The young girl he’d conversed with soon revealed that her name was “Sapphire Simona the Third” when she presented herself as the lookout. He’d been taken aback at how similar her level of calm was to his, but hers was from the circumstances that lead her to be there with them. As waiting time progressed, she had also told him directly that she wasn’t of any royalty, upon him asking her, but she was the third female in a row in her family to share the same name, hence the number.

The others were well-versed in knowing this of the Beast-kin race, yet a little slip of surprise still appeared on his face when he found that out. Luckily, when he snuck out of the cubicle, he immediately went to work. As quickly as he possibly could, without making noise, he started heading in the direction he’d been told she’d gone. The floors were sticky underfoot since they took his shoes. His clothes had taken the trip with him to this world and he didn’t expect them to only be interested in selling his sneakers.

‘That’ll be their downfall, as long as they can’t sell them.’

Changing his focus, he had covered more than the distance necessary to figure out things on his own, but a nagging thought kept his doubt that he could find her in time. The sun was setting as he made it up a set of stairs after avoiding what he thought were two patrolling slave traders, and the dimly lit corner where the door opened worked to his advantage.

Looking into the centre of the room, he noticed that the girl from earlier was either asleep or knocked unconscious and still fully dressed. A few bruises on her face to match a few new open areas in the already badly torn clothing she wore, but that seemed fair in comparison to where his mind had gone regarding the tropes he’d read about back home. Looking at his stats window again, he found himself with some time to kill and found the window that displayed his agility, defence and strength stats.

He was about to grab her and make a run for it when a heavy whumping sound resonated from the walls and heavily muffled yelling that was barely audible stimulated his ears with the deep tones. Dust trickled down from the exposed rafting, Once settled, after two gentler thumps that didn’t expose as much dust, it had covered some of the objects in the room with a light dusting. After scanning the room, he’d noticed the room looked like a closed-up blacksmith store with an unlit forge.

‘I gotta get her outta here with me. This looks like an illegal setup hidden within a blacksmith.’

He was about to go and grab her when he saw a shadow being cast at the foot of the door. Instinctively, he froze, then quickly but quietly tried to climb up to the exposed beams above. Luckily, after finding his upgradable ability window just a few minutes prior

‘Year after year, and we still don’t have enough to buy a better safehouse?’

‘Beats me. Besides, at least we can repair our tools here, unlike in our last place. We should be grateful that the Boss found us this spot after all.’

Two new voices from below changed his focus from the girl to the two guys below. One was a chubby guy, his baritone voice keeping in sync with his appearance. His chin had a thick brown beard, yet his hair only started from his ears downwards. The other guy, a more average-looking human, had a creepy squeaking that affected his usual speech patterns. His higher-pitched voice tied in with his small eyes and his constant grinning, on one side of his face. These features suggested to him that he must have had some major event to leave his face in a permanent half-grin.

‘I’m gonna call him Smiles, and the other one Muscles.’

After waiting for what felt like an age to Reiki, it took them a while to take out some heavily damaged items and a few small bags that clunked like money when they landed on the table. He watched patiently, waiting for them to leave the room before he attempted stage two of his plan. Luckily, it seemed this room wasn’t as run down as he thought and he could use that to his advantage.

Smiles and Muscles had started to professionally work on the items. They often discussed a few interesting details that are vital to keeping them running. He found that a little odd, but kept as still and as quiet as possible in the rafting beams as they quickly fixed the tools. After a minute, a pure black crow appears with a roll of something in its beak. Muscles promptly stopped what he was doing and snatched the paper from the crow, reading it thoroughly.

‘Hey, Sqeike.’

‘Yes, Argel?’

‘Could you come with me for a sec? There’s a heavy crate that’s just arrived for our package.’

‘Fine. I was hoping to sharpen my custom blades.’

Around a minute after they left, Reiki immediately dropped to the floor. As quietly as possible, he attempted to unchain the girl bound by the shackles that attached her to the chair. Looking back at the table, he noticed the weapon looked something like a Peshkabz; the hardy, robust-looking handle with dinks and dents and the blade battered, with a chipped tip as if used in a particularly difficult battle.

After removing every shackle holding her down, he checked the girl over for anything serious. In his mind couldn’t tell if she was either unconscious or sleeping until she started rousing. He sat her back down as she slowly lifted her head and looked around the room. It didn’t take her long to realise her surroundings. However, as soon as she saw Reiki, her eyes went wide when she was about to talk.

He quickly covered her mouth with two fingers and furrowed his brows and straightened his mouth, as he focused his gaze on her. He waited for her to calm down enough so that she would be able to nod in response.

‘Can you be quiet for me?’

She simply nodded in response. Like she knew he was going to help get her out of there. She watched and followed him as they both steadily worked their way through the empty corridors. Occasionally checking rooms carefully for food and drinks if they were left open. They were nearly at the exit to the world beyond when a hand wrapped in a cloth clamped over the girl's mouth and she let a loud yet muffled yelp escape.

Before she could succumb to the weird smell that overpowered her nose and her senses, she managed to grasp the man's arm and wrench it enough that she could get a message to Reiki:

‘RUN! Forget about me, just RUN!’

‘I'll be okay.’ She expressed solely through her eyes. The determination shimmering in their glow of strength.

At that very moment, everything seemed to slow down to just over half the speed it was moving previously. He stared at the girl, then the guy he missed. He had well-built arm muscles and big, muscular hands that stretched out from a patch of shadow.

Whilst watching her slowly getting yanked backwards, he was about to set his resolve to save her, when the look in her eyes connected with his. It felt to Reiki as if she trusted him with her life. Feeling a wet surface slowly shift from his eyes, he turned and ran off.

Unbeknownst to him, what the girl saw was him standing there one second, then a flash of bright, electric green light flashed as she succumbed to the darkness the smell was forcing her to go to. He ran until his brief spurt of energy caught up with his lack of nourishment. Despite searching for food earlier, they had found barely any to almost no scraps at all.

‘I've gotta find someone to help me out! This place is a cesspool of illegal activity… At least I sure hope it is.’

When he stopped to catch his breath, he noticed a man in pale blue armour with a wide longsword on his back. Beside him, was a woman who didn't look a day over thirty in a purple and white outfit. The closest thing he could picture in similarity, from his time back home, was something akin to a kimono. The exception for this design had focused more on agility, and being battle ready.

The first thing he noticed was the single red shoulder pad hidden behind the ponytail that hung over that shoulder. Without accidentally staring for too long, he noticed the bottom hem, knee-deep on the outfit, had a single black line with a red and purple lacy spiral flowing randomly along the centre.

Taking a few steps from the not-so-well-lit alleyway, he barely sensed something coming from behind and quickly made his way to the two of them. The man noticed him first, his eyebrows furrowed slightly when their eyes met. His eyes shifted from their previous glow of joy to a darker, sombre look.

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After noticing that her friend was paying less attention to her teasing, she also shifted from a happy mood to the second pair of furrowed eyebrows.

‘H-Hey. There are some people after me and I need your help.’

That got their attention like moths to a lamp. Unfortunately, the sound of raised voices was getting closer. He ran over to the two of them as quickly as he could and then grabbed the woman's soft hands. He’d never been so bold before, but this was a time-sensitive mission in his head. His expression and his actions made the woman’s eyes bulge a small bit, the guy placing a hand on his back.

‘Please, when they get here, please pretend you’re potential buyers and you caught me running!’

As if understanding what was going on, Reiki sensed a big shift in their behaviour. To him, it was like they were experienced with shifting personalities. The wave of hostility overrode the sense he previously detected akin to a mother’s protectiveness. Partially worn out, he slumped to the floor by their feet.

‘Aah, there you are, you filthy rascal! You should be grateful I found you wandering those roads outside the city all those miles back all alone. Back to the cell with you. Your new friend will be perfect for an important customer.’

Without noticing it, the boy, the slave trader and the adventurer never noticed the woman’s eyebrow twitch ever so slightly at the mention of him being chucked into a cell. Luckily, taking Reiki’s words on board, she steeled herself for the side-quest before returning to her current job at hand.

‘I’m so sorry. This rascal ran into us and we didn’t notice he was one of yours. What’s your name again?’

‘Oh, I’m Geordo. Nice to meet you. What brings you to the town today?’

‘Nothing much, just looking for someone to do some stuff so that it won’t be traced back to us.’

The men began talking as the woman hastily grabbed Reiki by the wrist and hauled him awkwardly to his feet and continued to hold his wrist until they got to the entrance of what looked like a worn-down warehouse. Once inside, she let go as soon as the door was locked with an S-shaped key. Initially shoving him in front of her, she managed to steer him behind her as the two guys slowly walked down the abandoned halls.

That’s when he noticed that they were in conversation about him and the girl he was hoping to save was not in the room they just entered. He had hoped to see her at least one more time, but it looked like she was moved somewhere else entirely.

‘Aah, so I take it that you want to hire this boy to do some of your deeds then? Seeing as he managed to get out from under my fingers, he might be a bit of trouble for you…’

‘You don’t need to worry about that. I know how to whip him into obedience.’

Clashing his knuckles together, the adventurer managed to create a short gust of wind that gently blew around the room as his smile stretched wide. In an almost convincingly mischievous manner. As he stood behind the other adventurer, Reiki noticed that after she’d walked in front of him, she was gesturing with her hands behind her back and out of sight of Geordo. Some looked familiar, like the fingers across the palm, but others he wasn’t sure of.

He could make out words like “many”, “tap” and “count”. He didn’t know what she was asking until she repeated the hand signals after a brief pause to answer the question. That’s when he put it together.

‘Oh, is she asking how many there are by tapping her hands? I guess randomly remembering some stuff from a BSL video has finally paid off.’

He mentally shook his head whilst keeping his head hunched over, hiding his face. He could hear heavy banging faintly through the wall and after tapping about seven times on her arm discreetly, she gave him a thumbs up.

‘Seems like she’s been through this before. Why don’t they recognise her though if she has?’

Pondering this, he started to focus on a soft shrill mixed with a muffled twang from the room over. He then considered it to be coming from the metallurgy room. The two adventurers and the slave trader then wrapped up the conversation and got up from their seats.

‘I hope some of the kids in the cell with me are still there.’

Taking the route back, the stench of the damp and heavy sweat down the hallways assaulted his nose once again. Previously, he’d had a bag on his head. Now, he could see numerous cells on both sides of the corridor he’d snuck out from.

The girl was nowhere in sight and he had to hold himself back from making another run for it. Upon walking past his cell, two of the girls saw him and they tried to get his attention. All he did was put a finger to his lips as soon as one of them went up to the crisscrossed bars and held onto them at head height. He pointed at the two undercover adventurers and gave a discreet okay-hand signal.

‘So these first few cells house some of our latest arrivals. One of which was a very generous one, despite her clothes being the worst out of all of them.’

‘Oh is that so?’

‘Yup. Hey Beomund!’

‘Bwuh, wha-?’

‘Get off your fat arse and help these fine couple out! They’re looking for another slave.’

A smaller, five-foot-four man with gentle stubble walked up. He stifled a huge yawn when he saw the boy that escaped had returned with two adults in tow. He looked about Reiki’s age, but his deep baritone voice had a few telltale signs of what race he was.

‘Wait a second… THAT’S A DWARF!’

Reiki’s thoughts screamed internally as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

‘He looks so… normal. Human-like even. Guess the stereotypes aren’t always true. Plus, he’s a good-looking guy too.’

The dwarf went through all the cells, using a poorly made pile of paper to describe what each one of them is good at. The list was small but detailed. Upon seeing all the kids, the lady accidentally let slip a display of her true, almost motherly side at the poor conditions the kids were in. Geordo even picked up on this subtle change.

‘Are you sure you’re here to get a slave?’

‘Oh, definitely Geordo. It looks like the one we’re specifically looking for isn’t here though.’

The woman attempted to place a hand on his shoulder, hopefully giving off that she was gentle enough to only do housework. However, due to Geordo and his team being on edge, he briefly took this to mean something else. Raising his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, he let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding.

‘Ey-ey, wotcha hands, Miss… Come to think of it, I never caught your names.’

‘Oh, that’s on me! I’m Reya. Reya Mei.’

‘And I’m Brend Neuman. We’re good friends.’

Reiki noticed that the two of them didn’t courtesy or bow when introducing themselves. The guy had shown a mischievous glint along with one side of his mouth raising into a smirk. Despite being adventurers, they didn’t show any signs of either politeness or hostility due to it being a shady part of town that they were in.

‘Right this way then, if you will, Miss Mei.’

Reiki couldn’t help but chuckle a little at the choice of words. Not out loud, but in his mind. He hoped he was portraying himself as a “well-behaved slave”. The halls he’d just escaped from continued just a little further, where they came across a strangely well-cleaned and highly maintained room just like here they had been discussing earlier.

They sat down to talk about potential choices and they brought in an even mix of boys and girls. One of them stood out from the rest. That was the girl he’d bonded with earlier; between another girl with blonde, shoulder-length hair and a boy with auburn hair and long bangs covering one of his eyes.

Her wrists had remnants of red marks. Reiki’s mind immediately thought of the straps that held her down. The girl’s eyes glistened briefly as she spotted him. He was a little captivated by how well they managed to clean her up from the tattered clothing she had previously been in. They must have some women on staff to tend to all the kids.

‘Here’s today’s selection. One is currently under pre-order by an anonymous client, but we’re using her to display how our services are top-class. I hope at least some of these slaves today are to your liking, Master Neuman and Miss Mei. As the Head Trader, I hope there’s one we can agree over.’

When the Head Trader flicked his wrist and waved towards himself, the girl who’d recognised him stopped staring absentmindedly at him and stepped forward. When she bowed, only Reiki glimpsed a circular mark on her neck that was previously hidden by her hair. This mark was on the opposite side to both the host and the two adventurers, so they were unable to see it.

Letting out a sigh, he shifted his sight to the corner of a piece of yellow parchment that seemed to poke out of a small bag on Reya’s belt. The young lad only just twigged the two adventurers were using false names, as the two letters he could barely make out were “R” and “E” followed by what looked like a cut-off “W”.

‘On second thought, it looks like the girl we were looking for seems to be here. We should be grateful, instead of heading to the other place we were heading to. Isn’t that right, Brand?’

‘I bet we were gonna get some cheapskate price too... We’re lucky we found you Geordo.’

‘I’m grateful to be in your service, you two. I would like to know who it was that had said their service had our merchandise.’

His left eyebrow twitched wildly at the thought of someone else in the same business saying they had his merchandise. To Reiki, who imagined how this was to play out from here, the two adventurers both seemed as if they’d found their chosen target; the girl he’d made some kind of friendship with. But the moment was short-lived.

Without any notice, two hooded figures came from the doorway to the corridor and fell to the floor. The walls shook from the force of the door opening and the two were breathing heavily.

‘Boss, you gotta help us.’

‘Yeah, what ’e said!’