"Welcome, kind Sir! What can I help you with today?"
The owner of the shop came forward to greet them, his voice was cheery as he recognized Ron as a patron. He wore expensive clothes and jewelry, framing in gems and silver thread the bulging sphere of his stomach.
Out of the trades that profited the most during wars was slave trading, evidenced by the man's thick frame. His squirmy eyes quickly assessed both Neera and Davina, taking in their features while counting their worth in his mind. He noticed the rope in Neera's hand.
'Ah, so she's not part of the goods. What a pity, she would sell quite well.'
"Hello. We are here to buy some slaves."
"Alrighty! Although I wouldn't mind trading for that one you already have. With how healthy she looks and that pretty face, she would fetch quite a penny in an auction."
Neera immediately stood in front of Davina.
"She's not for sale."
"Huh, a shame then."
The girl could feel the anger emanating from the Ronna at her back, who was itching to test the sharpness of her knife against the area beneath his chin. This was not the time to play hero, and although Neera also felt the urge to slap the idiotic grin from the man's face as they walked inside, they could not draw attention to themselves right now.
"So, tell me, what is it you're looking for? Hands for labor? Whores?"
The man took a look at Neera trailing behind them and whispered towards Ron.
"Or maybe you need some durable pets, those that don't die after the first minutes of play?"
Ron shivered in disgust. He knew some of the nobles partook in this sickening practices, but he had never had the chance to see them for himself, so receiving such a crude confirmation shook him to his core, prompting him to interrupt the slave trader before he could continue with his 'sales pitch'.
"We are here to buy personnel."
"Oh! A big sale! Come over here, I will take you to our most quality products. They can last working without rest for days, and have no trouble with scarce enduring periods of low food."
Davina forced herself to pry her eyes away from the cages by her side, hearing the subtle clinking of chains as the captives shuffled away from them when they passed. The air smelled of manure and people, and the windows were mostly covered by planks to limit the exits, so there was only the one they had entered from.
All the faces were devoid of emotion, the bodies moved out of the pure instinct of a trained dog that learned to never walk too close to its master after too many kicks to its side. Grime covered all their features, but Davina could still recognize her same skin tone among the rest, making her chest squeeze in anguish.
So this was the other option if she hadn't been sent to the Duke? To be defiled and abused so many times that not even a trace of life could be seen on her face? To have the essence of unknown men still glued to her thighs while she laid like cattle waiting for the next owner to take his turn?
She could even see some people with disjointed or entirely missing limbs, a sign of 'discounted' hanging above their heads. Festering wounds were not a surprise, considering the conditions they were being retained in, but they still managed to scar her, haunting her dreams for nights to come.
The trader pulled aside a curtain at the end of the shop, revealing larger cages in which the 'items' displayed could stand, in contrast to the ones outside, where the captives would have to steeply bend their waists to be able to do so. They were all men, with strong builds and scarred bodies. Neera recognized the same markings she bore on her back and thighs: whip slashes.
Many of them were members of the Ronna, but she could see some with different features, foreign to her uncultured stare. They all directed their gazes to the ground, having learned the hard way not to look at the trader or his guests' eyes.
"Here they are. The best of the best. They will last you a couple of years at the very least, and they are mostly still in their prime."
While the man rambled about the men's quality and bargain-level pricing, Ron walked around the space, pondering. With their current budget they had a limit as to how many they could buy. This whole situation tied his stomach in knots, but he knew this was a necessary evil in order to get their fleet up and running.
Taking aside the fact that there were barely any able-bodied men left in this port city, their budget had become quite constricted after taking out the part they needed to invest in the fleet. They could only take a limited amount of men and make the most of them while they could.
'The prices will only continue to rise due to the war, so it is best to buy now. Besides, they could make the construction of the fleet come along faster.'
He remembered the words Neera had told him earlier that day and pursed his lips.
"Okay. We will take thirty men-"
"Ten."
Both Ron and the slave trader turned towards Neera, who was coldly scrutinizing the people in the cages.
Some of them finally looked up at the surprise of hearing such a young voice.
The sight of the neatly dressed girl was startling, specially when the full weight of her grey eyes fell on them.
"Why?"
"We can't afford many men, so it's best to get more even if the quality is not as good. Thirty men will not be enough for what we need them to do."
The trader was surprised at the girl's eloquence, curious as to what they were intending to use them for. Alas, he knew secrecy was the heart of his business, so he opted to keep his doubts to himself. He looked at Ron with a questioning gaze, to which the man answered with a nod. He thought it was odd for such a young girl to be making the shots, but then he remembered her talking about her master with this man, deducing she was pretty much following orders.
'What an interesting choice for an aide, though.'
Neera poceded to point out with her fingers, choosing one by one the men she deemed most suitable.
Davina noticed they were all those who adverted their eyes back down after they found her staring straight at them. Three foreigners and two Ronna.
"Are you sure about these? Some of the others here have a better physique."
Neera gazed at the fat man, not bothering to hide her disgust at his blatant attempt to make them cash out more gold.
"No, they are fine. We don't only care about their strength, but also their character."
She then proceeded to the previous room, looking again through the rows of cages and the people trapped inside them. Her finger trembled a bit as she pointed out once more the ones she had chosen. Her mind made horrifying calculations while she walked.
'He already has gangrene, even if we take him out of here he won't last long. She seems to have lost consciousness due to malnutrition, getting her back to full health will take months of treatment and resources we could use to feed the rest.'
She walked and walked, holding the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes, blurring her vision to the point where she had to stop for a moment since she couldn't see their faces anymore.
When her gaze cleared up, her pupils zeroed on a young girl, 'probably a couple years older than her. Her chest was bare and her legs had blood and a white substance on them, but what was most impactful to Neera were the girl's eyes. They looked dead.
She didn't seem to respond to any stimuli, not even when she came closer and knocked her nuckles on the cage, trying to see if she would shift her gaze from the light that came through the entrance door.
The girl didn't budge.
'Ah. She's too far gone.'
Neera stood there frozen in place, just like the girl sitting inside the cage, oblivious to the asking voices of both Ron and the slave trader until she felt a soft tug at her hand.
It was the rope around Davina's neck tensing after she took a step back to call her attention, bringing her back to reality like a lifeline to a drowning man, breaking the water's surface to take a big breath of air.
"Miss? Is that all?"
The girl clenched her fists and squeezed her eyes. When they opened once more, the uncertainty was gone from her irises.
"No."
Neera continued marching down the hallway, turning her back to the unresponsive girl who's retinas soaked in the image of the child's dark silhouette contrasting against the burning light of day outside.
The girl's lips moved in a barely audible mumble.
"Free."
Although no one was able to hear it.
----
"Alright then, this should be enough."
Ron handed over four golden ingots to the slave trader, who greedily grabbed them and stashed them in a locked box at his desk.
"It is a pleasure doing business with you."
Ron couldn't say anything back, only wanting to leave this place as soon as possible. He adjusted his collar, nodded and left.
Outside, Neera was already sitting at the front of a cart while Davina held the reigns in her hands. Behind them, seven caged carts packed with people lay waiting for them to start the procession towards the empty warehouse they had bought a couple of hours before coming here.
It would serve as their center of operations, as well as a place to store the materials for the ships and housing for the newcomers.
All of these arrangements had been prepared by Count Evernon in advance, given his position in this business was that of management of the assets they held while Neera provided the funds and oversaw the correct handling of the money.
This was the only part of the process where the investor 'Laurier' had specific rights written down in the contract: the hiring of people, or in this case the buying of the workers.
The odd caravan made its way through the city, catching some eyes as it passed by, soon to be discarded as nothing out of the ordinary.
Neera looked at the passing scenery while remembering her parting words with that repulsive man.
"Alrighty! Those are sixty two men and thirty one women for a total of ninety three slaves."
She didn't want to see this man's face any longer, but she couldn't help but ask.
"How many do you have?"
"How many what?"
"...Slaves."
"Oh, after all those you took I must have... Around forty left?"
She immediately felt a little bit better. They couldn't help them all, but at least it was a considerable amount. That was until the man spoke again.
"Those are the ones for labor. The ones for... Other purposes must be around two hundred more. I didn't show you those because you said you wanted laborers."
Neera felt her mouth go dry.
"Oh! But don't worry, I heard from my suppliers that they will be arriving with a new batch in two weeks! Those should be a hundred more, so if you ever feel the need to come back, we will always have enough stock for you!"
The man's greased up smile made her queasy, so she had simply left for the cart, tugging Davina's stiff body behind her.
"In the end what we do doesn't really matter, does it?"
Davina could not answer, being in a state of shock herself.
One hundred more living in those conditions. Two hundred living even worse.
Before she could even regain her composure, she unconsciously mumbled.
"It doesn't."