Arpious of the Planes

"How did you know I use a sword?" The woman asks, seemingly readying her hands into a flexed position.

My maids immediately jolted up while trying to suppress their overwhelming anger at this woman who tried to threaten me.

"You don't have the right to know… girl…." I say while releasing only a sliver of my bloodlust, causing the woman to retract her flexed hand.

She displayed no fear, and judging from her calm analysis, I could easily tell she still wasn't afraid of me in the slightest.

That's good… She could be a valuable asset later on.

"So, can you tell me why you're trying not to retaliate now?" I ask with a slight smirk on my face.

"*sigh*... well, I guess I can tell you as you seem worthy," The woman says, still trying to scale my power which I had greatly suppressed.

She also seemed a bit wary after feeling bloodlust as it's a tough thing to master… unless you have a skill like me, then it's just second nature.

"Well, get on with it," I say, making a vein bulge on her forehead, but she quickly took a deep breath in and out before continuing.

Ah… she is fun to play around with.

"I need to get back to the Uxtan Kingdom to prove my worth. If I go and kill some of these slave traders which the king personally works with, then he'll label me as wanted, and then I can't go back," The woman says, squeezing her hands tightly and gritting her teeth.

That's loyalty right there. Even though she knows the messed-up things her boss is doing, she still wants to go back even after being thrown away.

"So, how are you going to prove your worth?"

"By… by…"

She doesn't know… well... I guess I can follow her around a bit until I find the positions of all the high-ranking members within the kingdom… which also includes that crazy mage.

"You got any more questions cause I have some," The woman asks me with squinted eyes.

"Uhhhh… let's see… What's your name, and why didn't they restrain us with chains or something?" I ask, taking a more comfortable position as we were all packed into one tight spot.

"Shouldn't you say your name first before asking for someone else's name?" The woman responds, clearly getting more annoyed with me as more time passed.

"My name is Arpious… okay, answer my questions,"

"Arpious, huh? Interesting name… My name is Bridget Rosakin and obviously come from the esteemed Rosakin family, who are known for producing the best knights in-"

"Yeah, yeah, get on with it," I interrupt her while enjoying her angry and frustrated face.

"Tsk… fucking bitch…." Bridget mutters under her breath, alarming my maids once again, but they weren't going to move unless I gave the order or she actually attacked me.

"So, the last question?" I say with a wholesome smile.

"You answer my questions first, and then I'll say," Bridget retaliates.

"Hoh… Okay, go ahead," I say, leaning back against the elf behind me.

She didn't even say anything, while just slightly moving her head away while continuously looking down at the floor.

"First, how are you looking at me when your eyes are closed? And don't play dumb cause I can feel your eyes crawling all over me, trying to gauge my strength," Bridget says.

"Let me say something. I'm not trying to gauge your strength. I'm just admiring a rare muscular beauty," I say.

"Huh? What the hell are you talking about," Bridget responds.

"Nothing, anyway… I can see you cause my eyes don't need to be open to see anything… I won't say how so that's the only thing you'll be getting from me,"

"Okay, and… why are you sitting like that? Everything is exposed," Bridget says, pointing downwards towards my legs.

"Huh? I have underwear, and we're all girls-"

"Mistress, please sit properly," Bella says.

My sitting posture was one knee up and the other one flat on the ground. It was the most comfortable position, and I didn't even realize I had such a short dress on.

"Mistress?" Bridget says, squinting her eyes and balling her fists once again.

"*sigh*... Yeah, yeah… now answer my last question," I say as I cross my legs.

Bridget clicks her tongue once more before opening her mouth again.

"It's because this bracelet will not only alert the slave traders, but it will also cause our arms to explode off, but instantly cauterize the wound as well… This makes us still somewhat sellable… truly, truly fucked up shit," Bridget explains.

What the hell? I didn't even realize this thing was on me.

"Surprised? Well, of course, you'd be as this is made with magic tech," Bridget says, slightly intriguing me.

"What the hell is magic tech?"

"If you want to know what magic tech is, then get on your hands and knees and call me 'Maam,'" Bridget says, pointing to the slight open space in front of her that the other slaves left due to her intimidating presence.

My maids immediately stood up and threw a kick at Bridget, who was taken by surprise. She probably didn't expect them to make a move and create too much ruckus… or she didn't expect them to be so fast.

"Stop," I say, raising my hand.

"As you wish," My maids say, stopping their kicks just before they were about to collide with Bridget's head.

Bridget's breathing increased quite a bit until my maids placed down their feet gracefully, causing her to breathe a sigh of relief.

"So… what is magic tech?"

"*sigh*... Fine… It's basically normal weapons, equipment, and items but infused with a buff or enchant,"

Huh? That's it? Don't we already have that?

"So, magic equipment?"

"Yeah, basically,"

My face deadpanned, with Bridget displaying clear confusion.

So we already made this advanced stuff but just haven't found the right ways to use it… interesting. I guess infiltrating this place will be useful…

"So with the explosive bracelet thingy… You can't sacrifice an arm?" I ask Bridget, whose unwavering eyes slightly twitched.

"My pain tolerance isn't that high," Bridget rolls her eyes.

Hmmm… Judging from her response, I'm guessing it's not because she's a pussy, but because she knows she'll get killed if overwhelming pain starts to hinder her movements, eventually leading to her death.

"It seems you immediately understood why. I guess you aren't as dumb as I thought," Bridget says.

"Anybody would've understood that," I say with a smile that clearly taunted the muscular woman in front of me.

But… Bridget was mature enough to brush it off and lean back against the bumpy wooden carriage, letting out a long sigh.

I could only guess she was planning on what she wanted to do next.

"If I said we could escape, and you could get your arm back in the process, would you take my offer?" I ask Bridget, but she instead just ignored me, keeping her eyes closed.

Whatever, it's not like I wanted to escape right now.

…

Bump Bump Bump.

Suddenly the bumping came to a stop, and a few nasty middle-aged men opened the curtains that hid us from the public with disgusting grins plastered on their faces. Just their stare was enough to make my skin crawl.

"C'mon, don't waste our time," One of the middle-aged men said, gesturing for us to leave the carriage, which we immediately followed.

And of course… I still kept my eyes closed.

"Hey, what is this woman doing. Open your eyes," The same man says, but I just ignored him and climbed out of the carriage, slightly surprising the other slaves.

"I said open your eyes!" The man says, whipping a soft metal whip at my back.

Disappointing…

My maids didn't even step up as they knew it wouldn't do anything. [Pain Nullifcation] was overpowered, and a normal sharp sword wouldn't damage even my skin with no buffs applied.

But, my clothes weren't safe, and it seems the man was satisfied with my fake whimpering act, so he immediately stashed the whip away even though I didn't open my eyes in the end.

"Hey, what are you doing. If you don't want to get hurt even more, then listen to what they say," Bridget says as soon as the slave traders turned their backs to us, unloading some of the other cargo they had.

"It didn't even hurt… Also, how come the things didn't explode?" I respond.

"They have a device that deactivates the bracelets, but… Yep, here comes the restraints," Bridget says, turning her head.

I turned my head and saw a few of the slave traders tying up the hands and feet of the slaves in front of me with metal chains… They didn't even clip them on. They literally just wrapped their limbs with chains.

Soon it was my turn, and I didn't resist as they wrapped the heavy metal chains around my wrists and ankles, making it almost impossible to run or even walk.

After my limbs were restrained and the slave trader moved onto Bella behind me, I let out a deep breath and sensed everything around me.

Damn, that's a lot of slave traders.

We were currently near a hole in a massive rocky wall that was twice the size of my kingdom's wall. It towered over us, and to make sure none of us would escape, about 30 men were gathered to escort us through the wall.

"So that how it's gonna work, huh? Alright, let's see what fun I'll have," I mutter to myself.