“I haven’t really heard your reasons as to why we must work with Ella. Other than you saying it would be the best place to start.” As long as I could understand her logic, I might be able to see things her way. For now, I acted on irritation due to Ella's nature.
“Don’t get me wrong..., I didn’t think it would turn out this way. I figured she would be an easy way in. To get introduced to the black market auction.” Jade did pretty well under pressure and replied well without showing any at all.
“And the purpose for getting entry into this auction?”
“From there you could get a look at the inner workings of how they’re able to get away with smuggling without soliciting the attention of authorities. I believe you wanted to gain power and the auction is one of the key playing cards in the undercity." Her response was quick and it showed that she somewhat put some thought into a plan for us.
"Once you control it, you pretty much control more than half of everything down here.” She added on her own speculation.
"And what or who might control the other portion of the undercity?" I had a nagging feeling like I could answer my own question.
"This Flower Garden, operated by Ella." Jade verified my guess.
“And what are our other options?”
Jade mulled over a viable option to provide before speaking again, “The only other way would be to make connections with the person in charge of the fighting ring.”
“Hmm, that sounds pretty interesting, you should have presented that as a viable option. You know I enjoy a good fight.” She finally mentioned something pretty interesting and I already knew this was something I wanted to check out.
“Maybe this time you won’t kill everyone.” Eris chimed in sarcastically. I almost retorted an excuse then opted to give her the stink eye.
“I think we’ll try that route first. As for Ella’s request to find the missing person, we can keep an eye out but won’t bend over backwards for her.”
“Very well, master. Again apologies for the undesirable turn of events.” She bowed her head and it did truly sound sincere from the way she held her tone, but I wasn't too sure because she was always well-practiced at these kinds of situations.
“Don’t stress yourself over it. Besides you still got another question to answer.” Jade remained silent for my coming question.
“Well, there’s actually a couple and this includes you too Selka.” I glanced over to her sitting beside Eris.
“I want to know both of your motivations and goals. Why did both of you willingly become my slaves and subject yourself to the seal that's tied to it?” It was an honest inquire on my end, and I wondered if in their shoes would I have chosen any differently.
“Ever since I’ve been spending time with Marcus I began to enjoy helping him with his various side gigs. It gave me a sense of how society works, and making a change even if it was very minor felt good.” Jade chose to speak first.
“My reason for joining you was based on Marcus’s observations and the way you treated Alexa and Tessa. There’s a limit Marcus can achieve with his position, but that’s different for you.” I found it hard to understand her outright belief in me. I didn’t even believe in my ability for success, and for her to base it on a few turn of events like acquiring enough money to purchase two slaves felt rash.
“Are those his words or did you reach that conclusion on your own?”
“Mostly his but the decision is mine.” She acted very adamantly about her choice.
“And for you?” I opened my palm and motioned for Selka to offer her answer.
“It’s about the same reason as Jade’s, though I don’t really have a goal like making the world a better place." Selka was the exact opposite of the thoughtful responses that Jade always seemed to have at the ready. It didn't take long for Selka to speak her mind.
"I joined you more for the fun of it, my magic makes my life a very secluded one. You fit the two criteria I required, resistant to my magic and considerate to the people you place around you.” Selka was much more nonchalant about her reasoning. I didn’t mind the lack of ambition or dreams since it wasn’t till recently that I found something to work towards achieving.
“Yeah, and that fun almost had Alexa blasting a hole in your body from that stunt you pulled on me on day one.” It was easier to tease and mess around with Selka which was refreshing.
“I'll admit, it wasn’t the brightest approach to finding out if you were resistant to my magic or not.” Selka lowered her head in a playful yet sulking manner.
“No dark secrets that will cause us trouble later on Selka? Might be wise to learn from everyone else and not end up giving us a surprise in the future.”
“I have many, and I apologize ahead of time because there's a hundred percent chance that they will eventually come biting us in the ass.” Her turn-around behavior made the troublesome and looming danger feel silly. At the very least she was open and not trying to hide anything from us, so if anything that could be considered a plus.
“Thank you for your understanding, master.” She added on a bit extra after noticing everyone staring without anything to say. This time genuinely sincere in her speech.
“Okay, if that’s all then let’s head on over to this fighting ring once we get the details about the missing person. Anything to add, Eris?”
I had to look at Eris to realize that she answered by nodding her head from left to right. The look on her face was like she was distracted by something more important off to the side.
“It’s nothing. Let’s get out of here.” She made eye contact once I was staring at her and stood up.
“May I enter?” As if on queue, a woman knocked on the door frame to ask for permission to enter.
“Yes, we’re all done.” She walked in after I replied, holding onto a thin blue folder. It was the same woman that greeted us when we entered the Flower Garden, the one that seemed close with Jade.
“Here’s the information regarding, Ina. She’s been unreachable for the past two days and her last known location and contacts are listed inside. Please help us find her, many of us are worried the worst has happened.” The concern in her voice sounded real, but part of me wondered if it was something ordered by Ella. A rouse to tug on emotions and thus manipulate me.
“I can’t promise anything, but we’ll try our best to keep an eye out for her.” I told her the exact same thing I told the others. I took a moment to skim through the few pages of paper and got a good look at the photo of the missing person. She was around Mia’s age, mid-twenties, and matched the high beauty standards of this place. I may have done a double-take on her photo before handing over the papers for the others to browse through.
“That is all we can ask for, you have our gratitude, young master.” I was barely getting used to everyone calling me master and it sounded even more awkward to hear it from someone else, totally unrelated to me. The woman led us to the entrance we came through last night and we started our walk back through the red light district. We were aiming to call on a so-called carriage taxi on the other end where their airspace wasn't banned. It meant having to pass through all the risque clubs and distractions along the way, with some tempting enough to want to visit if things ever decided to calm down.
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