~ Chapter 105: The royal slave ~

[Alkelios’ point of view]

 “Fear me... You will die if you face me... You cannot defeat me... You can’t win against me...”

These words were like the whispers of an eerie breeze caressing the calm surface of a deep dark lake during a night with no stars or moons up in the sky, and only dead plants surrounding it. Their touch made the hair on my skin stand on its end, and the noise of life around me to vanish in an instant.

I could hear only my heart as it was beating fast, struggling to push the blood through my whole body so that I may not fall back or grow slower. Every cell in my body knew that whatever that thing was, whoever it was, he or she was not someone I could face right now.

It was a bit funny when I thought about it, but in essence I was a half-dragon with skills that could make any Breakthrough-er glare at me in envy. My power came from my friends, but my own strength alone was also something to consider.

There should have been very few if any native individuals at all on this entire continent who could face me in a fair battle. Only the other earthlings stood a chance of growing just as strong or stronger than me, all thanks to their astonishing unique skills gifted to them by the God-like, yet the chances of any of them being far more powerful than me were infinitesimal!

When I finally stopped running, I could see the gates of Mathias Town on the edge of the horizon. In my arms, I was carrying Ildea and Risha, while on my back hanged for dear life Kalderan. The gazes in their eyes were filled with worry and confusion. They didn’t know what got over me, and honestly speaking, I barely knew that myself.

I placed them down, and they whispered my name, but I could not hear them. I looked at my hands and saw how they were trembling. The fear that thing woke inside of me was affecting me even now, but when I turned around, I saw that it wasn’t there anymore.

Whatever it was... is it gone now? I wondered and then looked back at my companions.

Kalderan was barfing on the side of the road, while Risha was patting his back, trying to help him recover. Tamara was looking back the way we came with her ears perked up and tail standing straight.

Ildea was the only one who remained and continued to look at me with eyes filled with worry. I did not know where her concern for my safety came from, we had barely met, but nonetheless, it did not feel so bad.

She hesitated at first, but when she took a step forward, she took my shaking hands into hers and asked me: “Alkelios, what’s wrong? Are you alright?”

Such simple words, but to my heart that was beating faster than that of a scared little bunny, they were of tremendous help. They soothed me and washed away a big chunk of that uncontrollable fear, allowing me to take back control over my senses.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in.

All that fear that was eating away inside me. That terrible sensation of being chased by something unfathomable, of being strangled by something overwhelming, I could finally, little by little, make it go away.

Every time I exhaled, more of that fear vanished, until finally, I could open my eyes and show the worried princess a gentle smile.

“I’m fine now, thank you.” I told her.

“Good... Now, tell us what the heck happened back there!” Kalderan retorted as he was leaning on his knees and wiping his mouth with a piece of cloth.

“We were worried, Alkelios. You weren’t answering to our calls and even when I slapped you and then Kalderan punched you, you still didn’t react.” Ildea told me.

“The look in your eyes...” Risha avoided my gaze “It was that of a desperate man who had succumbed to fear... It was the same type of eyes the people from my village had when they were running away from that monster attack... Fleeing with all their might, grasping at whatever little they could save, running away on pure adrenaline, not minding how much their bodies screamed in pain.” she held herself and closed her eyes as if trying to get rid of a bad memory.

Kalderan looked at her for a moment and then turned his gaze towards me.

“So, what happened back there?” he asked in all seriousness as he got back up on his feet.

“I saw something...” I looked down.

“What?” Ildea asked.

“I don’t know.” I shook my head “Something or someone, whatever it was, it was covered in a black fog that ate all the light that touched it and made every cell in my body scream out in fear. My instincts were shouting at me to run away, to flee from it. That thing... whatever it was, it was powerful enough to defeat me without so much as even trying.” I told them, but as I spoke, I felt that fear returning, forcing me to grab hold of my shoulders so that I would not shiver.

“A black fog? I never heard of something like this.” Kalderan said as he furrowed his brow.

“Neither have I.” Risha added shaking her head.

“There might be something written about it in the Royal Library at the capital, but unfortunately, I can’t say for certain.” Ildea said shaking her head “I wasn’t one who was too chipper about reading books all day long.”

“This means that no one has even the foggiest idea what that thing was, and without asking it directly or the God-like who tossed us in this world, then our only bet is to find records of it in a book somewhere...” I let out a sigh and scratched the back of my head.

There was a moment of silence during which I thought about what could be done for now.

The thing was that I did not feel as though I had managed to catch this entity’s attention in particular. If anything, maybe I was lucky enough to have escaped that place before I was spotted. Then again, if it did spot me and decided to attack me, I did not feel as though I could do anything against it. No matter what I thought about and how hard I thought about it, there was nothing I could do to that thing.

I’m still weak... Certainly, not as weak as the vast majority of people living in this world, but not as strong as those who reign at the top. If there are other beings out there who are like the God-like or at the very least come close to his might, then I certainly can’t be a match for them. If they hold enmity towards us, then can I even protect my family and friends against them? I thought and at this moment, I was hit by the uneasy feeling of being the frog at the bottom of the well.

When I looked up at the sky, I wondered just how big this entire world was. How different was it when compared to Earth and was there any alien contact with it before we arrived here?

These were questions that now laid heavily on my mind, but they were not enough to keep me distracted from what I had to do right now, which was returning to my wife’s side. These questions could only be answered as time went by and as I explored this world more.

Tamara turned her head towards me and then back at the path we came from. She remained like that for another moment and then began to relax. I trusted this little feline’s instincts, so I knew that whatever monster I saw back there, it was gone now.

To break the silence that fell upon our group, I said “Let’s set up camp here for the time being and wait for morning to come. We can’t enter the town now anyway; the gates are closed shut.”

“Sounds good to me.” Kalderan nodded.

There were still a good couple of hours until sunrise, and while I did want to stay up as a guard, my companions did not even want to hear about it. Like a worried mother over her sick child, they sent me to bed. Kalderan took up the job of guarding our camp, and the two women watched me like a hawk to make sure I got some rest. Tamara coiled up next to my bed and closed her eyes.

As I slowly drifted to sleep, I thought back at Seryanna and prayed for her safety wherever she was. I did not want to think what would happen if she were to meet that thing that sent me running with my tail between my legs.

My slumber was deep and voided of dreams or nightmares, which was probably for the best. When the sun’s rays began to wash over the plains, I opened my eyes and got up. The others sensed my stir and woke up as well. The cold hard ground was not a five-star hotel bed, so our bodies were more than happy to get off of it.

After a light breakfast, we made our way towards the Mathias Town. Then, at one point while traveling, Ildea pulled my sleeve to catch my attention.

With a shy gaze and a bit of worry that showed through her trembling lip, she asked “What... what do you think of Ten Swords Kingdom?”

She did not bring up what happened to me last night. It was considerate of her, and I did not mind having my mind focus on something other than the dark figure who scared the living daylight out of me.

After a moment of pondering, I looked up at the sky and told her “What I think of it? Well, it is definitely not on my favorite vacation spots list. I can’t say I hate this country, but I don’t like it either. Sorry.” I lowered my head and showed her a wry smile.

“Is that so?” crestfallen, her gaze fell to the ground.

“What about you three?” I asked the others.

“Nya~! Ten Swords has fish, so I like it. But Ten Swords also has slaves, so I don’t like it.” Tamara replied in her simple way and then she shook her head, ruffling her fur.

“Political borders are the limitation of true freedom and progress, but only if applied between like-minded countries.” Kalderan’s replied in a weird and vague way.

“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked raising an eyebrow at him.

“It means that I hate Ten Swords Kingdom! Among all the other awful stuff this country is responsible of, it also has the guts to try and restrain my freedom of travel!” he answered.

“Oh yes, you did mention at one point that the King of this place gave out a law that forbids earthlings from traveling abroad.” I said as I scratched my head.

Hearing him, Ildea made herself small next to me, looking down at the ground and holding tight to my sleeve. While these weren’t the type of words someone born as a princess would want to hear, they were the truth. If she accepted it or not and then learned from it was another matter.

“I would like to say that I love this kingdom, but that would mean I would be lying to you, your Highness.” Risha said with an apologetic look on her face. “I’m sorry, but if someone offered me a ride on their caravan out of Ten Swords as soon as the first rays of Gaias touched the ground, I would probably accept it without looking back. Actually, this might be the biggest reason I want to stay around Alkelios and Kalderan.” she looked up into my eyes and continued “I see the possibility of starting my life anew if I am by their side.”

“I understand... This kingdom, my kingdom is not all that great. I’ve seen how much people are suffering and how much everyone is struggling. It’s not a fun place to live in when the commoner needs to work hard to survive while the noble lazes around all day long.” she said and looked up at me, but although she was smiling, there was a deep sadness in her eyes.

“Don’t be a hypocrite, Princess Ildea, it’s not as though you were never aware of these things.” Kalderan told her.

“What? But I...” she was surprised by his sharp words, but they told a truth with which even Earth was confronted with at one point.

“It’s not a matter of can’t or it’s not possible, it’s a matter of won’t.” he scoffed.

“I don’t understand.” she shook her head.

“When you say that you can’t make a change or that it’s not possible to make one when logic dictates otherwise, then you simply don’t want to make that change or are too afraid to assume the consequences the said change might have on your life, be them good or bad. Can’t and it’s not possible are just an excuse which you use to hide your lack of courage to act upon a situation that deep inside you know you can do something about it no matter if you succeed or not in making a change.” Kalderan tossed words at her like a machine gun.

While the statement he made, on one hand, did sound true on the other it was probably too complex for the rest of us to fully understand. In my case, the words entered through one ear and flew out the other, while in Risha’s case, her brain cells were starting to scream in pain from processing overload.

Scratching the back of my head, I tried to ask “I hope I understood this correctly, but Kalderan, are you trying to say that Ildea didn’t assume her role as a Princess?”

The man replied with a short nod.

“What? That’s not true! I...” Ildea stood up and rebuked his words, but Kalderan silenced her with a glare.

“If you really wanted to act and assume for yourself all the responsibilities of your role as a Princess of this kingdom, then from the very moment you did that, you would have looked into ways to protect it from outside influences, to improve the lives of the people no matter if they were nobles or not, to exercise your rights and power over those who willed to use them as their own. Tell, me, princess, when was the last time you exercised the authority and rights of title and didn’t let others decide for you?” he narrowed his eyes at her, piercing her with his gaze.

Ildea remained silent for a long moment, her fists were clenched and her eyes staring at the ground at her feet. She was upset, but she did not reply, maybe she did not know how?

While their showdown took place, I listened to Kalderan’s arguments, and indeed, I found them resonating with something inside of me. What he said brought a tinge of pain to my chest, but I didn’t know the reason behind it.

“T-That may be true... but... the others... when father’s personality changed and...” she tried to speak, but her words were marked by the weakness and hopelessness she felt at this moment.

“Those are excuses not actions. Do not blame others for your lack of will and desire to act for your own good. A wise man once told me that it is easy to point the blame at someone, but it’s damn hard to look in the mirror and admit your own mistakes. The more you try to find blame in others, the harder it will be for you to accept the current situation as it is and then focus solely on finding a solution.” Kalderan broke eye contact with her and then looked down at his guns.

When I saw this, he reminded me of a man who didn’t preach theory from a book but rather from his own bitter experience.

“Ildea, I think, he is right, and although it sounds unfair, you know he said the truth. But you know?” I showed her a soft smile “I don’t really think it matters what you thought and how you saw things until now. You are a human, you grow, you learn, you adapt. Whether you made a mistake now or not, it doesn’t matter. Like Kalderan said, focusing on the solution is the best thing to do.”

Well, it was easy for me to say all of that, but when it came down to it, both me and Ildea had to put it into practice. I was not any different from her in this matter. Rather, I could not even put a single role on my list which I wanted to assume in this life. Sure, I knew sometimes what I wanted to do and what to gain or achieve, but a role felt like it was something else.

Seeing how Ildea didn’t reply, Kalderan let out a sigh and then told us “If you don’t know what roles to assume for yourself, try thinking about what roles there are and what roles other people assumed for themselves. Well, if you don’t care about it, you can just ignore me, it matters little to me.” he shrugged.

“A role... I never thought about what role I can have in my life just what my role was in the politics of this country. As a Princess, I don’t really think I have that much liberty to choose... The moment I return to mother’s side, my ability to do anything will be little to nothing.” as Ildea continued to speak, the tone of voice slowly turned into one of impotence and sadness.

I was not the only one who noticed this. Kalderan furrowed his brow in displeasure and tossed her a glare.

“Were you that brainwashed by the nobles in your palace that you can’t see that right now you are neither a noble nor a Princess? You are like us now, a commoner who can die on the side of the road and have everyone ignore them as they walk past them. The reigns, the chains that bind you, the lack of freedom you mentioned, where is it out here, in this place? Where are those rules that restrain your morals and ethics?” he asked, albeit in a mocking tone of voice.

Ildea did not receive the backtalk very well, she glared at him as though she was about to rip his head off, but then, something happened. The look in her eyes softened and then she looked down at her own two hands. Her lips trembled and parted, whispering some words that not even I could hear. She then let out a sigh of submission and looked back at Kalderan.

There was a deep sadness in her eyes, and the words she spoke gave off a terrible loneliness “They aren’t here... There are no chains, no ropes, nothing... I’m free, yet still in my cage.”

“Whether you want to get out of it or not is your choice, Ildea, not ours. You will always be free to make your own choice, it’s just a matter of whether or not you’re conscious of the choices you have.” Kalderan told us.

“Risha not understand anything... Risha lost...” the woman said as she looked at us with spiraling eyes.

I gently patted her on the head and then told her “There. There.”

Tamara wasn’t even paying attention to us anymore, she was chasing bugs in the nearby shrubs. If anyone had a lesson about freedom to teach, that was this little innocent relliar.

“We should stop talking about this...” Ildea said as she looked away and held her right shoulder. “But thank you... You gave me something to think about. I never thought anyone would have the courage to tell me something like that and yes... right now... there’s nothing left of my nobility.”

“Hmph!” Kalderan crossed his arms at his chest and broke eye contact.

These subjects were a bit heavy to talk about without a good pint of beer and maybe one or two bottles of țuică. As they say, when a bit tipsy from the heat in their stomachs, men would tend to debate matters of philosophy, politics, science, and women, of course.

Well, that was what my father said at least, I never got the chance back on Earth to get drunk with my friends from High School.

Although the subject soured our mood, we our road towards Mathias. We were still at a fair distance from the town’s gates, but I could already spot several travelers waiting in line to get the clear from the guard.

“Imagine if they had the concept of a passport.” I said at one point.

“What’s a ‘parshcort’?” asked Risha who tilted her head at the strange word.

“A document that identifies you as a legal resident in a certain country. Usually, you would be required to carry it with you wherever you went, but on this continent, there is no such thing. Most people either use a Guild Card or the word of mouth from a traveling merchant.” Kalderan explained.

“Hm? It does not sound like a bad idea. Maybe we could make something similar to a Guild Card or make the Guild Card mandatory for everyone?” Ildea pondered.

“Wouldn’t that be a waste of noble money?” Kalderan mocked.

“I’m starting to suspect that maybe you don’t like me?” Ildea narrowed her eyes at him.

“Nah, not you, just those high and mighty nobles.” he smirked.

“Are you mocking me?” she asked.

“Do you think of yourself as a high and mighty noble? Oh, what a surprise!” Kalderan remarked.

“Enough, children, you can bite your heads off after we get settled in the inn.” I told the two.

“What?” they both glared at me now.

“We’re almost there.” I pointed at the town.

Mathias was like a copy of Soldra, with tall sturdy walls that protected the people living inside from the dangers lurking outside. From what I could see, there were a lot more guards patrolling the walls of this town. There were almost as many as you would find in a small city. When compared to a city from Earth, I could only imagine it being as big as half of Sinaia or a quarter of Brașov, but I could be wrong. It has been a while since I last saw a map of Romania.

The only actual places I could really compare them with were Tomeron, Andromeda, and Drakaria, but the difference between those three and this town were huge. The dragons built tall structures filled with a sense of strength and superiority, while those built by human hands felt as though they had been struck by a heavy wave of depression. There was no energy in them, no desire to expand, no traces of development. The peasants roaming around the town looked as though they were going to fall and die any second now. The nobles didn’t even bat an eye at them, and the relationship between men and women was deplorable, the latter didn’t have much to say in the matters of the first. Then again, that last one was more or less a standard for human civilizations in this world.

While I was pondering about this stuff to relax my mind after being bombarded with Kalderan’s philosophy, I noticed a carriage approaching us at a high speed. It was of the same model as the one the merchant from our previous mission had. The only difference laid in the color, this one was dark brown instead of black.

Another slaver? Did I pass by them last night without noticing? I wondered as I couldn’t quite remember seeing them on our way here.

We took a step back and allowed the hurried merchant to reach the gates.

As soon as he reached Mathias, I saw someone wearing a black robe with gold thread on it jumping out of the carriage and beginning to argue with one of the guards. The other travelers looked annoyed by this, but they were still too far away from us to understand what was going on.

“I wonder what happened?” Risha asked when we were at about 50 meters away from them.

“I think there’s a problem with his paperwork.” said Kalderan.

“Probably. Oh, look! The guard’s making him take out all of his slaves.” I pointed out.

The merchant was clearly furious about this, but the one who made him do it was smiling. He was enjoying this.

It was understandable and the merchant probably approached him with a bad attitude. Anyone would be annoyed by something like that at such an early hour in the morning, especially when considering the fact that there was no such thing as coffee in this world. Or it had yet to be discovered by some wandering explorer.

“Those are some rather good slaves. They will fetch a good price.” commented Ildea, but the rest of us remained quiet.

I looked at the poor souls dragged out of the carriage. Chains bound their arms and legs, preventing them from running away, and a heavy metal collar laid heavy around their necks. Most of them looked around with empty eyes, as if they had lost all hope, while the others retained their rebellious souls.

Most of them were humans of different skin colors and different builds. When looking at them, it made me wonder for a moment how you would call a black-skinned individual when there was no Africa or America to tie them to, maybe black variant? Anyway, among the humans were also two dwarfs and one elf. Those three wore better clothes than the others because they were more expensive, if I were to give my two cents on it.

Still, what came as a surprise for me was the last slave to be pulled out of the carriage.

His eyes still held an undying will and the fierceness of a soldier ready to step on the battlefield. His big body and chiseled muscles were a sign of the fact that he had been fed properly, and his dark-brown scales still retained their healthy shine. With a long tail ending in needled spikes, and a pair of wings folded on his back, this man was without a doubt a full-fledged dragon in Awakened form.

“Wait here for a bit.” I told the others and then walked up to the dragon.

I looked straight into his eyes, and he did not flinch at all. He was strong, not a pushover.

“Who are you?” I asked in the Eastern Draconian language.

“...” he did not reply.

In his eyes, I definitely wasn’t a someone he could trust, but maybe there was a way to do this.

Looking at my other slaves, I saw that none of them was paying attention to me, then I looked to the merchant. That man was still arguing with the guard, pointing at his documents as if they were supposed to mean something.

When I turned my gaze back to the dragon, I closed my eyes for a moment and when I opened them again, they were the same as his, slit. The sudden change took him by surprise as he parted his lips and furrowed his brow.

“Who are you, dragon?” I asked again in the Easter Draconian language.

“Coshun... Coshun Seyendraugher.” he replied.

“What?” I blinked surprised when I heard the name.

“I said that I’m called Coshun Seyendraugher.” he repeated himself with a low growl.

“So, I didn’t mishear it.” I said and then closed my eyes to turn them back again into those of a human.

What in the name of all that’s holy is the supposedly DEAD prince of Albeyater doing HERE?! I shouted in my mind.

When I opened my eyes, I looked at him with a furrowed brow and then turned my gaze towards the guard, who was completely immersed in annoying the living daylight out of the merchant. This could only mean bad things for me.

I have to finish this, and I wish to do this thing in such a way that will allow me to acquire the slavery rights over Coshun from this merchant. I thought and with this, I activated my 100 Luck.

Walking up to the two of them, I introduced myself in a polite tone of voice.

“Good day, fine gentlemen, my name is Alkelios Yatagai, can you happen to tell me what’s the holdup? If there is a problem, maybe I can be of assistance? I am a man specialized in many diverse talents!” I bragged a bit.

“What?! I do not care who you are! Why are you interrupting me? I was trying to explain to this numskull the importance of these documents that if ignored can very well lead to his head rolling down at his feet!” the merchant barked while waving his precious papers in the air.

“Kind merchant, I believe that this poor man may not be at fault. Maybe he knows not what he’s doing?” I asked, trying to appeal to him.

“Oh, no no no! He definitely DOES know what he’s doing! He’s annoying ME!” the merchant shouted and pointed at the guard.

“Then please allow me to have a word with him, maybe I can persuade him?” I told him with a smile.

“Suit yourself! I was just thinking to take a break to catch my breath anyway!” he scoffed and crossed his arms at his chest as he walked away.

Now that I had his approval, I approached the guard, and with a smile on my face, I asked him.

“Hello there, kind gentleman!” I began to talk using a tone of voice that resembled that of a pompous lower noble that was trying to impress his superior.

“What do you want? If you are looking to get inside the town, maybe I should do a complete search on you and your friends there as well? Hm?” he smirked as he was already undressing Ildea and Risha with his eyes.

If Seryanna was here, I might have already killed this poor bastard, but since it was these two, I restrained myself.

“Oh, come on, I know that you are annoyed at the merchant over there, but there’s no need to take it out on us, is there?”

He narrowed his eyes at me. At the very least, I caught his attention.

“At the end of the day, all of us desire something from our efforts. The question is what would be required to put you in a good mood? The merchant, after all, hasn’t broken any law, has he?” I asked with the smile of a fox coaxing a hen to jump off the branch.

“Hm, you do have a point, but that bugger managed to annoy me with his high and mighty attitude.” the guard said rubbing his chin.

“Is that so? Then, what would be required to put you in a better mood?”

“Hm... How about if you get him to sell me that blond girl over there? She looks like a fine woman to have in the house, but I have only two silvers.” he smirked.

“Is that so?” I nodded. “Then let me see what I can do, but...” I stopped and then looked the guard in the eyes, a bit of my killing intent was aimed at him, which made him flinch “I do hope that you’re not thinking about going back on this deal, mister guard.”

“No.” he shook his head, but from the way he held his hand on the hilt of his sword, his tensed body, and the gulp of empty air he took afterwards, I knew that he felt the difference in strength between the two of us.

It was a good thing he was perceptive to these things because the other guard, who was standing next to the gate, was yawning and picking his ear.

Walking over to the merchant, I greeted him with a smile and then began my persuasive negotiations.

“I’m afraid I learned the reason why he doesn’t wish to let you in.” I said with a sigh and shook my head.

“Huh? What is it?” the merchant raised an eyebrow at me and then tossed a glare at the guard. “Does that rotten tomato sack want gold?” he asked.

“No. Nothing so simple.” I shook my head.

“What?” the merchant’s interest was piqued by this.

“I’m afraid that his superior has something against... their kind.” and then I pointed at Coshun. “No one knows the exact reason, but he came to hate them terribly so. Although, I don’t see why anyone would hate having a draconian around. They are sturdy and make perfect meat shields in a dungeon!” I declared with a smile.

“Is that so.” the merchant rubbed his chin.

“Well, that being said, you can’t enter the town with him.” I shrugged my shoulders.

“That’s outrageous! There must be something YOU can do about it!” he retorted and pointed at me.

Huh? How in the blazes did he come to that conclusion?! But fine... this actually works for me. I thought to myself and then with a weak cough, I asked him “If I’m not mistaken, you wish to stay more than a day or two in Mathias, right?”

“Of course! I planned to set up shop here for the next week and sell at least half of my current merchandise!” he barked and then let out dejected sigh “And here I thought my lizard slave will be the sale of the week! What rotten luck!” he cried.

“If that’s true, then I might just have an idea on how you could turn up this whole mess into a profitable business for the both of us.”

“Profitable you say?” he raised an eyebrow at me.

The glimmer of greed sparkled in his brown eyes.

“Yes.” I nodded “I happened to be in need of a new meat shield. If you look at my party, you can see that there’s no one left to fulfill that job.” I pointed back at my friends.

The merchant glanced at them and rubbed his beard. “A bit skinny they are, true.” he nodded and then looked back at me “What do you suggest then?”

“Well, the guard over there happens to fancy the blonde woman over there.” I pointed at the slave with long dirty blonde hair, a thin waist, and B cup breasts. “Is she a fighter as well?” I asked as I looked at her thick arms and legs.

“Yes. She was an adventurer until a week ago. Her friend sold her for having messed up their hunt, which resulted in the death of three of her teammates.” he explained.

“That’s terrible. But here’s what we’ll do, I’ll buy the blonde woman and the draconian from you right now. You make the slave contract for the woman to the guard over there and the draconian to me. I won’t stay more than a day in Mathias, so this won’t upset the superior of that good man. This way, if the guard happens to fancy the woman a bit more than usual, we can both gain a bit of something from him in the future. Like information or maybe easy passage on a busy day?” I winked at him.

“Oh! That is a good idea, especially since you are paying for the two of them! But why would you spend so much coin on this business?” he asked tossing me a suspicious glance.

“Does the coin whisper the name of the pocket it doesn’t want to go in?” I asked.

“What? No? Just let me say one thing.” he narrowed his eyes at me. “My gut tells me that there’s something fishy going on here, but a gold coin is still a gold coin! Especially when it comes from a generous customer.” he smirked.

“Then let’s talk business, shall we?” I said and then urged him to move to the side of the road, where we could talk in more privacy.

About half an hour later, 175 gold coins vanished from my pocket. Coshun was terribly expensive, while the woman was worth only 25 coins. While she didn’t seem all that happy that she got sold off to the guard, I wished her good luck in her life and advised the guard on treating her as though she wasn’t a slave if he ever planned on winning her heart.

To be fair, I did not feel like there was any need for me to meddle in their affairs. Most of what I told the merchant was a blatant lie. It was possible he suspected a part of this, but as long as I got that slave contract of Coshun, it didn’t really matter to me.

In the end, this dragon was the adopted son of my friend, Elliessara Seyendraugher. How could I possibly turn a blind eye to his predicament and move on as though nothing had happened?

“So, in the end, you bought a slave.” Kalderan told me as we were walking down the main road of Mathias, looking for an inn where we could stay for the night.

“Yup!” I said with a smile on my lips as I was looking at the written contract in my hands, the proof of my ownership over the draconian Coshun.

“What for?” Ildea asked curiously.

“I’ll tell you once we reach the inn. There are too many ears here.” I replied and then looked towards a group of civilians who cast a gaze of suspicion our way.

“Whatever...” Kalderan muttered and increased his steps.

“Wait up!” Risha called out to him as she followed closely behind.

Ildea kept looking Coshun with curious eyes, while the big dragon was ignoring her completely. His expression was like a carefully chiseled rock, unchanging no matter how many years passed by. It warded off anyone who was weaker than him, and for the most part that included almost any human who happened to cross his path. There was not even one spec of desire to interact with them, mostly because he did not like them.

Who could blame him? After all, Coshun spent the last 42 years in chains, jumping from one slave master to another, retaining his will and desire to fight, the last drops of pride as a Seyendraugher he had left.

But maybe this was exactly what caught the curiosity of the young princess. She was scanning him from head to toe and appeared to be curious in his tail and wings as she kept touching them. Coshun, on the other hand, wasn’t showing any reaction to her pestering actions.

“He’s strooong~!” she said in a tone of awe.

“Well, yeah...” I replied and then let out a sigh.

It took us around twenty minutes or so to find an inn with enough free rooms for all six of us. The women were to sleep in their own room, while us men bunked up in another one. Before we headed off to explore the town and check in with the local Adventurers Guild, we gathered inside the men’s room to give an explanation on why I bought a slave.

“We’re waiting.” said Kalderan as he crossed his arms at his chest and raised an eyebrow at me.

With a cough to clear my throat, I took a step forward and began my explanation.

“First of all, allow me to introduce you to Coshun Seyendraugher, one of the many Princes of Albeyater Kingdom.”

This line alone was enough to make them understand that the dragon who stood before them was an important political figure, but I could see that all of them were wondering the same thing: Why was he here and as slave of all things?

So, I answered them before they even tried to ask.

“Four decades ago, when the humans invaded Albeyater Kingdom, they attacked an area that is now known as Scar Battlefield. There, the Brekkar Army met them head on and defeated them in a couple of days. The defeat of the human invaders was as swift as their initial attack. During that commotion, there were many dragons and dragonesses who were captured and brought back to the Human Continent as war slaves.” I explained.

“That reminds, me there was an influx of draconian slaves back then, but I didn’t know it was because of the invasion. Unfortunately, I didn’t study that much about it. I always regarded it as one of the many battles mentioned in our thick history books.” said Ildea as she looked at him with curious eyes.

“But isn’t a prince an important political figure? How come they didn’t use him as a pawn or asked for some sort of reward for returning him?” Kalderan asked.

“Because... well, they didn’t believe he was actually part of the royal family of Albeyater. Coshun is an adopted child of the King and Queen there, so his scales, as you can see, are dark-brown and not gold.” I explained.

“But weren’t yours gold?” Ildea asked immediately.

“I have a few golden scales as well, but those were the result of my transformation from an Earthling to a half-human half-dragon.” I explained.

“So basically, this guy is the actual dragon who was presumed to be dead decades ago, right?” Kalderan asked pointing at him.

I nodded “Basically, yes. Returning him will earn us some good points with Feryumstark. Maybe he won’t be too harsh on me for missing from the court for three years now!” I laughed.

Coshun furrowed his brown when he heard the name of his father. With what he knew so far, he had no idea that I was acquainted with the good king, which led me to the second part of this meeting.

“Now, I think I should explain why I know all of this.” I told him and showed him a smile.

From within my [Black Hole] I pulled out the Ring of Denial. Tamara recognized the item from back when I freed her and waved her tail in the air while her little furry ears twitched two times.

“Now to do this...” I said and placed the ring around Coshun’s neck. “Stand still. I’ll get rid of the collar now and then I’ll explain how I know your father.” I told him in Eastern Draconian.

The Ring of Denial was the item I made with my godlike blacksmithing skill to counter the effects of Tamara’s slave collar. It could technically be used for any other similar item. It could even work to remove the enchants cast upon a metal pipe or a barrel of preserved food.

Although for Coshun and Ildea this thing was a big mystery, everyone else here was familiar with it. As to whether I found it to be dangerous for them to learn of it or not, I wanted to believe that being as transparent as I could about my intentions with them would prove more useful on the long run than trying to make up a lie about it. Trust in any relationship was gained when you made the first step.

Besides, it was not as though if they found one thing or another about me was that big of a deal. Any country with a good enough information network could find out.

Just like it happened when I used the ring on Tamara, the item shrunk to the size of the collar and attached itself to the material. The spells to remove the enchants on it were cast and then I slowly pulled on the ring, increasing its diameter and dragging the collar with it until it snapped.

Once it was done, I removed the collar and placed the Ring of Denial back in the [Black Hole].

With a knee on the ground and a hand on my chest, I bowed to Coshun and then said:

“My name is Alkelios Yatagai Draketerus, the husband of Seryanna Draketerus, the current Duchess of the Draketerus territories. I serve directly under her Majesty Queen Elliessara Seyendraugher and his Majesty King Feryumstark Seyendraugher. Prince Coshun Seyendraugher, it will be my honor to escort you back to the Albeyater Kingdom.”