Novel Full Chapter 438: Farms - 2
Chapter 438: Farms – 2
At the slave market…
“Wow… they really look like withered dolls,” Lily commented quietly from the side as the group looked at the gnomes available for purchase.
When the priest led them into the backroom to see the gnomes, what greeted them was a musky, pungent stench of piss and waste. Beneath that suffocating smell were the gnomes they had come for.
They were no taller than 3 feet, a bit shorter than dwarves, but their facial features gave them a stark, unique appearance—broader noses, unruly hair, big eyes and wide mouths that looked funny on their faces, and pointed, crooked ears. Their once-colourful clothes had dulled, torn and stained with grime.
The only difference between females and males was the beard braids. Males had long beards, almost reaching their knees, while females had braids—both equally messy and unkempt.
Just as Lily had said, there was barely any movement within the enclosure of nearly 160 of them. Many lay on the floor—unmoving. Others stood upright, staring into empty space—unmoving. The few that did move only scratched the ground slowly with pebbles they had somehow found.
The common thing was the black iron collar around their neck and the thick, heavy chains holding them in place.
Many plates of food lay scattered in the open, some eaten, others untouched. The entire scene felt dull and lifeless—the complete opposite of the curious and energetic nature gnomes were known for.
Seeing them, Leo let out a quiet sigh.
There’s no way they’re going to look into my rock golems to install the power source in them. How the fuck did that stupid tree behemoth even do it? No wonder it was classified as intelligent.
The priest in charge of showing them the gnomes looked equally uninterested. The grim scene didn’t faze him in the slightest—he was already used to it, no, he was used to worse.
But it wasn’t the same for Leo and the others. While the three of them managed to hold themselves together, Miho had already rushed out of the room, desperate for fresh air.
As for the priest, he was already preparing to escort them out, certain no one would buy them. Recently, a 2nd-term student had brought and sold nearly 70 gnomes—tech-oriented ones from a secret realm. During the entire process, the student had done nothing but curse gnomes for his losses. Continuing even after officially selling them away for around 300,000 AC in total.
Since it was part of the priest’s duty to inform customers, he mentioned it briefly. But Leo, now interested, asked him to explain properly.
It turned out the student had encountered a massive mechanical golem operated by gnomes for defence—estimated to be a pseudo-3-star, worth nearly 2.5 million AC if sold to a designated department. Alongside it were many Peak 1-star and some Low 2-star mechanical golems, ranging from 100,000 AC to 500,000 AC. The student could have secured a fortune.
So, he had forcibly pulled the gnome operators out of the constructs, taking care not to damage either the machines or the gnomes, since both–device and operators were equally valuable. But after hours of gruelling work done by him and his companions, the last leader gnome pressed a button.
Apparently, all the golems had a self-destruct mechanism installed.
The student’s anger boiled over. He killed the leader in a single strike, then went on to slaughter 30 to 40 more gnomes to vent his rage. In the end, he spared the rest—if only to salvage something from his wasted trip.
“And these around 70 tech-oriented gnomes are among them?” Leo asked, his tone steady.
“Yes… they are,” the priest replied, glancing at the collars on the gnomes and reading their identifications.
“If you want, I can separate a few tech-oriented ones for you to inspect.”
Leo nodded.
“And what about the rest?” he asked.
“The rest? Most of them are nature-oriented, captured from a forest secret realm. Some are smithing-oriented, found in very compact cave systems. Matter of fact, the one who captured them had to send his Peak 2-star mole beast to burrow through the ground. Later, he realised it was only the realm gate placed there—likely done deliberately by the gnomes. The actual area inside was spacious, with them hammering away their lives, crafting strange gears that only fit their bodies.”
The priest paused, recalling something.
“Around 10 to 15 are normal, weaker ones. So… almost all of them have talents.”
Saying that, the priest looked at Leo expectantly. Seeing his interest in tech-oriented gnomes, he assumed Leo might buy a few.
And it was true—Leo was interested in the tech ones. But he also needed the nature-oriented ones. Even the smiths could serve as assistants to the elves, who couldn’t properly handle the avian beast’s metallic feathers.
As for the normal ones… even they could support the 1-star elves in construction.
But Leo had another reason for wanting all of them. These 160 were the only gnomes present here. If he bought them all, he could preserve the fragile bond they had formed during their time together. For that alone, they wouldn’t be able to look at him with complete resentment.
One small positive thing to anchor to.
And from there, he could begin rebuilding their broken spirits—rekindling that lost spark of curiosity. Slowly, with proper treatment in his territory, they would begin contributing on their own.
Not that they wouldn’t work now. As slaves, if Leo assigned a task to be completed within a certain time, they would have to do it—whether they wanted to or not. Even if they couldn’t do it, they had to do it.
But once they completed the work, he would reward them with good food and proper rest. Through that cycle of work and reward, he would reach his goal.
And with most being in Mid to high 1-star range, their living cost would be no more than a few thousand AC.
Leo glanced at Lily and gave a slight nod. She returned it without hesitation.
Then he turned to the priest.
“I’ll buy them all.”
“Pleased to do busin—wait, what?!”
—
A/N: I couldn’t update yesterday’s missed Chapter… I am sorry. I don’t know if I can do it even today, but I will try my best.