“Zzank you, zir,” Hanzo took the money from me and quickly hid it somewhere inside his jacket. “We will zign ze Zlave Contract for you now, zz… zir.”

A contract? Humph, let’s just pretend I know what he’s talking about. I thought for a second.

“Ok,” I kept the serious facial expression from before.

“Yez, yez. One moment, pleaze,” Hanzo rushed away somewhere via the poorly lit warehouse and came back after a very short while, carrying a leather bag over his shoulder. “Here we go, zir. Zis iz ze contract zcroll and ze zlave collar.”

Hanzo showed me a poor-quality paper parchment and a metal, just over an inch in width collar which also didn’t look like it was very well made. The metal collar was open from one side and had a single hole in it in the middle where you could probably insert something, up to two inches in diameter.

“Firzt, ze contract. Your hand, zir,” Hanzo held the paper parchment in one hand and a white, sharp on the edges stone in the other.

“Here,” I extended my right hand to him, my palm facing up. “H… hey!”

As soon as I extended my hand, Hanzo used the sharp stone to make a cut on it deep enough for the blood to show.

“Zz… zorry zir, I couldn’t zee very well in ziz dark,” Hanzo said, but his words told me the cut was intentional.

I was about to lash out at him, but then I saw the stone flash a dim, red light after some of my blood got splashed on it, so I stopped myself. The next thing Hanzo did was to scribble something on the parchment using the stone he held. It didn’t look like he was actually writing something, but I noticed he touched the paper with the side of the stone that had my blood on it. Once the blood touched the scroll, it glowed, illuminating the words that were written on it. I almost pinched myself when I saw my name being written on the paper without a pen or any other action from Hanzo. Once my name was on it, another name was written right after and it was Ranalaiya’s name.

“Zere. Now all you have to do iz approve ze contract, zz… zir,” Hanzo passed the scroll to me.

“Huh?” As soon as I took it out of his hands, a notification appeared in front of me saying “Do you wish to form a ‘Master-Slave’ contract with Ranalaiya?”. I didn’t need to be a genius to understand what was going on, so I chose the ‘Yes’ option. The next second, the scroll disappeared and a contract was done, but it didn’t end there. I was about to be showered with congratulations from a certain someone.

- “What a thrill. You’ve got yourself a slave, handsome, and such a hottie too. And here I thought I was more than enough for you, babe. That just makes me feel sooo excited. I can’t wait to join you two for some fun.” – Lavita just had let her opinion be known about it.

Not now, Lavita. I had to keep it together, but she caught me off guard and I was now blushing.

“Aghem… Well? Are we done?” I straightened up, turning to Hanzo, whose eyes looked like they were about to pop out of their eyeholes. I couldn’t understand why he was staring at me like that, but I wanted to be done with it and leave the place. “Hey, the slave.”

“Ah, yez, yez. I beg your pardon, zir,” Hanzo snapped out of it. “One moment, pleaze.”

Hanzo was still holding both the metal collar and the stone he cut me with, which was now fully red in color. He then placed the stone inside the hole of the collar and it fit it perfectly, or rather, the hole’s shape adjusted by itself for the stone to fit in, which was amazing to see. Hanzo went to the cage where the woman I just bought was lying.

“Hey, zlave, come clozer. Zow neck,” Hanzo ordered.

When Ranalaiya pulled herself closer to the cage’s bars and lifted her head up, Hanzo opened the collar wider and then placed it around her neck. The stone shone and a quiet ‘click’ was heard, which probably meant the collar was either locked by Hanzo or it locked itself up. I wouldn’t have been surprised if it was the latter.

“Aaah!” However, that wasn’t the end of it, because Ranalaiya let out a loud scream.

“Hey, what are you doing?” I didn’t know what was going on, but I could see she was in pain.

“Zorry, zir. Zome zlavez are more reziztant to contractz. Zee zould be fine zoon,” Hanzo was waving his hands in front of him frantically.

“Humph,” I frowned at him, but fortunately, Ranalaiya calmed down in the next few seconds.

“Zere, it iz done. Zank you for your buzinezz, zz… zir,” Hanzo rubbed his hands happily.

“Great. How about you let her out of the cage now?” I raised my voice.

“Ah, yez, yez, of courze. Zo zorry, zir,” Hanzo scrambled to find the key to unlock the cage. “Go, you have new Mazter now.”

Ranalaiya was struggling, but she managed to stand up and walk out of the cage on her own. Only when she stepped out in the light, as dim as it was, I could see how badly beat up she was. The clothes she was wearing were worse than rags too. Even my clothes looked better after I came back from hunting Rhakis. She wore a half ripped sleeveless t-shirt that just barely covered her breasts and some worn out underpants that didn’t even fit her properly.

The fuck? I was aghast to see her in her current state.

“Move, zlave,” Hanzo pushed her forward and she just barely managed to hold herself on her feet without tripping and falling.

“Hey, watch it! She’s my slave now!” I yelled at him.

“Aah, zorry, zorry, zir. I apologize, zir,” Hanzo started apologizing and bowing down repeatedly.

“Huh?” I was surprised to see him being so apologetic all of a sudden. “Anyway, we’ll be going now.”

“Yez, yez, of courze. Let me zow you out, zir,” Hanzo almost ran to the front, almost like wanting to get away from me.

When I turned back to face Ranalaiya only then I noticed some extra features on her body that I couldn’t see before due to the inside of the cage being so dark. For one, she actually had a cat-like shaped nose and some whiskers growing on the sides of it. The whiskers weren’t that long, up to two inches in length. It looked very unusual to see a woman having real cat-like nose and whiskers.

Her arms had some black fur growing in some places too. She had fur grow on the back of her upper arms, where the triceps muscles were. The fur was very short, but had a smooth shiny glow which reflected the dim light bouncing at her. I noticed she had some fur grow just below her underarms too. It extended back and forth, making a shape of a half-moon and it probably ran just down and under her chest, but I couldn’t see it due to her wearing a t-shirt.

I looked down below and noticed she had no fur on her thighs, but had some on her calves and feet. Compared to the other parts of her body, her feet were fully covered in fur, but differently from a real cat’s paws, her feet looked very much human and had five fingers too. Her fur aside, Ranalaiya was badly injured. She had bruises and injures all over her body. The wounds looked like she had received more than a few lashes with a whip.

“Can you walk?” I asked Ranalaiya. Helping her walk would make me look bad as her Master in front of those slavers, but I had to keep the act up.

“Yes, Master,” Ranalaiya said, making a step forward and gritting her teeth from pain.

Damn, she needs immediate healing. Hey, I have some Guardian Tree’s water with me. It should help her feel better. I remembered suddenly.

“Here, drink some. I’ll hold it for you,” I wanted to pass her the container with the water, so she could drink on her own, but she looked too weak and I wasn’t sure if she be able to hold it herself. She drank the water voraciously as if she hadn’t anything to drink for a while. “Feeling better?”

“Uhm… Huh? The pain… it’s going away. But how?” She looked at her hands.

“No time to explain now. We need to leave this place. And also, pretend that you’re still in bad pain until we’re out of here,” I told her after putting the container back into my Item Storage Box.

“Y… yes, Master,” Ranalaiya said, lowering her head.

Master, eh? Whatever, let’s get out of here first. It felt unusual hearing someone call me Master, but first things first, we had to leave here as soon as possible.

“You don’t have to hunch anymore, unless… you’re hurting too much,” I told Ranalaiya after we were some distance away from the Slave Market.

“Yes… Master,” she said, hesitantly straightening up yet feeling embarrassed for some reason.

“And you don’t have to call me ‘Master’. My name is… eh?” I turned to face her fully to talk to her and only then saw why she was feeling so uncomfortable. Due to her t-shirt being so badly torn, the left side of her chest was almost fully revealed, showing her breast. Her injuries aside, part of the reason she was hunching and holding her arm close to her body was to cover her chest.

I’m such an asshole. Sigh… I turned my flushed face away.

“Ah, sorry. Here, cover yourself with this,” I took off my fur mantle and placed it over her shoulders, pulling the sides forward so her front would be covered too.

“Huh?” She stared at me in disbelief, but gripped the edges of the mantle tighter to keep herself covered. “Th… thank you, Master.”

“No problem and call me by my name. It’s Rockin,” I told her.

“Yes, Master Rockin,” Ranalaiya said, lowering her head. She probably tried to hide her relieved face for receiving my mantle to cover herself, her black cat-like ears flickering a few times as a result too.

Master Rockin, eh? It will take some time to get used to. I stopped to think for a moment. I guess the first thing to do is to buy her proper clothes. I still have a few silvers left which should be enough, but we’ll have to make some money fast starting tomorrow. I guess I’ll have to make that scarf for Navirei sooner rather than later. I’ll get a silver or two for it maybe. Oh right, I have these Rhakis skins with me too. I could sell them for some money as well. I wonder how much they cost. I better ask around first before selling the skins to someone.

We entered the Shopping District after a short while, not exactly talking on our way here. Ranalaiya was injured, so I kept a slower pace. I received a few stares from other people passing us by, but I ignored them. I was looking for a stall or a shop that was selling clothes. Buying anything fancier was out of my pocket right now, but I still wanted to get Ranalaiya something that would fit her.

“Hello dear sir. My name is Ranco. Are you looking to buy some clothes?” A middle-aged half beast human resembling a racoon spoke to me from behind his stall.

“Yes. I need to buy some clothes for her,” I said, motioning my hand to Ranalaiya.

“Aah, I see. Such a pretty slave needs to dress good in front of her Master,” the merchant was very sweet with his words.

“Hey, don’t overdo it with your sweet talks or I’ll go somewhere else,” I didn’t like the sappy sweet type of salespeople. And besides, Ranalaiya might’ve been attractive, but she wasn’t looking as pretty as he tried to portray right now.

“Ah, so sorry sir. Please forgive me,” he bowed down apologetically. “Please, could you tell me what you are looking for?”

“Right, something practical and easy to move around in. I plan to take her to the dungeon, so I need clothes that would hold well,” I told the merchant.

“Yes, I understand. I would need to know her measurements if you don’t mind, sir?” He scurried to find a measuring tape.

“You don’t intend to take measurements yourself, do you?” I glared at him.

“No, no. Of course not.” Even if he said that, I was certain he wanted to do it himself. “Let me just call for my assistant to do it instead.”

He rushed inside his shop to call for someone and a woman, who was probably his wife because she also was a half beast racoon human, walked out of it together with him. She gave a glance at Ranalaiya and I noticed a pity showing in her eyes.

“This is my wife Varvi. She’s also the tailor who makes our clothes. She’ll be able to assist you,” Ranco introduced his wife.

“It is nice to meet you,” Varvi bowed her head politely. “Would you mind if I take your… companion inside the changing room to take her measurements?”

“Yes, no problem. Her name is Ranalaiya and I’m Rockin,” I realized I was the one with the bad manners here.

I had to wait a short while before Varvi was done taking measurements. In the meantime, Ranco was talking and serving other customers who came to check his wares. One of them wanted to buy something, but needed to check if the clothes would fit them. Unfortunately, Ranco had only one changing room and Ranalaiya was in it at the time. The customer agreed to wait until it becomes free.

“We are done,” Varvi said after both women came outside before handing a slip of paper to her husband. “These are her measurements.”

“Right, thank you, dear. Also, could you show this customer to the changing room, please?” Ranco motioned towards the woman who was waiting for it.

“Certainly. Would you follow me, please?” Varvi addressed the waiting customer with a smile.

“Ok, let me see… I think we have just the right sizes for her. If I may ask, how much are you willing to spend, sir? Different quality goods have different prices, you see,” Ranco tried to be gentle about it and I knew why.

“Something… not too expensive and more on a practical side,” I tried not to show my embarrassment for not having enough money.

“Ok, ok. How about this… this and… this?” Ranco laid out a dark yellow woman’s shirt, a brown sleeveless jacket and simple leather pants. “These ones should fit her well and all three cost one silver and two bronze coins all together.”

Phew. I was glad he selected the items that I could afford to buy.

“Ok, those should be… fine… What about… Ah, hold on for a second,” I was about to ask something else, but started to feel embarrassed again. I walked closer to Ranalaiya and asked something in a whisper, so others couldn’t hear me. Ranalaiya blushed after hearing my question and simply shook her head which meant her answer was ‘no’. I went back to Ranco after that. “Right, she’d also need some undergarments as well.”

“Ah, so sorry, sir. I should’ve been more perceptive. Many apologies, sir,” Ranco was apologizing frantically.

“That’s ok. Can you show her some that would cost under one silver for both top and bottom?” I asked, trying to keep my voice casual.

“Yes. Please take a look at these, miss,” Ranco motioned with his hand, inviting Ranalaiya to step closer to the other table where they had some underwear for sale.

With a mild glance, I could see the underwear they offered didn’t look anything like the women’s underwear offered in major shops from where I come from. The ones here looked like tight shorts and sports bras at best. But maybe it was because of the price I could pay. Some other shops probably had much fancier ones, but they definitely had a fancier price tag on them as well. After a short moment, Ranalaiya has chosen the undergarments for herself and it was time for me to pay up. It all came to two silvers in total. Ranco gave me a discount too, because of how many clothes I bought from him with a single purchase.

“Here you go,” I paid the money, making the merchant happy. “By the way, do you mind if she uses your changing room to dress up?”

“Not at all. But there is someone in there right now, so you will have to wait a little if you don’t mind, sir?” Ranco didn’t mind.

“Yes, ok,” I told him before turning to Ranalaiya. “How about you wait over there until the changing room becomes available? I’ll check if I can find something for myself as well.”

“Yes, Master Rockin,” she obeyed and stepped away from the shop, so other customers could get to the stalls as well. I turned to browse the goods in hopes of finding myself an extra t-shirt. I wasn’t browsing the goods for even thirty seconds when I heard a commotion happen behind me.

“What do you think you’re doing, stealing goods like that?” A male voice shouted. “I think you need to be taught a lesson, you slave bitch!”

“No, I… Aaah!” I heard Ranalaiya voice.

“What?” I turned to see what was happening.

“You damn slaves are nothing but beggars and thieves. I bet your Master put you up to stealing, didn’t they? Hah!” The man kicked Ranalaiya in the gut while she was lying on the ground.

“Bhaah! Cough…” she grabbed onto her stomach, gasping for air.

“Did that hurt?” The same man smirked at her. “There’s more where that came from. You need to be taught a lesson that stealing is wrong.”

“Hey!” I yelled at the man.

“Huh?” He was about to give Ranalaiya another kick, but turned around after hearing me shout.

- ‘SMACK!’ – I put an extra strength into my punch.

“Bhaaah!” The man was knocked so hard, he flew into the stall behind him, breaking it and having the merchandise fall on the ground.

“Hey! My wares!” The merchant yelled.

“Why you! What do you think you’re doing?” I thought I punched him good, but the man wasn’t knocked out cold. He picked himself up and went after me. “You should mind your own business, buddy, or you might get hurt. Haaah!”

“Shield!” I used my Defense Skill: Shield to block his punch.

“Aaargh! Shit!” The man punched my magical shield and got his hand hurt.

“So do you!” I punched the guy in the stomach next.

“Ghwaa… cough…” He fell on his knees, holding onto his stomach. “You… little fuck. I’ll kill you.”

“Not if I kill you first,” I was ready to rip his head off.

“What’s going on here? Stop fighting immediately!” I heard someone order in a loud voice behind me. When I turned to see who it was, I saw several men, dressed in clad armor and carrying some impressive weapons approach my location. They looked like guards for the most part. One of them stepped forward. “What is this commotion all about? Explain yourselves!”

Are they guards? Ah, shit. I don’t need any extra trouble. I stepped away from the man I punched just a moment ago and went to check on Ranalaiya. She was much in pain, had a swollen lip where the man had punched her and it was bleeding too. You dickhead, I’m gonna…

“This asshole attacked my… my slave for no reason. I was simply protecting her,” I thought the best defense was a good offence.

“She was stealing goods from the merchants! I simply caught a thief and stopped her from getting away!” The man offered his own explanation in a loud voice.

“Say what? She wasn’t stealing anything. The clothes she was holding were all paid for!” I raised my voice.

“Oh yeah? Prove it,” the man had a weirdly confident grin on his face.

“Stop this right now,” the guard who seemed to be in charge ordered again. “I need witnesses. Can anyone attest that the goods were paid for?”

“Excuse me, Captain Balnard, if I may?” Ranco approached the guard. It seemed like he knew him personally.

“Yes, Ranco. Did you see what happened?” Captain Balnard turned to face him.

“Yes, I did. This kind sir visited my shop and bought some clothes for his slave from me. He has paid for the goods and they were waiting for the changing room to be available, so his companion could dress up. I can attest that she didn’t steal anything from me,” Ranco gave his testimony.

“I see. Thank you, Ranco,” the captain said.

“Happy to help, Captain Balnard,” Ranco bowed his head before scurrying back to his stall.

“With Ranco’s testimony it seems like you falsely accused that woman of stealing,” Balnard turned to the man who attacked Ranalaiya.

“Well… I… I made a mistake. Aaah… I’m… really sorry. Aah… hahah…” the man tried to laugh it off.

“What do you mean, ‘sorry’?” I lashed out. “You falsely accused and attacked her for no reason and you think you can get away by pretending you’re ‘sorry’?!”

No way in hell I am letting this guy get away with it. I was fuming inside.

“Are you the owner of this slave?” The captain asked me in a calm voice.

“Ah, yes, I am,” as pissed as I was, making the guards pissed at me wasn’t my intention, so I tried to keep it together.

“I see. Do you want to put charges on this man for the incident?” Balnard asked me again.

“Of course I do. She was severely injured by him,” I stated in a loud voice.

“Understood,” Balnard said before turning to the guards who were accompanying him. “Take him into custody.”

“Yes, sir,” the guards responded.

“Ah, wait, wait, wait. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please, please don’t arrest me. I’ll pay for the damages. Please don’t arrest me,” the man fell on his knees and started apologizing like a little child. His sincerity made my jaw drop. “Please, forgive me. I… I’ll give you a Healing Potion, so you can heal her injuries. No wait, I’ll give you two Healing Potions and I’ll pay for the goods too. Please, don’t put charges on me.”

The hell? Now that’s something you don’t see every day. I was flabbergasted by the man’s behavior.

“So, what do you say?” Captain Balnard turned to me after motioning to the other guards to hold for a moment.

“Well…” I had to get it together. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. “I… I will need to heal her, so… if he’s willing to give me the Healing Potions and pay for the goods… I suppose I could let it go… only this once.”

“You heard him,” Balnard spoke to the man next.

“Yes, aah… Open Item Storage Box,” the man scrambled to get two Healing Potions and some coins out of his storage box. “Here, please.”

“Huh?” He placed two potions with red liquid inside of them and a whole gold coin in my palm. “Right, thanks.”

“Ok, good. Consider yourself lucky and I don’t want to see any unnecessary commotion again,” Captain Balnard added in a stern voice.

“Thank you so much. I… I’ll be going now,” the man vanished from our sight like a smoke in the wind.

“Wow, thank you…” I turned to thank Captain Balnard.

“Just doing my job. Make sure to look after your slave better,” he gave me an eyeful.

“Ah, yes, certainly,” I knew I will have to watch Ranalaiya better from now on.

 

{at around the same time at the Slave Market}

 

“WHAT?! You sold the Night Sky Panther Woman for how much?!” A man dressed in a very fancy suit, wearing a mustache smashed his hands on the table after Hanzo delivered him the news. “I will skin you alive, Hanzo!”

“Zo zorry zir. Pleaze, forgive me zir,” Hanzo dropped on his knees, apologizing like no tomorrow.

“What do you mean, you’re sorry?! Why the hell did you sell her in the first place?” The man demanded.

“B… but zir, zee was put in ze dizcard pile cage. I zought zelling her for one gold and zree zilverz waz a good deal,” Hanzo tried to explain himself.

“A good deal? Are you a total idiot?! She was supposed to go on the Auction at the end of the week! I would’ve gotten ten… no, twenty times more than you got for her! And why was she put in the discard pile cage in the first place?!” The man, who seemed to be the owner of the Slave’s Market, wanted more answers.

“It… it waz Barriz who put her in zere. He zaid… he zaid ze woman didn’t lizen and needed dizzipline,” Hanzo explained timidly.

“THE FUCK WAS BARRY THINKING?! And who put him in charge of the Night Sky Panther woman?!” The Slave Market owner smacked his fist on the table, fuming from rage. “What will I tell to the people I promised the goods now? I will have to pay from my own pocket for not offering her on the Auction! You better cough up the money yourself for this one Hanzo or I swear I’ll make shoes out of your fur.”

“Zir, zo zorry zir. Pleaze, don’t zkin me zir,” Hanzo was bowing down on his knees on the floor.

“Your apologies don’t make me money, Hanzo,” the man stated in a slightly calmer tone.

“Zir… ze man… ze man who bought ze woman had… had ze exceptional zyztem announcement, zir,” Hanzo tried to come up with something useful to save his skin.

“System announcement?” that got his boss’s attention.

“Yez, yez. Ze woman… ze woman voice zpoke very zeductive…” Hanzo tried to add sparkle to his words.

“Is that so? You might keep most of your fur on your body after all, Hanzo. Now, tell me more about it,” the man leaned with his elbows on the table, placing his chin on his hands.

“Yez, yez, of couze, zir,” Hanzo crawled closer to the table where the man was sitting.