Volume 6 Chapter 337: The Unexpected Lack Of Business At The Radekz Secret Market
Translator: The Light
Edits by Grandia
The west district of the capital of the Manasvir Empire, Macnadix City. Bella and the others had enquired at every single store within the Nerodis Underground Trading Center and none of them had a map of the Forest of the Wild. The only available copy had apparently been purchased by the young mistress of the Blood Skull, Veronica. She had never met Veronica before, but Bella had had some previous altercations with the Blood Skull Organization.
Now, this made things much more difficult. Miss Veronica of the Blood Skull was still inside the west district and Bella’s only option was to approach her to see if she could take the map off her hands. After all, Miss Veronica was not someone who was in need of money. There was a possibility that Veronica would turn her nose up at the treasures in Bella’s possession, let alone be enticed by gold.
If her memory served her right, the young master from the Blood Skull whom Bella had scammed a huge sum of money from should be Miss Veronica’s older relative. She hoped that that guy would not be here, otherwise, it would be extremely awkward if he recognized her. The transaction aside, it would not be worth it if she were to get into a fight with the Blood Skull here.
Apparently, Miss Veronica of the Blood Skull had purchased the map of the Forest of the Wild with the intention of heading for the Thunder Canyon. The canyon was a secret location within the forest and was said to be the natural habitat of the S-Grade demonic beasts, the Thunder Lizards, as well as the legendary pinnacle thunder type demonic beast – the Thunder Dragons. These were all highly valuable prey.
The problem was that Miss Veronica was too wilful. Initially, there were more than a dozen stores that sold the map of the Forest of the Wild. However, Miss Veronica had bought every single map and destroyed them, leaving only the one map in her possession. Isn’t her capriciousness preventing others from making a windfall as well?
Chairman Sally Roy had met Miss Veronica a couple of times. According to her, Veronica was a young girl who was around Bella’s age. As she had a fiery temperament and was extremely willful, she did not have many friends, let alone any female friends. Even those vicious heirs of other mafia organizations would give her a wide berth as she was infamous for being fierce.
Veronica was quite good looking as well. However, as a headstrong young mistress of a mafia family, she had not taken a single step into the Olsylvia Academy despite technically being a student. Based on her looks, she could definitely compete with the bottom half of the academy’s top ten belles. As Veronica permanently played truant, Bella had not noticed this hidden “prey” even after being in the academy for so long.
At the moment, Bella did not detest Veronica at all. In fact, she almost felt like thanking her as she indirectly satisfied one of Bella’s dark fantasies. According to the store owners, Veronica was currently at the Radekz Secret Market, near the Sima Taboo Secret House. This mafia young mistress was too tough! That was a place that even Chairman Sally Roy would feel conflicted about entering.
As Bella had planned to find Miss Veronica to discuss if they could make a deal for the map, she successfully convinced Chairman Sally Roy to take her to the Radekz Secret Market, which was a place that she had always wanted to visit. Honestly speaking, very few females would actually visit the market. Chairman Sally Roy was having second thoughts as she looked at the a.s.sa.s.sin Noreya, who was standing beside Bella, with pleading eyes. She hoped that the cold beauty would have some way to talk Bella out of her insane ideas.
However, the a.s.sa.s.sin Noreya remained silent. Her eyes were eerily calm as she maintained a poker face. This female a.s.sa.s.sin was either being too professional, or she was truly perverse, just like Bella. Chairman Sally Roy desperately hoped that it was the former. If it was the latter, it would mean that the world was a dangerous place as there were too many super perverts like Bella.
Since the a.s.sa.s.sin Noreya did not raise any objections, Chairman Sally Roy was in no position to say anything either. She had no choice but to silently lead those two “naughty juniors” towards the Radekz Secret Market. The market was in an obscure location within the new city district. After all, the sale of slaves was highly illegal. Even in a fallen paradise like the city’s west district, the market was not allowed to operate openly.
The Radekz Secret Market was located at the back of the Nerodis Underground Trading Center, across from the Durix Nightclub. The proximity to the red light district was obviously used to cover up the market’s presence. Even during the day, the Durix Nightclub had many customers and there was a rather dark reason behind it. During the day, there was a twenty percent discount on the fees. This meant that those gentlemen who did not have enough money would flock here for the promiscuous women in the day. The night would then be reserved for the truly wealthy customers.
There were no headliners available during the day, instead, they were all newbies. The beautiful, skillful, ravis.h.i.+ng girls would only make an appearance at night. Based on the way that Bella and the others were dressed, it was not convenient for them to visit the Durix Nightclub. The club typically went by the book and only provided services between two men or between a man and a woman. For some strange reason, even the underground trend of this Other World suppressed any form of girls’ love.
If Bella were to visit the Durix Nightclub, they would only provide her with male slaves and courtesans and would not give her any headliners. Those women who visited the Durix Nightclub were usually rich ladies who lived within the city. They were at the age where they would be considered a cougar. However, their husbands already thought that they were too old and had begun to seek sweet young lovers. As they did not care for the loneliness, these ladies came to the Durix Nightclub to spend their money and revel in the debauchery.
Many of these couples from n.o.ble families often crossed paths within the Durix Nightclub. When this happened, they would simply nod at each other and continue to have their own fun. Bella was rendered speechless by their tough style and could only declare that the n.o.bility circuit was out of control. Most of the black guards at the Radekz Secret Market were members of the Horrorshow Group. They were dressed in the typical clown’s outfit, along with a clown’s mask, which made them easily identifiable.
Back when Bella was invading Norlander Duchy’s Nolan City, she had visited some of the temporary slave markets that were run by the Beastmen army or human slave traders. This meant that she had some knowledge about the typical layout of a slave market. However, those temporary slave markets in Nolan City absolutely paled in comparison with the Radekz Secret Market here.
The Radekz Secret Market was actually much larger than the Nerodis Underground Trading Center. In this day and age, the more immoral the black market, the larger it would be. The Radekz Secret Market was dimly lit, which might have been used to create a frightening atmosphere. However, Bella was slightly underwhelmed by their taste. The base of the lamp posts were made of slaves’ bones. Then, their eerie white skulls would be hung atop the lamp posts. Those skulls had the top sliced open and a magical flame was lit within them.
The eerie blue flames peeked out of the hollow eye sockets and mouths, which contributed to the frightening atmosphere. A strange black screen-type ceiling hung above the Radekz Secret Market, which enveloped the whole area. The ceiling provided the illusion that this place would never see the light of day, which suited the theme of the market.
To the untrained eye, nine out of ten people would think that this was the devil’s lair. In fact, to the slaves, this was definitely the case. The market was filled with slave traders. Just like the Nerodis Underground Market, the customers were gentlemen who spoke in even voices and would not shout or make a fuss. Those were all well-mannered “perverse doms”.
To people like Bella, who was a “domme” with hardcore tastes, this place was the highest level of “dark fallen paradise”. As far as the eye could see, there were all sorts of practically naked female slaves hung up on display. Other than three small price tags that barely covered their intimate areas, their bodies were left completely bare for all to admire. Their wrists were crossed over their heads, while their creamy white legs were spread open and secured. A black metal belt was wrapped around their waists keeping them in place.
Other than the female slaves on display, there were more of them that were locked inside black metal cages for sale as well. The more beautiful ones would be displayed individually while the regular pretty slaves would be placed in a cage together with a few other girls. Just like the other slaves on the pillars, they were completely naked except for three small price tags on their intimate areas.
Each female slave had a black metal collar around their necks with a name tag attached to it. Those inside the cages came with a metal necklace as well. Their eyes were covered with black blindfolds. Each slave also had a small black metal ball gag in their mouth and their hands and feet were secured tightly with metal chains. The newer arrivals still had tear streaked faces and their pale bodies trembled slightly with every breath. They had not come to terms with meeting their new horrible fate. On the other hand, the slaves who had arrived much earlier were already numb to their surroundings. Other than hoping that they would encounter a good buyer, they had no choice but to remain there.
To make the sale more convenient, the female slaves were slathered in all sorts of fragrances. In addition, their daily food and drinks had small amounts of mysterious medicines that would cause females to feel aroused. Their faces were all slightly pink and were basically maintained in a state where they could be “used” at any time.
As for the source of the female slaves, it would always remain a secret. Their status prior to being brought to the market did not matter as any t.i.tle would be stripped of them the moment they arrived at this extremely dark underground marketplace. At this moment, the female slaves were at much more normal numbers as the Human empires had not experienced much war in recent years. During the war period a long time ago, there were countless duchies. That was also the Radekz Secret Market’s golden era.
Back then, top quality goods could be seen everywhere. Those female slaves were all royalty and n.o.bility from war-torn duchies. This meant that most of those slaves had been princesses, empresses, and ladies from respectable families. However, the political situation of the Human empires had stabilized and the royal families now had immunity from being enslaved. This meant that it was now impossible to have a princess as a slave. At most, one could only find a young mistress from a down and out n.o.ble family.
Bella and the a.s.sa.s.sin Noreya were unmoved by the sight of all those girls and continued to take in the sights while maintaining a poker face. Chairman Sally Roy, who was initially leading the group, could only remain silent. She simply exclaimed to herself that these two problematic “naughty juniors” of hers clearly surpa.s.sed her in some areas. Unknowingly, Chairman Sally Roy had moved to the back of the group, allowing Bella and Noreya to take the lead.
Although the market was well-stocked with a large variety of goods, it was surprisingly quiet. Although there were many slave traders walking around, none of them purchased anything. They had a look of annoyance and frustration on their face that appeared whenever they saw women. For a moment, Bella suspected that those slave traders had gone insane.
There were practically no female slave traders here at the Radekz Secret Market. To be accurate, most women would never enter into such a trade. Furthermore, female visitors were a rare sight at this market as well. Bella and the others were considered to be “other”, but most of the slave traders showed no interest in starting a conversation with them as they carried the sign of the Eye of Darkness. Among the four evil organizations, the Eye of Darkness was the least evil. In fact, they had never engaged in any form of slave trade before. This meant that they were most likely here to browse and there was no way the slave traders would gain any business from them.
“Sigh, these are all female slaves. Boss, don’t you have any male slaves? They are now extremely high in demand. The prices for young males are astronomical and it has come to the point of being absolutely ridiculous.”
“My friend, you of all people should know how difficult it is to find male slaves these days. First of all, the rate of male casualties and fatalities in war has always been much higher than females, where do you expect me to source new goods? At this point, other than female slaves of other races, it is extremely difficult for me to make a profit at all. Most of the time, I’m selling them at cost. Also, if they cannot be sold, I have to waste food on them as well!”
“That’s not all. Didn’t you hear? The Durix Nightclub across the street has been giving discounts lately and stolen a lot of our business. Now, customers are beginning to complain that our prices are too high and prefer the lowballing prices there. Have they lost their mind? How can the prices for one night’s pleasure compare to a lifetime’s?”
“Don’t even mention the nightclub across the street, even the Sima Taboo Secret House at the marketplace is stealing our business as well. Apparently, they play some really weird games there and their business is booming. In fact, they’re doing even better than the Durix Nightclub over there. Customers these days are getting increasingly perverse. In the end, a slave trading market like ours, with a few hundred years of history, still cannot compete with the newcomers.”
Bella nearly laughed out loud as she overheard the conversation between a nearby slave trader and a merchant. In this Other World, due to the constant civil war on the Human continent and the subsequent battles waged over the years against the Demon race, Beastmen race, and other races, the ratio of males and females were not balanced at all as most of the men had died in battle. Even though most academies managed to barely maintain a somewhat equal amount of male and female students, most of the towns and cities outside had significantly more women than men.
Furthermore, it did not help that the upper management of the Human empires were fans of philosophy, which made things even more difficult. At this point, male slaves were valued at three times the price of a female slave. Based on the current trends, those prices would only increase. Bella was conflicted. She did not know if she should hurl obscenities at the ridiculous market demand. There were so many beautiful young female slaves here left unwanted and it was practically a waste of valuable resources.
The a.s.sa.s.sin Noreya had kept an eye on Bella the whole way. She held her dagger tightly in her hand as she maintained a state of high alert. She was afraid that this distasteful female Demon King would purchase every single female slave in this market on impulse. If that were to happen, it would be extremely difficult to explain everything to her other dorm mates and close friends. Despite how pitiful those female slaves appeared to be, the Radekz Secret Market had existed for a very long time and had a full code of conduct for the transaction of slaves within this black market.
According to the code of conduct, the slave merchants and traders in the Radekz Secret Market were not allowed to physically abuse the slaves and had to provide sufficient food and nourishment. If those rules were breached, they would permanently lose their license to trade. As for the more serious crimes, there was a possibility that the offenders would lose their lives.
It seemed like the slave traders and merchants were the ones who were bleeding money. As long as the slave was not sold, they would have to feed the slave. Moreover, they were not allowed to kill slaves at their whims and fancies either. The female slaves who had been trafficked here mostly came from poverty and did not have much family left. Over here, they were fed much better food than they would have eaten at home. Initially, many of them had struggled. Now, this was probably one of the reasons why they eventually accepted their fate.
Bella did not know if she should feel for the female slaves or the slave traders; this was a difficult topic to tackle. Fortunately, Bella soon managed to catch up with Miss Veronica of the Blood Skull, which stopped her from agonizing over that problem.
Miss Veronica of the Blood Skull was accompanied by a large group of lackeys from the organization. She was dressed in a bright red suit of armor. Her matching crimson hued hair flowed down her back and her tall frame accentuated her smoking hot figure. The blood red sword on her back added to the image of her being a ferocious warrior. Veronica did not wear a b.u.t.terfly mask, revealing the arrogant expression on her gorgeous face. The map of the Forest of the Wild that Bella had been looking for was attached to her waist.
Miss Veronica was surprisingly voluptuous. Her chest size was definitely comparable to Chairman Sally Roy, who had led Bella here. In fact, Sally Roy’s mature womanly figure nearly could not match up to Veronica’s young body.
Veronica and her subordinates were currently going head to head in a confrontation with some members from another organization, the Horrorshow Group. Bella’s jaw dropped when she saw the leader of the Horrorshow Group. It was yet another young mistress. This was the first time Bella had laid eyes on the young mistress of the top slave trafficking family. The girl was extremely pale, her pallor almost sickly. Bella felt that the young mistress seemed weak with illness.
Led by their individual young mistresses, both groups were at a standoff with each other and gave off the aura that a serious fight was about to commence. The main reason for their confrontation was apparently for the right to purchase a new female slave with dark violet hair who had just arrived. Wait... Bella thought as she took a closer look at the beautiful violet haired maiden. She had met her outside the Christian Hotel before. Wasn’t this one of the Empress’s most trusted subordinates, General f.a.n.n.y? What was she doing here at this slave market? Circ.u.mstances change far too quickly here. With the blink of an eye, the beautiful female general had now become a slave for sale.
General f.a.n.n.y had obviously been seriously injured after being beaten up. The huge eye patch on her face basically covered most of it, preventing most people from recognizing her. Furthermore, she had a ball gag stuffed inside her mouth, which stopped her from saying anything.
“You sickly girl, scram back home and rest, will you? Don’t get in the way of my purchases. She’s mine...”
“Veronica, do you have to be so fierce? Be careful, lest you get left on the shelf... eh, I’m just kidding. I have my sights set on this pretty sister as well. She’s not for sale. This market belongs to my family...”
“Your family’s? I... I don’t care. If you’re not happy about it, then draw your blade... I will not let you off this easily today. I can take on ten weaklings like you on my own!”
“Pardon me, young mistresses, do you mind if I join you?”