Special

"Now, moving onto the next!"

The boy ran back up the stairs gleefully to his father, as the dead Yowal was carried out by security Tophat decided to announce the next feature.

Niko wondered if this is what life had come to.

"Up next we have Adela Akinrogbe!"

The shaking woman slowly stepped up she had dark skin and a plump figure.

"Now Adela, tell us about yourself."

The woman responded with a bit too much delight.

"Hi! So I'm delighted to be here today, I'm someone with a multitude of talents such as playing the piano and dancing I can weave any form of clothing due to my upbringing. I would be delighted if anybody in the audience was willing to take me on!"

Smart. She had decided to effectively market herself in hopes of gaining the attention of the richest members. Implying that she had talents such as dancing and piano meant that the audience would be drawn to hire her as a live-in maid raather than commit to manual labour. It wasn't a good life. But it was better.

Not many slaves could play the piano 'How did someone with that level of skill end up here.' Niko thought to himself. Either way it was irrelevant as she was here now regardless.

Tophat deviously smiled, what sort of plan had he set up for her?

"So you can dance and play the piano, I guess we'll have to test both of those then!"

As Tophat once again gestured the two large men brought out a piano and a line of feathers.

"If you're not aware Talboian feather dancing is one of the most impressive and beautiful techniques of all time! We'll also have her play the piano! I think Talimari Castle is a good song."

Talimari Castle was a famous song of hope and rebellion perhaps he was having her play it as a sign of mockery if Niko remembered correctly it was a pretty fast song so it'd be hard to play. Niko did not know much about feather dancing but if even the description was difficult then you could guess how it'd go.

The bastard had given her a pretty big challenge. But that wasn't all.

"Now let's see if she can do both at the same time!"

Yeah. She was dead. That was basically impossible. The girl named Adela bowed down.

"Thank you for the gracious request I will fulfill your desires. No matter what."

Adela stepped up completely unfazed. As she picked the feathers off the ground and attached them to her waist she began to stretch seemingly prepared to go all out. Niko had seen that look before, determination.

The audience whispers drowning out any noise she made, they very clearly had no determination in her. Still if she could atleast provide a decent performance there was a small chance that somebody would be able to take her on.

Adela was not just 'decent' though.

As they snickered and sneered Adela sighed looked down at the ground as she approached the piano and then began to stretch.

"There's no way she can do anything!"

Whispered a slave near Niko.

"It's over!"

"She got really unlucky."

And then...

She started dancing.

But not only that.

She played the piano as well.

Each stroke of her legs carressed the floor with a never before seen tenderness, her legs tapped on the floor as her hands moved with speed and efficiency both pressing the notes on the piano and displaying the given dance.

The once mocking and loud audience had now turned to deafening silence as they stood in awe of the melody.

The once insulting prisoners now watched in agony as they realized their chances of survival had just lowered.

The overachiever had shut everyone up in mere seconds. Even Tophat just stared in silence. Each note of the piano reverbrating throughout the hallway the exquisite tune capturing minds one by one.

But that was not all.

She started doing backflips! catching herself with one hand as she played with the other. The audience at this point grew into a tremendous applause the sounds of each clap greater than the last. A new standard had just been set. As the final chorus of the song came to the audience began to clap with her. once the final note was reached Adela stood tall raised her hands and smiled. The audience erupted screams from every corner of the theatre they began to chant.

"ENCORE! ENCORE! ENCORE!"

Tophat butted in at this point.

"That sounds delightful but we don't have time for that. Don't forget about our special!"

Adela spoke with elation.

"I would love to perform again for you all!"

She was baiting them into buying her. The audience was giddy and gleeful as the applause refused to stop. The prisoners were not.

Bidding was usually done using the universal currency that most countries had agreed upon. Auria. The price for a normal slave would be around 5000 Auria enough to buy a small patch of land on mid-price planets.

Of course Auria wasn't the only currency but the rest were usuall planet or solar system specific so wouldn't get as much use.

"Now, let's begin the bidding!"

"Ten thousand Auria!"

From a man in front came the first bid, it was sizeable. Double the average enough to buy a decent mansion.

"thirty thousand Auria!"

A lady a little further back made the next, a ridiculous price for a normal slave, but for a skilled one like this it was regular.

"A hundred thousand Auria!" From a man even further back. A price that was absolutely overkill but definitely enough to secure him Adela.

"ONE MILLION AURIA!"

From one of the five right at the back. Usually this was way too much, but to her it must've been chump change. A price like this was typically spent on specials at the minimum.

If Adela ended up living as entertainment for that lady who was most likely of immense wealth, she just might be able to enjoy herself. The insanity could not be stopped.

"Thank you!" Let out Adela as she mouthed kisses towards her new owner usually something like that would have you executed but her raw charisma had the crowd absolutely enfatuated with her.

The truth of the matter was that these people were evil.

But even the most evil can be manipulated. Adel had used her wiles to deceive her way to the top and Niko could immediately tell that she was not done climbing just yet.

'Hopefully she can escape this life and find herself a free woman.' Niko thought to himself as he smiled.

'That would be good.'

'Because people like her are special'