"So..."
It was an entirely unanticipated request from Jellal - to dress up like a rich woman. It was a sudden curveball, but it was not an unwelcome one. Erza after all, had a wardrobe worthy of dozens of women, and there should have been at least one dress that fit the bill, and did not make her seem painfully conspicuous, right?
Right?
Well, not exactly. She was definitely not a cheapskate and did have a few unnecessary, yet absolutely satiating splurges of money on clothes. Lots of cocktail dresses, some preferred for public outgoings, some based on her preferences, some for Jellal, but not one of those were suitable.
The last person she expected to be talented in this expanse was Cana, and needless to say, Erza was in a sweat when the eternally drunk woman stepped up, but didn't she deliver like an absolute godsend!
It was a jet black strapless corset dress, worn with skintight gloves that run up to her biceps, a matte red fur shawl mirroring the shade of her scarlet hair, and a variety of other accessories which Cana fussed upon.
All it cost was three bottles of hard, imported liquor. Would she cause a ruckus in the guild? Perhaps. But Fairy Tail was a lively guild. A louder Cana would not trouble the others significantly, would she?
Sighing to herself, she fixed her stilettos until she heard someone clear their throat.
She turned around to see Jellal's back, his eyes viciously scanning the zone for potential spies and magical equipment.
"Are you ready Erza?", he asked before he turned towards her, and his eyes shot up. His mouth was slightly agape and his cheeks began to light up in a faint hue of pink, which he attempted to hide in an astoundingly mediocre manner.
"Do I look that good?", she breathed. Jellal was in no mental state to respond until Erza tip-toed her way to his chest and began to draw patterns on his exposed chest with her finger.
"Yeah. You...you look stunning", he mumbled, fighting through his embarrassment. Erza squealed internally, and expressed her affection with a tight hug, locking his arms in her embrace.
It was not until then did she realise how horribly undressed Jellal was.
"What are you wearing?", she repined as she ran her hand over his tattered shirt and looked at his worn-out pants. Before he could put respond, she put two and two together.
"There are a lot of trafficking rackets, Erza. What we want to hunt right now is the one that kills the ones that go unsold"
"But that doesn't mean we can turn a blind eye to the rest!"
Jellal flinched at her tone, but it was understandable, and it was the most obvious conclusion one would arrive at.
"These rings hate one another as they are competition. It's a known fact. But the moment one of them faces a single issue - it can be the most trivial one; all of them join hands to survive. If we recklessly attack, we will not be able to catch them for a long time. Midnight has been following these for over a year and we finally caught up with a couple of them. We cannot risk it, Erza.
If we move at higher numbers for a simultaneous attack, they will notice extra numbers or missing people.
We don't have a choice, love", he ranted as he stroked her cheek with the back of his fingers. Erza was not happy with his reasoning, but it was the truth.
"So? I am one of the buyers, and it should be an auction, so while you go blend in as one of the trafficked people, I'm supposed to mingle with the rest of the power-driven cumstains, and when it is your turn, I am supposed to buy you?"
Jellal smiled. She was a fast thinker, that one, and she understandably hated the idea with a fiery passion. With nothing else to add, the two of them made their way before splitting at an appropriate distance.
Erza wore the face mask Jellal had given her and as she got closer, she spotted many people with similar masks, laughing and drinking out open in the air. It took all of her willpower to not rush forward and turn the whole place inside out.
She had often read in magazines and articles about people "at the wrong place at the wrong time". Hoping to meet at least one such person, she spoke with the people and arrived at a grand total of zero.
All of them, the proud sneers she could see behind their masks, deserved to rot in jail. Not a single one of them was present against their will - all of them took pleasure in this horrendous act.
Hours had passed, and with a drink in her hand, internally praying for her alcohol tolerance to handle it, Erza looked at the auctioneer coming up with a massive smile on his face.
"It isn't this one"
Jellal's psychic message broke her out of her reverie and she clicked her tongue in annoyance.
The next moment, Jellal came out with his hands tied. All he wore was a jute bag that covered his crotch and a part of his thighs, and Erza began to boil.
He innocently looked at the crowd and in a split second he looked at Erza, he silently asked her to stay calm and bid.
Erza looked around and grit her teeth at seeing dozens of women catcalling him, some of them being far more explicit.
"Just look at that body - all those wounds! He can take some punishment, can't he?"
"I need that thing right now. Oh, thank goodness I saved up"
"I want to make him lick my shoes!"
Gritting her teeth, Erza tuned out those women and began to bid with no hesitation. The women glared at her, cursing at her with vivid phrases, and she paid them no heed until one of them stepped forward.
Based on her build, she seemed to be in her forties and clicked her tongue at Erza.
"You...woman. Let that man go. You must be new here. I see you raise the bar once more, and...I don't know, you might know how it might feel on that side", she sneered.
To put it in simple words, Erza lost it. She drove her fingers right into the woman's throat with all of her might and the woman dropped to her knees, gagging.
Erza lifted her face by her chin, using the tip of her stilettos. The woman could feel Erza's wrath even through her mask and the latter stared at everyone in the room.
"If you want to bid for him, go ahead. But if you dare to do anything to him, you'll have to answer me. Go on", she growled and took her seat, crossing her legs.
Not a single soul raised the bar and Erza instantly left the place with Jellal in tow.
"We have to go to the other place quickly. Such fights are normal, but they will be on high alert. Same strategy, and don't worry they won't find out about you. It takes some time for the news to travel. We can head there before that happens"
"But what about the money? We would lose much more again, and Jellal..you have already lost so-"
"It wasn't my money", he interrupted with the most deadpan face he could master.
Discussing on what they ought to do in the next one, Erza and Jellal made it to the auction, opting for the same tactic.
"Do I need to know about the money?"
"The only thing I can say is...the owner of the money was not the greatest of humans, and was heavily involved in the murder of townsfolk. I think that should be enough"
Erza rolled her eyes at his disconcerting explanation and waved it off, before noticing a large crowd near the entrance.
Nobody entered the auction place, and most of them hovered around a small group that the duo could only discern by their locks of hair.
It was a public display of the products prior to purchase. Merging into the crowd, Erza managed to have a gander at the hapless victims.
Burn marks, blood clots, and dried blood covered their skins as they had their eyes plastered on the ground, shaking visibly due to the perfect mixture of fear and cold.
"They're all wounded", she divulged as she met up with Jellal and the man took a deep breath before stepping forward.
"Wait!", she hissed and grabbed his arm. Jellal was muddled and assumed it to be Erza's fear for his safety until he saw the bewilderment in her eyes.
"There was not a single man there, Jellal"
Jellal's plan for the day turned topsy-turvy with this out-of-the-blue obstruction. Erza could almost feel the gears of his mind running overtime as he tried desperately to hatch a plan at the final moment.
"Let's switch places", Erza mumbled. Blinking a couple of times, Jellal began to twitch as he comprehended her suggestion.
"It's only fair, don't you think? I'll take the bigger risk for now. Well, at least some of these men might be some of the worst to have lived. People won't miss them, would they? You can take their clothes and...you know?"
There was not much time to work on it. Gritting his teeth, Jellal agreed to the plan and rushed forward, looking for a man with hair that was remotely close to a blue shade and a similar build to his.
"Wait, wait! Take this with you", he called out and handed a small device to Erza. It looked like a hairpin, something she could conceal in her tresses with minimal effort.
"Once we confirm that this is the place, press the head twice"
She took the device and didn't ask anything else. It was shady, but it could shut them down once and for all.
Cutting her skin with a few nearby thorns, Erza undressed herself and Requipped into a disappointing lingerie.
Shopping with the help of a catalogue resulted in a few disappointing purchases, but this was the first time that tattered lingerie reciprocated her figure, and made sure to cover her tattoo with some spare cloth to mimic a makeshift bandage.
"HEY! HOW DID YOU GET OUT?"
Erza shot towards the voice and saw a middle-aged woman run towards her and grab her forearm. Stepping into the shoes of a damsel in distress, she mewled and let herself get dragged away by the older woman.
All of the girls were rushed inside a room like a group of animals and a placard was forced over each one's neck, signifying a number.
The older woman sneered at the lot and walked away, buttering up one of the guests. The place was not that secure. A decently built person could break through the lock with a kick.
Then, she noticed a puddle of red liquid on the floor and turned to the right to see a heap of mutilated corpses placed right in the sight of the girls.
Only then did Erza realise how these girls were trapped - by fear. They looked malnourished, looked to be in a constant state of fear and she knew, she could not let a single one through the door.
On the other hand, Jellal was cursing his luck. The man he had just killed to enter the auction was an enforcer of a dark guild and one of the loudest to be precise. So any signs of stealth was out of the list.
"WHAT IS THIS PLACE? IT HAS BEEN MORE THAN A COUPLE OF MINUTES SINCE I HAD ASKED FOR A DRINK. ARE YOU RUNNING AN AUCTION OR A FARMHOUSE? IS THIS HOW YOU TREAT YOUR VALUABLE CUSTOMERS?", Jellal roared as he slammed his foot on the table, breaking it in two.
Everyone began to stare at their feet, wiping the sweat off their faces and slipping handkerchiefs through their masks.
A waiter rushed towards Jellal and handed him a glass, and he could hear the man mumbling a prayer under his breath.
Grunting out loud, Jellal waved his hand and took a seat, placing his feet on the broken table.
"Am I putting on a show for you people? MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!", he roared. Whoever the man was, he definitely had violent tendencies and Jellal seemingly fit his character like a glove.
"I will be the first one out, Jellal"
The man shot up on hearing Erza's psychic message. Of course, there was a chance she might have been the first, but it would significantly reduce their chances of finding out the truth of the place.
"Before you worry, this is the place. There are corpses in front of my eyes. I can hear you from here. Showboat them for a while, and I will buy the rest of the girls enough time to leave"
It was not that great of a plan, but it was without a doubt, the best one they could come up with at the moment, given the strict time constraint and the danger involved as well.
"Tell me when you will be brought out. This place...and all of these people, are going to burn to the ground"