Titan's Throne

Chapter 9- The Five Elements

Chapter 9- The Five Elements

In the middle of a vast desert, a long procession of people was moving in a single file. In that procession, there were many types of people.

Some were in chains and were shackled, walking barefoot. Some were in mobile cages, being moved by horses, others were riding horses themselves whilst holding whips, shouting at the shackled slaves who were moving slowly. From time to time the sound of a whip lashing human flesh could be heard, immediately followed by a scream.

In one of the mobile cages, Bastian and his new friend, or rather his bodyguard, Enetty a.k.a. V, were sitting. Bastian was sitting cross legged, meditating. Whilst V was sitting there lazily. They had gotten used to the screams, or rather Bastian had. Due to her history, V wasn't bothered in the slightest.

Her companion on the other hand wasn't so calm. Part of Bastian's soul was from modern day earth, where such things would have been seen as being atrocious. Thankfully, he had his other half. Otherwise he would not have been able to stand it, seeing how some of the slaves were being treated. To remain unbothered by the stench of sweat and blood and unmoved when he saw their segregated flesh burning under the scorching heat, these were things his old self wouldn't have been able to handle.

After realizing there was little he could do, Bastian gave up. There was no point in freeing slaves randomly, not to mention he himself was not in a good position either.

He didn't want to use his Mark's suppression effect. He feared that if he did so, word would get out that he is a Mark Bearer. V had told him that these days proper Mark Bearers were rare. The majority had become Custodians. If therefore, word got out that a true Mark Bearer, who was a little boy no less, existed, they would be in trouble. Thus Bastian could only clench his jaw and get used to the sights.

Relatively speaking, things had gone smoothly so far. They had been sold to a slave dealer, for a very high price at that, and were thrown into cages whilst being well maintained.

High quality slaves like Bastian and V had to be maintained, to make sure they remain valuable. Therefore, they did not walk on foot and were fed regularly.

Slave traders had established many networks in this vast region.

This resulted in Bastian and V being transferred from one slave trader to another. They had changed hands quite a few times, and each time, they would meet new slaves. In most cases, the slaves who had travelled with them would disappear.

They noticed that they were being sold to higher class slave traders each time, with even greater amounts of slaves and guards. It seemed as though their initial value had been underestimated.

V was a young cultivator so her value was obvious. In the future she could be a powerful soldier or bodyguard for her Master. Bastian on the other hand had no cultivation, however he was far more valuable than V.

The fact that he was from a noble family and had received a high class education made him highly valuable. Most slaves couldn't even read or write. Skills like arithmetic or map reading were in high demand to slave owners who could afford such slaves.

These types of slaves worked well as teachers for children or as butlers and were able to run businesses, assuming they had enough trust from their Master. That is why it was best to acquire such a slave from a young age.

Some families even went as far as to educate their own slaves. This however, was far more expensive and time consuming than acquiring one that was already educated. Bastian was also educated by a top class noble family, thus his knowledge would definitely be top class as well.

His bloodline was what added real weight to his value. Purple hair was extremely rare on the Sovereign Continent. So rare in fact that anyone who had it was believed to have the bloodline of strong noble cultivation families from the Southern Grasslands.