"The first slave is a twenty-five-year-old human called Van, and the starting price is five hundred gold coins!"
As the host finished introducing the first slave, a skinny, tall man walked onto the stage with only a piece of cloth covering his nether regions.
Finn felt bad for the slaves, but he couldn't buy them all and become a saint by giving everyone a second chance.
There were a lot of problems with doing this.
One was that the slaves would become progressively more expensive as the auction went on, and Finn was the most powerful individual, but he wasn't the richest one, so he didn't have enough to buy them all.
If he were to use all his money to buy as many as he could, then he wouldn't have enough money to feed them.
Food wasn't cheap in a poor city like Leviathan, and Finn would have to pay for other things too, like water, beds, clothes, etc.
Also, if a person became a slave, it didn't automatically mean that he was a pitiful person who was one day kidnapped and sold to a slaver.
Some of the people who became slaves were criminals who chose to become slaves instead of receiving the death penalty, and Finn didn't want to waste his money on saving those people.
The slaves had a magical collar on them that they couldn't take off, and it would tighten if they refused to do what their master ordered them. It would also paralyze their bodies if they even thought of rebelling against their master.
This was to protect the person who bought the slave. Mainly, it was for the people who bought strong slaves that were much stronger than them and could kill them in an instant.
Finn also didn't know which slave was unjustly caught and which one was a prisoner before becoming a slave, so he only planned to buy the slave he had come for, and if by chance he saw a slave that was strong and could help him, he would think about buying him too.
The first slave was sold to a female noblewoman for 1200 gold coins, and the next slave came to the podium.
It was a female human with an expressionless face, and she looked like she had given up on life.
Finn felt bad, but Loki reminded him that he wasn't a hero of justice, so he just closed his heart to it.
The slaves kept coming to the stage, and they were being sold for more and more coins.
Soon, a slave who was of a different race walked onto the podium.
"The next slave is Gruul, and he is an orc. This slave is extremely strong, and he can serve as a fine bodyguard. The starting price is five thousand gold coins."
Finn's interest was piqued. He knew that once he left Leviathan, his gang would most likely be fine, but he would prefer someone strong guarding it, so for the first time since the auction began, he opened his mouth.
"Five thousand and one hundred gold coins."
"Sir Black Skull bids five thousand and one hundred gold coins! Who else wants to bid?!"
The host vigorously shouted but he was met with silence.
Nobody would be bold enough to bid against Finn.
Some of the people there would like to have a strong slave as their bodyguard, but if they were to somehow win against Finn, then there wouldn't be anything for the orc to protect.
"Nobody? …Sir Black Skull is the winner of the bid!"
The host understood the thoughts of the audience and quickly ended the bidding.
The others started clapping to congratulate Finn on his successful bid.
"So noisy. Shut up."
But with four words, he shut everyone up.
This was the power of authority and the power of fear.
Meanwhile, Gruul was looking at his new master with satisfied eyes because he was hoping for a powerful master since he liked fighting strong people.
The reason he willingly became a slave was to become a battle slave that would hopefully protect his master from strong opponents.
The orc slave, Gruul, then left the stage and went into the waiting room, where Finn could pick him up after the auction ended.
---
Once the orc slave got sold, there was no slave that made Finn interested, and the host of the auction soon announced the final slave.
A young girl with pointy ears entered the podium.
Her long silver hair was disheveled, her beautiful face was dirty with mud and dried up tears, and her eyes made her look like she was dead inside.
She only wore a piece of cloth that covered her breasts and crotch area.
"The last slave is our most special one! You all must know how rare it is to see an elf slave, but we have managed to acquire one for you! Her name is Fae, and she is thirteen years old! The starting bid is twenty thousand gold coins!"
As the host said, elf slaves were almost nonexistent because of how elves treated the people who would dare enslave an elf.
Elves were known to be kind in Second Life, but if a person was found to own an elf slave, the elves killed the person by torturing him for a month and healing him whenever he was about to die. After that, they would do the same to that person's family and all of his acquaintances.
So, owning an elf slave was not only a death sentence for the person who owned it but also for everyone around him.
Even though it was such a risk, elf slaves were extremely sought after because rich people liked owning rare things.
A lot of people raised their hands with greedy eyes, but the first person to speak was Finn.
"Twenty thousand and one hundred gold coins."
The others wanted the slave, but they didn't know if it was worth angering Finn for it.
The host was also unhappy because he expected the slave to be sold for at least 50.000 gold coins, but Finn only raised the price by a measly hundred coins.
"Our first bid is from Sir Black Skull! Does anybody else want to bid?!"
The host turned to the audience in hopes that someone might raise their hand.
"…Twenty-one thousand coins."
A silent voice came from the audience, and everyone looked at the person who had the balls to go against Finn after he had seen how the merchant ended up.
It was a short man that sat in the last row, and he was a noble with almost no authority at all.
He joined the auction because he had heard a rumor of an elf appearing there, and he had always wanted to own an elf slave, so he decided to take a risk and bet against Finn.
Everyone was quiet, waiting for Finn's reaction. Even the host was so nervous that he forgot to announce the bid.
Finn slowly got up from his seat and walked up the stairs towards the last row.
Tap Tap Tap
The rhythmic sound of footsteps reverberated across the silent hall, and every time Finn walked by someone, the person would flinch.
Soon, Finn arrived in the back row of the seats.
There was a lot of space between each seat, so Finn easily walked through the row and soon stood in front of the noble.
Finn then leaned down so that his face was on the same level as the noble's, and the noble quickly realized just how stupid he had been.
He didn't fear Finn that much because he sat on the other side of the hall, but now that Finn was standing in front of him, he wanted to take his bid back.
Taking bids back was not allowed, though, so now he had to pay for his actions.
"Look at me."
Finn opened his mouth, and a deep voice sounded from behind his mask.
The noble kept looking down, praying that Finn would just leave him alone.
"Are you deaf? I told you to look at me!"
A voice that had a tinge of bloodlust leaking out of it sounded, and the noble unwillingly raised his head.
Instantly, the noble's pupils started quivering, like there was an earthquake happening in his eyes.
Finn's mask was only a centimeter away from him, and he could see Finn's beautiful ocean-blue eyes staring straight through his soul.
"Twenty-one thousand and one hundred gold coins."
When Finn spoke, the noble could feel the warmth of his breath and his anger.
He also didn't know how to respond because, at that point, the slave was the least of his worries.
Finn could have bullied the noble more, but the noble wasn't on his list of pieces of trash like the rich merchant that he had killed in the waiting hall was, so he decided to let him go with just this.
After a few minutes of silence, the scared noble didn't bid anymore, and Finn walked back to his seat with calm steps.
The low-ranking noble, who was finally released from death's claws, instantly fainted.
Sitting down on his seat, Finn looked at the host, who started sweating after seeing Finn almost kill someone during an auction that was supposed to be peaceful.
The guards that were supposed to be guarding the hall all remained rooted in their place, praying to every god they knew that the host wouldn't tell them to attack Finn.
They wanted to keep their jobs, but they wanted to keep their lives more, after all.
"Announce the winner."
Finn's impatient voice sounded in the hall, and the host quickly replaced his nervous expression with a professional smile.
"The new owner of the elf slave is Black Skull!"
Once that was said, Finn got up from his seat and walked to the elf girl.
He then took his black coat off, revealing his black shirt and the lean muscles he hid underneath it.
His hood also came off with the coat, so he revealed his raven-black hair, but he didn't mind because black was the most common hair color on the human continent, and there was no way people would recognize him because of his hair.
Placing the coat around the elf, he covered her frail body and picked her up.
She didn't react because she had most likely already accepted her fate as a slave.
So Finn put the hood on her head, and her entire shivering body became covered.
Normally a slave would be sent into the waiting room, and picking the slave straight from the stage wasn't allowed because the auction house had to first register the slave's new master, but nobody spoke up against Finn's actions.
"The key."
Finn turned to look at the host.
"Key?"
The host asked in confusion.
"For the collar. My mood is already bad as it is, so if you want to keep your miserable life, then give me the fucking key for her collar!"
"Y- Yes sir! Here!"
The host immediately pulled out a red crystal in the shape of a key.
So Finn took it, and after inserting it into the elf slave's collar, he turned it to the side.
CLICK THUD
Once the collar got unlocked, it fell to the floor, and everyone became shocked.
"S- Sir! If you remove the collar, then she might-"
The host tried to stop Finn from releasing the slave's collar, but his words got stuck in his throat when he was met with Finn's glare.
"Are you suggesting that I am not strong enough to take care of a thirteen-year-old girl?"
"No! Not at all! I just… I am sorry. I will shut up now..."
The host quickly gave up and let Finn do whatever he wanted.
The elf girl called Fae also woke up when she realized she no longer felt the heavy collar around her neck.
She didn't know why, but the person who was currently holding her felt very warm, so she hugged him and fell asleep, too tired to keep her eyes open.
Turning around, Finn left the stage and walked towards Dora.
"Register that orc slave as yours, and once you are done, take him to our bar."
"Yes sir!"
She immediately answered, proud that someone like Finn was her boss.
"We are leaving."
With that sentence, Finn walked to the exit while still holding the elf girl.
"YES SIR!"
Suddenly, fifty different people who were sitting in various seats in the audience got up and followed after him.
The other audience members felt a shiver go down their spine when they saw that there were that many of his gang members sitting around them.
If the rich people who thought about going against Finn in the bidding war decided to be ballsy, he could have just disposed of them without even lifting a finger.
But Finn couldn't care less about any of them. He was just happy that he had finally obtained Fae.
An elf girl that wasn't by any means ordinary because she was to become a deciding factor in the development of the Second Life world.