Chapter 43

After few days of travel, and camping, we finally reached the city gates, the girls had woken earlier and were really shocked to see our current state, the light faded from their eyes as they knew of their state…fucking stupid laws…

Once inside the city gates I saw marvelously built structures, with giant statues and buildings of great art everywhere. Yet this served nothing to change our shitty situation, we are still in deep shit and we can’t do anything about it…

I took a look at the girls, they were both huddled up with each other. They look like they had lost hope… the elven girl was still silent, and only I was left to my thoughts, what are we going to do from now on? Serve as a noblemen’s sex toy? Perhaps being flayed and humiliated all day long?

Ordered to serve, and do the most demeaning acts…shit! My mind can only think of the worst possible outcome…god damn it…how the hell did we end up in this situation, we were high school kids for god sake…

Once the caravan stopped within a marketplace I heard thunderous roars of people that were willing to purchase new ‘personnel’.

At first the bastards did a display of merchandise, the unloaded the caravan and began walking us towards a stage. The first to go were two twins, which probably were too afraid to speak, they were green in color, with reptilian scales on them, a boy and a girl, clearly visible from the difference in their chest proportions.

“The first object of sale are these wonderful lizard men, they grow to become extremely laborious slaves, strong in hand and can do manual labor, the girl can do well in bed, if thought correctly, but I warn you to not let their sharp teeth mouth near your privates”

Said the man to which the horde laughed with glee

Disgusting pigs…

Once the display was set he began the auction

“Price starts off with 10 000gold a piece.”

And the horde began the auction, adding the price per unit to rise all the way to 120 000 an item, an old woman wearing a blue dress, with several lizard type servants at her disposure took the both of them, a look of disgust was painted on all three of us when we saw, that the lizards accompanying her all had their tails missing…she probably cuts them off to her own reasons but seeing these small children go like that leaves a bad taste in my mouth…

More bets went on, and everyone was sold with relatively high price…until it was time for the elf

“One of today’s best offers, a wood elf from the eastern elf kingdom, only 120 years old with quite the magic aptitude, she has 3000 mana units in her mana pool which is by no mean small. Quite beautiful and elegant, and would do wonders in a man’s bed…”

The cheers rose higher as if they saw a trophy to obtain, the look of depravity on most of the present men here makes me want to gag…I wonder if our fate is the same as this…

“Opening price 100 000 Gold piece!”

Though the opening price was high, many jumped to the bet, and the price skyrocketed without pause…

Until an old fat man took it. Fucking clichéd scenes is being done right after my eyes, the fat sweating pig, obtaining a beautiful elven slave. To do what he had wished and was not capable of on free women…what a sickening world…

“Sold for 500 000gold piece to the master merchant Dedia”

“Now lastly, an item that was never presented in any of the markets and probably will never do, for those that had kept their money for the last object I assure you, you took the right choice, as for those that don’t have enough then you can just satisfy your eyes with seeing.”

He brought the three of us out, chained together with one chain and presented us,

One of the men then said

“Those are just humans! We have thousands of those as salves here…are you trying to trick us, Jinra?”

“No, I would never do that dear costumer, these are indeed humans, but not your regular kind…these are summoned heroes”

To this word everyone turned quiet, some even held the pommel of their swords, fearing our wrath.

“What the hell are you doing with such dangerous item here in our kingdom, don’t you know what they’re capable of these summoned ones?” said the same man

“Yes, I do, but with the choker, they are mere slaves, imagine having a summoned hero as a slave, not a single one of you bastards can dream of it, I would have taken one for my own but I am afraid that my thing is too big that it will break them, so it’s a waste of material. Oh and guess what, they are all virgins, so you get to have an interesting romance the night, and an amazing reputation by day. The one that has enslaved a summoned hero, tell me that that doesn’t sound catchy?”

“Starting price. 1 000 000 gold piece a unit.” He added.

I don’t know if I should feel disgusted or proud that we were sold so high, but I will be damn sure to pay them back for this.

The prices began to rise, even the pig faced man joint in. rising to 5 000 000 for all of us combined the pig almost took it, until a handsome looking man came in, he was wearing a red suit, adorned with elegant clothes, the horns on his head and the tail behind him, the gentleness of which he carried himself, his physique and visage, also the redness of his eyes all spoke of honor and elegance, yet if you would deeply see in his eyes, this all looks like a lie, as true power and might was what hiding behind that gentle and kind face.

“10 000 000 Gold piece!” said the man in red

To which everyone turned, and instantly knelt down.

The giant too, knelt, not wanting to disrespect the man.

“Your majesty, what are you doing here in such a palace?” said the giant.

Majesty…is he one of the royals?

“Jinra the giant, it’s been long…back to slave trading I presume?”

“Yes, your majesty, working as a mercenary is not that worth it anymore, the risks outweigh the gains…”

“Doesn’t matter, I was just surprised to see actual summoned heroes here in my kingdom…I will be taking them, you can go to the treasurer to get your pay.”

The fat man then rose

“Your majesty, you have all the women in the kingdom, let us have some fun for ourselves…”

The man in red then looked at the fat man with eyes filled with disgust and said

“Your fun is disgusting. These girls are not for me, nor am I interested in them, I have been looking for a suitable prize for the winner of this year’s tournament and I think that these girls will do great. You can buy them from the winner if you like. Now piss off, I have a summoning session to command”

“Yes your majesty…” said the fat man and made way.

After few hours of arranging the merchandise, the giant then gave us something

“Drink this once the night is nigh, it will dull your senses and make you unable to register pain, it’s quite the way to ruin an asshole’s first night.”

A sedative…why?

“Why?” I asked

“I don’t really know, you just seem so…not someone up for this it’s just a way to help, I wish you best of luck with your new master, they might end up being nice, you may never know…”

The giant then left leaving us three yellow vials, one for each girl…

“What are we going to do now?” said Misaka

“There is nothing to do Misaka, its better than death…it was this or death back at the humans…I really can’t think of a way out of this, especially with this stupid choker in play…I can’t even use a tenth of my strength…damn it to hell, I feel weak…”

Haruna didn’t speak, the poor girl must still be in shock…

The caravan was then taken by two soldiers that looked to be city guards, they went through an arena of sorts and right to where the battles were being held. Demonkin and men were fighting, slaves and monsters, it was chaos, yet people cheered for the fights, and cheered more at the sight of blood…savages everywhere…glorifying death and carnage…

The caravan was taken from the guards by people working in the arena, they then carried it where several guards were seated, they took us out and placed us near a treasure trove, there were thousands of golden items near us, all gathered in sacks and opened pouches, chests and other beasts, even some eggs that looked to have scales on them. And we were in the middle.

Right behind the treasure trove was the wall of the arena, and above that the seat of the viewers, we were positioned on a platform right in between the fights and the spectators.

“What is this?” said one of the currently present guards to the ones that brought us.

“It’s the reward for the finalist. This was ordered by his majesty”

“Alright, keep them under the shade, and in display to all. His majesty has yet to arrive here…it seems that there were some complications with the summoning…”

“I hope nothing goes wrong, they should have asked Therai for help…”

“You know full well that that guy will not help that easy, of course he is a master summonor and necromancer but he is on bad terms with his majesty, he even participated in this tournament just to spit in their face…damn necromancer…”

“I wouldn’t antagonize him this openly if I were you, he has a lot of supporters, and a good footing within the council, I would keep my mouth shut if I were you…

“You are right” said the guard and then left…

Summoning? A necromancer? Things are getting stranger by the minute.

“Who is this necromancer?” I asked

“Slaves like you shouldn’t bother…but why do you ask?”

“…I have a friend of mine that passed away…I was wondering if they could…no forget it, it’s better to let the dead rest…”

“Wise words.” Said the guard “the dead need to rest, once they die they are never the same…”

Sigh…

What am I thinking about in times like these? With this dire of a situation I need to think of a way out of this mess…

“Speak of the devil, here is the necromancer…”

Looking at the man that just entered the arena I saw a strange looking humanoid.

Though he looked like demonkin he had flame instead of hair. He wore black robes and he looked old, probably a man in his late forty. A cane in his right hand, with a crystal orb on his left.

I am unable to identify the objects or the person, but dreadfulness was seeping from this person.

His opponent was a man with a long blade. A saber of sorts, sharpened on one edge. It’s used for slashing and cutting, not much of a penetrating weapon but sublime in dealing ghastly wounds.

The other man stood with finesse, though he wore no armor but hardened leather, he looked like a swordsman of the highest grades. The way he stood, the way his mustache was glorious, and his posture was perfect for counter attacking…yet what good is a blade against magic? If he is unable to shorten the distance, then he is done for…but I doubt that a man of such refined senses is one to not know of this delicate information.

The fight broke, the necromancer casted a black hex that sent black smoke rushing towards the swordsman, to which the man began swirling his saber at an enormous speed.

Normally doing that is suicide as that is black magic and not smoke, yet the swordsman added a bit of his mana as his sword glowed in golden and began funneling the smoke upwards.

Without pause the necromancer casted a blue arrow from his cane that multiplied into hundreds of arrows that began chasing the swordsman, this one however dodged and struck at them closing the distance between them.

Before he could even get closer, the necromancer bean speaking in some strange tongue. Hands rose from underground, skeletons of men long since dead rose, only a dozen but they looked to be quite frightening, these skeletons had no signs of life within them, but there was a green and eerie light shining from their eyes, trapped souls that were guiding the bones of the diseased into action, forced against their will by the order of the necromancer, today they shall do his bidding…

Yet before any of them attacked

Both Haruna and Misaka began screaming.

Pain looked on their eyes, as people quieted down, they were the only ones screaming from the pain that prevailed them. However the audience did not quiet due to girls shouting…it was the atmosphere, it somehow changed…

The two fighters stopped fighting and looked at us, I went toward Haruna to see what was wrong, but she was grabbing at her back neck and scramming from pain…

I asked her what was wrong yet she didn’t answer, until she stopped. Like if the pain was never there, she turned around with eyes filled with tears and said…

“The herald comes for us…he is here…”

A loud thud was then heard, behind me, right in the center of the arena, something fell from the sky…

I turned to see what it was, and it was a man, wearing black leather, with a veil on his head that spoke terror as faces of the dead were printed on it, a display of absolute terror…

I couldn’t identify him but I knew for sure, that this being is the scariest thing I had ever seen since I came into this world…and if it is what Haruna just spoke about…then our lives are forfeit…I guess that it was wrong that we stepped into this country in the first place…perhaps we could have had it better back at the human kingdom…

The man then stood and slowly turned, rising his head ever so slowly, yet the veil on it made it impossible to know his features…

A grin on his face then soon followed before he said the words

“Found you…”