Chapter 629: She Was Just At the Wrong Place At The Wrong Time
The slave girls that had been at the bar backed away in fear and the bartender girl that served us had also moved away from us. The only person who had not moved away was Des who was still tied up in her chair.
At first I thought the bartender was also in cahoots with Tala but the look of fear and surprise on her face told me that she was not.
I frowned at the woman, “What are you trying to do here?”
She smiled at me, “Seems like you are new around these parts. A tourist perhaps? You’ve wandered into the part of the exhibition that you should not have, little lady.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Well~ Over here, the area is reserved for a much more specific group of clientele and I can tell from a glance that none of you are part of it.”
“I thought there weren’t any restrictions like this?”
“On the surface, yes. But there’s unwritten rules that everyone has to follow, which is why you are in this predicament right now.”
I mean… Calling it a predicament would be a stretch… Especially since I could most likely easily overpower them even without relying on my Shadow Guards.
Not noticing my inner thoughts, she continued, “Now if you value your life, I would suggest that you get lost. Like right about now.”
I gave her a look, “What would happen if I were to refuse?”
She nodded at the five male Mahuns who were watching me with their arms crossed behind me, “I think you can imagine what might happen to you well enough without me explaining, right?”
“Hmm… I see. But do enlighten me on what you intend to do with my companions though?”
“Oh wow, have you forgotten what kind of place you are in right now?”
I frowned, “Is it normal for people to be enslaved against their will during the slave exhibition itself?”
“Kukuku~ I think you need to realise that there are things that should not be answered even if you were to ask them~”
“I see… Were you also planning to capture me as well with the drugged alcohol?”
“Drugged? Oh no, no, no. I did not drug you at all. Don’t you know? That alcohol is really, really strong. It’s strong enough to knock out someone who isn’t used to drinking with just one shot of it.
In fact, I’m surprised that Infrid took two of them and didn’t knock herself out immediately.”
“Didn’t you also drink one yourself? You look fine to me.”
She smirked, “I have no reason to explain anything to you. So why don’t you leave right now on your own two legs before we make you crawl out of here. Or if you want to… You can join them as well?”
I gave her a look, “Don’t I at least get some kind of compensation for abandoning my companions and leaving peacefully?”
The woman’s smirk grew a little wider, “Oh, definitely. You get the compensation of being able to walk out of here without getting beaten. Why don’t you take it before I change my mind?”
I looked towards the slave girls, “Does the manager of this exhibition know this is happening?”
Tala chuckled, “Oh if you’re thinking of trying to get help from them, you don’t need to bother. They won’t help you for this.”
“Are you telling me they are the masterminds for this?”
“Ahahaha~ Well, I wouldn’t go that far. Let’s just say that we have an understanding. So if you are wise enough, just take it that your friends here met with an unfortunate accident, alright?”
Ok, I think I’ve played along with her little act long enough.
I grinned at her, “You’re speaking awfully a lot for someone within punching distance.”
Her eyes widened slightly before I grabbed her by the neck and pulled her away from the bar. The Mahuns behind me tried to rush at me but I swung her around to act as an impromptu shield before they could.
“Don’t move, stay where you are or I’m breaking her neck.”
One of them tried to move towards the unconscious Lisa and Delmare so I squeezed a little and growled at him, “Sorry, was I not clear in telling you not to move?”
Tala gasped, “Don… Don’t move… Lis… Listen to… Ugh… To her…”
I moved myself in front of the two girls to make sure they won’t try anything with them.
“Now, tell these guys to fuck off.”
She stayed silent so I squeezed a little harder.
“Gack!! Ahhh!! Stop, stop!! All of you! Get lost!!” She screamed.
The five men backed away, creating distance between us but they still remained a at the very edge of the area with line of sight to us.
I decided that was good enough and turned to the woman I was currently choking in my grasp.
“Now, you seem to like to talk a lot hmm? Why don’t you take a seat over here and we can have a nice, long chat?”
She struggled in my grasp, “I… It’s fine… We’ll just be… On our way…”
“Oh, but you bought us such expensive alcohol! I don’t want to be thought of as ungrateful, you know? So sit down over here~”
She tried to pry my hand off her neck but found that my hand remained unmoving despite her using all her strength.
“I… It’s alright… Just take it as my payment for… Ugh… For being rude to you…” She gasped.
“Oh, you misunderstand, Tala. That was not a request. It was an order.”
I threw her against the bar and adjusted my grip on her neck so that I was now holding her from behind.
“Alright, now talk. Who sent you?” I asked.
“No… No one…”
I squeezed her neck a little tighter which made her let out a gasp of pain.
“No one! I swear!! We were acting alone!!” She cried.
“And why did you target us?”
She hesitated for a second until she felt me increase the pressure on her neck again.
“Wait! I’ll talk!! Your… Your companion… Do you know who she is?”
I pointed at Lisa and she quickly shook her head, “No, no…. The other one…”
I pointed at Delmare and she nodded.
What? Don’t tell me she’s some kind of lost princess from some underwater kingdom or something?
I nodded at her to go ahead and she gestured to her tail.
“She’s… Not an ordinary merfolk, you know? She’s… She’s a Siren.”
Eh? Why is she telling me that like that explains anything?
“Uh-huh? And?”
Her eyes widened at my response, “Do you not get it? She’s a Siren! A Siren! There’s people who would literally pay hundreds of thousands of Creas just for a Siren slave! Do you expect me not to try to catch her?”
“So this is literally just you, an illegal slaver, trying to catch another slave to make some money? Not because you are after our life because someone hired you?” I asked.
“Eh? Err… Yes? I… I don’t even know who you are… Who are you?”
“That’s not important now. The real question is what am I supposed to do with you?”
I mean… She tried to kidnap Lisa and Delmare from right in front of me so just letting her go without consequence was out of the question.
Also, it’s a little worrying to learn that illegal slavers could just go around and kidnap people to be enslaved within the exhibition itself. Imagine coming all the way down here to get yourself a slave only to be enslaved in turn.
… Actually, that kind of sounds like karma if you put it that way so let’s just ignore that.
I was still wondering what to do with her when I heard Lisa’s voice come from the side, “Ugh… And here I thought we could do some drunken pretend rape play or something… What a waste…”
I turned to the side to see Lisa propping her head up with a hand while looking at Tala with a very unsatisfied face.
Tala’s eyes widened even more, “Wha… What? That’s… That’s impossible… Drinking two shots of that… It wouldn’t be odd if you only woke up tomorrow!”
Lisa waved her hand dismissively, “Please, I’m an alchemist. If I can’t even handle this little bit of alcohol I might as well not even try to mix potions.”
I don’t know how those two things relate but I wasn’t going to refute her about it.
Instead, I decided to just let Lisa decide Tala’s fate.
“What do you think we should do with her?” I asked.
That was when the corner of Lisa’s lips curled up into a smile and I already knew what she wanted to do to her even before she answered me.
“Well… Seeing that this little girl tried to fuck with us… How about we just fuck her instead? I think that would be a suitable punishment for her, right?”
Why am I not even surprised that she would suggest sex…
Then again… Considering that’s what we came here for, I guess that was normal.
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