This chapter is a defining chapter for Azul, he is still a baby, but his future will be decided for him. Remember the quote from Nezul. I won't state it directly in the chapters so some of you will probably just say he has bad luck, he has. But that is not the case, fate doesn't work that way, in my world.

Btw. I got a useful and a good question on chapter: 2. People do not know the name of Azul, only his Mother and Nezul knows. And yes, it will be his name in the future and i have a clever way to announce it, atleast according to myself that is.

H.F.

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Azul was now in the possession of the young beautiful appraiser, who looked like he had just won the national lottery.

Azul wasn't old enough to know what was happening around him. Yet, he recognised that he were in the arms of a total stranger. But as a small baby, he couldn't resist.

The young man carrying Azul walked down a few flight of stairs before he finally stood in front of a fairly robust cradle.

This would be the home of Azul for the next while.

The young man muttered in retrospect “I should probably fix the paperwork as quickly as possible, so I don't have to feed the child for long.”

When an appraiser accepts a slave on behalf of the slave traders marked, they themselves would take care of their goods. But they would also earn a very decent percentage of the surplus of the total selling price.

Azul was left alone in the cradle with bowl filled with demonic beast milk. How he would reach the milk was a mystery.

Demonic beasts are the plaque of humanity. These beasts come in all shapes and sizes. They also have a ranking from F - A - S. The rankings of the beasts depends on a few factors. For example a Demonic beast with impressive intelligence could achieve a fairly decent ranking even if they don’t have the strength to back it up.

Other beasts might lack intelligence, but have very impressive strength. There is also those with unique abilities such as invisibility etc. These Demonic beasts are rather rare but are usually high ranked because of the danger when facing something unorthodox.

The Beast milk that Azul had been given is from a F - rank Demonic beast used for dairy production. But that doesn't mean that it’s milk is healthy for such a small baby. No, such milk is usually processed multiple times before being usable for dairy production.

Azul had been given the raw stuff. Normally a person of his size would get incredibly sick from the overflow of mana in the body. Though it seemed that Azul didn't mind and just kept drinking.

How he was able to grab the bowl was a mystery, small babies aren't supposed to do that at that age.

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A few weeks had passed since Azul was brought to the slave traders marked.

Not much had happened in this period and Azul had been left mostly alone in that time. The only time someone would interact with him was when the young man would refill the bowl with demonic beast milk.

Strangely, Azul had become rather good at not spilling milk when drinking it from the bowl.

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It was now time for the upcoming slaver's auction. This auction presented the best of goods that the slavers marked had to offer. Usually it would be here where the big money was spent on slaves.

The nobles gathered in throthes and the mood was high and happy. Though the same couldn’t be said about the slaves. This was a time where their fate would be decided. For the females this was especially important, as some of them would end up as sex slaves by some greedy nobles.

The masses gathered in a dome like room, the room was very impressive, in the middle was a fairly tall scene, with plenty of space. Around the stand was a large area for the non-VIP customers. and further back where the room began to slope upwards was the chairs, and after that the isolated rooms for the special customers.

Each of these locations belonged to a specific part of society. The area where the masses had to stand up, were for commoners or low tier nobles with next to no standing. The chairs were for nobles who were not special customers or just didn’t have enough capital. The special rooms were for the prestigious customers with lots of money.

It was usually the people in the isolated room who bought the most.

The auction were about to start but the room was filled with noise, especially between the men who longed after slaves. These men would compare ideas and thoughts about raising slaves. A disgusting concept, but in the human kingdoms this was common.

A majestic man began walking up to the stand in the middle of the room, he had gray hair and a monocle in his right eye. In his left he held a cane, with a big jewel on top. His cloth were a black and red robe, with a big symbol on his back symbolising a slave in chains held by a big hand above the slave's head. The symbol was grotesque, but the at least they didn’t hide their ideals.

The man went up to a stand, on which stood a small wooden hammer. This tool was used to announce the winner of the specific good, and annouche silence in the room if too much noise were present.

The man announced his presence by slamming the small wooden hammer on a marble block on the podium.

Everyone in the room quieted down, the man standing on the podium was a frightening man, He was the leader of this specific slavers marked, and a man which held considerable power by himself and by the backing of the slaver's union as a whole.

The slaver’s union was a connection between the various slaver’s traders markets. The goal of the union was to limit the amount of resistance against slave trading, this union also made it so that each marked held an impressive amount of strong guards for protection.

It meant that when nobles fought in rivalry in the slavers market, the guards had the permission to stomp on any disturbance regardless of standing. It also meant that the master of the slave traders marked, held an impressive private militaristic force directly in the city.

Of course the nobles wouldn’t allow the markets to hold too much power, so they had restricted the guards from moving out of the area where the market were located.

Though this meant that any resistance inside the market was futile. The guards would disrupt any disturbance without batting an eyelid. These guards were greatly feared by everyone.

The man at the podium began speaking in a very loud voice, his voice was spectacular it wasn’t for no reason that this man was the announcer at this auction. “Welcome. - Ladies and Gentlemen, today I’ve got some great goods for you! First we will take a look at a fine lady belonging to the beastkin family, Yes. This is the so called harpy. Take a look everyone!”

The room was quiet as a big cage was rolled on the stage. in the cage were a fine looking harpy, she was bound to a pole in the middle of the fairly large cage. She were human sized with large wings instead of arms, and talons for feet. Instead of hair she had feathers. These feathers grew like scales all over her arms and legs, though none were present on her torso.

She was completely naked, so there were a full view of her sex of her sex to the customers. Her butt and small chest were also visible.

after a good few seconds the man began announcing the price; “The price will start at 30 gold coins, each bid will have to be 5% higher than the last amount bid.”

The bids started rolling in, it was slow in the start as people wanted a feel for the interest of the product.

“34 gold!”

“40 GOLD!” …

The price ended at 65 gold and the winner was a big strong hunter. He seemed to be a noble, but his body structure didn’t seem to fit at all. He was probably going to use this harpy for hunting airborne game, still it was a little expensive as 10 gold would be enough to feed a small middle class family for an entire year.

The auctions continued until it at Azul's turn.

The man began speaking as he announced the good “Ladies and gentlemen, today we have a special product, this baby beastkin is a very rare and exotic type. Though the baby is a male, he looks like he is a variant of a snow tiger species, as he lacks a tail and has blood red eyes. we have appraised this young boy to have limitless potential, he has incredibly dense muscle. Though magic affinity cannot be specified because of his aged. We’ve decided that the price will start at 50 gold with an 10% increase pr. bid.”

The price quickly climbed. Everyone wanted a chance to have a ‘custom’ slave with unlimited potential, even if it would take about 10 years for the effort to bear fruit.

When the price was about to reach 100 gold, a strange hooded man from the commoners area began to bid, which was very unusual, as commoners usually wouldn't have that kind of money.

He also overcut the last bid by a large chunk, clearly he was determined.

Another noble man sitting in the isolated room was also interested in the young boy.

So the two of them started a bidding war.

The price quickly climbed too 160 gold.

After which the noble man shouted from up high. “You little trash should stop bidding now. Do you really know who you are bidding against? If you want to live a good long life after this you should stop now.” he grunted as he finished, his eyes were filled with disdain and arrogance. But even then his lips were curled up in a grin.

The hooded man looked up at the noble man sitting in the isolated room. He spoke with a voice which sounded like rough metal grinding. “You should quiet down, fat man!” and the hooded man turned against the podium once again and placed another bid.

The noble man was furious, to him it was like the hooded man spit directly on his face (honor/reputation). He would have to regain face, otherwise he would be a laughingstock.

The noble man rebutted before placing his final bid “If you are a real man, you will meet outside for a showdown after this auction.” He expected the hooded man to be scared, but what he got was not even an answer, the hooded man simply didn’t care for him.

The final bid on Azul went to the hooded man at an astonishing 250 gold. An astronomical number for a slave.

Strangely, the man didn’t even bat an eyelid for using such a large amount of money. Rather he might have been disappointed from wasting so much time with the bidding war.

The auction continued without further problems.

After the auction ended, the hooded man went to pick up his new slaves. He had bought a few both from the auction and a few from the other places that sold low prices slaves.

When he went to pick up the slaves, he was followed by a whole stream of people who were there to help him transport all of these slaves that he had bought.

The man walked out of the auction building as if he had no worries in the world, behind him was all the new slaves including Azul, and all the people the hooded man had brought to the auction.

Outside the building waited the noble from the isolated room from before. He stood tall, even if he didn’t have the body structure to back up his arrogance.

But he wasn't alone, behind him stood about 30 if his personal guards. The guards were clad in silver and orange with a symbol of a eagle picking on a corpse. The noble man wore the same colors except his fabric was silk instead of plate and chainmail.

The noble man announced himself as Vilddyr of the prestigious Metyl clan.

The hooded man was forced to speak as the guards of the Metyl clan was barring the way, leaving no empty spaces for the hooded man to escape.

The hooded man grunted “you pathetic fat man. You honestly think you can prevent ME!?”

While Vilddyr was trying to speak to the hooded man. The hooded man was already on the move.

The hooded man weaved left and right while delivering faint punches in the direction of the various guards.

The guards didn't know what to expect, so they raised their Shields and readied their stances.

Strangely nothing happened from the faint punches from the hooded man. One would need incredible strength to move the air for ranged punches. But this didn't seem to be the tactic of the man, as no air was shot in the direction of the guards.

Truly they were incredibly confused. They just watched the lunatic sprint around, as there had been no casualties yet.

Suddenly Vilddyr roared and gripped the massive broadsword strapped to his back.

It looked almost too heavy for him. But he held on, while taking a basic stance. Which looked pathetic, you could see that the man had absolutely no skills with the sword.

He was a man who relied on sheer brute strength and not else but the cold steel of his blade.

He began charging at the hooded man, who now stood still on the middle of the encirclement.

The hooded man now began laughing.

The hooded man raised his right hand in the air, before closing his hand.

He had not even taken defensive measures against Vilddyr. He didn't need too, because around him sprang a fountain of blood and flesh.

If one had a sharp enough eye they would notice the every time the hooded man made a faint punch he would shoot out incredibly small needles with a thin and elegant steel wire connected to it.

This hooded man was a steel wire user, meaning that his weapon of use was a sharp steel wire from which he would weave a Web of deadly wire traps.

A sad fate had met the guards of Metyl, now they were nothing more than pieces of flesh on the ground.

Vilddyr was spared though. The hooded man probably didn't want the city guards on his neck from slaughtering a noble.

Unless it took too much effort the city guards would punish murderers. But they knew that they were not a match for the hooded man unless they wanted to face heavy casualties.

It was also the reason why they didn't interfere in the start of the fight. A noble killing a few commoners weren't something new. And he wouldn't get punished.

But the hooded man still walked up to Vilddyr whispering something in his ears.

After that a stank began spreading into the bloodied odor already there. The source - Vilddyr’s pants which now had a bright yellow puddle under it.

Some of the onlookers were curious about what was being said, since not even losing all his guards in a single moments got him that terrified, but now he was nothing more than a trembling wreck.

The hooded man walked away quietly, like nothing had happened. Strangely not even a single drop of blood had hit his robe. One could only imagine the skill it took to avoid all of the blood flying in the air.

The hooded man walked up to his group, and after they began walking away a slight whistling rhythm filled the silence. the source was the hooded man, who now wore a bright smile on his lips. Clearly he was very satisfied with letting out some steam.

The group began walking towards the slums of the city. they had even brought a basic carriage, which was parked just a little ways away from the auction house. This carriage had space for all the newly bought slaves and their new masters.

Strangely all the people that the hooded man had brought and the hooded man himself wore basic tattered cloth robes. Wierd considering that they could spend 400+ gold on slaves. This sum would allow normal people to feel like kings, at least for a while.

The hooded man requested that Azul would be brought to him. Of course he didn’t know his given name, but his people knew what he meant when he called for the ‘expensive’ kid.

The hooded man began rocking Azul in his arms, while humming something from an unknown song. He stroked the cheek of Azul while whispering in a small voice to him. “you’ve been expensive kid, I hope you live up to your potential, you’re gonna need it! Haha!”. The people the man brought all had goosebumps after the man said that, they knew what he meant all too well. Some of them even had sour faces, with eyes full of despair. That period was something that they would never forget, ever!