Chapter 22
I pressed yes and found myself transported immediately to the entrance of the slave market. It was a really shabby building. I never would have guessed that it would be the right place if not for the system putting me here. I saw a few people lining up at the entrance, each of them wore a mask.
Ha! I knew it!
It was clever to buy this. Though it wasn’t fancy like the other noble’s masks, it really didn’t matter so long as it hid my face. I tucked my hair carefully behind my robe, placed the mask over my face and stood in line behind the others. It was soon my turn to enter.
“Invitation, please.”
A large man held out his open hand.
You need an invitation to this thing?
I became flustered.
I didn’t expect this! How was I to know you’d need an invitation to get in? This crazy game didn’t tell me anything about this!
The man frowned scarily while I panicked, not giving him a reply.
“Don’t you have an invitation? This facility is for members only. You cannot enter without an invitation. Now then…”
He turned towards the next person in line.
“W-Wait!”
I had an idea. I quickly rummaged through my pocket and pulled out the button from Derrick’s sleeve.
“Here.”
I handed the button to the bouncer. The button had the Eckart family crest cleanly carved into it. His eyes grew wide when he saw the button.
“I forgot my invitation at home. Surely, this will do?”
“I-I didn’t realize that you were such an honored noble guest. Welcome! Do come in!”
He rushed to make way for me to enter. Though I casually strolled in I was struggling to hide my surprise.
This is how powerful the Duke’s name is? Maybe even more powerful?
Of course, I couldn’t be sure if this trick worked because the Duke was powerful, meaning it would work everywhere, or if it was because the Duke was a regular guest at this market so they were showing extra consideration for him as a valued customer. Thinking about the whole slave market and what it meant for this world left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.
“Please allow me to escort you to the auction.”
A host came to greet me by the entrance and led me in. I followed him down the small stairwell. It seemed to take a long time before the stairs finally came to an end. I saw a dimly lit area ahead. The host escorted me through a set of doors into a vast and luxurious space the likes of which I never would have believed could be inside that shabby building I saw from the street.
A huge place like this was hidden here all along?
The large hall was decorated like a Colosseum such that you could look down at a stage from the grand seats.
“Have a seat here. And please take this.”
The servant took me to the very front row where you could see the stage the best and left after handing me a picket for the auction. I sat and looked down at the stage.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, your attention please! The auction will now commence!”
An announcer called out. The auction started not long after. Chained slaves were walked up onto the stage.
“10 gold! 100 gold! Is there anyone else? Ah, over there 102 gold!”
The auctioneer called out prices as people in the audience raised their pickets. The auction soon became a battlefield where people fought by reading faces and atmosphere. Then finally it was time.
“Everyone! Now is the time you’ve all been waiting for. Coming up to the stage now is today’s final slave. A barbarian from a conquered land. I will introduce the slave, Eclipse!”
I had been staring at the stage with disinterest up until that point. I straightened and watched with interest as a handcuffed man, mouth covered, was brought on stage. He had grayish brown hair and his eyes glared sharply at the audience. It was Eclipse.
“Everyone here must have heard the rumors about this particular slave, right?”
The auctioneer smiled at the audience. I hadn’t heard any rumors about Eclipse, however the other members of the audience nodded their heads, seeming to know about the rumors.
“Ah, but rumors can be misleading. There’s often a large difference between rumors and reality. So we invite you to see for yourselves if the rumors are true as we host a special event for our audience. We invite you to take a look!”
The auctioneer motioned and a servant threw a child’s small wooden training sword at Eclipse
What are they doing?
I tilted my head with curiosity.
“Crrrrrr-!”
The sound of a cage door sliding open could be heard throughout the hall. Five hyenas jumped up onto the stage.
Wh-What is that? What are they..?
It was a shocking sight to behold. The hyenas stalked Eclipse, circling him as he stood still. They drooled, hungry for a meal, as though they had been starved for days. Both of Eclipse’s arms and legs were cuffed, preventing broad motions and he was wearing just a single piece of cloth that covered his lower body, offering no protection at all. All he had was a small wooden sword.
This is too unfair!
My heart dropped. I was certain they wanted Eclise to get eaten by those starved beasts.
What should I do?
I thought maybe I could stop this farce if I shouted out that I wanted to buy him before he could be mauled.
Before I could say anything the largest hyena lunged at Eclipse. He ducked and rolled toward the wooden sword. He grabbed it and stabbed the hyena through the eye in one swift motion. The hyena fell to the ground, he finished it off with a hard kick. It yelped then lay there motionless. The remaining hyenas growled and jumped at Eclipse all at once.
“Ah!”
I gasped and let out a short scream. I was certain it would be too much for him to handle them all at one time, but my worries were all for naught; he was able to fight them off. Eclipse dodged sharp teeth and claws even with his movements restricted. Using just the wooden sword he took down two hyenas in mere seconds, leaving only two left to handle. One aimed for his back while he fought the other at his front. Eclipse twisted and broke the neck of the hyena to the front, quickly turned around to face the other one, and stabbed the dull wooden sword straight through its stomach. It fell to the ground with a yelp, blood oozing over the stage,
“Hah, haaah.”
Eclipse’s heavy breathing could be heard over the silence of the audience. His shoulders were heaving while blood dripped down his hands. The fight ended as fast as it had started. Then, one by one, the audience began to applaud.
“Thank you!”
The auctioneer announced.
“Urgh!”
Eclipse went berserk after seeing the blood. He continued to swing his sword wildly though the fight had ended. He swung as staff approached him in an attempt to restrain him. He suddenly flinched and fell unconscious. They dragged him from the stage. I thought they must have attached a device to him to knock him unconscious, a precautionary measure to keep slaves from acting out.
“Haha! He’s quite the energetic one! It’s hard to control him in the normal way.”
The auctioneer laughed in an attempt to calm the startled audience. He continued,
“Now then! Shall we go nice and easy and start the bid at 50 thousand gold?”
Even though the auction had only just started, the opening bid was already on a completely different scale than slaves sold earlier in the night.
“60 thousand!”
The auctioneer called, looking out into the audience.
“90 thousand!”
He called seeing another bid.
“100 thousand! I see 100 thousand!”
The price for Eclipse rose rapidly. At that rate I expected the price could reach easily 10 million.
“200 thousand! Ah, I see 400 thousand over there!”
As the price rose the pace began to slow. The number of people willing to and able to pay such exorbitant sums for Eclipse decreased with each new bid. There weren’t many people who wanted a slave from a defeated country at a cost of over 500 thousand gold pieces, especially when he was too wild to be used as a bed slave.
“500 thousand! 600 thousand! I see 600 thousand!”
A person could afford a small house for that quantity of gold coins. There were only two people left betting at that point. I couldn’t see their faces because of their masks, but I could tell one was an elderly woman with wrinkles all over her neck and the other was a fat nobleman. Their keenly half-closed eyes sparkled with greed.
“900 thousand!”
The old woman called out, increasing the bid by 300 thousand coins.
“10 million!”
The fat man not back down. The auctioneer’s jaw dropped as he shifted his gaze to the old woman, eager to see if she would continue to bid. She threw her picket to the floor in anger.
“10 million! Is there anyone else? 5! 4!”
The auctioneer began to countdown the final bid. I cautiously looked around, checking to see if there was anyone else who might challenge the fat man for Eclipse.
“3! 2…..!”
Realizing there wasn’t anyone else willing to bid, I at last I raised my picket into the air.
“100 million.”
I called out. The audience was dead silent. If you could hear people turning to look there would have been a cacophony of noise.
“1…..!”
The auctioneer’s jaw dropped again.
“100 million! She said 100 million! Is there no one else?!”
He tripped over his words. He clearly couldn’t believe what he just heard. I was confident there was no way anyone else would bid. Even if there was another contender, it wouldn’t have mattered. From the very start I decided I would shout out ten times the final bid whether it was 100 million or 10 billion, because my very life depended on it.
“100 million, sold!”
For my life I would hand the money over with a smile.
Please let me know if there’s anything inconsistent or that needs further editing/corrections!!
-emrld
Scarlett Shoujo 