Chapter 107: Callous
Silence descended upon the vast chamber of stone. It was so quiet that you could hear the air move. But beneath the physical silence, thoughts swirled like storms within the minds of each unique group, and each person. Many of them, were already skeptical of the older son’s true intentions.
“What do you want her for?”
A beautiful voice broke the silence. It was intoxicatingly lovely, but had the firm tone of a bloodrose covered in thorns.
Surprisingly, it was Aela who spoke.
The invisible waves of authority in that voice swayed Dais to reply immediately, but inevitably he glanced at Balon first to see his reaction.
“...Well, it’s because the girl is the reason my brother had to suffer such injuries. Of course I must have her for myself.”
Many could not help but notice the specific choice in Dais’s words…
Nadia in fact, wondered if his obstruction to his younger brother’s beating was all for this moment.
Realizing his mistake, Dais quickly spoke again, “A slip of the tongue. What I meant, is her purchase is for my family, specifically for my father so that I may appease his wrath.”
A sincere smile found itself on his face. In fact, it was probably one of his more genuine smiles.
It was then that many of the slaves suddenly remembered their hatred for the man.
To so easily put a price tag on a life and try to buy it— without an ounce of conflict or struggle within him— told volumes of the life he lived and the overall character he was.
And although Dais was shrewd enough to twist the situation to his sick desires, it was most difficult for someone so observant of everyone and everything around him, to really look at himself.
“He’s lying!”
Resounding words echoed from behind Dais, and his usual businessman smile slowly turned into an empty expression, of extremely well-contained wrath.
“He’s lying! He’s lying! He’s lying!”
The tortured and desperate screams were released from a young woman who looked no older than fourteen. Those screams were horrible and grating, like that of someone who had witnessed some sort of horror yet lived to tell the tale.
“My sister! I know! I know what you did to her, you monster!”
“I heard the mercenaries speaking! The guards, gossiping about what you did to her!”
“And I saw through the keyhole that they led me to!”
Dais looked back behind himself, but his eyes did not even consider the screaming girl. Instead, they met another.
“Please! Please! Please! If you truly care about her, don’t hand her—”
The blunt clang of metal was heard as an elite mercenary from Nadia’s group hit the girl on the head.
A few party members looked at him— their gazes varying from disgust to numb apathy, but inevitably, they looked away.
Though, some slaves couldn’t restrict their eyes. Blood dripped from the metal staff the merc hit her with, and it was questionable whether she was only unconscious, or actually dead.
“Hahahahaha!”
A cheerful and pleasant laughter interrupted the chaos, but it really only added to the madness.
The laughter, came from Renna.
“Well, this would not be the first time we traded with those with unsavory desires.”
“Why not be more open? Or is it that you simply don’t have the individual power to do so.”
“Perhaps you’re afraid this will affect your reputation? Maybe your other brothers and sisters would take this chance to drag you down?”
“Hahaha! Or are you afraid of what the other young ladies of high society would say?”
“You should be careful to watch your mouth! I do not know what you imply! I am no such thing!”
“Hahaha!”
“Ten times.”
“Hmm?”
“Ten times the amount, and I will make sure no one hears of what’s happened here.”
“You would do well to forget also, or I will silence the rumors and everyone here.”
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“Hahaha…”
“Brother.”
Balon finally moved his head to look at one of his sisters.
“What?”
“Think about it.”
A magical whisper suddenly appeared near his ears. It was in an ancient, maybe even primordial language.
“Normally some stupid merchant would be no trouble for you, but brother, remember now that you no longer have the backing of our grand and illustrious bloodline. Now, you only have your own acquired servants and your own hands.”
“Unlike our other close sisters, I’ve done my research. This “Great Merchant Lord” that the monkey speaks of surprisingly has enough influence to shift around twenty backwater kingdoms.”
“A splash of dirty water is nothing, but right now it is a tide to you, and it may very well drown you if you aren’t careful.”
Her eyes drifted towards Yela, who held a troubled and worried expression.
“I see you favor the girl, but there are many with such talent and looks back at our capital.”
‘Besides…’ Renna thought to herself.
Audibly however, she said the next line for all to hear, “She is at best worth a couple silvers. This exchange, it is not so bad.”
“Trading this little one for assets worth hundreds, if not thousands of times her value, it would no doubt give you an advantage for the events ahead of us.”
Dais, whose eyes were bouncing between the young man and woman, finally started to grin once again.
A moment of silence passed, and Balon took this time to look at his other sisters.
Kaerys looked at her siblings with amusement, that simply refused to fade in any situation. Aela however, had fallen eerily silent at her sister’s words.
“...Yela.”
The two met eyes. It was impossible for Yela to see what was going through Balon’s head, but he saw the feeling of fear clearly in hers.
“Clear your mind.”
The girl meekly, hesitantly, but obediently, nodded her head.
“Approach, merchant.”
Dais restrained himself to the best of his ability but his breathing still turned heavy. And it was most definitely not because the walk across the room proved tiring.
He stopped just an arm’s length away from her.
“You’ve already extended your eyes, why not extend your hand?”
Yela felt her heart— and her trust— break into a thousand pieces at that moment.
Many of the slaves and mercenaries looked away, while Nadia’s own gaze lingered for only a moment. Despite thoroughly numbing herself to such affairs, she could not help but feel a stain of disappointment.
Renna observed the events and nodded as if this was only correct. At most the girl was worth a few silvers, and that was being generous.
Now normally, the resources that man offered was something the young dragons could scoff at, but in this savage war where you could only rely on your own hands, it was like a steel sword dropping from the sky onto Balon’s lap.
The other two sisters reacted differently. Kaerys watched with morbid interest. Her gaze was not unlike someone watching a tragic play in a theater.
She saw herself as far above such things, so there was simply no empathy in her gaze, only a sense of macabre amusement.
Aela on the other hand, watched silently without a single trace of emotion on her face.
Yela shut her eyes as tears unwillingly welled up within them. Her chest constricted to the point where she felt physical pain. It was so hard to breathe and the tears would not stop falling.
There was no strength nor energy left within her body, and she doubted whether it mattered anyway. Though even at this very moment the girl was not truly thinking of herself— her thoughts once again turned towards her family.
‘Is this…what mom had to go through for us?’
‘I will make sure Kara never goes through this…”
The girl somewhat knew of what was coming. She had to grow up quickly, and although seemingly innocent she was exposed to many of the world’s dirty affairs. Perhaps that was one the reasons she felt such wrath at Kail’s comments. Her mother and sister were her beacons of light within the dark world.
Eyes closed she bit her lips till they bled. She waited and waited and waited. Steeling herself for the touch of that man’s disgusting and absolutely vile hands.
…In the next moment, a whimpering yelp was heard.
…But it was not Yela’s.
The girl opened her eyes as a terrifyingly enormous hand made of golden glowing scales clamped itself on the wrist of Dais’s right hand.
“Did you not see the girl training? Do you think I’d let anyone demonstrate their skills before me?”
Balon’s grip tightened and Dais started to scream in pain. His wrist and forearm were being squeezed so tight that he felt like the bones in them were being crushed.
They were.
“Ah, perhaps you already knew who she was but you only thought of your own ill desires.”
“Your eyes keep drifting towards what they cannot.”
“Your hands reaching for what they cannot!”
“Hmph!”
A gorey sound splatted in everyone’s ears. Flesh and blood exploded, splattering towards the floor, the walls, and some unlucky people.
Though whether it was by luck, or intention, Yela was not stained by a single drop of blood, despite being the closest to Dais.
What followed after, was a wailing scream that hauntingly echoed through the stone chambers of Balon’s makeshift palace.
Then, a soft plop was heard as a dismembered hand fell to the stone floor.
“Hahahaha!” Loud, joyous laughter suddenly released itself from Aela, while Renna yelled at Balon.
“Brother!”
“He’s still the son of that merchant lord, his death will cause you—”
“Ugh! Whatever!”
Kaerys did not speak, but still continued to enjoy the show.
With sweaty palms the mercenaries and the man with the hammer gripped their weapons hard, but inevitably, they did not move.
Many of them felt the burst of energy that exploded Dais’s wrist, and that power lingered in the air. It was simply beyond them.
Nadia and the man with the hammer had seen such powers before, and each time they avoided those fluctuations like sailing ships avoided storms.
Dais was still screaming in pure anguish. He dropped to his knees from the overwhelming pain, and started to hyperventilate as he looked at his dismembered hand that laid on the floor motionless.
“Brother, you are always so interesting, but simply too merciful.”
Aela suddenly appeared behind Dais’s back. Neither Nadia nor anyone else saw her move.
The beautiful girl’s trembling hands then extended themselves towards Dais’s head.
The immense strength that came from the daughter of the dragon showed itself, as she easily lifted his body off the ground using just his head.
A splitting headache assaulted Dais as the hands clamped tightly around his temples.
“Your eyes! They’re disgusting!”
Her hands trembled even more intensely, and as did her thumbs as they pressed into the man’s eyes before they too exploded.
Dais screamed once again, and his vocal chords started to unravel and unwind.
“Hahahahaha!”
“Not enough!” The beautiful young lady instantly switched from insane mad laughter to stern seriousness.
SHING!
Aela skillfully unsheathed a sword from Nadia’s hip, raising it towards the skies before angling it downwards to enter Dais’s screaming mouth.
A large hand passed over Yela’s eyes, covering her gaze. The only reason she was still looking at the terrible scene was because she was too traumatized to look away.
Unfortunately, she had ears. Although her sight was covered, she could hear the blood gurgling sounds that came from Dais’s inhumane torture.
“Ugh. So uncouth.” Renna commented.
“Hahaha…Well, Aela has always been like this.” Kaerys said.
The two sisters casually talked, willfully and callously discussing the cruel streak that Aela made herself known for.
Balon on the other hand, was once again completely silent. He looked deeply and thoughtfully at this younger sister of his who was currently committing a nightmarish, inhumane act.
The girl was trembling from head to toe at the sheer pleasure of what she was doing, though…Balon questioned if she was trembling from anxiety instead.
The mercenaries and slaves looked at her as if she was a demon, and by the way the blood painted her as she plunged the sword deeper, that assumption didn’t look too far from the truth.
Even the girl’s sisters saw her as a sadistic, heartless beast.
It was only her brother, that looked at her differently. Instead of fear, disgust or grotesque interest in her cruelty, his own eyes looked at her with pity, and sorrow…
Now, the handle of the sword was all that anyone could see. All the inches of that long blade of steel were forcefully shoved inside Dais’s body.
Aela’s breathing grew heavy despite her not shedding a single sweat. And the more Balon looked at her, the more he was sure it was out of distress and agitation, rather than delight.
‘I’m sorry, sister…’