All parts of the process influences the quality of the potion, and I think I have manage to find the optimal combination of herbs and plants to stimulate the healing effect. The regeneration effect of the potion which is similar to my skill seems to mostly depend on the magic side of the process, but I don''t know enough about healing magic or magic in general to get any further in my research. With the medium strength potions I can now make I should be able to make a tidy profit, but if I improve my magic, I should be able to reach the strength of the high level potion I bought.
One morning I find myself alone with Kira walking from the farm to the shop in town. She is the de facto leader of my wives, though she always shows consideration to Mari before herself. They really did take the order I married them serious. "Kira, do you ever wonder about my past and why I am a bit different?" Seems like a fair question. It should be obvious to her by now that my values are different than what is common.
"The place I originally come from is actually quite peaceful." Well I guess that is relative depending on where in my old world you go. "My upbringing was peaceful at least. I did not have to fear hunger or danger to life and limb. It was a much kinder world than this. One thing in particular is very different and that is how people view slavery. In my world slavery itself is considered evil." Kira looks at me with interest, but she does not seem to understand.
"How do you feel about the fact that only women are slave, and no men are?" There is no way she can defend that. It is clearly a result of men with power not wanting to see other men enslaved. "If men do anything wrong that is serious enough, they are executed, women on the other hand are enslaved. If they are lucky they get a good master and can still have a good life. Many women sell themselves into slavery rather than starve to death. To me the men got the worse deal." Well I sort of get where she is coming from, but it is more complicated than that.
Stolen story; please report.
"Is there anything about slavery that you don''t like?" There must be some common ground. "Similar to Lawra I do not like that a father can sell his daughter into slavery if he pleases. However, any daughter old enough to make the decision to sell herself into slavery to save her family is doing a noble thing." Finally something we can agree on. How did this almost turn into an argument? I wanted to probe her about how Pia is treated.
"Why did you start this conversation?" Kira reads my mind again. "The reason I brought this up is because of Pia. She seems unhappy, and I know you have different views about slavery than me, so I just wanted to find out what is making her unhappy." At this Kira bursts out laughing. "You think she is unhappy because of how me and the others are treating her? You should ask her yourself, with the slave mark she will tell you the undiluted truth." Why didn''t I think of that? Even if she feared repercussions for saying the truth, the slave mark would force her to tell the truth regardless, but why is Kira finding this so funny?
As we approach the shop I ask Kira one more related question. "You mentioned that women who starve sell themselves into slavery, what do men do when they are desperate?" Kira looks at me like I am asking a dumb question, but instead of giving me a hard time, she tells me the answer. "If they are starving and they don''t resort to crime, they join some lords army to become meat for the next meaningless battle fought at the lords whim."
The shop has been renamed The Hunters Emporium. Under the bow and arrow sign is association mark of The Guild. Having the mark is a status sign for any shop, and provides protection from criminals, as no one wants to mess with The Guild''s own. It took a few days to get the authorization for the mark from the Guild even with the owner being an active hunter. As long as I have the favor of The Guild the shop can keep the sign.
I should have realized that a slave will not take imitative, and my passive approach is what led her to be troubled. It still is a bit eerie for me as I am very much in a position of authority and control over her. It would be scarily easy to order her to do anything I feel like. Not sure if I trust myself with that power.