Morte

Everything seems almost perfectly normal.

Keyword; almost. Everything would have looked normal – if not for the things that they are selling and what the people are talking about or saying about them.

"We're selling materials for Magic here! We even have rare ones!"

"We'll start the bidding in 5 minutes, the starting price would be 1 gold!"

It was just like the street of Illira City, the only difference is that this is underground and that what they're selling here are mostly illegal things or things that they got through illegal means. The place was like a wide, big tunnel underground. It wasn't dark since there are lamps and torches everywhere, not just on the walls.

I walked around and started looking at things – until I stopped in front of something.

"My lady! Are you interested in any of them? All of them are in good condition, I'm even selling them for a low price!" The seller who notice me standing, approach me while I continue to stare at the large cell with children around age five to fifteen inside. I couldn't help but grit my teeth at the sight. This is probably one of the worst parts of it.

Here, they're also selling slaves.

I know that illegal things happen here, but still, looking at this makes me angry. All of these children are probably orphans who have no family and home.

If the Royal Family knows about this, they would definitely take action, but this is Morte. It's against the rules to say anything about this or report it. If you did say something, you must be someone brave who is prepared to die.

Even if it was reported and the place might get close down, Morte will definitely open again at another place.

But when you think about it, it seems kind of impossible that the Royal Family hasn't heard of this yet. There is a possibility that they already know, but they're not taking action because they're getting some benefits from it too. Just the very thought of it makes me angry.

"Miss –!" I continue to walk and ignore the seller.

I can't save them. I can't.

I don't have the power or luxury right now to help them. I'm no god. I'm also a human who can die at any moment.

I took a deep breath and force myself to calm down.

I continue to look around until a certain 'thing' caught my attention in one of the stands. The stand sells dead animals, and I saw a sight that I only see on televisions before. It was... disgusting and cruel, to say the least. If I have a weak stomach, I would've puke already.

But there was something different on the display that caught my attention.

"Did the mysterious bones caught your attention, Miss?" The woman who seems to be the one selling them asked me, "I have better ones that I'm selling. Those bones you are looking aren't really anything important. We don't even know what animal bone it is." She said and continue to stare at the bone.

It was... literally small bones of an animal or some sort.

They're probably selling all of these dead animals for experiments, Magic, and such.

"How much is that?" I asked, ignoring what she said earlier. I really find those bones interesting. Besides, my goal is to find something dead. I can make use of that.

"Are you sure, Miss? We don't even know what animal it is. From the bone structure, it looks just like a big lizard." The woman said, and I nodded without hesitation. Lizard or not, it doesn't matter. I only need something dead.

"That will be ten copper."

I fish out ten copper from my pocket, she handed me the bones – which are now wrapped in a thin cloth. I accepted it and gave her the ten copper. Fortunately, although the Duke doesn't care about Aksia, he still gives her a monthly allowance. He's basically telling her that 'I'm giving you money, don't bother me'. Aksia didn't really use any of the money given to her that much, that's why right now, I have enough money to buy whatever I want.

The money in this world is simply copper, silver, and gold.

One hundred copper equals to one silver.

And fifty silver equals to one gold.

There are also checks here.

After finally getting what I wanted, I decided to look around more. Maybe I could find something useful. Until I found myself back again in front of... the cell that has slaves – children inside of it. In the end, the guilt is still killing me and I haven't even left the place yet.

I can just buy them all, but what would happen after that? I can't take them home with me, forget about the Duchess, the Duke would also murder me.

If I help these children escape from here, it would be extremely hard. This is underground and above, there are those people who are guarding the place.

I took a glance at the man – seller. He was busy talking with another person. After a moment of hesitation, I approach the cell, crouch down, and look at the children who are also looking at me warily. Now that I'm looking at them closely, each of them has a lot of bruises on their body. Each also has shackles on both of their hands and feet.

"Do you want to escape from here?" I whispered, but it was loud enough for them to hear.

They also can't see my face, that must be why they're staring at me. No one moved, they continue to look at me with fear. I sigh. Taking a careful look around, and after making sure that the seller is still busy doing something else, and that no one has noticed me doing this, I stopped the Magic the makes my face looks distorted.

And because I'm in front of them, they can clearly see my face.

"I mean no harm. I will ask again, do you want to escape from here?" I asked again, looking at them calmly, and hoping that they would answer. For a while, there was no answer – until the young boy with red hair spoke.

"Please..." at look at him and his blazing orange eyes looked back at me, "Please, help us."

"Big sister, please help us." Another child, a young girl with blue hair and yellow eyes said. Her eyes are looking at me, pleading. I looked at all of them.

"Alright," I took a glance again at the seller just to make sure then looked back at them, "I will teach you an easy Magic." I pointed at the young boy in front of them, he was glaring at me earlier, but after hearing that I would help them, he's looking at me with hopes in his eyes. His white hair now looks dirty but still looks beautiful, along with his gray eyes.

"I will teach it to you, and for it to work, you all just have to hold hands while he says the Magic word." I said, "Do you understand?" I asked and they all nodded. I took out a check from my pocket, it was something I brought in case I needed it. It was a check that has at least five hundred gold. It's enough money to buy a house and live nicely for a while.

"I will only help you here, what happens next is all up to you." I said, then I gave the check to the guy I pointed earlier. I teach them about teleportation Magic step by step, and also told them what they should and should not do. I also shared information that might be able to help them once they succeeded in escaping.

After everything was said, I stood up, "I wish you luck." I gave them one final glance before I started walking away.

Whether they survive or not is up to them.

---

Later that night, a group of children mysteriously disappeared inside a cell which caused an uproar.