Chapter 24

The fat man still said with a smile, "Interesting news, but we are still talking about the present, do not forget that I still have to teach them, so my last word is 175 aces."

The cabman did not want to agree to this price, but he had no choice, so with an obvious reluctance on his face, he agreed.

The fat man was even more delighted, clapped his hands and called the servant. A few seconds later, a servant arrived with a small bag on a tray.

The fat man put his hand into the bag, looked for the coins he needed, and then took out 16 small silver coins and a few more copper ones, handing them to the cabman, he said, "You can check, there are 16 denarii and 15 asses"

The driver nodded, put the coins in his own bag, said goodbye to the old man, and left.

When he left, the smile on the fat man's face disappeared, turning to the servant, he said "Send them to the cage, also give them food, tomorrow we will start their training."

The servant nodded obediently, approached the barbarians and surprisingly all 4 he spoke in their language "Follow me"

As they walked, this servant began to explain to them the situation in which they found themselves. Ivo did not learn anything new, because he understood the words of the southerners, but other barbarians were outraged that they were being sold as some kind of things, but the heavy shackles with runes reminded them of what happened to one of them, so they were forced to obey.

As it turned out, the servant himself was also a barbarian in the past, but during a raider raid on the southern lands, he was captured, and later sold into slavery. Because of his short stature (among the barbarians), he was accepted by this slave trader and made him a trusted servant.

A few minutes later, the barbarians were taken to a large room, with the same cage as in the cart, giving them several bowls of porridge and locking them, the servant left to carry out his duties.

This time Ivo did not behave decently and, like other barbarians, pounced on these bowls of porridge, because during the entire trip, the only thing he ate was dry cakes and water.

Having filled his stomach with warm porridge, Ivo, feeling satisfaction, found a comfortable corner for himself, sat down there, and relaxed. The fatigue that had accumulated during the entire trip did not allow Ivo to stay awake, so after 10 minutes, Ivo was asleep leaning against one of the walls.

The next day Ivo was woken up by someone knocking a wooden stick on the grate, it turned out to be the same servant, he shouted loudly "Wake up quickly, the owner wants to examine you immediately."

Not wanting to feel unnecessary pain from his shackles, Ivo was forced to get up from his comfortable corner and head for the exit, the barbarians reluctantly followed him.

After a while, Ivo and the company went out into the courtyard of the mansion. It was quite a beautiful place, with a small lake in the center, ornamental plants, vines, and a floor covered with patterned tiles. Near the lake, there was a table and two chairs on which a fat man and a woman were sitting.

The fat man's clothes did not change much, all the same, white capes and a red belt, but at the same time, a wreath of flowers was worn on his head.

The woman wore a white ankle-length tunic with blue lines at the end, over the tunic she wore a purple palla - a woolen cloak that falls over the shoulder and wraps around the waist.

When the barbarians approached them, Ivo heard the words of the fat man "Lady Vevet, you found the right person, but unfortunately, you chose the wrong time, I sold all the trained slaves only yesterday, now I have only newly arrived slaves, I didn't even have time to place the runes on them"

At this time, the woman holding a silver glass of wine in her hand said "Don't worry, it's only good, so I can personally teach the person I need."

Noticing the approaching barbarians, the fat man said, "Lady Vevet, here are the slaves I was talking about. You can choose any of them, they are all of excellent quality, I got them right from the battlefield. That one "pointing his finger at the biggest Ivo, the fat man said" fought for ten days and nights until the strategos himself appeared on the battlefield and slain him, the rest are not as powerful as he, but still worthy of attention "

Vevet was not blind, just throwing a cursory glance at these slaves, she realized that Ivo was the strongest and largest of them. When she, with her height of 1.71, stood in front of this 2.2 meter giant, she felt like a small rabbit in front of a bear.

But the height and physique of this monster was of interest only to her female part, another important distinguishing feature from other barbarians was his look. Other slaves stood and looked at them either with misunderstanding, or with anger and disgust, on the contrary, Ivo had a look, as if he understood everything and listened carefully to everything.

Having decided on her choice, she pointed to Ivo "Here he is, I choose him, how much should I pay?"

The fat man smiled broadly, rubbed his hands and began to say "Lady Vevet, you must understand that even among barbarians, such as he is rare, therefore his price is 400 aces."

Ivo was inwardly amazed at the Fat Man's ability to make a profit, this slave trader bought everyone for 175 asses, and sold only one Ivo for 400.

Vevet didn't even bother to bargain, she simply dipped her hand into the pouch at her belt and took out a gold coin, then she tossed the coin into the fat man's hands.

When the slave trader saw it, he caught the coin, and then when he saw the golden shine he said, "Aureus, wow, these gold coins are rarely found in our city. You are really great as the bards describe you. "

Then, waving to the servant, he said "Bring the slave rune, we will brand it right on the spot."

Vevet shook her head and said "No need"

The fat man hesitated and said, "But Lady Vevet, these barbarians…. they are dangerous if nothing is done with them "

Finally, Vevet's expression changed, she looked menacingly at the fat man and said, "Do you really think that any of these barbarians can harm me?"

Beads of sweat appeared on Fat Man's face, he apologetically said, "Sorry, I didn't mean anything bad, naturally none of them are able to even touch you."

Vevet nodded in satisfaction, and then said goodbye to the fat man and led Ivo out of the mansion to her own carriage.

This carriage was naturally not the carriage you might think of, it is just a rectangular cart with several seats covered with soft cloth and a roof supported by 4 wooden supports. The carriage had no walls, only small sides so as not to fall out during the journey.