Chapter 4 : Super Chat

Magic Kingdom.

Special Commercial District. s*ave Market.

“Is this where slaves are sold?”
“Yes! Customer. What kind of s*ave are you looking for?”

A customer had arrived at this market, located in the deepest part of the commercial district.

The slaves, confined in cages or bound in shackles, listened to the new customer’s arrival. Their lives as slaves would change completely depending on where they were sold.

The worst-case scenario was being ‘disposed of’ when their marketability declined. Even worse was being sold to a shady noble with gruesome tastes and being tortured.

“I’m looking for a s*ave with high magical aptitude.”
“Ah! You’re a mage! You’ve come to the right place. Our shop has the widest variety of goods in this market. We even have several special races with high magical aptitude.”

Mage.

At that word, the slaves flinched. Having lived as slaves for a long time, they had heard many unpleasant rumors.

That mages ate people to increase their mana, used them as sacrifices for black magic, or as experimental subjects for magical research… They were all baseless rumors, but the slaves, isolated from the outside world, no longer had the ability to distinguish between rumor and fact.

“Let me take a look.”
“Yes!”

The merchant led the customer deeper into the shop.

Most of the slaves displayed outside were just pretty and handsome empty shells. The more specialized slaves were kept further inside.

“Here are the slaves of different races or with special talents.”
“Hmm…”

The customer examined each of the slaves.

Then, their gaze stopped at a s*ave whose face was scarred by burns.

Pointed ears, pale skin.

The face looked hideous and terrible due to the burns, but those were definitely the physical characteristics of a certain famous race.

“Is this… an elf?”
“Ah! Yes! That’s right. Although their face is disfigured by burns, their magical aptitude is unmatched. Because of their terrible appearance, they’re quite inexpensive despite being a rare race, so if your purpose is magical research, they would be an excellent choice.”

“Oh… Indeed, this is rare…”

The customer exclaimed, scanning the elf s*ave’s appearance.

A face melted by burns.

An appearance that would make anyone instinctively frown—

“I’ll take this one.”
“An excellent choice!”

The customer—the ‘unknown Archmage’—chose the merchandise without hesitation.

When I heard I was being sold to a mage, I thought, ‘Ah, this is it.’ There was only one reason for a mage to buy a hideous s*ave like me.

A test subject, or a sacrifice.

I was a little scared, but… I was already resigned to my fate. A s*ave’s fate was only death or suffering. Being lucky enough to meet a good master and be freed—that was a story only found in fairy tales.

“Here, you can use this room from now on.”
“…Yes?”

However, what happened at the mage’s mansion was different from what I expected.

“Do you have any food preferences? Or anything you can’t eat?”
“…I, I would like fresh vegetables.”

“Then a salad is fine, right?”

The mage provided me with many things.

A soft, fluffy bed, a bathtub filled with warm water, food seasoned with spices, sweet treats, luxurious clothes…

Luxury I couldn’t have imagined as a mere s*ave, luxury even nobles might not enjoy.

If I could enjoy such luxury before I died, being a test subject wouldn’t be so bad. It was a dreamlike experience, so much so that I thought that way.

“You can use anything in this mansion, so relax. If you’re bored, there are magic books in the study, so you can study.”
“…”

A day passed.

Then another, and another.

The mage only provided for me, never demanding or forcing anything.

It was strange.

“I’ll leave snacks on the table, so eat them whenever you have time. Sugar is important.”
“…Are you trying to fatten me up to eat me?”

Perhaps, like in the old fairy tales, they were trying to fatten me up to eat me.

I couldn’t help but have such a foolish thought.

“Huh? No way. Why would I do such a wasteful thing?”
“Then why…”

I couldn’t understand.

Why would a mage need a s*ave? The mansion was always kept clean with magic, so there was no need for a cleaning s*ave. I was too ugly and hideous to be a s*x s*ave. All I had done since coming to this mansion was eat and rest.

I could understand if they said they were fattening up livestock. It was livestock’s job to eat diligently and gain weight.

But if it wasn’t like the witch in the old stories, fattening me up to eat me…

Then what did the mage want from me?

“You eating well and resting comfortably is something I really need.”
“…”

Unconditional kindness, something I had never experienced before.

This comfort, for some reason, made me unbearably anxious.

That night, I couldn’t sleep.

I felt like the moment I fell asleep, I would wake up from this dream…

“Wow, this is a real steal.”

Slaves, cheaper than shoes!

I bought them immediately because their ‘Intelligence’ and ‘Magic Power’ stats, checked through the status window, were high, but I didn’t expect the resources to be this high.

It was equivalent to borrowing the spiritual resources of twenty academy students.

Was this the power of a magic-specialized race? If this was the average for the ‘elf’ race, it would be worth considering going around s*ave markets and collecting only elf slaves.

‘This will speed up the research more than expected.’

With this level of spiritual resources, I didn’t have to be tied up with server stabilization all day.

The efficiency was so much higher than expected that I almost regretted not building my skills from the start specializing in swarm consciousness with ‘Information Lifeform’ and ‘Heart of the Swarm’.

‘Well, the required skill points were too high. If I had maxed those out, I wouldn’t have been able to get any other skills. This is the best for now.’

More importantly, I needed to think about what I could do with the newly acquired resources.

‘Expanding two-way communication itself is premature. I now have the resources to run the server 24/7, but the absolute amount of resources is still small.’

The stability increased, not the output.

If the server load became too large, it would be useless.

“Hmm… If I strengthen the existing functions and distribute the server load, would it work somehow?”

I had a few ideas, so I immediately ran simulations in the Model Garden.

The results were successful.

“This should do.”

[“Hello, friends! The unknown Archmage is here again today. Can you hear me well?”]

Countless chats arrived as soon as the broadcast began.

They seemed to have prepared Mana Stones and were waiting.

[Anonymous (Demon Realm, 021.666): I am the Demon Monarch. Why aren’t you using magic every day? Make sure to use magic every day from now on. And don’t ignore my messages.]
[Anonymous (Tutankhamun Desert, 333.123): Hello!!! Mage-nim!!! Nice to meet you!!! It’s been a while!!! Say hello!!!]

[“Oh, messages are already pouring in. Greetings to my stranded friend in the Tutankhamun Desert. I see a lot of people spamming, asking me to read their messages, but I can’t read all the messages pouring in from all over the world, so please understand.”]

There were too many chats to read them all.

Sharing all these chats with the world in real time would increase the server load.

After pondering this issue…

I concluded that I simply wouldn’t share them ‘all’.

[“…You thought I’d say that, didn’t you? I’ve created a new function for a select few of my eager friends. It’s called a ‘Megaphone.’ It’s a function that allows you to share your message with all my friends listening to the broadcast worldwide.”]

I envisioned a kind of ‘Super Chat’.

Since I couldn’t handle all the real-time chats, I decided to restrict it to a few people who could pay a high price.

[“It works the same way as message magic. Say ‘Megaphone,’ and a blue window will appear in front of you. Put a Mana Stone in there. However, the required quality of Mana Stone is different.”]

A moderate price wouldn’t be enough.

This was a broadcast connecting billions of people worldwide. Even if only 1% used Super Chat, that would still be tens of millions of people.

So…

I needed a hefty price that only a very small number of people could afford.

[“High-grade Mana Stone. Insert a high-grade Mana Stone, enter the nickname you want to use, and the message you want to post. Then the message you entered will appear as text in front of everyone worldwide. Oh, of course, this is limited to those listening to my broadcast. It won’t appear to those who have blocked the broadcast, keep that in mind.”]

At this point, it was hard to say it was more efficient than existing ‘communication magic.’

‘Highest-grade Mana Stone’ referred to extremely rare Mana Stones like ‘Dragon Hearts’ or a ‘Lich’s Phylactery,’ so high-grade Mana Stones were practically the highest grade available.

Even these were difficult to find outside of magic towers or the treasuries of certain nations—

[‘Anonymous’ used a Megaphone.]
[1st!]

[‘IamtheDemonMonarch’ used a Megaphone.]
[I am the Demon Monarch. The Demon Monarch, I say. Do not ignore my messages. It is rude. If you bow your head and apologize politely now, I will forgive you.]

[‘AloneisSad’ used a Megaphone.]
[The hero needs attention…. This hero is diligently digging alone underground…. I want a sandwich…]

[“…Hmm? Oh? Thank you for using the Megaphone.”]

Huh?

High-grade Mana Stones… are they more common than I thought?