No Man’s Land was a region east of Wisteria. It didn’t officially form part of the Sea Lands, as no one lived there nor was anyone interested in it. The place was a large plot of land made out of solid, black rock. It did posses a bay some ways off east. Sailing a ship through the dangerous coast that guarded No Man’s Land was a challenge only experienced sailors could pull off successfully and most of the times after many attempts. It was at this bay that pirates from all over the Sea Lands and the island countries in its vicinity, came to enact big deals. The pointy rocks, spontaneous maelstroms and overall hostility of the region allowed for secrecy and privacy in ways other meeting spots could not provide.

Evan and Claris had taken some time to reach the bay. No Man’s Land was reachable by climbing down the wall of stone limiting the city of Wisteria. By foot, it wasn’t as hard as reaching it by land IF you knew the way. The way was full of holes that could land you on a cavern full of water, or simply to an unwelcoming, cold floor. Getting lost in No Man’s Land could mean walking in circles for days. Claris had shortcuts though, they’d reached the outskirts of the bay with no problems.

“I’ll place the collar on you now… and umm, Opal gave me a ribbon for your eyes.” Claris reached inside the paper bag and took out the chain. Evan lowered himself a little so that Claris could lock the collar in place. “I’ll wait till we’re closer, that way you can see where we’re going.”

“We could risk someone seeing my eyes before that.” Evan protested. “I’ll trust you, I can handle walking in the dark on my own pretty well. I’ll follow your footsteps, you can guide me if you think I’ll trip and fall on my face.”

“You sure?” Claris asked.

“Very. Let’s not risk it.” Evan nodded.

Claris picked up the ribbon and asked Evan to crouch and turn around. Evan did as he was told and soon had a ribbon over his eyes. The prince made sure the ribbon was tied well enough it wouldn’t fall or get blown away by the wind, which was very strong on this region to begin with.

“That’ll do. We’ll go slow.” Claris explained as Evan turned around, seeking him by ear. “Once we’re at the bay, I’ll be acting really rude, remember to act numbed out.”

“Got it.”

The ground the pair were currently on was higher than the bay itself. They’d have to make their way down the higher plane, through a ridge that worked as a path to the bay. Claris kept Evan’s chain at hand, telling him when the road got uneven and guiding him by the hand whenever he felt uncomfortable leaving him on his own. By the time they got to the bay, Claris had to stop guiding Evan and forcing himself to pull his chain for show. The bay was crowded with pirates, corrupt ex-lords from the north and Venian mafia. Three ships had anchored at the bay, two of them with banners Claris’ recognized, the biggest of them using the dragon banner. Tonight there was a distinct array of stolen goods on display, weapons from lands beyond the horizon, compounds and gadgets outlawed in Wisteria Domain. Amongst them there were no death nets, so Claris moved on… until he noticed a rather boisterous crowd gathered around a stage.

These guys are actually selling slaves this close to Wisteria. Claris thought, clutching Evan’s chain in response. It was the only way to project in someway the anger boiling up in him. He felt that the thing he should do next was massacre everyone around the stage. I’ll make them regret it.

Evan pulled on his chain slightly, Claris turning to see him. The man made an odd sound, like a protest, and lolled his head.

Is he telling me to calm down? Did he sense my anger? Wow. The prince thought, doing his best to get his instincts under control.

The pair got closer to the stage, just in time to see a tall man bring onto it three naked young men, all of them bruised and wearing heavy looking shackles and collars. Claris wanted to pounce on all of them, but knew very well that doing that right at that time would only compromise their goal.

“Welcome, my dearies!” A short man with long purple hair tied up and resting over his shoulder took the to the stage. He wore elegant clothes for a pirate, his eyes the same as Ashura’s and Touta’s.

Oh shit. Claris thought in surprise.

The man bowed, as the Akakawans did and pressed a gloved hand against his mouth before blowing a kiss towards the crowd. The pirates in it howled, called him pretty names before the purple haired man spoke up newly.

“Today we offer beautiful boys from Vispera and a Nemo of Lucellan lineage. That’s right ladies and gents, our rarest piece of the night is a home-trained wereshark!” The man’s tone was excited, full of joy and meant to provoke wonder. Claris felt sickened to his stomach, Evan forced himself to feel nothing. “We’ll start with ichi and slowly build up to our main dish, shall we?”

The tall man who’d pulled the slaves onto the stage walked over to the closest one to him and yanked on his chain. He handed it to the purple haired man, who giggled and forced the slave to kneel.

“Pretty Visperian boy, eighteen, virgin, and ready to be set to work! Top shape, don’t let the bruises trick you! His skin is softer than fox fur and he comes with mage eyes.” The man pulled on the slave’s hair and forced him to show off his eyes. Mage eyes was the common term for heterochromia, it was uncommon on the Sea Lands. “Offer starts at four thousand silvers, do we have any takers?”

Claris had brought money with him, it would be stupid of him to feign interest in buying a second slave and not have the capital to afford one. That’s how he was tempted to try to buy the first boy out of this torment. Evan inconspicuously pulled on his chain.

Does he want me to wait? Claris pulled him closer, placing a hand beside Evan’s right hand. Tell me what you mean.

Evan understood Claris’ actions and traced letters over the man’s palm.

Wait for the second one. You’ll attract less attention if you were to stay for the last.

“I hear five thousand silvers! Anyone offer more, five thousand will it stay or go?” The price had already been raised twice, one by someone Claris thought was a mafia boss and the other by a new pirate lord.

“Six thousand silvers.” The mafia boss declared, the crowd howled for a few seconds before everyone remained quiet once more.

“Six thousand! Is that all we got? Going once!” The purple haired man stroke the slave’s head tenderly, the slave pressing himself against the man’s leg leaning into the comfort. “Going twice… sold to the well dressed man in a scarf!”

Claris would hate himself for tonight, but at least he knew the face of the man he would hunt down when he tore everyone that helped the purple haired man to shreds.

The purple haired man welcomed the highest bidder onto the stage, let him inspect his prize and asked that he paid the “tall man on the back” and to avoid being clever about it.

“Onto the next one! Remember, our slaves get better as we go on! Our second Visperian young man is an obedient and strong specimen.” Like the first, the second was dragged and forced to kneel. This one was far more pitiful than the first. He was trembling like a leaf in rough wind, Claris could see blood in his palms from how hard he was clutching his fists closed. The man had tanned skin, his short hair looked dark but flashed red on the spots that light hit it. His skin was tarnished with scars, he had them all over, most dominantly on his chest. “He’s a little shy, but we’ve broken him in to do as he’s told even when he’s scared! Buuuut, what makes him our Ni today? Like Ichi, Ni here has mage eyes… and he’s a wordless spellcaster! For the brave master, owning a useful slave like this one would be amazing! What say, who would dare posses such a rare jewel? We start at eight thousand silvers!”

A wordless spellcaster. How the hell had they even gotten their hands on someone like that and how had they tamed them? Claris gulped hard, trying to think of all the things the auctioned slave had gone through.

Nine thousand.

Ten thousand.

Twelve thousand.

Only the meanest looking people in the crowd were bidding. The slave would be put to work at the frontlines, he’d be the first they’d send in for dangerous things, the first they’d try anything harmful on. A wordless spellcaster was a weapon for them. One that, although powerful and rare, could be easily disposed of, highly expendable.

Fifteen Thousand.

Twenty Thousand.

“Sixty Thousand Silvers.” Claris declared, he sounded smug. The expression on his face was of excitement despite the repulsion he felt on the inside.

“Sixty for the suave man with obvious good taste!” The purple haired man announced. “Will it go higher?”

“Eighty Thousand!” Someone hollered from the back.

“One hundred.” Claris immediately replied. The crowd remained silent, possibly in shock at how high the bid for the Visperian boy had gone.

“No other challengers? Sold to the suave man for one hundred!” The purple haired man clapped his hands and asked Claris to come onto the stage.

The prince pulled on Evan’s chain, his face showing off a really smug expression, totally faithful to his spoiled rich boy persona. Evan followed groggily, facing down and looking very much subdued.

“Tell him to do a trick for me, just to make sure he’s really a wordless spellcaster.” Claris said grinning at the purple man as he came on the stage before staring “amused” at the slave by his feet.

“Of course, dear sir!” The short man pulled on the slave’s hair to make him stand up. “Ni, give your new master a flower.”

The young man’s eyes were green and yellow, and they stared at Claris gleaming with pure fear. The slave rose his hands and a vortex of light formed in it. The prince immediately recognized a spell being weaved and cast, the mana moving about in patterns. In a small flash, the light show turned off and in its place was a delicate glass flower simply sitting on the slave’s hands.

“Charming, I do like.” Claris laughed, taking the flower and crushing it in his hand using life energy to avoid getting cut. He then grabbed the slave’s chin and made as if he were checking him out. “Very worth my hundred thousand. Perfect playmate for my pet.”

“It is our pleasure to be of service! We hope to be of service yet again, milord.” The purple haired man produced a card from his jacket. “As the moon wanes so will the red dragon sail seeking his star.”

Claris was instructed to pay the tall man like the previous highest bidder and before he knew it now he was pulling two men in chains. He still had money to spare, so he did stick around to see if he could rescue the unfortune wereshark. Unfortunately, the bid went far above his budget.

“We start at five hundred thousand!” The purple haired man said after giving his description of what was the night’s top pick. Claris had the money if it remained below a Golden Pearl. To his absolute despair, in the time it took him to do the math the bid had been raised to an actual Golden Pearl.

I know this is hard for you, stay focused. Evan wrote in his palm while Claris felt his heart shatter as he was unable to do anything while one of his kind was sold off to some horrible asshole in a suit.

“That is what we, the Ryuusei, have brought to you for tonight!” The purple haired man waved at the crowd, his face expressing faked sadness. “We hope to see you next time! We promise to have a wider selection, if you’ve any requests be sure to let me know! Slave traders! We offer the highest quality death nets, drugs and poisons available on Sea Land waters! I welcome you to come ask our captain about them! May you all have a wonderful night, ladies and gents!”

The slave auction was over, and with it Claris and Evan’s reason to come had been met.

“Come, pets.” Claris called, pulling on the chains he held all so tightly in his hand.

The one good thing about this situation was that everyone visiting No Man’s Land minded their own business if they felt like you were one of them. The trio of men got out of there without attracting concerning attention aside from congratulations to Claris for his new acquisition. Once they’d gone far enough and back to the higher ground, Claris’ full rage became obvious, basically tangible for Evan.

“Goddess DAMMIT.” He said grinding his teeth. He was going to punch the ground with his full force, but Evan stopped him by holding his arm before he could go through with it.

“Calm down,” Evan asked.

“… I could say the same to you.” Claris noticed the amount of raw, ugly anger in Evan’s voice. He got goosebumps from the bloodthirst he was venting.

They heard a whimper and their whole angry atmosphere dissipated. The slave they’d bought was shivering, stark naked and looking at them like the world’s most frightened child.

“Hey, sorry about that. It’s okay.” Claris’ said in a softer tone, getting near the former slave. “You’re safe now.”

The young man wasn’t believing Claris, not that the latter judged him for it.

“Here,” Claris used life energy to shatter the collar and shackles on the young man. He took the remains and threw them off the cliff and into the ocean were they’d never touch anyone’s skin again. The former slave, stared at him with huge eyes, legitimate surprise and confusion in them. “We’ll protect you.”

The young man sniffed before his legs gave way. Evan caught him right on time, picking up the sobbing mess in his arms. Claris got rid of Evan’s collar and the ribbon over his eyes, thing he’d realized definitely did not make him less mobile or aware of his surroundings.

“Do you have a name?” Evan asked the sobbing young man.

Holding in his sobbing if for only a moment, the young man mustered the strength to speak.

“Byul.” He mumbled before pressing his face against Evan’s shoulder to continue sobbing, although much less desperately.

“Okay, Byul. You can rest, we’ll have you in a safe place before you know it.” Evan consoled the young man. Like magic, Byul did fall asleep after Evan told him he could.

“Let’s move, I want to get him into a warm bed…” Claris spoke up, his heart feeling a lot less heavy. He’d saved at least one… and soon he’d bathe in the blood of the people who did this to them. “Ryuusei, now our pirates have a name.”

Evan’s head turned, he sought something behind them. Claris realized what Evan had, they were being followed.

“Goddesses, have you brought me offerings?” The prince said, a wide smile painting his face.

He could already taste their blood.