Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder novel Chapter 721

Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder Chapter 721

Chapter 66 : The Harvest Festival

It wasn’t hard to find the festival. Before we even got into the main city, I could hear the sounds of music and happy chatter.

“Come on, come on. We need to hurry,” Ashley said, hurrying forward. “We’re going to miss all the good stuff.”

We rounded the corner to the main street and I stopped, my jaw dropping open.

The street was filled with vendors selling snacks and all kinds of things from exotic clothes to pottery and ceramics, and jewelry.

There were people playing music in the streets and dancing. String lights with paper lanterns on them were hung across the streets.

It was so vibrant, colorful, and full of life. I looked this way and that. Everywhere I looked, I saw more shiny, colorful things that caught my eye.

Ashley was already trying on a fancy scarf from one of the vendors.

This was a harvest festival? I thought there would be more associations with harvests but everyone just seemed to be celebrating and having a good time.

“What do you think of this scarf?” Ashley asked me, striking a dramatic pose.

I giggled and Ashley immediately paid the vendor and kept the scarf for herself. She went on to the next vendor, looking at jewelry.

“Payne, can you carry this for me?” Ashley asked, tossing Payne her new scarf while she held a necklace up to her neck and looked at her reflection in the mirror.

Payne sighed and took the necklace that Ashley handed him. He rolled his eyes but I could tell that despite his frustrated look, he was happy to be helping his sister.

Soren seemed off in his own world. He was looking around but he didn’t seem all that interested in shopping. I think he was watching some of the street performers but it was hard to tell.

I stayed close to Ashley and when she was done looking at jewelry, she looped her arm through mine and dragged me to the next vendor.

“Awe, look how adorable this ceramic wolf is,” Ashley said, holding up the small figurine.

“It is really cute but do you need it?” I asked, smiling nervously. I ran my finger along the edge of a nice ceramic pot.

Part of me wanted to find a present for Soren but I didn’t know what to get for him in a place like this. I didn’t have the money to spend on a lot of nice things and I figured anything Soren would like would be too expensive.

“Okay, I don’t need the dog. Come here, check out these pieces,” she said, dragging me to the next jewelry vendor.

I picked up a few pendants and rings, looking them over. Then I caught a price tag and immediately put it down. Yeah, those were definitely outside my budget!

Still, I had fun looking at all the unique vendors. Ashley’s enthusiasm was contagious. She wanted to look at everything and touch everything. She even grabbed several snacks and let me try them.

All the festival food was delicious!

“Hey! Hey!” someone shouted in the street up ahead.

The crowd closed in around the raised voices. I tried to look ahead to see what caused that commotion.

Clatter!

It sounded like something heavy fell in the streets but I couldn’t see what it was. Ashley grabbed my arm and tried to pull me back.

“What’s going on over there?” I asked.

Soren and Payne came over to us.

“We should get out of here,” Soren said firmly.

“Shouldn’t we see…”

Suddenly, security guards ran through the crowd, pushing people aside as they moved into the area where the commotion had occurred.

“Has anything like this happened before?” someone in the crowd asked.

“Never. He pushed his master… he dared!”

“That slave is dead for sure…”

“The whole batch of slaves will be punished… I bet…”

“Yeah, along with that foul creature.”

I looked at Soren, gasping. Slaves?

Ashley frowned and looked at us. “How is slave trading still legal in a city like this?”

“Marno pack makes an exception during the Harvest Festival,” Payne explained. “There are strict restrictions.”

“Restrictions on slave trading?” I asked, shaking my head.

“Yes. Only criminals and rogues can be traded as slaves. As a result, their masters aren’t that nice to them and don’t treat them well,” he continued.

“I didn’t think slavery was legal anywhere,” Ashley muttered.

Sighing, I bowed my head. If only Ashley knew…

“It’s a complicated matter. If these rogues and criminals dare to raise a hand to their slave master, they can be sentenced to death or whatever punishment their master decides. Seeing as they are criminals, no one cares,” Payne told us somberly.

“Well, if they are criminals, I suppose that makes me feel a little better,” Ashley said, shrugging.

“You want to help them?” he asked with knowing eyes.

It was too obvious to him that this upset me. I couldn’t lie and I couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.

I nodded. “Can you help them?”

Soren arched an eyebrow at me. I couldn’t tell if he was going to help or not.

“Please?” I added.

Soren smirked and nodded. He walked through the rest of the crowd and grabbed the slave trader’s arm. He spun around and glared at the person who dared interfere with his beating. Soren just leaned in and whispered something in the man’s ear.

The slave trader’s eyes lit up. He sneered at the two slaves, even though one was now unconscious, the other seriously injured. He spit on the unconscious one.

“You two should thank the Goddess for being merciful to you today, thank her that someone is willing to pay for your asses… otherwise, you’d be beaten to death by my boot,” he said, pointing to his bloody boot.

With a huff, the slave trader left.

Payne dismissed the security and started pushing the crowd away. They murmured some in disappointment but slowly, they dispersed.

“Here, let me help,” I said. I leaned down to help the conscious man up.

He sneered and pulled away from me, going to check on his friend.

“Leave us alone! We’re not slaves! You can’t buy us!” he snarled.

Soren came over and stood next to me. The man and his recently revived friend looked nervously at Soren as he crossed his arms.

“Of course, you aren’t. We understand that. Don’t worry, you’re free to go now,” he said.

He looked at us suspiciously, forgetting to check on his groggy friend. “…Thank you… but, who are you?”

“It doesn’t matter who we are,” I said quickly. “You kept saying that you’re not slaves. So, who are you?”

He bent down and helped his friend up. The groggy one groaned and shook his head like he was trying to snap out of a daze.

“I’m Frederic. The groggy one is Murray,” the man we’d been talking to said. “We are from a small pack called Lethe.”

“Lethe?” I asked, perking up. I knew the name. It was where the third artifact piece was being kept.

“Unfortunately, our pack land was attacked recently. Most of the pack members were… killed… the rest enslaved,” Frederic explained.

I gasped and covered my mouth. How would we get the rest of the Blade of Souls?