Chapter 181: Fishing for a Bat
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 181: Fishing for a Bat
Elize, the final item of the auction.
Her pitiful expression evoked sympathy, and her sorrowful writhing while bound by ropes stimulated the lust of men.
And what was this Elize wearing? A torn nun's habit.
Her outstanding beauty and the unique nature of her profession as a nun amplified her value.
Some might see her as a poor, pitiable nun, but in reality, this was all a show orchestrated by Elize. The slave auction, and even Elize herself as the product.
Sister Elize.
Outwardly a nun of the Order of Balance, her true identity was that of a vampire, the very kind the clergy were hunting with fire in their eyes.
She manipulated people to arrange the slave auction and put herself up as the prize.
Suckers mesmerized by her beauty would pay a hefty price to purchase her. All the profits went straight to Elize.
The slave contract was meaningless. She would work her magic the moment ownership was transferred, rendering it null and void.
The buyers, blissfully unaware, would excitedly purchase Elize, only to lose their money and end up with nothing.
This was already her seventh time pulling such a scam.
Elize had come to Harlem, the location for her next job.
Even in a poor city, if she caught the eye of a noble, she could make at least dozens of gold coins, hundreds at most.
The truth Elize had learned from this line of work was that nothing was sweeter than sucking money out of others. Even Ordo, the God of Order, would have to agree.
I wonder who will be donating today~
Elize scanned the auction house with the eyes of a predator searching for prey.
Countless men sent her looks of base desire, but their fantasies would never be realized.
Then, a clergyman in pure white robes entered her line of sight.
Why would a priest come to a slave auction?
This kind of shady back alley was a place the clergy despised.
And he wasn't just any priest. An immense amount of divine power resided within him.
Seeing the pitying look he gave her, she knew her cover wasn't blown. After all, while she was half-vampire, she was also undeniably half-cleric.
Of course, getting involved with him would do her no good.
And next to the priest…
…was a man with black hair and black eyes, his legs crossed, his chin resting crookedly on his hand. His face was quite handsome, but Elize found his gaze more striking than his features.
It wasn't a look of pity for the nun, nor was it the lecherous gaze of desire.
It felt as if he was looking at her and sneering.
Sneering instead of pitying her?
Did he not feel sorry for a nun captured as a slave?
Elize sent a direct, pleading gaze his way, but his expression didn't change. He must be a cold-blooded man, incapable of feeling sympathy even for the pitiful.
If he wasn't going to be the one paying, Elize had no interest in him. She dismissed him from her mind.
“I'll bid fifty gold coins!”
The price had already climbed to fifty gold.
She had planted shills not only among the auction house staff but also among the bidders. They would raise the bids to incite competition. The fools, none the wiser, would jump into the bidding with glee.
“One hundred!”
The bidding jumped to a new level.
This was enough.
With a hundred gold coins, she could live lavishly for a while.
It seemed no one else was raising the price.
The auction was just about to end.
“A thousand.”
“………Huh?”
“I'll pay a thousand.”
It was the man with the peculiar gaze.
Without any warning, he had thrown out a bid ten times the previous one.
The hall fell silent.
The auctioneer, under Elize's control, asked on her behalf.
“Excuse me, sir, but this is no place for jokes…”
“I'm not joking.”
Right. It's certainly not a joking amount.
Despite offering such a high bid, his expression remained relaxed.
She couldn't read his intentions.
Her intuition whispered that something was off.
Just then, murmurs rose from the crowd.
“That man… could he be the Slave Reaper?”
“The Slave Reaper? All the way out here in Harlem?”
“From the looks of him, it has to be.”
The Slave Reaper.
Elize had heard of his infamy.
A slave trader who toyed with his slaves, took their lives, and even shattered their souls.
And that Slave Reaper desired her.
It won't work on me, though.
No matter how famous he was, to Elize, the Slave Reaper was just another sucker.
He seems to have a lot of money. Should I fleece him for a bit more?
Elize controlled one of her hidden shills in the crowd.
“One thousand one hundred.”
“Two thousand.”
“T-Two thousand one hundred…?”
“Three thousand.”
“?”
A large question mark appeared above Elize's head.
What the?
What on earth does he plan to do to me to be spending three thousand gold coins?
The Slave Reaper's eyes met hers, and he gave a faint smile.
Something felt wrong.
Very wrong.
*
The winning bid was a whopping three thousand gold coins.
He had poured out a fortune large enough to buy a grand noble's mansion on a single nun.
Unlike a typical nun, Elize pursued luxury, but even for her, such an excessive amount was burdensome. All she could think was, I need to get out of here, fast.
The parties involved gathered in one place.
“Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Karami.”
“Don't mention it. I've spent it where it ought to be spent, so it's no different from not having spent a single penny.”
“Mr. Karami…! Sob.”
Lucas regarded Karami, who had invested three thousand gold coins in a single nun, as the savior of the century.
The name "Slave Reaper" didn't even register in his ears. He just kept bowing his head, expressing his sincere gratitude.
“Lucas, if it's not too much trouble, may I have a moment to speak with this woman?”
“Yes, yes. Of course.”
Overcome with emotion, Lucas left without a shred of suspicion.
The only ones left were Karami, Elize, and the slave trader and auctioneer being controlled by Elize.
“First, show me the money. If this was a joke, you won't escape my wrath.”
“Don't worry.”
Karami handed over the gold coins he had exchanged for points beforehand. The heavy pouches of gold were split into several bags, too much to fit in one.
Elize had the slave trader check them. When he opened a pouch, a large quantity of glittering gold coins was visible. They were real, not fakes.
“Now that I've proven it's not a joke, may I receive ownership?”
“Hmph… Fine.”
The slave trader handed over the magic contract detailing the master-slave agreement with Elize. Karami took the contract, glanced over it, and grinned.
“Confirmed. Then I shall take ownership of the nun. Ah, and one more thing.”
Snap!
Karami snapped his fingers.
It was instantaneous.
Before she could even react, shackles materialized on Elize's soul.
“Gh?!”
Elize was utterly stunned.
“I happen to know a bit of contract magic myself. I cast it just in case. No problem, right?”
The auctioneer shouted.
“No problem?! How dare you cast a contract without consent!”
“Consent? Whose consent are you talking about?”
“Why, obviously…!”
“The nun is now my slave. I paid a fair price for her. Whatever I do to her now is my business.”
It was sound logic, but to the others—no, to Elize—it was nothing short of a crisis.
I knew something felt strange.
To think he could use magic.
So this is the Slave Reaper.
There's a reason he became so infamous as a mere slave trader.
It seems I underestimated him.
Time for a tactical retreat.
While the priest is gone, I'll nullify the contract, take the money, and run.
A mere slave trader's magic is nothing.
Elize skillfully tried to nullify the contract, but…
Huh? It's not breaking?
It wouldn't break.
The fake contract Elize had prepared vanished in an instant, but the shackles Karami had placed on her soul wouldn't budge, no matter how hard she tried.
“Don't resist. If you use magic, the priest will think something is strange, won't he?”
At his words, Elize's body reacted instantly.
Her magic cut off abruptly.
At the same time, the bodies of the auctioneer and the slave trader collapsed like puppets with their strings cut.
“Hm? They suddenly collapsed. Did they get sleepy all of a sudden?”
Karami said, feigning innocence, observing the fallen men. He nudged their heads with his foot, but they didn't get up.
Flustered by the unexpected situation, Elize hid her panic and spoke in a soft tone.
“You're the Reaper, aren't you? Weren't you trying to save me?”
“I was.”
“Then why did you form a contract with me?”
“I will save you. However, the slave contract will also remain.”
Saving her while keeping her as a slave.
The words were a contradiction.
“Do you think you can get away with enslaving a nun? The priest won't stand by if he finds out.”
“I'm sure he wouldn't. That's why this will be our little secret.”
“And why should I agree to that?”
At that, Karami approached Elize, sniffed the air, and took a whiff. Elize frowned and subtly distanced herself.
“What are you doing all of a sudden?”
“Oh, nothing. I just thought I smelled blood. Am I the only one?”
Elize's crimson eyes shot wide open.
Elize had used vampire blood to control people.
It wasn't magic, but a unique vampiric trait, so even the priest couldn't have noticed.
Furthermore, he wasn't a beastkin. It made no sense for a human to be able to smell the scent of blood. But with something to hide, Elize couldn't act confidently.
“Th-that's…”
“That's?”
The moment her identity was revealed, she would be unable to resist due to the contract and would be exorcised by the priest waiting outside.
She had to somehow bluff her way through this.
But she couldn't think of an excuse to get her out of this situation.
‘…….’
One thing did come to mind.
She could hardly bring herself to say it, but humiliation was better than death.
Elize's clenched fists trembled as she spoke.
“Th-that's because…… it's that time of the month for me…”
“Pardon? I can't hear you.”
“It's… that time…”
“…Aha. My apologies. How rude of me.”
Karami apologized for his lack of tact. It was a lie, but Elize's pride was already dead and buried.
“In any case, please be careful. It would be troublesome for you too, Sister, if you were found out to be a vampire.”
At his words, Elize, who had her eyes squeezed shut, snapped them open and jerked her head up.
“H-How did you know?”
“We're under contract, aren't we? My magic is a little special; it allows me to see through a slave's true nature. Your soul has the shape of a bat, Sister.”
I can't believe it can even do that.
Elize bit her lower lip.
Then, a thought struck her.
“Wait a minute. If you knew I was a vampire, didn't you also know the reason for the smell of blood?”
“Hey, I'm not a dog. How could I tell by smell? I was just guessing.”
“Ah…?”
“I was surprised myself. I didn't realize you were that desperate to hide it… Still, that was a pretty novel excuse, wasn't it? I couldn't help but play along.”
Karami offered his words, trying to console her in his own way.
But they were no consolation at all. Elize glared, trembling with rage. She was so utterly mortified that her eyes began to glisten with tears.
“…What are you going to do with me?”
“Hmm, shall we get out of here first? The priest will get suspicious if we make him wait too long.”
Karami opened a pouch and began to collect the gold coins. But he only took the ones from the top of one pouch.
“Why are you only taking those?”
“Because the rest are all fakes.”
“What?”
“I only sprinkled them on top. To make it look like they were all gold coins.”
Elize, who had broken the ropes binding her with her own strength, hastily rummaged through the pouches.
They really weren't gold coins.
The insides were filled with nothing but rocks painted yellow.
The other pouches didn't even have any gold coins in them at all.
Three thousand gold coins? He hadn't paid anything at all; he'd gotten Elize for free.
A sense of futility washed over Elize.
She had pretended to be a slave, only to become a real one.