Cats, Cats Everywhere

Dige found the warehouse his acquaintances referred him to and squeezed his rotund form into a dim, dingy room littered with candlelight. The room was wide and tall and was stacked with crates and cages. The sounds of scraping metal and yelling supervisors echoed in the distance, but the dwarf's end was quiet, free. He could explore the merchandise as he pleased. 

Dige absorbed his surroundings. The place was packed with slaves, each cage sporting up to ten individuals, from monsters to more human-shaped creatures that sat or lay collapsed on the floor. Few stood, enraged and ready to kill whoever opened their doors, but most surrendered to their fates. Slaves, Dige thought, were prisoners, or dangerous livestock bought only by the greatest of herders. Surely that meant that most of these people committed crimes, right? It’s not like they were captured away and sold for profit, right? That would make them no better than bandits. What was the reasoning behind this? This gave Dige a lot to think about while he perused the market.

“Hmm, I wouldn’t be able to afford to feed most of these lads,” he mumbled to himself. “I’d need to find someone who can hunt as well as fight. With that, we wouldn’t have to rely so much on money. Ah, I understand now. By showing your wealth, you prove that you can take care of the one you’re purchasing. It's like a wedding dowry. How romantic…”

“Hey, you!” a voice whispered from behind. “What are you doing out there?”

The dwarf turned around to see a catgirl around his height with her hands around the bar. Her eyes were fiery, and she had puffy cheeks.

“Ah, a scrawny one, aren’t you? You need to eat more, lass,” Dige said.

“How’d you get out of your cage!?” she hissed back. “Hurry, get me out of here.”

“Don’t be hasty, lass. I don’t know if you’re the best pick. I only have so much silver?”

“Just let me out, and I’ll do anything you want!”

“Anything?” Dige thought of many wholesome ideas. “Aye, let’s do it then. I’ll pay at the front.” 

"Just be discreet about it."

Dige gauged the strength of the iron bars, an easy feat being a blacksmith. With a good one or two lame bars, the dwarf spawned his big hammer from the Orerealm and went at the bar like a lumberjack on a tree. The noise was so loud and deafening that everyone, literally everyone, from inside the warehouse, to outside, to Commerce, and to the outer wall of dreams, could hear him swinging away. 

“It sounds like one of our nasty beasts back there,” the slave master chuckled, a bead of sweat building on his forehead. “We’ll take care of it, but next, we have our second priestess beastwoman, a little sister to the first. I hope you’re looking for a set, sir.”

The noble with his new fox slave gave the thumbs up.

“Excellent, we’re starting the bid at 50 silver-.”

“How about zero?”

In a flash, Team Hideyoshi formed a diamond around the slavemaster and his product, weapons drawn, eyes targeting the head. The theatre erupted into confused chatter.

“W-What’s the meaning of this?” Gilfried stammered. His eyes trained on his guards, who were as shocked as he was.

“You thought you could just exploit our kin without consequence?” said Sawa.

Gerthwyn raised her staff. “You seemed confident assuming that-.”

“We would never fight back.” Lupa stepped forward.

“You. You’re one of the heroes,” the Slave Master said. “You can’t do this. This is a fully sanctioned and legal slave auction.”

“Yeah, what the hell, hero!?” The crowd rose in an uproar. A few who brought weapons brandished them, ready to jump the stage if needed.

Hideyoshi wasn’t bothered at all. “I don’t care if it’s legal. Your injustices against the beastmen have gone on long enough. I won't let you infringe on their rights any longer.”

The noblemen weren’t having it. “Get him off the stage! You’re supposed to be working for us!”

"I do, but your-."

“How else are we supposed to run everything around here!?”

"You don't need slaves to-."

"I want workers now! Are you calling my carpentry business illegal!?"

It took a few more infuriating remarks for Hideyoshi to turn to the crowd. “For god’s sake, pay people, why don’t you!? How do you not see what you’re doing is wrong!?”

The brief distraction gave the slave master time to bolt, as his shocking agility launched him right past Hideyoshi and off the stage. The protagonist gave chase, even as guards mounted a defense. His party stood outnumbered, but not outmatched, grinning from ear to ear.

“Somebody call the knights!” Yelled Lyshis's new master. “This rebellion is entirely unacceptable to us gentle-!” 

His words were cut short by a two-meter beastman diving headfirst into his stand, his mouth pummeled shut by her flurry of fists. The auction stage fell into chaos.

Back in the warehouse, Dige dusted off his hands as the cat beastgirl hopped out of her cage with a rejuvenated spirit. 

“Now I don’t expect ye to do much, lassie,” Dige said. “But I’ve been introduced to this thing called hygiene.”

“Guys, it’s safe!” The catgirl turned back to the cage. “You can come out!”

Suddenly, the warehouse space sprang to life with a dozen rag-covered catgirls prowling around all at once. It was as if the whole litter was there. Dige stood in a state of shock.

“Hey, hey, hey! I can’t afford ye all! Can we think this through?”

“Hey, hey, hey!” Two of the guards approached. “How’d you get out of your cells!? Obey!”

The guard raised his hand, and through pain and control, the catgirls buckled, their bodies contorting against their wishes to stand neatly at attention. It must’ve been some powerful magic, Dige thought, because he could feel his left hand wriggling as well.

“You, what do you think you’re doing here!?” he roared, half angry, half scared.

“Hello, laddies. I’m here to purchase a slave. I have the marker to allow me in here?” Dige raised his hand, showing the same mark all of the other catgirls had. This made the guards even angrier.

“Put down that weapon!”

The guards rushed in, either to disarm the dwarf or to decapitate him, but either way, they were too slow and lightly armored to stop Dige’s hammer from caving in their skulls.

“What in the hells?” Dige asked. “What did I do wrong?”

The catgirl rushed to the corpses and picked their keys, as if she'd been eyeing them for the longest time. Each one was quickly divided up amongst the litter, and they all spread like rats across the warehouse, aiming to open as many cages as possible. All the while, more and more guards spilled into the holding house. The girls imagined that the halfman could hold them off for another minute or two before they could escape, but never did they imagine the dwarf would be dashing guards to pieces left and right with his hammer and axe. Even blows to his person didn’t take the man down as he lay into them. Of course, they didn't understand that they were watching a dwarf, a creature who wears chain mail for comfort, and had muscles made of steel. Dige was a human killing machine.

“Please, stop human bastards! I can only kill so many of you,” he said, digging his axe into a man’s skull. “Oh, I’m going to make so many people upset!”