“Hahaha. It seems like great minds think alike after all.” The man chuckled, stroking his beard.

He proceeded to clap his hands, a maid coming near him with something wrapped in a cloth. The man took the cloth off, revealing a necklace with a purple gemstone. He whispered to the maid to get him another thing as she quickly left back into the area where the items were held.

“And that isn’t all. With the help of certain people we have created this necklace that restricts slaves, a burst of mana shocking them if they disobeyed your words. Of course, this necklace is nothing more than a fancy collar, simpler designs are available with the same effects. I’ll give you a demonstration,” he said.

The slave that the maid brought was forced to put the collar on. There really wasn’t much resistance due to the shackles on their wrists. The slave bit his lip yet he had enough self control to not make his lip bleed. There was certain punishments if the slave seriously harmed themselves on purpose.

As anyone could infer, this wasn’t out of the goodness of the heart but to not decrease their value. Who would want to lose money when it’s easily preventable in the first place. It made logical sense to enforce a rule against such behavior.

“Now that he has it on, I’ll give a order. Attack the maid next to you,” he ordered, pointing towards the innocent maid.

“Attack…her?” he asked, his gaze fixated on her.

She let out a gasp, backing away. A glare from the man immediately made him stop in her tracks, an uneasy expression present. The slave eyes darted to the man and then to maid, he mused about the situation.

He hated the idea of being shocked by the collar because he didn’t know how painful it would be. He didn’t want his last memories being of pure agony. However, attacking an innocent person who had no involvement didn’t sit right with him either. He ran his hand through his Apricot orange hair, touching his cat ears in the process.

Ultimately, he put his head down, not daring to stare at them any further. Fully knowing the consequences he braced himself, taking a deep breath.

“Huh…We got a little slave with morals, well color me surprised.” The middle aged man chuckled in a condescending manner.

Snapping his fingers, the gemstone began glowing. Sparks of mana appeared, shocking the slave. Falling to the ground, the slave hit the ground with both his hands. He gritted his teeth, groans of pain escaping his mouth.

“Ahhh!”

The slave screamed in pain, continuously hitting the floor with his fist, slamming down his whole arm in the process. The man showcasing the product stared at the slave, amused. Meanwhile the maid's eyes began tearing up, guilt filled her mind. It was because of her that another being was suffering. Such thoughts were filling the mind of the maid.

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“Hm. It does seem effective.” The first man commented, a bit impressed.

“Right. Though I can’t help but think the method is ineffective. Sure, you can get them to follow your orders out of fear of the pain. However, the moment it gets removed they no longer have that fear.” The fifth man was more skeptical of the product.

“I doubt there would be many instances where it would be taken off. Probably to the point where it won’t ever be taken off.” The third man said.

“While I agree with your statement. There are many instances where the collar won’t be useful. None actually. If you know how I do things.” The fifth man spoke, raising a finger.

“Yeah, at least for you it won’t have any use. I feel like the product is aimed at the incompetent people who can’t even fucking tame their own slaves.” The third man sighed, dissatisfied with the product.

“I feel the same way, it’s just another product to squeeze the money of all these nobles who are swayed by the sweet sounding words. Though the product itself isn’t bad in itself. It’s definitely not something I would buy, but I see its benefits.” The fourth man said, taking a more positive approach.

“Man, it’s unfortunate. I really thought that it might be something else. I guess I can’t get my hopes up for anything he sells, the only thing that we can all agree on being the main attraction is the auction. Other than that, all his promotions feel empty.” The second man criticized, gulping down more wine.

“It’s your fault for getting your hopes up in the first place. As you said, the only things going for him are these auctions. And even then, look at all these promotions he’s done on this special occasion. Now image what he does when he’s selling slaves everyday.” The first man sighed.

As the slave continued to suffer, the nobles were discussing about this whole new product that the middle age man made. This wasn’t the first time such an item was present, not making this revolutionary.

Yet the quality was much better than the current one on the market. As the third man was saying, the nobles who were the most interested consisted of more than half of the people here. This didn’t include the popularity it would reach beyond this selected group. Many nobles were ready to jump onto this opportunity and purchase one.

“Haaah. Haaah. Haah. Hah.” The slave palm hovered over his chest as he no longer felt the sharp pain.

A sense of relief poured over both the slave and the maid. The mad waived his hand, signaling the women to escort the slave. She went towards the slave, supporting him as he struggled to get up, staggering around, at one point losing his footing and falling again.

“That’s all I wanted to say, the next item will soon be shown. The auction shall resume.” The forty year old said, ready to leave.

“Then, would you be interested in handing the slave over for a single platinum coin.” The bird masked man gathered his attention.

They both stared at each other. The middle aged man smiled, turning around. “Sure, you can keep him.”

“I appreciate it.”

With that short interaction done, the auctions resumed its activities.