Chapter 16

—3rd Person POV—

Pushing their way through the early afternoon crowd, Lucoa and the Bartforts stumbled into the Guild Hall as most of the staff was heading to lunch. Flagging a receptionist down, just as she was about to walk away, Lucoa pleaded with her to wait a moment. Giving Lucoa an irritated look, the receptionist turned to leave but stopped when she began begging her to remain.

"Please wait! We…we need to speak with…Leon Bartfort.", Lucoa gasped, "It is an emergency, please…call him down immediately."

"Ma'am, I am afraid that he is meeting with the Guildmaster and his brother at the moment. We have strict instructions not to interrupt them for the time being. Please have a seat, they should be done in a few hours.", the receptionist said, wanting to slip away and have her lunch.

"Please wait, I am his father Balcus Fou Bartfort. As this woman said, it is an emergency!", Balcus insisted, steadying himself against the counter.

Seeing the emblem on his coat, the receptionist gave him an angry smile before setting her bag back down. Begrudgingly heading upstairs, the human woman quickly ascended the stairs to the Guildmaster's Office. Showing her badge to the statues, she patiently waited for the Guildmaster to respond. Opening the doors to let her in, the three occupants turned to look at her with confusion.

"Georgina, you do know I am booked for this afternoon right? Has something happened downstairs?", Hamilton asked, setting one of Leon's products down.

"My apologies sir, Balcus Fou Bartfort and three other people are downstairs at the counter. They say there is an emergency that requires Leon's attention.", the receptionist informed them.

Knowing that his father would never leave his domain unless summoned by the Crown, Leon felt a knot forming in his gut. Leaping from his seat, he tore past the receptionist and jumped over the railing. Using the Force to soften his landing on the ground floor, Leon ran out into the public area and began scanning the room for his family. Finding them still at the counter, he hesitantly approached them while seeing who all had come. Seeing Balcus, Luce, Lucoa, and Nicks, the knot in his stomach became even tighter. Slowly looking his father in the eyes, Leon already had a good idea of why they had shown up unannounced.

"Leon, I need to take a deep breath and calm down.", Balcus said, sensing that his son was catching on quickly.

"Where is Roxanne..?", Leon asked, trembling with anger, "Why did she not come with you?"

"Leon, I am sorry…Zola did not leave me any choice in the matter.", Balcus explained, "Just a few days after you left, she showed up and demanded over ten million dia for your eldest brother. She wanted to buy him a gift for entering into the Academy, I did not have a choice in the matter. You know we do not have that sort of money so I…I had to increase the taxes again and collect it for the next year."

Hearing what Balcus said, the two Guildmasters pieced together what happened as they arrived on the scene. Having read Lucoa's reports on Leon and Roxanne, Nicholas understood the consequences this would have had for Roxanne as one of the citizens in the Bartfort domain.

"I asked you to watch over Roxanne while I was away. You gave me your word that you would protect her.", Leon growled, as Force Lightning began swirling around him, "WHERE IS SHE?!"

"She sold herself to the Desmond Slave Trading Company so her cousins did not have to be taken away.", Lucoa interjected, as Balcus was beating around the bush, "I am sorry Leon, I tried to get her to leave but she refused to abandon her remaining family. She wanted me to give this back to you."

Holding up the necklace he gave her before leaving, Leon's rage burst out sending a Force Blast that knocked everyone in the area away. Clenching his fist in anger, Leon pulled Balcus toward him with the Force and held him by the throat in midair. Gasping for air as the choke grew tighter, Balcus apologized to Leon for breaking his word.

"I am sorry…Leon…", he gasped, hanging in the air, "If I could…I would have sent Zola…away. It was either…do as she says…or deal with the…Royal Court. We would have…lost our title and…gone into a large…debt to pay off…the fines."

"You are a terrible human being, Balcus, a coward like you does not deserve to hold the position of a nobleman!!", Leon rebuked him, "How many families did you tear apart just to save ours? Not only did I lose Roxanne, but all those families had to sell off their flesh and blood to pay our taxes!! That bitch Zola is going to the blood money you handed her, to buy Roxanne and give her to her bastard son Rutart."

"I am…sorry…", Balcus gasped, as he began to black out.

"No, you honestly could not give a damn about it.", I remarked, launching him across the room into a table, "Lucoa, where is Roxanne right now? I probably have enough to buy her freedom right now."

"We arrived at the same time the slavers did, they are offloading people now.", Lucoa said, "But Leon, the thing is-"

Wasting no time, Leon sped out of the Guild Hall and made a beeline for the harbor. Running over to check on her husband, Luce asked Lucoa to chase after Leon and stop him from doing anything reckless. Nodding her head, Lucoa was about to run off when a hand grabbed her shoulder.

"We will go with you. After feeling that blast, I do not think you can stop him alone.", Nicholas said, with a slightly angry smile, "In addition, we will discuss your punishment for abandoning your post later."

"I understand, please just focus on Leon for the moment.", Lucoa agreed.

Leaving it at that for now

—Leon POV—

Running along the walls of buildings, to avoid the crowded streets, I quickly reached the harbor and spotted where they were offloading cages full of slaves. Rushing over to the nearest cage, I frantically began calling out for Roxanne and closely looking at all the poor souls.

"Roxanne! Roxanne, are you here?!", I shouted, moving from cage to cage looking for her, "Roxanne, please answer me!"

"Leon, I am over here!", a familiar voice called out, weakly.

Whipping my head around to the front of the ship, where dock workers were hoisting cages onto wagons, I spotted Roxanne waving to me from her cage. Weaving my way through the sea of cages and workers, I ran up to her and was horrified by what I found. Heavily bruised and cut up, my blood boiled as I saw her in that state. Wanting to rip the cage open and free her, I stopped myself when I noticed the slave crest just below their neck.

'I…I am too late…', I thought, "Roxanne, I am so sorry! I should have brought you with me, you should not be in there!"

"It…it is okay. I was worth enough to spare my aunt and uncle from selling my cousins. They will not have to lose their parents like I did…", Roxanne replied, with a downcast look, "How did you know I would be here?"

"Lucoa and my family came to tell me what happened. I swear to you, I will get you out of here!", I said, looking around for a member of the Desmond Slave Trading Company.

Not seeing anyone immediately, I ran to the front of the wagon and found an employee reading a book in the coachman's seat. Knocking on the seat to his attention, the man turned to look at me and asked if I needed something.

"You need directions or something kid?", he inquired.

"I wanted to inquire about the price of a slave on this wagon.", I stated.

Seeing an opportunity to make some money, the man put his book down and hopped off his seat. Walking around to my side, I pointed Roxanne out to him and inquired about her price. Giving me an apologetic smile, he told me that she was not for sale right now.

"Sorry kid, she is scheduled to be auctioned off at our Private Auction in a week. Seats at ten million dia a spot, and starting bids start at one hundred thousand dia. We anticipate that she will net us easily seven hundred thousand dia, she is a pretty well-known individual in the Adventurers Guild after all.", he informed me, "While I cannot sell her, I have plenty of other slaves that might catch your fancy. A young nobleman's son has needs and urges, after all, I can get you taken care of."

Before I could chew him out, the familiar sound of a witch's heels approached us. Turning around to glare at the culprit behind all of this, Zola stood there with a smug smile.

"Oh my, how unfortunate for your little friend. It appears her family had to cut some dead weight from their home.", Zola laughed, "I bet you were trying to purchase her freedom back, but you do not have the funds to do so. Do not worry though, Rutart is looking for a new slave girl. He will take excellent care of your friend for you."

"I never thought you would stoop this low, you fucking cunt. This is retribution for humiliating your bastard son, right?", I snapped, wanting to kill her right here and now.

"Watch your mouth, he is your elder brother.", Zola scolded me.

"We both know Rutart is not my father's son. A loose woman like you probably does not know who his real father is, right?", I said, remembering now that he was an affair child, "If you have nothing to hide, how about we take this to the Church where you can swear to it before god?"

"I…I do not have to prove anything to you!", she snapped, with an infuriated expression.

"Not killing your crotch spawn is a mistake I will not repeat.", I threatened her, "Next time I get him to duel me, I will lop his head off and give it to you on a silver platter. After I kill him, you are next on my list!"

Sensing the bloodlust radiating between us, the trader quickly got between us before either of us crossed a line. Looking at me, he explained that threatening Zola was not going to buy Roxanne's freedom.

"If you want her, you will have to compete with everyone else at the private auction. As I said before, it is ten million dia at the door and starting bids start at one hundred thousand dia.", he reiterated, "Miss Zola, I suggest that you refrain from antagonizing the boy any further. He has powerful backers here in the capital that can make your life very difficult."

"Do not tell me what to do, boy!", Zola berated him, "He is still a child he has no one on his-"

"Leon!!", Lucoa shouted, running over with the two Guildmasters in tow.

Glancing over at Lucoa, Zola's facial expression soured seeing the two men with her. Biting her thumb in frustration, she must have been banking on botching my meetings. Giving them a moment to join us, Lucoa grabbed me and held me back.

"I know you are angry but do not do anything stupid please!", Lucoa pleaded with me.

"Guildmaster Hamilton!", the trader said, politely bowing his head.

"Good Afternoon, Ericson.", Hamilton replied, "Quite a haul you have there. Did this noblewoman help you secure these people?"

Taking a moment to consider his words carefully, he nervously nodded his head. While this might come back on him, lying to the Guildmaster was a much more dangerous offense than upsetting the wife of a Baron. A nobleman would give them bad reviews, the Guildmaster could revoke their slave trading licenses putting them all out of a job.

"Yes sir, I do not know the finer details but the citizens of the Bartfort Territory sold off quite a large number of children.", he informed Hamilton, "We did not strong-arm the families into doing anything. It was all voluntary on our part."

"So I have been told…", Hamilton said, glancing over at Zola, "So this is the stepmother you were telling us about?"

"Stephag, yes.", I snickered, "She is coddling her precious baby boy because he is not man enough to fight me again. I kicked his ass once in a duel, and now they are making everyone in our territory suffer for it."

"Is that so…", Nicholas remarked, "You know, retribution for a duel is forbidden under the laws of our nation."

Realizing that she could not pull the same stunts she did with my father, Zola began to backpedal a bit. 

"I…I must get going. My son Rutart should be returning from class soon, and it has been over a week since I last saw him.", Zola said, excusing herself.

Turning to leave the scene, I used the Force to hit her on the back of the head. Stumbling forward, as if she had tripped over something, she fell to the ground and bashed her head on the cobblestone roadway. Staggering back to her feet, Zola vacated the area in a hurry while wobbling like a drunkard. Since no one on this planet was Force-sensitive but me, everyone was confused by what happened. Looking back at Roxanne, I looked her in the eyes with determination.

"I will get the money and buy your freedom back, even if it costs me my life.", I told her, with absolute certainty, "This is not the end of our adventure, not by a long shot!"

"It is okay Leon, I…I will be okay.", Roxanne tried to assure me, "You can forget about me, and move on. Unlike me, you have a bright future ahead of you. I will be rooting for you!"

"If you manage to come up with the money or decide to upgrade let me know kid.", Ericson said, uncertain of what to say in this situation, "See you later, Hamilton and Nicholas!"

Promptly excusing himself, Ericson walked back up to the coachman's seat and grabbed the reins. Commanding the horses to start moving, Roxanne's wagon began to slowly pull away.

"I am serious Roxanne, I will get the money and save you!", I swore to her.

Giving me a brave smile, she looked at me like this was the last time we would see each other. Watching her begin to cry as they pulled around a corner, my mind began racing with ideas to earn the necessary funds. Right now, thanks to Hamilton and Nicholas, I had five million dia in my pocket from the goods I sold them which put me halfway in the door. Considering selling some of my Lost Items, that idea was quickly shot down as they could potentially end up in the hands of some psychopath in the future. With loans unavailable to me, since I was twelve, that left only one avenue for me to earn the money.

"Guildmaster Nicholas, I need to ask a favor of you.", I stated, looking back at him, "I need permission to enter the Flying Dutchman Dungeon."

"WHAT!?", Lucoa shouted, "Leon, I know you want to save Roxanne but that is suicide!! The greatest adventuring party in the history of our nation died there!"

"I do not have a choice. Either I go in there to collect the treasure horde I am certain lies at the bottom, or Roxanne gets sold off to that bastard Rutart. He will beat her, rape her, and torture her till she drops dead. I refuse to let that happen!!", I replied, "Nicholas, I am begging you to let me go down there and clear the dungeon. If any other dungeon were closer, I would head there but that is the only one."

Looking into my eyes for a moment, he closed his eyes and slowly nodded his head with approval. Shocked that he was approving my request, Hamilton and Lucoa were about to voice their discontent when he motioned for them to stop.

"I will grant your request, Leon, but I will need proof that you are strong enough to potentially clear the dungeon. Before I let you go, you need to defeat me in a one-on-one duel. If I am going to stick my neck out for you, I need assurance that you are strong enough to survive there.", Nicholas said.

"Very well, let us head over to the Adventurer's Guild and use the arena there to settle this.", I suggested.

Cracking a smile, Nicholas was happy to see that I did not hesitate to accept his offer. Heading over to the Guild Hall together, we headed straight back to the guild's testing grounds to test my metal.