There Are No Heroes

Point Of View: Magnus Bridge
Almost ten days had passed, and I was still trying to absorb as much knowledge as possible from that child's mind. But there were linguistic blocks in most of the text. I concluded that if he didn't tell me on his own what was written, it would take me years to translate and understand everything.
The boy was there, naked, behind the shed, with a cloth covering his face, stirring a gigantic copper pot with a wooden spatula. If you were a normal person, you would probably expect him to be preparing some delicious food, but it was shit with hot water.
"Look, Magnus, the potassium nitrate obtained through this method can be used to preserve meat." I wondered who the hell would eat meat with shit.
'Right, why are we naked?' I couldn't help but question. This boy was certainly some kind of naturalist.
"I don't want to dirty my clothes. We have half a ton of shit to boil and filter." He seemed happy with the whole situation. What an outrage! The body of this supreme mage being used for such menial labor.
'Why don't you just buy some slaves to do this?' I tried to shed some light on the boy's mind.
"We're low on funds, Magnus. Besides, slaves have very low productivity and make labor more expensive overall." He paused, his arms stopping their movements. What he just said actually made a lot of sense. "You see, people and the economy are intertwined. Slavery only works in the short term."
'Isn't the short term what we need now? We just need to gather enough resources to get out of this city.' As much as he understood more than I did about many things, I was the one with knowledge about this world and magic. 'We need to speed things up around here, or we'll have problems.'
The rest of the morning went by in silence. He filtered the boiled shit into a barrel using some cloths and left it open, exposed to the sun. Then, he fetched more shit and repeated the process.
"Alright, let's have lunch." I felt the concern in his mind. He was restless. "How much does a slave cost, Magnus?" he asked while getting dressed.
'I have no idea. So far, I haven't had the opportunity to know how much time has passed since I used that spell, but I imagine a few centuries.' I spoke, expecting a mocking comment, but there was no further conversation.
Lunch passed in silence. Apart from the people's discomfort due to the unpleasant smell, Roosevelt seemed introspective. His thoughts were clouded, as if he were thinking about a million things at once. I wished I had that mental capacity, I thought to myself.
"You know, Magnus, at the port, when we returned for lunch, I saw some people in chains..." I already knew what he intended. He left the tavern and began moving toward the port. Unconcerned, this time people were avoiding us because of the smell.
The port was bustling. Various cargo was being unloaded from the ships: spices, wood, metals, fish, and slaves. As the slave samples ran out, the merchants brought more from inside the vessels.
"This lovely girl was obtained in the Veridia Empire. A noble, I am sure she can satisfy all your needs." A short, fat man announced. He had long hair and a chubby face. He licked his lips as he spoke. I felt Roosevelt's disgust rising.
"Oh, Supreme Mage! Have you come to pick up some test subjects for your experiments?" The man pointed at Roosevelt, who was approaching. He seemed unfazed by the strong odor; perhaps he was already used to it?
"Is this all you have?" Roosevelt asked dryly, not bothering to respond to the provocation.
"I see you have sharp eyes, certainly. This is not my best merchandise." He gestured toward the ship. A skinny boy, with a red cloth tied around his short blonde hair and dressed in a dirty white shirt, approached. "Take the Supreme Mage to the interior of the ship."
We followed the boy in silence onto the vessel. He led us to the cargo hold. The environment was filled with the smell of sweat, salt, and oil lamps. Roosevelt pinched his nose. I was grateful for that since our senses were shared. Crates and boxes were scattered around. Cages were distributed throughout the place, overcrowded.
Point of View: Christopher Roosevelt
I was feeling disgusted. People were piled on top of each other like merchandise. The environment was rotten. There were elves, humans, dwarves...
"This has completely ruined my day." I let my dissatisfaction slip out loud. As much as I was struggling with my little projects, I was excited.
"I apologize for the environment. These slaves are so filthy that they infest the place." Our guide spoke so amiably that I couldn't help but roll my eyes.
Inside one of the cages, a boy of almost twelve years old, with brown hair and eyes like beeswax, whispered exhaustedly: "S...te...lla." The guide stepped between me and the boy. "I'm sorry. He is newly acquired merchandise and has not been educated yet."
His eyes seemed full of despair. I wasn't very good at reading people's emotions, but I understood the basics of business well enough to recognize someone's desperation. Understanding money was ultimately understanding people.
"How much for the boy?" I pointed at him. A little girl with silver hair and pointed ears stood up from the darkness and placed herself in front of him, arms open. Tears streamed down her face.
An elf?
"Leave Seven alone!" I looked at the boy still huddled in the corner. Our young guide pulled out his whip and opened the cell at the same time. Quickly, to prevent the situation from getting out of control, I raised my arm to stop him.
"I'll take both." My voice made him look at me, incredulous. His mouth opened to argue and then closed into a smile. He was a merchant, after all. He wouldn't ruin his own sale.
"80 lyndors for both, great Supreme Mage." He looked at me, ready to strike, but this was where my skills stood out the most, not in science.
"Look, they are twelve-year-old children. It will take some time to train them or put them to heavy labor. Moreover, they are quite malnourished, which shows that you haven't taken good care of your merchandise. Let's settle for 60 lyndors, considering my future expenses." I looked at him, waiting for his response.
He had a smile on his face. Had I been tricked? Had he set a much higher price than normal in the hope that I would try to negotiate? Damn bastard. He extended his hand toward me. I had made a foolish mistake.
'Damn it, Magnus, why didn't you inform me of the slave prices?' I criticized.
'I already told you that my knowledge about this is useless. I'm a few centuries out of date.' His answer didn't please me. I extended my hand back.
"Deal," the guide said as I shook his hand. "I'll go fetch the collars."