John stared through the narrow opening in the curtain that covered the front door. He saw the slave women, young and old, with their top clothes forcibly stripped, standing in a row. He sighed as he stared at this public atrocity that only happened in the underworld of his original world.
‘I need to get out of this cursed place at once.’ He thought sadly.
“No! Please don't!” A woman cried outside in a foreign language.
The mother and daughter, who gave John the apple, were also standing in the market. A pig-faced fat man wearing shining silk clothes and elaborate jewelry was observing the slaves with his two bodyguards when his eyes fell on the little girl and her mother. Drool fell from his mouth on to his protruded stomach as he stared at the little girl.
“I’ll eat this one tonight,” the fat man said while looking at the child’s crotch.
The man with whip stepped forward and pulled the little girl away from her mother. The mother leaned forward and held her daughter tightly and begged: “Take me too, please!” as tears streamed down both her cheeks.
“Pfft.” The fat man spat at the mother: “Dirty old wench, who needs your loose cunt.”
He stared at the man holding whip with coldly and asked: “Don’t your bitches know manners? Silence her, and I’ll give you an extra five thousand.”
The words of the fat pig became music for the man with the whip. He swung the whip fiercely and hit the mother’s chest. A large red blotch formed across her breasts and blood streamed out from the small cuts formed on them. The mother trembled slightly and screamed in pain, but she didn’t let go of her daughter.
The man swung his whip again, but this time he strongly hit the mother’s neck. She darted backward heavily, and her head hit on the ground. Blood flowed in rivers from the back of her head as her life left her before she could even scream. The market was crowded, as usual, yet no one batted an eye towards the dead mother and her crying daughter. Here, slaves were treated worse than livestock. The man with the whip clapped his hands, hearing which two armed men stepped forth. He looked at them and commanded in a stern voice: “Use her body well before you dispose of her dog meat.” The two men licked their lips and stared lustfully at the half-naked dead body and the little bit of pubic hair seen through the torn skirt before they carried the corpse away.
Black was watching all this from the back alley. As the slave trader was about to put a latch on the neck of the child, Black stepped forward and stopped him.
“Who are you, bastard?” the annoyed slave trader screamed.
“Oh, me? I’m your papa motherfucker! You rubbed your mama, the wrong way, hence I came to punish you. You dare question an imperial guard, want my dagger crushing your windpipe?” Black shouted back, flexing his muscles. Two armored knights stepped forward and put their sword at the pig-faced man's throat. As for his guards, four knights had already restrained them.
Black was sure that John spoke the god’s language, and he also knew that the girl had helped the hungry man. If he managed to gift this girl to John, he was sure, John will follow him. And if John, as the princess suspects, didn’t speak god’s language, it’ll just add one more body to the body count. But the problem here was the lady. She would be a burden, but luckily this bastard got rid of her first, else he would have had to kill her too.
The slave trader became convinced that he had bitten more than he could chew.
‘Did he found something out?’ The slave trader thought as he changed his attitude.
“If lord wants this slave, I will sell her to you.” he bowed down and muttered.
Black screamed: “Quit fucking your mouth around.”
“You have something much better with you; I’ll take that too.” He whispered back.
The slave trader sweated bullets. He was caught red-handed so arguing anymore is worthless. He sighed and led Black to where John was tied. Black removed John’s gag and asked in the softest voice he could make “Don’t worry, I’m here to rescue you. Do you speak god’s language?”
John noticed that the man hadn't let go of his sword’s handle even for an instant and realized that he meant business. He hesitantly replied in English: “If this is your god’s language, then yes, I do speak it.”
Black became surprised by hearing the words, whose meanings he couldn’t comprehend. He faked a bow and cut John’s chains immediately with the help of his sharp dagger. He needed to win John’s favor. His forefathers had taught him that knowledge could only be earned and not robbed. He was just a common soldier and no princess. He supported John with his arms and led him out.
The tensed, John followed Black silently while staring forward. At the exit, he saw the crying girl and the naked women. “Can you release them?” he asked in the language of the natives while looking at Black.
“Alas, I believe it’s beyond my capabilities. Slaves are the property of the traders and their masters. At best, I can release one or two, but I can’t guarantee their safety.” Black said in a pretended sad tone hiding his admiration for the young man who was fluent in the native language too.
John nodded as slavery was legal here. By freeing the slaves, he was the one committing the crime and not the slavers, but John couldn’t take his concerned eyes off of the crying kind little girl.
Black who was waiting for this opportunity muttered immediately: “Sir seems rather fond of this one, I can gift her to sir, on behalf of my lady, as a token of our trust.”
John felt that this man was trying to owe his favor. He immediately thought of something sinister and smiled.
“Then please fulfill one more kind request of mine. It may be within your powers, and with this, I’ll surely owe you one.”
Hearing this, Black couldn’t help but smile.
“What is it?!” he asked excitedly.
John tiptoed and whispered something in Black’s ears so that others couldn’t hear him.
Black nodded his head in understandingly. He looked at the man holding whip and shouted: “Guards, strip this man naked and whip him a hundred times.”
John left the market, accompanied by Black and the little girl clad in his cloak, only after he whip touched the skinny man for the hundredth time.