Chapter 20

I had heard that the best time to visit the festival was at nightfall, when the streets seemed to be crowded with people.

The bustling streets are decorated with intricately crafted lantern dragons and a variety of vendors.

Having seen many different types of festivals before coming to this world, I naturally had no interest in these, and I merely hurried past everything.

“Hey, are you sure you’re here to visit the festival?”

Leonard asked after noticing Penelope’s strange behavior. I glanced at him before answering absently.

“I am visiting.”

“You’re not saying anything or buying anything for yourself, normally you’re obviously as crazy as you are when it comes to accessories.”

Leonard said, pointing at the stalls selling all sorts of girl items.

‘Do you really think I came here just to have fun with you guys at the festival?’

I stared at him for a while, then turned my back over him without saying anything.

To be honest, there was nothing I saw throughout the festival that I wanted to buy.

I was very confused because I didn’t know where to find Ikris.

“Hey, come here for a second.”

“Ha, ah!”

That’s when Leonard grabbed my hand and pulled me somewhere.

Derrick followed us both silently.

“Look, they’re selling some goodies here.”

Leonard led me to a stall of vendors selling jewelry.

“Gee whiz, welcome! Come take a look, honored guests! We’ve got a lot of goods from the East this time.”

Not understanding his intention, I just stood there and watched, and when he saw my reaction, he yelled at me in frustration.

“Hey, he’s asking you to pick it out, so take a quick look.”

I did as he said and looked at the jewelry, they were all uniquely shaped ornaments, it seemed like the only time you could see them was during the festival.

But I quickly lost interest in them. And just then.

“This looks good.”

An arm reached out from behind me, and Derrick he picked up a hand ornament.

It was a bracelet made of juniper silk, with a small fuchsia gemstone pendant hanging from its county.

“Geez! You, sir, have a real taste for reading things. Let me tell you about the origin of this bracelet, it took 3 whole months to make this bracelet with rare gemstones that can only be found in oriental deposits.”

The stall owner began to narrate, yet without exaggeration.

For I perceived that the color of the gemstone was similar to the color of my head maid.

“Hey, wake up you, there’s no way he would send this to me la.”

I looked up at [Favorability 10%] thinking.

“Then I’ll take this one.”

Seeing Leonard pull out coins, I hurriedly chose something of interest.

The stall owner who kept stalling the bracelet closed his mouth when he saw what I wanted

“…… Are you serious?”

Dropping his eyes to see what I had in my hands, Leonard he frowned tightly, as did Derrick.

“Yeah, just this mask.”

The one I was holding was a mask that had been abandoned in a corner.

Only the eyes and mouth were carved in a hollowed-out, grinning fashion, which reminded me of the Riverback Mask.

Come to think of it, even if I was wearing a robe, they wouldn’t let a little girl like me into the slave market.

So it was a wise decision.

“I’m going to buy this.”

“Hey, I want to ask ……”

Leonard asked me with a serious face, as if he was double-checking my decision.

“I’m going to buy this.”

“Hey, I want to ask ……”

Leonard asked me with a serious look on his face, seemingly double-checking my decision.

“Are you not feeling well these days? I’m asking if from time to time you feel dizzy all of a sudden, or unconsciously out of your mind, as well as coming back to your senses only to realize you’re in a different place.”

“If you don’t want it just say so.”

“No, it’s not that I don’t… did you say you really want this?”

“Yes.”

Even though he kept asking me the same question over and over again, I stopped my expectations of yelling at Leonard.

Even though Leonard continued to look at me with skeptical eyes, he ended up buying the mask.

Right then.

Waaaaaahhhh! There was a loud noise in the distance.

I turned to look toward the area, and a group of people in festive attire were walking down the street

Boom …… Boom ……

The fireworks brightened the night, and the crowd’s excitement was only the prelude to the parade.

People from all over the world are coming out of the streets and walking through the city.

I kept getting hit by people who were speeding by.

“Hold on.”

His hand came to me through the delicately crafted cuffs. I looked up to find Derrick looking down, expressionless, at me.

“…… Thank you.”

Worried that I would be swept away by this crowd, in my haste I grabbed his sleeve.

But it seems I grabbed it in the wrong place, because something crunched where I grabbed it.

Waaaaaaaahhhh one!

At that moment, the parade passed us by.

I grabbed the corner of Derek’s sleeve as tightly as I could so I wouldn’t get swept away by the crowd.

However …… snap one

“Penelope!”

With the sound of objects separating from clothing, Derrick’s panicked face moved further and further away from me.

“No, no ……”

I was carried somewhere by the moving crowd and couldn’t get out of it for a while.

When I reacted, I realized I was in a creepy dark corner.

In my hand were the only gold cufflinks I’d ever stripped off Derrick’s sleeve, and the mask Leonard had bought me.

“…… Where am I?”

I looked around, a light frown on my brow.

That’s when a white alert box suddenly came into view ……

The chapter [The Unfortunate Slave Ikris from the Defeated Nation] has been opened to the enemy.

Is it heading to the ‘Slave Market’?

[Yes/No]

Surprised, I unconsciously opened my mouth

“So sudden ….”

Thanks to the wave of people arriving causing us to be dispersed, I was able to start the Ikris line, having thought that those two following me wouldn’t trigger it.

After pressing [Yes], I was immediately transferred to the entrance of the slave market.

It was a very run down building, wouldn’t have even guessed it would be a place like this.

I could see people lined up at the entrance, and every one of them was wearing a mask.

”Great, it’s a wise move to buy a mask.”

Unlike the ones worn by the other nobles, my mask wasn’t pretty at all, but it was enough as long as it blocked my face.

I put on my mask and line up behind those people.

I didn’t even forget to check my robes so that my hair color wouldn’t show.

Soon after, it was my turn to enter.

“Please show me your invitation.”

A burly man extended his hand to me.

‘Does this even require an invitation?’

I was a bit flustered and uneasy, not realizing that I needed an invitation to get in.

‘There wasn’t any intel telling me about this at all, you ghost game! .

I was in an anxious mood, unable to reply to him in real time, and he looked particularly ghastly with a deep frown on his face.

“Don’t you have an invitation? This place is for members only, no one can get in without an invite, right now right now ……”

“Wait, wait!”

As he said the word ‘members’, an idea snapped to mind. I hastily reached into a pocket on my person.

“Here.”

It was Derrick’s cufflinks that I handed over to the big man.

The buttons were clearly engraved with the elephant emblem of the Eckhardt family.

When the man saw the buckle in my hand, he immediately widened his eyes.

“If it’s about my invitation, I forgot it at home and filled it with this, no?”

“I, I didn’t notice that it turned out to be such an honorable lord. Please, please come in!”

He hurriedly made a way for me to enter. Even though I pretended to enter carelessly, I was still surprised in my heart.

‘This is the vast influence of the Eckhardt family, and perhaps more than that.”

Of course, even if the Duke was a VIP guest and sometimes came here to purchase some useful slaves, there was no guarantee that this trick would work in the moment.

This whole midsummer thing about slaves made me meditate.

“I’ll escort you to the auction house.”

A follower in charge of escorting guests greeted me from beside the entrance and led me in. I followed him down a narrow staircase.

How long had passed since I came in?

By the time I came to a place where I could see dim lighting, I was already at the end of the stairs.

Soon, I reached a spacious, huge and ornate space. It was very hard to believe that there would be such a venue in the dilapidated building I saw earlier.

‘Was such a large place hidden here all this time.”

The set of the large hall was made to look like a gladiatorial arena, and sitting in the grand audience was able to earn a bird’s eye view of the entire arena.

“Please sit here and take this.”

The follower guided me to the very front seat, which could be considered the top seat for watching the ballroom, and after giving me the bidding card for the auction he left.

Seated, I looked around the stage.

“Ladies and Gentlemen! The auction is about to begin!”

Shortly after that, the auction officially begins.

The slaves bound by chains step onto the stage after the auctioneer’s loud announcement.

“Ten gold! Ten gold, anyone else? Ten gold, sold!”

It had nothing to do with those slaves with gloomy expressions, they were just being quickly valued and repeatedly auctioned off.

Along with the bids, the slaves at the back of the room got higher and higher, as some of them were able to show their talents, while others were able to show an incredible side.

“One hundred gold! One hundred gold, anyone else? Ah, one hundred and two gold!”

The atmosphere was getting hotter and hotter, and people were trying to get their favorite slaves, constantly increasing the amount of money sold, as if this place was a battlefield where money was used to fight instead of weapons.

Finally.

“Now! The moment you’ve all been waiting for, the last slave of the day!”

So far, I’ve watched the stage with a lack of interest, and it wasn’t until the last slave came on stage that I straightened up.

“A barbarian from a defeated country! Allow me to introduce this slave – Ikris!”

Gray-brown hair.

His hands were bound by handcuffs and his mouth was gagged, but his eyes still shone with sharp starbursts as he looked out at the audience.

He was Ikris.

“Everyone here must have heard rumors about this slave, right?”

The auctioneer smiled.

I hadn’t heard any rumors about Ikris.

However, everyone else seemed to know because they all nodded as if in response.

“But a hundred rumors are always better than one! That’s why we’ve organized this special show for our audience. Behold!”

At a gesture from the auctioneer, a follower tossed a certain item to Ikris.

It was a small wooden sword that was only used when a child was learning swordplay for the first time.

‘What do they want?’

I cocked my head curiously.

As I cocked my head in thought, from somewhere came the sound of a cage opening.

“Woooooooooichi!”

The jackals jumped onto the stage.

And there were still five of them.