Chapter 9 - Tauron

Year 1, Spring, Second Month, Second Week.

“By now, I realized that things are never simple with you, are they? The cart is not a problem, I can get one done or even give you one of mine easily, but the problem is the beast to pull it… I suppose you aren’t planning to use the Beastman. It’s not easy to get a tamed LT earth beast to pull carts, most Merchants travel west to the earth region to get it, but I might have a solution, it’s not an ideal solution though, it solves your problem but creates another one… I know a mercenary Fighter who is retiring, he’s selling his two mounts for an affordable price… The mounts are wind beasts, but if you use both, they could pull the cart if it isn’t too heavy…”

“Eh… It’s really not ideal, but it’s better than not having any beasts to pull it, so we’ll take it…”

Arthur breathed in relief when Rupert gave the gold coins back. However, his happiness was quickly trampled by Lana.

“So, let’s negotiate the jewels and clothes…”

.........

In the end, Lana only ended up buying a really well-crafted wind necklace for 12 gold coins. After putting away, the four golds from her early cloth order and three golds to cover any unforeseen expenses, she could still spend 11 gold coins. She was now negotiating the clothes with Ms. Inona.

Ms. Inona's store was located on the tenth floor and was very stylish. Very few exquisite pieces were exposed while most of her stock was kept in the inner part of the store. The customer space was decorated with some flowers and beautiful fabric samples, the only furniture in this space was an elegant table with some chairs. Because of the stature of her clients, they would schedule a visit and be attended privately by Ms. Inona and two other servants. One would serve high quality tea while the other was a professional designer responsible for sketching the client’s order. Even though Lana was much humble than her other clients, Ms. Inona offered the usual service.

“What suggestions do you have for me?”

“Hm… You should focus on high-class clothes, they’re more difficult to sell but will give you better profits… Normally, it would be difficult to find the right customers and get the right price, but I can refer you to an acquaintance and give you a letter attesting that the sets are an exclusive line from my store, they pay more for status… I would suggest these fashion-designed furry coats, made with MQ wind pelts, they cost four golds each, but I can charge you seven for two pieces. The MQ wind enhanced robe is also a good option, it costs three golds, make it five for two pieces.”

“Hm… Give me two of each… 12 golds right? For how much should I try to sell them?”

“Prices are a little rich in the wind region, I’m charging you the normal prices, but I’m not losing money because it’s an already made piece, not designed in the preferences of a client… The coats are less common outside the capital, so you could try eight for the coats and five for the robes, but I would settle on six golds for the coats and four for the robes.”

“It’s a good profit either way…”

They continued drinking tea and discussed the details of the deal.

.........

The next morning, Rupert met with Lana outside the High Towers Market before they walked to the Slave Tower. Although slave trading was made in the markets, the Slave Tower was located in another part of the city. Fortunately, Wind Capital wasn’t very big, most of the buildings were high towers, so they saved a lot of ground space.

Soon, they arrived at the Tower, Lana felt sick just looking at the building, the ten floors would be enough to house hundreds of slaves. Rupert waited for her to recover and offered to go in first to let them prepared everything before she had to enter the place. She knew it was hypocrisy to ignore the existence of such a place, but she couldn’t do anything to change the system.

After going in, Rupert asked them to bring the Beastman and even paid some additional silver coins to have the transaction finished outside the Tower. To close the deal they would have to go through the marking/binding ceremony when the slave would be bind to its master for life. Lana didn’t want to do it, but the Serion laws prohibit the existence of unmarked slaves, except for the transportation and trading done by a registered slave trader.

Although it would change a life forever, the ceremony was very simple. Lana had to share a few drops of her blood, which would be mixed with a leaf from a soul tree before being consumed by the slave. The mixture would cause changes to the slave soul, forming a subordination bond with the blood’s owner. The whole process had to be done in less than a minute or the leaf would lose its properties.

When Lana saw Rupert coming back in the company of the slave trader, she felt relieved, but when her sight stopped in the bull Beastman, her heart tightened. He stumbled forward like he had been drugged, in his neck and arms, thick iron collars were connected to sticks held by three strong-looking men. She felt an urged to turn away from the cruel scene, but forced herself to bear with it, soon he would be moving free.

The upcoming group was now less than 10 meters from her, she could finally see the Beastman in detail. The first thing she noticed was the dozens of cuts and wounds around his body, which made her heart ached even more. If it wasn’t for the wounds, the bull Beastman would be magnificent, with more than two meters of height and muscles bulging all over his body, he would probably weigh more than 200 kg. The beautiful horns and the short light brown body hair that covered all of his body aside from his hands and a part of his face, made him look even more imposing. Fortunately, the slave traders still had some sense left and covered his private parts with a kilt.

Rupert asked Lana for a few drops of her blood, earning curious glances from the slave traders, however, they wouldn’t dare to question a wealthy customer. After she dripped the blood into a mortar, a golden-looking leaf was added and pressed before being force-fed to the groggy Beastman. Soon, he started to sweat and clench his teeth, even drugged he still let out some pain moans before crouching. Lana felt distressed and tried to reach for him, but was held by Rupert, who told her to wait for a little.

Not longer than a minute, the pain expression in the Beastman’s face eased and his eyes became a little clear, the effect of the drugs seemed to be weakening. However, the Beastman couldn’t even stand up on his own. Rupert stared at the slave trader, furiously.

“Ah… Sir, we did what was possible to heal him… Please, take this healing concoction and ointment as our gratitude…”

He knew it was impossible to heal the wounds quickly, but that didn’t prevent him to give these monsters a harder time. After taking the concoctions, he drove them away. He sniffed the green-looking drug and was surprised to smell the presence of a few MQ healing herbs. Even though they treated the slaves worse than beasts, they didn’t want others saying they sold damaged goods.

“Here, spread this on the wounds and give him a mouthful of the healing concoction, it’s surprisingly good…”

Lana took it and started to apply it to the most serious wounds. Fortunately, they had cleaned and dressed all the wounds, making it easier for her to reapply the ointment. When she raised his heavy head to apply it in face wounds, he tried to resist but something on his soul made him comply. Lana smile bitterly, for a moment she thought about thanking them for cleaning him, but then she remembered it was their fault he ended up in this state. Seeing that he was regaining consciousness, she crouched at his face level, which meant only bowing a little due to his big size, and said softly:

“I’m sorry for all that happened to you… I promise I won’t force you to do anything… My name is Lana, what’s yours?”

He growled a little, but something compelled him to answer.

“Tauron.”

His voice was hoarse, so she offered him her water pouch, which he tried to refuse but was again forced to accept. Tauron felt humiliated and disgusted with himself. Before he had suffered more than he thought possible to bear, even desiring to die many times, but he still controlled his actions.

As a proud member of the Southern Bull Tribe, he wouldn’t bow to anyone, which made the compelling incredibly demoralizing. His hatred was so strong that he had failed to notice the frail Human girl caring for his wounds, but when he did he was prepared to push the little thing away. Strangely, he couldn’t, which made him very frustrated, but no more than when he realized that he couldn’t curse her, even in his mind. Tauron couldn’t help but curse the Origin and his ancestors silently. How could his life become so astray in a few months? How had he gone from competing for the chieftain position to being pitied and helped by a small female Human? Damn the Origin, he couldn’t even curse or hate her…

Lana didn’t fail to notice the lively discussions that seemed to happen inside Tauron’s mind. She breathed a sigh of relief, the fear of him losing himself or diving into endless depression lessened in her heart. After unknowingly forcing him to drink the healing concoction, she asked (compelled) him to stand up offering a hand to help. Tauron could only accept her help (pretend that it helped) and painly stand up while cursing endless generations of ancestors in his mind.

Then, the trio walked slowly to the Inn. The slave mark on Tauron’s arm prevented people from questioning his presence, but he still earned some curious glances every time Lana talked amicably with the Beastman. It wasn’t uncommon for masters to walk around with slaves and even treat them as a company, but the huge-sized bull Beastman wasn’t a usual choice. Actually, Human slavery was very common in the Serion Kingdom, but the Beastmen slaves still occupied a worse position.

When they got to the Inn, Rupert left after exchanging goodbyes and throwing his weight around the innkeeper to get Tauron a room. Lana sight traced the high towers until it stopped in the direction of the city gates. Soon, they would be leaving and she would write a new page of her journey to become a Merchant Queen…