Soul Art Online
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Chapter 16: Unexpected Meetings!
- Arthas -
I froze at the word and looked at Veena in shock. Did she just say?
I looked at the group once more. This time I used Scan on them.
[Lily Moon]
[Aurelia]
[Bina Lessthan]
[White Rose]
[Muyuki]
All of them were early or mid T3.
"Which one?" I asked.
She pointed at the second girl from the right.
"Arthas, we need to save her. At any cost." She said, looking dead serious. By now, the rest of our group had also sensed something odd about the situation and looked at us.
"The second girl from the right is Veena's family member." I said, shocking everyone.
Shiroe was the one who broke out of the stunned state first and took charge. "How much do we have left? Around eighty thousand? How much do you two have?" He asked the two new members.
"A hundred and twenty thousand."
"Seventy five thousand."
Our personal funds would make twenty five thousand at best.
"Two hundred and seventy five thousand then. Let's hope we can bet on them for that price. How much do the usual bids go for anyways?" He asked, uncomfortable.
"Mr Damon, how high do the bids go for these kinds of people?" I asked, looking at the Mafia Boss.
He had a stoic mask on his face. "Anything from two hundred thousand to a million. It depends on the merchandise and if they catch the eye of anyone. It's mostly a matter of luck."
Luck… with just one hundred thousand margin, is relying too much on luck.
The first girl was sent forward and the bidding started. It was an NPC so we didn't pay attention to her and quickly thought of any countermeasures.
"Say, would the auction house accept new items? Skill Books or such for sale?" I asked Damon.
"For the next Auction. There is just no way they would stop the auction for a few skill books. They do however keep advance items with their guarantee for the next auction." He shook his head.
There goes that plan.
Dammit, they should have distributed an itinerary for everyone to plan ahead. We could have saved enough money then. Now…
While we were running around, the auction for the girl was over.
Three hundred thousand…
The highest bid was three hundred thousand for her.
There were a total of twelve girls, five players among them.
Three million six hundred thousand for all and one million five hundred thousand for players. Three hundred at the base of Grayfia alone.
"What will happen to them when they are sold? Is there any way we can buy from the one who purchases them…?" Veena asked.
"It's highly unlikely that the buyer would sell them. The ones who come to participate in these auctions are… not the best sort if you know what I mean…"
…
"Can we… save them later on?"
"If you start a fight here, you will die." The man's words were straight and without any nonsense. "The only chance you could have is when they leave the island but even then you're bound to fail. First of all, most of these buyers have strong body guards, a team of T5 or even T6. And if you, by some miracle win,Every slave is bound by a Slave Crest from a distant continent. The owner can make them do anything, even kill themselves. They will need to be transferred to other users."
"Maybe we can remove the mark?" Star suggested.
"If you can get them to T7, then sure. That's the only known method." Damon shrugged nonchalantly.
By now, the second npc girl was being bid on and it had reached three hundred and fifty thousand already… dammit.
"Mr. Damon, can you buy some of our goods? We have some good equipment and skill books which you can sell for a nice profit." I offered.
No one from the team spoke anything.
"Hmm, show me the goods."
We quickly offered almost everything we had.
"Seven hundred thousand." The guy offered.
"That's absurd. Just the armour cost over one and a half million and we are adding other unique weapons and skill books worth a million too." Star retorted angrily.
"Supply and demand kid, supply and demand. While this equipment might be worth a lot in your Kingdom, it's slightly above average in others. Your kingdom is known for its medicine, not equipment. And lastly, you need the money urgently. What kind of a businessman would I be if I didn't take advantage of that?" He smirked.
….
The third npc was brought on the stage but this time she resisted and was subdued. It caused her injuries and the price for her was reduced.
After that, they took a small break for everyone.
I looked at the faces of the girls who looked fearful and Veena who was panicking. Alright, we agree." I took a deep breath and replied.
"That's more like it. Shall we sign a contract first?"
"Contract?"
"In Sabaody, words don't mean anything. They are the most worthless commodity and no one buys them. This is why any transactions we do are done in contracts. A binding contract. The loser faces the same consequences as those girls down there, becoming the slave of the other if they fail." He said with a smile. "Obviously, if you don't back down from the deal and complete it, no harm done. After all, a contact only makes things legal. I don't want Richard to come after me, accusing me of cheating you."
"Arty…" Star put a hand on my shoulder but I just nodded at him.
"Very well. Let's go and do this contract. Veena, Shiroe, will you guys come with me?" I asked and the two followed while the rest stayed there.
He led us to a place in the Auction House while explaining everything to us. He entered a room and beckoned us to follow.
"Damon, need another contract?"
"Yes. A deal I got my hands on." He pointed towards us and explained the deal.
"So just legal documentation. Oh my, is that the Blessed Sun Set? Isn't that an exclusive of the Holy Knights? Those stuck up bastards use special blessings on them and those enchantments are nigh impossible to copy. You really got yourself a deal this time." The dealer laughed as Damon smirked once more.
When the contract was signed, I looked at the contract and Veena rechecked it for any flaws.
"Is there any way to nullify the contract?" I asked, just to be sure. "For example if one side dies?"
The man laughed. "Hahahaha thinking of killing Damon, are we?" He looked at Damon who was smirking too.
"Just being sure that we won't be killed to nullify the contact and avoid payment."
"You don't have to worry about that. The Auction House is backed by every native faction of Sabaody and no one messes with it. This is a neutral ground. Even the kings of other countries will think twice before breaking the rules here. Obviously, we cannot guarantee anything happening outside. But still for your information, to nullify a contract, both sides must agree on it and only then can it be nullified."
I knew about the no attack zone part already. It was showing in my menu. The part about the contract was helpful. The guy even threw me a parchment with all the rules written about contracts.
"I you." With that I signed the contract too.
The man finally cast a spell on the piece of paper, sealing the contract.
With the contract sealed, I felt a tug at my being and a notification appeared in front of me.
"There, the contract is sealed. Anything else, I can do for you?" He asked.
I took the money from him and came out and gave it all to Veena. With this we had a million. Hope that will be enough or I will have to resort to desperate means.
The next round of bidding came and this time again, three girls were on the stage, all NPCs again. Were they going to put three girls on stage at a time?
We sat in the room quietly, waiting for the bidding to start. The announcer on the stage continued.
"Next, the starting bid will be fifty thousand gold coins. Each increment can only be five thousand and above. Begin."
Calls rang throughout the hall.
Suddenly a message appeared in our guild chat. I read it and I looked at Veena. We shared a look and then looked back at the halls.
The bids increased one by one before one rang in our room. "Seventy five thousand."
Veena had bid.
The call obviously didn't stop and the price increased to one hundred and eighty thousand when another call came from our room.
This time it wasn't Veena however.
Damon had bid.
We looked at the man and Veena questioned frostily. "What is the meaning of this Mr. Damon?"
The man had that same annoying smirk on his face. "What else? I am just participating in the auctions. I have a ticket too."
We understood what he was doing.
This bastard was playing with us.
This is exactly what Veena was telling us in the Guild Message.
She had expected this could happen and tried to test it out on the NPC. She didn't lay down the facade and continued bidding. The price increased and obviously our funds were no match for Damon's and we lost.
Damon got her for eight hundred and fifty thousand gold coins. The guy looked smugly at us. "Hey, don't look at me like that. I am permitted to buy merchandise too. Obviously, we are friends so if you lose, you can always buy them from me… for a price of course."
We merely glared at the guy while the next girl was on the stage. The bidding started and Veena bid again.
The smile on Damon's face froze.
Not willing to back down he bid again and was baited to bid again.
Nine hundred and eighty thousand.
The guy had a bad look on his face.
It was when the third time Veena bid that he actually looked angry. The price increased and he still bought her for seven hundred and eighty thousand.
There was another break. This time I had sent a message to the team and they all sat quietly in the room.
"There are nine more girls left, Mr. Damon. Do you really want to face that much of a loss?" I asked.
"I will not face any loss. You will have to pay for everything I spend here, with interest if you want those girls back." He argued.
"I am afraid that's not going to happen. If we don't get her, we leave." I shook my head and stared at him blankly.
"You are bluffing." He scoffed.
"As much as I hate to say it, I am not. The thing is, you are a guy with no integrity Mr. Damon. What guarantee do we have that I can even get her for that price and you won't increase the price again, that this won't become a debt trap? We might get her back and even lose our own freedom. At this point, I have decided to cut my losses."
He frowned.
"Why are you so surprised? We work as adventurers. Dealing with the loss of comrades is a regular thing for us. Obviously, I will write today's incident down in my memory. Worst case, I can just use the money to place a bounty on your head. Nine girls, at an average of eight hundred thousand will be above seven million gold coins. I am pretty sure that can attract people to aim for your head."
"Are you threatening me?" He scowled.
"I am just telling you what can happen, Mr. Damon. I am not the one who started it. You can either continue the fool's game or give up and we can both get away from this without any grudge. Obviously, I will not let go of the girl I want so easily so I will put in a last ditch effort for her."
I brought out the devil fruit box from my inventory and opened it in front of him. "I wonder if someone will be willing to take this Devil Fruit, the Logia Swamp Swamp Fruit in exchange for the girl I want?"
The guy's eyes almost popped out at the sight of the fruit.
I walked and started leaving the room and he quickly got up and stopped me. "Hold on."
I narrowed my eyes. "What is the meaning of this Mr. Damon? Are you breaking the rules of the auction house?"
"No no. Nothing of that sort. How about I take you up on your offer?" He asked with a smile.
"You have some nerve asking me this, Mr. Damon. First you took advantage of our situation and gave us dirt cheap prices for our equipment, then you put your nose in, causing trouble for us in trying to get our family member back, even going as far as to blackmail us… and now, you see this Devil Fruit and realise the loss you could face and try to ask me for a deal?"
"Hey now, no need to get angry, This is Sabaody. If you can't even handle this much, then you shouldn't have come here. This is the way things work. I saw an opportunity and I took it. Now, I am offering you a deal. How about it, I will buy all the girls left and add the ones I have already bought, all of this Devil Fruit…"
"No way. I do not trust you. In fact, I am in a mood to give it to someone else just to spite you." I replied in my coldest tone.
"Come on. Don't be angry." He tried persuading me again and this time Veena put a hand on my shoulder and then looked at him.
"Add everything you took from us on top of that and we have a deal."
"Veena!"
"Now Arthas, we don't have time to waste. Don't let your anger get the best of you." She said persuasively.
"Yes yes. Listen to the Lady." The guy quickly said, seeing hope here. "Sure, I will add the equipment." He quickly added.
I looked angrily at him for a moment and then took a deep breath. "I want a contract."
"Absolutely." He agreed and almost ran to the same room. I asked Shiroe to wait outside and went with Damon inside.
"My my, you are having a blast today, aren't you Damon? What do we have this time?" The same guy from before laughed at Damon but the latter was in no mood to play.
"We need a contract fast, Krieg."
"Oh, such a hurry. Okay, I will get it. So what's the deal?"
Damon told him the deal and the guy's eyes bulged at the sight of the Devil Fruit. "Is that? No way…"
"Just do what you are told, Krieg." Damon asked impatiently.
The guy got the message and started making the contract.
The contract was that he would give me all the nine girls, we mentioned the names to not get confused, as well as the items he had traded from me and I will give him the Devil Fruit. If anyone cannot keep their side of the bargain by the end of the auction, they will be considered as breaking the contract.
I had truly underestimated the allure of the Devil Fruit.
Veena looked over the details and we signed the contract. Krieg used his spell again and I felt the tug and got the notification.
Damon looked ecstatic at this. He quickly hurried and gave me our items back and headed back to the room for the bidding.
Coincidentally, this group was the group with the rest of the players.
Veena had already messaged us Grayfia's username.
Bina Lessthan.
I looked at the woman standing there on the stage. Silver hair and red eyes. She was stunning. I can see why she would be such a fan favourite in my previous life.
Sirzechs Lucifer is a man of taste.
The bidding went higher without anyone even raising the prices and ended at nine hundred and thirty thousand gold coins.
The bids went and another girl went for nine hundred thousand gold coins, slightly lower than Bina.
With a million, we could have bought her but that would have been cutting it too close. Not to mention we couldn't do anything about the other players.
The last one didn't go that high but at three hundred thousand only.
Six more left.
In the next round, three girls came, two players and one NPC.
Damon easily bought them. With no one trying to raise the price, they were obtained in three hundred to four hundred thousand gold coins on average.
It was the last round and before break, I went with Shiroe and had something to eat. I told him to go ahead and collect our purchased Skill Books and arrange for our departure as we will need to leave immediately after this Auction is over.
The last round began and he looked as confident as ever. That guy was probably using all his sources to keep this bidding in his favour.
But I wasn't going to let it go so easily…
This guy had crossed a line… so he needs to pay…
When it was time for the second last girl's bidding, I walked to the balcony of the room, showing myself to the rest of the participants.
The announcer looked at me. "Yes. Can I do something for you, Sir?"
"I have an announcement to make."
"Yes?"
Everyone looked confused and I pulled out the Devil Fruit.
"Anyone who can buy the next girl for me and ensure our safe departure from Sabaody, gets this Logia Type Swamp Swamp Fruit. Thank you very much."
… and then there was chaos.
I came back to the room and Damon looked incensed.
"What is the meaning of this, Arthas!" He shouted loudly at me. "Are you typing to break the contract?"
"Me? When did I do that?" I asked him with a smile. "Ah, I understand your confusion. You see, Mr. Damon, when someone I dislike shows me an opening, if I didn't take full advantage of it… what kind of man would I be?"
"You are breaking the contract with this."
"Oh but you will find out that I am not. If you cannot buy the next girl, you are not fulfilling your side of the contract so you will not get the Devil Fruit either. What part of the contract said I cannot prepare for contingencies? The only thing it said was that you would give me the nine girls and I will give you the Devil Fruit by the end of the auction. What I just announced outside doesn't affect our promise in any way. Oh… but if you fail to get the last girl… I am afraid things will not end well for you."
Before the man could say anything, the announcer started the bidding.
I sat back and watched calmly as the chaos unfolded before my very eyes.
Bids flew one after another till it finally stopped at a price of twenty eight million.
Damon went as far as twenty five million, after calling as many favours as he could but even the people he called favours from were bidding and thus he was caught short in the bidding run.
"Please… please, I can give you anything… just break this contract…" He begged, even getting on his knees.
"Come on now, Mr. Damon. Don't embarrass me. This is Sabaody. If you can't even handle this much, then you shouldn't have come here. This is the way things work. I saw an opportunity and I took it. Since I had to lose the Devil Fruit either way, I'd rather you suffer than if you didn't. I told you, didn't I… that I have written today's incident deep in my memories."
The man desperately ran out to talk to the buyer, to get him to agree on some settlement but it turned out that the buyer was some other bigshot of Sabaody, a T7 guy who directly ignored him.
"Damn Arty… that was savage… not that he didn't deserve it. You are definitely picking up things from Veena." Star whispered quietly.
"Oh my. I wouldn't say that. This was all Arthas. People often forget that he is the son of two very prominent business owners. Such manoeuvres are not exactly uncommon in business. One deal can bring a millionaire on the streets. It's just that in this world, that equates to slavery. Not much different from just a hundred or so years ago in our world." Veena commented lightly.
She was incensed at the guy too and I was pretty sure she would have found one or other way to ruin that guy if he had succeeded today.
At the end of the auction the same tug I had felt at the time of making the contract appeared again and a notification appeared in front of my eyes.
Damon, Mafia Lord, was now my slave…
Everything he owned was now my property, the fact I had been counting on. I had been reading the parchment offered by Krieg and had found this nifty fact. The new owner gets possession of all his assets.
For all matters and purposes, he was considered dead for the world.
It was cold but this game was never a warm and cosy place to begin with. Again, it went to show just how much details the Game Master had put into making this place. For all matters and purposes, it was a real world. I couldn't imagine any game to have these kinds of details… Were these people even npcs?
Or were they actually other people?
Times like these made it hard to differentiate between the real world and the game.
Crime Lord, was the class after the Mafia Lord. The guy who bought the Devil Fruit was a Crime Lord, Derek. He was one of the top smugglers of Sabaody Archipelago. The guy had wanted a Devil Fruit for too long and took the opportunity as soon as the chance appeared.
We talked and having learned from my mistake once, I directly had an official contract made ensuring our safety till we reached back to our country.
I wondered how that would even work on this guy who was already a T7, but was assured that the rest of the gangs will maintain the contract so unless he was ready to run away from Sabaody and drop everything here, he wouldn't come after us. Well, we didn't have any other options either so we went along with it.
With that done, I proceeded to the nine girls.
- Grayfia Lucifuge -
She waited in the room with the other eight girls… waiting for the person who had bought her…
Her, Grayfia Lucifuge, the strongest queen of the Underworld, the queen of Lucifer… bought as common goods… a few months ago, even such a thought would have been laughable… and yet.
Everything had changed as soon as she had entered this game.
She had gone from someone who had fought Serafall for the position of the Leviathan to someone who had to avoid wild boars in human forests.
But that was not enough to break her.
She had fought through the Civil Wars, gone up against monsters and Gods alike. Things like these were not enough to stop her. She could find a way out… and that too if Sirzechs and Ajuka didn't free them before that.
Knowing them as they did, there was no way they wouldn't be trying their very best to crack this game and catch the ones responsible. Although, if the agreement was really a soul based contract, then it would be hard.
For this reason, she had started preparing from her side too.
She had been the first one in her village to get a T2 Class, something which prevented the more… uncouth individuals from targeting her. The place around her was getting crowded so she then moved away from the rest to the nearest town, a port town where she had started working on getting stronger.
No matter the world, strength was a must.
Her work paid off and she was the first among the entire group to gain the T3 Class as well. The route she had chosen was the one she was the most familiar with, a Mage and for that she had to become a scholar first.
Things were going well.
During her time there, she had met another girl, White Rose, someone who had been trapped inside the game too. They had formed a team as the girl was a Warrior. At the higher level monsters required more players to hunt and she didn't want to be dragged down by incompetent people. Fortunately, Rose was anything but incompetent. One by one they levelled up, rising beyond other people in the town.
Finally things were looking better. She had planned her route ahead with the goal of finding Lady Gremory, Rias and the rest of her peerage members inside the game and finding a way out.
All that was until that… damned world mission.
Their town was attacked by an armada of pirates and their job was to defend against them till the reinforcements arrived.
Unfortunately for her, their town failed in the task and was crushed by the pirates. Thousands were killed and captured.
The most good looking women and stronger men were selected to be sold off as slaves. The only reason she and her team had escaped the fate of being passed around as toys was the fact that it would have reduced the value of the merchandise.
Many others didn't have the same privilege, including the rest of her teammates other than Rose.
This slave mark they had imprinted her with didn't even allow them to commit suicide to escape their torment. It was probably the first time that she had felt a hint of apprehension but her experience had enabled her to push back her fears and try to find a way out.
During her time on the ship, she had tried to find out any way to escape but had been unable to do so.
All she could find out was where they were being taken and for what purpose.
Standing on stage, being bid upon by the crowd as they tried to undress her with their eyes… it felt disgusting.
For the second time she had felt fear since entering the game…
As her bidding completed, she was taken to the room where her new owner would come to collect her. A while later, even Rose was brought to the room. The poor girl was looking shattered. She could understand her thoughts.
While Grayfia had hundreds of years of experience helping her maintain hope, Rose was just a young girl, the same age as Rias. For her to go through all this… it must be like a nightmare.
She pulled the girl in a hug and let her cry.
At that time, other people who were being auctioned also came inside one by one.
"We can find a way out of this." She tried to assure her. "If you lose hope, you will lose everything. We need to survive this."
"But I… we…"
"Who was the person who got you? Was it the same guy?" She asked.
She had noticed that one man had been continuously bidding on every girl. She only hoped that he had bid for her too and that they could be together, for Rose and for her own self.
"Y-y-yes."
This guy had bought everyone in the group.
While she was thinking of this, the gate opened and the one managing this auction house came in, leading another person behind him.
Grayfia took a closer look at the guy.
Dark blue coloured hair, golden eyes, dressed in armour, he looked more like a knight or a noble than some old scum she had expected.
He was a player like them. This knowledge however just confused them even more. His age seemed around the same as Rias, probably a bit older. Then again, she knew better than to judge the book by his cover.
The auction house manager looked at them. "He is your new master, the one you will be serving your whole life. Be respectful and bow your heads." He ordered.
She gritted her teeth but didn't show her anger on her face and slowly bowed her head, urging Rose to do the same. She needed to understand what kind of person he was before doing anything. Showing resistance now would only be bad, for her and the rest.
"Can you leave us alone for a while?" The man asked the auction house manager who nodded and left the room, leaving them alone, but not before giving him the keys to all the handcuffs.
The man waited till the door was closed before he came to her directly. She clenched her fist, steeling herself for whatever might come next but contrary to her fears, she felt the handcuffs on her hands being opened and looked up at the guy who went around opening the handcuffs of everyone in the place.
Rose was shocked too but he simply removed her handcuffs and patted her shoulder. "Are you alright? Don't worry. You are safe now. We have come to save you." Rose nodded, tears still streaming from her eyes. "Now now… it's such a shame to ruin such a pretty face with tear stains." He offered her a handkerchief and she wiped her face.
"Thank you."
He nodded and then looked at her and spoke. "Grayfia Lucifuge."
She froze.
"Follow me. Someone is waiting for you." He commanded and then looked at the rest. "You all don't have to worry. We will not harm or mistreat you. Anyone who wants to go free can do so. If you don't have a place to go then you can stay with us and work for us. As for breaking this Slave Crest, I am afraid that's something not in our hands yet. When you leave this room however, just maintain silence and follow the instructions to the T. Do not speak until we are away from this island. We are in enemy territory and they are far stronger than us. We cannot afford to mess up. Do I make myself clear?"
The group quickly nodded.
As they followed him, hundreds of thoughts ran through her mind. Who was he? How did he know her? What exactly did he want with her?
She heard Rose's voice who was looking at her confused. "Bina… what is he talking about?" She whispered. "Who's Grayfia?"
"I… I will explain everything later. Just call me Bina." She assured and Rose nodded.
- Arthas -
It felt very awkward walking with the girls following behind me. The Auction House Manager didn't stop us. Handcuffs or not, they were bound by the Crest. The handcuffs were just… the fetish of some nobles who were into that kind of thing…
The man had just given me a knowing smile when I had asked about the handcuffs… saying they were on the house.
He was quite happy as the bids had gone for much more than we expected and all that was thanks to me.
That's why I had to send him out because the look he was giving me and that flattering smile of his only made me disgusted…
Star met us outside the room with Suikazura-san and Whistler. He took a look at the group behind me and nodded.
"Where's Veena?" I asked. I wanted to let her be the one to explain things to Grayfia or who knows what she might think…"
"Veena is waiting in the room with the guy who bought the Devil Fruit, discussing business." He replied.
"Business?" I asked, confused. What business could we have?
Star however shook his head. "Seriously that lady… that guy is a T7 Crime Lord. He could swat us away like a fly and she is there… discussing business. Sometimes I wonder if she has a sense of danger or not. But then again, who am I talking to? You practically made a Mafia Boss your bitch coz he was fucking with us."
…
"Did you dislike it?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Hah? No way. That guy deserved what came to him. I just wanted to punch his nose in. That's more my style." He shrugged lightly.
"You could always do that, you know. I think a Mafia Lord being our Guild's gatekeeper would be quite good."
"... remind me never to fuck with you."
"Do you need me to remind you of that?"
"Alright alright, I give up."
"So what business is she doing inside?" I asked.
"Damon's business. You do realise that you own everything he had right? That means everything in Sabaody. Derek is talking about the takeover of those businesses." He explained.
"I see." It made sense too. There was no way we could keep the businesses of Damon. At least not with the strength we had. We would be eaten up by other groups within days. It was best to sell them off as soon as we could and who better to sell than Derek.
For this, Veena was indeed the best person.
I looked at the company behind me and then at Star. "Keep them company. I will go inside and take a look."
Technically, it was me who owned everything.
Inside the room, Veena was sitting across the table from Derek. Shiroe and Elaine standing behind her.
My entry attracted everyone's attention and I just nodded at them and sat beside Veena quietly.
"As I was saying, this is already the most we can offer. We can have a trade agreement if you want. My One Eyed Wolf Gang will provide you security when you are in Sabaody." Derek added, lighting up his cigar and taking a puff.
"It's a very good offer, Mr. Derek. I am very inclined to take it too. Can I add just one more thing to it?"
"What?" He asked.
"Please assure our safe arrival to Lannisport's town and we have a deal."
"Hahahahahahaha just that much? I was going to do that either way. Can you imagine if someone sells me a Logia Devil Fruit, new businesses and then gets killed on the way back? That's bad for the reputation. Everyone will think I was the one who did it to get back the money and while I would love nothing more than to have that money, I mean who wouldn't." He asked.
"Obviously." Veena agreed with a smile forcing me to control the twitch of my lips.
"But that's an absolute no no. If that happens, no one will come to sell things to me. What these morons…" He pointed at Damon. "...don't understand is that losing credibility is the worst thing for business. People already know I am a dangerous guy. What I need now is for them to come to me despite knowing this… and that only happens when you deliver what you promise. If you fuck with the ones you do business, no one will do business with you. That's not something we want. I can send a dozen of my finest men… with a binding contract to drop you off to your home if you agree with that."
Veena and I shared a look with each other and nodded.
"We would appreciate that." I nodded to the proposal.
"Great. Then let's go and draft that contract right away."
"Okay." I got up and Veena was about to follow me but I told her to wait.
"She is waiting outside. Meet her and explain everything to them. Shiroe and I will go and get the contract. You can catch up with us and check it."
Veena nodded and we left the room.
Star was standing outside with the rest.
Derek looked at the nine girls and then smiled at me. "Good taste."
….
….
….
….
Even with my twitching lips I thanked him and looked at Star. "Take them inside."
- Veena -
She waited in the room as the door opened and Star entered followed by Grayfia who froze at the sight of her. She quickly went ahead and pulled the girl into a hug.
"Are you alright? "
"My Lady…" Grayfia was still in disbelief.
"Yes. It's me. You are fine right? They didn't do anything?…" She asked, leaving the words unsaid.
"I am fine. They didn't… want to harm the merchandise." She said with distaste, making her narrow her eyes.
"I am so sorry for dragging you into this game. If not for me then… "
"No no… you couldn't have known that this would happen. And Ojou-sama is also stuck inside with her peerage members. I am just disappointed that I couldn't help more and you had to save me…"
"Oh lay aside the apologies. Also, call me Veena and I will call you Bina. Sit here. Did you guys have anything to eat?" She asked her and the others behind.
"I…" Grayfia hesitated but then looked behind her, specifically at a girl behind her.
"Well then, come here and have something to eat first. I have to go and check up on Arthas to get our escape from here finalised. We can talk when we are on the ship." She took out several food items from her inventory and placed them on the table.
Now that Grayfia was safe, one of her biggest burdens was lightened.
She didn't know what she would have done if she had been sold off to someone else today… she would probably have felt guilty about it her entire life.
Now, all she could hope for was that Rias and her peerage members were safe wherever they were and that they could reunite soon. This incident had also increased her worries about her daughter's life.
Arthas and her team members had come out and helped her without holding back. It warmed her heart that they were willing to go so far for her even after only knowing her for such a short period of time. Arthas she could understand and even Shiroe to some extent. But even Star and the new members had all supported her unconditionally today.
She will have to do something for them. Especially Arthas… yes. She will definitely have to reward him well… and she knew just the way to do so too.
- Kuroka -
"Please… I am sorry. I will give you everything I have. Please just let me go…" The filth in front of her begged as he tried to crawl away from her.
"Oh… sure. Give me everything and I will consider letting you go." She replied coldly.
The man looked like he had just gotten his life back and soon unloaded most of his inventory in front of her.
Mostly potions and medicines. There was even poison, many different kinds of poisons in fact.
Apart from that was gold and equipment.
She stored everything in her inventory and then narrowed her eyes.
"Is this all you have?" She asked, her tone daring him to lie.
"Yes. Yes, this is everything I have." He quickly nodded, trying to convince her.
"Oh… but from what I know you had just swindled a kid a few days ago. The amount you got from him must be… five times this amount."
His eyes widened.
Yes.
This was the scum who had scammed Gasper, taking away all his months of earnings and then selling him overpriced health potions forcing him to keep feeding her potions while she was poisoned. That part which made her angrier was that among the potions that he had offered her… there were dozens of the antidotes she needed to remove that poison. This bastard had them all along and he still forced Gaspy to buy that crap, forcing her to bear the pain of poison for three whole days…
Gaspy had forced himself to face his worst fears for her and this…. filthy cretin…
There was a good chance that she could have died. That would have meant that Shirone would be stuck inside this game alone… Gaspy would be even worse. The boy had no one except her. She had brought him with her to this town and if she were to die… he would probably shut himself in or do something… even worse.
And for what… just a few coins…
She had obviously tracked him down in less than a day, getting drunk and spending the money he had swindled from Gaspy. Over the next two days, she investigated him, gathering everything she could about him.
Gaspy was apparently not his first time swindling someone.
In fact, three people who had gone out hunting with him had not returned. Only he had returned with destroyed clothes, always claiming to have narrowly escaped death from some monsters.
After the third time, even other people were wary of him so he switched classes and became a Herbalist and started this business of swindling people.
Seducing him when he was drunk and bringing him outside the town's safe area was easy and even easier was to use paralysing poison on him and beat him up to the inch of his life. And that's how they were here. Even if he could use his inventory, he couldn't use any potions until his paralysis was over. She then cuffed him to a rock in the middle of the forest so that he couldn't run away if he got the chance.
"I see that you are lying to me. Suddenly I don't feel like letting you leave anymore." She narrowed her eyes again and lifted her knife.
"No No… I am not, I… I will give you everything. Here… here take everything. This is everything I have. I promise… really…" He quickly brought out the rest of the goods and handed it to her.
She checked and found that the money was actually more than he had taken from Gaspy. There was even equipment for other classes and items.
Taking one more look at him, she slashed down, taking a massive chunk of his health out.
"I think I just clarified to you that I don't like it when people lie to me." One more slash. "You are truly challenging my patience, something I don't have much of."
"I really… really don't have anything more."
She slashed down again but this time she didn't stop and kept slashing down.
When his health was in the red, he shouted again.
"Please… please wait… I… I won't lie again…" He dropped everything from his inventory, or at least she thought he did because this was almost double of what he had given her till now.
There was no way he was earning this all by himself…
With a wave of her hand she stored everything in her inventory and looked at him.
"I… I have really given you everything… now please… please let me go…" He begged. She brought out the poison from her inventory and dripped some on his wound. The guy's eyes widened as he realised what had just happened.
She then pulled out the bunch of health potions from her inventory and placed them in front of him.
"Really sorry about that. My hand slipped. Here, if you keep drinking this potion, you can keep healing and the status will disappear in three days. I know… after all, my kid brother had to feed me the same potions for three days."
His face morphed into that of horror as he realised who she was.
"By the way, I have heard that if you punch the cuffs a thousand times, with all your strength, the durability goes down by one percent. So all you need is a hundred thousand punches and it might actually break. Just be sure to keep your voice down. There can be wild animals around and it wouldn't be good if you get found out."
She then ignored him and left… but not before dropping a pouch of monster bait on the road.
Oh… she should have informed him that the cuffs she was talking about were of lower quality than these ones. The ones she used on him were reforged by Gaspy and could take a dozen times more beating.
- Rossweisse -
Just how did she get stuck in this place?
It was all the fault of that bitch Sangrdrifa.
Then again, she shouldn't have accepted their taunts and taken the bait.
A place where you can meet boys… even someone like you could find a boyfriend here… then again, that might be impossible for the eternal single valkyrie.
She really shouldn't have fallen for their provocations.
They were obviously just taunting her so that she would be busy in the game and do bad at her job but for once… just that once, she had fallen for it… and it had cost her everything… well almost…
Rossweisse was stunned on hearing that they were trapped inside the game but at first she thought it was some kind of prank. It wouldn't be the first she had faced.
Being the youngest of the group with a position as high as hers had earned her the ire of many of her coworkers… something she couldn't understand for the life of her.
Odin was an unrepentant leacher. The pay was bad. The work environment was bad. Even the coworkers were bad.
Why would someone envy her for such a life?
But logic was a rare commodity in Asgard where people preferred using their fists more instead, so she could understand their foolishness…
And yet, this time it was not one of their pranks. It was real. She had really been trapped inside this game and now had no way to go outside other than… possibly completing it.
When the realisation dawned on her, she got to work immediately.
Collecting information, planning a strategy and finally taking action.
Everything she had learned since childhood had helped her get ahead of any normal players in the game, reaching a T3 Class at a very quick pace.
She was lucky to encounter Bina in the town and form a team with her.
A Warrior and a Mage was a good combination and Bina was very good at what she did too.
Even the other team members she found here… were far better than her actual colleagues. If it wasn't a life or death situation, she might have genuinely enjoyed it.
Unfortunately it seemed that things never went too well for her.
It was all that damned World Quest.
She still had nightmares of that day when pirates had razed the town to the ground, killing, plundering and kidnapping people left and right.
Even her teammates had met the same fate with Bina as the only other survivor other than her.
And then she found that she was going to be sold… like trophies in the olden days…
She knew what vikings did with the women they captured… and that thought scared her. All her hopes were crushed when the bid on her name was finalised and she was sold off to some unknown person… but when all seemed hopeless… he came…
Blue hair, golden eyes, dressed in a golden armour like a warrior from the best among Asgard's warriors… although much more courteous than them. She held the handkerchief in her hand as she remembered his actions…
And then came the huge revelations.
He had come to free them. He was a friend… or at least knew Bina… or rather Grayfia Lucifuge.
Rossweisse obviously knew that name.
As a part of Odin's bodyguards, it was her duty to know the names of important people in all factions.
Grayfia Lucifuge was the queen of Lucifer, the Strongest Queen of the Underworld.
Was Bina that Grayfia?
She hadn't believed it at first but when they met another woman, and she heard bits of their conversation, the dots connected. She really was that Grayfia… and that woman… who exactly was she?
And who was the guy who saved them?
But this identity just raised as many questions as it answered.
What was the rest of the Supernatural World doing if even such a person was trapped inside for so long?
Now she was waiting for her explanation when they left this place.
But one thing was for sure… her life was not going to be the same after today…
x_x_
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Author's Note:
I am back with another chapter of 'Soul Art Online'
So we got the maid… and a surprise bonus too.
Hope you guys liked the plan with Damon.
Also Kuroka is a protective and vengeful kitty.
Enjoy the new chapter.
Good Day, Peace Out.