Chapter 97

Tak. Tak. Tak.

The hooves of the horses clacked against the streets as the carriages moved towards the direction of the palace of Cista. Commoners on the street would quickly make way for the royal carriages where ever they went. Nobody had the heart to stand in the way when it came to the royal family.

There were many merchant stalls in the marketplace as they passed through. In the far back of the marketplace in a corner that was more shrouded in darkness a large tent stood tall. Without a sign an outsider like Vorbuk would only be drawn into curiosity.

"What is that place?" Vorbuk reflexively asked as his sights were drawn towards it as they were getting closer to passing it.

Leo took a glance at what Vorbuk was looking towards. The wolf's ears were twitching curiously as he stared out the window at the large darkened tent. As a prince from Cadirade he knew exactly what the place was.

"Tents like those are in every kingdom. They sell slaves." The last three words as Leo spoke sounded heavy.

"Slavery in the kingdoms?" Vorbuk asked although he was not surprised by it in the least. If there were kings, gods, demi humans, and monsters in this world he could not find something like slave merchants existing.

"The slaves are criminals. Among the twelve kingdoms if a criminal is lucky enough they can escape being executed by being forced to be sold off as a slave. When someone comes along to buy them they servant is bound to them by a servant contract that is placed on them through the master's mana directly. The slave will become unable to disobey their master or else they have to suffer severely.. Of course if the master simply commands the slave to die the contract will end their life." Leo tried to explain the way slavery in the kingdoms worked as simply as he could for Vorbuk to understand.

"To some extent that sounds worse then death itself." He could not imagine giving up everything in order to live in such a way.

"That can be true. They aren't living for themselves anymore. When they committed their crimes and were lucky enough to avoid the death penalty they were either desperate or stupid.. A lot of them don't live long because its not easy for them to just simply get a master who isn't using them for under handed things." Leo had seen many slaves die under such circumstances.

It was very common for nobles to buy slaves in order to use as bait in dangerous situations or to send on dangerous tasks. Very few were actually lucky to get a master that cared about their well being to a small extent to not make their lives miserable. That was something that they could not escape from when they chose to become slaves in order to escape execution.

Most masters for the slaves felt no pity over them because they were deemed a criminal in order to fall to such a position. Everyone was aware slaves were considered dangerous in order to be given such a title. It was that fact that made them all so equally despised people. It did not matter if the slave was demi human, demon, human, elf, or some other species. They were not bought because their master wanted to know why they were a slave or what they had done to become one. No matter how small the crime was, a criminal was a criminal.

Whenever the master branded the servants mark onto the slave that forced them to become their slave the master's personal sigil would be displayed on their body in the form of a tattoo. Everyone's mana was different like a fingerprint so their personal sigil branded onto one's servants worked like a mark. It displayed who the slave had become a servant to.

As they passed the slave merchant's tent they could see dozens of slaves. There was no single species as they varied greatly. Some of them were even young while others were old.

Vorbuk's eyes swept around quickly to take a look as they went by. His body flinching slightly as his eyes connected with one of the slaves. They were like looking into a blue sea. The slave's curly apple colored hair hanging in front of his right eye. Certainly their eyes had locked on each other at the same time.

Turning his gaze away from the window he saw the prince with a confused expression. Prince Leo was not sure what was wrong with Vorbuk all of a sudden. Isis who had been listening quietly til now had a concerned look on her face.

"Are you alright? What happened?" Leo asked trying to understand.

Beside him Isis looked out the window. She could not see anything because they had already passed the slave merchant's tent. Only being able to hear Leo's side of the conversation was making her head hurt. The sound of his voice was not as pleasant to her as she felt others must find it. Especially when he looked as if he was talking to himself when Vorbuk was in his true form as a wolf.

"I just had a sudden chill." Vorbuk responded with a made up excuse.

I could swear our eyes met for a moment.. Ah.. It doesn't matter. I will just take things as they come for now. I doubt I will run into them. Vorbuk thought to himself as he tried to put the slave out of his mind. They were on their way to the palace to meet the king. He did not have time to worry about something irrelevant.

Who's going to just believe that kind of excuse? You looked like you were about to have a heart attack.. Leo thought to himself on the other side of the carriage.

Glancing to his side Leo could see Isis's reflection in the glass. A worried expression was on her face. He was not sure whether she was worried about meeting the Cista King or about Vorbuk.

This girl... I wonder how long she is going to keep following us. She must realize by now that we will be going to her kingdom next and it wont be on friendly terms with her father, the king of Theapan. What will she do about us planning to kill her father? If she gets in the way I don't think Vorbuk will take it well. Leo thought deeply over what possibilities the future would hold for them.

"Hm?" Isis turned her head and realized she was being stared at by the crown prince, Leo. Feeling slightly uncomfortable she squirmed slightly where she sat. Wanting them to quickly end the carriage ride so she could get away from him.

"It's nothing. Sorry." Prince Leo smiled kindly towards her.

Vorbuk could tell that Leo was staring at Isis out of curiosity. There were many things that he was curious about as well. As much as he was curious about though Vorbuk only became even more curious the more he learnt. He was willing to take his time with everything because he found himself enjoying it all along the way. It was a new feeling for him.