With the meeting finally done and over, the group tour in the city of Eleanor officially began.

Know your enemy, and you would emerge triumphant in half the battle. Ciel knew this tenet, and thus he followed Holmes’ example to investigate the trajectory Eleanor headed into with his own eyes. For that, the Harem separated into two groups — the Market Team and the Underworld Team.

The Market Team was the duo of Amy and Elizabeth. The dethroned princess and her personal cook would be touring the market for delicacies, and interesting wares, listening to gossip and interesting news. Meanwhile, the Underworld Team of Ciel and Xia would head to the slums for the heavy information gathering that would surely end in a fight.

As for the sole remaining Caislean, she would be acting as coordinator for the two groups in operation.

Hence, began Operation Auditor.

…

The Market team left the hotel and headed to the market, making several stops on the way.

The main street of Eleanor was clean. Cobblestones perfectly paved neatly on the walkway, and the concrete road allowed the horse-pulled carriage to travel without worrying about the traffic. Amy visited several stores and high-class restaurants, sampling them with Betty. She admitted the food was good, but the place had a problem. After the success of Unity’s cookies, the group got money to burn, so paying for their purchases wasn’t the problem.

While Amy could pay for the food, it didn’t mean she wasn’t cringing.

The main problem was overcharging. A sip, the aroma, and a bit of tasting told Amy everything she needed to know about the soup. It was good — excellently cooked and seasoned — but the price was at least five-hundred percent of the starting raw material. Even accounting for the exotic preparation of each dish, it was exorbitant. As an adopted daughter of Gordon Ramiro Seyfert, Amy believed she could set up a rival restaurant that offered the third the price with twice the quality and bankrupt this place in a month.

She kept this opinion to herself and only told Betty when they were done with this flashy restaurant.

Betty’s comment was to the point, “This is Eleanor, Amy.” The princess frowned. “Everything in this place is overpriced because it is a tourist trap.”

“Tourist trap?” Betty repeated the puzzling term.

“That’s right,” Betty further explained. “They are selling a brand of the food. It is simple economics. If you make a product price inelastic, you can charge as high as you want and people will buy it because the target customer is price insensitive. They advertise that this food is an exotic piece of art, or said this chain of restaurants is popular with some royal family.” Betty showed Amy another interpretation of this clean street. “This place is being kept clean with a nightmarish security because this place is a tourist destination. You should see that our hotel also has a casino, right?”

It was then Amy realized the alarming truth.

“You mean this place isn’t a residential area?” Amy looked at block after block of beautiful buildings.

“Nope. They are all built for tourists,” Betty said. “And wait until you see the market.”

…

Amy saw the market and her jaw dropped.

She finally understood why Ciel was secretly hostile to Borbonsi. Betty and Xia both had a reason to despise this place.

“Hello beautiful,” a toad-like merchant robed in gold and jewels hit on the two. “Want to spend some time with me.” He grinned. Few of his teeth were missing. “Name your price.”

“Not interested,” Betty said.

“Hey, hey, don’t be like that,” The merchant said. “Do you know—”

“Shut up,” Betty replied, and brought forth a huge flood of Mana. “You aren’t the only one who can bribe the guard.” She was downright murderous. “Dead men can’t use money. Isn’t that the basic saying in Eleanor?”

“Cheh,” the creepy merchant spat, but he walked away. “So you actually know the game.” He muttered. “And here I think I can get newbie chicks for cheap.”

Amy watched him walk away.

“Betty, you are kidding about—”

“Nope,” Betty said. “I’m serious. Kill first, ask questions later. The guard will happily ignore murder if you lined their pocket. Give that guy a chance, or let your guard down, and you will end high on drugs, bouncing naked on his crotch.” Betty turned serious. “Listen to me, Amy, do not let your guard down, or eat and drink anything from this place.”

“Yes, Betty,” Amy replied, leaning close to this reliable sister-like protector. She was terrified of Eleanor market.

The place was exotic. Golds, Jewelries, goods, and raw materials of all shapes and sizes are being haggled, traded, or publicly auctioned in the market protected by marble buildings. Excess spice helped hide the stench of the crowds, but the noises and heat were too overwhelming for Amy.

But what truly terrified her, were the cages.

Exotic animals and creatures in cages were being inhumanely traded regularly. There was a sickly unicorn rotting away atop the cage of a depressed alligator. Too many exotic birds were crammed inside a single cage. Amy was horrified and surprised they weren’t already dead from suffocation. A starving monkey with falling hair inside another cell looked like it was on the brink of death.

Amy thought it was among the worst things she had ever seen — only topped by Slomrath’s faith farm.

Then she entered Eleanor’s biggest market—the slaves show-room—and promptly changed her mind.

This was way worse.

“Hear we have two Elves from the Western Continent,” a masked announcer roared to the cheering crowd. “We have a beautiful mother who can both cook, clean and warm your bed. As you can see, her body is of superb quality. It’ll be a privilege to own such an exceptional product.” Then the announcer moved on to the second Elves; a child. “And this is her daughter. A ten-year-old you can raise to be anything you ever want! Imagine the possibility! You can groom her to be the perfect slave, waiting for your every whim. Ever want to corrupt this pure little face and live out your fantasy? Here is the chance. And we guarantee our suppliers take good care to ensure her virginity remains intact during the packaging and transport.”

Both mother and daughter were chained on the stage, stripped naked for the crowd to see. Contrary to the expectation, they weren’t screaming or cowering in fear. The drugs and anesthesia pumped into bodies ensured only a neutral, emotionless compliance remained on the wooden platform decorated with pretty flowers.

Amy couldn’t believe how full the room was. Men and women attended the perverse meeting in droves, salivating in gross anticipation on the cushioned chair of this auditorium. A spotlight from the backstage pointed to the Elves like a magic show. As the trade started, the Crowds cheered, and Amy wanted to call Xia and begged her to purge the place with an earthquake.

“Fucking Eleanor,” Betty cursed, and Amy fully agreed in mutual disgust.

The announcer closed his statement with the final line, “Ladies and Gentlemen, this is an investment of the generation — a chance for you and your descendant to enjoy the girl and mother for the next hundred years. The price starts at the humble eight-million Accel.”

Betty was beyond angry. “On the bright side, they kept those two together,” Betty watched Amy's horrified face. “I know what you are thinking,” Betty answered the silent question. “Yes, normally families are sold separately.”

And the crowd went wild.

“Eight-million and five-hundred thousand Accel,” a man yelled.

“Eighty-five hundred thousand here, folks,” the announcer declared.

“Ninety-five hundred thousand,” said an old-man with a goatee.

“Seat 81, and nine-point-five million,” yelled the announcer, stirring the room with excitement.

“Ten-million,” said a fat old merchant Betty spurned.

“Seat 32 came with ten-million,” the announcer declared upon the stun room. “Anyone? Ten-million going once—”

“Eleven-million!” said the goatee.

“Seat 81 with eleven-million,” the announcer roared. “As expected from our regulars! What a champ!”

“Thirteen-million,” Seat 32—the gross fatso—said in fury.

“Fifteen-million,” Seat 81’s said, his goatee curling to face the challenge.

Seat 32 prepared to counter, “Six—”

“Twenty-million,” said a voice worthy of the angels. “And a crystal storing Rank 6 Red Magic.”

Silence.

Betty was in awe, “Wait, isn’t that voice…”

“What?” the announcer was shocked at the sudden intrusion. The twenty-million alone was great, but Rank 6 Red Magic was something else. It was a proof of the master amongst mages. The number of Rank 6 mages on the Eastern Continent could be counted on one hand, and all of them were infamous celebrities. The rune blessed with one such Magic was a treasure to anyone but the best of the combat pyramid.

The announcer took a while to realize where he was, “Twenty Million and Rank 6 Red Magic going one, twice, thrice and sold. Congratulations to the madam on Seat 6!”

The room — including the stunned Seat 81 and Seat 32 — was observing Seat 6 for the rest of the auction.

She bid again and won every single time. All her bids had one thing in common — defenseless and downtrodden women and children.

“No way,” Betty knew that woman. “What is she expecting to gain from doing this?”

Betty would soon learn that was simply how that woman functioned.

After all, that maiden was fated to ascend as the infamous Angel of Red. Other than her, none were finer to hold that title.

…

As Betty ran into a surprise in the showroom, Ciel and Xia were getting jumped in the slum.

“I pity whoever runs this place,” Xia lifted her boot from the broken jaw of the unfortunate mugger with the worst target selection in Acceltra. “This place is barely better than Springsong.”

Eleanor was the Tale of Two Cities. The upper layer presented to the tourist was the well-kept streets, busy markets with multitude of goods flowing in at great velocity, and infamous brands of everything from handbags to sandwiches. Beneath that veneer was the brutal reality that supported the fantasy of prosperity.

The alleyway they were in was a putrid slum hidden beneath the shadow of Eleanor’s prosperity. Soulless starving people in rags slept in the dirty black-alley of suffering to escape their brutal reality. Ciel went past several houses of crying children. Some were digging through trash for anything to support their meager existence. They saw a barely dressed girl coming home from exhausting labor in the port. The stench of drug and garbage marred the walls of the stone, making it visibly hurt to look at.

The further they traveled down this path, the worse the degradation and exploitation of the human spirit became. Gang after gang of poorly fed people of all ages and races tried to take a shot at them.

The one in front of him was no different.

“Hey, kiddo,” said a lanky man who had more bones than muscle. “You walk down the wrong places here.” He turned his attention to Xia. “Leave the girl behind and you might—”

“Tough talk,” Ciel noticed they were surrounded, but he was more disturbed by who was surrounding them — children dressed in rags fueled by desperation and hunger. “You’re hiding behind kids? That’s low.”

The petty thug had the gall to feel insult, “Shut—”

Ciel kicked him in the face.

…

The kids followed their boss down in a minute. Most of them sprawled on the ground, groaning in agony. Neither Ciel nor Xia gave them a quarter of mercy, they knew the children were survivors and dangerous. Punch first and ask questions later was the rule of Eleanor.

“Sorry! I give up!” One boy cried, trying to lift the foot Ciel planted on his chest.

Ciel raised his eye-brows, took his foot off and turned his back on the kid.

As Ciel expected, the child immediately sprung at him, brandishing a hidden rusty knife in hand. He sighed, grabbing the obvious sneak attacker by the arm and slammed him to the dirty wall of the alley. The kid coughed from the force and tenaciously glared at Ciel, only to quake in fear when Xia kicked the vicious twelve years-old in the face.

Xia then smashed the struggling ring leader into the wall after he tried to escape, causing several pills to drop from his torn jacket.

“What’s that,” Xia said as Ciel walked over and collected the suspicious pills.

“I don’t know,” Ciel had a terrible feeling.

“Wow, it’s worth it to find Betty’s hotel,” said an energetic voice. “Ah, may I introduce myself,” the high-energy girl walked into view. “Nuan Yulong, daughter of Lord Mandrake, I humbly greeted the Unity Lord.”