“Oya, oya, oya what a pleasant surprise, to see you here first thing in the morning.”, the slave trader greeted me upon my arrival.

“You know what I’m here for.”

“Straight to the case aren’t you? How cold of you not to greet your friend, I was even thinking about giving you a friends discount and everything.”, he said sarcastically.

“Cut it out, please.”, the slave trader nodded in approval to my short request, and gazed behind me in curiosity. “Are those three with you? Or have you come here for business as well?”

He asked about Athena, Azure and Alice who were behind me. Athena came with me, without asking for my permission (not that I minded), Azure insisted on coming since Athena joined as well.

As for Alice… she just tagged along not saying anything.

“I’ve come here with my Master.”, Athena naturally responded with a confident smile. “Me too!”, Azure answered as well.

“…same.”, a short murmur came from Alice.

The slave trader nodded. “Very, very, very fascinating. Dear costumer, if you’d consider, you could sell them? I bet with just one of them you could easily buy the twin elves back.”

I looked him in the eye, I utilized the Skill ‘Demonic Presence’ to instill bloodlust.

However, the slave trader released a short laugh. “Haha, I truly apologize for my rudeness, it was just a joke you see. Anyway, follow me. I’ll show the way.”

I calmed my skill down, I looked behind me to see Athena and Alice trembling slightly, Azure was however unaffected by the skill.

My Skill was targeting the slave trader mainly, however the effects leaked out on the others as well.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t intend to—“

“It’s alright master, I’m just a little surprised. That’s all.”, Athena reassured me. “You don’t have to apologize, we’re alright.”, Alice did the same.

We followed the slave trader deeper into the slave traders market, if one would call it so.

I spent one more day in the infirmary, and was discharged in the next. I immediately went out, and headed towards the slave traders so called market.

Athena joined up with me, and Azure as well. And you know where that lead to.

“If there is anything that may have caught your interest, please do speak out. I’d love to make business all of you.”, he said as we walked by the cages with slaves prisoned within.

They differentiated from Humans , Demi-humans, elves and dwarves,  all the way up to even monsters.

Athena glanced at the cages with a pained expression, the thought of having your freedom striped away from you shook her heart.

Alice stared down to the floor, holding her body in fear.

“If you’re scared, then why did you come?”, she literally just tagged along and didn’t say anything.

“I hold responsibility…”, she answered in a low voice. “What do you mean?”

Alice clenched her fists. “Had I noticed what my father had been doing, maybe… I could’ve evaded all of this.”

Even now, she regretted not having done anything to prevent all of this. She could not forgive her fathers actions, especially as the future queen.

And now, she had been brought (kidnapped) here by me, and for her to face her father again. She must become stronger in order to do so.

One may think that bringing (kidnapping) her would be a bad idea, but if you took her personality into consideration, she would get herself into way much more trouble if she would remain there.

She already had the resolve to punish her father for his actions and would carry out to do so, but that would lead to her either being locked up in the castle like a damsel in distress and having all of her freedom striped away from her.

Though, I doubt that’d be a bad thing since she’s already a shut-in. Because, she basically spent her whole life inside the castle, or so I’ve heard from the person in question.

“Well, there is no changing it now. And if you wanted to do something, then why didn’t you join the tournament?”

There was a way they could’ve helped me, like for example: They could’ve entered the tournament and reach the finals, and in the case we were up to each other, one would just have to give up and the other would move on.

It wouldn’t be cheating, as long as everybody believed we were actually fighting for real and that the other person gave up by choice.

“Kh…! You know that I can’t…”, Alice’s cheeks reddened in slight embarrassment.

“Know what? I could not possibly begin to fathom what you could be talking about.”, I spoke in a rather polite yet provocative manner.

Alice blushed even further, knowing that I was teasing her. “Oh! Would you stop it, you’re being really mean.”

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry.”, I just felt a little playful that’s all, I wanted to say but refrained from doing so.

I looked forward to realize that Athena was gazing back on me, she had a scary aura around her as of something had struck a nerve.

‘What’s wrong?’

“So, found something interesting?”, the slave trader asked, proud of his ‘collection’. “We just came here for ‘that’.”, I warned him, and he smiled ignorantly like I had not spoken a single word.

“Ah, it seems we have reached our destination.”, he announced, it was the same space where I had last seen them and now…

They were not there.

“Hey, what’s the meaning of this?”, I looked at the empty cage before me, it seemed as if nothing had inhabited it in forever.

“Yes, yes, yes! It appears like they are not here.”

Spheres of dark mana began surrounding me in a turmoil. “It ‘appears’? Are you telling me that you have no idea where they are?”

‘Demonic Presence’ ran wild, my blood red eyes lit up like flares, the cages around me began rattling, the humanoid slaves backing away in fear, while the monsters tried to escape like their lives were about to be taken.

The slave trader continued smiling, without a single bit of fear. “Oya, oya, oya, worry not costumer. I may hold some idea where their whereabouts might be.”

I calmed myself down, and listened to his explanation.

“It may be within the realm of possibility that my subordinates have taken them to a different location.”, he spoke in a remorseful voice. “The reason as to why, is due to our shipment that was due today this morning, they probably thought they were part of the ‘goods’ that are supposed to be shipped.”

“And do you know where they might be?”, I asked calmly, if I let my emotions take over, I might destroy this whole place to relieve my tension.

“I have an idea as to where they could be.”, he brought forth a huge parchment, with a map drawn on it.

“I unveil this to all my customers, though I hope you understand that this information should stay confidential.”, he pointed towards a pointy shaped mountain.

“My subordinates follow a certain path to reach our other establishments across the kingdom. If we were to follow regular paths, there’d be higher risks such as getting pulled by guards and having our ‘Luggage’ inspected.”

His finger followed a certain path parting from ‘Knightfall’. “From the amount of time that has already passed, their location is probably inside of the tunnel as of right now.”

“If we leave now, we should be able to reach them in thirty minutes.”, the slave trader finished his explanation.

I looked towards Athena, she nodded in approval knowing what I was thinking.

“Let’s go get them!”

‘At some point, I began to wonder whether I’m lucky or not, I knew that this was going to happen, things were going too smoothly.’, I made useless dialogues in my mind to keep me busy, as I ran full speed ahead.

The slave trader had told that we could reach the location by foot, hence we chose not to waste our time by hiring a carriage.

I could’ve left using the ‘Flight’ skill which would be way more efficient, however due to Athena, Azure and Alice running after me, I had to choose to go by foot.

I could see Athena catching up to me from behind, because of our differences in our status she won’t be able to be as fast as me, for now that is.

And that is why we get to the main question.

“Why the hell are you here?”

“Come on, come on, come on, don’t be like that dear customer. I’m the one at fault for not having correctly disciplined my subordinates, so it is partially my duty to correct this.”, the slave trader who was evenly matched with my speed said.

Our pace was pretty much the same, almost as if he were holding back on purpose.

“And also, you don’t know exactly where the entrance to the tunnel is, so having me as a guide would be perfect, no, SUPERB!”

He was not wrong, I could barely remember the day of the month, much less the way to a tunnel in the middle of nowhere.

“Master!”, Athena suddenly appeared beside me, I felt a trance of mana, therefore meaning that she used magic.

“Alice is—!”, I quickly glanced behind me, and saw either the most pathetic or most funny thing I’ve seen in the world.

Azure was carrying Alice like a princess saved by a hero.

“She seems alright to me.”, I told Athena, who seemed confused as well. “A couple of seconds ago, she collapsed due to exhaustion. I guess Azure must’ve picked her up.”

“Master! She’s really heavy!!!”, Azure complained, Alice, upon hearing a outrageous remark woke up. “I’m not heavy!”

“Customer, it seems we are approaching our destination.”, he announced like a gps arriving near its objective.

Before us was a tunnel that seemed like it would lead to a mine, if lucky it may or may not be abandoned.

The surroundings changed, the air was cooler and the sun no longer shined within the dark endless corridor lit with torches.

Although, it was still dark enough to disorient one to where they could be heading , my Skill ‘Dark Vision’ made everything look as bright as day.

“Are we close?”, I asked him, my breathing not increasing nor decreasing albeit I was running at full speed. “We are almost there, I believe we should be reaching the ruins soon.”

‘Ruins?’, I soon found out what he meant, as we all of a sudden arrived in a open space, unimaginable considering the small tunnel.

Pillars supporting the open space, so that it wouldn’t collapse. Walls made from refined stone, and torches made with fancier material such as quartz to hold the torch.

“What is this place?”, I asked the slave trader. “These are ancient ruins left behind by human civilization, it’s been abandoned for years, and has been inhibited with monsters for the most part.”

“Why are there no monsters?”, I used the spell ‘Sense’, but I couldn’t detect a single thing except for us.

“That is due to my work, I cleaned this place myself, not to brag but I think I did quite the exquisite job.”, the slave trader praised himself.

He then turned left, back inside a tunnel again, but the space was bigger this time.

My spell ‘Sense’ caught something in the distance, other than the repugnant feeling I had upon receiving the number, I also felt something on the exterior.

“They’re up ahead!”, I said, and used ‘Flight’ to fly up ahead.

As I reached closer, I began sighting couple of carriages surrounded by skeletons armed with armor and swords along side men with fighting against them.

“‘Dark Bullet’, ‘Dark Bullet’, Dark Bullet’, ‘Dark Bullet’.”, with a considerable amount of space between the others, I casted multiple spells.

Strangely enough, the amount of mana was insanely small. Most likely due to the skill ‘Chant Nullification’, I no longer have the need to chant, and the cost of the original spell will be used as if I had changed already.

The dark bullets took down about eight of them, however their numbers did not seem lower.

“‘Teleport’.”, Athena appeared out of nowhere, her sword unsheathed she valiantly took down over ten of them.

“Dear customer, you look like you’re in need of assistance.”, the slave trader appeared right beside me, on the palm of his hand was a butterfly.

It’s blue wings flapped their way to the middle of the bunch of skeletons.

The butterfly landed on the ground, a magic circle expended to the size of the area surrounded by skeletons.

The skeletons got struck by lighting, and turned to dust.

‘Wow, he has more behind the front he’s showing.’, truly amazed by his magical expertise.

The drivers saw their boss, and immediately stood up from their seat.

“Boss, what’s the problem? We were just on our way to make our next shipment.”, the subordinate of the slave trader asked.

“I came here to inform you that there has been a mistake within your carriage.”, he passed by the carriages while inspecting the contents within. “A mistake?”, they asked.

While the subordinates of the slave trader began discussing with their boss, Athena retrieved her sword, and walked back to me.

“Huff, Master! I made it!”, Azure came from behind with Alice within her arms. Azures hands were trembling, due to the weight of Alice.

“I can’t hold on anymore!”, Azure released Alice safely. “I’m sorry, for…”, Alice blushed, even though she felt guilty for making Azure carry her all the way.

Azure made a hand gesture, signaling her not minding at all.

The slave trader came back, with the same smile as before. “Costumer, I truly do apologize for my subordinates misunderstanding, in exchange I shall propose you a deal.”

He snapped his finger, and the space around us began distorting. Existence itself bend shaping into a different space.

Now, we were no longer within the ruins, and instead back on the slave traders tent.

My body received that obnoxious feeling again, but soon returned back to normal.

Not just me, but everyone else was surprised as well by the sudden change.

“I shall release the twin elves status as slaves, for free as a compensation of my subordinates misunderstanding. All you have to pay is their initial price I have aforementioned.”

The deal sounded fair, but there was something bugging me. “Why didn’t you mention that sooner?”

The slave trader smiled deepened. “Dear customer, the price for the release of a slave is quite uh… well extensive.”

I understood what he had meant, and decided not to pry any further.

He open one of the cages inside the carriage, and took out two pair of hands from within.

“”Big Brother!””, Lara and Luna ran towards me, releasing themselves from the slave traders hand.

I caught them in a warm embrace, tears running from their eyes out of both joy and relief. ““You came back for us!””

I hugged them back, tightly to make sure I would never let go again. “Of course I did, and I will never let go.”

“Uh-hum, dear customer I know that you are overjoyed with your reunion and all. But I’d enjoy it if we could proceed with the payment?”

I nodded in concordance, I took out the platinum coin and handed it over to him. I wished to not take any longer for this wh0pe procedure.

“Marvelous, to think I’d be able to live long enough to see one of these for myself!”, he said as he picked the coin, and stored it within his pockets.

“Now, as for the slave release ritual…”

The slave trader wandered over to a certain area of the tent, brought out a quill and a flask filled with red liquid.

He dipped the tip of the quill into the flask, and wrote a certain pattern on the lower part of their abdomens, where a heart shaped sign was engraved.

“The ritual of enslaving is actually a different form of a different spell that has been lost a long time. The original ritual is actually used for capturing souls or restricting souls.”

The pattern began glowing, the twins held themselves in pain. “However, when trying to release a slave, it is equivalent to tearing ones soul apart, due to the restrictions set on your soul.”

“It hurts so much…!”, Lara groaned, her breathing becoming heavy. “It’s burning...”, Luna who was equivalently in pain as her sister groaned.

I clenched my hands in anger, albeit this was a necessity to releasing them, seeing them in pain was barely bearable to see.

The heart signs disappeared, and their breathing returned to normal.

“With this, it is complete. They are now released of their status as slaves."

YeetusFeetus

Here is your long awaited chapter, I really didn't find a good way to end this chapter, on that part I apologize. I might change some stuff in this chapter if I don't find it good or well passing.

I am so close to the pity in Genshin Impact, but I don't want Childe! I want Diona!!!

Nevertheless, I hope all of you enjoyed this chap!