45: The auction
What is a slave? Is an individual who is deprived of his freedom, his rights, who is forced to fulfill the will of another despite what he believes, what he feels. A slave is not someone, is something.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!"
The crowd gathered just outside the building, minutes after Airys left with Gregory and his nieces, the slave sale event kicked off.
"TODAY WE HAVE THREE MEN SO IN DEBT THAT IT IS BETTER TO SELL THEIR LIVES THAN TRYING TO USE THEM TO PAY THE JUSTICE! HAHAHAHA!"
The presenter wore a striking dress suit of various colors, like a kind of improvised clown, which she combined with a long hair of red, blue and yellow with pink highlights. The stage was visible from the check-in building, from the motel surrounded by non-city guards and without a doubt most of the show was what was behind it, no, it is not the three men in chains, oh no, it is the guillotine that awaits them if nobody buys them.
"YOU JUST HAVE TO PAY THE DEBT OF THESE MISERABLES AND THEY WILL BE YOURS!" The presenter's voice echoed even within the walls, in fact, from time to time the guards and people inside would come out to take a look. "TO BEGIN! FOR TEN SILVER DRAGONS! THE TERROR OF THE PRAIRIE! THE IDIOT WHO BELIEVED THAT BY KILLING EVERY COLLECTOR HE WOULD ESCAPE DEBT, DERIK!"
A man black as the purest coffee, about 152 centimeters tall, walked forward, with his hands chained together, a Dingarsita mouth guard, and an exaggerated amount of shackles all over his body. It was almost possible to make out him from afar, yet in his blind fishy eyes lay the souls of the people he annihilated with his resonance.
"I HEAR FIVE SILVER DRAGONS?!"
Nobody, absolutely nobody raised their hand.
"It was to be expected" The presenter sighed. "The buyer from last time was also killed by him." She motioned for the guards to take him away. "I hate that they kill my humor with unsaleable beasts, just annihilate it at once" she thought furiously as they brought the next one.
All the while Seng was pondering what to do. Among the crowd were an immensity of faces that he didn't know.
"If it weren't for these crap, I'd be free by now" He looked at the shackles unhappily.
It was ridiculous how years of practice and training escaped through the window thanks to a piece of metal. His shadow manipulation? It diminished to the point of barely moving the shadow over the surfaces like a pathetic sight. His sonic resonance? Well, at best he listened better if tried hard.
"I don't remember these things existed eight years ago."
The bid increased and increased as he meditated.
"What I do? Nobody bought that bastard because he seemed so dangerous… I know! I will pretend to be weak so that someone confident will buy me, even if I cannot use my resonances these weights are nothing, I will escape as soon as I have the opportunity" He smiled machiavellically. "And I'll teach that bitch Brat a lesson."
"SOLD FOR TWENTY-FIVE SILVER DRAGONS!"
The guard gave Seng a shove. Heh, it was his turn now. He hunched over so that the iron balls in his arms hit the floor, lowered his head and moved slowly, forced a labored breath and stumbled just as he reached the presenter's side, all to provide a harmless look.
"After all, there is no reason why a common man could not be in this situation" he affirmed in his head with a face of cunning, opposite to the one he showed of weariness and regret.
"IT'S TIME FOR OUR LAST SALE TODAY! A YOUNG MAN, FULL OF ENERGY! WHO RETURNED TO PAY DINGARS HAVING FORGOTTEN HIS PAST SINS! SENG!"
"Full of energy?"
"He can't even stand."
"What do they put those things on that kid for?"
That presentation seemed disappointing to him, he was sure that with the previous one he had heard something about how incredible it was to fight and the amount of problems it caused to be in debt, however, it served to maintain the act. In addition, they surely do not remember the great feats of his past.
"WE START WITH THE PRICE OF…" The presenter received the information from the gesture of a guard who stretched the finger. "A SILVER DRAGON! WHO SAYS TWO?!"
"Eh? One? Only that? Seriously? The other one started with the five…" Seng thought.
The bidding had less momentum than the previous one, those present were slow to offer new prices and didn't even advance from dragon to dragon, they went from lion to lion.
"WILL ANYONE GIVE TWO?! WILL IT BE SOLD FOR A DRAGON AND A LION?! IT'S YOUR LAST CHANCE TO SUIT THIS BADLY DYED GUY!" The presenter clicked her tongue in her imagination. "If it does not reach ten Dragons I will not have a bonus, I will have to lie to increase its popularity"
"DIDN'T YOU KNOW/"
"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON EVERYONE IN THE HEAD?!" The presenter was interrupted by an explosive roar, from Seng himself. "HOW DARE YOU DESPISE MY VALUE LIKE THIS! DON'T YOU KNOW ABOUT ME?!"
Seng straightened up casually, waving his arms as he spoke as if those weights weren't pulling him down.
"I AM SENG THE PRODIGIOUS!" He stopped the motion of his arm so that the iron ball fell into his palm, held it in front of the crowd and turned upside down without stopping his speech. "I HAVE FIGHTED AT THE COLOSSEUM OF THE EMPIRE!" He stopped holding the ball with his pinky finger. "I WENT BEAST HUNTING IN THE WEST RUINS!" He stretched out his index finger. "AND THAT WAS BEFORE MY FIFTEEN, BALL OF MORONS!" There he raised his ring finger and was left holding the ball with only two fingers, to the point of starting to make superficial cracks.
The public reacted in disbelief, however, it was enough for the numbers to go up by two Lions and reach eight Dragons.
"Not bad boy" thought the presenter. "Don't be afraid to keep lying"
Seng had what he wanted, right?
"HOW BRUTE CAN YOU BE?!"
Of course not! What's the point of being appraised, offered at auction if you're not going to get the maximum value?! They are mindless if they cannot recognize the worth of his services for life! He is the chosen one of…! He is someone very important to talk about!
"I CAN BEAT HIS BEST WARRIORS! I CAN HUMBLE HIS MOST INGENIOUS FIGHTERS!" He took the other ball and smashed them into each other with a hysterical expression. "I FACED GARYON A FEW WEEKS AGO!"
With those words, the price skyrocketed. Not for a second did they hesitate to speak of the twenty.
"Are you kidding?!"
"If you're lying me I'm going to punish you until you can't lie again!"
"TWENTY DRAGONS!"
"TWENTY-FIVE DRAGONS!"
"THIRTY!"
"I'll give forty if you assure me that you will kill Garyon on my behalf!"
The eminent ovation and admiration in the words of those present filled him with pride, yes, what he deserves is that each person accepts his superiority, he is not to go unnoticed, he is the center of attention. The joy he felt in his chest forced him to smile, it was impossible for him to be more cheerful, nor wanting to hide his euphoria.
"I SEE YOU ARE UNDERSTANDING ALREADY!" What does it matter that stupid plan of someone weak buying him? All of his words are true! Even though he can't use the resonances he is going to escape without the slightest effort! "BUT IT'S NOT ENOUGH, I WANT MORE!"
Seng slowly raised her hand on the way to his right eye.
"I still have more to reveal to you, I can prove to you that I am worth much more!"
A second before his hand reached the height of his face, the crowd suddenly fell silent. Seng looked confused and noticed that the crowd was focused on a girl with a hat at the back of the place, dumbfounded, the girl had to clear her throat, raise her hand covered with a silver glove and repeat what she said:
"I offer a hundred silver dragons for Seng the prodigious!"
The presenter's jaw dropped and Seng went crazy with laughter.
"S-SOMEONE DARE TO GIVE MORE?!"
"GOOD CHOICE! YOU WILL NOT REPENT!" Seng bellowed.
"SOLD TO THE LADY WITH THE FEATHER HAT!"
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About ten minutes later, Seng's head had cooled down, most of his shackles had been removed leaving only a couple on his wrists, light and less annoying.
"Is this really enough for you?" he chuckled.
They had him locked up behind some Dingarsita bars in an underground room, surely it was while the payment was being made and they explained the dangers involved in "taking over" a subject as dangerous as him.
"Once out of here, escaping will be a piece of cake" Seng reaffirmed in his mind, he would have loved to make a gesture with his hands, but they were chained to the back wall. "That woman may have a couple of good guards, I'll take things easy, I've gotten carried away a lot"
They opened the gate, one of the three guards released him from the wall, the other two didn't take their eyes off him with their swords out. He paid no attention to that pair, instead he looked up at the sound of the woman's delicate footsteps.
First he glimpsed delicate feet surrounded by black sneakers, then the ankles covered by silver stockings that were lost in the violet skirt to the knees, full of silver flower details on the edges, the upper part of the set was made up of a beautiful shirt of white buttons that highlighted the feminine figure of the lady. He was captivated by the delicate and slender neck with that golden necklace, the silver glove on the left hand and the semi-transparent violet hat with a pair of intertwined cornflowers that hid his face.
"I appreciate that you have recognized my value, howev/" Seng stopped as soon as he recognized the lady.
"I know Zenm," Her voice was soft, it carried over like an imperceptible echo. "I am fully confident that you will be the best birthday present I could buy."
The young lady took off her hat, put it on her chest and gave her a charming, loving smile, which suddenly was tinged with a dark capricious ego, she winked at him and revealed the silver glitter of her eyes.