Tenur's Master

"Dear customers, this is the seventeenth auction of the twelfth calendar of the Amri City Human Trade Association." A well-dressed man in white robes and some colorful fabrics said this for everyone there.

The garments of this place were not developed, nor were the local technologies. So the type of clothing commonly seen there were tunics, loincloths, and a few variations.

Individuals of noble origin dressed in more garments, while slaves and the poor usually had one or two pieces at most.

That was the case for Tenur and the other slaves, who were waiting in their cells with only loincloths covering their private parts.

These were the clothes they had received from the human market in Amri!

That auction host continued. "Today, we have four groups of slaves to auction, each containing ten healthy, mostly male captives under 30.

The first group will have starting bids of 50 gold coins, the second of 45, the third of 40, and the fourth and last of 35.

As usual, each has a minimum raise of 1 gold coin."

The monetary system of this world was simple. It had only three types of coins, bronze, silver, and gold, with a difference in each value of only two digits.

In other words, 10,000 bronze coins bought 100 silver coins, which were, therefore, worth one gold coin.

"50 coins? Why so expensive?" A middle-aged, well-dressed, overweight man, i.e., rich, asked as he thought the price was a bit above average for this event.

Usually, the groups at this place had starting prices of less than 45 coins. And as much as only five coins were the difference, this was already quite a lot since usually, the bids ended after 2 or 3 bids.

Two gold coins on top of that, that is, 20,000 bronze coins. That was enough to feed that group of slaves for months!

Not only that, a group of slaves like those would take months to produce a profit of this magnitude.

So it was no slight difference for these rich men to ignore.

"Indeed, the price is a little above average..." A young man Tenur had already seen in the human market said this while standing beside his servants.

Some women in the area continued serving the men there to do business, and that man on the stage answered everyone's questions. "I understand the questioning.

But the group in question had great productivity when they stayed at one of our mines.

They beat all their targets and outperformed the other three groups by a considerable margin.

It was like they had worked two days longer than the other groups!" He smiled, opening his arms in anticipation of his profits with this group.

More than 30 individuals in the surrounding area were satisfied with this answer and did not complain further.

Shortly after that, that man on the stage positioned himself on one side of the stage, making room for the group of 10 slaves, each handcuffed, walking over.

Among them was Tenur and those he had helped in the previous days.

"That..." The short-haired, tanned-skinned, well-dressed, 1.7 meters tall man looked at Tenur's face and identified him.

Tenur was much thinner than before, cheeks drooping, and body smaller. But his face was impossible to mistake since his physiognomies differed greatly from the locals.

With this, the young man who had talked to Tenur days ago recognized him, finding it impressive that a group with this individual had managed to perform above average.

The others knew nothing of Tenur's background, so other than noticing the stranger among Noskain natives. They were just looking forward to the start of this auction.

"Okay, this is the first group to be auctioned.

It is a bit special, as you can see... But don't doubt their performance. These men are like beasts in human bodies!

With that, I start this auction!" He shouted with a smile on his face.

"51 gold coins!"

"52!"

The bidding began, quickly reaching a price of 55 gold coins.

It usually didn't take long to auction off a group of slaves like these. These events usually put only those hard-to-sell captives into groups to offset the human market costs.

So there wasn't much point in investing many coins in slaves that hadn't been attractive enough to be sold individually.

But because of the above-average results of this group, the local nobles and wealthy people were willing to risk a little more.

"59!" The young man who met Tenur earlier gave his bid, startling the other individuals trying to win that batch of captives.

This young man was a low-ranking member of the Touma family, one of the five most powerful noble houses in Noskain.

He was not relevant to his family. Still, compared to nobles of lesser houses, like many there, he was someone to be respected.

When they noticed his interest in that group, some gave up raising the offer, considering the price was already high for ten hard-to-sell slaves.

But someone decided to bet that the young man from the Touma family would not raise the bid.

"60 coins!"

Mero Touma looked toward that person but only frowned, seeing a member of another of the five great families of Noskain.

"61 gold coins!" He shouted as he looked back at the slaves.

In Noskain, there were all kinds of disputes, and it was not uncommon for people to draw weapons in the streets and attack each other. But not every dispute could be easily settled.

Suppose one side pointed their weapons at the other in a mere dispute over a human auction. In that case, both sides could draw a war of revenge for their families over mere 'objects.'

Since these objects were easily replaceable, there was no point in resolving the situation violently.

In this way, neither side was estranged by this situation. One was satisfied to make the young man from his family's opposing house spend more on these slaves.

Since one only wanted to get in the other's way, there was no more bidding. Soon the auction of Tenur's group ended, with that young man from the Touma family becoming the master of these ten captives.

Tenur identified the nobleman who was now his master and felt strange to become the slave of the person who had once rejected him.

But anyway, it was better to have a master than to continue living as a masterless slave!

Right after the signal from the man leading the auction, the local human market workers moved the ten slaves from that stage to make room for the next group to be auctioned.

With that done, the auction continued while those individuals next to Tenur were taken to the nearby harbor, from where Mero's boat was.

Mero would still follow the rest of this auction and had business to do in Amri.

Thus, only hours later, the ten captives would have the chance to meet their master!

...

Three hours later...

Tenur and the other slaves were now kneeling in front of a group of four men.

They had red marks on their right arms, and their expressions showed they were in a lot of pain.

But this was not to be impressed. They had just been marked by hot metal, similar to the small numbers on their foreheads, but which would not fade with time.

In any case, with or without pain, they were standing in front of their lord, Mero Touma, a young nobleman, 22, grandson of the cousin of the current patriarch of this great family of Noskain.

To them, this person was God, regardless of whether his position was prominent.

Thus, they were all looking at him reverently, knowing that their fates depended on the good humor of this man.

"Do you have names?" Mero asked, knowing that slaves should say no, since deciding how to call a slave was the master's right.

But he had no patience to choose names and just wanted to simplify things.

"My lord, we don't..."

"It doesn't matter what they told you in the human marketplace. If you choose, I give you the right to continue with your old names." Mero said, making some of them smile, but others express disappointment.

He then added. "Those who want a new name just choose it. I don't mind.

You just have to let me know before this trip ends."

Thus, Tenur would have his first contact with that man as master and slave, choosing to keep his previous name in this world.