Bound and Broken: An Isekai Adventure Dark Fantasy (Melas Book 1) V.A. Lewis (feel good books to read .TXT) 📖

on them was fun, it was just not enough. All it did was help me get used to navigating this ‘Mage Hand’ (this was a tentative working term, since the word ‘mage’ did not even exist in this world and I had no idea what the spell was actually called) by feeling my way through the air. Beyond that, it was insubstantial.

I wanted more time to think. More time to figure out how magic worked. But I did not have time.

I glanced out of the wagon, staring past the mana powered car the owner of the Mancis Company, Julian, rode in. It looked rather primitive— almost like an antique from my world— with drapes instead of windows at the sides, however it was still a car. A car without a gas engine, but a large mana crystal at its front end instead.

Still, I looked past it, not wondering how such a machine worked. Instead I took in the view of the city in the distance. The large sprawling metropolis surrounded by tall 40 foot walls made of brick and limestone, with 50 foot watchtowers interspaced every several hundred feet. And behind these walls, thousands of buildings of different shapes and sizes filled the city to the brim.

It was like a balloon that was about to burst! The walls looked like it could barely contain it all; and in a sense, it could not, as farmlands and smaller buildings spilled out of the walls and into the flatland surrounding the city.

But at the heart of the city, dwarfing over it all, stood a grand structure. A large building, standing on elevated ground, reaching high up into the sky. And at the top of it all, a single golden dome adorned with gems of all colors stood, glittering, shining, as if it were a second sun.

I did not recognize this city, but apparently, it had to have been well known because Theodore looked over my shoulder, breath caught in his throat.

"Boleria, the Free City of Trade," he gasped.

I turned to him, raising an eyebrow. "You’ve been here before?" I asked.

"No," Theodore said, "but it is one of the largest cities in the Free Lands, because of its strategic location at the mouth of the region of Besha. It is one of the biggest hubs for trade in all of Vitae."

"That includes the selling of slaves, doesn’t it?"

The middle aged man hesitated. I read the expression on his face, and I knew the answer even without him saying it.

"Yes, and this is where our first auction will be held."

Chapter 13: Hunger

"Hey, did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

"There have been quite a few monster attacks around Besha these past few weeks. Cities and towns have been getting harassed constantly."

"Really? Even Bys?"

"Nah, not in Bys. Even monsters know to stay away from such a large city. Smaller cities and towns have been getting into quite a few incursions with monsters, though. And I’m talking about dozens to hundreds of monsters at a time!"

"Oh man, and we’ve just reached Besha too. Talk about bad luck."

"Yeah. Hopefully we can reach Bys without any run-ins with monsters. A group our size should usually be enough to deter any monster attacks."

"Usually."

"Hey, look on the bright side. Once we’re in Bys, we’ll not only get paid, but we will be safe from any monster attacks."

"Goddess grace us! Why did you have to say it like that?!"

"Like what? I was just saying that we’ll be safe in Bys!"

"That’s the problem! You better not have cursed us. If we don’t make it to Bys, it’ll be your fault!"

"Hey, I didn’t—"

I sighed. I hope that happens and a Monster eats you and all you other jerks.

The thought of eating made my stomach rumble, and I sighed again. I was hungry— they had not fed us yet today. It had been a hectic, busy day for them, which meant no food for us. I want to eat!

I glanced away from the two slavers talking to each other and tuned them out; they were not talking about anything I did not already know. It was the talk of the town, or… city.

We were in the Free City of Boleria currently, a well known trading hub that served as the gateway to Besha— one of the ten regions that divide the Free Lands both geographically and culturally. And the culture that distinguished Besha from the rest of the Free Lands was how ubiquitous slavery was here.

It was pervasive. Even in Boleria— which was a border city that supposedly was better than the rest of Besha because of its stricter slave laws— there was at least one slave in every two dozen people we passed; it might not seem like a large number at first, but it meant almost five percent of the population were slaves. And that was a lot considering a city this size probably had half a million people in it.

I did not carry out a census, and these were just estimates based on my assumptions, but I was pretty sure I was close to the truth, which made me shudder thinking about what the rest of Besha could possibly have been like. Boleria only allowed the trade of adult men as slaves, which already drastically reduced the number of potential slaves, but it still had— if my numbers were right— 25,000 slaves. It was terrible. This city was terrible.

Which was why I was glad to hear all the rumors going around of Monsters attacking and destroying towns throughout Besha; Boleria itself had to repel small Monster hordes in recent weeks, which made me hope that somehow our caravan might get attacked while traveling, and we could escape in the chaos. It was a fool’s hope, since a Monster would not discriminate between slave and slaver, but it would have