Milia was stunned by what I said. She was still confused and doubtful about having little girls do the work that even much older humans have difficulty in doing. But she was kind enough not to push it and stop her questions there.
I looked at the people behind her who were trembling and looked weak.
"Have you had anything to eat or drink before coming out here?" I asked them.
They glanced at each other fearfully before weakly shaking their heads.
I looked at Milia with a questioning gaze.
"I have no idea what they took in or what was injected in them. I can't let them consume something that might cause them to suffer or die." She explained.
"I see." I nodded in understanding. What she said was indeed right, we cannot give them something without understanding what was inside them.
Milia looked at them with pity and apologetic eyes.
"Please hang on for the meantime, our knights should be back with healers and our potion maker should be able to find out what to give you when we get back to the castle." I tried to comfort them.
It honestly pained me to see kids as young as Athy, looking weak and hopeless. They all sat on the ground with their knees cuddled towards their bodies. They do not seem to listen or care to anything that was said to them and they didn't care about their surroundings.
Pitiful.
They were indeed pitiful. These kids should have been playing on the streets or in the meadows with other kids. They should be taken care of and protected by their parents. But here they are, being starved, abused and experimented on. That damned Karciel really had it easy by dying. I would have loved to have him tortured, to let off some steam.
Sounds of wheels brought me back to reality as the carriages have returned quickly. They must have rode like madmen to get back here so fast.
Haktor came down from his steed as well as some other knights, but the one person I did not expect to see was my youngest sister, Athy, who came down from one of the carriages with Loki and Anderson.
"Athy." I called her name with a slight frown. "What are you doing here?"
Athy approached us and went directly to Milia.
"I heard there was an elf, a mermaid, a succubus and a lycan here so I came to check." She answered as he looked at Milia up and down. "Show me your ears."
"Athy.." I sighed. "Please remember your manners."
Athy looked at me weirdly.
"I have a higher status than her." She replied nonchalantly and turned back to Milia. "Ears."
I sighed again and threw Milia an apologetic glance.
She gave me a smile and squatted to Athy's height before pushing her hair behind her ears.
Long pointed ears with different earrings became visible to Athy. She went to one side and to the other to check, but she was respectful enough not to touch them. After checking, she nodded and mumbled a 'Thank you.'
"Where are the mermaid and the succubus?" She asked me.
"Seb's got them, but check them out when we get back." I told her sternly.
She rolled her eyes at me sarcastically before moving to check on the prisoners behind us.
"Elaheh told me to that we should bring them to the castle as soon as possible." She said. "She said that they need immediate intervention."
"Okay." I nodded and motioned for the knights to put the prisoners in the carriage. I also asked them to put the boxes into the carriage I rode as they were important.
When they finished loading everything and everyone, I got into the carriage with Miss, Bloom, Milia and Athy. Loki sat on the front with the coachman while Anderson used a horse to guard us from the outside. So our caravan consists of us, the non-living items from the auction, the prisoners in the dungeon that Milia rescued and the documents from the office.
Athy and I sat beside each other while Miss Bloom who had already started to read the documents and Milia who was quietly and was blatantly staring at Athy, sat opposite us. I noticed her staring at Athy but when I looked at my sister, she did not seemed to be bothered by it, so I also ignored it. I guess Athy is letting all that staring pass because she did check her earlier.
"Athy, how was mother's tea party?" I asked remembering that mother also had her tea party today.
"It went smoothly." Was her quick answer.
"Did all the invited ones appear?" I asked again while staring out the window.
"They did." She smiled coldly. "And so did some other uninvited guests."
I turned my face towards her.
"Uninvited guests?" I asked with a cold smirk. "So they did show up, huh?"