For so inexplicable reason, Zaroth was hit with a powerful wave of déjà vu.
Long were the days gone when he thought that he was rich or even well-off. If the opening ceremony of the auction house started with ten thousand of gold coins per slave, then he could only imagine how much the most expensive ones were worth.
He had been skeptical when Zoe told him the elf hadn't been sold yet because it was too expensive. But now, he was reluctantly starting to believe her.
Even if it was a mber of another race, one would need to have a vast amount of funds for it, and even fewer would part with their money to do so.
At this point, he wouldn't be surprised to learn that the elf was worth more than a million gold coins.
Which raised the question: his persona, Ghost, had a bounty on his head of a million gold coins, so was Zaroth more valuable than the elf? Now the question began to dawn on him.
"Here!" While Zaroth was busy being lost in his own world, one of the wealthy bidders that had been gathered here raised their hand, signaling they wanted to buy the slave. It was a tall man with a scar on his face.
"Excellent!" the blond man before the raised platform exclaid with a smile on his face.
"Ten thousand and five hundred?"
"Here!" another voice called out. This one was a chubby man with a green hat… after a few monts, Zaroth realized that this was Eldros's forr owner.
'What is he doing here?' Zaroth wondered.
Sensing the confusion on Zaroth's face, Eldros parted his lips. "You see, the man has been trying to get rid of for so ti now, but he was unsuccessful multiple tis. I am assuming that, thanks to you, now that he is free, he is planning to celebrate by buying a new slave to play with."
Zaroth was thankful for the explanation. At the sa ti, he gazed at Eldros for a few monts. He knew that man was a forr mber of the Purifiers, but why he found himself here and how he is so strong were questions that interested him greatly — but alas, it wasn't the ti to ask him just yet.
"I see…" Zaroth scratched his chin. "Then can you tell what kind of person he is? If I am not mistaken, there are different kinds of slave owners. So tha—"
"He does not care about them at all," Eldros interrupted him. "There is a rumor that every single ti he buys a woman slave, she does not live for long. Not only that, but apparently, when they are buried, most of them have their legs broken. What kind of disgusting fetishes the man has, I do not know, but I can guarantee that he is a terrible person." Eldros's voice was cold, his palm clenching into a fist.
Zaroth's eyebrow twitched.
'So you say that he is a terrible owner, yet he has not beaten you from my understanding… not to ntion that when I wanted to buy you, I was told that you had to agree for it to happen… as I thought, you are full of mysteries,' he mused.
After several more minutes of bidding between the two n, Eldros's forr owner won. He bought the woman—Zara—for fifteen thousands gold coins.
The interior of the building was dimly lit, especially around the auction poles where the bidding took place. But thanks to Darkgaze, Zaroth had no trouble seeing the fat man greedily lick his lips the mont he won the bid for the slave.
"Hollow," Eldros spoke coldly. He knew what Zaroth's actual na was, but at the mont, they were using his other persona.
"Just promise when you free that elf and decide to destroy the city, you will give the privilege to kill the man."
Hearing the request, Zaroth couldn't help but smile as he patted Eldros on the shoulder. "He will be all yours," he reassured.
After Zara was sold, others began to take her place. So were won wearing seductive clothes — they were no doubt ant to catch the male's attention. There were muscular n that were skilled in combat — bandits, deserters, soldiers, and more. Once caught and forcibly bonded with the slave contract, they were being sold to people that wanted strong folk at their side or were planning to attack sothing or soone.
There were even so scientists, alchemists, and master craftsn. They were great if one wanted to make so kind of store for passive inco.
At the end of the auction, another woman ca upon stage, also dressed seductively. She was ant to be the closing act, and considering that the type of slaves like her sold for the most amount of gold, it was going to be interesting how much the final price would co out to be.
This betting lasted much longer than usual; even won joined in. At the end, the woman was sold for sixty thousand gold.
Zaroth must have seen dozens of slaves being sold today, yet there was no ntion of an elf anywhere. Maybe he was in the wrong auction house, or maybe the elf wasn't offered today. Nevertheless, whatever the answer would be, it seed he would have to ask around.
Surprisingly, the people around were happy to answer his question — probably because he was in the auction house; they thought everyone would be rich.
"So the elf only appeares in the auction house at the center of the city, and not every day. If what I have been told is true, the elf would be presented in a week's ti…" he muttered as he walked the streets of the city.
The foul stench of the city, combined with the sight of slaves being treated like re objects, was anything but pleasant—but Zaroth was slowly growing accustod to it.
One had to adapt to their surroundings if they wanted to survive and thrive, so that's exactly what Zaroth planned to do.
'Now that I know roughly the place the elf is positioned, can't I just charge in, burn the guards to a crisp, get the elf, and be gone?' he wondered. This sounded like the easier solution.
But one thing was stopping him — the slave contract. He didn't know if the elf was a true slave or not. If he were to kill the people in the city randomly and just by pure chance happened to kill the elf's owner, the elf would die as well.
"It seems I will have to wait until I can see the elf with my own two eyes. Until then, I will not be able to act…" he sighed under his breath, frustrated.
"Now that we have a week to kill until the ti for the elf auction cos, what are we going to do?" Eldros asked.
It was a fair question. Zaroth didn't like to waste ti, so he had to make good use of it.
A few minutes later, a lightbulb went off in his mind.
"You're pretty strong. So I say we spar until then. Maybe we'll both learn sothing useful in the process."
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