Currently I am lying down in a small cage, created for children my age with barely any space to move. My body is sore and I feel like I could die from dehydration any moment now. Sun is slowly lighting up the room I’m staying in. This room has cages in the left wall and on the right side are paintings and bookshelves. On the opposite side of the entrance is a wide desk a huge window behind it, no matter how you look at it this has to be the office of whoever runs the local slave-trading organization.
I’m still wearing my evening dress I use for sleeping but I couldn’t sleep at all because my mind was racing, thinking about what will happen to me in the future or what mom is doing…
“Good morning.”
“Phuh… Auuuu…” I bit my tongue because I got startled by this damn brat.
“What is it? You don’t have to cry, you’ll have new parents soon, I’m sure of it! They will take good care of you.”
This kid… Is he trying to console me by acting like I’m not being sold into slavery but being adopted by some friendly older sister instead? He Isn’t they guy from yesterday but an employee of this place, I think. It seems like he brought me some bread and water to keep me going…
“Thank you…”
“No problem kid, in exchange, do what the fat guy tells you to do when he arrives in a bit, okay. Well then, I’m leaving now.”
As I was nibbling on my slice of bread I watched him leave and sighed at the bland taste of bread with no toppings. By the time I was finished with my breakfast, the sun was already up and shining brightly, giving the room a beautiful lighting. It was then that I heard muffled sounds approaching behind the door.
The kid from yesterday and a fat, bald middle-aged man, as the guy from earlier warned, stepped inside the room. The fatty’s eyes started examining the cages one by one and after locking gazes with me, his eyes widened and his breathing became rough.
“This is… An elf child… and a female one at that… I couldn’t believe it until I saw it for my own eyes… Buhahahaha, good job Michael, you deserve your freedom, this little lady here will make me richer than most nobles in Euria! But we must quickly prepare the fastest wyvern for transporting her to the capital of Euria, the world-renowned slave auction is commencing in just 8 days! Don’t worry, I’ll get rid of the slave collar on your neck after we send her on her way to the capital of the biggest human kingdom on earth, Ratia. Someone, go prepare a wyvern for transportation!”
Huh? Wyvern? Auction? Capital of Euria? In 8 days? No way. Currently we are at the east coast of beastkin continent and Ratia is in a southern part of the human continent, over a thousand miles away from here…
“So, girl, what’s your name and age?”
“…”
Tsk, you think I will talk to you after selling me off to slav-
“Make her speak Michael.”
“O-okay. I’m Luna and I’m 5 years and 6 months old!”
“What about your surname?”
“Riina. My full name is Luna Riina.”
He started scribbling something in his notebook while nodding to himself in satisfaction. I’ll answer his questions like a good girl, I don’t want that guy to cast spells on me again.
“You can forget about your name now. You will be given a new name by your master in Ratia. The wyvern should be ready to depart soon so you will leave immediately. Escort her outside Michael.”
Leaving the building, the first thing I saw was 6 young ladies with cat ears being loaded into a wagon with iron bars as walls, and a giant lizard with wings, two legs and green scales. On top of him, in the middle of his body was a basket strapped tightly around him, where I would spend the next week in.
“Mister, how am I supposed to climb up that thing” I asked while wondering If it would let me climb by his tail.
“You don’t have to climb, just let me tie this rope around your waist” Hm? The rope leads to the basket but how will I get the-
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“Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!?” The rope suddenly pulled me up at quick pace and dragged me along the wyvern’s body towards the basket.
“You don’t have to climb, just let me tie this rope around your waist” Hm? The rope leads to the basket but how will I get the-
“Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!?” The rope suddenly pulled me up at quick pace and dragged me along the wyvern’s body towards the basket.
“Bahhahhah! I’ll never get tired of dragging slaves up here when they don’t expect it!” A tall, middle-aged muscular human male slapped his thighs like it was the funniest things he ever saw, when i got over the ledge of the casket
“Mister, you… you need to say when you will pull me up here, I could have been seriously injured if you were any more careless than that.” I scolded him with teary eyes though I wasn’t in position to scold anyone.
“Sorry, little missy but it has become a habit for me when transporting you slaves. I already got your reaction out of you so don’t worry, I won’t pull any tricks on you again.”
“You think apologizing now will help? Hmph! Give me a proper breakfast, then we can talk!”
“Kuk…” The man reached a locker and opened one of the boxes which contained food.
“H-here, they didn’t pack too many snacks for us but this apple is really tasty! I’ll cut it into smaller piece’s so you won’t have a hard time eating it… please forgive me.”
I really can’t tell if this guy is serious or not, I wouldn’t be surprised if he just ends up taunting me and eating the apple infront of me while making me eat leftover potatoes… Wait, he actually handed me sliced apple on a plate painted with a princess wearing a cute pink dress. Could it be that he wasn’t joking and just wants to make a friend out of me?!
“I-if you’re still hungry after that then I can warm some soup after we take off.”
What is this guy up to?!
“Why are you being so nice to me mister?”
“I-it’s just that… uhm… would you pose and let me take a picture of you to show my wife? She would be really happy to see such a cutie.”
“What do you mean by a picture?” Could it be that I underestimated the technology of this world and they have already invented cameras and other convenient electric tools?!”
“You don’t know what a picture is? Let me show you.” The man took out a stone with some strange symbols inscribed on its surface and held it like a camera towards me. The symbols inscribed on the stone started glowing and a small sound resembling a sneeze was heard.
“Now that I took the picture, I just need to take out a clean sheet of paper and leave it lying on the center of it.”
“Wow, that’s amazing mister, you must be really rich to afford such a high quality artifact!”
“Ehehe, indeed I am, this stone cost only 50 gold coins for me since it was used by it still works like a new one would!”
Just how much do the nobles pay for slaves if even a coachman can afford such high quality artifacts… No, that’s not what I’m supposed to be thinking about! The most disturbing part is this manly bloke laughing like a teen girl being patted on the head by her lover! It’s fine though, he’s kinda cute when talking about his wife so I doubt he would harm me physically even if I bully him so I don’t need to be careful when talking to him
“Anyways, can you pose for me now?”
“Um, okay. Do you have any specific poses on your mind?”
“Yes, I would prefer if you could start by closing your right eye, smile and then make a V sign with your right hands using index finger and middle finger”
“Uuuh, do you mean like this?”
“Yes! Perfect, now just turn your palm towards me and place the V sign you made with your right hand on your closed eye… Kukuku, how cute! Now just stay still for a while and remember to keep smiling!”
Muuuu, this is embarrassing! But… but I want him to print one image for me too! While thinking of showing mom cute pictures of me to heal her heart after I escape from this place, a sudden loud ringing sound coming from one of the lockers startled me and I bit my tongue again… Auuu!
“W-what is that? Is this the wyvern’s doing?!” I asked him while quickly turning my head to look at the wyvern!”
“Buhahahahah! Silly girl, it’s just a phone. Wait, don’t tell me elves don’t have any modern technology! That would explain why you didn’t know what a picture was… Poor girl, let this warm uncle hug you until you fall asleep!”
This creep! As I was moving closer to kick him in his crotch, muffled female voice started talking from one of the lockers.
“W-why is there another girl hiding in the locker?! Did you squeeze her in there because she didn’t let you take a cute picture! You’re the worst, mister!”
“Buhahahah! My wife just left a voice message to me with her phone, don’t worry about it, I wouldn’t hurt you little miss.”
Voice messages? I have been truly underestimating this worlds technology till this day! It’s because of those damn traditional elves, that we aren’t able to communicate with other races as we live in some crappy huts in a forest with no technology at all!
As the mister was repeating the message from earlier I asked him to show me how they worked.
“Mister, if you let me inspect your so called ‘phone’ I will forgive you for making me bit my tongue and I might even consider distributing some food for you from our stock!”
“Who even gave you permission to control our food stock, little miss? I will let you play with it or even call my wife but first I need to respond my wife so calm down and stay still for a bit.”
Hmph! Who does he think he is, telling me to calm down and stay still…
“Oi steve, hurry up and get going or you’re going to be late, if you don’t make it on time to Ratia I will place debt of 5 million gold on you!”.
“U-understood, boss. We will leave now, see you in two weeks boss!”
“Hurry up and leave already, you don’t have time for useless chattering!”
Uncle’s face turned pale and he placed his right hand on the wyvern to tell it the location of where we need to go, Ratia…
As the wyvern started flapping its huge wings I felt like I forgot something very important… Hmm, what could it be?... Hah! That’s right, how am I supposed to escape from slavery at this point?!