Felix was startled. Well, not as startled as Castor was obviously, considering he just got decked in the face. She didn't hold back either, and she was surprisingly fit. It looked like she got Castor pretty good. Castor didn't dare to try and hit her back, of course, but he did try to grab her to stop her from hitting him again. Scarlet surprised Felix and the slaves in the room by instead going on to outmaneuver him and twist his arms behind his back, ending up with him on his knees facing away from her in front of him, with his arms completely compromised. He couldn't move them an inch or else she could easily break them from this position. Castor looked panicked, while the other two slaves looked like they badly wanted to help him, but they were having severe doubts about whether they should.
"Cousin Scarlet, wha-" Felix began, when Leo interrupted him.
"Not now Felix. This is a matter of our prestige as a household. Here's your gold." Leo said, with a dark expression. He tossed Felix a bag of gold coins, which Felix nearly fumbled, but managed to catch in the end.
Felix watched in disbelief as Leo held out his hands towards Castor, and a string of darkness enveloped Castor's entire body below his nose, slowly wrapping him up in a cocoon of darkness, while Scarlet held him in place. After a few moments, she released his arms and the strings bound him completely, and he fell to the ground, unable to move.
Leo glared at Jack and Matthias. "You two are still here? Unless you want to join him, I suggest you go find the nearest supervisor and find out what they want you to work on."
Jack and Matthias nodded vigorously and quickly exited the room, presumably to go find a supervisor. Jack shot a quick look full of meaning to Felix on the way out, but they both said nothing.
Scarlet held down Castor by stepping on him, and Castor had a look of panic on his face, as he sat bound on the floor.
Leo walked over to Castor. "Daring to attack a member of the nobility? I thought the other two were idiots for trying to steal from the nobility, but they look like certified geniuses compared to you." Leo said angrily, before kicking Castor in the stomach. Castor winced and doubled over, but he couldn't say anything because his mouth was covered.
"L-Leo, is all this really necessary?" Felix asked, stammering a bit at Leo's sudden harsh change in demeanor.
Leo laughed. "Cousin, I get it, really, you're a bit backward and naive, but aren't you putting on the act a bit too thick at this point?" he asked, looking at Felix jovially. Felix just looked at him confused.
"Oh, you're serious." Leo said, before sighing. "Okay, I guess you haven't interacted with nobility very much. Attacking the nobles is a pretty serious offense for many reasons. First off, we have to be seen as strong to keep the underlings compliant. We can't have rebellions rising up every week." Felix nodded. He supposed that made sense. "Second off, consider your cousin Scarlet. She isn't of age yet, right?" Leo asked.
"Well, yes, she is not." Felix confirmed.
"Right, so, what if she were attacked by some scoundrel or ruffian who wanted to hold her ransom or something, like this disgusting pig?" Leo asked, giving Castor another kick to the gut.
"W-well, that makes sense." Felix said nervously.
"Right. So, what's the point of being a powerful noble house if we couldn't even use our power and prestige to protect our own family members?" Leo asked Felix pointedly.
"I-I suppose that makes sense. It would make everything seem pretty pointless." Felix remarked.
"Right. So, we can of course have armed guards around Scarlet at all times, which we do, obviously, but that's only one layer of defense. One of our other layers is deterrence - make it so no one would dare to harm the slightest hair on her head for fear of the consequences for doing so." Leo said, spitting on Castor, which made Scarlet happy.
Felix didn't like where this was going. "What you're saying makes sense, but... what are you planning to do to him?" he asked, looking down at Castor.
Leo gave a sadistic grin. "What else but to make an example out of him?" he said. Castor wiggled frantically on the ground, but he still couldn't move much.
"Tobias!" Leo yelled out. After a brief moment, the door opened, and an older looking slave in a butler outfit entered. "Yes sir, you called?" the slave asked.
"Drag this disgusting worm to the flogging post, and gather every slave who isn't doing something critical there in the next hour." Leo ordered.
"Yes sir." Tobias said indifferently. He looked at Castor somewhat curiously. He called for a couple of nearby slaves and they entered and took Castor away.
"You're going to whip him?" Felix asked, somewhat surprised. He thought for sure he would kill him.
"Yes." Leo replied simply. "Come with me, as I get my whip. Scarlet, you go wait at the post and keep an eye on the slaves." he said. Scarlet nodded happily and left the room, looking so happy it was almost like she was skipping.
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"Why uh, why is Scarlet so happy?" Felix asked. "Of course she would be. She knows everything we're doing is for her sake. Well, it's for yours too, but you can clearly already defend yourself. She feels like we're doing our job as her family to protect her." Leo said, leading Felix out of the room. Felix followed him.
"I suppose that makes sense."
Felix followed Leo to his room. On the way, Arboro spoke up internally: "I see an opportunity for you."
"An opportunity? Do tell." Felix responded.
"When you get out to the flogging post, before he starts whipping that slave, interrupt him and request to do the first five hits yourself." Arboro said gruffly.
"W-what?!? There's no way I can do that!" Felix shuddered.
"Oh shut up you pansy. He's going to be whipped either way and you're not proficient with a whip, so actually, you'll save him a bit of pain. In addition, it will get you in to that Scarlet girl's good graces as a gesture of familial closeness, since you can say you want to do it for her sake. And she will make a most excellent pawn for you in the future." Arboro explained.
Dark lines appeared on Felix's forehead. "Could you not refer to my cousin as a pawn?" He commented annoyedly.
They reached Leo's room, and he opened a box on top of a dresser. Inside of it was a large dark red whip, with some questionable looking stains on it. Felix could feel a dark power coming from it. Leo took it simply and they left his room, continuing in silence.
"You're still too naive. If you want to go far in this world, then you need to see everyone as your pawn. Your friends, your family, me, and even yourself are all nothing but pieces you can use for your goals." Arboro sneered.
"...As usual, a dragon is definitely domineering..." Felix muttered. He felt Arboro send a feeling of mirth through his soul at the comment, and him and Leo walked outside to a spot where Scarlet was waiting. It was an open square, and Castor has already been tied up to a pole in the center of it. Slaves were quickly gathering around the edges of the square, with worried and scared expressions, and were muttering amongst themselves. A lot of their faces paled when they saw Leo arrive with his whip.
Leo didn't say anything to the slaves, and waited in silence while they continued to gather. Although he gave a time limit of an hour, they were all assembled within 10 minutes. Finally, he held his hand up, and all the muttering and discussion stopped immediately.
"So," Leo began, addressing all of the surrounding slaves. "We had some new arrivals today, and one of them happened to be far too bold in his crime. He dared to attack a member of the nobility, my cousin!" Leo spoke out in a loud voice, so that all of the slaves could hear. A few gasps rang out in the crowd of slaves, and the muttering and whispers began again immediately. Leo let it continue for a few moments, before he held up his hand again, silencing the slaves.
"I don't need to tell you all what a grave offence this is, but apparently I need to instill it in to him. However, my cousin is new to our trade so he's still too soft-hearted. So we won't be killing him. Instead.... he will receive one hundred lashes from the whip!" Leo exclaimed. Felix saw Castor shudder on the pole.
Blood drained from many of the surrounding slaves faces and several of them gasped again. One slave couldn't keep silent and directly spoke to Leo "But Lord, even twenty lashes of your whip might kill some people, let alone one hundred! How will he possibly survive that?" he asked.
Leo didn't take offense to the slave speaking up and actually laughed instead. "If I want a slave dead, they will surely die, but if I want them to live, then they won't be allowed to die even if they want to! And I'm glad you asked about this point, it saves me the trouble of bringing it up myself! Prudence!" Leo called out, motioning behind him.
Felix watched as a plain-looking female slave stepped out. She bowed her head to Leo. Felix guessed Prudence was her name.
"You're in charge of using your light magic to keep him alive. You can only keep him alive by preserving his vitality and preventing his blood loss, you cannot heal his injuries." Leo said coldly.
Prudence shuddered and said "I obey, Lord.". She walked up to Castor and cast a couple of light magic spells on him, and waited to the side with a troubled expression, but she didn't dare to say anything else.
Leo walked in to the position to begin whipping Castor without further ceremony and unfurled his whip. Felix grit his teeth and spoke up. "A moment please, cousin."
Leo looked at him. "Come now Felix, you aren't going to beg for his clemency are you? The man attacked you after all."
"No, no." Felix shook his head. "You misunderstand me cousin. I was hoping you could let me do the first five lashes myself. I understand that I'm still too naive in this world, and this is a humble opportunity to break out of my shell... and besides that, I want to protect Scarlet too." Felix said, glancing over at Scarlet. Scarlet looked at him dumbly and then looked away. Felix could swear he saw a slight blush on her face.
Leo looked surprised, but he quickly grew a large smile. "Good, very good! I thought it would take a much longer time to get you up to speed, but this attitude of yours really gives me a lot more confidence in you! If you want the first five, you shall have them!" Leo walked over and handed Felix the whip. It was heavy, and felt very sinister in his grip. Felix couldn't be certain, but he thought he vaguely heard a dark chuckle in his soul from Arboro.
Felix steeled his determination and walked to the whipping position. He swung the whip around a couple of times to get used to handling it, and then faced Castor. He sighed, grit his teeth, and struck the whip at his back. It wasn't a very good hit, and it kind of slid off of his side. But even so, Castor let out a cry of pain that was muffled by his dark bindings, and it shredded a part of his shirt. Everyone present could see that even though it was not a good hit, it certainly didn't feel good.
Then Felix whipped him again. It was a clean strike in the center of his back. A few slaves sucked in cold breath audibly as it broke Castor's skin, and oozed blood. It doesn't need to be said, but Castor cried out against his bindings again.
Felix whipped him again. And again. And again.
Two of the hits weren't very good, but three of them were clean, direct strikes. Felix stepped back and handed Leo the whip. Leo gave him with a satisfied look. "Good work. Go keep Scarlet company while I finish this." He said.
Felix stood next to Scarlet. And they watched, as Leo went to the whipping position. And he started. He was much more adept with the whip than Felix was. Occasionally Prudence would interrupt Leo in a panic and reinforce Castor quickly, but otherwise, just like the slaves, all Felix could do was watch, as Castor was struck.
Again and again and again.