Chapter 153 – Encountering A Familiar Face

“Big brother&h.e.l.lip; I don’t think this is a good idea.”

Roran whispered into Calron’s ear, as the two youths pa.s.sed a line of guards whose cultivations were at the Saint stage.

“Relax, Roran. We are customers here and there is no need for them to attack us.”

Calron calmly muttered while continuing to walk ahead into the open-air auditorium. 

Early in the morning, Calron had decided to not open the shop and go to the Slave Market to purchase a few staff members instead. He could have just hired people from the city to work for him, but Calron felt that if he could give a better life to the pitiful slaves, then he would rather buy them and set them free of their shackles. 

After convincing Ellie to stay behind at the inn with Tanny, Calron took Roran and they both set out to the biggest slave auction in the market, where they sold a variety of the best battle slaves, beast slaves, etc.

“I don’t like the way that they are staring at us.”

Roran grumbled at not being taken seriously by Calron. 

The reason why Roran felt uncomfortable was due to the fact that all the people entering the auction appeared to be extravagantly wealthy and were surrounded by their own bodyguards. Whereas, the commonly-dressed pair of him and Calron looked like two kids coming out explore and have fun.

“We won’t stay here for long. Let’s just go to the battle slaves section first, and then we can see if we want to continue searching here.”

Calron pointed at an ongoing auction in the far distance at the right of the auditorium, and hurried there.

A large rectangle stage was located there, while the auctioneer loudly called out the biddings. It also appeared to be the most densely crowded section of the auditorium. 

“Alright.”

Roran replied, as he quickly followed behind Calron.

“250 gold&h.e.l.lip;..going once &h.e.l.lip;. 270 gold! &h.e.l.lip;. going once&h.e.l.lip;. going twice&h.e.l.lip;.. sold to number 31224!”

A sound of a vibrant bell rang throughout the stage, as the auctioneer called out the ident.i.ty of the person who won the bid.

When entering the auction, each group is given a number card after they have deposited an initial 100 gold. This was to make sure that the people partic.i.p.ating in the auction were not falsely bidding and trying to inflate the prices. Of course, upon leaving the auditorium the person could claim the 100 gold back after paying for their successful bids.

A two-meter black ape enveloped in chains was pulled off the stage by two staff members and was taken towards the person who had won the previous bid.

Third rank of Saint stage&h.e.l.lip;

Calron mused while glancing at the black ape, and then pushed through the crowd ahead to gaze at the remaining slaves.

There were around seven battle slaves standing just behind the stage, and all of them were human males varying in both age and height. 

Let’s see which one I should go for.

Calron thought inwardly, as his irises morphed into a bright grey color.

The first one is not bad&h.e.l.lip; sixth rank of Saint stage, but lots of people will compete for him and the price tag would be very expensive as well.

Calron observed the slaves, and tried to pick one to bid on. The others were around the second to sixth rank of the Saint stage, with the last one being at the seventh rank and most probably the highlight of the auction.

After learning about their cultivation stages, Calron tried to get a glimpse of their personalities and mental mindset. Although he was not very adept at using the Divine Perception to completely look inside someone else’s mind, he could still catch glimpses of their thoughts.

Anger&h.e.l.lip; despair&h.e.l.lip; bloodthirst&h.e.l.lip; revenge&h.e.l.lip; melancholy&h.e.l.lip; 

A wide range of emotions rushed into Calron as he opened his mind to sense the slaves’ feelings. He did not know which slaves were projecting which emotions, and sometimes, even the emotions of the surrounding customers seeped into Calron’s mind.

This is getting very confusing, I need to focus only on one emotion.

Calron closed his eyes in concentration and narrowed down on the single emotion that he wanted.

Hope.

He did not want a slave whose only aim was to enact revenge or to take out their built-up fury. He wanted someone that wanted to live and who had aspirations and dreams for the future. It was to prevent any negativity atmosphere around Ellie, so she would be surrounded by people who would show her the goodness in humanity.

There!

Calron inwardly exclaimed, the moment he picked up that emotion in one of the slaves.

Opening his eyes in that direction, Calron saw a middle-aged man with greying blonde hair and a lean body structure. He was roughly a bit taller than Roran, but with his lean body frame, he appeared to be even taller. His brown eyes stared at the auctioneer with disgust, while his two fists were clenched tightly in frustration.

He was also one of the weakest slaves among the remaining seven with a cultivation only at the second rank of the Saint stage.

“Found our guy.”

Calron smiled as he continued to observe the middle-aged slave, and waited patiently until he was brought up on stage.

“Who is it, big brother?”

Roran quietly asked, guessing which one of the seven slaves that had Calron picked.

“I thought we agreed that we will meet after we entered the city.”

An irritated voice suddenly sounded out behind the two youths, as they each felt a hard hand on their shoulders.

&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;..

In a dark room and on a large lavish bed, a man was sleeping on his back and letting out faint and soft snores.

In the next instant, a shadow in the shape of a python slithered through the door crack and gradually approached the man on the bed.

The gentle snores continued to echo, as the man appeared to be still unaware of the intruder. Just as the shadow began to creep on the bed and neared the body of the man, it slowly transformed into a scantily-clad woman with bright crimson hair locks. 

“So sweet&h.e.l.lip; ”

The woman seductively bit on the man’s ear lobe, rousing him from his sleep.

“Who let you enter my room?”

Zarvel opened his eyes, and glared at the woman clinging to his body.

“Master sent me to tell you that he wants you to start the operation on the princess’s sixteenth birthday.”

The red-haired woman sensually whispered into Zarvel’s ear, ignoring the man’s glare and continuing to hug his body.

“Did he give you the artifact?”

Zarvel asked in a forcefully calm voice, still lying in the same position on his bed.

“He did.”

The woman took out a small gla.s.sy sphere which appeared to contain miniature moving black clouds, and she placed it on the stand next to the bed.

“Good.”

Zarvel stated in a satisfied voice. However, in the next moment, he swiftly leapt from his bed, gripped the red-haired woman by the neck, and pushed her against the wall.

“Next time you enter my room while I’m sleeping, I’ll crush your throat into a pulp.”

Zarvel whispered darkly into the woman’s ear, his arm now covered with s.h.i.+ny black scales and his fingers morphed into razor-sharp claws.

“Hahaha!”

The woman let out a strained laughter while her neck was still being grasped by Zarvel, but then she quickly exploded into a mist of smoke.

“I hope you fail in the task that Master a.s.signed you, because if you do&h.e.l.lip; then I will be the one to crush your neck.”

A seductive voice sounded out behind Zarvel as he felt the trace of a slender finger on his jaw, until the presence finally left his room.

The savage roar of a furious dragon echoed in the Guardian Temple, and the sound waves reverberated throughout the area telling everyone one simple fact:

The dragon had finally awakened.