There wasn’t any inherent discrimination against demons by the people, though the church insisted they were inferior.

Gillius was walking with his family in the town. People shouted towards him, congratulating him on his promotion, but also trying to get him to spend the hefty bonus he received from the king. Though Gillius could not deny the money when it was offered to him since it was from the king, he kept it stored away in his black ring meant for storage. He promised he would not spend this ‘hush money’ as no amount of money could be worth the life of a boy of that caliber.

He separated from his family towards the butcher’s shop near the east end of the town. He never took the children there, as it was close to impossible to avoid the slave trade on his way to the butcher.

Greedy men and cloaked figures scurried through the shadows. It was not a safe area in town and only men occupied it, aside from the sex slaves sold here and there.

Many men, similar to Gillius walked through the slave trade to get to the butcher’s shop, Frowning Pigs, to get meat from Vallen, who sold the best meat in town. Walking through the district, he attempted not to meet the eyes of the young woman up for trade. It was a part of Helgathor that made it so economically sound as weaons production alone could not stabilize it. Because of this, Gillius could not disband this trade in his town, even if he wanted to.

Gillius tried to keep his composure as he walked through the wide streets filled with scum, until his eyes laid upon a young demon girl with the fairest skin, silver hair that was so long that it dragged behind her as she stepped onto the stage. What attracted Gillius was not only the girl’s race, but also the man selling her, Narvar, only known to sell sex slaves. With his reputation, his audience was solely comprised of despicable men.

Their mouth watered at the sight of the demon girl. Not only was she rare, she was insanely beautiful for her age. Gillius could not hold rage in any longer.

“Narvar! How dare you sell a girl this young to these ravenous men?”

Gillius was seething through his teeth. Not only was the girl young, she was resigned to a fate decided by those around her. Like Ares.

“Young girl? She is but a beast! An enemy of humanity! You dare sympathize with her?”

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Narvar was aligned with the church and did not consider demons equivalent to men. Although he sold women into slavery, he would never do so to a human girl, which made Gillius even more furious.

“How much!?”

The crowd muttered under their breath.

“What? It seems the honorable Gillius has questionable character himself.”

What the crowd muttered weren’t questions of his character, but of his intelligence. They knew he was trying to buy her to take care of her. As far as they knew, the boy he had taken in before almost raped his eldest daughter in the night and attacked the prince.

Gilllius knew he was trying to get under his skin, but swiftly placed the bag of gold given to him by his majesty upon the stage. It was so heavy it crashed and nearly collapsed the stage itself. At this point, everyone did not look at the girl who attracted so much attention, but the vast amount of gold coins before them.

“I’ll buy her.”

Gillius met the eyes of the demon. Though her face was unchanging, she cried at Gillius’s kindness. She knew he was a man of honor that would treat her well, which was mile away from what the men before her wanted to do with her body. What the girl didn’t know was that this second chance at life was given to her indirectly by Ares. Gillius needed a reason to get rid of this dirty money anyway.

To Gillius, subconsciously, it was not about the girl. It was about giving himself a second chance after failing Ares as a father.

He quickly set her down from the auctioning stage and kneeled to her eye level.

“What’s your name, kid?”

“Chrysella.” She said flatly.

“I’m Gillius. I’ll take care of you from now on.”

He grasped her hand and walked in the direction of the vegetable district, where his wife and daughters should be. The little girl had difficulty keeping up with Gillius’s pace. He did not notice as he was occupied with other thoughts. He stopped abruptly and looked at the young girl with a face of worry.

“How am I going to tell my wife?”

The girl only smiled in response and Gillius’s heavy sigh could be heard by those around him.