Chapter 3 (1/2)

Chapter 3

Warning: This chapter contains strong language which may be offensive and/or inappropriate to some readers.

Her patience ran out when they did not even look back at her. She ended up crying and yelling, unable to bear her temper.

“Really, isn’t this too much? Don’t you guys even have a family? Huh?! I said that my brother is sick and will die without me. How can you be so cruel? Huh? I said I will pay you! How much money will you get if you sell me? I’ll give you the exact same amount. Please, please let me out!”

Eventually the man, who appeared to be the leader among them, raised his hand, making the carriage stop.

“…..Ah, you are really noisy. Shut your mouth, you little bitch.”

“Aren’t you the one who is acting deaf? Huh?!”

“Let’s hear it then….”

The man gritted his teeth and stared at Celestia. Two guards approached the carriage cage, perhaps under his direction. She shrank herself in one corner. But soon, the two guards dragged her out of the cage, taking out a club.

The other three slaves in the carriage looked even more frightened than her. They were in no position to help her.

The leader raised the club but stopped himself as if he was looking for a specific part where he could hit her. Since she was agile, she thought she could avoid the blow. But it only made her anxious.

She crouched herself, and shut her eyes.

But even after some time, she could not feel any pain. Instead, she heard a voice.

“What is the matter?”

‘Footsteps? Who is it?’

A tall man stood there, staring vacantly towards her side, probably at the trader. Celestia looked up at him, feeling a bit satisfied for the interruption. The two guards who were standing beside her looked surprised. The trader threw away the club in his hand in order to give the guest a courtesy.

“Ah, Sir, what are you doing here?”

“You look like a slave dealer, but you’re being too hard on her. I asked what was going on.”

“Yes, I am. She is a slave brought in from Golddina…..she was talking a bit too much…..”

“Slavery from that far?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm. Seems like there is a mess in the management of the Empire. I have been noticing people like you releasing slaves all the time. I have to visit there sometime and try to turn the situation upside down.”

It sounded strange to hear him speak like that. It sounded as if conquering Golddina was an easy task for him.

Golddina was an Empire full of magic. The Burg Empire was the only one that could treat Golddina equally. It was an Empire where the national power could not be dealt with by other smaller countries, and it was ruled by a king who enjoyed expanding his territory, and was extremely cruel.

‘Where in the world does a simple aristocrat talk like that?’

Celestia had never been this far from her home, her backstreet life. She had never been to any other city in Golddina or to Ma Eul. And she had no idea where she was being carried in a horse carriage.

“Don’t be so harsh to these simple slaves.”

“Yes!”

Appearing suddenly, it seemed like he was boasting about.

No, she was the only one who seemed to be out of her mind. Suddenly, a crowd of attendants arrived around him.

‘What do I do? Isn’t there any chance to escape? My life is really going to end if I get sold somewhere.’

Celestia hesitantly threw herself in front of the man. While keeping her face down, she tried to look around. She could see the trader’s face turning blue.

“You crazy bitch! What’re you doing!”

She saw the slave trader hastily trying to grasp her arm, but she spat out, as if she was ready to be decapitated. She thought it wouldn’t work, but she tried her best.

“Please, My Lord! Please spare me! Please let me go back! Have mercy on me!”

But there was nothing on his face but a hint of annoyance. It seemed as if he did not have any interest in her. Did she misunderstood him to be a compassionate person?

As her body was being dragged away from the man, she raised her voice.

“I have a brother. If I don’t return to him, he will get sick and die. My little brother can’t even come out of the house alone. There is no one else to take care of him but me. So please let me go back to him.”

The man, with the dark hair, laughed as if the situation was very funny.

‘How can you just laugh when someone is being sold!’

“So what am I supposed to do?”

“….Pardon?”

“If there is anything you want from me, shouldn’t there be a corresponding price that I’ll get? Do I look like a volunteer?”

Certainly, that was the primal logic of the world, even if it sounded heartless. It was also true that she had nothing to negotiate with him.

But she could not just give up.

What she learned in the alley was that no one was perfect, no matter how noble they were. There were people who came looking for places to hide something, whether it was drugs or women to spend the night with. Maybe there was something she could help the man with.