Chapter 44: Deliberate Deception

◎Help——How come there is really someone named Malakis?◎

After resting for a while on the couch, Melia regained her spirits.

It was time to stand up. She was about to push herself up, holding onto the handrails when several strong slaves suddenly emerged from behind the curtains. Each of them lifted one leg of the couch and walked steadily forward. Taffy followed behind with an unchanging expression, clearly accustomed to the task.

The slaves walked down the spiral stone steps and soon stopped to place the couch next to the silver candlesticks.

Melia straightened up and looked down:

The spiral platform, inverted at the bottom of the pit, resembles the Colosseum in Rome, albeit slightly smaller. The stone buildings outside were originally just lounges and passageways; the actual sales floor was located underground.

With the current level of construction, it would certainly cost a huge amount of money to build such a large underground palace. However, she soon noticed that there was a stone slab carved with an inverted lotus on the top of each corner.

Special construction methods must have been used, at least the load-bearing problem was solved by magic.

The stands, slightly different from the Roman Colosseum, were separated by colorful wooden panels, like where Melia was standing, and slaves waiting behind her, armed with snacks, water bottles, and parchment scrolls.

There seemed to be a lot of space reserved in the compartment for the buyer's own slave, and the platform was wide enough for stretching legs.

Of course, in order to ensure the guests' vision, there are no partitions in the front and back. Small rooms with partitions are placed in a staggered manner, so that every guest can see the front and back seats.

For example, the person sitting in front of Melia was a very greasy fat man, who was leaning on the slave, and collapsed into a pile of meat as if he had no bones.

Melia quietly distanced herself from him, but the fat man unexpectedly turned around and glanced at her: "Hey, isn't that Melia?"

Huh… the original owner knew him? Melia couldn't help but shrink back again.

The fat man's eyes widened immediately. "Why, after having an affair with that kid Galius, you've forgotten about me, Malakis?"

Help - how can there really be someone named Malachis - there are so many names for ancient Roman diadems, you really know how to name them.

Melia subconsciously flipped through "The Rose Princess" and her eyes were shocked: This Malakis really has a role to play!

In the original world line, he has two opportunities to appear: one is after the original owner was sold into a slave, this guy paid 1,000 gold coins at one time to book the original owner for ten nights.

The second time was when the original owner had fallen from power again and was about to be captured by the princess, but unexpectedly the princess was one step ahead and hanged the original owner.

By the way, Malakis didn't get any benefits either. As a villain in the same camp as the vicious female supporting role, he didn't get a third appearance and was burned to death in his own manor with a group of his men.

Ugh, even though the original owner deserved it, it still made me feel sick seeing all this... Melia couldn't hold back her expression at all and was about to vomit.

She covered her mouth and said, "Gellius and Ilitta are a couple, what does it have to do with me?"

"Hey, then we—"

Malachis's smile froze as a scimitar rested at his throat, ready to be thrust in. The golden Roman eagle on the hilt stung his eyes.

Elena's pupils shrank slightly: "Noisy."

"Gulp." Malakis' whole body was shaking violently, and he almost cried out. He was helped by the slaves and fell on the couch.

His lips trembled until someone pulled back the scarlet curtain of the lower booth. Only then did he catch his breath and utter a harsh word: "Ha, ha, ha, Seventh... Your Highness, you, you are very, very powerful."

Elena didn't even bother to respond: "What kind of person is Malakis? His family is of some value, but his most valuable grandfather and father died a year ago."

This guy is just a fool who inherited a fortune and is nominally a senator, but in reality he doesn't even bother to care about his political opponents. Anyway, in ten or eight years, he will be eaten up and kicked out of the Senate.

As the curtain opened, the scene became noisy, making the back compartment seem quite quiet.

Cages were stacked side by side, with two wooden signs hanging on each cage.

The host enthusiastically introduced the rules to new and old customers: the wooden sign on the left is the seller's reserve price, and the wooden sign on the right is the seller's expected price.

Guests who are interested in bidding can put pottery shards of different prices into the jar in front of the cage. The person who puts the pottery later must bid higher than the person who put it first. Once someone wants to put more pottery shards, the pottery shards of the person in front will be poured out and returned.

These pottery shards were thrown by slaves from each family. As long as the slaves came back with the pottery shards, it meant that they had to either raise the price or give up.

If you don't want the slave to run around and waste time, you can just raise your hand to signal the store to buy it at the expected price.

So that's how it is. Melia glanced at the x representing 10 on the pottery fragment: this auction method can sell many items at the same time and arouse the competition among buyers, which is somewhat similar to modern auctions.

Back on the stage, the host opened the first cage and poked the person inside with a sharpened cane. The seemingly ordinary woman lowered her head humbly, revealing a pair of goat horns.

"She's from Greece! She gave birth to two children, and those children also have the blood of the beast. Buy one, get two free!"

The people below didn't react much. Malakis even snorted, "Children are more expensive. If you don't put the child up here, it will definitely be featureless and ugly, and it won't be sold."

The host wasted no time, he raised his palm and ran towards the second cage.

When it was opened, two young men appeared inside. The host, in a provocative tone, shouted to the audience, "Real nomads! Perhaps descendants of some great chieftain. Their bones are perfect for warding off evil spirits. The leg bones of a pair of twin brothers can bless a couple's love. The tattoos on their skin are their own, very unique."

The older brother inside took this opportunity to shout loudly, but unfortunately he spoke in dialect, which only a few people could understand: "I can herd sheep and hunt! My younger brother is even better than me! If any kind-hearted master or mistress can send us back, we will send sheep here every year!"

The host didn't bother to stop him from yelling, and simply opened the third cage to begin the next introduction. Two strong slaves emerged from behind the stage and, with numb expressions, stuffed a piece of cloth into the nomad brother's mouth.

Melia gradually understood: the initial batch of goods, each with its own unique characteristics, was merely an appetizer. These people would be stripped of their last shred of dignity and presented to potential buyers as valuable.

Most of them, both men and women, do not wear clothes because buyers need to see at a glance the advantages and disadvantages of their bodies, whether they have any defects or attractiveness.

Only a few slaves with more attractive appearance, rare bloodline or special skills wore something similar to decoration to enhance their sense of value like packaging.

For example, the girl who is being introduced now has fish-scale-like lines on her face, but her eyes are more transparent than rubies: because they can reflect the light of objects.

The host deliberately brought a candlestick to shine in the direction of the girl's eyes, and without paying any attention to the girl's painful expression, he pinched her arm and forced her to open her eyes wide.

"What a shame, the scales are only on the face." Malakis smacked his lips deliberately and waved his thick palm. "If the lower body was entirely snake, it would sell for at least this much!"

"Huh~ That's enough."

Melia supported her waist and stood up from the couch, and Taffy quickly reached out to the pottery shards on the table.

However, the young lady passed her and walked down the steps to the stage at the bottom.

"Miss...those are all..." Taffy bit her lip. Her noble lady was walking among a group of slaves who were running fast. Both her clothes and temperament were very different from those slaves who lowered their heads.

She was so conspicuous, like a touch of white in gray, attracting many malicious glances.

"Ah!" A careless slave accidentally bumped into Melia, and the pottery shards in his arms scattered all over the floor.

Her face looked fine at first, and she looked like a favored little slave girl. However, when she squatted down and thanked Melia for helping her pick up the pottery shards, her face turned pale.

"Miss..."

"Huh? I'm not your master, don't be afraid. Don't touch the broken pieces, you will scratch your hands." Melia smiled comfortingly, picked out the broken pottery pieces and handed them to the waiter next to her, then stood up and continued on her way.

"Miss!" Taffy caught up, not daring to stand shoulder to shoulder with her. She followed half a step slower, trying to block any unfriendly glances. Why was she doing this? Wouldn't it be better to let her talk to the host? Everyone here is inferior to her.

"Taffy? Wait for me up there."

Before Taffy could react, Melia had already stepped onto the steps and walked to the stage at the back. At this moment, even the host, with a skilled smile, stopped introducing the sixth slave and politely walked towards Melia.

"Dear guest, what do you want?" The host knew Melia's cruel and barbaric personality. However, she was a major customer here. Even if Muala was gone, she could definitely afford to pay compensation for a few slaves.

"I want them all. I want to redeem all these people." Melia raised her hand calmly.

The looks in the stands, which had just been filled with mockery and ridicule, instantly changed to a mixture of surprise and envy: What immense financial resources! Buying such appetizers at such ridiculous expected prices?!

"Are you sure you want to buy so much at the expected price?" Considering that Melia has always been stupid, the host hurried to confirm.

"Of course. Are you worried that I can't pay?"

Melia looked up at the stands and saw Ronnie had already walked down the steps and to the edge of the stage.

Click, the key turned gently, and the largest lock fell off.

The chains tied to the outside fell down one after another, and the lid of the box creaked open - the candlelight ignited the brilliant gold, and clusters of it exploded in front of everyone's eyes.

"What quality of gold nugget is that?" Someone on the high stands stood up and stretched his neck.

Yes, it is gold nuggets, not individual gold coins.

Roman gold coins are divided into large gold coins and small gold coins. Regardless of size, there are inevitably damaged parts. After all, the circulation of gold also involves the step of making change.

Gold ingots and nuggets are more susceptible to chipping, and specialized tools are used to cut them. Because impurities inevitably enter during melting and casting, the quality of the gold deteriorates, so generally speaking, people prefer to accept gold coins.

But, what about the gold ingots in that box?

They were all the same size, their cross-sections smooth and complete, and even their corners had smooth, rounded corners. It was very likely... they had been forged using magical means!

Melia tried to pick up a gold ingot, but after gritting her teeth and lifting it twice, nothing happened. She ran her fingers over its smooth surface. "How is it? Do you want to inspect it?"

Are you kidding? This is a temple treasure that was recast using special power in Shadow Rome. Even the high priest wouldn't be able to recognize it even if he dragged it here.

"You...really want to use such high-quality gold to buy slaves?" The host lowered his voice, "We don't consider quality here, only weight."

Tsk~ If I took inferior gold ingots, it wouldn't be the same, right? Melia smiled unchanged: "Yes, it's fair."

"Yes, we guarantee fair trade!" The host gestured to the audience, and soon professionals came with cutting tools.

Even though Melia was a high-quality customer, they still cut open the selected gold ingots in front of everyone. The inside was as golden as the outside, without any lead core and flawless.

The entire process went by very quickly, and the host's smile became at least twice as genuine. "My dear lady, would you like to have the mark you ordered last time branded on them?"

"No, I don't like branding right now." Melia frowned and walked up the stairs, then turned back: "Find some clean clothes for them, I'll pay for it."

“No, no, the clothes are just free~” the host bowed and said farewell, his eyes fixed on the gold ingots on the plate.

…

"Huh~" Melia sat back in her seat, feeling so tired.

"You—you don't have to do this." Elena finally moved her arm. She had just been stunned. If nothing else... could Melia really do such a thing? It was simply incomprehensible.

"Hmm? Don't you need it? It's worth it."

Their eyes met, and Elena instantly grasped the girl's thoughts: They care, the slaves care. Whether they are citizens of the Sea Country or not, the slaves also want to live.

Melia was indeed very different from her.

Whether it is the Melia of the past or the Melia of the present.

Suddenly, a wider door opened before Elena: She wasn't trying to save just one nation or one citizen of the Sea Kingdom. This was Rome. The nobles were part of Rome, the common people were part of Rome, and even Rome's slaves were... Romans!

At this moment, for the first time in her life, she felt the urge to understand the other person, to hold Melia's hand and talk to her like a friend. Elena slowly raised her arm...

"Hey, Melia!"

The fat man's rough voice echoed from the front row. He moved his tongue excitedly, almost spitting out saliva. "You also received the news about buying so many slaves?"