10 years later, in the year 892 of Great Peace.
The night in a small confined room in a red giant ship had only a few sources of light, and the air was damp and musty, like that of a basement. The roof was made out of wooden slats that made rainwater easily leak through making puddles on the floor. There was a girl who sat with her arms wrapped around her legs, their knees pulled into their body in a protective manner while crying quietly.
One of the guards walked down the hallway, clutching a small lantern in one hand—approaching the said room. The light the lantern gave off was barely enough to light up the holder, but it allowed the guard to see the walls around him for him to navigate through the ship.
The girl was startled when the guard flung the door open and held up his lantern to light up the room inside.
"SHUT UP! YOU'VE BEEN CRYING FOR DAY!" he kicked her to the ground.
She was visibly scared and was clutching her stomach, where the guard had kicked her. In a mixture of physical pain and sheer terror, she held back her tears.
"If you ever cry again," he barked, "I'll be back to kick you again. It'd be best for you to keep yourself quiet, wouldn't it?" he slams the door shut.
The physical pain she held is nothing compared to her trauma ever since she was kidnapped. The ship continues to sail through the sea taking her to the unfamiliar place far away from home called "the Humans Continent"—one of the biggest continents in the Other Half.
***
The morning comes as the sun rises up over the ocean, in the kingdom of Nigati, located on the northern side of the continent; at the harbour of this kingdom, there was a red giant ship with a line of slaves chained up together and being boarded out— they were guarded by armed guards. Here in the Nigati Kingdom, they were called "stock slaves" and they were sent to this kingdom once every year.
Among all those slaves, there was a girl with caramel hair and brown eyes, she was named "Dahlia Kemono"; she was one of the girls that were kidnapped 10 years ago in the attack on Kemono Village—the girl from last night. After years of travelling with the slaver, she was eventually brought to the Human Continent to be enslaved. She was only 14 at the time of the attack— she's 24 now.
There used to be more than 20 kemonos girls before, but the rest have already been sold long ago to their master except for Dahlia.
Dahlia stood there nervously, holding onto the chain she was tied to, as she wondered why she hadn't been sold already. Everyone around her had already been sold—even those she had grown up with, who were like sisters to her.
"Why was it only me left?" she murmured.
***
When she and the other slaves arrived at the Nigati Kingdom, the slaver approached her and she was immediately separated from the others. He throws her into the carriage and was brought to a mansion near the Nigati Palace.
The slaver brought her into one of the rooms inside that mansion— she was told to stay put. She sweated and her breath got heavier as she nervously waited in the silence and darkness of that room in confusion. She sat in the corner of that room and in her mind, something bad is about to happen.
But suddenly she heard something from the living room. Curiously she peeked through the slip of the door and saw the slaver and a man wearing lavish clothes— they seemed to talk about something. She move closer to the door and put her ear against the door so that she could hear their conversation better.
"About that kemono slave…" her eyes widened in shock after what she just heard.
10 years ago the man in lavish clothes gave a task to the slaver to find him the most beautiful girl he could find to be a slave for the man's son. She was contracted since the day she was captured— technically she was already been sold to the man 10 years ago. Dahlia couldn't believe what she just heard.
She continued listening and the slaver slips out.
"...Well I got her with me, so you don't worry too much your majesty..."
In the middle of their conversation, she found out that the man is the King of the Nigati Kingdom.
All this time, she thought she would never be sold to anyone, but now she randomly found out she was sold to the King of the Nigati Kingdom.
After they had the conversation, the King of the Nigati Kingdom handed over half of the pay to the slaver.
In excitement, he tries to grab it but before he can reach for it the King asked, "Do you remember our agreement 10 years ago right..?"
The slaver gulped before nervously answering, "Oh yeah… Of course! Of course, I remember. How can I forget it right?"
The majesty didn't convince by it, he tilted his head to the side in suspicion, "What's the agreement we made?" he asked while staring into the slaver's eyes.
Surprised, the slaver was caught off guard. He takes a deep breath and regained his composure before answering, "The promises are…"
Dahlia's eyes widened in shock and her heart began to race after hearing the agreement they made 10 years ago. It all makes sense to her now— she just heard the answers to everything she had been wondering about. She fell on her back in disbelief.
Both the majesty and the slaver heard that sound, they come to check. Dahlia feels the chills down her spine when she saw the disgusting grin on the majesty's face when he looked at her.
***
Outside the mansion, the slaver was on edge despite his deal being settled with the king of the Nigati Kingdom. He looked at Dahlia before grabbing her arm and throwing her into the carriage—rushing back to the slave cabin.
He was acting strangely, and as they made their way back he pulled her to a separate room from the other slaves.
"Strips," he commanded as he looked serious with his arms crossed.
She obliged without question. The slaver eyed her carefully and made a disgusted look as he looked over her body. At that point, she realized what he wanted, and she was struck with fear.
"Has anyone touched you?" he asked while staring at her.
"...Um, what do you mean?" her voice trembling.
"I SAID, HAS ANYONE TOUCHED YOU!?" he shouted as he threw his fist towards the wall behind her.
She flinched in fear and she put her arms to her chest in a desperate attempt to protect herself.
"...No…" she pleaded.
He stood there in front of her in suspicion, she could see a slight scowl on his face, and she could even see the anger in his eyes. At that moment, she felt like he was going to swing at her at any moment, and her mouth went dry. He comes closer to her.
"You will pay if you lied to me," holding onto her left arm tightly. His grip was painful. Her heart was pounding and she is not sure what he was going to do, she clutches her fists as she embraces herself to whatever will come. She felt his hands slide down her body.
As her mind drifted to the agreement, at what felt like an eternity later, he finally said, "Hmph. It seems to be true."
She then snapped back to her senses. The sight of relief on his face signifies that she is in fact still a virgin. He then ordered Dahlia to put on her clothes back.
Turns out he has nothing on his mind but to check her virginity. As part of the agreement, he made with the King; first, he must hand her to the King on Prince's 20th birthday. Second, she must be healthy and well-dressed when she is escorted to Price's birthday. Lastly, she must stay a virgin until the day he hands her over to Prince.
***
It's been a week since they arrived at the Nigati Kingdom and she has been treated very well even as a slave in the past few days, she was given her own room that separated her from others—to protect her purity. At the same time, she had planned to escape before they could hand her over to the Prince, knowing that she would not be able to escape once they handed her over to the Prince.
Tonight, in her room she was fed a lot of food and was treated very nicely by the maids that were assigned to her—it confuses her as to why she was treated nicely.
She gently tugged one of the maid's sleeves and asked, "What's going on? Why am I got to eat all this food?"
The maid's face looked troubled "...Umm, actually-" before the maid can answer her question the door bursts open and the slaver walked into the room.
The room became quiet as he looked at Dahlia, "Tomorrow… Tomorrow is the last day for you here," he grin maliciously.
"What do you mean?" her voice fainted while she avoided eye contact, she looked at the floor nervously as she clutched her fist together.
"You going to make me a lot of money," he chuckled as he hold Dahlia's chin high, forcing her to look at him. He pushed Dahlia's face to the side.
The slaver giggled before walking out of the room. She looked shocked after realising what he meant.
Her expression changed sorrowfully and she lost her appetite, thinking about her so-called freedom.
"It just going to be passed around to someone else," she murmured to herself.
She spent the rest of the night crying in her room, wondering in anger and despair what was going to happen next. She tried to sleep, but her mind raced so furiously that sleep would not come to her.
***