove abnormal status .
So, as long as there’s a priest in an adventurer’s party, the survival rate of the party would rise considerably .
That’s also the reason why adventurers want [Priest] as a [Job] so badly .
Thus, since there’s no telling when adventurers would get a [Curse], and to get stable source of income, the church will ‘rent’ their [Priest]s to adventurers .
And by rent, it’s not as though the adventurer is paying the [priest] wages on a regular basis, instead, the [Priest] that joined in would bring them to the church and give them some church service .
Thus, the church received a [Donation] as their payment .
Hence, they could cast [Dispel] immediately if someone received a [Curse] from a dungeon or monster .
And if worst came worst, they could go back to town and ask for [Dispel] in the church .
Even so, not all [Curse]s could be dispelled .
For example, the [Curse] one got immediately after they are born
has an effect so strong, even the priests of the church can’t [Dispel] it .
In short, there’s a high possibility that the tiger-beast girl before my eyes got her [Curse] immediately after she was born,
so, this girl has that strong of a [Curse] on her .
And then, as I fixed my gaze at her, the [Divine Protection of the God of Judgment] activated,
and her status showed up .
Ayla Lv . 4
Fighter
15 years old
HP
250
(-250)
Atk
80
(-80)
Agi
155
(-155)
Int
40
(-40)
Luk
0
(-80)
[Curse of Restrain]
Effect: Target’s status reduced to 1/2 Luk status reduced to 0
Target: Self
Holy cow! That’s one heck of curse! Reducing the target status to half is too much!
As though realizing it was me who was staring at her, Ayla stared back at me with a little absentminded expression .
Yup, she’s cute .
With bright, shortcut hair, though she does give off a feeling of being slightly dirty, I can say for sure she’s cute .
Her figure’s great; it came in and curved out where it should, the epitome of an hourglass figure .
The slave dealer guy shouts at Ayla in a bit of a loud voice .
“Dammit! It’s no good after all!! Worst case scenario, I could only toss you into a dungeon and do you ’til you break, huh…”
Now that’s quite a dangerous remark .
Perhaps he thought about tossing her into a dungeon, alone .
Still, why did this slave dealer buy her freedom even though she has a [Curse] on her?
And it seems he must have half expected things would progress like this .
“May I have a moment?”
“What is it, boy? Do you want to buy this girl?”
Replied the slave dealer in a little hopeless voice . Seems like he had given up on the idea of selling her .
“Well, it depends on the conditions . ”
“You mean it?! So, what is it you want to know?”
The slave dealer asked with sparkling eyes .
“Why did you buy her, even though no one would buy her because of her [Curse]?”
“Well, that’s because there’s some rules on what must and must not be purchased and sold by a slave dealer . ”
“There are some rules?”
“Yea, it’s a requirement if you want to be a slave dealer in this country . To know more about people with [Curse] on them, I think that was it . ”
I see, since this nation doesn’t do any census management, they manage people with [Curse] like this .
In that case, the Adventurer Guild unexpectedly might also manage people with [Divine Protection] .
“This girl was treated as deadweight, even in her village . Her strength is also weak for a tiger-beast . ”
Ayla cast her eyes down .
Weakness is a fatal thing to have for a tiger-beast, it seems .
And after she lost her parents, it seems like there was no one in her village who would look after her .
Because of that, she fell into slavery and was sold as a slave .
But, why is it?
For a mere Lv . 4’s status, which has been weakened by the curse, she still has better Agi than me . Isn’t that great?
“For your information, she can cook and do housework . As for battle-power, though she’s weak as a tiger-beast… well, she’ll manage somehow .
Little boy, you’re an adventurer, right? In my humble opinion, she’s quite good as an exploration comrade . ”
“That so? But, the price…”
Though I’m already planning to buy Ayla, I conceal my intention .
Since I can barely afford her with the money I have on hand, I want to cut the price down even a little .
Examining the slave dealer’s attitude, it looks like he wants to sell her as soon as possible, so I think it’s possible for me to get a discount .
In the first place, since I was always alone since coming to this world, I feel a little nervous mentally .
I want someone to rely upon .
Besides, there are also things I wanna try .
And as I look at Ayla in regret, the slave dealer nodded greatly .
“There’s no helping it, if I were to let this chance, I don’t think I could sell her . What about 15,000 Gal?”
Oh, it’s way cheaper . Is it the effect of [Divine Protection of the God of Trading]?
“Got it . I’m good with the price . ”
I took 2 gold coins from the leather bag .
“Oh, thanks!”
The slave dealer hastily accepted the gold coins and gave me back some big silver coins and silver coins as a change .
“Now go, he’s your master now . ”
While saying so, he helped Ayla stand up and pushed her toward me .
“Th-Thank you very much . ”
Ayla stopped several steps before me, and bowed to me as she said so .
As we both locked our eyes, frozen for a few moments, the slave dealer reached out to me .
“If you ever need another slave, just come to me . I always open my stand here,
though I leave the good ones at the company, or you could just visit it if you want .
My shop’s name is Carte Co . and it’s located near the eastern gate of this city . ”
“I see . I understand . ”
After Ayla was sold, it looks like the slave dealer had sold everything as he has cheerfully started tidying up his open stall .
“Then, shall we go?”
I grabbed Ayla’s hand as I headed towards the usual inn .
“Y-Yeah!”
Though, Ayla seems a little nervous as she replied . Well, not that I’m used to women either .
Still, as a master, I should behave as one . I think as such while I straighten my back and walk .
Translator notes and references:
[1] The Church wasn’t seeking donations . They send their people to the Adventurer Guild as individual party’s healers, who would often go out adventuring and bring back their share of the treasure to the Church . Since they have monopoly on the healing business, healers are always hired by adventurers and hence became the source of “stable income”, as opposed to them waiting for people to come to the church and make donations, which is “unstable
income” . Thanks M . A . D!
Editor notes and references:
[a] This is similar to how slavery was in the American south, pre-Civil War . The majority of slaveholders didn’t actually own land, but they desired to at least appear to be wealthy, and owning a slave was seen as a symbol of wealth . The slaves would do things like work the owner’s sharecropper fields . The same can be seen today with people who own and drive expensive cars, but live in run down homes .