What’s legal isn’t always moral

“Excuse me, mister Tove?”

I found the two bouncers at the exit of the arena.

“Ah, how did you find the fight, stranger from Yapoon?” Tove looked all too ready to go into another deep explanation of regional history as soon as given a chance.

“Actually, there was something my friend did tell me about demons. Would it be alright if you explained something about it to me?”

“You sure are a curious sister. Sure, what is it?”

The bouncer confirmed what I feared. Carolle, the woman who ran the fighting arena, would gladly sell me any of her entertainers for the right price. In fact, it was common practice for adventurers to trade in live monsters instead of just the monster cores.

Every so often, Carolle would run matches for a private audience, with a much higher entrance fee and the possibility to bet on match outcomes. That is how she made a proper profit. The entry fees were enough to break even on most days, as people really didn't have much else to do around these parts.

The bouncer also reiterated what the knight had said about needing an extra sword, although his exact words were:

“As disgusting as those cowards are, stats don't lie; they'll stand where one of us might fall.”

With a heavy heart, I headed back in.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Except none of this happened in Rome …

Without the demon man by my side, I wouldn't be able to sell those monster gems without a serious loss, and the help of strangers who might not come, considering people's attitudes.

I knew the morally right thing to do was to go to the next town and try my luck again. I may not have been the most friendly and outgoing person, but I was bound to find someone who'd help me. I could tolerate the cold stares and weird remarks.

And leave that man here?

That was the other thing. Now that I knew of his situation, I couldn't leave him behind.

And I'm still thinking as if he is a person like me, but everyone here says he's more like one of those monsters… Would it even be safe to have him near me?

I slapped my cheeks, forcing myself to re-focus.

I had the strength to kill a giant centipede, and a train to distance myself from any danger. I would be just fine.

I re-entered the arena.

Carolle and a man I didn't recognise were discussing something in the arena proper. The man was moving his hands around, and faint blue light trailed behind his palms. Carolle was leaning against the circular wall, watching his work.

“I was wondering who was lurking in the shadows,” Carolle spoke, looking up at me as I entered. “Come on down, sister, I can make a good guess as to why you’re here.”

I came to the edge of the arena and then jumped over it to land some three meters below.

Carolle smirked, with a satisfied expression of someone whose expectations had been met.

“What’s your class?” The woman asked.

Now that we were eye to eye, I got the chance to have a better look at her. She looked like an ex-athlete who’d been off the field for many, many years. Wrinkles and fat had shaped her into an almost friendly and inoffensive-looking person, but the muscles of her jaw and arms were still defined enough to send at least a person my size flying. She had short brown hair with strands of grey, and deep bags under her eyes.

“I’m…” I hesitated, unsure if I should lie to appear more trustworthy.

“Out with it, sister, if you want to do business with old me, you’ve gotta lay your cards on the table.”

Carolle crossed her arms, waiting for a reply.

“I’m a summoner. I wasn’t sure if I should tell you because not a single person from this town believed me when I was trying to sell monster cores, and I don’t even know why.”

She stared me up and down. Then she shrugged.

“You’re young, small, and scrawny. What level?”

“41.”

Carolle shrugged again.

“I guess you did get lucky, or maybe your parents helped you out. It’s not my business to care, though.”

“I’m glad you believe me,” I replied, out of an obligation to be polite. “I was told I could buy-” That word sounded so wrong in my mouth.

“The demon kin? How much you’ve got?”

“30 Rolai,” I lied again, in case I’d need to bargain.

“Nonsense, it’s worth at least 60,” The man who’d been hard at work performing something magical interjected.

“That’s true,” Carolle pushed herself off the wall. “How about 34 Rolai and 93 Quessai? Come,” she waved for me to follow.

That was the exact amount of coins I had in my pocket, and I didn’t like that she knew it. It felt like I was walking into another scam. I glanced up at the door that was right there.

“Carolle, come on, this is a big loss for us,” The man interjected again.

Strangely enough, he didn’t seem like he was playing some bit in a scam.

“It’s a win for me, I’m just about done wasting mana on that bastard that won’t behave.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I’ll explain as we go. In this business, you should put some trust in others.”

If I hear one more of these doublespeak accusations, I will punch a wall. What did I ever do to these people?

“Fine, but I’d like to warn you in advance, I already got scammed once today, I won’t let it happen twice.”

“Huh,” Carolle replied, seemingly genuinely taken aback by my tone. “As I said, have some trust.”

I followed her into an opening in the wall that slid to close behind us as we passed. We walked down a long corridor similar to the one upstairs. This one though, had sand scattered on its floor and smelled strongly of wet animal fur and something comparable to trash that’d been left out in a bin for too long.

The hallway angled down, and after some dozen meters, opened up on a large subterranean warehouse. It was made of the same limestone as the houses above, and lit by embedded magical orbs. It was filled with cages, each about two cubic meters in size, that reached all the way up to its low ceiling. The temperature here was surprisingly fresh.

Most of the cages were empty, but those that weren’t held the monsters from the arena. They were all spread out far apart, perhaps to prevent them from fighting each other or escaping.

I hate this place.

And in that moment, I hated myself for contributing to it.

“I’m not giving you a discount because I like you, so don’t get the wrong idea,” Carolle explained. There was anticipation in her tired tone. “The truth is, that one has been a drain on my mana ever since it got brought in. It cost me a lot to get it fixed up for the fights, and sure, coin-wise I broke even, but I’m not 18 anymore,” She gave me a sympathetic wink as she said that, “And mana-burnout is building up. That one is impossible to control without the bond seal, and even then, it’s figured out that the seal is only as quick or strong as I make it.”

We stopped in front of a cage. It was surrounded by three empty ones on two of its sides. The dragon was sitting on the ground, with his back against where the empty cages met. His face was buried in his arm, which he rested over his knee. The burns on his forearms were still there. He tilted his head towards us as we approached. The look in his eyes turned from calculating to unbothered as he observed the rest of the conversation.

I still wasn’t fully sure what to believe, and although I knew where my morals lay, I chose to wait for the situation to resolve before acting on anything.

“You’ve done this before, but let’s walk through the steps slowly because I’ve had a long day,” Carolle said. She gave me that same insistent ‘trust me’ look, so I agreed and mimicked her gestures.

She extended both arms forward, one palm facing up and the other down. I did the same. When our hands touched, another message appeared before my eyes.

< Companions +1: Demon.>

< Abilities +1: Domination soul-bond.>

< Items -1: 34 Rolai and 93 Quessai.>

< Confirm trade: y/n.>

I tried my best to maintain a neutral expression as I selected yes. Seeing the words before me now just made me realise that if I wanted to break this whole thing off later on, I wouldn’t know how.

“Ah,” Carolle let out an excited noise, as if some big weight had just been lifted off her shoulders. “Good luck, sister,” She patted me on the shoulder. “You, behave. She’s a summoner; she has mana to check your stupid outbursts.”

Thankfully, I don’t know how.

Carolle whistled a tune and walked away.

“Wait, aren’t you going to open the cage?” I called out after her.

“That old thing? I’m sure you can figure it out,” Carolle said before whistling louder, in a decisively ‘don’t bother me again’ tone.

I looked at the old lock, then at the dragon, who’d yet to say a single word, then back down at the lock.

I was never one for property destruction, but it felt particularly satisfying when I shifted my gloves into a gauntlet and crashed the rusty lock. The metal door creaked as it opened, filing the awkward silence with a painfully loud screeching noise.

The dragon stared at me wide-eyed.

I didn’t expect that from myself either…

“Let’s go?” I asked.

I wasn’t sure how to proceed from here.

I extended him a hand. But he got up and walked all the way to the door, seemingly ignoring me. As he passed the door we made awkward eye contact, only accentuated by his height which forced him to duck under the low ceiling.

After a few all-too-long seconds, I led the way outside.