Chapter 14: Slavers

“Here ya go Ordan.” Mun handed the old man 10 copper for his services, leaving Mun with 90 copper to spare.

“Thank you good sir, return in about two hours and I should have the shoes ready.” two hours? How do you measure time in this world, Mun thought to himself.

“how long is an hour?” Ordan looked confused, he was never asked such a question.

“I don’t know how long, its about as long as It is I suppose. If yer wondering how to know when hours past ya simply listen for the church bells, I’m not sure how ya village folk do it.”

Mun nodded and left. Mun had decided to buy Aura shoes, after she accident stepped on a chickens present for the world.

“I wonder if there is a place to get her cleaned up?” Mun can tell if a smell is unpleasant or pleasant, but he can’t tell the degree of that, for all he knows Aura might smell like sewage. That is definitely not healthy for a young child, Mun thought.

“next up. The bath house” Aura tilted her head as he heard him, then she took a whiff of her armpit and nearly gaged. The wolf had been trying to obediently follow his masters orders despite the strong smell. He is well trained and knows how to control himself in the face of strong smells, but he is not accustomed to it lingering near him for so long. He jumped at the thought of bath for Aura. Mun on the other hand didn’t smell much of anything but wood thanks to his special property to mask his smell with magic. Mimics need to be masters of disguise, smell is a good part of any mimics disguise. Smelling like roses, honey or wood, after training a mimic can often manipulate their smell. Mun doesn’t know it exists because certain birth right skills don’t show up on abilities like status. Similar to telepathy not being explicitly shown on Wolves skill list.

“is it just the girl?” the check in lady asks. Mun nods his head, avoiding eye contact with the bath house woman. The woman looked at the Aura, she sighs under her breath, She often washes children this time of year, when the lord returns from his monster hunting campaigns.

“30 copper” Mun hands her the coin and lets aura pass through.

“Can you smell her, wolf?” The wolf shakes his head in response.

“To many smells here.”

“No its alright, I doubt slavers will take a child from a bath house anyways.” But if they do, I’ll make them regret it.

“haha, and then I cut her tongue out.” A group of four men walk out the men’s bath section laughing at a companions story.

“Made sure those fucking monkeys know who’s in charge. None of them said anything after that.”

A laugh, from a terrifying conversation. The women cleared a path for the four men, not out respect, but fear. The word scum, oozed out of every part of their bodies.

“What the fuck you looking at mask boy?” Mun had found himself staring at the little troop, eyeing them, observing their every movement, these are the enemies, it was clear in his mind.

“Simply admiring the view behind you.” A couple women chuckled as they entered the women’s bath section.

“You think your fucking funny? Is that it!!” the man walked up to Mun, shoving him into a corner of the room.

Maro Level: 25 Human

Almost 10 levels above mun, Mun wouldn’t have chance against this man, let alone his companions. Mun stared at the man, his familiar could feel it, Muns blood lust was growing, it was growing so thick inside the small room.

The man looked into Muns eyes, his soulless green eyes, they stared into him, like a dagger. Before the man knew it he had already taken a step backwards.

“I’ll let you off this once” the man left, spitting in Muns direction before parting with his friends. The wolf could feel it, with blood lust alone, He struck fear into the other man. The others couldn’t feel it because of lack of training, but even without out training when someone is so close to that amount of blood lust. It isn’t that its ordinary blood lust either, its of its own kind, one that strikes fear into your heart. One thing the wolf knew for sure, this blood lust is only reserved for humans.

Time passed quickly after that, twenty or so minutes later Aura returns with clean hair and a bright smile. Her clothes have too, been changed into a clean white cloth.

“the shirt is another 10 copper” Mun checked the clothes, they were short, uncomfortably short they barely reached to half her thighs.

“its seems offly short, don’t you have clothes that actually fit her?” The Bath maid did not expect to hear those words.

“Do you not work with the lord?” Mun began to understand the situation. The bath maid fell to the ground in shock, Mun’s blood lust suddenly flared up, scaring not only the bath maid but all the other customers, as well as Aura, who instead of running away, ran closer to Mun asking if something was wrong.

Mun collects himself realizing that Aura is worried.

“NO. I am not with your pig of a lord.” The room stands completely still, the strange man had not only stood up to the slavers they live in fear of, he dared speak of the lord in such way, they were all words they wanted to scream at the top of their lungs, but what could peasants do to a man with so much power?

I don’t want to meet that lord, mun thought, I don’t know what I’ll do if I see him. I don’t have time to let my anger get the better of me. Mun tries to calm himself, the blood lust disappearing along with each breath.

The bath maid stood up, trying to stop her trembling. With a snap of her fingers she called a maid servant and asked her to change the young girls clothing size.

“I’m sorry for the trouble.” The bath maid bowed in apology, but Mun didn’t care, he simply took aura by the hand and left, the wolf walking closely behind.

“is something the matter Mun?” Aura had grown worried after the incident, she thought that maybe the bath was too expensive and Mun got upset, but then he yelled something about a lord.

“Nothing you have to worry about Aura.”

Mun doesn’t talk for the rest of walk, aura doesn’t ask any more. The wolf quietly walks a few steps behind them.

After a while of walking down the many paths of the of the town, they find a small inn no bigger than a church.

“Wait here with the wolf.” Mun enters the building and instructs Aura to wait in reception area with his familiar. The inn was different than he thought it would be. The walls were made of ageing wood and the floor covered in a couple of carpets made of bear.

Directly opposite to the entrance is a reception desk, waiting for costumers. Mun wanted to lay down on the grown, after he realizes that the receptionist is a woman.

“Hello” Muns voice come out ominously calm. ”I would like a place to sleep one bed is alright.”

“a one night stay is a silver and 5 copper, sir.” The woman was in her younger twenties, she was probably only a year younger than Mun.

“Would it b be alright if I pay 50 copper now and pay the rest later today?” Calm, far too calm for the receptionists comfort. She felt it, a strange air around him, she felt it once before, when she was a little girl.

“Ah, uh, sure.“ She couldn’t say no, she could feel her hands trembling.

“Is it alright if I leave my familiar here?” The receptionists didn’t look up, she only nodded in desperation, trying to get the man in front of him to leave. Familiars cost extra, but she didn’t dare tell him. The woman hands Mun the keys, then quickly pretends to be busy with something on her desk.

“Aura, Wait here with the wolf, I’ll be back tomorrow.” Tomorrow? Aura thought. Why so long?

Mun read her perplexed expression.

“I need to earn more money.” Then aura quickly gathers the pieces together. They need money.

……………..

It didn’t take long for Mun to find it. It was in plain sight, in the middle of the town, the slave market. Prisoners of war, or simply unlucky people, Slavers didn’t care who they sold, or there living conditions. If Mun had an ordinary nose he could probably catch that strong smell of iron in the air.

The market was neatly set up in the town square, 5 or so Slavers patrolled around the area and 1 stood at the entrance of the market.

“I’m here to buy a slave.” Mun doesn’t know how many children are here, but there should only be one demon child.

The man looked into muns eyes, through the small holes in his wooden mask. There are some people who think they can try to free slaves and cause trouble, you can usually see the fear in their eyes when they are about to do something dangerous. The man before him gazed through him, as if he was insignificant, this man wouldn’t do anything, his instinct told him. But it also told him to keep an eye on him. He looks dangerous. The man looks at Mun’s hands.

“Wood?” he muttered, finding the man begore him all to strange.

“hey!! Rie!!” The guard yelled. it doesn’t take long for a man, dressed in white shirt with brown pants, to reach entrance.

“take this man to check the slaves.” Rie nodded, he placed a hand on his sword as he looked at Mun, warning him without a word. Before gesturing with his head to follow him.

The camp was filled with many slavers, it seemed that there were many groups located here. It wasn’t just one slaver group. Of the top Mun could see 40 or so men with weapons, some clad in armor. There were also one or two women that Mun could spot. Using his mana sense, Mun could feel more, most were probably slaves.

“There are 7 camps here” The man name Rie began to speak. “I’ll take you to each one. so you can see all the slaves here.”

“How many slaves is that?”

“last I counted about 75” the man, spoke as if it was routine.

“The average condition of slave?” Rie raised in ear, that isn’t something buyers typically care about, as long as the slave works well enough. Hmm he might want a house slave, tie thought. House slaves need to look presentable in front of guests, though since this slave group is near a couple of dungeons, the slaves are usually only ever used as bait or a test to check for traps.

“Around here their condition is decent enough to walk out of this here market.” Rie finally responded.

“Here we are.”

The area was in an open space in the Market, Mun thought they would enter some kind of tent.

It was a horrid sight to behold, men and women hardly dressed, trapped in small cages, their legs dangled out of their cages, some slaves cages were stacked on top of each other. Mun couldn’t see a single one with light in their eyes, they knew their destiny: in a slave market so close to dungeons, what else could they be used for?

As Mun entered he could see one of the slaves being taken out of their cage and promptly beat. Mun used his status skill all around, to look for the Demon Girl. Up down, to the beaten, to the dying, there was no one with a demon as their description.

“Lets move on” Mun told Rie.

The next camp came with no luck, nor the one after that, it wasn’t until the fourth that he finally found a young girl who was also a demon.

Demon level: 13 Yeo

Without paying the nearby slavers any mind, he walked straight up to the girl, who was being scolded by two men. He stared at her, and she at him.

“Aura” Mun uttered Auras name, The child’s eyes widened, confirming her identity.

“How much for the girl.” He asked Rie. Rie shook his head.

“You’ll have to ask her owners.” He said pointing to a large man with metal armor. His level was 40, probably the highest of this slaver group.

“How much for the girl.”

“That bitch? 5 gold.” Five gold is way more than what Mun was expecting, he had hoped it would be 2 gold at most.

“That seems pretty high for a dying child.” The man before him, gave a grotesque smile, one saying that Mun is right.

“The lord around her is fond of children, he’d pay us 5 gold for her, he doesn’t care much for their condition.” Mun stayed calm this time, he had to or he’d have too many enemies around him at once.

“I’ll pay you 7 gold and another 3 if you improve her living conditions, I’ll be back in 1 week for her, and I expect her to be in top condition.”

“I’d like to be payed up front.” The slaver clearly said, puffing his chest out, two other men started to circle Mun.

“I’d like to have a healthy slave, for all I know she’ll die within a week.” Mun didn’t back down, he was boldly lying to the slavers face. He didn’t flinch nor looked away, he looked straight into the slavers eyes.

“one week” The slaver responded. He doesn’t ordinarily listen to such requests, but eyes don’t lie, the man before him would fulfill his promise, one way or another. If not they can always kill him for wasting their time. And extra 5 gold doesn’t sound too bad either.

Mun quickly left the slave market, thanking Rie before leaving.

“Keep an eye on that man.” The slaver boss instructed his subordinate. Making sure that Mun was out of sight before speaking.

“Why?” The underling asked curiously.

“If he doesn’t like that demon girls condition before he comes back, I think one of us might lose our head, I’d like to know if he comes to check on the girl.” That type of man won’t trust slavers to keep their bargain. Certainly This slaver will not keep his, he’ll feed the girl, but he isn’t going to keep her out of the cage, only when the man comes back will he release the girl, dress her up a bit; then he’ll force her to lie about her living conditions and then he’ll charge another 2 gold for the accommodations.

“Sir.”

“Yes,”

“We got ourselves a Draconian. ” The boss smiled.

“Haha, our luck is good this week.” The boss laughed at the turn of his fortune.