Chương 33: Chapter 32: Taken

Sin Lord 32 Taken.. I watched as Prince Grelt's ship sailed away toward the Deerpond, and a few minutes later, Lord Darrow entered his carriage and rode back to the city with the entourage of carriages. Carla and I also sat down in our carriage, but the carriage did not move. There is massive traffic. Thousands of people have come to bid farewell to the prince, and it will take some time before the rush of people and carriages clears away.

"I truly did not think the prince would be able to achieve it," said Carla softly. Even using her new privacy skill, such words could bring huge trouble if heard by the wrong people.

"He is an ambitious man and would do anything to achieve his goals," I replied. The prince's trip to the Meldhorn had been successful since he returned four days ago; even more ships are coming from it, and there are whispers that Oksall might also begin to open up in the coming months. This would be great news as, like Meldhorn, the merchant city-state of Oksall shares a river and large land border with Renwell.

"I think the traffic has now cleared enough," Carla stated and a moment later the carriage finally began to move; still, it made us wait nearly forty minutes. We talked about the business and other things before the carriage reached our destination, and we walked out.

"I had expected it would take me at least four months to achieve this, but I did it in less than a month," I said softly as I looked around the huge store; it is one of the largest in the city, and with the things they sell, it would require a big space.

"It is all because of your hard work," replied Carla. To that, I smiled and walked toward the blue metallic gates of Norton's carriages. It had been twenty days since the establishment opened, and twelve days since I returned from the harrowing trip to Blain. Since then, I have focused on all my work and the guild, which I visited daily; today is the first day I have taken a leave. The establishment is doing very well, so I have finally decided to buy the carriage. It is not just for convenience but also a symbol.

We entered through the gate, and inside, it was a vast space with different types of carriages placed around, with people browsing through them.

"Remus, welcome," said the voice as we had just entered. I looked toward the voice and saw a man in his late twenties walking toward us. He is a tall man with blue eyes and brown hair. His physique is thin, but his face is handsome.

"Ralph," I greeted as the young man finally appeared before me.

"So, are you finally ready to buy a carriage from me?" he asked.

"That's why I came here, isn't it?" I asked back with a smile.

"It's an enchanted one, right? Or I will just hand you to one of the salespeople and leave," he said, joking, "Of course, the enchanted one," I replied with a smile.

"This way, then," he said joyfully, and we followed. I know him because he is Ralph Norton, Valentina's friend; we met at a party before and at another one four days ago. He is the type of person who will quickly become friends with anyone, a precious skill that is very valuable in his business. Soon, we entered another large hall. While the main hall also had some enchanted carriages, here were more, nearly the entire collection.

"We will start with this red beauty; it is Wright red rose; it has all the standard enchantments for your comfort; you will not feel even the slightest wobble, even if it runs through the potholes," he said, motioning toward the red carriage. It looked like a normal carriage, but if one looked closely, one would see the enchanted script.

"How much is it?" I asked with a look.

"Not much, just nine hundred and twenty thousand crowns," he replied with a smile. It was money that regular people could never earn even in their lifetime, and the thing is, it is just a basic model. The enchanted carriages are expensive; their prices start at around a million and reach very high.

"It's scrips wore off too early?" I said, "No, that's just a rumor spread by idiots," he refuted, but I just rolled my eyes.

"If you dislike the Wright, how about this Santos pearl? It only costs nine hundred and forty thousand and has the stable enchantments," he showed as he walked toward the white carriage. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. I have used the carriages made by House Santos. I had one in Redfawn, though it was a normal one, but it was reliable; you can always trust their reliability.

"Show me something good," I said, to which he smiled brightly.

"If you want good, I will show you good," he said, walking toward the violet carriage.

"This is Rain Mirage, came straight from Meldhorn; it had an excellent reputation in the merchant-state, built quite solidly…" he explained in flowery words before moving toward another. He showed six more before moving to another blue one when I stopped him, as it was above my limit.

"A million is my limit," I said, and he turned to me with a bright smile, "So, which one do you choose?" he asked; the bastard is very smart and picked up that I had already liked one.

"I will take the Santos Black," I said; the carriage cost nine hundred and eighty thousand crowns, which is within my budget.

"It is a very good choice; it is most reliable among Santos's basic models and with scripts that don't require servicing for years," he said, and it is true: It is a good carriage.

"Do you take it as is, or will you require some modifications?" he asked.

"Some," I replied. For the next half an hour, we discussed the modifications I needed from the catalogs he had shown me, and I ended up spending one million and twenty thousand, despite him giving me a 5% discount. After paying and signing the contract, I walked out of the store. I will get the delivery in a week, which is earlier than I had thought. I could have avoided the carriage expense, but one needs to keep the appearance, and the enchanted carriage is a must. Not to mention, I wanted the enchanted carriage.

It makes travel quite comfortable. We sat in our normal carriage, and fifteen minutes later, the carriage passed through the gates to the establishment. We walked out of the carriage and into the establishment, which now had a more varied mix of voices and musical notes. In these past twelve days, all the teachers we needed have begun teaching, so the establishment now has nineteen teachers teaching the thirty-nine girls, including Carla and the teens.

These new teachers are teaching them many things, including music, dance, painting, mathematics, and other subjects, and the results have already begun to show. It increases their confidence; one can see this when they are interacting with clients. True learning begins when they start learning subjects they barely understand; their self-confidence grows dramatically as they gain a foundational grasp. Hun! We walked up the office stairs, and to my surprise, three people were waiting by my office.

One was Margaux, who did not look to be in a good mood. The other was Frank, the driver I hired for the ladies; he would take them whenever they wanted to on their leave day. The last one was an unfamiliar middle-aged man in a suit sitting with a professional smile on his face while Margaux stared daggers at him.

"Margaux, what happened?" I asked, "They kidnapped Lesli and Donna," she said, pointing the finger at the man in a suit.

"You are completely wrong, miss; they have come to us at their own free will," he said without any change in my expression. My expression soon became serious; I don't know the whole thing, but I could guess what had happened, and to be honest, it had happened much earlier than I had imagined.

"Margaux, Frank, in my office," I said, walking into the office with Carla while the other two followed behind.

"What happened?" I asked as I took my seat.

"I... I was taking the girls shopping, but suddenly a couple of gentlemen stopped the carriage, and the girls came out and went with them," he replied, stutteringly.

"Do they tell you who they are?" I asked the old man, "Yes, they said they work for Scarlet Pleasure," he replied, and I could hear Carla take a sharp breath, hearing that, as all the pieces clicked.

"Did they get out of the carriage of their own will?" I asked to be sure.

"Yes, the moment the carriage stopped, both of them got out. I tried to stop them, but those men came in between," he replied, slightly scared.

"It is not your fault, Frank," I said to the old man, and I could see him sighing with relief.

"And that man is?" I asked Margaux.

"He said his name was Clark Chase, and Norman Lucas sent him," she replied. To that, I nodded and turned to Frank.

"Frank and Margaux, take a rest." I smiled at them and turned to Carla, "Ask Mr. Chase to come inside." Three of them left the office, and a couple of seconds later, Carla brought in the middle-aged man who still had a professional smile on his face.

"Your boss had taken my girls, Mister Chase," I sternly told the middle-aged man.

"We did no such thing, Mister Silver; they have come by their own violation," he defended as he sat on the seat I had offered. To that, I smiled.

"And they have sent me to ask you to relieve them of their contracts," he said, taking out copies of their contracts; they were originals, and I could feel the effect of my skills on them.

"I am sure you have read the terms of that carefully," I said. Yes, and we are willing to pay the price as stipulated in the contract," he replied and placed two checks in front of me, each worth two million.

"Well, since everything is according to the contract, I will release them from the service to my establishment," I said, activated the skills, and released them; at the same time, I burned those copies and the copies I had, releasing the two girls from my service.

"Tell the girls I wish them good luck for their future," I said to the stumped face of the middle-aged man. He might have expected me to rave, rage, and shout threats at his boss, but there was no need. As the girls did nothing wrong, they left my service by paying the price stipulated in the contracts; there is no hard feeling in my heart.

"Is there anything else, Mister Chase?" I asked.

"No, nothing, Mister Silver," he replied, getting up and trying to school his emotions as he walked out of my office.

"Those ungrateful bitches," said Carla with gritted teeth after he left, "They did nothing wrong, Carla," I said to her surprise.

"You have given them so much, taught them, given them the opportunity to earn what they could have never dreamed in their life before, but they betrayed you, the first chance they got," she said, seething in fury. Honestly, she looked hot when angry. It made her more attractive.

"Calm down, Carla; they have done nothing wrong. They saw a better opportunity and took it by following the contract," I said, and I truly did not blame them. Such things happen daily on Earth, and I completely agree with the decision to leave when they did it lawfully. Carla opened her mouth to say something but closed it, and a moment later, she began to calm down.

"Still, I did not expect them to leave. If they had any brains and eyes for the future, they would have stayed," she replied finally. I did not say anything. I had already expected it would happen with the success of the establishment. It just happened earlier than I had thought.