Chapter 659: Slavery Exists Here
No one notices me looking at them. Which mean that there’s no master level mage in this place. That’s good. The others can take care of themselves.
The lord of the city is corrupt. He raises the taxes and accepted bribes. He then used the money to buy slaves.
That’s right. Slavery exists here. That’s what I found from my Divine Vision.
I don’t remember any people from nobility except for Sara who I just recently learned to be one. But from the look of it, deep in the slum, there are many rich-looking people entering a small building.
The building is small, but that’s only the outer appearance. There’s basement under the building. It’s so large that it was built outside from that building. Even some part of the basement is actually outside the slum. Which can only mean the lord agreed to the building of such basement.
There are may rich-looking people there. And I can see that there’s a slave auction happening right now.
It’s still bright outside. And seeing how they can let the slave auction to happen at this time tells me how corrupt the lord here is.
.....
So many rich people coming means that he also have sponsors. And there’s no agents that Albert can receive reports from. This is one annoying situation.
But how do those slaves just obey order? They wore the collar, but the Magic Restricting collar is only to restrain someone to make them unable to use magic. Is there any other collar that forces the wearer to obey order from their master?
Maybe that’s the case. Maybe the agents sent here were all captured somehow and become slaves. If that’s the case, maybe the circus members will be captured and enslaved as well if we make a mistake.
Well, even if we do, I can just release them with my strength. For now, let’s investigate the lord of this place.
Looking at the city, I can tell which one is the place where the lord lives. The biggest mansion here.
I looked there with my Divine Vision and I can see him being surrounded by women. They were all naked even though it’s broad daylight.
Oh, wait. I just looked at them with my see-through vision so they’re all naked. They’re actually dressed. Though the women are wearing revealing clothes.
Those women are all beauty. But what impresses me the most was the man, the lord of this place. He is actually not fat.
I thought that the lord of this place who loves the life of debauchery would be a fat one. Just like that king of small kingdom that got his whole territory taken by Lynn. I was wrong.
He seems to be working out a lot. Which mean he is quite strong. At least compared to average people. None of us in the circus are average.
Hmm... seeing the beautiful women around him, I’m a bit worried about our female circus members. Let’s discuss it with Burnes and the others then.
I returned back to where the others are and told them about what I found.
“Slavery? I see. Maybe they are trying to see how desperate we are with money. And since we accepted his offer, they will make their move. They will probably capture some of us to become slaves to be sold. Either forcefully or they will try to bribe us,” Burnes said.
That’s also what I thought what the corrupt lord will do. We will be sold as slaves.
“What!? I’m sorry everyone. If only I refused his offer, none of you will experience this,” Thomas apologized as he thought that he”s the one responsible for it.
“No, it’s not your fault. It’s my fault that I asked you to do our show here no matter what,” Burnes said.
“Yes. Let’s blame it all on Burnes. Though isn’t it fine? The lord seems to take a liking to women. All the women in his mansion wore that collar that forces people to obey their master. Since we will have less money, we can just let the women leave the circus,” I suggested.
“Yeah. Let’s do it as Roy said. The women will leave the circus and won’t perform in this city. Don’t enter the city and instead, move away from there. And once you’re away, Roy will use portal so you can go somewhere else,” Burnes said.
“Why? We’re not that weak. We can take care of ourselves. We won’t get enslaved easily,” the female air mage from the circus asked.
“Roy, how do they treat the slaves?” Burnes asked.
Why is he asking me that? And how do I know the answer?
Oh, wait. He’s going to make the women leave the circus. Now I know the answer.
“They separate the male and female slaves. And you suggested the women to leave so us men, at least a few of us, will purposely get captured and be enslaved. Am I right?” I asked Burnes.
“That’s right. If that Slave Collar forces the wearer to obey the master, it will be bad for us if we get caught. The women, we can expect on what those people will do to you. As for the men, we will most likely be used as labor forces. And if Roy get captured, I think he can avoid being forced to wear the collar. Or he can easily rip it off. What do you think, Roy?” Burnes asked.
“So I have no choice but to get captured? Well, I need to test it first. I’ll sneak into the slum and get some collars before I return and test it. Good thing those collars are black. I can swap them with Blobbies if I need to,” I said.
Then we proceed to make a plan.
Basically, the plan is to let the girls leave. And we will let some men to be purposely caught. Including me.
Though I need to test if Aura can be used to protect myself from that collar or not. If I can’t, then we need to swap the collars that will be wrapped around our necks with Blobbies. And then, there’s only our acting skill left.
After getting caught, Burnes and the others will try to get information from other slaves, and see if they can find other agents who might be captured. While I just need to protect the slaves.
After we agree with the plan, I left to get some collars to test on.
This is sneak mission. To make sure that we successfully complete this mission, I need Spot’s help.
It’s been a while that I asked for his help. And when I asked it, he gladly accepted it. And he wrapped around my waist like a belt and used his camouflage skill so we can sneak into the slum.
It’s not hard for me to avoid expert level mages who can sense Spot’s camouflage skill. Though there doesn’t seem to be many of them. And we entered the place where they store a lot of Slave Collars.
Is the lord has someone who can mass-produce these collars? That guy is dangerous.
And what if these collars can actually stop Aura users from doing anything? Forcing me to obey the one who will be appointed as my master?
I need to get rid of all of them. Or maybe I can use them for my sake. Well, I’ll think about it later.
Good thing the collars are black in color. So I swapped some Blobbies with the real collars. Though I make them to be slightly torn in case they were used. That way, if the collar doesn’t work, they will think that it’s because of the damage.
But before testing it, I need to get it appraised first. So I brought the collars to Cassau to get them appraised. And during that time, the female members of the circus, including Wendy, should be leaving.
We told them to make a scene of them, and some male members as well, that they hated the idea of getting lower income so they left the circus. Though we will be reunited in the next city.
The appraisal is done. And I returned back to the circus and told Burnes and the others about the collars.
“So, someone needs to pour magic into the collar first to be recognized as the master. And the wearer will obey the word of the one who is recognized as the master. And if they don’t obey, they will be stabbed by the needles coming out of the collar from around their neck until they obey. And if they keep disobeying the order, their head will be cut off,” Burnes repeated what I told him about the effect of the collar.
“That’s right. For now, I’m going to test it on someone else before testing it on myself. Any volunteer?” I asked.
Now we are testing the collar’s effect. If my Aura can be suppressed by that collar, it will be hard for me to pretend to be a slave. That’s why we need to test it. But I’m testing it on someone first.
And the one who volunteered was Burnes. Well, let’s see how it goes.