Amber explained away the blood saying that it was just some idiot spilling their drink on her.
I'm pretty sure that was still blood so I assume she punched the guy and that's his blood on her.
Anyway… I checked with the girls on what they thought about it and, unsurprisingly, a number of them were against the idea of signing themselves into being enslaved.
"Couldn't we just… Sign a normal contract or something? Like… A business contract?"
Amber nodded, "Yeah, sure. Give us something as collateral then. You have no skills, no capital, no plan and no leverage to even start a business or even live past today right now. What terms can you give us that would convince us to make a partnership agreement with you?"
"We… We could have an agreement where we would pay you back what you lent us plus interest within a period of time?"
"Uh-huh… And what happens if you fail to pay it back? What's the penalty for failing?"
The woman went silent after that.
Amber scoffed, "I'll tell you what the penalty could be. You will all agree to be enslaved and this time, you agree to have anything done to you. How about that?"
Another protested immediately, "You could sabotage us and make us end up enslaved anyway!"
Lea sighed, "So you agree that just signing a favourable slavery contract from the start would be a much better option then?"
Geez… They really walked right into that one…
I shrugged, "Just reminding you… You're also free to just walk away right now and just take care of yourselves instead of relying on us. Maybe you could find someone else who would actually not mind taking all of you in without asking for anything in return?"
Amber crossed her arms, "In Denibi station? Good fucking luck with that. It's easier for you to find a virgin than someone like that."
Lea gave her a pointed look but said nothing.
I sighed, "So what's it going to be? Just letting you know that we do have something planned to do today and we're postponing it for you girls right now. If you need some time to decide then say so right now."
One of the five girls stepped forward, "I… I believe we can make it without your help."
I raised an eyebrow at her, "You sure? And are you really speaking for everyone?"
She nodded, "Yes, I am. If you three could do it, we could do the same as well. We don't need someone to come help us and force us to serve under them as slaves."
I blinked at her, "You… Believe you can do what we did? Like right now?"
"Yes."
Huh… I admit, that was a rather unexpected outcome.
I thought they would either choose to sign the slavery contract from the start or make the deal where they would fall to slavery if they failed.
In fact… Judging by the faces of the four girls behind her, I don't think the sentiment was shared between all of them.
I waited to see if they would speak up but they don't seem to be willing to so I shrugged.
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"Alright… Since all of you think so… Then good luck I guess? All the best to you girls. Try not to get taken again."
I waved at them and turned around to walk away without another word.
A few of them seemed surprised to see that I really just accepted it and left.
Amber and Lea did not even question it and simply followed me after I made that declaration, following me back to the ship to drop off our loot.
I chanced a peek behind without making it look too obvious but they were still standing at where I left them even after I had continued walking for a while.
Well… Too late for regrets now.
If they wanted to work for me, I would not be able to trust them to be able to take care of this business since they showed that they were going to be really uncooperative and constantly at odds with me the entire time.
I might as well just do this myself or, even better, just actually get a couple of willing slaves to do it instead of them.
"Talk about being rude and delusional," Amber muttered after we went out of sight of those girls.
Lea nodded, "I suppose it's not surprising that they are that naive and self-absorbed, assuming the gang we had wiped was using a similar tactic to get more victims."
"Well, their loss. I'm gonna bet they're going to find themselves in trouble within the next few hours or so."
I turned to her, "Are you expecting them to come and find us again for help?"
"Pfft… If they still live, yeah. But I'm going to say that I would not want to take them in after they showed an attitude like that."
Lea gave me a serious look, "I agree as well, Captain. It would only invite more trouble if we were to allow people like them to take advantage of your kindness like that."
I… Do not believe I'm that kind, to be honest. You know… Since I was fully intending to make use of them just to generate money for us.
Amber nodded, "Unless they come up with something to make up for it, I say we don't associate ourselves with them anymore."
Lea also nodded, "I am in agreement to that."
Wow, the both of them actually agreed on something outside of trying to dress me up.
Of course, I decided not to say anything about that lest they get any more ideas.
We went back to the ship and took some time to organise the loot we got from the thugs in the storeroom. I also started plugging all the Credit Chips into my Codex and the amount we got totalled to twenty thousand Credits.
After everything was organised, I turned to them, "So are we still going to drink?"
Amber immediately perked up, "Of course we are!! Let's go!!"
"Why are you so excited about this?"
She grinned at me, "Because it's a date~"
Well… I suppose it was. But it's not like it's our first date right? The numerous times we went out back on Theeve were also dates according to her.
Lea gave her a look, "In that case… Shall I stay behind on the ship then?"
"What? Being the third wheel is too much for you?"
The Alv rolled her eyes, "I'm being considerate for you, in case you haven't noticed."
"Oh really? Well you don't have to be, let's all go together!"
Huh… I thought Amber would actually take Lea's suggestion and only go out with me to the bar while leaving the Alv back on the ship.
Maybe she's grown to like her as well?
Since it was already decided, we left the ship to return to the entertainment district again, using the same route we took to leave.
I kept my eye out for the group of girls along the way but I didn't see them so I assumed they had already left and gone somewhere else.
Well, not my problem anyway.
We rode the lift back down to the street and it seemed like there were more people here now.
Not that the place was empty before but there were definitely significantly more people where we sometimes had to squeeze through a crowd to get through some parts of the street.
And since there were more people… It also became a bit more chaotic.
There were multiple instances of thugs fighting along the side of the street and I spotted a few girls literally having sex in an alley between some buildings.
I would have thought they were getting raped if I didn't see some of them taking Credit Chips from the guys which revealed that they were street walkers doing their rounds.
One of them tried to proposition to me for a quick round behind a dumpster and Amber was quick to flip her off before pulling me away.
Then someone tried to reach out and grope me while we were squeezing through a rather crowded area and I'm surprised Amber even noticed the action and responded quickly by kicking the guy in the nuts.
Damn, this place really sucks huh?
Oh look, there's even one guy sleeping in one of the alleys too.
Oh wait… That guy has a bullet wound in his head… He's not sleeping, he's fucking dead.
No one around seems to care though, so I ignored it too.
It took us way longer than earlier to get to the section filled with bars and clubs but at least we made it in one piece I suppose.
Now was the question of which one we should patronise.
It seemed like I didn't need to worry since Amber immediately slipped her hand around my arm and pointed towards a certain bar.
"Come on~ That one looked pretty good when we passed by it earlier! Let's go~"
She's really excited about this huh?
I wonder why…
Oh well, let's just indulge her for today.