"Oh, shut up already; you're so noisy." Said the lady who broke my arm like it was made out of Play-Doh. Her hands soon found themselves all over me until she found my identification sigil and my bag of silver coins.

"Eureka! Look at what I found! A princess! Would you look at that? What are you doing so far from safety and without bodyguards, uh?" The lady spoke as she put all of my silver talents into her pouch; once she was done, she threw the empty bag at me.

"Why are you doing this? We are both women. Why do this?"

"Did I say you could speak? Shut up already. I need to get the monster girl next." The woman tied me to a tree trunk as her friends arrived near me. Yumi would probably also get captured, and it was all my fault. If only I wasn't so pathetic.

One of the men who got hurt after my ingenious deception walked right up to me just to kick me in the face with enough strength to force some blood out of my mouth as I watched Yumi trying her best against the lady, but she was getting owned too it would only be a matter of time.

{Heavy panting.} "You coward, you must wait for me to be tied to a tree. You're no man."

"Shut up bitch!" I was soon untied from the tree so they could lead me back to the wagon we had run from. What now? I have no money, my ID sigil has been stolen, and I have no friends on this side of the world; what now? What do I do?!

The woman had assumed the rocks in my pockets were just rocks, so she let me keep them, but I was going into the slave trade and not as a customer but as merchandise. What do I do? As long as she is with them, I can't do anything. She's too strong for my trickery to work. Yumi can't even keep up. Should I let her go?

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Yes, I should; while she is not strong enough to beat the woman, she is keeping up with her. If she wants to, she can leave me, so I must let her go. She doesn't have to follow me down to wherever I will be taken. Yumi, forgive me.

"Yumi! Leave me behind! Return to Carthage and look for your previous Master! It's an order! He'll take care of you." I said the last part relatively quietly so she wouldn't hear me. I watched as Yumi turned her eyes to me while her crest began to react to my orders.

"Keep her quiet! Dam you all!" The lady got distracted long enough for Yumi to kick her away, finally choosing to leave me. I couldn't see very well, but I saw tears in her eyes as she escaped, but that was okay. I'm an adult anyway. I have seen bad things before, and I will not be so traumatized by whatever comes next she would, though.

I'm sorry, Yumi. I must let you go for now. I will take accountability for my actions. I must pay for always choosing the easy ways out. It's all karma. I have been too complacent with my life, so it's okay. The Lady turned furious toward me as Yumi disappeared out into the distance.

"You couldn't keep quiet, could you?! You! Goddamit! It's fine, though. Even if I didn't get the monster girl, I still got a royal as my new slave. I will probably fetch more from you anyway."

"You think I'm scared? I promise I will kill you the moment I get my first weapon! You will be the first to taste the power of a modern human!"

"How cute. Now, what are you all waiting for? Carry her back."

"You're not going to chase the monster girl, Signora?"

"She's about as fast as I'm. I would never catch up to her. She's gone, but this one is the treasure! Look." Signora said as she showed my sigil to all her friends.

"We're going to be rich! She's going to fetch a high price for sure!"

X, are you watching? What am I saying? You always are. I'm sure this is deeply joyful for a being like you, but it's starting to feel like torture to me. I can never get anything done without shit going wrong. Whoever is writing my story is a true psychopath. Oh wait, that's me.

Here's a crazy idea, reader. Have you wondered why it looks like I'm always being courageous? You can make assumptions and theories from that comment alone, so I'll digress before reprogramming to comply with the system.

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