Chapter 450

Ajax had returned to his room alone leaving everyone else worried for him. He didn’t know how to handle seeing the darker side of his actions and needed time to process it. 

“What’s wrong with your prodigy?” Solderon asked. 

“He’s just coming to terms with the realities of the world.” While the prince’s words sounded cold he had full trust in Ajax not being affected too much by this. 

In his room, now that he had some time to think it through logically, Ajax had come to the conclusion that what he did didn’t affect slaves that much, they were already slaves before and they were already being ‘trained’ before he ever made anything public. Once he reached that conclusion he went to sleep, tired from the emotional response.

The next day Ajax returned to the slave markets with a new goal. He wanted to purchase a few slaves that he would later free while also hopefully gaining a few retainers out of it. 

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Anna asked him once she heard he wanted to return to the slave markets. “You could spend your entire fortune and you wouldn’t even put a sizable dent in the slave market.” 

“I’m not here to spend everything in hopes of atoning for something.” Ajax reassured her as he quickly passed the older slaves and headed for the area that sold children. 

One thing Ajax had realized as he thought about it was that slaves actually had some of the best foundations. Not even nobles put their children through such rigorous and torturous training regimen from such an early age, for obvious reasons.

Ajax had focused his search on children around the ages of seven years old. His [Inspector’s Eye] being a great tool as he could look into what skills the children already had as well as their stats.

“Why are you looking at slaves this young?” Oliver asked, there was no judgement in his tone, simply curiosity. “Wouldn’t some closer to ten years old be better since they endured the training longer?” 

“No.” Ajax answered. “They will have specialized too much by that age and their resentment will most likely also transfer to me.”

One thing Ajax picked up on was that some of the poorer slavers had some of the more resilient slaves. Without the money to care for their product as well some of the slaves had developed skills like [Regeneration] or [Enhanced Nutrient Absorption]. The second skill was relatively useless if he was going to acquire them since he would make sure they were well fed but the first was a very rare skill that many physical warriors spent decades training in hopes of getting it.

“I see he is a lot more accepting of our ways compared to the last time he was here.” Solderon said with a smile as he watched the two slaves Ajax had acquired before as they departed from the city.

Both slaves were beastkin, not only that but both had their bodies very well developed for their age along with five and four skills respectively. Ajax had gotten them relatively cheaply, he was sure the slaver would have wanted to charge a lot more but while Ajax’s hadn’t seen it happen he was sure the Empire had pressured the negotiations to ensure Ajax had a more pleasant experience.

“He doesn’t look at them in the same way you do.” The prince corrected. 

“They are a good investment.” Solderon glossed over the prince’s objection. “He must have a decent inspection skill if he managed to look at their skills.” 

“They are a gamble.” the prince corrected.

“Getting slaves young is always a gamble.” Solderon said. 

“You only gable on their talent.” the prince explained. “As soon as they arrive at  his dutchie they will be free. He is not only gambling on their talent but also on their character in that they will choose to join his House as retainers.” 

“That is a foolish way of doing things” Solderon scowled in disgust. “Increased risk with no reward.” 

“There is a reward.” the prince responded with his trademark smirk. “If you have their loyalty you don’t need to limit their potential to retain control over them.” 

Over the next week and a half the convoy slowly made its way towards the Empire’s capital. Much to the prince’s surprise Ajax had visited the slave market in every village and small town they stopped in. While he hadn’t yet acquired any more slaves Ajax’s mood seemed to improve with every single stop. Much to the concern of Lexi, Anna, Xavier and even the prince. 

“Ajax what is going on?” Xavier asked as they departed their most recent stop early in the morning.

Xavier, Lexi, Anna, the prince and Oliver were all inside the carriage while the squads made sure nobody interrupted, the prince was even using an item to ensure the privacy of their discussion.

“What do you mean?” Ajax asked, surprised. 

“Your first reaction to what your training meant for the slaves was a bit more extreme than I expected but understandable.” the prince answered him. “But you’ve gone from stone-faced acceptance to increasingly happy with every visit to the slave market. You’re worrying us.” 

“You don’t see it?” Ajax asked, surprised that not even the prince had seen what he put together.

“See what?” Lexi asked, she was the most distraught at Ajax’s new attitude.

“That the Empire will most likely fall.” Ajax’s words cause everyone to gape at him with wide eyes the size of dinner plates. “Gryndor will likely take it as a vassal or conquer it outright.” 

“How do you see that happening?” the prince asked. 

“Because they are too greedy.” Ajax said with a smile. “Unlike commoners or nobles slaves won’t really have the option of putting most of their excess points into Vitality. With the increased amount of stat points they will become stronger and stronger. In a century or two the small slave outbreaks they have now will expand into full on revolts. Even if the Empire manages to contain them it will leave them far too weak to defend themselves.” 

“What makes you say that?” the prince asked, now no longer concerned about Ajax but intrigued by his prediction. 

“It wasn’t as obvious in the big cities but villages have to deal with rogue slaves every couple of years.” Ajax explained. “Those incidents are clearly swept under the rug, my guess is that it will all kick off from the villages that neighbor the three other dungeons away from the capital.”

Even if it didn’t happen naturally Ajax was going to induce a civil war in two centuries. The plan to do so was simple, have a few of his people infiltrate the villages surrounding the dungeons and have his spies help the slaves plan. One big advantage the dungeons granted them besides an increase of power was a safe place to stay if they found a favorable floor until the time was right. Entire groups were wiped out in dungeons every day so a few groups of slaves not exiting wouldn’t draw too much attention, until they all exited at once.

“The population is increasing.” Anna said as everything clicked. “Their focus will be on expanding into the Wild Lands, especially once they see that we are starting to do so. To do that they will train more well rounded combat slaves to help them expand.” 

“I’ll have to inform my brother of this.” the prince said as he also realized that Ajax’s vision was no longer had just a small chance of happening but was a likely scenario. One thing he did leave usaid was that it was his brother that will also be making the decision on if they warned the Empire of the peril they were in or let things play out.

“Do you think the same thing will happen in Deepwood and Highmountain?” Ajax asked, a little hopeful that he might have given the slaves a chance to fight back and free themselves. 

“No.” It was Oliver who answered. “Deepwood and Highmountain not only have much fewer slaves but they also rely on their slaves much less for combat. A big reason why the Empire focuses so much on slaves is because us humans have such a low affinity for magic.” 

“It is a relief to know what it was that improved your mood.” the prince said. “I do want to caution you about letting it show like that however.” 

“We’ll be in the capital in a few days.” Xavier said. “After a welcome party with the royal family we can delve the day after and be on our way home soon after that.” 

For the first time ever Ajax was looking forwards to a dungeon but not for the reward the delve would give him. Outside the possibility of an Achievement awaiting him after getting one hundred and fifty stats from clearing floors there was nothing that exciting awaiting him in the dungeon. Back in his duchy however he had so many things he wanted to do and that was all before accounting for his exploratory trip into the Wild Lands.