Inside a dark gloomy room, a table was under the spotlight. Two men were on opposite sides of the long wooden table. One man had two big burly guys at his side, and they stood behind him like bodyguards.
Thud!
The man that was alone threw a big sack onto the table. He had a big ginger beard with a bald head. Though his body was hidden by a robe, it couldn't hide the burliness underneath.
"Here's my promised item. Check it"
The man stood confidently, but also seemed a bit drunk as he said.
The other person was a refined nobleman, with his hair brushed back. He seemed to be in his thirties, and looked considerably young too.
He opened the mouth of the sack, and then waved his hand.
The two bodyguards behind him understood his intentions perfectly. As one of them held the sack in the air, the other brought out the thing within. Perhaps, it was not a "thing".
It was a boy who was young, very young. He was naked, and his skin pale, with a few bruises.
The nobleman turned the boy around a few times, and checked each part slightly.
He opened the boy's eyelids, the nostrils, and the quality of his teeth, before saying to the burly bearded man.
"He is sickly and pale. He might not even survive a few more days."
The man waited a moment, before saying "15 copper coins".
Hearing the price, an obviously enraged expression appeared on the burly ginger man. All his blood rushed to his face, and he shouted; his face looked very comical at the moment, just like a drunken man with bald head and big nose.
"15 copper?! DO YOU KNOW WHAT I WENT THROUGH TO GET HIM?!"
He slammed the table with his hand. The table creaked a bit, but it wasn't dented at all.
"You think you can act however you want here?" the nobleman waved his hand, and the two bodyguards immediately stepped in front of him, and the boy.
The rage seemed to cool down a bit.
"Fine. Give me a few bottles of wine as extra and I'll give him to you" a fearful expression undoubtedly appeared on the man's face.
"At this point, I could even just steal him from you. However, I will give you the 15 copper and the wine. Consider it as generosity" the man rummaged his clothes and got out a pouch.
After taking a few shiny coins from it, he threw the pouch on the table, and then ordered the bodyguards to bring the bottles of wine.
"Another thing."
"Hmm?"
"Do you want money? Worth much more than this trade"
"I'll see what I can do. How much are we talking?"
"Enough for you to never work again..." it almost seemed as if a devil was whispering its malicious deals.
After taking the pouch, and the bottles of wine, the ginger man left the facility with a smile on his face, and a poster in his hand.
...
"Wake up little boy!" a cup of cold water escaped the hand.
!!!!!!!!!!
A wave of shock spread from my face to the rest of my body.
My body immediately sounded an alarm of emergency inside as I jolted up. My body could care less about the lack of energy. It just expended all its energy to get my upper body up.
My mind was blank, and I couldn't understand the current situation.
It seems... a person was standing in front of me?
The man looked menacing. Scarred face, unclean shaved beard, and a tall figure.
Well, any adult would be tall for the boy...
He held a glass cup in his hand. And the mouth of the cup was facing towards me. Now that I realize, my face feels wet.
Did he pour ice cold water on me!
The boy's dignity was hurt. He felt like getting up and punching the man.
Yet when he revealed even the slightest furrow of his eyebrow, all he saw was the incoming dirty boot that headed towards his chest.
Cough cough! Cough cough cough!!
I can't breathe. I can't breathe. My chest hurts!
The boy sharply inhaled and exhaled a few breaths of air. The angry expression could no longer be found. All that left was the pained expression in his scrunched up face. Now that he looked at the owner of the boot, the man that held the cup, he couldn't utter a single word.
His mouth froze in an open state, and his pupils had shrunk out of fear.
"Sir,, sir,,"
"Huh??! I can't understand a single word of you shit" the man extended his foot once again and kicked the stomach of the boy.
Albeit it was light, the boy couldn't help but cough up more. His body had crunched up like a fetus.
"You don't know language don't you? Or are you speech impaired?"
The boy couldn't understand any word. However, not that he could show any response anyway. All he could do was stay crunched up and hold his stomach and close his eyes tightly.
"Aish... it's a defect as well. Well, he's still a labor force so we can send him to the factory. For now, I'll teach him to fear the company and send him to the sleg house"
The man brought out a badge. It had a pink background, and a figure of a bright red girl. The man kicked the boy, causing him to pay attention to him.
"Dandelion house" the man pointed to the badge, then to himself.
I didn't understand a single word, but nodded repeatedly. Afterwards, the man motioned for me to come after him, to follow him.
I didn't understand but fearing his beating, I could only obediently follow after.
We were inside a dark room lit up by fire trapped in a small glass. We went through the door, to the corridor outside. The corridor's walls and floors were very clean, and looked even. The floor even had a carpet.
"What happened to me? Did I get kidnapped by that bearded man and sold off to slavery?" I was scared.
I knew what happened to slaves, as I've seen one before. He was treated the same as pets and abused if he didn't obey orders.
If anything, this was a rich place...
We passed by a few doors. Even a few people. The people dressed very strangely, in clothes I haven't seen before. Just so... clean. Almost like our land's landlord I've seen before. It was mind boggling that this many rich people were here.
"Am I in the royal palace, the house of the mighty king?" I even thought. Yet, the place seemed a little bit lackluster for it. The vibe was different too.
I heard in the stories my mother read to me, that the royal palace was the most exquisite and exorbitant place I could ever see. And that it was brightly illuminated and filled with the colors of pure yellow, like the stems of the fruit on the mountain above my village.
This place, although it wasn't dark, it wasn't very illuminated either.
It was also filled with the colors of pink, and red, and smelled very strangely. Nice? I haven't smelt this kind of nice smell before. Even better than the aroma of honey and that one wooden flower.
The people here were all adults. I couldn't see any children my age.
The men would be dressed very clean and gentlemanly, or like warriors, while all the women strange as if god had forsaken them.
They were almost naked!
Much of their skin had been revealed. And all of them had very bright red lips, as if blood had been smeared onto them. They all looked very pretty as well, and after they passed us, a nice aroma would be left behind.
After turning a few corners, we left by some backdoor.
Finally I could see the outside!
However, outside was not at all what I imagined. Although the sun was bright and it seemed to be midday, I seemed to be in a back alley. Many buildings had surrounded this place, and my range of vision had been limited.
I could only obediently follow the man without the thought of escape.
We passed by a few buildings and then the man stopped walking. We were in front of a very ragged and old looking place.
...
That place would be my home.
My first night there was horrible. Not only was the smell like that of pigs, there were also other children there.
They were malnourished but didn't leave the chance to gang up on me. I did try to retaliate, but all I got was them jumping me and beating me left and right.
Because I couldn't understand their language, there was no way for me to fit in with them.
I also had to do routine work.
Wake up early, even before the sun rose, and go to the factory. Inside, there were strange metals and structures. There was a part where some strange material would constantly move linearly and on it would be little black stones in large quantities.
My job was to section the gray stones apart from the black colored ones. Almost all the kids at the sleg place, the term we call the old shag of a place we live in, did this work. There weren't many of us after all - only 20 or so.
We would work till midday and have some food distributed to us. It was a bowl of diluted soup and small pieces of meat. It was never enough to fill my stomach...
After the sun set, we would go to the big building where I got beat by that fearsome guy.
The sleg's children would go to rooms and clean up.
Now, I know what that place was.
It was a place where women sold their body for money. All kinds of rich and old people would go there and I could often hear the faint moaning sounds and roars coming from the rooms.
In other words, this was a "brothel".
When cleaning these rooms, they would always be filled with strange stuff. Sometimes blood would be on the rooms walls.
We would be in groups of 2, and I ended up grouping with a girl.
I don't know why, but she was definitely a troublesome girl. Always pinching me for every mistake I made.
If this was back in my hometown...!! blood rushed to my head.
Unfortunately, I can't do anything... I lamented at myself and this situation.
At least though, I was slowly grasping the language here. I have adapted to people's everyday conversations a bit.
I think I have learned my name too. People call me Nyurta.
A big part of the reason was this girl though... although she was mean to me, she was like a guiding light through this place. Don't know the reason, but she was the one that helped me as I got beaten up by others. Also the one to teach me about this place, what to do, and what not to do. Also the first person to call me Nyurta too...
Now thinking, maybe I was an ungrateful bastard who disliked his benefactor...
Immediately, a conflicted expression appeared on his face.
After this cleanup, it was finally time to head back to the sleg to rest.
Grrrrrrr
Ahh, my stomach growled as I head hom- the sleg with Ruri.
We weren't fed fully. Always hungry and sometimes when my food is snatched, I could only begrudgingly spend the night on empty stomach. Even when there was food, how much could a diluted soup fill a child's stomach?
"What are you zoning out for?" Ruri pulled on my ragged shirt. I had unknowingly lost my balance and tripped.
"You're mean Ruri..." my nose had become red from the fall. It wasn't me that spoke though.
It was Ruri's friend, Erika.
Upon seeing her, my eyes immediately brightened up.