After about fifteen minutes of riding in this carriage, pretending to be a slave, I started to sense the people inside of Ashber, I could feel the blood inside of them. I sat up in my seat, looking at the ground, focusing on using my blood magic.
I didn't sense anyone that strong, however, I did sense Alacryans underground, but that could always be a ploy. They know how some of my powers work now, so they could be trying to trick us.
I looked up at Aya, she was looking at me, she talked with the other slaves while I sat there in silence for most of the ride. "How much longer?" I asked her, wanting to get out of here, if I had to guess maybe another twenty minutes.
"Ten." The dwarf said, and I nodded, I knew my sense of direction in this world sucked. "You in a rush to get there?" This dwarf was full of goddamn questions, remember, he's a slave, gotta be nice.
"I am." I admitted, and that's when I felt it, or should I say him, Sebastian was here, I remember what his blood feels like from controlling it that one time.
"Veer?" Aya said, noticing the smile on my face. "You good?"
I nodded. "Yeah."
Why were there only thirty soldiers underground? That doesn't seem like a force they would have here. It obviously is a trap for us, I mean come on, thirty soldiers are a piece of cake for any of us. There probably is a teleportation gate down below, so sooner or later a Retainer or Scythe is going to step through.
In the ten minutes that passed by, I thought about our situation some more. We are here to draw out a Retainer or Scythe, there is not one here at the moment, but I know, one will show up, at least we hope.
Currently, we are pretending to be slaves, heading into Ashber, where the slave market is large. I could sense Sebastian getting closer to us, and as we entered the town in the dark, I noticed that it felt empty.
The buildings were kinda crappy, trash littered the street, ehh, our family lived here before I was born? I cracked my neck, preparing myself for what was to come. We finally stopped in front of a Tavern, and coincidently, inside the Tavern was Sebastian. A smile crept over my face, I actually hope he recognizes me, yet again, I have dirt in my hair, and all over my face, he probably won't.
I heard Arthur and Benjy hope to the ground, I wonder what they talked about. Aya nodded her head at me, telling me to be ready to act, so I nodded back to her.
"Here we are, Ashber!" The muscular Benjy said, exclaimed as Arthur and him appeared before me. "Come on out, you six." Aya and I slowly got out of the carriage, and the four other slaves joined us. We stood there in a line, waiting to be told what to do. "Come on in, you said your father wasn't going to be here for a while, right, have some fun with us, you may even find your father a buyer for these two." Benjy eyed Aya and me up, mostly Aya.
"That seems great." Arthur said nonchalantly, and we followed them inside.
"You can go find a table over there with your slaves, I have to talk to a friend, and then I'll be over." Benjy hit Arthur on his shoulder playfully, and then turned to us. "My slaves, come with me." I was surprised he didn't try to kill Arthur and try to claim us as his slaves.
"I will." Arthur said, and we separated from them, Aya and I followed Arthur to a table in a corner. Everybody in the tavern stared at us, I ignored it though, we sat down at the corner table, the tables next to us were empty. "How was the trip?"
"Shut up." I said smirking at Arthur.
"It was fine, we really need to help these people." Aya was an elf, so it made sense she felt that way, don't get me wrong, I do too, just not right now, actually, why not right now, couldn't I just kill everyone? "They were very pleasant for being slaves."
"Well, Benjy, is selling them to a man here." Arthur said, that man was probably Sebastian. "He's interested in you, Aya, and says that the person here is looking for a kid mage."
"How pleasant." I spoke sarcastically, looking around the room. "So, tell me, can't I just kill them all?"
"Veer." Arthur shook his head. "We can't just kill them, we don't know who here is a slave trader, and technically they are allowed to do what they are doing, it's just not right."
"If one more person pisses me off, I'm killing them." I said seriously to my brother, deadpan, showing him, I was telling the truth, which I was. "Also, can I get these damn cuffs off of me?"
"No, it would be too suspicious now." I rested my forehead against the table. "Give it time."
"Welcome." A lady said walking over to us in the corner, probably a waiter of some sorts. "May I get you anything, sir?" She asked Arthur, not us, well, because we are slaves, I lifted my head off the table.
"I'll take a cup of Ale, please." Arthur said, and she turned to Aya and me. "They won't be having anything."
"I know." The woman spoke and stared at me. "Are these two for sale?"
"Possibly."
"He's a cutie." She started to walk away, and my eyes widened in horror looking at Arthur who was smiling at me.
"This close, I'm this close." I wasn't going to kill her because she called me cute, it was more that she asked if I was for sale.
"I'm just playing, Veer, no one in here is strong enough to challenge us." Arthur said, and that was true, I could kill them all with a snap of my fingers.
"Keep playing along, you are doing great." Aya sent me a smile, trying to make me feel better, even though I felt fine, only annoyed. "What next? We just lay low and wait?"
"Pretty much." Arthur spoke up. "Veer, I know I told you not to use your blood magic but go ahead and sense the surrounding area."
"Already did." I answered him.
"Here you go." I heard the waiter say from behind me, and she placed a cup of ale in front of Arthur.
"Thank you." Arthur said with a smile as he looked up at her.
"You are very welcome." She continued to stand to my right. "You know, you are pretty young to own two slaves, especially of their tier, they could be sold for a lot."
"They aren't mine." Arthur responded. "My father requested that I bring them here, so that he could transfer them to another place we own."
"I see, is your father coming here tonight?"
Arthur shook his head. "No, unfortunately he won't be here until tomorrow morning."
"Oh, okay, are you allowed to take offers for them?" She really wanted to buy a slave, curious how she could afford that. "I think a lot of the men are eyeing up your elf, and if you are willing to sell her, I think you could get a lot for her."
I turned around, all the men and women in the tavern, were staring at us for some reason, I'm guessing because we are new around here. "I'll have to think about it, I don't want to do anything that makes my father upset."
"Alright, if you need anything else, let me know, i'll be by the bar." The waiter made her way away from us, and I turned back to Arthur.
"Veer, you sense anything?" Arthur asked, going back to what we were talking about before she came over.
"Thirty soldiers underground." I shook my head. "No Retainer or Scythe."
"Do you sense a teleportation gate?" Aya asked next, and I nodded my head, I could. "Give it time then, maybe one will walk through."
"They probably will." I mentioned, knowing someone showed up here.
"Let's hope." We sat in silence for a second, then Arthur added. "If you sense anything at all, Veer, you are free to cause chaos in here." My eyes widened. "As long..." Arthur began to drink his ale, keeping me quiet. "As long as you do it appropriately, cause chaos does not mean kill everyone you suspect is a slave owner."
I sighed but understood. "Fine." Listen, Jagrette, the longer it takes for you to show up, the more annoyed I am going to get. "Someone is coming over here." I said, sitting up straight, sensing Sebastian heading our way.
"Oh my." Arthur said with a grin. "It's our old friend." He noticed him as well. "Who is down an arm." I turned away from Arthur who was still grinning.
"Hello, young master it looks like." Sebastian spoke with such a dickhead tone. "Mind if I invite you over to my table, I would love to chat with you, I heard from my good friend Benjy that you are here for a little until your father arrives."
"That's right." Arthur said, how does this man not recognize him.
"It would be my pleasure to help you until he arrives." Sebastian waved his arm towards the table he was sitting at. "Please, come with me so we can speak as friends."
"Well, thank you." Arthur got up, and then looked at us. "Come on." Aya and I stood up as well, and we followed them over to the opposite side of the room.
"Sorry, but I don't allow slaves to sit with me, I know you are young, so I can understand why you did." Sebastian told Arthur; the man looked older from the last time I saw him.
"Oh, that's fine, they can stand behind me." Arthur said, taking a seat at a table with four other adventurers or just mages, I don't know. Aya and I stood behind him, I was standing in front of Aya now, leaning back against her. I wasn't scared or anything, just very, very, very uncomfortable around these people I could not kill yet, and feeling very, very, anxious.
"So, this child here." Sebastian said, staring at me, I looked at the ground, trying to play the part of a slave. "Is he a mage? I've been looking to buy slaves that I can train to work as my guards."
"He is a mage, but I'm sorry, I can't make accept any offers unless my father is here." Arthur said, staring at me as well. "I'm sure you understand that."
"Don't worry, I do." Sebastian said sincerely.
"How about an offer for just tonight?" A person sitting next to Sebastian said, he was skinny, but had on brown leather armor, with a sword at his side. He also had brownish hair, not like mine, but he looked a lot older than Arthur, but younger than my father.
"I guess that depends." Arthur answered looking at the man now, Aya's hands, that were cuffed, were now on both my shoulders, holding me in place. I was still sensing for any foe that was strong but didn't sense a thing. "I know my father gave me some gold coins to purchase slaves."
Sebastian's face lit up. "Is that right?"
"How much for a night with the elf? She is absolutely gorgeous." The man said once again, and then coming out of some tunnel that was built in this place, came Benjy, he was walking towards us.
"Oh! What did I miss?!" Benjy shouted, standing now behind the man who asked to have Aya for the night. "I hope nothing too good."
"I'm just trying to get the kid to sell me the elf for the night." The man in front of Benjy said.
"Benjy, how about you bring his slaves to the downstairs area, that way we can have an easier conversation up here." Sebastian told him, looking at Aya and me. "You can put them in the same area as well, they seem to be pretty close, if that is alright with you?"
"It's fine." Arthur nodded to him, and then nodded to me.
"On it." Benjy motioned for Aya and I to follow him, so we did. "Let's go you two, I'll bring you to a place you can get comfortable in."
"That elf is so gorgeous!" The man said once again, as Aya and I entered into some sort of tunnel, I wouldn't say it was a secret tunnel, because it was pretty obvious that it was there, at least to me.
"Come on! Pick up the pace." Benjy said to us as we walked down a long ass tunnel, I knew Arthur would be fine with everyone up there, he could kill them all, and I could kill them from here. I sensed someone following us, it was that man that wanted Aya.
It only took us about five minutes to get to where their bedrooms were, or cells as they wanted to call them for us. Benjy opened the door for us, and motioned for us to go in. "Thank you." Aya spoke as we walked in.
"You two might be here awhile, so make yourselves at home." Benjy said, then turned toward the approaching figure. "Stan, what are you doing?"
"Benjy, I want to play with that elf, don't you as well?" The man's name was Stan.
Aya and I were now standing in the cell, watching as Benjy spoke to Stan as he got closer. "You know we shouldn't."
"Who would know?" Stan stood beside Benjy as he looked at the two of us in the room. "But the brat needs to be somewhere else, I don't need him staring at us."
"As long as we don't leave any evidence, I'm fine with it." Benjy said, and I tilted my head at them. "What? Brat, do you want to watch?"
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I said, breaking the cuffs around my wrist and ankles, staring at the two men in anger.