The Fake Slave

After Morgana had a long talk with Lily, they were interrupted by Tilly, the old caretaker, who came into the room with a bowl of fried rice and a water bottle for the shaman to eat.

"Sorry, I couldn't help but listen to that last part. So, it was the Ashen Legion for you, too, huh?" Tilly said, placing down the tray with food in Lily's lap.

"Do you know them, Tilly?" Morgana asked.

The old caretaker nodded. "Those were the same people that killed my parents…"

Morgana started to ponder if the Ashen Legion was targeting people who were players or if it had been a coincidence that they managed to get two families of them.

Realizing she had never used her appraisal on Tilly, who she already knew was the daughter of former players, she decided to take a quick look.

[ Name: (Tilly) Revex ]

[ Age: 42 ]

[ Class: Priestess ]

[ Level: 25 ]

[ Race: Northerner Human ]

"Woah, Tilly, you are a priestess?" Morgana asked.

"Well, yeah. Although I only know three skills…" She responded.

Morgana shut her eyes in reflection, wanting to make things right for both Lily and Tilly. Even if the dark shaman was the one who created the black straw doll that blinded her daughter, she was being forced to do it in a horrible way.

It was the guy, Haldor, from the Black Cross who cursed Selene and tortured Lily, so it was only natural for her to want to respond in kind.

Morgana sighed. "As I said, one thing at a time…" she said vaguely before explaining her plan of infiltrating the slave auction that would take place the next day.

"Haldor will definitely be there!" Lily exclaimed.

"Good, then we can take down two birds with one stone," said Morgana with a mischievous smile.

That night, Lily got acquainted with the rest of the people staying at the orphanage, from the adventurers that had been saved a few days prior to the caretakers and the children.

Seeing Morgana with her daughter made her think how cute they both looked together, like a copy of each other, but Selene was a thousand times less scary than her mother.

'Heh, maybe it was destiny for me to get captured and saved by them…' she thought as she watched the pair happily enjoying snacks that Morgana had pulled from her item box.

When the children fell asleep, Morgana discussed her plans for the next day with the adventurers, the Freebird party, the caretakers, and Lily.

The adventurers would all stay in the orphanage, protecting it like they had been doing the past few days.

The Freebird party would act as the kidnappers that captured Morgana and were there to sell her off in the auction.

Lily would wait outside the venue and kill anyone trying to escape the building.

As for the caretakers, Morgana simply asked to take good care of all the children while they were gone, although she promised they would return that same night.

Having their roles for the next day, everyone went to get some rest. However, nobody was able to relax except for Morgana, as they thought about the mess that could happen once they infiltrated the event.

__________

The following day, the people at the orphanage woke up and spent their day trying to relax, but their nerves didn't allow them to stay still.

Morgana mentioned to Lily that Haldor must have noticed that she was gone by now, as they had burned all of the corpses in the shed, meaning that his cursed items would no longer work.

"Just letting you know to be careful when you are waiting out there. He might already be on the lookout…" said Morgana to Lily, who nodded understandingly.

Later that night, the group that would be taking part in the heist was ready.

Morgana had changed her clothes to a simple brown dress and hid her black choker under the metal shackles she placed around her neck.

Enslavers used an item called "Slavery Shackles," which prevented the prisoners from using skills. However, only high-level chains could hold Morgana back, and the shackles used in Kartan weren't.

They had found the shackles lying around in Haldor's shed, which he probably used to chain their victims before killing them.

The chains he used for Lily were of a higher caliber. Considering she was level 110, the Black Cross went all out in trying to suppress her. However, the trickster didn't take those.

Wearing the low-level slavery shackles, Morgana went inside a moving cell with small tires at the bottom for the teenagers to push, while Lily wore a cloak to hide her face.

The teenagers pushed the moving cell through the main street, catching the attention of criminals who hung out outside their bases. However, with such a big event happening that night, nobody dared to steal others' slaves.

Once they made it to the venue, they noticed how the auction would take place in what seemed like the biggest building in Kartan.

It was an amphitheater that looked in a much better state than any of the other buildings around and could easily hold two thousand spectators.

The teenagers walked toward the back door, where they were received by two of the enslavers who wore a gray uniform with a black cross and held whips in their hands.

Morgana instantly noticed the uniforms and deduced that the Black Cross must have been helping the event's host.

One of the guards whistled in admiration. "What do we have here?" He said as he got closer to Morgana's cell.

"You boys captured this neonite?" said the other, noticing the beauty of their prisoner.

However, the teenagers hesitated, not knowing how to follow up on their act. Thankfully, Kaede stepped up calmly.

"We did. We found her all the way in the north, so we expect to get a lot for her, you hear?" said Kaede, acting in a manner that was completely different from her usual quiet self.

The guard laughed. "I like you, girl! I can't promise anything, but a beauty like her will certainly sell for a lot!" said the bandit.

Morgana looked down to hide her smile from the enslavers, feeling proud of Kaede's act, while the assassin teenager gave them an evil smile that resembled her big sister's.

After receiving a tablet with their numbers on it, they were told that they could enter the event from the front, and once the auction was over, they could collect their money in the back.

The teenagers agreed and glanced at Morgana, who gave them a discrete nod, letting them continue with their plan.