373 373 Still For Sale
The crowd burst into an enraged sea of shouting as the news was verified. The locals and soldiers might not see eye to eye on everything, but these girls were all underage and with two of them pregnant in the Auction House’s care, it was a serious criminal matter.
Someone must have called the military police because a dozen heavily armed men charged the stage, along with a woman in a white robe who was sweating from the exertion of running to the Auction House.
“Who made the accusation?” The leader of the police unit asked.
The General in the front row stood up. “The Demon Lord in the VIP booths made the accusation, and we all bore witness to the Witches verifying the pregnancies.”
The officer nodded, and the woman in the white coat took a blood sample from all three women, then dropped it in a kit, which likewise flashed green for two samples and red for the last.
“We will need all your male staff to come with us. You included Auction Master. The blood sample technology is quite advanced, and between the testimony of these women and the evidence of paternity, there is a good chance that we can solve this matter today.
They were hustled off the stage by the police while Wolfe winked at John.
“They don’t need to be standing here to finish the bidding. I will give two thousand for each of the five of them.” Wolfe called down to the female auctioneer, who was standing on the stage looking horrified.
The girl who had been running their messages snuck into Wolfe’s room a few seconds later, holding her finger to her lips to signal for him to be silent about her presence.
John winked at her while Wolfe pretended that he didn’t see the worker, and the bidders of the auction house tried to understand what was going on right now.
“Ten thousand is bid on this group. Does anyone else have a bid?” The auctioneer stammered.
Most of the people in the room looked up to where Wolfe was sitting, but only those who were in the upper balconies could see the cold look on his face.
“Let him have them. What’s the worst that could happen? Even the Demon has shown us that he wouldn’t stand for what happened here.” Someone shouted.
“Sold. They will be brought up to your booth after talking to the police, Demon Lord.”
Everything fell silent as the Auctioneer realized that there were no men available to bring the next lot forward to the stage. They were all busy with the police.
The gossip and chatter continued for the next ten minutes until the police came back out from behind the curtain, escorting the Auction Master and five of the male staff members.
“Our investigation has concluded. Most of the staff has been cleared of wrongdoing by the testimony of the prisoners still on site. However, we have a few sentences to announce.” The leader of the military police announced.
A man in a plain black uniform with a mask over his face stepped out from behind the curtain and stepped up to the first man in line. Wolfe almost didn’t catch the moment before the man’s head fell to the ground, and the executioner moved to the next man.
The guards struggled while the Auction Master gave them disgusted looks. The four men were dead in a matter of seconds, and then the executioner turned to the Auction Master and took something from his jacket.
“For gross negligence leading to the harm of minors, laying false charges, and racketeering, you are hereby stripped of your rank. Auctioneer, please excuse us. He will be returned to the Capital to stand trial for the misappropriation of government funds charge.”
The leader of the Military Police stepped forward and addressed the crowd. “The Auction will proceed as scheduled. The embezzlement that the Auction House was committing was internal and did not affect the sale prices.”
“The money is all supposed to go to the Military Commander, but they had a deal that the Commander would find quality prisoners for him in exchange for a cut off the top.” The staff member hiding in Wolfe’s room whispered.
“Where is that man now?” Wolfe whispered back.
She pointed to the room beside Wolfe. Everything was silent in the upper balconies, but Wolfe could see the man packing up and getting ready to flee. He wouldn’t make it far, though. There were military police at both ends of the hall already, and the man in black was coming up the stairs.
“Just wait here silently. They are taking care of the issue.” Wolfe informed the room, waking Janice up enough to make her shift and cuddle back into his lap.
“I would like to say. I think you broke the Witch. I don’t know what you did, but seeing her all sleepy and affectionate is creeping me out.” John replied.
“She will recover in a little while. However, she shouldn’t be as violent anymore. What about our little staff member? What’s your story?” Wolfe replied, gesturing to the shock collar she wore.
“My parents borrowed money from the Auction Master. I’m working here until it’s all paid off.” She shrugged.
So, it was likely a tracker as well as a shock collar.
“From him directly or the house?” Wolfe asked.
The girl took out the paper from her pocket, and Wolfe looked it over. It was a contract between her parents, on behalf of their family, and the Auction Master personally. She was getting a standard wage while working here, but if Wolfe’s calculation was right, that barely covered the interest on the loan.
“Did you realize it’s a scam yet?” Wolfe asked.
“What do you mean? I get fifty crowns a day, I give him thirty to pay off the debt, and it’s been a hundred days so far. That’s three thousand Crowns out of our ten thousand in debt.” She asked.
“They get charged twenty-five Crowns a day in interest. You’ve only taken five hundred off what your parents borrowed. If your parents weren’t paying any extra, you would have been here a very long time.” Wolfe explained.
The girl looked panicked, and John sighed.
“Her parents were sold last month for other bad debts they took to gamble. They belong to the hotel owner now, but they won’t get paid until they pay off the price he paid for them and their living costs.” John explained.
“Goddess, is everyone in town involved in some sort of strange debt slavery project?” Wolfe muttered.
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Wolfe shook his head at the strange Prison State that he found himself buying prisoners from. There might be humans in the Morgana Fortress City, and he might have considered himself one for most of his life, but Wolfe was beginning to think that he didn’t actually understand anything at all about human culture.