Central Tornis City, Slave Trade Market
The streets were filled with tents containing dozens, even hundreds of slaves from various places. Many of them were dressed in rags, thin, and lifeless, forced to work endlessly like dogs.
Shun walked through the crowd.
"Where the hell is he?" he muttered, searching for someone.
He entered one slave merchant tent after another, looking around, but couldn't find the person he was searching for. Running out of ideas, he decided to check the slave auction.
"Damn it, I've searched everywhere, but he's nowhere to be found."
"Oh, right. The auction! Maybe he's there."
"But… where the hell is the auction held?"
As Shun stood in the middle of the street, a large, muscular man bumped into him.
BAM!
The man fell to the ground.
"Ugh…" He got back up.
"Who the fuck do you think you are, bumping into me like that?!"
"What the hell is with this guy? He bumped into me, and now he's blaming me?"
"I can't believe NPCs like him actually exist in real life." Shun thought to himself.
"Hey! You deaf or something?!"
Annoyed, the man threw a punch, sending Shun flying into a small slave merchant's tent.
The man still looked pissed, but he seemed too busy to waste more time, so he just walked away without escalating the issue. Shun didn't fight back—he knew causing a scene would only make things more troublesome for him later.
As he tried to stand up, a short man—who looked like a dwarf—stormed over, fuming.
"What the hell were you thinking, you bastard?!"
"Look what you did! You wrecked my tent!" the dwarf shouted.
Shun gave him a cold stare.
He considered just walking away, but that would only cause more trouble. Paying for the damage? That wasn't an option either—it would only make him a target for thugs. He had no choice but to play along with the "broke weakling" act.
"Sorry, but I don't have any money or valuables."
"What?! Then who the hell is supposed to pay for this?!" The dwarf stomped his foot repeatedly.
As he continued ranting, his eyes landed on the sword hilt peeking out from under Shun's cloak. He suddenly smirked as if an idea struck him.
"Hey, are you a swordsman?" he asked, his tone shifting to an interrogative one.
"Something like that," Shun replied.
"Why?" He tilted his head.
"Alright, let's make a deal. You'll escort my slaves to the auction and ensure they reach their buyers safely."
"What do you say, kid?"
Shun twitched slightly at being called "kid" but let it slide. The offer wasn't bad—he'd get easy access to the auction without any hassle.
"Fine. I'll take the job."
"Good, kid. But don't expect any payment. This is to cover the damages you caused. Got it?"
"Yeah, yeah, I got it."
The dwarf led Shun to the slave cages prepared for auction. Inside one of the cages was a half-fox woman, dressed in noble-like attire. She gazed at Shun with a look of intrigue, as if she were a predator eyeing its prey.
"What the hell is she staring at…?"
Shun snapped out of his daze and quickly prepared the supplies for the escort.
Once everything was set, three cages were loaded onto the carriage. Shun and a few other guards were assigned to escort the caravan, walking alongside the horses at a steady pace.
"Hey, handsome~."
The fox-woman opened the carriage cover and spoke to him. She was one of the high-value slaves being taken to the auction.
Shun ignored her.
"Hey, why are you ignoring me?"
"Come on, answer me, handsome~."
"Geez, it's rude to make a lady wait, you know?" she continued teasing.
Another guard, clearly irritated, snapped at her.
"The fuck are you babbling about?!"
"Shut the hell up until we get to the auction, bitch!" he barked.
"Tch, what a killjoy," she muttered under her breath.
---
At the City Gates
When we arrived at the gates, a group of soldiers blocked our path. They looked well-trained, but their armor was stained with blood.
A real soldier would never allow his armor to be tainted like that.
That was something Shun had learned during his three years of traveling with Ravel.
After a brief inspection, the soldiers opened the gates and allowed us through. I thought we'd head to one of the buildings, but instead, the caravan leader led us into a tunnel.
The further we went, the less sunlight we could see.
We eventually reached another set of gates. When they opened, the sound of a bustling crowd filled the air.
Dozens of slave caravans lined the dimly lit underground chamber. Soldiers appeared at regular intervals, calling out names and dragging slaves onto the stage.
Now that I had nothing else to do, I started looking for a way to sneak in as a buyer.