It could have been an instant knockout, but I had Haste equipped and it appeared to not simply affect my body, but my mind worked far faster too. He had barely made a few steps when the world around me seemed to slow. This Haste thing was kind of cool, but I was really worried about it. It’d be one of those things where excessive speed eventually led to my brain snapping and me unable to handle the mundane speed of real life.
Perhaps, I’d put haste to rest after I was done defeating this guy. With my hero job and Moderate Swordsmanship, I was about as good as I needed to be. Our swords collided, and it quickly became apparent that he was probably an advanced swordsman, but in a fight , variables that simple were rarely what decided a match. My boost in haste made all of his movements appear sluggish, and even if he did wield the blade more efficiently than I did, he couldn’t account for my speed.
The fight felt like it took about three minutes, but when I considered my mind was in haste, it was probably closer to thirty seconds. His sword flew to the side, and he could only helplessly raise his hand to my sword. The crowds naturally went wild. As for me, I reset my skills and got rid of haste. It was very effective, but as I said, I didn’t like the feel of being permanently hasted. It left me feeling like it might leave trauma down the road.
“You won…” He said helplessly, falling to his knees.
I made the gold return to my ring with the wave of a hand. This was another form of discouragement. An interspatial ring couldn’t be broken into easily. This would discourage most people from trying to attack me if the other reasons weren’t good enough.
Their team retreated and they gave up. There were a few ‘boos’ that our duel was unsatisfying, but I was quickly coming to realize that in the world of entertainment, there was always going to be some guy unsatisfied no matter what you did. In which case, I decided to just do what I wanted and enjoy the ride. The brother and sister were honest and chose to settle their debt without any conflict. They signed over the paperwork and gave the woman over to me instantly.
“You will be Master from now on.” The big sister bowed politely.
“Hehe… I’ll be taking care of you from now on…” Noticing some looks from the girls, I coughed and wiped my mouth. “Rather, all of Chalm will do so.”
I opened a portal directly to Chalm and wasted one of my dungeon points for the day. Giving her the signed documents, and instructions, Dysdia stepped right on through. I hoped that she could become the old lady alchemist’s protégé. I know she had wanted Miki to follow in her footsteps, but as someone who was part of my group, this just couldn’t be the case. I wasn’t willing to lose Miki enough that she had time to learn all that growing and horticulture. Becoming a perfect alchemist is likely a lifelong pursuit. Or… if you have 5X experience and mobs to level on, probably something I could show the girls, given enough time.
Once I had sent the big sister back to Chalm. I started looking forward to the next competition. If there were any other slaves, I’d try to free them in a similar manner.