Chapter 37

“Shut up!” the merchant snarled at the woman in the cage. Then he turned back toward me. “As I said, I only have problems with her…” he added.

“What happened to her?” I asked quietly.

“Oh, I see you found an idiot that might buy me,” the woman in the cage said, addressing the merchant.

I ignored her comment, waiting for his explanation.

“She, umm… crippled one of the bandits that caught her, and they… well, took their **** and… beat her up too.”

The woman in the cage scoffed.

I stood there thinking for a moment, glancing at her naked, beaten-up body.

“You see how it is,” the merchant said. “Right now, she’s only causing me losses. I just want to get rid of her.”

“Have you told him I’m magically bound to someone?” the woman asked.

The man took a quick step toward her cage and kicked the corner of it, pushing it a foot or two along the ground. The woman’s head struck the cage bars, making her gasp in pain.

“Shut your mouth, you stupid bitch! You wanna die in that cage?”

“What I want is to slit your throat!” she screamed at him, though her voice sounded more like a rasping croak.

“She’s magically bonded to someone?” I asked.

The merchant stood for a moment with his back toward me, and then sighed heavily.

“She was a **** of some rich man, but bandits killed him and caught her. It’s impossible to get rid of this magical bond. I put a collar on her, but I can’t **** her to obey me.”

I glanced at her, and then at the man. “I want to talk with her alone,” I said.

“Don't open the cage, it's blocking her magic,” he added, leaving the room and walking along the corridor toward the exit of the building.

I shifted closer to the cage and crouched, holding a distance so she couldn’t reach me. It was dark in the room, but as I got closer I got a better look at her.

A long, half-healed gash ran across her face, starting at the chin and cutting all the way up to her forehead. Her hair had been shaved nearly down to the skin—what little was growing back stuck out in uneven tufts, as if whoever had done it hadn’t cared about precision or dignity. One eye was blackened, her lip split and swollen.

Worse still, at the top of her head, partly hidden beneath the patchy regrowth, were two stubs of torn, wounded flesh. It looked like she’d once had horns, but they’d been crudely cut off. Her cheeks were hollow, her skin cracked and dry. She was completely naked, her body covered in bruises and fresh cuts.

I had thought Zoe and Azura looked malnourished before, but this woman was beyond that. She was a walking corpse—skin stretched tight over sharp bones, every rib visible. Her nose was crooked and swollen, clearly broken and not set properly. She reeked of blood, filth, and things I didn’t want to imagine.

She lay on her stomach, twisted slightly onto one side, her legs folded with her feet pressed against her ass. The cage was too small to stretch out in, barely high enough to allow a proper breath. Her body was covered in dried blood and dirt.

How could anyone do this to another person?

“What the fuck are you staring at, dumbass?” she growled and tried to spit at me. But no saliva came out—just dry air from a parched throat. From the look of her, she was badly dehydrated—barely clinging to life, and yet still defiant.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“Fuck off!”

I sighed. “Is it true that your previous owner is dead?”

If they weren't, that would explain the low price and could cause me problems.

“Fuck off!” she repeated.

“Did that person treat you even worse than that?” I asked.

“He treated me well! He loved me!” she snapped back.

“If he’s still alive, I will take you out of here and bring you to him. So?”

“And you think that if he was alive I wouldn't offer it to the merchant already?”

“So, he’s dead,” I said.

The woman in the cage averted her eyes. “Yes,” she whispered.

“Do you want to die here?” I asked.

“Don’t threaten me, you piece of shit,” she snapped at me.

“I’m not. I’m offering you a chance. I can take you out of here. Anything would be better than this,” I said, waving my hand over the cage and her body. “But why should I do it?”

The woman scoffed. “Fuck off! I’m not going to have sex with you,” she growled at me. I noticed that she was missing a few teeth—or, more precisely, her canines.

I watched her for a moment. Was she so pretty before that she assumed this is what I want from her? Or was it because of Zoe and Azura behind me? I hadn’t meant to kick someone who was already that far down. But maybe blunt, undeniable truth was the only thing that could get through to her.

“Look at Zoe,” I said, pointing at her. “She’s ready to do anything for me in bed for my pleasure,” I explained.

Zoe smiled widely, nodding her head vigorously.

“I don't know when was the last time you saw yourself in the mirror, but trust me—I have absolutely no desire to have sex with you.”

“You asshole!” the woman gasped, shocked at what she was hearing.

“So, do you want to die here?” I asked again.

“I will not die here. If not you, someone else would buy me,” she replied.

“And what will they do with you?” I asked.

She only shrugged.

“You don't know. Exactly. But I offer you options.”

The woman looked at me, frowning. “I don't understand,” she replied quietly.

I sighed. “You fought in dungeons, right?”

She nodded.

“I need someone who can protect me when I travel. And perhaps someone who can help me kill monsters in dungeons. And I need a way to earn money. If you can help me with those things, I can take you out of here and give you a better life. Which is not really hard, obviously.”

“Do you think that if you play nice, I will give in to you?!”

“I think that I’m your best chance. And I’m not playing nice. It’s just business. I will invest my money in you, and you will work to earn me more.”

“So I would work myself to ****?”

“You can stay in this cage to ****. Or wait until someone buys you. And who knows what they are going to do to you? Or do you believe that someone would come one day and just free you?”

The woman averted her gaze but shook her head.

“I can at least offer you a decent life. And you know what? I can set you free too. You’ll work and earn money — enough to pay me back for what I spent on you, for your food, and anything else you might need. The rest will be saved. And once you’ve earned me ten times what I paid, you’ll be free. I’ll let you go, and you’ll be able to live your life.”

“Pff,” the woman scoffed. “How can I know that you will really do that? You are just trying to sell me a bunch of shit.”

“So, why am I even talking with you? I could just buy you, take you out of here in this cage, and do whatever I want with you,” I replied. “But I don’t want to **** you to do anything. I can make money getting you out of here, so I’m willing to do it.”

The woman stared at me but didn't say anything. I waited for her answer, but it didn't come.

I sighed, getting up and shaking my head.

“You know my offer. I will come back tomorrow morning, and you will have the last chance to make your decision.”

“Let’s go,” I said, heading toward the room’s exit. Zoe and Azura followed after me into the corridor. The merchant stood at the other end of it, by the building’s exit.

“I will take her,” I said as we approached him.

The man smiled, his shoulders relaxing as if a weight had been lifted. I activated my skill and took a photo of him—just in case.

“Excellent, I’m very glad to hear that. Like I said, I’ve got something for everyone.”

“I don’t have any money on me right now,” I said. “I’ll come back tomorrow morning to pay and pick her up.”

He winced slightly but then **** a smile. “Of course, no problem at all.”

“Where can I find your stall?” I asked.

We stepped outside, and the man pointed to a spot he said he always used.

“Fifty ryns, right?” I asked, extending my hand.

He shook it immediately. “Exactly.”

“And what exactly is she?” I asked, curious.

“A kitsune,” the man replied.

“See you tomorrow,” I said simply and walked away.

Zoe, Azura, and I circled around the **** market rather than walking straight through it again. I didn't know a lot about kitsune, only that it was a mix of a woman and a fox. Apparently, those wounds on her head weren’t after horns, but after her ears.

“Master?” Zoe asked softly.

“Yes?” I replied, while still walking.

“What if she refuses?”

“Then I’ll free her,” I answered. “No one should be kept in a place like that,” I added, gesturing toward the direction we’d come from. “I’d rather earn something from it and have someone on our side who knows how to fight monsters, but if she refuses to join us, I’ll just release her right away. It’ll cost me a bit, but not much—and at least she won’t be tortured any longer.”

I couldn’t destroy slavery. I couldn’t save every one of them. But I also couldn’t just leave her there, not when I had the means to get her out—at such a small cost.

Together with Zoe and Azura, we made our way toward the inn in silence, each of us lost in thought, replaying everything we had just seen at the **** market.