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A Harem in the Fantasy World Dungeon Volume 4 Chapter 1 Part 16

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist

「Sherry is a sixteen years old Dwarf who failed to become a Master Smith, but she has agreed to become a sex slave. Moreover, she is still a virgin, so there will be no risk of you catching any disease from her in the event that you decide to buy her.」

Now that Roxanne has left her seat, he can finally speak freely about such things, huh? Or maybe it is actually the other way around, and he arranged for the old lady to come here with him precisely because he wanted to use her as bait in order to draw Roxanne out of the room so that we could talk about those definitely sensitive topics? Well I will be damned, I really was not the only one having wicked thoughts after all! Moreover, it would seem that everyone else around me thought about them much more than I actually did!

「I see.」

「Michio-sama, with all due respect, I could not help but t notice that you seem to be unaware of the peculiarities of other races, so allow me to give you a helping hand by explaining one of them related to the Dwarves, since that seems to be one of your greatest concerns in regards to Sherry’s purchase. Although it is true that in Dwarven culture the thinning of their ears is associated with the process of aging, I assure you that there is no need for you to be concerned about that in Sherry’s case. For you see, she is something of a peculiarity even among her own kinsmen, because she was already born with her ears this thin.」

Yep, this guy definitely overheard my conversation with Roxanne and that is why he is doing his best to sweep all of my concerns aside. Now, the question is how much of it is actually true, and how much of it is just lip service aimed at getting the negotiation back to the course that is more favorable for him.

「Michio-sama, since you are so concerned about Sherry’s price, then if I were in your place I would have considered here a real bargain, since that curious feature of hers actually lowers her overall price for a bit.」

Then maybe it was actually good thing that he was listening in on our conversation? Because without that, I am sure that he would have definitely tried to set the price for her to be as high as possible. Man am I glad that I managed to buy Roxanne at a real bargain price, although it was the one that required the most legwork out of me when I was still not all that well versed in how this world and its Labyrinths worked.

「Let me get this straight, just to make sure that I understand it correctly: you are willing to lower Sherry’s price even though no member of the races other than Dwarves would ever be concerned about such a minor detail like the shape of her ears?」

「Actually, it is the other way around: I am doing that exactly because for the members of other races, the shape of a Dwarf’s ears is the only way to determine how old they are.」

「Hmm. . .  I guess that makes sense.」

That argument was pretty understandable, since I could definitely agree that if I am to pay a large sum of money for a slave, then naturally I would prefer them to be a young, pretty gal and not someone who would just randomly keeled over and died from old age one day without any prior warnings. I mean seriously, if you are getting yourself slaves, what is even the point of them being old? They younger they are, the better. That way they could serve you for much longer, both with the household chores and in bed.

「Another point that might be of importance to you is the fact that since Sherry is a first-year slave, then the taxes that you will have to pay for her will be that much lower.」

「A first year slave? What is that?」

That is the first time I have ever heard such a term being used, so I asked Alan-san for an explanation.

「Usually masters, the people who own their own slaves, are required to pay ten thousand Nars per year for each slave that they own, while on the other hand, ordinary citizens living in regular households are taxed with thirty thousand Nars per year. If that difference could have been taken advantage of, then people surely would use it to commit tax evasion without a second thought. So, because of that those who are in their first year of serving as a slave after they lost their freedom are required to pay the same amount of tax money as the ordinary citizens, and Sherry’s first-year tax has yet to be paid.」

So the amount of money you have to pay is thirty thousand Nars per year for the common citizens and ten thousand Nars per year for slaves, huh? Yeah, I can totally see that system being abused for the purposes of tax evasion, just like Alan-san said. When you become a slave the tax you have to pay is ten thousand Nars instead of thirty thousand Nars, so if you become a slave and then buy your freedom back soon after the taxation period ends, you will technically emerge from that situation twenty thousand Nars richer. So in order to prevent such system abuses from happening, it has been decreed that a slave who is in his or hers first year of servitude as a slave has to pay as much money as the ordinary citizen, thirty thousand Nars. I am technically classified as a Freeman who has to pay one hundred thousand Nars in tax per year for myself, so if I tried to use that trick, I could potentially save up to a whooping seventy thousand Nars in tax. However, as tempting as that method seems to be, there is one potential drawback that might hinder me from trying to go through with it: once I made myself into a slave, I might not be able to go back to being a Freeman, and that is something that I would rather not risk.

Incidentally, what was Roxanne’s tax? She mentioned that she was sold into slavery by her relatives who could not afford to pay her share of the taxes, so when I was buying Roxanne, it must have been not her first year as a slave. In that case, maybe her tax was already included in the price that I had to pay for buying her?

「I understand.」

「I am glad to hear it. Now, because of Sherry’s ears, unfortunately I am unable to sell her for the price that she is really worth. Normally, I would have charge about three hundred thousand Nars for someone like her, but there is also a matter of the fact that it has not been all that long since we have started her training, so in light of that, what would you say for a price of two hundred seventy thousand Nars for her?」

And there it is: the price that Alan-san offered me for buying Sherry. It is already much better than what I had to pay for acquiring Roxanne, but it was still a bit high because he was trying to sell not a man, but a beautiful girl who is also a virgin. In Roxanne’s case I was pretty desperate due to my circumstances at the time, but right now I am not all that desperate, so I think that in this particular case I might allow myself to be just a little bit greedy.

「Hmm. . . that price seems like it is still a little bit high. If possible, could you lower it just a bit more?」

「Then how about two hundred and sixty. . . no, two hundred and fifty Nars? That is already a very fair price, and as much as I can lower it to still call this transaction a profitable one.」

Two hundred and fifty thousand Nars, huh? That is a nice drop indeed, but let us see if we can get him to drop it down just a little bit lower.

「So much, huh?」

「Yes, that is my final offer.」

Okay, now that he has said that, pushing for any more of a discount will probably be pretty unreasonable. . . is what I would have said if it was not for the final ace up my sleeve!

「If I may add something, I remember that when I was buying Roxanne, she came with a set of clothes included. If the same could be done with Sherry here, then what would the final price for her purchase be?」