‘Today seems to be a good day for adventuring.’

  Thita thought as sunlight started entering his room. The sun had just risen and he had woken up not long ago.

  ‘How unfortunate. If I didn't have plans for today, I would have managed to make some more money. Still, I shouldn't worry about the future expenses right now. I have other matters to focus on.’

  Thinking that, he quickly rose up from his bed and headed to take a quick shower in the small bathroom that his room provided.

  It has been three days since his encounter with the beast people and despite that, he hadn't stopped taking quests all those days that passed, saving every single coin he managed to gain.

  Today though, he wasn't planning to take on any new quests. Instead, he had other plans. His savings weren't just for show.

  Excluding the money he had spent the next day after the incident to heal his injury in the back by a professional healer, his savings had another more specific use.

  Today was the day that the slave merchant was about to visit his current town and despite his initial refusal to support such an event by his presence, he had decided to visit it either way and perhaps even spend some of his hard earned savings.

  Buying another human still didn't line up with his ethics but missing the opportunity to get an ally to help him adjust to the current world wasn't something he wanted to miss out on.

  ‘It's wrong to take away another's human free will no matter the reason. Still, I am not planning on doing that. What I will get will be an ally. Forcing him to do whatever I want is not my plan.’

  Walking down the street, Thita made his way towards the gate of the town.

  ‘Still, he will be forced to be my companion in my future adventures and he will be forced to help me. It's inevitable. But I am not planning to take away his freedom. At least not forever…’

  Passing by the inhabitants of the town, the gate was finally in his sight.

  ‘Based on the information I read the slave merchant should have set a big tent just right outside the town, next to its main gate. Of course there might be a delay on the time he arrives but based on the note, he should be here already.’

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Reaching the gate and exiting the town, Thita noticed a big tent colored with red and white stripes. It appeared that the slave merchant had arrived way earlier.

  Noticing the tent, Thita started walking towards it while also realizing just how many residents of the town were actually inside.

  ‘What did I even expect? The era of the world is in a much more primitive stage than mine. This is normal here.’

  Making his way inside the tent alongside some other residents, Thita started looking around while walking slowly.

  Around him stood several cages of different size and shape. Some were filled with one person while others were filled with way more than one.

  All the people inside were wearing torn and dirty clothes with their bodies being in a similar dirty state. Some were glaring at the residents, others were hissing while others were staring at the ground lost in thoughts, their eyes filled with hopelessness. Despite that hopelessness though, some were still having hope on their eyes. A hope that would most likely be shattered.

  Looking at the cages, Thita made several realizations about the people inside.

  One was that the overwhelming majority of the slaves were beast people. There were some humans and even more rarely an elf or two among them but almost all of them were from the beast race.

  Secondly, their prices which were displayed just outside each cage seemed to be based on their age, gender and exterior based on Thita's observation. At least that seemed to be the case for beast people since there were a lot of them to compare.

  Still, despite all those observations, he couldn't help but feel sick from what he was seeing.

  ‘Let's just get this over with. I don't want to be here for longer than I intended to. Let's just stick to finding a st-...!?’

  As he was thinking about buying the kind of person he planned though, a sudden change in his surroundings suddenly took him by surprise. It wasn't something he saw, heard or even smelled, instead it was as if a sudden feeling or just pure instinct.

  ‘What is this? It feels familiar yet somehow completely new. But I can't shake off the feeling that I have encountered some similar response from my body before. Wait! Could it be?’

  Thinking that, he suddenly arrived in front of a cage completely cut out from the rest, as if it was in a category of its own. Inside stood silent a small female figure with dark long hair.

  The girl stood silent looking around at the crowd as if trying to spot something specific until her gaze suddenly stopped directly at Thita who was now standing silent right in front of her cage looking at her.

  Raising her yellow eyes, the girl stared at Thita's eyes directly while he did the same.

  ‘This girl, her shackles are different from the rest. Hers seems to contain mana stones but that's not all. That feeling. No. That aura. I remembered when I last felt it. It was when I met Zero. He also had something similar yet much more intense. Yet I can't help but feel that same feeling right now. Is this the feeling of being surrounded by someone else's mana?’

  Thita couldn't help but think about all the possibilities that this feeling might mean. He was intrigued by what he was witnessing. Despite this, he was certain of one thing. That this girl was special. Special enough to change his plans about who he had to buy completely.

  As if sensing his thoughts, the girl opened her mouth as if to say something, yet her voice was lower than a whisper.

  “Please.”