Bound and Broken: An Isekai Adventure Dark Fantasy (Melas Book 1) by V.A. Lewis (autobiographies to read .TXT) 📕

Granted, legality was not a good basis for creating a moral compass. But my point still stood. Everyone in the city is a jerk! You two are even bigger jerks! And Mr Jerkface (Julian) is the biggest jerk!

The two city guards continued their conversation, as I continued to call them jerks in my head. Jerks!

"Another border conflict? I swear, those idiots squabble with outsiders over territory every other year. And they’re in a confederation too! How can their members even call themselves a ‘Free City’ with a straight face?"

"Hey, you should be grateful! Their stupidity is what brings us lots of slaves and money! Thank the Goddess that we can profit from those suckers."

"Whatever, everything looks like it checks out. Let’s go and tell the captain that they’re good to pass through—"

"Wait," the first guard placed a hand in front of the second, and pointed in my direction "look at her!"

I froze as the second guard turned to face me and whistled. "Oo, black hair. Never seen that before on a Beastkin. I thought only Elves got it?"

"Who cares about those blue-skinned freaks!" the other man snapped, and placed one hand and feet onto the wagon. He hauled himself up, and turned to his companion. "She’s a Human— you know, like us! And a good-looking one at that."

I shuddered as I heard those words leave his mouth. He stared fixedly at me, and I nearly puked. Grossgrossgross—

"Huh. You’re right."

"Goddess grace us, what kind of a reaction is that? Look at her! She even has the Mancis Brand on her face!"

I reflexively reached up to cover the scar. Disgusting.

"I’m not you," the second man snorted. "Too young for my taste. Maybe if she was a decade older..."

"Whatever, I prefer them this way." The man eyed me from afar. "They just look so—"

"Oi, what are you two idiots doing?" a voice interrupted the two guards. A man who looked to be higher ranked than the two entered our wagon. "Hurry up the inspection. We need to get this over and done with as quickly as possible. We need every man we can get back on the walls— if another horde of Monsters attacked us like today and you two are busy dilly dallying around down here, I’ll have you both turned to slaves."

The two city guards paled, and quickly ran out of our wagon. I stared blankly at their backs as they left.

Shang saw my stare— my face filled with concern and worry— and smiled reassuringly.

"Don’t worry," he said, and mustered a grin underneath his muzzle. "All is not lost just yet."

"But what do we do?" I asked, still feeling completely blindsided by this turn of events. "We’re in the Free City of Slaves. There’s no way we can escape. We’ll die!"

"You’re right, Melas." The Dog Beastkin nodded his head. "This is a terrible city, full of terrible monsters. Fortunately for you, I’m a Hunter. That means I’m used to dealing with monsters."

I met his look, and almost smiled back too. The moment however, did not last, as someone felt left out, and poked her head in to be included in the moment.

"Nn! Don't you mean ‘we are Hunters’? Stop trying to act cool by yourself!"

Shang and I turned to face the Cat Beastkin who spoke; Rin saw our expressions, and blinked.

"What?"

"I’m just saying, you didn’t have to leave out the rest of us!"

"Yes, Rin."

"Look, I know you were having a moment. But we’re here too!"

"Yes, Rin. I heard you the first ten times you said it."

"If you did," the catgirl said, turning from me to Shang, before pouting. "Why are you two still giving me that look?!"

"We’re not giving you any look, Rin," Shang sighed. "You’re imagining it." He rested his forehead on the palm of his hand.

At this point, I had to tune out this argument; it had been almost an hour and it was still going!

By now, our caravan had gone through the checkpoint with the city guards, and our wagons and carts were making our way deeper and deeper into the city. The light breeze from earlier was no more, and stronger winds blew into the flaps of our wagon, allowing me to look into the streets of Bys.

The roads were empty— apart from our procession— and the streets were dark and cold; only the light of the moon and the occasional street lamps illuminated the night. A faint mist covered the city, giving off an eerie and almost luminescent atmosphere to the Free City of Slaves.

It was like a scene straight out of a slasher movie! I fully expected to see an empty street in one second, only to blink, and suddenly see a serial killer standing there. Eventually, the scenery slowly shifted from well-decorated stone houses, to dull brick buildings that were each twice as large as the previous homes.

"Slave quarters," a voice whispered the words behind me. I turned and saw Shang looking into the streets of Bys, and he slowly repeated the words again.

"Slave quarters. We’re in a slave section of the city. One of many. This one looks to be around the massive stadium we saw earlier."

I blinked, as the implications of what was left unsaid slowly sunk in: the slaves here were not builders or manual laborers, but fighters. Gladiators. People, forced to fight in a blood sport for the entertainment of others.

It was wrong; I know the Romans used to do the same, and even in modern times, things like that probably still existed in some parts of the world. But seeing it for myself made me feel sick. I hate this world, the thought once again casually passed through my mind.

Another thought crossed my mind, but this time it was one of