Tsunade stood in the middle of the dusty avenue and watched the last of the traders melt into the crowd. For a moment her expression stayed unreadable. Then something quiet and assessing moved behind her eyes.
‘So our Sage-sama isn’t only naïve. He has a strong sense of justice as well. I suppose the Temple is in for an interesting few years. We might have our work cut out for us.’
She drew a small metal badge from inside of her long Hanfu-styled clothing’s front fold and held it high enough for the remaining onlookers to see. The Temple crest caught the late light.
“Who holds the trading rights for this group of slaves?” Her voice carried cleanly over the market noise. “Step forward now, or we will seize the entire lot for obstructing an official procession.”
The badge did what shouting of the knights had not all this time. People who had been lingering around to see what commotion was all this suddenly found urgent reasons to be elsewhere. Only two men remained near the poles. The older of them stepped forward first, already rubbing his palms together in the universal gesture of a merchant about to become extremely polite.
“It is this humble one’s business, honored official,” he said, bowing low. “No offense was intended….”
The large knight’s hand settled on the hilt of his sword. “Why is this business conducted in the open roadway? Who gave you permission?”
The merchant’s mouth worked soundlessly. When the steel began to clear the scabbard, he dropped to his knees so fast his companion had to steady him.
“Mercy…please…….we’ll move at once….Please have mercy…..”
He scrambled up and began yanking chains free of the poles. When one cuff snagged, he kicked the skinny boy hard enough to make the child stumble and nearly fall. Rage flashed across the merchant’s face. Witnessing the casual cruelty of a man who had already decided the goods were damaged, Jiro took a step forward. Tsunade’s hand closed around his wrist.
“Let me,” she murmured.
She turned the full weight of her attention on the kneeling trader.
“And what gives you the audacity to strike a human being right in front of Temple officials? Do capital traders fear us so little these days?”
The man pressed his forehead to the cobblestones instantly hearing this. “Mercy, Madam, please…..my associate will clear them immediately….”
“And what crime,” Jiro cut in before the man could finish, “did that boy commit to end up in chains?”
Tsunade’s head turned slightly. Surprise flickered across her face, then something closer to quiet resignation when she looked at how Jiro looked at the boy. The merchant, sensing permission in her silence, answered in a hurried rush.
“No crime, my lord. His father sold him. I heard he needed coins to treat his older son’s injury. Maybe it was better to keep the breadwinner than feed another mouth that can’t work, I suppose.” His eyes flicked over the boy’s thin frame. “As you can see.” New chapters come out on novelping.com first.
Jiro’s stomach turned when he heard the reason. ‘Huh? How can people sell another human being just for that reason?’
“So? How much did you pay for him?”
The merchant’s mouth closed tight. Tsunade leaned close enough that only Jiro could hear.
“Jiro-sama. A merchant never names his buying price so openly. You can’t ask that kind of thing out in the open.”
Jiro adjusted without missing a beat. “Fine. How much are you asking?”
The man brightened with the relief of familiar ground, showing the front of his teeth. “Heh… I bought him hoping some rich household would take a young face and teach him letters…turn him into a steward or something else. I guess I overestimated, it seems. The boy’s too weak. Stammers when he speaks, too. I lost quite a lot of coins on him already, my lord. For a lord such as yourself… three taels.”
‘What the fuck?!.... Three taels?’
Jiro’s mind blanked for a second. A single copper bought two days of simple food in Doldia. Three taels was three thousand coppers, the entire emergency purse his mother had pressed into his hands the night before they left. He stared at the boy, then at the merchant, with his throat tight.
‘Mom only gave me two. I thought that would last me a while even if the Temple allowance came late. But if I spend it all on this kid…’
Before he could speak, Tsunade’s voice cut cleanly through the market noise.
“Three taels? You blocked an official road for goods of such little value?”
Jiro’s thoughts stumbled. ‘Hey, what do you mean ‘little value’....are you crazy?’
Tsunade was already drawing three silver ingots from an inner pocket. She placed them into the companion’s waiting hands. The man bowed so low his forehead nearly touched his knees. The older trader’s face split into a relieved, oily smile.
“Where shall the merchandise be delivered, honored…..”
“Nowhere.” Tsunade’s tone left no room. “My people will take him as we leave. Hand over the ownership papers.” She flicked a glance at the large knight. The man understood at once. He took the trader by the arm and the boy by the chain and led them both away from the thinning crowd. As they passed, the boy looked back once. When his eyes found Jiro still standing in the middle of the street, a small, uncertain smile touched his cracked lips.
The carriage door closed again with that same solid, expensive sound. The city resumed its slow slide past the windows. For a long minute the only noise was the creak of leather and the distant calls of the market falling behind them.
Jiro reached into his satchel, pulled out the small cloth pouch his mother had given him, and held it out across the space between the seats.
“Miss Tsunade. Mother only gave me two taels of silver. I’ll make up the rest once the Temple allowance starts. I was thinking about haggling the price down a little, but before I could, you stepped in.”
Tsunade accepted the pouch, weighed it once in her palm, then set it on the seat beside her without opening it. The faint smile she gave him was enough to put Jiro’s mind at ease for some reason.
“I knew exactly what was going through your head. You were measuring how far you could push the price down, right? And that particular trader would have folded too, I tell you that. Men like him always do when Temple steel is still in sight.”
Jiro frowned. “Then why pay full price? That was basically my money you spent. Why hand him three taels without even trying?”
“Because the moment you asked for a number, I knew you intended to buy the boy yourself. I could not let you haggle in the open street.”
“Why not? Is haggling forbidden for slaves?”
Tsunade exhaled; the sound was more like halfway between a sigh and a quiet laugh.
“Hm-fff…. Sometimes I truly envy how innocent you are, Jiro-sama. And no. Haggling is not forbidden. But if officials of the Temple begin pressing a merchant we have already caught in the act of blocking a road, every tongue in the capital will say we abused our position to cheat a common trader. Rumors travel faster than carriages here, you see. And when those rumors add that the new Sage himself was the one driving the bargain on the very day he arrived…” She tilted her head. “Don’t you see, the Temple’s name suffers. Your name suffers, too. One extra tael is a small price to keep both our names clean. Don’t you agree?”
Jiro sat back. The logic settled over him slowly, heavy and practical. Before in the village, he never had to think about such things. Rations, cash management at the apothecary, all of it was handled by others till now. They never let him do any of it for some reason he still doesn’t get. But this time he at least understood and learned that it was better not to haggle in some places.
“Oh.” He rubbed the underside of his cheek. “I didn’t think that far. I guess… I owe you one.”
Tsunade’s smile widened just enough to show a hint of teeth.
“You had better not forget it.”