The inside of the store wasn't what I had expected. It might sound stupid, but a part of me expected seeing someone manacled in the entrance hall. or anything that would have hinted at the business of keeping humans as slaves. But instead, I stepped into a well-lit room, some form of magical light source hidden under the brown, stomped flat carpet, and below the ceiling that made the inside seem almost as if I were here to buy insurance instead. The man at the counter was heavyset and not particularly tall, but his guards at both doors, both left and right of the counter, were intimidating enough to make up for that.

  Suppressing any form of politeness within me, I stepped up to the counter and said: “I hear a Leporid was brought into your establishment just yesterday,” The man behind the counter looked over my shoulder. “Let me stop you there, Sir, while we do offer exchanges, I believe your Canid is worth a lot more than that-”

  I slammed my fists onto the counter. The man flinched, and Rebecca snarled as the guards began drawing their swords.

  “Don't think you know what I plan on saying, commoner,” I snapped at him.

  “C-commoner?”, he repeated. I gave an exaggerated sigh and extended my hand to him, showing of the signet ring of the Vide family.

  “Henry Vide,” I said. “Don't tell me you don't recognize my family′s coat of arms.”

  The guards hesitated for a few seconds until the man slowly lifted a shivering hand. Their swords were pushed back into their sheaths.

  “I am VERY sorry, Sir,” the man said, unable to look me in the eye.

  I waved him off. “Don't bother, I wasn't expecting much in the first place.”

  The man stepped to the right and the guard opened the door. “Please, Sir, let me give you a proper entrance.”

  As I stepped into the room, I noticed the difference almost immediately. The walls were cleanly limewashed, the white a stark contrast to the wooden walls in the entrance room. Perfume was spread through the air, potted plants in every corner, a small chandelier hanging above a solid oak table with a small tablecloth spread across the top. He gestured for me to sit. Rebecca stood behind me, hand on the two-handed sword Henry′s brother had gifted him.

  I leaned back in the chair. It was extremely comfortable, but I could not relax knowing what was undoubtedly happening a few rooms away.

  The salesman walked into the room behind me holding a bottle of wine. “Can I off-”

  But I already shook my head. I had fallen for wine poured by strangers before. I wouldn't fall for it again. “Not for me, thank you.” The salesman didnt lose the customer service smile. “Of course. Is there anythi-”

  I annoyedly tapped on the table. I didn't know how much longer I could keep this role up. The sooner I could finish here, the better.

  “The Leporid,” I said. “Do you have one or not?”

  The man folded his hands, rubbing them against each other in a manner that was almost flylike.

  “Well Sir.”, he stammered. “We received a new delivery yesterday so-”

  “So you′re gonna show me all of them, is what you were gonna say?” I said and stood up again.

  The man opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, I added. “Maybe I'm gonna leave here with more than one new acquisition.”

  He closed his mouth and stood up, nodding. “Of course, Sir.” he said.

  Emily had borrowed as much money as she could in the name of Henry Vide. Aside from replacing the money stolen by the slavers, I still had a good sum left over and no hesitation to spend it all to free as many people as I could.

  “I would love to show you the backroom, Sir, but-”

  I sighed. “If you′d love to, then there shouldn't be a problem, should there?”

  “But our store's policy doesn't allow-”

  I leaned over the table, nose to nose with the man. “Are you implying that I am anything like a regular customer?”, I whispered in barely contained rage. I could feel the sweat run down my back. This was taking too long.

  “No-”, the man yelled, his eyes wide in fear. “Of course not, I would never-”

  I slammed my fist on the table. “Then we are going to go back into the back, you are gonna show me your ware′s and I'll take my pick.”

  Why did this have to be so complicated? I had hoped to walk in and get back out in a couple of minutes. Useless hoping, I knew, but I did not know how long I could keep this up.

  He stood up and bowed. “Of course, Sir.” We walked back into the entrance, around the counter, opened the door on the left side, and we followed him. I noticed weird bumps on the guard′s heads, two big ones at the crown of the head, two small ones, just below the big ones. They were symmetrical, so I felt certain that they were natural, at least as far as their positioning. Rebecca noticed my looks, and a sound that reminded me of a whine came from her, but I didn't have the chance to ask her about it.

  As soon as I crossed over the threshold of the left door, the smell and screams hit me like a steamroller at a hundred miles an hour.

  My eyes watered, in disgust or as a pure biological self-protection in facing this stench, I could not say. I found myself wishing that [New World Mental Block] could block it out. Or just having any other skill that could help. As I stepped forward, the ground squelched under my steps, a mixture of bodily fluids and whatever else creating an inch-high “mud” under my feet. I could feel myself gagging.

  In the corner of my eye, I could see a certain smugness on the clerk′s face, and I could not think less of him for it. Anybody working with customers wished for nothing more than to see them regret acting big.

  I looked around between the cells, men and women of various ages chained to walls and each other, some half-clothed, some nude. The variety of different types of clothes I could see showed, if not anything else, that the people who came in here were just dragged into a cell, chained up, and left to rot.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “Are you sure you would like a rabbit, Sir?” the clerk said.” “We offer a variety of races. I hear minotaurs are popular for guardwork. A lot more than wolfpeople, those are more for hunti-

  “I'm more than happy with the services my wolfwoman provides,” I answered, the sneer only a bit broken by the sheer disgust I had for everything here. I looked over the people again. I was just glad that, as little as it was, there were no children present.

  “Is this sensible?, I asked. “Are they not gonna get sick?”

  “No, Sir.”, the clerk said. “Not anymore, I figured out that we could cut a lot of losses by adding general anti-disease potions to the trough at feeding time once a month. Sure, the potions cost a pretty dime, but apparently its saving us money overall. So I might get a promotion soon.

  He didn't seem to see any problem with this. That was probably the strangest part to me. He saw all these people, didn't he? How could this leave him so cold?

  I took a breath and regretted it almost immediately. I could feel something akin to a ice cold hand clench around my heart as I realised that I most likely did not have enough money to make a real dent in the number of people here. Rebecca whimpered behind me, and I didn't know if it was due to the conditions or the stench. Her sense of smell was even stronger than mine after all.

  “Target Simon.”, I whispered to myself and the world…. it greyed out a bit but not much. This was getting worse by the moment. In the back, I could see the outline of two Leporid ears, the only thing with color in my field of view. Ignoring the slurping sounds all around me and the stench I made my way towards him. Was it immoral to ignore the others and focus on Simon when I had come to help him? I shook my head. There was no point in thinking further about it; I had to do what I had come here for, then I could think further. The clerk walked beside me, struggling to keep up. “Are you sure, Sir? That's where we keep the problem cases, they-”

  “It's up to me where I spend my money, isn't it?”, I asked curtly. “I'm already wading through shit, are you really gonna try and tell me what to do?”

  The clerk shut up. It didn't take long before I stood before Simon′s cell. He tensed up almost immediately. “Fuck off, you pieces of-”, his eyes widened when he realised it was me. I subtly shook my head as the clerk caught up. “This one came here jus-”

  “I'll kill you, you rich piece of shi-”, the clerk put his hand onto a wooden plate. A surge went through Simon, downing him with a shuddering scream as his body spasmd.

  “As I said.”, the Clerk said. “These are the problem cases. The new guy and-”, he pointed at the corner of the cell where now that he said it, I managed to make out two bodies, intertwined with each other in a show of comfort. “- whatever those are. Most likely siblings, they won't make it much longer anyway. The male is somewhat rowdy but he calmed down a lot since we kept him together with the female.”

  I grabbed the Clerk′s hand and pulled it away from the wooden plate. Simon gasped for air as he slumped into the “mud” in clear relief.

  “How much for all three?” I asked. I needed to get out here before I started to beat the Clerks face in.

  “2000 Retrae.”, he said. That was more than ten times as much as what Rebecca and I had earned in a week working for Simon. I didn't know if that meant that Simon paid a lot or that the three of them were cheap, but I did not care. Emily had barely managed to borrow 2500 Retrae. I didn't even need to bother asking about the other prices. If the “We wanna get rid of the problem cases” prices were that high, what could the rest cost? “I'll give you ten Retrae extra if you clean them off while we finalise the contract,” I said.

  I just wanted to leave, really, nothing more, nothing less, but leaving them in this state seemed cruel, even if I was gonna free them soon.

  The clerk′s face lit up. “Of course, Sir. Please come with me.”, he said, and I followed him gladly, even as the sad broken eyes of the other slaves bore into me, my hair standing at the edge. I wanted to apologize, I really did but I could not drop the role yet.

  The contrat signing went by without much trouble, as did getting Simon, who still cursed at me and the twins into the wagon. I sat inside and got a quick look at them. Instead of arms, they had light green wings. I put a blanket over them. They were both breathing but hadnt awoken yet so I was worried for them. But we could think about this once we left the town.

  As soon as we left the slave store far enough behind that we couldnt be seen anymore, I left the wagon and sighed deeply. “Hell, I did not think it would be this bad.”, I said. Rebecca simply nodded.

  “They had these shops three generations ago, they′ll still have them in three more generations.”, Simon said. I could see a thin line of blood still trickle down his ear. “So you′re of the Vide Family?”, he asked and I gave a shrugging nod. I coudlnt read his facial expression but all he said was: “Right now, Im just thankful you got me out of there.” I didnt know what to answer, nobody seemed too sure of what to say, so Simon retreated back into the wagon, most likely to look over the twins.

  As we reached the gate, I could already see that a wandering market had begon setting up stalls outside the city walls. It would have been nice to take a look through it but I really didnt wanna stay any longer than necessary.

  Emily once more presented the papers she had shown the guards as we entered town and they stepped apart for her. It was when they noticed me that things went wrong.

  “Henry Vide?”, one of them asked. He seemed younger than me, short blonde hair and a bit of dirt on his face.

  “Who asks?”, I asked putting on another sneering expression.

  “Sir, its an honor to meet you.”, the blonde guard said. “Could- could I shake your hand?”, he asked starstruck.

  I sighed and then, as if I was doing him a favour, shook his hand. Before I could react, he twisted my wrist, a sharp cut across my hand. He had had something sharp in his palm and used it to cut mine. My blood dripped from the wound, collecting like a small puddle.

  “He′s not a real noble, he bleeds red!”, the guard yelled and I knew I had to act.

  I plunged my hand into my coinpurse, grabbed onto the coins, feeling them digging into my skin. I could feel the silver burn as it touched the wound, but still I clenched my fist as hard as I could, feeling energy travel from the flickchain into my hand.

  I let out a scream as I flicked the coins into their direction. I couldn't see where they landed. Rebecca had grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me away, out of the path of a spear, but the pained screams told me all I needed to know.

  Rebecca shoved me into the back of the wagon, pushing with full force as Emily grunted, straining to rush forwards. The wagon sped up before Rebecca let go and sped up herself, running alongside the wagon, “I'll lose them and catch back up,” she yelled before swerving to the side. I saw her running for a few more moments before she vanished between the market stands.

  A horn was blown and Simon cursed. “They′re not letting up,, he said. “They′re calling for a knight.”

  _________________________________________________________________________

  Current Status:

  Stats:

  Power: 2

  Agility: 1

  Toughness: 3

  Mental: 2

  Perception: 3

  Mana: N/A

  Effects:

  Night Vision Lvl. 1

  Poisonous Blood Lvl. 1

  Protection against Natural Poison and Venom Lvl. 1

  Skills:

  [Behind every great person, there's their spouse] Lvl. 1

  [Emperors Gaze] Lvl. 2

  [New World Mental Block]

  Known Ritual Spells:

  [Determine Value]

  [Simple Transportation Magic]

  Thank you in advance.