Undead Beast Master: Living Solely for My Desires

Thankfully, bandits were often the type to conceal their identities, so in their possession was a pair of old goggles and a black face mask. Zaroth intended to make full use of them. With his face now thoroughly covered, no one would be able to recognize him.

Then for the attire, he removed his robes and stored them in Nightshade's shadow. No one had seen Torin's leather armor so it will not be linked back to him.

Just to be sure, Zaroth summoned Luna to see if there were any gaps in his disguise. "Looks good to me," she exclaimed.

Stretching his hands behind his back, Zaroth smiled, "Then I am ready."

Stopping before his new "slave", he picked him up and threw him to his feet. The bandit had been awake for some time but wasn't moving, acting like he was still passed out.

"Move it!" Zaroth commanded, taking a few steps towards the man.

The bandit wanted to cry, scream, run, hide, pray, but something told him that nothing will be able to help his current situation, so left with no choice, he started taking heavy steps.

*****

"I can see why they call it the second capital," Zaroth muttered as he gazed at the massive city.

Initially, when he heard that the city's main attracting point was slave trading, he thought it will not be that advanced, but it seems that he was proven wrong.

The defensive walls were massive, towering in more than thirty meters; they were made from greyish-looking jagged stone. Zaroth had no doubt he will not be able to destroy them on a whim.

Beginning to walk towards the gates, he began to take note of his surroundings.

There were dozens of carriages moving in and out of the city, most of them were uncovered, showing a prison-like cell with metal bars and in it slaves of all kinds.

Some were men, clearly meant for physical labor with their well-envoied muscles. Others were completely naked, showing their genitals, most likely wanting to attract female customers. The same was with the women, though the women that were naked looked to be in a much worse condition than the men, as a lot of them bore all kinds of purple spots and bruises.

"I guess we can see that women treat their slaves better…" Zaroth muttered.

'Men tend do things like this to their partners when they know there won't be consequences,' Luna theorized. 'Compared to them, women tend to treat their male slaves far better.'

'I wonder... if I were a slave, would someone actually buy me?' Zaroth mused, stroking his chin.

Luna scoffed. 'What are you even saying? Women would be tearing each other apart for the chance to own you.'

The comment made Zaroth chuckle. 'Wow, that almost made me blush.'

His conversation with Luna was cut short as a loud plea caught his attention.

"Where is my daughter?! What did you do to her?!" A naked woman in her forties was groveling on the ground before a man's feet. The man was short and had a large beer belly.

The man scoffed as he kicked her, making her flip on her stomach. "I sold her! Unlike you, your daughter had a good body and she was young. What am I supposed to do with you? You're old, wrinkled, your breasts have fallen, and you stink!"

The man did not stop as he went to her side and started to kick her repeatedly in her stomach. With each kick, his eyes seemed to be getting more and more bloodshot. "Waste of money! Waste of money!" he shouted rapidly.

About a dozen kicks later, he stopped as he looked at the woman once again, then he clicked his tongue. "You can die here for all I care, no one would want to buy shit like you," and with that the man was off, leaving her to die on the ground.

The woman could only weep weakly as blood began to spill from her mouth, mixing with the filthy mud beneath her. No one stopped to help—she was fated to die here today

Zaroth watched the scene play before him, but did not intervene or help. Why should he? He wasn't a messiah and there were going to be hundreds if not thousands of similar cases happening all around the city.

Finally, his turn to enter the city had arrived, and he stopped before the gates as a few guards threw glances in his direction. The oldest one among them sneered as he gazed at the "slave" Zaroth had with him.

"Thank you for taking part in our economy," he spoke with a slight bow, then with a wave of his hand, he signaled that it was okay for Zaroth to enter.

'This was easy,' he thought inwardly.

'Zaroth, do not tempt fate,' Luna warned.

"Wait!" The voice of the older man returned, making Zaroth stop in his tracks.

'Did I fuck up already?' he asked himself.

"What is your name?" the guard asked.

It was safe to say that the question had taken Zaroth by surprise, but he didn't panic as he already had a name for these kinds of situations. "Hollow," he answered calmly.

The old man scribbled something in his notepad then left him be.

Entering the city, Zaroth's eyes needed a few seconds to adjust to the brightness. The first thing that stood out to him was the smell. It was a foul stench that made Zaroth consider blocking out his nostrils just so he didn't have to smell it.

The next thing that stood out to him were the different houses and establishments all around. It wasn't like in the capital that he had stayed in before; here, there were houses that didn't look well kept next to grand ones that seemed to be in possession by royalties.

Brothels of all kinds, bars, casino auction houses and what not.

"So where is that elf that is for sale?" he asked the "slave" in his possession.

The bandit threw him a glance then shrugged and went back to staring in the sky.

That made Zaroth reconsider things. "You can't speak since I ripped out your tongue, your face is disgusting to look at as it is damaged and from the looks of it you either do not know how this city functions or are simply unwilling to tell me…" he was speaking out loud, not caring if the bandit was able to hear him.

A second later, Zaroth clapped his hands. "That settles it then! You have done your purpose as I have entered the city so I don't need you anymore!"

Sparkles appeared in the bandit's eyes. Did that mean he was going to be released?

Guessing what the man was thinking about, Zaroth could only scoff. Yanking his chains, he made the bandit stagger on the ground before him.

Gripping his hair, Zaroth forced the man's head to come close to his, a twisted smile appeared on Zaroth's face but his eyes told a different tale—they were full of hatred.

"You did say that Draconin women should be happy to be of service, right? Well, I and my mother are from that place, so you can't simply walk free… No, I will make sure you will never walk again."

Scanning the brothels in the area, Zaroth finally found the one that he was looking for and stepped inside.

The reason this brothel was more special than the others was because other than naked women seductively posing behind the glass panels, there were men doing the same thing. Stopping before the receptionist—it was a tall bald man with a large mustache—Zaroth yanked the chains and made the bandit stagger on the ground.

"I am selling this guy. I don't care how much you want to pay, just get him off my hands." The bald man raised an eyebrow and, twirled his mustache, took a step closer and inspected the bandit.

"The man looks horrid at best. His face is busted and he doesn't even have a tongue. Almost no woman will be pleased by him. The only one that would take him for a night would be some drunk men… I can offer five bronze."

Zaroth smiled as he extended his hand and gave the man the chains. "Deal."

As the transaction was finalized and the muffled screams of the bandit faded behind him, Zaroth walked out of the brothel with a smile on his face.

There was nothing tying him down now. He had time to explore the city as much as he wanted.