MMORPG: Crowd Control

The Control Room was completely silent when Candice formally introduced herself as a High Elf species and greeted Lei Zhen as the Master.

'Wasn't Howard the one that purchased you? Why am I the Master all of a sudden?' Lei Zhen thought to himself.

Never once did he expect that there would be a day he would become a slave owner.

There is zero great news regarding a slave owner and Lei Zhen surely does not want his name to be stained because of this incident.

"Hold up a minute," Lei Zhen raised his hand and said. "Howard was the one that bought you, and not me. Therefore, I am not your Master, Candice."

Candice lifted her head slightly up and held a dazed look, seemingly confused by Lei Zhen's words.

Seeing the confusion, Howard intervened and explained, "Chancellor, the gold coins used to purchase her was from the fund you gave me for the task. Thus, this elf woman, Candice, is officially your slave and not me."

"But you're the one that purchased it without my knowledge. And the fund I gave you was meant to be for the ship and not for a slave, so how could it be compared?"

"Candice is a great asset for the sea traveling journey. Hence, she's considered to be an item of the fund that you assigned me."

"..."

As much as Lei Zhen wanted to argue back, Howard's point was logical without any opening.

At the end of the day, Candice was purchased to assist him in sea traveling. By that theory alone, he was indeed responsible for it.

"Sigh, just do whatever you want then." Lei Zhen rubbed his temples and said. It wasn't the first time he had been called Master by others, but it was something he had not been called in a long time.

Meanwhile, Candice nodded her head and returned to her assigned desk, jotting down some notes.

"What are you jotting?" Lei Zhen asked.

"The weather for today and the approximate sea level. I was fixing some maintenance under the desk previously because of the estimate." Candice calmly replied.

And upon closer inspection, Lei Zhen realized Candice was now dressed in some decent clothes and was cleaned properly.

Her features were delicate and angular, with high cheekbones, a small nose, and full, lush lips. Her eyes were large and almond-shaped, plus her long emerald green hair was shining like gems in the sunlight.

Compared to their first encounter, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say Candice seemed to have been reborn.

Nevertheless, there wasn't an ounce of lust in Lei Zhen's eyes as he remained focused on the notes she was jotting down.

'Is she really that confident or really skilled to be communicating with the wind?' He wondered silently.

Normally, sea levels aren't easy to determine because the sea is in constant motion, affected by tides, wind, atmospheric pressure, local gravitational differences, temperature, salinity, and so forth.

To further add, salinity was the most difficult one to calculate since it's the dissolved salt content of a body of water.

There could only be an approximate estimate of such information. Yet Candice was able to write down the values for them without any hesitation.

Taking a step back, Lei Zhen dragged Howard outside sneakily and asked, "Are you sure you have tested her thoroughly? Such information and data are not easy to obtain. If there's any mishap on her calculation, then it'll be dangerous for us."

"Rest assured, Chancellor. Although it's subtly hidden with magic, there's a slave collar on Candice's neck. As for the owner of that, it has been transferred to the Chancellor already." Howard reported.

He then proceeded to explain that a slave collar was an item enchanted by the best mages possible. Unless the owner decided to release the slave collar, it would be impossible for the person to remove it or even try to harm the owner in whatever manner or method possible.

Such a slave collar was so secure that even other powerful mages could not forcefully break the slave collar.

If an outsider tried to break the slave collar, then it would cause the slave collar to tighten up and would send an alert to the owner of such a matter.

It was a cruel and effective method to control slaves.

And hearing such an explanation, Lei Zhen was even informed that the most popular slaves that are traded are sex slaves, something that even he is disgusted by.

"If the Chancellor is ever feeling stressed, you can also use Candice as-"

Before Howard could continue his words, Lei Zhen raised his hand to cut him off.

"No, I will use Candice only for legitimate means which is to gather information regarding the sea to provide us safe travel. I would not nor would I allow others that are employed by me to purchase slaves to satisfy their lust. Is that clear?" Lei Zhen said in a solemn tone.

He might not be able to stop the whole world from practicing such an act, but at the very least, he could prevent others that work for him from committing such a disgusting and vile act.

Slaves are the type of topic that should have long been gone since ancient times and just the fact that slaves are available in Magnolia made Lei Zhen a bit disgusted.

Howard could only nod his head in silence when he heard the command of Lei Zhen.

"I won't blame you for this matter, but next time, notify me of such a matter. I don't like to use slaves since I do believe everyone is equal except that their value would differ depending on their abilities." Lei Zhen said and returned to the Control Room.

As for Howard, his expression didn't change at all, and merely stood outside, guarding the Control Room.

Although Lei Zhen didn't blame him, Howard knew he had done a blunder but this would not affect his emotion.

Being warned for something he did by himself without notifying Lei Zhen was already a lenient thing. If it were others, then Howard might have been whipped as punishment or worse, executed for the offense.