Chapter 13

Walking into the shop this time was completely different, once I entered there were a dozen puppets armed to the teeth standing just inside the entrance with blades drawn and ready for the order to kill, luckily they just stood there while the attendant came over. "Sorry dear customer, but the owner has increased security recently. Is there anything we can do for you today?" He led me to his counter where I proceeded to order materials as well as an advanced puppet crafting manual and the master set of crafting tools.

The purchase of the set was only eclipsed by the vast amount of materials I bought for the next several versions of puppets I would be experimenting with just in case the city truly fell. With the order received with a guarantee to drop off the goods by the allotted time I left and turned to the brothel.

I had invited all the wolves to a feast before the operation tonight since I didn't want too much attention while we were busy asserting our dominance. The brothel was quite nice, cute girls of varying races were dressed in many variations of seductive clothing. I was led up to the room we had booked and sat down with a pantherian on each side of me, they were similar to the jaguar women I had been gifted in that they had the eyes ears and tails of felines with sharper features than most humans, with a pair of sharp teeth as well.

The wolves were enjoying themselves as well each one had a beautiful consort to relax and enjoy their time with, I even heard a few of them say if they wanted it that they could be taken away, even my subordinates knew that I was seizing the chance of the invasion to be overbearing and make a name for myself. Though my businesses would still be hidden there was a business that I could take over, information gathering. I planned on creating special scouting puppets that could either share their vision or record and transmit the data to a secure location. Though that was still after research and development it would be worth it to know the dirty little secrets of a city, being able to catch others off guard should be really fun.

As the feast continued Warren and a few new elites came into the party and sat closest to me, we had been able to purchase a few more experts on Warren's current level. They would talk out the final terms with their clans once the operation was completed when midnight arrived the girls were all sent away while everyone began arming themselves. We left the brothel and surrounded the slavers den, the one that had given birth to that scum dale. I had sent a messenger ahead that said I would purchase their entire stock at a premium rate, they had other stores within the city and they had been transferring them over for the past few hours. The guards didn't notice the pack of wolves encircling the compound, I walked in through the front door and met with the head elder who would go over the contract and goods with me.

The elder had been droning on for five minutes about the lots on the contract and the enormous price I was going to need to pay, I told him I could look it over if he sent it to me to sign, as he turned to his tablet to send me the full details Warren pounced on top of him. Another expert of mine joined in and pummeled the head elder, once the old man was unconscious Warren sent a signal and a few moments later I could hear glass shatter and the sounds of fights breaking out within the compound.

I confiscated the elders' tablet and began purchasing the lots at a significantly reduced rate, with the elders' account of course. When I had emptied the account I reduced the price to the bare minimum and purchased the slaves that had less value with my own money getting ten for the price of one.

We tied up all of the staff and dragged them out in front of the store, while we waited for all of the slaves to be loaded onto the wagons and brought away, I went through the head elders' tablet. Turns out he wasn't a good person by anyone's standards, he had been trying to collect a female from every race so he could torture, rape, and skin them and it wasn't always in that order. He had recorded a few sessions and had been sharing them with his friends.

Truly this planet would be better off without him in it when the elder finally woke up he tried screaming for help but luckily I had an extra spear. Warren crippled his cultivation and I rammed the spear into his throat and pinned him to the wall, pulling out a knife I carved into the shaft of the spear "AVARITH" I placed the tablet by his feet and I let the videos play on repeat.

As for the rest of the staff we just left them tied up, they should be released once they were found in a few hours.

We hurried back to the tower arriving at two in the morning, we boarded the lift to get to platform 69 and when we arrived I was happy to see the C-class MoonStalker being loaded up with all of the goods that had been purchased.

The MoonStalker was originally going to be my 16th birthday gift in a few months but Owen decided to let me open it early. The ship was sleek and coated in a special paint to help it blend in with the night sky, my parents knew my tastes that was certain. The ship may not be designed to hold crazy amounts of people or cargo but it could handle a few hundred people at a time plus the materials we bought. Though we did have the shuttle running back and forth as a ferry for the slaves. Rin and Sett were in charge of the shuttle while Owen was making sure everything had arrived on the ship. There were still plenty of materials arriving so we had the slaves helping out with the physical labor while women and children were boarded onto the ship.

Rin and Sett came back during the loading and took a moment to stand and watch the process while I held onto them and enjoyed their company.

Sett nudged me, "So Ali, how many slaves did you purchase and why did you want them? Some of them look like decent fighters but a good portion is women and children. You wouldn't be trying to start one of those harems are you?" She gave me one of those looks that could sear a steak on a cold winter night.

I pulled her closer, "Of course not, but I do need servants and warriors to defend our home and those warriors deserve a chance at having families of their own don't they?"

She took a moment before responding, "Fine, but don't go getting any weird ideas." she pouted and moved in closer, Rin pinched my waist to make sure I understood that she felt the same as Sett.

As the last of the slave and materials were being loaded onto a ship he could see a group of guards gathering at the base of the tower, I had Sett and Rin take off with another batch of slaves while I boarded the MoonStalker and made my way into the command center of the ship. I sat in the captain's chair and activated all the sensors, though the ship could be controlled with an autopilot it wouldn't be very responsive. Owen sat in the navigator's seat while a familiar maid was on the weapons station, with no time to think about it I began running the checks for flight.

Once everything came back green I initiated the decoupling and we began our lifting away from the tower, I checked the image of the platform to see guards swarming from the lift and even the stairs. An older gentleman wearing a white robe that had a city guards insignia over the heart stood amongst the guards and was watching the ship as we pulled away. I was curious if he would be brave enough to attack my ship. It may not have class B cannons but it had a pair of class Cs and plenty of D class cannons that could make mincemeat out of his troops.

The old man might be fine but his men would remain at the tower, he lifted his hand to give the order but our cannons swiveled and locked onto the platform. We began to accelerate and soon we left the tower behind us as we made our way home.