"What? The elf is with a vampire?" The chubby man stood up from his chair. His eyes were wide open from the unexpected words. He looked at the trio with an ugly expression."That"s right. There is a vampire, a short girl with black hair. We saw her saving the elf and killing your man." The tall man said, smiling at the slave trader.
"d.a.m.n, what a mess! No wonder we can"t get information about them. If she is a vampire, then what about the other two?" The chubby man walked in circles around the room, thinking about his next move.
"Oh, the others? We didn"t see others, only the girl. That means you will have to pay us extra. If she is a vampire, her companions will be most likely demons or other slaves, but that will be more work in the end." The man said, grinning at the chubby man.
The slave trader looked at the three men in front of him and his lips started to twitch. He was really reluctant to pay more for this, but there was no other way. He already had a problem. "Would it be better to get rid of the vampire?" He thought. Or else, who knew? She might come for him.
"Fine, I"ll double the money and give you more men to a.s.sist you in the task. Is that enough?" He asked.
"Tripple or we quit," said the tall man. That made the trader frown. Those guys were just exhorting him! He took a deep breath. "Fine, triple. But I want the elf alive, or else everything will be for nothing." That was his compromise. With the half-elf, he could at least make some money.
"Sure, we"ll bring her to you alive. Prepare your men in ten minutes and we"ll go after them." Answered the tall man and turned to leave.
"d.a.m.n hunters, always so greedy!" The chubby man murmured under his breath and finally sat back on the chair. "a.s.semble all of the warriors we have here and tell them to be ready in ten minutes!" His loud voice was heard a few seconds later.
"Yes, boss!" A guard from outside answered and went to work.
***
"Are you sure you are alright?" Erin asked Lyse while walking through the streets. The hypnotized man was showing them the way to the mansion.
"Y-yes, I am f-fine." Lyse turned her head to answer and in the next moment, she tripped.
"Careful!" Erin caught her before she fell on the ground. Lyse sighed to herself and smiled back to Erin. "Thanks!"
"No problem" Erin was already a bit used to Lyse"s clumsy walking, so she smiled back and started walking again. She was thinking again about the events that happened so far. After a few moments, she turned her head and looked at Richard. "What will we do after this?"
"You can think about it until we finish this task. If you can"t decide by then, I"ll make the decision, but I want you to think about it first and decide what you wanna do when we finish this." Richard said. He wanted to see how she would react in different situations. It would be better if she could handle those things without other"s help. That would make her character stronger.
"So can you tell me if you know them and why they want to make you slave?" Erin asked Lyse.
"I d-don"t know them. When we f-first came to the c-city and went for shopping, a few men w-were tracking me after I s-separated from you, but I k-killed them back then. T-they had bad intentions." Lyse answered after thinking for a few moments. That was the only problem she had after coming back to the city.
Erin was speechless. Such a thing happened and Lyse said nothing to them? And her nonchalant tone about killing was like she was telling what she ate for breakfast! She remembered Richard"s words. Killing in this world was normal, so what Lyse said was nothing surprising. If she wanted to live, she had to kill, especially in her case, when in other people"s eyes, she was nothing and they treated her like a slave that could be killed at any time, or even worse, a mere plaything.
Anna was walking in front of them and listened to their conversation. She saw her master was still uncomfortable about killing, but more accepting now. That made her smile. It was still good progress. At least, her master finally started to accept the reality. "How long before we arrive there?" She asked the man leading the way.
"In ten minutes." A mechanical answer came from him, as he continued to walk forward, guiding them to their destination.
"How many people are there?" She asked.
"There are forty guards, the boss, and four other trade slavers. There is the three-man team the boss hired for this job. That"s all."
"What about their strength?"
It was better to have as many information as possible to prepare for the upcoming fight. That way they could have a more accurate grasp on everything and be more prepared. That was Anna"s plan as well.
"The guards are as strong as I am, but I don"t know how strong the three men are, they are definitely a lot stronger than me."
"Alright, keep showing us the way, there are no more questions," Anna commanded him. His pace got a bit faster after this order.
Anna licked her lips, expecting the ma.s.sacre to come. It would be a big feast tonight, with so many targets for killing. That made her excited and eager with antic.i.p.ation.