Rika was a survivor, always had been. No matter the hardship, she gritted her teeth and pulled through, when she was starving as a young orphaned child, when she was training her body, so she could become an adventurer, when a job went south, because of incompetent colleagues or plain old shit luck. She never gave up. Neither did she break when the shitty adventurers guild decided that the ransom was too damn high they demanded for her release, nor after the days of rape she went through, nor the beatings she recieved. Her captors were finaly forced to use a slave collar on her, despite all their efforts. And even that was to their luck, because soon after they learned of a grand auction happening in the town of Blythe. A blood mage has settled there and because of that, the city organized a grand auction.
And even with all the abuse she had withstood, her training and mental fortitude, as well as her bloodlines heightened healing had kept her just well enough for the auction to accept her to be auctioned off. And now here she stood, just been bought for a whole oricalchum coin. She probably should be feeling elated, after all someone has found her to be of so much worth, but instead, it irked her. There was no way her future was looking bright right now and whats worse, her captors were getting the payday of their lives. Forget the ten platinum coins the guild refused to pay for her release, foget the thirty or fourty platinum coins she would likely be sold for, just because the nobles were willing to boast their wealth. A friggin whole oricalchum coin. She probably would never even see one in her whole life even if she was working herself to the bone.
Thoughts raced in her head at a million miles her hour speed,bringing her to the worst possible reasons a noble would spend such exorbitant money for the little ol her. There was no way it was because he just felt sorry for the damsel, and decided to help her out. Sent to an exotic hotel, used as a breeder for new hybrids? Was he so heavy into the torture, that that was the only way he could get hard, so he needed a pretty face, that could last long? Her mind spiralled ever downward, but she would not break. She will endure, and one day escape. Warlords mark, slavery necklace, hell, even slavery tatoos could be broken with a will strong enough. She just had to grind her will against the shaclkes, one day she would be free, because will was the one thing she had in spades.
She was brought to the door, where her new owner sat. After a light knock, the attendant brought her in, and she noticed the back rests of six chairs. She could not see the faces, but her senses said that one chair was empty, and the rest were taken by one man and four women. She was brought next to the man, who then gave a single coin to the attendant, who then bowed and wished him pleasant remaining auction, and felt the room, closing the door behind her.
"This is the end of the road for you girl." spoke the hooded man. His entire being was obsured somewhat. She new he was a man, because of the voice and a gut feeling, but everything else was obscured.
"There is no escape from me. i can feel your will is strong, strong enough to brake that collar in less than a year." His words startled her, the man should not know of her plans, he would be too vigilant, and his next words had her panic inside
"You will serve one of my girls as her personal assistant, and as my bed slave when i feel like it. So before you are branded, meet your lady, you will serve for the rest of your life"
'Branded? No way, No way, No way.' Rika panicked inside, her eyes filled with fear and despair. Why ever would anyone waste so much money not only to buy her, but to also brand her. Was she special, what was it, that doomed her so. Thoughts rushed throughout her mind, crashing one into another. It all felt so surreal. She had fought so long, endured so much. And for what? Only to be made a slave? Both body and soul? And as she was about to go even deeper into despair and finaly snap, she was enveloped into a wery warm and affectionate hug, as if to shield and protect her from the cruelity of the world. She calmed a bit, and she hear a rather angry adn somewhat familiar voice.
"Bad Rex! Are you trying to fully break her mind? She was almost gone there! You said a light tease. This wasnt light at all."
"Jea, my bad. Went too much evil protagonist there. As punishment, I will not have a taste of her for at least a few months."
The angried girl only huffed at the mans words, but her hug did not lessen.
"It is okey Rika, nobody is gonna hurt you anymore. You are safe now. I will have you smiling and being your sweet, sweet self in no time." the girl spoke as she was gently caressing her head. Then a moment later the almost heavenly feeling that was protecting her vanished, leaving her in the still warm adn gentle hug, but nowhere near as purifying as before.
"Once again, I went overboard and for that I apologize Aina, but she had to be pushed to the brink, or else she would have those demons with her for most of her life. Almost breaking her, pushed that tainted energy out of her. And it was either that, or repeating what she went through with those guys before, just twice as bad. So I stand by my choice of having her feel utter despair for a moment rather than to pull her through weeks if not months of some sort of a gang rape and heavy abuse."
Aina? The word jolted the catgirl out of her calming daze. That was a word she had not heard for a few years.She remembered the elf, they had some of the best quests together that she had before the war quest that started this last chapter of her life. She looked up and met the elf girls gaze, compassion and sadness for the fate of her friend reflecting deep in those teary eyes, but there was something else as well. Happiness to meet again, hope for a future devoid of pain and suffering, and resolution to stand by a friend once again, and to not let go this time.
"Ōw and you will be nannying her for as long as Mel heals her to perfection. No girl of mine gets to stay damaged and with complexes about their looks if I have a say in that. And I do." the man arogantly added. "Now bring her here so I can brand her and you can catch up and hug all you want."
Aina once again huffed at the mans words, but did as told, all the while whispering in Rikas ear, easing her mind. And then once she was right next to the man, in a blink, an ethereal chain shot in her chest, markign her soul. In that brief moment of marking she saw the soul of her now master. Brands could only be broken wit ha lot of preperation and much more powerfull soul than the blood mage that branded the person. And what she saw, defied any reason. She was a speck of dust in front of an ocean that streched far past the horizon. There was no escaping her fate, but she was not panicking inside. She already new the rules and changes to her the brand had done. She was still entirely her, with the small addition, that she would never betray her master first and foremost and then therest of her new family. No other man may touch her and that was basicly it. It was as if she had recieved a job for life she could not quit even if she wished to, and she could never do so.It just felt alien, wrong somehow. It also explained why she was branded. She was bought by the blood mage himself, so why wouldn he brand his slaves, it costed him nothing. And sho she was brought to the only empty chair where Aina pulled her into an embrace once again and started a quited inquiry regarding the time after their seperation and before her capture, all the while the mage had returned his focus on the auction.
While following the auction hewas alos listening to the conversation Aina was having with Rika, who had started to slowly respond to the questions, and once they touched upon the adventurers guild by accident Rex asked a question, since there was nothing he was interested going on on the stage.
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"Were the adventurers guild not supposed to pay for such ransoms. I am quite sure I read it in the contract."
"Yes, they should have, but there are some loopholes in those rules that the guild tend to use if they consider the adventurer not worth the ransom demanded. Their criteria largely depend on the class and background of the adventurer." Aina responded
"And let me guess, since the nobles are always covered and ransom is paid, they couldnt care less for the ordinary adventurers with no strong family backing them, or an extraordinary talent thats noticed?" Rex second question didnt even need an answer as both Ainas and Rikas unpleasant expressions said it all. Rex fished an amulet out of his storage ring and threw it to Aina, who caught it, and once she looked at it she placed it around Rikas neck.
"Your identification, as a member of his circle. If you will ever have any errands without me around and anyone tries to trouble you, show it to any of Blythes guards and they will bust their ass to get you to safety and protect you. Not that you will need too much protection when you will be strong enough to be allowed to roam outside alone. Sorry about that in advance." Aina had learned just how overprotective Rex sometimes could be with his girls. It had her slightly worried and happy at the same time.
"Anyways neither of you will ever bother yourselves with the adventurers guild. It seemed way too scammy when I first read through their contract, so i outright canceled my plans to join. And while it is a simple matter of an order for Rika, and the guild have no claim on her anymore anyhow with their previous actions, I would advise for you Aina too to go and cancel your card. If you ever feel like doing some dungeon diving, we can arrange it on our selves."
Aina nodded in agreement, she had no desire to be entangled with the guild anymore, and she was quite worried how they could abuse her now that she was no lomger part of the Silvermist family. With the short conversation over, Rex once again switched his main focus back to the auction. He still had seen nothing that caught his attention, Rika being Ainas request. Sure she was nice, but it would probably take him a solid amount of the heaven grade meat, to push her bloodline far enough to trigger body baptism, essentially purifying and restoring her body to a perfect condition.
It took almost half an hour untill her finaly noticed something that he liked. He was quite amused as well regarding the situation. While his rational mind was screaming that maybee he should not flex his autority and pull to aquire this specimen, or he could endanger the just secured deal with the kitsune, but the distinctive yellow six tails and those cute fluffy ears atop that blonde head, with hair reaching her buttocks. He was still thinking it over, because even if he bought her, he had a talk with the councill for later anyhows, and Izumi should be smart enough to let the council engage in the cold war, if they deem it necesarry. So Rex might have to dig a bit in his pockets for rare stuff to secure her, but he had just the thing, and he didnt mind exposing another property of the heaven grade meat, that was not commonly known, and would rise its baseline value by a lot, if it ever stops being unreasonably rare.
"This here beautifulll kitsune was aquired barely a week prior, since the Land of the Nine divines had entered war with the Mount Tai sect. As per ussual with wars, people are captured sold of in slavery, to break the spirits of the opposing side and the like. This specimen however is a bit special. As the group who had aquired her was well aware of the auction being planned, and as such, they have gone aboev and beyond, delivering this here flower to the auction pure and unspoiled, if a bit roughened up during her capture."
Now Rex had to secure her, but the seller knew his merchandise. That alone drove the girls value much higher. And while she was not a seven tailed kitsune, indicating she in not of noble birth, she would reach a similar price, since slaves more often than not, if not specifically bred for that purpose, were tested and trained quite a bit in the bedroom.
"We will start the bidding at four orichalchum coins, and the minimal bid value is set at twenty five platinum coins." the auctioneer announced, and quite the bidding war innitiated. Even Izumi was taking quite the active role in trying to secure their kind and return her home, but she had a time. There were dozens of nobles who wanted to aquire such a rare specimen, hell they might even be able to start their own half breed strain if they got lucky.
In another part of the auction house were countless smaller rooms that had some sort of a screen in every room. In each room was an attendant accompanying the person or group who were inside, watching the auction unfold. Some rooms had increadibly great mood in them, others neutral, some even were filled with gloom, and some were empty. Those sellers, who had already claimed their money from the sold items, with the auction house keeping a measly five percent of the total value, instead of the ussual ten, because of their first time organizing such an event and to attract more people with much more valuable stuff, had already mostly left, and the remaining people either were interested in just having a look at the remaining stock out of curiosity, or of boredom.
The remaining few were still waiting for their last slaves to be sold, and right now in one room, the mood was somewhat tense with anticipation. The kitsunes prize had risen to ten orichalchum coins already, and the bidding was still ongoing. They expected to earn anywhere from thwenty to fourty orichalchum coins, but what they hoped for was some other rare treasure offered, as they were sure would be when the bidding for the blood mages meeting would begin. The party was quite famous with their efficient and clean work, and almost no taboos regarding their approach, so they often recieved quite shady contracts to fulfill.
Their last raid being one of those. The job was simple- raid a few villages, gather a solid number of kitsunes adn foxkin, and sell of in slavery. Right before they had hit the last village, they learned about the grand auction, and as luck would have it, they caught a six tailed kitsune. Untill now they had only managed to snag four tailed ones, who were barely better than foxkin, so this one was a pure stroke of luck to have been in this village. But one their doctor inspected the girl and relised she is a virgin, they almost lost their lids, and with all haste concluded their business, sold off the cheap slaves they had gathered so far, and arrived in Blythe. And one the bidding started to slow down at the mark of twenty five oricalchumn coins, a voice interrupted the bidding
"Before I place my bid, I have to explain the properties in their full to the people present, since I hate to undervalue my property. Heaven grade meat has another, rarely known effect. It strenghtens mystical bloodlines, if they happen to have one. beastkin, dragonkin, and other offsprings from magical creature unions can become stronger and with purer bloodline, if they consume heaven grade ingredients. The true value of it now, you be the judge. As such my bid is five killograms of heaven grade meat, the same as the one auctioned earlier today." That was Rex bid, and it utterly silenced the hall. If going by the price it was sold before, that was wooping eighty oricalchum coins, but if the info was true, the value should be ab least double, if not more, as any arrogant emperor would claim their right on such an ingridient with astronomical prices.
"Hey," one of the mercenaries who owned the kitsune being auctioned right now spoke to his companions "Woud that not heal sister, if it actually has such properties?"
"Yes, if it is indeed the case, it surely would, as she is in her condition only because of her weak bloodline." Another one spoke. Then their leader addressed the attendant with them
"Can we talk with the one bidding the meat, to see if the man is trustworthy and not trying to oversell his own goods? There is no way we can hope to go after a noble after all." The mans gruff voice sounded, slightly startling the girl asigned to them, but she quickly composed herself and answered
"We can confirm it right away." Then she walked to the side of the room, and sent some sort of a message with the tool that was on the table there. Every room here had one, and every private room for the auctions attendees also had one. There was a small lull in the auction as the hall was still mostly silent, with people wispering among themselves, speculating the validity of the claim, and shortly after both Victor adn Eredar were on the stage with an old man dressed in quite refined and exquisite wizards robes.
"This honorable man here is master Airen, a well renown scholar of the mage guild. He has some knowledge to share, regarding the aforementioned information." The hall went silent, awaiting the mages words.
"It is indeed as the gentlemen said. It is one of the most efficient and reliable bloodline purifiers and strenghteners known to the guild of mages, but due to its rarity and danger of aquisition, in addition thequantities its often sold at, its barely mentioned for that property. What this old man would be interested in, is how said gentleman has such reserves upon his person?" And while the hall was silent, awaiting if there would be any response, as the man could not be forced, the mercenary band in their room were already quite certain regarding their next action, adn they informed the attendant straight away.