[Michael's POV]
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"That upside down leaf mark is the slave mark of The Vintages… you aren't even trying-" and looking at the leaf mark on the side of her neck, I brushed my hand past it
[Time Rejection!]
And the leaf mark got erased, leaving no mark at all. Turning back at the guard, I asked,
"What leaf?"
My eyes looked dead serious as I observed that guy, who was looking at me, stupefied. Observing Irene, he looked at me as if I were an idiot or something,"All right. Go… I don't want to argue with an idiot."
I did not understand what he meant, but as we were passing, I heard him say,"to free his own slave.. Just what kind of idiot is he? She is simply going to be caught again…"
Which made me wonder more about that mark. Sadly, none of us knew anything about it at all.
Walking into the shop, everyone gasped as they looked at us, more specifically at Irene. Their eyes were pretty much filled with disgust before they took a few steps back. The receptionist almost moved towards us to kick us out, but then…
"Are you Sir Michael?" One of the men from far behind walked towards us hurriedly. His eyes were smiling until he saw Irene… though a glint of disgust also appeared in his eyes. He then changed it immediately before he spoke,"Sir Leeway informed us about your arrival."
'Didn't I ask him to send a butler or something? Well.. this is better,' I thought as I gave it a bit of thought before looking at that guy.
"Manager?" The receptionist spoke with surprise as she observed the exchange between us and I nodded at him,"Show us your best pieces. I have come specifically for her."
I pointed at Irene, making his eyes widen while everyone else gasped out loud… they were looking at me with a really odd face now. I looked around before I sighed,"can you hurry up?"
The manager was smart as he nodded immediately"follow me. Hey, Layla, come with us."
Layla, the receptionist, though skeptical, still nodded before she followed us as she moved beside the manager. A slightly heated argument began between the duo as they walked ahead. The topic was obviously Irene.
"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Irene spoke as she looked at me and I smiled,"Yup. It's pretty much fine. Did you forget who I am?"
And her eyes glinted a little as she blushed behind me, while Angela was grinning from ear to ear. We reached the edge of the shop where the clothes were more extravagant than the previously displayed ones, and the manager and receptionist were still arguing..
"Which one do you like, Irene?" I asked as I looked at her and she began pondering as she walked around observing each and everyone of those clothes. Her eyes went through various clothes before she turned to the receptionist,"do you provide customization?"
It stupefied the receptionist as she looked at Irene, talking to her with no sort of fear. It was as if she were talking with an equal.
"To a slave like you-" the receptionist was about to retort, but the manager stepped in between as he spoke,
"We do… just that they are a bit more costly." "It's fine. Just give her what she wants," I said as I looked at the manager with a smile that wasn't really one.
"Then will you please come with us to the measuring room?" an awkward smile formed on the manager's face as he took us to a room behind the one where we were where various machines were present.
"Layla, take her measurements and help her find what she wants," the manager ordered her to do it, and despite being reluctant, she nodded. Her eyes were glaring at Irene before she took her measurements and asked her what kind of dress she wanted.
While they were busy, I looked at the manager as I asked,"Can I ask you a question?"
The manager gave an odd smile as he nodded before I asked,"Can you tell me why do you… or perhaps all the people around treat slaves as if they are something beneath you? Is it just a simple ideology, or is there something deeper behind this?"
After I asked, the manager turned quiet for a couple of seconds before he sighed as he asked,"Can you answer me this first… you are not from here, are you?"ραпdαs `n?ν?| сom
I nodded as I answered,"All three of us aren't to be honest… we just have our circumstances."
My answers made him widen his eyes as he asked again,"she is not a slave, is she?"
"That… is difficult to answer… but she is not what you take her for… now… answer me my question," I spoke as I looked at him and he seemed much more relieved than before as he spoke,
"Okay… I will regard you as a child and explain from the beginning. Will that be fine?"
I nodded at him before I observed Layla moving towards the machine as she began sewing the dress.
"Since you are connected to Mr. Leeway Rosalyn, I assume you know about the other races, too." He spoke as I gave him a glance before turning back to Irene again while he continued,
"In the history of this world, only humans existed, but at some point, various races began to come out in light. Vampires, werewolves, undead, ghouls and various other races. Not only them, but people using dark and light powers too emerged. While each of them had their own history, there was a specific race that was known for buying and selling humans… They were called Goblins."
"The green monsters?" I asked as I looked at the manager, but he shook his head as he added,"not the fantasy kingdom you read in the stories. That's just made up by the goblin haters… Goblins are humans who use the power of greed and sloth to control other beings. They aren't exactly ugly, but their ways and actions are.
Back to the topic, they used various humans and bred with them. Girls used to get caught all over the villages and settlements and kept for breeding purposes. This continued for more than a century as an entire race of the bred race came into picture.
Long story short, rebellions and wars occurred and the bred race gained their freedom and lived a couple of centuries on their own… before the goblins rose in power again. They gained some kind of dark power, which made them more powerful than ever.
Imposing the Slave Law as they hunted the people on whom they once ruled, they started business in prostitution and other vile things as they used to do… "
"Let's see… It's the goblins who spread hate against the slaves? And they are strong. No one messes with them?" I asked as I looked at the manager and he sighed,
"That's the jist of it. Though the hate isn't just from that… the slaves… they are more than just poor people… they are assassins, thieves… in order to live and survive, they started doing everything that was wrong and worst… earning the infamy more than ever… and the result is… what you just witnessed right now."
My eyes concentrated on Irene for a while. While I could go on and look into how the Irene of this reality ended up being in the situation she was… I decided it would be better to let her decide on what to do and what not to. It was her life, after all. She should make the decisions of who gets to live and who dies.
Though after hearing so much about this… I was actually happy…
'I can easily level up without worrying about killing innocent people,' I grinned a little as I observed Irene making Angela chuckle a little before I saw Irene going inside with Layla.
'How long before Irene dies or gets thrashed by Layla or anything like that if I and Angela don't interfere?'
[1 hour: 14 minutes: 16 seconds]
'Hmmm. So Layla is smart enough to not do anything stupid behind our backs, huh?' I was kind of surprised, after all the hostility she was showing us. My eyes turned to the manager as he was analyzing me and, more importantly, Angela. He looked quite mesmerized, to say the least…
While I was wondering a little about a couple of things regarding my next move and stuff, and I wondered if I could… simply wipe out the goblins? How much Exp would that be?
'Not like we got anything else to do,' I thought as I turned to Angela and a certain idea appeared in my mind. While we are here… why not build a secret organization of our own? Hmmm… though I would need to find my people again… George and others… I wonder what they are doing right now…
"Hey! How do I look?" I saw Irene happily walking out of the room. Her facial scars were still there, while she smiled like a beautiful maiden. Wearing that sleek black top and blue jeans, she looked much better now.
"Is there any shop where we can get a makeover without unnecessary trouble?" I asked the manager, and he pondered a little before speaking,
"If you don't mind, I can do that myself. I have an expertise regarding women's fashion from top to bottom." I looked at him, as I used [Inspect] for a few seconds before nodding,"sure. That'd be fine. Just put the bill in Leeway's name."
And he nodded while Layla just looked at our interaction… stupefied as her eyes were threatening to pop out of her sockets.
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