Chapter 46 - Child of the Small Moon

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I was staring at the city behind us, in the direction where of that thing that was calling to me, when Holiés asked, “what’s wrong?”

“There’s something that just came up, finish fast,” I said, before going back at eating the fried fish in my hand.

He just nodded and kept eating his portion.

When we finally finished eating, we got back on our horses and started going back the way we came from. After a few hundred meters I turned towards a smaller street perpendicular to the wide road that brought from the square to the sea.

“Care to say where we are going?” Holiés asked as he rode next to me.

“You’ll see in a bit.”

“Fine…”

It took us only a few minutes and a couple more turns to finally reach the place. A relatively large building, with a wooden sign over the door that read, “Mailard and sons slaves.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Holiés said in a hurry, “I was joking, don’t go off selling me at the first slaver.”

“I’m not here to sell you, I’m here to buy.”

“Oh…” he said surprised but relieved.

I dismounted and gave the reins of my horse to him. “Watch the horses.”

“Yeah, yeah, have fun,” he said, waving me off.

I entered the building and found myself in front of a human girl who looked to be in her early twenties who was wearing a frilly maid dress.

(I wish Raziel wore something like that every now and then.)

“Welcome to Mailard and sons, how may I help you?” she asked with a small bow.

“I would like to buy a slave.”

“Do you already have something in mind?”

“Yes.”

“I see, then please follow me,” she said, before walking towards a door on the side of the lobby.

I followed her into a small room with a sofa and an armchair in front of a coffee table.

“Please, wait here, the master will come to you soon.”

“Thank you, sweetie,” I said, before sitting on the sofa.

The girl gave me another small bow before exiting the room, leaving me alone.

Finally alone, I closed my eyes to seek out what I had come for. A girl with white hair, wolf-like ears, a white tail protruding from her back and blue eyes was sitting inside a room with the bare necessities. She looked to be about fifteen or sixteen years old, and, while I couldn’t perfectly grasp her height while she was sitting, it seemed like height wasn’t her strong point. I smiled seeing that she was indeed what I had come for, a natural born oracle.

At that moment, I heard the door open again, and I opened my eyes. A man in his late fifties wearing fine brown pants and a brown jacket over a white shirt was entering the room. Following behind him was the same girl of before.

“I am sorry to have kept you waiting, Lady Fortuna, I am the owner of the establishment, Rey Mailard,” he said, giving me a light bow.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Mailard.”

He sat on the armchair next to the coffee table, while the girl stood next to him. “My worker here has told me you wish to buy a slave.”

“Yes, an ice-wolf female to be precise.”

“Oh, do not worry, we have a few here that are sure to be of your liking,” he said with a large smile, “Yolanda, please, can you bring them here?”

The girl bowed saying, “yes, master,” and walked out of the room.

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She returned about five minutes later with three women following her. One was but a child and not too different from a human, save from the blue eyes and the white hair. The second was a girl in her early twenties with wolf ears and a fit body. Finally, the third one was a woman I couldn’t grasp the age of well, who looked just like a werewolf from a fairy tale, only with completely white fur. All of them were wearing rags that barely covered their bodies.

“Is any of them to your liking?” he asked, still smiling.

“Actually… I was hoping for a girl who looked mostly human, but with both the tails and ears of an ice-wolf.”

His smile broke and, visibly agitated he said, “ehm… we do have one who fits that description but I don’t think she is fit for someone of milady’s caliber.”

“Oh, and why is it?” I asked, curious.

“She is broken goods. A truth stone reading revealed that she has a skill that is… not fit for a non-human.”

“I would like to see her anyway.”

He left out a sigh before saying to the girl at his service, “please, bring her here.”

The girl, just like before, bowed and left the room.

“Are you sure none of these three are of your liking?” he asked.

I looked at the second woman, the one with wolf ears and a slim and toned figure.

(Well, I’d definitely tap that, but…)

“No, I am sorry.”

“I see…”

After only a couple of minutes the girl returned, this time with the girl I previously saw when I was searching for what was calling at me.

Finally able to see her standing in front of me, I could see that she was about a meter and sixty tall. Not only was she not the highest person around, but she was also trying to make herself smaller, obviously scared and worried about what was going on.

“This is the girl in question, Lady Fortuna. She is cute, I admit it, but, as I said, she is broken goods. I cannot have a lady of your caliber buy someone like her,” the slaver said.

“What is your name?” I asked the girl, ignoring the master of the shop.

She looked at her master, who just motioned her to answer, before looking at me and saying, “Akiko.”

“It is a beautiful name,” I said, giving her a smile. “How much for her?”

“Ehm… Fifty silvers, if you really want to buy her.”

“That is quite cheap for such a beautiful girl.”

“As I said, she is broken goods. I would never ask a lady such as you for more,” he said, which caused Akiko to close even more in herself when she heard she was “broken goods.”

“I will buy her then, thank you.”

He sighed and said, “very well. Yolanda, bring the documents.”

It took us only a few minutes to end the whole procedure of passing her ownership from Mr. Mailard to me. In the meantime Yolanda had brought the other slaves back in their rooms.

“May I ask you if you have any clothes more fit for bringing her around with me than what she is wearing?” I said, once the procedure was finished.

“Ah, yes, of course, of course,” he said, finally regaining his business smile, “we have a wide array of clothes for our slaves, from simple commoners clothes, to high quality dresses. We should also have some traditional clothes from Lacet, if you prefer. I think they suit an ice-wolf like her perfectly.”

“Please then, I would like to see her with those clothes on.”

“Sure,” he nodded. “Yolanda, please have her changed.”

“Yes, master,” the girl said, before taking Akiko outside the room.

They returned after almost twenty minutes. Instead of the rags she was wearing before, Akiko was now wearing what I could only identify as this world’s version of a yukata. The yukata itself was white, with blue borders and a blue flower motif. Over the yukata she was wearing a hori-like jacket of a pale greenish blue color, while a light purple obi was around her belly. Her feet were covered by a pair of white socks as she was wearing sandals that would otherwise leave her feet out in the open. Finally, in her hand she was holding a purple umbrella with a wooden handle.

She was obviously nervous about being made a show of, and her eyes were downcast. All I could say when looking at her though was, “beautiful.”

“I see you like the outfit, Lady Fortuna,” Mr. Mailard said with a beaming smile.

“Yes, very much so. How much is it?”

“Only a gold and two silvers.”

I nodded and gave him the money for the clothes too.

“Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“No, thank you, this is all I came for today,” I said getting up from the sofa.

He got up from the armchair too and, bowing slightly to me, he said, “thank you for your patronage, Lady Fortuna. I hope we will be able to make business together once more in the future.”

“Thank you for your time, Mr. Mailard.”

Having finished what I had to do, I told Akiko, “come,” and exited the building.

Once outside, I saw Holiés waiting for me with the horses leaning against the walls of the building.

“Took you a while,” he said when he saw me.

I put a hand on my chin and said, “I think i should sell you after all.”

“Hoi, don’t even joke about it. So, what did you have to do?”

“I had to buy a very special slave. Holiés, this is Akiko,” I said gesturing towards my newly acquired slave. “Akiko, this is Holiés, my other slave, who doesn’t know how to behave like a slave at all.”

“Nice to meet you,” Holiés said, ignoring my comment. Akiko just nodded her head towards him in response.

“So, now that you have our new sex toy, what should we do?” Holiés asked, which made Akiko’s eyes open wide in surprise.

“Hey! I didn’t buy her for that,” I said, putting a hand over my chest and feigning the most outraged expression I could do.

“Yes, yes, what for then?”

“You’ll see. But first, we have to exit the city for a while.”