17 The Hole Under the Stairs

The damp air began to make the narrow hole in the ground incredibly stuffy, I was so glad at this moment that I wasn't claustrophobic, otherwise, I would have likely fainted from being in such a cramped place.

I took one step at a time down the ladder, attempting to be silent, but failing miserably. Just hoping that there was no one near the bottom of the ladder.

The wooden walls along the side were barely lit up by the lights coming from below me, however, it eventually became bright enough that I could see comfortably.

After descending for over 25 seconds I had reached the bottom. Wherever I was, it had to be several metres below ground. For a world with this level of technological presence, in a small town to boot, this was an incredible and mysterious thing.

My ever-growing curiosity only seemed to inflate after realizing that whatever was down here must be extremely special.

Reaching the bottom of the ladder, I let out a sigh of relief to have made it this far without being spotted.

The first thing I saw after getting off the ladder was red curtains surrounding me, almost as if I were in a dressing room, I slowly pulled a curtain to one side, just enough to see what lay on the other side, but not be noticed unless someone was looking directly at me.

Glancing around I was instantly baffled, I saw several other curtains creating a large circle around the main attraction, the curtains were likely there to cover other ladders coming from several buildings in the town, these ladders also would explain how there were over almost 45 people here.

And almost all of them, just like Ms. Helen, looked as if the last place they belong is a small town such as Hull. Covered in extravagant clothing, they all wore masks that covered their faces, and they were all seated in red velvet booths, their attention on the stage.

They were bidding, but not just for ordinary items, they were bidding for slaves. Of course, slavery wasn't illegal in Esmil, but these weren't ordinary slaves, they were other races, non-humans, from dwarves to beastmen, they were illegal slaves.

Slavery of other races was banned with the punishment of beheading for any and all parties involved, it was the perfect way to accidentally start a war, and it was the last thing humanity wanted to do. There had been a treaty with the other races of this continent that has lasted over 300 years, and if either race found out that humans had taken their kin as a slave, there was an extremely high likelihood, of the other races declaring war.

"Next we have a special treat for you all tonight, the last and most precious item up for auction, I present to all of you... ELVES!"

Following the auctioneer introducing the race, the crowd went wild with excitement and bids, elves lived on another continent entirely, there was rarely any in Esmil, and if there were some elves, they would have an insanely large entourage.

To not only find but then capture an elf, especially several. It was an impressive feat.

There were 3 male elves up on stage, all of them unnaturally beautiful, magic really does wonders for creating beauty, it's a very strange aspect of being a magician, one that you could consider a positive, or negative depending on how you look at it.

"Three young male elves, full of vitality and talent, are ready to protect you during the day with their impressive magical skills, and hold you during the night with their stunning bodies! We start the bidding at 10 platinum!"

After the auctioneer mentioned they're bodies, they were stripped with the use of magic from some magician hidden from the crowd, after the masked people saw the elves naked, the bidding became even more frenzied, both a large number of women and several men were bidding they're hearts out, a truly sickening image of human nature.

I began to weigh the negatives and positives of the next following moves I could make, I desperately wanted to save all these slaves, but would I just end up getting myself killed if I tried? Could I take on the possibly countless magicians currently here?

They all wore very formal clothing so I assumed almost all of them were nobles or extravagantly rich, and those types of people often cherished only one thing more than money, their own lives. They would definitely have some sort of defensive measures even if they couldn't use magic themselves.

I then thought about the slaves, I saw them taking slaves on and off the stage. Based on the sheer number of slaves that were sold, not including any that were put up for auction before I arrived, the sheer number of slaves which were likely all in cages was at least over 50! If I could somehow infiltrate wherever they are being held, we can all break out together!

I began putting my plan into motion, though it may be an incredibly stupid decision, I always wanted to be someone's hero, I wanted to be able to do something helpful for once in my life, this was my opportunity, if dying had taught me anything, it was that life was incredibly short, so you should live it with no regrets.

Making my way around the audience by dashing between the curtains, I saw ladder after ladder. This entire town may have been set up simply for the purpose of this illegal slave auction hall.

After reaching the closest curtain to the stage, I noticed two burly men standing guard by a door off to the side of the stage, they were out of the audiences to view to not frighten anyone, but it was perfect for me. It meant no witnesses.

Activating my wind magic, I sent two quick wind blades towards the guard's throats and following this action I sent another two small mini tornados towards their feet.

It took 3 seconds to cast both spells, but the guards were dead half a second after they were cast. Their throats were slit quietly by my wind blades, and the blood they began to gurgle stopped them from screaming out.

Following their deaths, the wind tornados let their bodies gently land on the floor to not alert anyone of my presence.

These two were the first humans I had killed in either life, but to be honest, I put that thought into the back of my mind and prioritized the plan, simply treating the guards the same way I would treat animals I was hunting in the woods. My Instructors all taught me countless different things, but one lesson they all shared was to have no mercy for your enemies.

I burst with my full speed towards the door, using my wind magic to lift my feet off the ground to not make a sound. After arriving at their bodies I moved the two guards into the corner of the room and placed them together as if they were sleeping, of course cleaning up the blood quickly with the clothes under the two bodies jackets.

After taking a final look at my master piece, the large coats the guards were wearing before perfectly covered all their bloody clothes and slit necks, making it simply seem like both the guards were fast asleep.

This way I may get a bit of extra time if they were discovered. The bodies might even be ignored, which obviously wouldn't happen if they were lying in a puddle of blood.

Following my creation of the perfect cover-up scene, I entered the door they were guarding.

After entering through the door they were guarding I slowly closed it behind myself while scanning anything that seemed alive in my vicinity, the number of slaves and cages I saw was baffling.

Most of them if not all seemed to be cast with a silencing spell, likely to not bother the audience, but it worked perfectly for me as I could see many of the more idiotic slaves yelling at me for help after they saw an unfamiliar face.

I brought a finger to my lips to shush them even though they weren't making any noise, mainly to calm the slaves down.

I then took a pair of keys I had found on one of the guards and began to unlock door after door, after freeing a good amount of them, I began forcing the slaves into orderly groups, I sent the smarter species to free the other slaves, causing a chain reaction suddenly, which led to the room that seemed large, to be filled with countless empty cages, and even more slaves.

I then pointed to the stage, the elves were still being auctioned off, there were only two or three bidders it seemed that were still in the running, realizing this was the perfect opportunity, I began explaining my reckless plan to the large group of slaves in as quiet a voice as possible, following the explanation, I held up 3 fingers and began the countdown before the attack.