Soul Art Online

- Grayfia Lucifuge -

She waited in the room with the other eight girls… waiting for the person who had bought her… 

Her, Grayfia Lucifuge, the strongest queen of the Underworld, the queen of Lucifer… bought as common goods… a few months ago, even such a thought would have been laughable… and yet.

Everything had changed as soon as she had entered this game.

She had gone from someone who had fought Serafall for the position of the Leviathan to someone who had to avoid wild boars in human forests.

But that was not enough to break her.

She had fought through the Civil Wars, gone up against monsters and Gods alike. Things like these were not enough to stop her. She could find a way out… and that too if Sirzechs and Ajuka didn't free them before that.

Knowing them as they did, there was no way they wouldn't be trying their very best to crack this game and catch the ones responsible. Although, if the agreement was really a soul based contract, then it would be hard.

For this reason, she had started preparing from her side too.

She had been the first one in her village to get a T2 Class, something which prevented the more… uncouth individuals from targeting her. The place around her was getting crowded so she then moved away from the rest to the nearest town, a port town where she had started working on getting stronger.

No matter the world, strength was a must.

Her work paid off and she was the first among the entire group to gain the T3 Class as well. The route she had chosen was the one she was the most familiar with, a Mage and for that she had to become a scholar first.

Things were going well.

During her time there, she had met another girl, White Rose, someone who had been trapped inside the game too. They had formed a team as the girl was a Warrior. At the higher level monsters required more players to hunt and she didn't want to be dragged down by incompetent people. Fortunately, Rose was anything but incompetent. One by one they levelled up, rising beyond other people in the town.

Finally things were looking better. She had planned her route ahead with the goal of finding Lady Gremory, Rias and the rest of her peerage members inside the game and finding a way out.

All that was until that… damned world mission.

Their town was attacked by an armada of pirates and their job was to defend against them till the reinforcements arrived.

Unfortunately for her, their town failed in the task and was crushed by the pirates. Thousands were killed and captured.

The most good looking women and stronger men were selected to be sold off as slaves. The only reason she and her team had escaped the fate of being passed around as toys was the fact that it would have reduced the value of the merchandise.

Many others didn't have the same privilege, including the rest of her teammates other than Rose.

This slave mark they had imprinted her with didn't even allow them to commit suicide to escape their torment. It was probably the first time that she had felt a hint of apprehension but her experience had enabled her to push back her fears and try to find a way out.

During her time on the ship, she had tried to find out any way to escape but had been unable to do so.

All she could find out was where they were being taken and for what purpose.

Standing on stage, being bid upon by the crowd as they tried to undress her with their eyes… it felt disgusting.

For the second time she had felt fear since entering the game…

As her bidding completed, she was taken to the room where her new owner would come to collect her. A while later, even Rose was brought to the room. The poor girl was looking shattered. She could understand her thoughts.

While Grayfia had hundreds of years of experience helping her maintain hope, Rose was just a young girl, the same age as Rias. For her to go through all this… it must be like a nightmare.

She pulled the girl in a hug and let her cry.

At that time, other people who were being auctioned also came inside one by one.

"We can find a way out of this." She tried to assure her. "If you lose hope, you will lose everything. We need to survive this."

"But I… we…"

"Who was the person who got you? Was it the same guy?" She asked.

She had noticed that one man had been continuously bidding on every girl. She only hoped that he had bid for her too and that they could be together, for Rose and for her own self.

"Y-y-yes."

This guy had bought everyone in the group.

While she was thinking of this, the gate opened and the one managing this auction house came in, leading another person behind him.

Grayfia took a closer look at the guy.

Dark blue coloured hair, golden eyes, dressed in armour, he looked more like a knight or a noble than some old scum she had expected.

He was a player like them. This knowledge however just confused them even more. His age seemed around the same as Rias, probably a bit older. Then again, she knew better than to judge the book by his cover.

The auction house manager looked at them. "He is your new master, the one you will be serving your whole life. Be respectful and bow your heads." He ordered.

She gritted her teeth but didn't show her anger on her face and slowly bowed her head, urging Rose to do the same. She needed to understand what kind of person he was before doing anything. Showing resistance now would only be bad, for her and the rest.

"Can you leave us alone for a while?" The man asked the auction house manager who nodded and left the room, leaving them alone, but not before giving him the keys to all the handcuffs.

The man waited till the door was closed before he came to her directly. She clenched her fist, steeling herself for whatever might come next but contrary to her fears, she felt the handcuffs on her hands being opened and looked up at the guy who went around opening the handcuffs of everyone in the place.

Rose was shocked too but he simply removed her handcuffs and patted her shoulder. "Are you alright? Don't worry. You are safe now. We have come to save you." Rose nodded, tears still streaming from her eyes. "Now now… it's such a shame to ruin such a pretty face with tear stains." He offered her a handkerchief and she wiped her face.

"Thank you."

He nodded and then looked at her and spoke. "Grayfia Lucifuge."

She froze.

"Follow me. Someone is waiting for you." He commanded and then looked at the rest. "You all don't have to worry. We will not harm or mistreat you. Anyone who wants to go free can do so. If you don't have a place to go then you can stay with us and work for us. As for breaking this Slave Crest, I am afraid that's something not in our hands yet. When you leave this room however, just maintain silence and follow the instructions to the T. Do not speak until we are away from this island. We are in enemy territory and they are far stronger than us. We cannot afford to mess up. Do I make myself clear?"

The group quickly nodded.

As they followed him, hundreds of thoughts ran through her mind. Who was he? How did he know her? What exactly did he want with her?

She heard Rose's voice who was looking at her confused. "Bina… what is he talking about?" She whispered. "Who's Grayfia?"

"I… I will explain everything later. Just call me Bina." She assured and Rose nodded.

- Arthas -

It felt very awkward walking with the girls following behind me. The Auction House Manager didn't stop us. Handcuffs or not, they were bound by the Crest. The handcuffs were just… the fetish of some nobles who were into that kind of thing…

The man had just given me a knowing smile when I had asked about the handcuffs… saying they were on the house.

He was quite happy as the bids had gone for much more than we expected and all that was thanks to me.

That's why I had to send him out because the look he was giving me and that flattering smile of his only made me disgusted…

Star met us outside the room with Suikazura-san and Whistler. He took a look at the group behind me and nodded.

"Where's Veena?" I asked. I wanted to let her be the one to explain things to Grayfia or who knows what she might think…"

"Veena is waiting in the room with the guy who bought the Devil Fruit, discussing business." He replied.

"Business?" I asked, confused. What business could we have?

Star however shook his head. "Seriously that lady… that guy is a T7 Crime Lord. He could swat us away like a fly and she is there… discussing business. Sometimes I wonder if she has a sense of danger or not. But then again, who am I talking to? You practically made a Mafia Boss your bitch coz he was fucking with us."

…

"Did you dislike it?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Hah? No way. That guy deserved what came to him. I just wanted to punch his nose in. That's more my style." He shrugged lightly.

"You could always do that, you know. I think a Mafia Lord being our Guild's gatekeeper would be quite good."

"... remind me never to fuck with you."

"Do you need me to remind you of that?"

"Alright alright, I give up."

"So what business is she doing inside?" I asked.

"Damon's business. You do realise that you own everything he had right? That means everything in Sabaody. Derek is talking about the takeover of those businesses." He explained.

"I see." It made sense too. There was no way we could keep the businesses of Damon. At least not with the strength we had. We would be eaten up by other groups within days. It was best to sell them off as soon as we could and who better to sell than Derek.

For this, Veena was indeed the best person.

I looked at the company behind me and then at Star. "Keep them company. I will go inside and take a look."

Technically, it was me who owned everything.

Inside the room, Veena was sitting across the table from Derek. Shiroe and Elaine standing behind her.

My entry attracted everyone's attention and I just nodded at them and sat beside Veena quietly.

"As I was saying, this is already the most we can offer. We can have a trade agreement if you want. My One Eyed Wolf Gang will provide you security when you are in Sabaody." Derek added, lighting up his cigar and taking a puff.

"It's a very good offer, Mr. Derek. I am very inclined to take it too. Can I add just one more thing to it?"

"What?" He asked.

"Please assure our safe arrival to Lannisport's town and we have a deal."

"Hahahahahahaha just that much? I was going to do that either way. Can you imagine if someone sells me a Logia Devil Fruit, new businesses and then gets killed on the way back? That's bad for the reputation. Everyone will think I was the one who did it to get back the money and while I would love nothing more than to have that money, I mean who wouldn't." He asked.

"Obviously." Veena agreed with a smile forcing me to control the twitch of my lips.

"But that's an absolute no no. If that happens, no one will come to sell things to me. What these morons…" He pointed at Damon. "...don't understand is that losing credibility is the worst thing for business. People already know I am a dangerous guy. What I need now is for them to come to me despite knowing this… and that only happens when you deliver what you promise. If you fuck with the ones you do business, no one will do business with you. That's not something we want. I can send a dozen of my finest men… with a binding contract to drop you off to your home if you agree with that."

Veena and I shared a look with each other and nodded.

"We would appreciate that." I nodded to the proposal.

"Great. Then let's go and draft that contract right away."

"Okay." I got up and Veena was about to follow me but I told her to wait.

"She is waiting outside. Meet her and explain everything to them. Shiroe and I will go and get the contract. You can catch up with us and check it."

Veena nodded and we left the room.

Star was standing outside with the rest.

Derek looked at the nine girls and then smiled at me. "Good taste."

….

….

….

….

Even with my twitching lips I thanked him and looked at Star. "Take them inside."