"There is no way I am going to take you outside for sightseeing. Go do it yourself if you want. I have better things to do with my time," Mira said with a snort when Damien suddenly wanted her to join him for a stroll through the city.
Damien only smiled, hearing her words, and said, "Really? You plan to disobey your Master right after she told you to be my bodyguard?"
"Bodyguard? You cannot be…" Mira was frustrated that he thought of her to fulfill such a lowly role. It was not like she was being asked to become the bodyguard of some notable figure but a slave in the eyes of the people.
But before she could complete her sentence, she realized, in a way, her Master did order her to protect him from any harm, which was what a bodyguard should be doing in the first place.
She clicked her tongue in annoyance, realizing that whenever he wanted to go outside, she would have to accompany him whether she liked it or not.
"Looks like it finally clicked for you. So…which place do you recommend first, or do you propose we walk wherever our feet carry us?" Damien asked as he patted his clothes.
Mira placed her hand on her forehead as she shook her head, "This is a bad idea. You will regret going outside. It wouldn't take much common sense to imagine how people outside would act when they see you. I am telling this only because you are important to my Master."
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtDamien smiled as he stood before her and said, "I am glad you are concerned but…it's not like anybody can hurt me, right? The stares and the nasty conversations are something I have handled in my life more than you realize. It won't be anything new."
Mira squinted her eyes, wondering what he meant by that. Wasn't his life in the Rising Sun Continent quite easy?
"By the way, don't forget about the bet you lost. If you are a good girl, I might be lenient with my demand," Damien said with a wink.
She snorted after hearing his comment, though she was indeed anxious about what kind of demand he was going to make. She gave her word, thinking that victory was hers for sure, but how could she have expected to fall so easily for his trap.
She hoped that he would forget it soon enough.
"So this is the market street?" Damien asked as he and Mira came upon a street crowded with shops and people.
Unlike the markets in Rising Sun Continent, where people sold pills and formation artifacts, he observed that the ghouls were selling ethereal cores harvested from humans with varying cultivations. These markets were quite popular, but the most popular ones were the shops owned by Daemons which was obvious based on the beastly traits on their bodies. These shops were selling glass bottles containing strange liquids, and when he asked Mira what they were, she told him it was actually the blood essence of humans that helped them live till their natural lifespan. These liquids were created from ethereal cores by Daemons, and they sold them here to not help Ghouls but also to build their business.
Among ghouls, this liquid was called Potion of Life.
However, they would have to drink this periodically or suffer ill effects from their own nethereal energies.
But once he came to this part of the street, the stench from this place made him wrinkle his nose in disgust.
"What is this nasty smell? Do you guys not clean up the street?" Damien asked while touching the dark silver collar on his neck. Apparently, he had to wear this collar whenever he went outside his room to show that he was a slave of the Godwin Clan.
Even though this collar was meant to crush a human's dignity, for Damien, it meant that anybody would think twice before picking on him.
He already noticed how all of them so far only gave stares of contempt and said nasty things about him between themselves. But other than that, none of them came near him.
He didn't know if it was because of Mira's presence or if being a slave of the Godwin Clan was enough to deter these people from touching him. It would be no different than how nobody would dare harm the pet of a rich and powerful businessman back in his world. He also saw that she commanded quite some respect and fear around here.
"You really have to ask? Look over there," Mira said with a subtle smile as she pointed at a meat shop where a big, muscular ghoul was chopping up large meat.
He saw large banners near the shop that read, "Delicious Human meat for sale!", "Ethereal Core Harvesting services available!"
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmDamien saw that butcher chopping up such a lump of large meat with his machete, and some meat parts were hanging on the wall behind him, "Don't tell me that meat is…"
"Yes…it is a human meat shop. Quite a delicacy for those with a taste for it, though I find it disgusting to even taste the flesh of such a lowly race. I would rather feed them to fiends. The only true benefit we can get from their corpses are their ethereal cores," Mira held nothing back as she made cutting remarks and closely observed Damien to see his reaction.
If he truly cared about the human race, he should at least show some form of anger or annoyance. She had already seen how humans would react when they saw their fellow humans in shops like those.
"It seems disgusting indeed. Anyway, it's not like I would end up there," Damien said with a shrug as he walked forward, making Mira look at his back with a baffled expression, not expecting such a lukewarm reaction.
"You really don't feel angry to see your people being chopped up?" Mira pressed on since she refused to believe he wasn't affected by this.
"Girl, I don't even know those people. So how can they be my 'people'? Just because I look like them doesn't mean I have to care about them. I am already having trouble thinking about my own affairs, let alone the affairs of strangers," Damien said with a headshake, making Mira firmly press her lips together. But it was not like his words didn't make sense.
Still, how could his thinking be so different?
But unlike Mira's initial thoughts, Damien was affected in a manner that made him feel like he couldn't spare any effort to get strong enough to get back to his wives. These ghouls actually considered humans as nothing more than animals to fulfill their needs.
Damien decided that once he reunited with his wives, he would take them away from this brutal world and live in peace.