Masters, Are You Going To Imprison My Sister?

Robert opened his eyes in a dark space where only the cold breeze, the hard floor, and the torches on the wall could only illuminate him. The child, who had gathered up his hazy mind and stood up, looked around blankly.

“… Wh-where is this…?”

It was a narrow room. The floor was as cold as ice, and all sides were blocked by rough stone walls. At the edge of the space there is a bunch of straw. Straw that did not belong to the group was lying on the floor. And, maybe five or so, children with unfamiliar faces were crouching and clinging to the wall like barnacles.

Robert, who made eye contact with one of them, unknowingly shrugged his ass and stepped back. Because the eyes of a child were lifeless like a dead man. Those eyes that he saw for the first time in his life evoked a fear of the unknown in Robert.

Creek! As Robert continued to step back, he slammed his back against something and stopped. The boy looked back quickly. He knew he was in an unfamiliar place.

‘Why am I here? I was just hanging out with my friends before?’

Yeah, until he passed out, Robert was having fun in his neighborhood with his friends. The moment he followed the old man asking for help into the alley, he lost consciousness. And he get to the present situation.

Robert was terrified and confused about what had happened to him, and tears kept coming to his eyes. He looked around.

‘It’s a door!’

Robert hurriedly ran to the door.

Bump, rattle, rattle, rattle!

Robert grabbed the doorknob and shook it. But no matter what he did, the firmly locked door did not open. There was someone outside the door, but it seems that the main character of the sound has no intention of helping Robert. Because he sighed as if it was bothersome and left far away. Robert cried out at the sound of footsteps getting smaller and smaller.

“Don’t go! Please open this door! please!”

At that moment, an annoyed voice came from behind the boy.

“… It’s really noisy.”

Robert looked back in surprise. A child who had been sleeping with his back turned in the corner was waking up.

“Why are you being so noisy? I can’t sleep because of you!”

The tongue-in-cheek girl sat down next to Robert. The straw that had been lying on the floor rustled and crushed under the girl’s body.

“Hey, stop squeezing.”

“Ugh….”

The girl wiped Robert’s face with her dirty sleeve. The girl folded her wet sleeves two or three times and waited for Robert to stop crying. When Robert calmed down a little, the girl whispered quietly.

“You must have been very surprised to be here all of a sudden? Do you wonder where this place is?”

Robert shook his head.

“Here… It’s a place where the children are kept waiting before they go to the slave auction.”

“What, slave?”

Slave! It was a word I had only heard in old stories my grandmother told me.

Robert trembled at it.

“Nonsense. It’s this a lie…? I heard that slave auctions were banned long ago by His Majesty the Emperor…”

“Lie? Why would I lie about this? What are you doing to deceive someone like you? And what’s forbidden? Whether the Emperor forbids it or God tells them not to do it, they still do what they want!”

The girl raised her upper body and looked at Robert with an annoyed expression on her face. Then she sighed and lay back on the floor.

“Even if you don’t want to believe it, it’s real… Crybaby, what’s your name?”

“… Hic, I’m not a crybaby…”

“If you don’t like it, then. I am Lucy, no last name. I’m orphans.”

“……”

“I was born in a slum, and I lived under the royal family as a pickpocket. As usual, while I was working, I got caught by a person in a black hoodie. I can’t remember ever since I got caught by that person and dragged down the alley. Unbeknownst to me, I lost my mind and when I woke up, I was here. you?”

“… I, hic, Robert… Cu-Cutter. I am just like you.”

Robert wiped his tears with his hand and, like Lucy, told the story of how he got here. Once he opened his mouth, other stories flowed out. After that, people talked a lot.

From things about this place to useless stories like what you like and dislike, and how you got along with your family. In the process, Robert was saddened by the thought of his family, but he felt at least a little more at ease.

‘At first I thought she was a scary kid… I don’t think she’s that bad.’

After talking for a while, Robert fell asleep. And he had a dream before he came here. He talked about the soon-to-be-born baby with his bloated mother, and he ran and kicked balls with his friends. He brought a scallop to his farming father and was praised for it. It was a very happy dream. However, when I opened my eyes again, the scenery I missed so much that I cried, disappeared, and only the ceiling of an unfamiliar room was welcoming the boy.

“Ah…”

Robert covered his face with his hands.

‘I’m still here. It was all a dream….’

Robert lay on his side and squeezed his chest. The needles of longing, sadness, and suffering pierced his heart like crazy.

‘I want to go home…. I miss Mom and Dad.’

Robert, who had been smirking as he looked up at the ceiling, got up from his seat at the sound of a voice next to him.

“Are you awake?”

“Lucy…?”

Lucy yawned loudly and said.

“Aren’t you hungry?”

Suddenly, a sound came from Robert’s stomach. The boy opened his eyes and placed his hand on his stomach.

‘By the way, I haven’t eaten anything since yesterday.’

Lucy smiled as if she knew it, and grabbed Robert’s arm.

“Come on. The keeper left some food and water.”

There were a lot of children around the door. As Lucy shoved some of them back, Robert could see what they were surrounded by. Two large wooden bowls were placed in the center. One contained water and the other contained food. The children were holding the food in their hands and stuffing them in their mouths.

When he saw the dirty faces of the children and the bowls with their food, Robert frowned.

‘Pork Porridge…?’

This was because leftovers such as eggshells, grass, beans, sliced ​​bread slices, and soup were mixed in the bowl.

Lucy, like the other children, shoved the pork porridge into her mouth.

‘How do you eat something like that!’

Robert didn’t even want to eat those foods, so he flopped away from the crowd and floundered.

Robert leaned against the wall and noticed a strange painting on the back of his hand.

‘What’s this?’

Robert widened his eyes and looked down at the back of his hand. Since when did this exist? Robert rubbed the back of his hand to erase the picture.

‘This would be enough.’

Robert rubbed his skin until his skin turned red, then let go. Despite all these efforts, the painting sat on the back of Robert’s hand without a single crush. Robert soon realized that it was a tattoo, not a painting.

After a while, Lucy finished eating and sat down next to Robert.

“There, Lucy.”

Robert asked, urgently, showing the back of his hand to Lucy.

“I, I have something strange engraved on the back of my hand. What the hell is this?”

“You are really slow. Did you notice that now? It must have been engraved before you even came here.”

Lucy scoffed.

“That is the stigma of slavery.”

Robert’s face turned white.

“What, what! Why did they carve that on my body? Can you erase this? Huh?”

“Well. I don’t know either. They say it’s drawn with magic and can’t be erased. But the magicians of the tower might be able to erase it. Even if they could erase it, would it cost a lot of money?”

“Then you can’t erase it in the end….”

Robert mumbled with his head down. His voice was full of water.

“I really hate it…. It’s annoying… Why is such a thing on my body…! I don’t want to be here anymore. How long do you have to be in such a dirty and strange place? I wish someone would come and take us out soon. When are the guards coming?”

Lucy said indifferently.

“No one is going to save you.”

“What are you talking about…?”

“There have been two auctions so far, but no one has come.”

“Why? If so many of the children had disappeared, the parents would have reported it. Then, shouldn’t someone come to find us?”

“They would have reported it. But still, no one came to the rescue? It was said that a wealthy nobles and commoners also participate in slave auctions. If the stakes are that big, it will be easy to bribe the guards who are looking for us with money and drive them out.”

“……”

“I was foolishly thinking that the kids’ parents here might come to the rescue too, but when I realized the reality, I gave up on everything. So, why don’t you hold on to any hopeless things?”

It was a terrible truth for Robert to accept.

“It’s that lie…?”

So, he tried hard to deny the truth before his eyes.

Lucy is lying now. Surely someone will come to the rescue. I’ll be able to see my mom and my dad again. I can go home.

‘Can I go back?’

Robert wept.

  ****

Time goes by quickly. Two weeks have already passed since Robert came to this place. That evening, the man took Robert and the children out of the room. Finally the day has come. Today was the day of the auction.

The children went through the cold hallway and climbed the high stairs to somewhere.

A curtain was drawn at the end of the hallway.

White light leaked through the slightly opened curtains. It was a light that felt a little warm to the children who had been in the dark for a long time.

Robert walked to the entrance. A thick cloth wiped away his body and pulled him back. The stronger light pricked his eyes like a sharp needle. Robert closed his eyes and opened them again as the tingling sensation had subsided. Then, a spacious and luxurious auction house welcomed him.

Under the stage where the children were standing, dozens or even hundreds of people sat in their seats and looked at them as if they were looking at things. An unknown classical music was playing from somewhere, and the staff handed champagne in wine glasses to the guests. People in masks were fiddling with license plates in their hands.

Robert looked down and suddenly felt his body tremble. It was because the moment he received the yellow light, a sense of hook reality rushed in.

He’s on sale.

He knew he would be sold into slavery. But what he knew and what he actually experienced was different. As soon as he got on stage, Robert was so frightened by this situation that he couldn’t even breathe properly.

On the side of the stage, the host who was there opened his mouth.

“Now, let’s start with 20 silver for each of these products. We will proceed with the auction from left to right, in standing order. If you find a product you like, pick up a numbered ticket and shout out the purchase price!”

Robert rolled his eyes and looked around. Then he found a large door hiding in the dark far away. Those who sat in the seats either went out or entered through the door. That door is the only entrance that leads directly to the outside.

The moment Robert saw the door, he once again wanted someone to come to rescue him. Someone opened that door and said that they suffered a lot, and that they came to the rescue, so please tell them to rest in peace…

‘No…’

Robert shook his head.

‘Such a miracle… It won’t happen!’ Lucy said During this time, no one has come to rescue the children, and they will continue to do so. Really, no one came to save us, just like the girl said.

If you put hope, you will only be disappointed again. Miracles don’t happen.

He will be sold as a slave here, and will suffer for the rest of his life. Robert closed his eyes and tried to accept his miserable fate. Only then would he be able to withstand the current situation and the horrific things to come.

BAM!

At that moment, the door of the auction house opened with a sound as if a hard object had been smashed.

Like a miracle.