Marlowlia looked down at the ground, deeply regretting to agree to this. She now walked down the crowd looking like a homeless hobo.
"You are sure this is going to work right?"
"Probably."
Marlowlia stared intensely at me with squinted eyes.
We reached the biggest animal/slave marketplace. It was a giant building, it had no windows, and the walls were completely covered in gray colors. Around the perimeters of the buildings were a bunch of lit torches. We walked through the seas of people. The slaves and animals weren't visible, there were name plates and information slips on the outside of each room. Telling the buyer everything you need to know about the animal or slave.
If you were interested in buying the slaves, you had to contact one of the employees and ask them for the product. Then you had to sign a long list that forcefully bound the thing to the owner.
But that long list comes with some limitations. If the product is valuable and very expensive the contract usually forces limitations on the action the thing can do. An example of that is assaulting the produce or mistreating it. Although it is still a slave, you could order it to do whatever you want.
I walked up to one of the employees and asked if we could buy an animal.
The man we asked seemed middle-aged with no facial hair. He seemed frail, with no visible muscle. He was scrawny and had medium-long hair. They wore bright yellow uniforms that made them easy to recognize from the huge crowds.
He nodded their head and asked me which number I wanted.
"Do you guys have an orange cat for sale?"
"Orange cat?"
He thought for a while before shaking his head.
"No, I'm terribly sorry madam, but currently we don't have an orange cat for sale."
A sweat dropped from his forehead. His eyes twitched as he remained composed.
"I see, you got anything close to that?"
"Indeed, we have cats."
He then showed me around and showcased all the cats. He allowed me and Zeri to pet them, but not Marlowlia.
"They are soo fluffy," Zeri said.
Zeri's expression softened as she rubbed the soft fur of the cats.
Marlowlia observed in envy as Zeri played around with the fluffy felines. She stood there, quietly in the corner of the room watching intently at them.
They meowed loudly and rolled around on the floor.
I restrained myself from petting them and asked if no cat had a warm color.
The seller became frustrated after not being able to sell us anything.
"Okay madam, how about we buy one of your slaves?" He rubbed his hands together.
I shook my head,
"She isn't currently for sale."
The employee looked at me and offered me a deal.
"200 Livis for the pretty one."
I waved my hand signaling to Marlowlia and Zeri.
"We are leaving."
"Wait! 250 Livis!"
"Why do you want her?"
He was taken aback by that question. There had to be something behind all of this. If Fiviana is actually somewhere near here, her appearance may have contributed to the reason for being kidnapped. A young girl with aesthetically pleasing looks would fetch really well in the slave auctions in the underworld city.
If they already sold her, then they realized the true value of these types of young girls and they wanted more.
Many nasty filthy animals who should be humans but aren't probably have hundreds of thousands of Livis to buy young girls like these.
"As I told ya, not interested."
"500 Livis and that is as high I will go."
"Damn, Marlowlia you are sold."
I gave Marlowlia a piece of candy and told her to swallow it.
She hesitated to place it in her mouth but after it was in, she became delirous and swallowed the whole piece.
"She is all yours, but before that. Sign a contract with me."
The contract paper that is used when the previous owners of the slaves want their slaves not to be assaulted or hurt in any sort of way. I wanted them to sign a contract that no one would physically touch Marlowlia and for her to be well-fed.
The man with his thin arms reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper and placed it on the table.
"Here you can sign this."
Marlowlia and Zeri watched as I scrutinized the contract.
"This is a forgery of the real contract."
The man trembled backward upon realizing that I knew about the fake contract.
"So what if it is fake? You got 500 Livis, you can live a whole lifetime with that."
"No, I can't."
"What do you mean? A human can only spend 70 years alive!"
I gave him a wicked smile. I told Marlowlia and Zeri to put on gas masks. I filled the room with an oderless gas which I had in a container that I pulled out of my pocket dimension. The gas made the man immediately unconscious. After a few seconds, he woke up, but he wasn't himself anymore. He only took commands from me.
"What now Devina?"
"These filthy animals, they tried making me sign a falsified contract. They can't get away with this."
Marlowlia seemed confused about the next part of the plan, she lost her important notes after all.
"Okay listen to me here dude."
I ordered him to go to his boss and give him this present.
He took the small gift and stored it inside his pocket. Afterward, he sauntered down the corridors in a drunk state.
"Well, let's hurry up and continue this mission before it is too late."