The man slumped to the ground and renjiro rushed over to lyra propping her up with his arms and tapping on her cheek to wake her up, her eyes slowly opened up the whites of her eyes looking really red, she tried talking but wasn't coherent enough for renjiro to grasp what she was saying.
He heard muffled groans and turned around to see that the pink haired girl was still wiggling around, he leaned lyra on a wall and went to untie the pink haired girl, he released her from her bonds and removed the gag from her mouth, at that moment she began wailing, renjiro had no choice but to gag her again.
he took the ropes and used them to restrained the muscled man that had tried to scam them, when he was done, he kicked the man in the gut for good measure and the man's eye shot open in pain and he let out a loud groan, the man wiggled around trying to survey his surroundings and the realization of his condition hit him, he began to struggle with his bonds but was unsuccessful, he screamed in frustration and turned to look at renjiro with hate in his eyes
''you think you can get away with this, when I manage to get out of this I will come for you, I will make sure you get wiped off the face of the earth'' he screamed at renjiro
Renjiro ignored him and walked towards the pink haired girl squatting so he could be at the same eye level with her. "I am going to take off your gag and when I do don't scream if you do, I would be putting them back on. If you understand nod in affirmative"
The girl nodded and renjiro removed the gag, there were beads of tears forming around her eyes, but they didn't fall she sniffled and wiped them away. The muscled man was till yelling obscenities and renjiro threw a rock at his head asking him to be quiet.
"can you walk" renjiro asked the girl and she nodded
''follow me so we can head to somewhere safer, can you carry those bags" he said pointing towards the bags that lyra had dropped, the girl nodded again in affirmation.
"you can talk now, I wont be gagging you anymore" renjiro said and proceeded to lift lyra into his arms, the pink haired girl lifted the bags and followed closely behind renjiro, he headed for an open space that had a few benches, he lay lyra on one of the benches and sat down laying her head on his thighs, the pink haired girl was still standing. Renjiro looked up at her and shook his head.
"you can sit" he said gesturing to the space beside him, but the girl shook her head vigorously. It wasn't like he cared, she could do whatever it was she liked right now he was worried about the fact that lyra was still having difficulty processing her thoughts and actions, she kept saying incoherent things, after a while he fell asleep completely forgetting that he had a vulnerable lyra in his care.
After about thirty minutes lyra finally came around, and smacked renjiro who was sleeping up side the head.
"what was that for, you regain control over your body and the first thing you do is attack me"
"you have no sense of security, I was out of it and you fall asleep" lyra chided
Lyra was tackled by a small body, the person grabbed onto her tightly. Recognizing who the person was lyra patted her on the back for a few seconds and started making efforts to detach herself.
"you are finally awake" the girl said in a high pitched tone.
"so you can actually talk" renjiro asked and the pink haired girl nodded, his face heated up in frustration seeing that she was doing that on purpose
''so why were you sold, because I thought all human trafficking rings were destroyed a few years ago" lyra enquired but the pink haired girl teared up and didn't answer, this was getting lyra increasingly frustrated but she calmed herself since she didn't want to scare the little girl.
''what is your name and how old are you?'' lyra asked
"my name is Melora but since I like you, you can call me mel and I am eighteen" she replied in her high pitched voice.
''eighteen!!!" they exclaimed in unison, that would mean that they were basically the same age but she looked so small one would mistake her for a twelve year old girl, renjiro's eyes went to her breast area and Melora noticed this and covered her chest with her hands. Lyra noticed this and smacked him again.
''you idiot how can you have perverted thoughts in a situation like this'' lyra said diverting her attention back to Melora.
''you are free now, we would be on our way'' lyra said and grabbed her bags from Melora gesturing to renjiro to leave but Melora jumped in front of lyra preventing her from leaving.
''please don't leave me here, he is going to come back to get me'' Melora pleaded with tears in her eyes
''don't bother about him, he has been dealt with" renjiro said trying to reassure her
''you don't understand there is more than one of them, I am not safe here, please don't go without me" the tears in her eyes flowing freely now.
"would you like to live with me" lyra asked her
Melora nodded happily the tears on her face suddenly vanished, renjiro scoffed in disbelief he couldn't believe that lyra fell for that. Lyra called one of her family's servants and ordered him to send over a vehicle to convey someone.
Half an hour later the vehicle arrived and a maid came down a guard followed in tow bowing as soon as he saw lyra and renjiro.
''lady lyra'' the maid said bowing to lyra
"take her to the castle with you, we would follow behind'' lyra said and handed her bag over to the maid
"follow the lady in the maid attire, she would take you to the castle, I will be following closely behind, Melora nodded and followed the maid and the guard into the vehicle, the vehicle zoomed off as soon as the guard climbed in.