"Where am I?"
The space around me was pitch black, I was leaning against something that seemed to be iron bars, and I could hear the road beneath that made me confirm I was in some type of cage being transported somewhere.
Moving my tongue around my mouth I felt the ring inside and sighed in relief.
Sigh...
Looking to my left I saw the outline of Dawn still asleep from the gas, confirming her presence I was completely calmed down and ready to escape this predicament.
'These fuckers probably didn't expect me to wake up... I guess I'll put on a show for them.'
Raising my hand level to the iron bars I screamed, "Firebolt!"
Nothing came out of my hand and the Mana in the air didn't react at all to my spell, soon I heard laughing outside of the cage, then I heard the sound of men talking.
"Looks like I won the bet."
"Did you put less concentration in the gas? We've never had someone wake up this early... You asshole."
"Yeah, It's been less than 4 hours."
Gritting my teeth at their taunt I truly wanted nothing but to gouge each of their hearts out.
"Is it fine if I turn off the artifact, I think we're far enough from Central anyways."
"Go ahead, we are set to arrive in less than an hour anyways."
Soon the darkness encasing us vanished, and I saw three people walking beside the cage. The cage was being carried by a domesticated monster commonly used to transport goods.
'The contents of the cage were probably disguised by whatever that artifact is.'
Seeing the grins on their face I asked, "What did you do," I paused for a moment looking at the grins on their faces, "to my, mana."
"So predictable." The man chuckled
"Seems like people will always ask that question first."
"Who is this guy anyway?"
"He's a noble." The man took out my Id card showing the other men. The three men were middle-aged and they all had similar gear, which appeared to be very expensive mercenary garbs.
"Are you going to answer my question," I said with an insidious tone.
"Shut up, or we'll kill you how about you use your brain and check your neck, you attend the academy right?"
I rubbed my neck feeling a small thin collar on it, 'Seems like this won't be too much of a problem.'
"Why don't we just kill that kid, our employer only asked for the girl."
"Are you a fucking idiot? Did you not see that Id? He's from the famous Ven-August family, our employer will give us enough money to become nobility ourselves with the two of them."
"I don't like his face though, just look at those fangs is he even human?" One of the men said while looking at my face.
All of them started laughing.
"Maybe his mother was an orc."
They all burst out laughing again.
'I'll fucking kill these bastards...' I gritted my teeth trying my best to stay calm I sat right back down beside Dawn who was still sleeping. Ignoring them for the next half an hour the cart came to a stop and a large luxurious mansion in the middle of a beautiful forest path stood in front of us.
Looking around I saw many similar cages in front of the mansion and slaves from all races being led in and out of the building, 'Where are we? Slave trade should be banned in Central... Why are there so many nobles here?"
Soon I heard one of the men approaching the cage, he looked at me and then held out a small vial.
"Gives this to her it will wake her up, then tell her of the situation so she isn't nearly as annoying as you were."
After inspecting the contents of the vial I poured it into Dawn's mouth, soon as she woke up she was quite frantic but calmed down a little after I explained to her the recent events, to her our situation was hopeless but for me, I had a Ideas brewing inside my mind. Not only did I have access to a plethora of weapons with my sub-space, but I also could rely on my Draconic Physique and Draconic Force, though the latter would cause quite a bit of backlash so I had to consider more options.
Soon we were led into the building, and what I saw was nothing but luxurious the outside had a nice appearance but the inside was... indescribable there had been slaves being sold in every corner of the eye, elves, orcs, dwarves, humans, and monsters. Illegal artifacts, organs, and limbs from different races, and even demons had been roaming the building, not as slaves but as buyers.
'Why are demons here? We should still be in the Empire somewhere, after all, we had only spent around 5 hours traveling... How did demons cross into human borders?'
Following the men in front of us, he stopped in front of a door, "You two greet our employer, and I'll take care of the goods."
The other two men trailed off after he said that. The three of us entered the small room it was a small wood room that had old blood stains and two benches across each wall. Soon the man spoke, "Strip."
Both me and Dawn glanced at each other and she turned her head quickly with red ears. I walked up to the man entering a space where I could grab him.
"No," I said in a cocky tone.
"Looks like I'll need to kill you to set an example for the other one. The other two might be mad, but you piss me off pretty boy."
The man reached for his weapon, But immediately as he began the motion I channeled my Draconic Force to my nails and slit his throat immediately, right after slicing it open I put my entire hand inside his throat and crushed his neck completely.
I spat on him and then called Dawn over.
"Don't you think that was overkill?" Dawn swallowed and said with a worried expression
"Nah, they're scum." I rebutted.
Once again channeling my aura to my nails I cut off the small iron collar on her neck, and then mine. After that I channeled my mana making sure there were no problems, I spat my sub-space out of my hand and then took out two cloaks.
"Put this on."
"Alright." Dawn put on the cloak.
I soon covered my blood-stained shirt with my cloak as well, blood began dripping from my nose and I wiped it off with my arm.
"Are you okay, Rei?"
"I'm fine," I said while sniffling.
"You're quite clever for hiding that ring." Dawn smiled
"Yeah yeah, let's get the hell out of here."