"Give me a gla.s.s of water and ale for my friend here"Arrora and Arwen were now sitting inside the tavern "Cob Web", the same tavern Don and Uncle Dior met Akihiro.
The bartender was pouring a drink for a customer and made no effort to acknowledge Arrora and Arwen"s presence.
The tavern was as dull inside as it was on the outside. Wooden beams support the upper floor while the broken lights are attached to them. The walls are covered in a layer of dust, making it near impossible to see what the few paintings on the walls are about.
Arrora could see the tavern itself is almost completely abandoned. The few people inside were silent and they kept to themselves, but whoever they were, Arwen hoped they"d leave them alone, just like he and Arrora leaving them alone.
"Is this place always as dull as now?"
Arrora asked the waitress carrying the water and ale mug towards them. The waitress couldn"t help but smile wryly and sigh
"No not until someone chose to Minister Bryan"
The waitress drew a line across her neck with her thumb when she said.
"But what"s the connection to that and this"
Arrora looked across the dull tavern while the waitress sighed again
"You know when you kill a lion in a forest a group of hyenas would take its place its same as here when Minister Bryan died many criminals and bandits started to target us and then many merchants stopped coming here and then many people chose to leave this h.e.l.l"
The waitress had not many customers to serve so she patiently answered Arrora"s questions and Arrora decided to get as much information as she can from this waitress because she knew the tavern is the nerve center of gossip and information of a town.
"So who"s in charge of the city now?"
Arwen asked the waitress while taking a sip from the mug
"I"ve heard someone from the capital but it"s clear they don"t care about us at least when Minister Bryan was alive we got customers"
Arrora had no idea the death of Bryan would open the gate to other criminals but she didn"t care much about this slave-trading city and its people.
"Don"t you have guards to fight the criminals and bandits?"
The waitress shook her head and let out a sad smile
"most criminals are the guards, even the thousand arms auction house closed their shop and left with their great master this city is on its last leg"
Arrora could see the waitress"s eyes forming a tear but she quickly wiped it away and let out a smile to hide her sadness. Seeing the waitress Arrora took out a silver coin and placed it on the waitress"s hand. When she saw the silver coin she was shocked because the way Arrora placed the coin in her hand was like giving it to her and the ale and water were only copper coins worth.
"Keep the change" Arrora said as she planned to get information about the slave traders and she knew nothing would keep the information flowing out of the waitress"s head like a good tip.
"I"m looking to take some slaves with me. Do you know anything that can help me?"
To the waitress who served most of her life in slave city this kind of question was not new to her because most people indeed come here to buy slaves.
"Of course I know"
Arrora could see the silver coin tip is working well when she saw the ear to ear grin on the waitress"s face.
"How many slaves are you looking to buy?"
The mere word "buy" disgusted Arrora and Arwen but both of them didn"t show their feelings on their faces as they took a sip from their mugs.
"The more the better"
Arrora cleared her throat and said as the waitress rubbed her chin for a moment
"Hmm the small slave shops are closed now but there are two or three large traders still open to the business, you should look there"
"Can we get elves or dwarves there?"
"Hahaha"
When Arwen asked the question the waitress laughed as she shook her head
"Those are hot merchandise you can"t buy them simply in a shop, at least not here mostly you can buy beastmen, goblins, and humans in slave city"
"Alright give us the directions to those shops"
The waitress nodded and started to give Arrora and Arwen the directions as both of them etched them into their minds.
After getting all the information from the waitress Arrora and Arwen took a large sip from their mug and stood up to leave the tavern.
"You should leave the city soon"
Arrora said to the waitress before leaving the tavern without even looking back at her with Arwen.
When Arrora and Arwen stepped outside the tavern they could see some people walking on the pavements and roads. The people of the slave city looked gloomy as Arrora could tell they are living a very troubling life. However, she had neither power nor time to help the people as she started to follow the direction the waitress gave her to the slave traders.
Eventually after navigating through the maze of a street Arrora and Arwen. From the outside, the building looked impressive for a slave-trading shop. It has been built using mostly redwood and graystones and has spruce wooden decorations. Small, rectangular windows let in a small amount of light inside and have been added to the building in a fairly symmetrical pattern.
At the moment Arrora and Arwen opened the door and entered the room they were welcomed by a clean dustless hall but Arrora could smell a tinge of blood inside the hall.
"Welcome my lord my lady"
A sly looking old man in a white robe walked towards Arrora and Arwen with a smile. Because of the face changers and the hoods covered their faces, both of them looked nothing like elves.
"I"m looking to take slaves to my kingdom"
Arrora asked the old man as he nodded his hands and gestured at them towards the couch in the center of the room but Arrora waved her hands and didn"t move.
"You"ve come to the right place my lady, how many of them do you want?"
"First I want to see what you have in store"
The old man nodded his head enthusiastically
"Of course of course my lady follow me"
He grabbed a big rusty key from his pocket and walked towards a dark door on the corner of the hall leading Arrora and Arwen.
"Marv customers here"
While the old man put the key into the keyhole Arrora and Arwen could see someone looking through the hole in the room from the other side.
When the door opened there were three bearded men with scars on their faces standing there waiting for them with lamps in their hands.
Without even getting near them Arrora could smell the stench of ale coming from them.
"This way my lady"
Arwen stood behind Arrora and let her take the lead so the old man guessed she was the leader.
The old man grabbed a lamp from the wall and started to walk down on the stairs while the three men with lamps followed Arwen and Arrora.
As she was walking down the stairs, Arrora started to hear chain rattling and even some loud cries of woman, the smell of blood and sweat made Arrora furrow her brows. However, when she finished getting down on the stairs she was shocked at the scene before her and also Arwen.
There were at least a hundred steel cages before her just like the one she was put in. Inside the cages, she could vaguely see the features of the people, some of them looked tall and chained to the cage while some of them had green skin and short structure and she also saw some tails and wings in the lamplight.
"No no don"t hit me please"
"Water wate..."
"Let me go please let me go"
"Kill me"
"ti vol det kahl humans"
Various cries echoed through the dark underground and reached Arrora"s ears. Under the hood, Arwen"s eyes turning red in anger and veins started to pop out on his face. Seeing the horrible scene before her Arrora wanted to take out her sword and chop the four of them but she controlled her anger by clutching her fist tightly
"How many slaves you have here?"
Arrora didn"t show any anger in her voice as the old man took out a small notebook from his pocket and looked at it in the lamplight
"My lady, are you looking to buy all of them?"
The old man asked her after looking at his notebook a moment
"You could say that"
The old man"s lips curved and formed a sly smile which disgusted Arrora even further
"My lady we have fifty-eight goblins, hundred and twenty beast-men including catgirls, bunnies and eight humans men and women included"
Arwen"s eyes went wide in shock and surprise, nearly two hundred and sixty slaves in a single shop and he couldn"t even imagine how many shops like this are in the entire empire.
"Aren"t you afraid of someone stealing them?"
When Arrora asked the old man shook his and laughed proudly
"No my lady the three of them standing behind you are peak level master and besides we have two mid-level masters as well and also a group of Apprentices so not even air can come and go without noticing our security"
Even though the old man looked proud and confident about his security Arwen had a small murderous grin on his face when he heard the old man.
"I"m looking forward to seeing that"