Chapter 16

Slave Auction (1)

The carriage drove down a bumpy country road. The view through the window was all green.

Callion groaned and raised his fist in frustration as he gazed at the blinding greenery.

The carriage slowed down a bit as he knocked on the middle window. Adelaide glanced apologetically at the back of the novice coachman’s head.

“The coachman’s skills are terrible. He should have put more cushions.”

“The road itself is bad, so a cushion wouldn’t have helped.”

Adelaide smiled casually, pretending everything was fine, and shook her body, forcing herself to endure the jolts of the carriage.

Her stomach rumbled with every bump in the carriage, but she couldn’t complain since it was her requested outing.

“I didn’t expect the carriage to be this bad.”

Adelaide gripped the rattling carriage handle and steadied her swaying body.

The Tiflis Castle’s only outing carriage had been disposed of after the coachman died.

There was no time to prepare a carriage, so he hastily laid out a seat on the best packhorse he could find, but it wasn’t comfortable.

Thud. The carriage lurched again, as if it had stepped on a puddle. After tapping loudly on the middle window, Callion managed to get it open.

“Lucid, don’t you think it’s shaking too much?”

“I’m sorry, Your Grace, but I’m doing the best I can.”

“At this rate, the carriage will be ruined before we reach our destination.”

“That’s why I told you from the start that being a coachman is not my forte.”

Lucid, who had been dragged along in Julian’s place because he was less skilled with a sword than Julian, but was more likely to be noticed due to his size, retorted in a bitter voice.

Callion raised an eyebrow and released his grip.

“If it shakes one more time, I’ll leave you behind when we return.”

“Please don’t say such hurtful things, Your Grace. I understand your words, but what did I do to receive such treatment…”

Before he could finish, Callion slammed the window shut. Adelaide burst out laughing.

“Why are you laughing?”

“Because you two look so close.”

“Lucid would laugh his head off if he heard that.”

Adelaide smiled again at his joking reply.

“But it’s much better to see you laugh.”

“What?”

“I was worried because you’ve been stiff since we left.”

“Ah… I guess I was nervous because it’s been a while since we went out.”

Adelaide hid her clammy hands and turned to look out the window.

Off the forest road, the carriage was passing through a small village. It was the home of the apprentice priests. This was the destination listed on Sycamore’s note.

“It looks like we’re almost there.”

“Was the temple our destination?”

The Temple of Therminas was at the end of the road.

Callion was not a devout man, but he was a baptized believer, according to imperial tradition.

Adelaide shook her head when asked if she had come to pray at the temple.

“No.”

“Then where are you going?”

“You’ll find out when we get off. Put this on.”

Adelaide held out the mask she had prepared.

“Do I need to wear this?”

“If we run into someone we know, it could be awkward.”

With that, she put on the mask.

He’s getting more and more confused.

Callion accepted the mask with a sense of resignation.

Tap tap tap; this time he tapped on the carriage door. It signaled that they had arrived at their destination.

Adelaide took a short, deep breath and whispered.

“Never take your mask off when you get there, and don’t talk in front of people. Promise me you won’t intervene no matter what happens.”

“What’s going on that you’re going to this extent?”

“You’ll find out soon enough, Promise-.”

“Okay.”

Callion answered reluctantly. The carriage, which had been slowing, came to a complete stop.

“We’ve arrived.”

Arriving at their destination, Lucid opened the carriage door. It was in front of a chapel attached to the Temple of Therminas.

Burly men, with masks covering their faces, stood guard in front of the chapel, unrecognizable as priests.

Adelaide held out her ticket.

“You may not bring your sword inside.”

Callion handed his sword, which he had been carrying, to Lucid.

“You may go. I’ll be waiting in the carriage.”

Lucid took the sword and returned to the carriage.

Only after frisking himself for concealed weapons was he allowed to enter the chapel.

The air was unpleasant, with the smell of alcohol and strong tobacco wafting from the chapel’s interior.

Callion grabbed Adelaide’s arm, feeling uneasy. Her expression was unreadable behind her mask, but she nodded lightly, as if she were okay.

“Follow me.”

Following the guard into the chapel, Callion doubted his eyes.

The appearance of a holy chapel was all but gone. The walls painted with holy images were covered in red cloth, and the holy relics and altar were nowhere to be seen.

Dozens of round tables stood in the place of the neatly arranged pews. It looked more like an upscale tavern than a place of worship.

“You can sit over here.”

The guard led them to the table closest to the door. On the table were drinks, snacks, quality cigarettes, and a board with table numbers.

Adelaide slipped the guard a gold coin.

“Please be seated.”

She tugged on Callion’s sleeve as he stood.

He took a seat, feeling a little nervous.

“There are more people here than I expected.”

Unlike Adelaide, who was casual as if she’d been to this place many times before, Callion stiffened and looked around the chapel.

There were no empty seats at the dozens of tables.

People with masks on were leisurely drinking, smoking incense, and chatting.

While there were more men, there were also a fair number of women.

Some were unmasked, but it was hard to make out their faces in the poor lighting.

He seemed to be the only one who didn’t know what was going on here.

“Is this a play? “

Occasionally, noblemen with peculiar tastes would invite a third-rate theater company to perform lewd plays.

It’s a chapel, but it’s understandable, considering it’s hard to find a place this large.

She shook her head at Callion’s question.

“We should be starting soon.”

Adelaide gestured towards the front of the chapel. As soon as the masked emcee stepped onto the platform, the noise in the room ceased.

“Then let the auction begin.”

‘……Auction?’

As the emcee’s words fell from his lips, two men walked up to the podium. No, more like dragged.

The man with the mask held a chain. The chain was connected to a collar worn by another man. The man wearing the collar was covered in wounds.

The man with the mask pulled the chain, causing the collared man to lose balance and fall.

The masked man commanded the man to rise, lashing him with a whip. Blood flowed from the torn flesh on his back, but the whipping continued.

‘What the hell…….’

Callion’s body shook at the horrific sight. Adelaide held his arm still and shook her head.

No, he could hear her voice saying it from beyond the mask.

Callion bit his lip and forced himself to calm down.

“He’s a slave from Helenia. He’s the best when it comes to strength.”

As if to punctuate his words, the man cracked his whip.

“As you can see, he is very strong. He’s got good energy, so he’ll be good for labor, and he’ll be good in the arena, too.”

The man forced the man’s mouth open with a gesture of his hand.

“His mouth is also very heavy, so you don’t have to worry about words leaking out.”

He cut out his tongue.

As the master of ceremonies listed the man’s merits, the people around the table chatted and tried to estimate the value of the goods.

Adelaide looked away from the man and toward Callion. Despite the mask, she could feel his flesh, and her hair stood on end.

“We’ll start with three cels.”

The emcee announced the start of the auction. Those interested in the man raised their cards with the number of their table. There weren’t many.

Cels 4, 5, 6……. The man won the bid at 11 cels.

“Second item”

The second person brought forward was also a war prisoner from the kingdom of Helenia. The procedure proceeded in the same manner.

The person who hadn’t won a bid earlier picked up the hand, and this time he won the bid for 9 cels.

The third, fourth, and fifth were all similar.

The only one who didn’t win was the little boy in sixth place.

Unlike the previous slaves, the boy was very defiant, and when he struggled, he was beaten and dragged out in a faint.

No one paid attention to him, perhaps because he was so ill-tempered.

“We will rest for ten minutes and then resume.”

A short recess was declared while servants mopped up the blood on the dais.

The once-quiet hall was noisy again. Adelaide cleared her throat through the commotion and turned to the stiffened Callion.

“Are you okay?”

“…….”

Callion didn’t answer. The emotion in his silence was palpable.

“Do you want to go back?”

She asked cautiously, and Callion forced his mouth to open.

“I’ll see it through.”

Adelaide had two purposes for bringing Callion to the slave auction:

One, to find him a trustworthy employee, and two, to show him that this was happening in a place he didn’t know about.

If Callion had no objection to the slave auction, he would buy a hireling, and if he felt anger, that was all that mattered.

Whether he felt remorse or anger, Callion would never forget this day.

Adelaide felt bittersweet satisfaction at the success of her plan.

Once the stage was cleared, the auction resumed. The emcee spoke in a higher tone to clear the room.

“Now, then, the highlight of the day!”

A young woman was dragged to the platform.