When the men on the canine soulbonds disappeared, Emily's legs gave in as she slumped on the ground without enough energy left to stand up again.
She also stopped shivering which was a good sign and Jason wanted to help her up.
As such he held out his hand when he suddenly thought that she could be scared of men, which caused him to hesitate for a moment.
However, Emily already tried her best to grasp his hand to stand up again, before she began to thank him several dozen times in succession.
"Thank you! I'm so thankful to you! Thank you very much…."
Hearing all of this, Jason lifted his hand to indicate to her that she should stop, which she did without hesitation.
"Well I don't know how to start, but let me introduce myself first. My name is Jason Laere. Nice to meet you!"
Taking off his mask, Emily saw his face for the first time, and she could hardly contain her shock because Jason seemed to be not older than she was.
"H-how old are you?!" She subconsciously asked without introducing herself first.
However, instead of saying anything at all, Jason just walked inside his small shop, while Artemis adjusted her size to squeeze on his shoulder.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Scorpio was forced to enter his soul world, and only Emily was left on the street looking after Jason with confusion before she followed him after a moment.
She was still scared about what happened and it was difficult for her to trust anyone, now that she figured out that others might enslave her and do whatever they wanted to do with her.
This thought alone was enough to create a distinct fear within her.
However, she still forced herself to follow Jason inside the shop because she owed him a huge favor for rescuing her and there was nowhere she could go either way.
She had no money, family, or anyone to help her, which caused her to sigh deeply as she felt anxious about her future intensified.
Entering the small shop, Emily was astonished at how exquisite it looked like and she only noticed Jason again, when he halted his steps in front of the counter.
Increasing her pace, she appeared behind him, only to remember that she didn't introduce herself yet.
"I forgot to tell you my name... I'm Emily!"
Jason was still doing something at the counter and Emily could only see his broad back.
Before she only saw the side of his face, but when he turned around after he was done with everything, Emily immediately noticed his golden eyes that shimmered brightly.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"So beautiful!" She said subconsciously which caused Jason to lift his eyebrow as he said with a faint smile on his lips
"You often speak without thinking, huh?"
Under normal circumstances this would be seen as an Insult but hearing these words from Jason who smiled at her, Emily didn't think that it was meant as an insult.
Rather than that, he just looked as if he wanted to know if he was right with his assumption or not.
Nodding her head, she didn't say anything else, still embracing the emerald-green colored crystal around her.
Seeing this, he also noticed that she stopped shivering completely, even if Emily still seemed to be uncomfortable.
As such Jason just smiled when he asked
"If it's not too much to ask, can you explain to me more about the slave market, or what you ran away and how you ended up there? Is that something legal on Terebrean or just a thing here, in this city?"
Emily was still hesitant but hearing Jason's words she understood that he was most likely a foreigner who intervened in her trouble, without knowing if her pursuit was entitled or not.
This caused her to feel more secure around the youth in front of her because it seemed that he genuinely wanted to help her out of trouble without receiving any benefits as she couldn't see any lust in his golden eyes, which was different from the other men she was inside the slave market before she fled.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})"I'm not sure about other cities but the slave market seems to be legal here...The government said that they implemented a new system to punish criminals by enslaving them. However, it is weird that not only murderers, and other criminals, but also ordinary citizens and orphans, end up enslaved.
According to the orphanage I lived in, everyone with a good enough soul-awakening and mana aptitude should be exempt from being enslaved which leads everyone to absorb mana as if ouelife depends on it, which is not necessarily wrong."
Emily sighed deeply, and Jason could see pain in her eyes when she continued.
"Apparently, even if we reach a certain mana core rank until the age of 15, Slave merchants will come, take us and enslave us, saying that we are thieves.
Even if we retaliated, there is nothing for us to do because the orphanage didn't take all of our belongings away.
As you can see, I'm holding an emerald-green colored crystal in my hand and that was the only thing the orphanage left me after taking my family's other belongings.
Now, they say that I stole the crystal I received from my parents before they died to turn me into a criminal…."
Hearing her words, Jason felt disgusted as he summarized everything in his mind
'If Emily's words are right, the government knows about the slave market inside the city...I doubt that it's only one city but it would be better that way...Furthermore, they enslave not only real criminals but also turn innocent orphans and normal citizens into criminals to increase the number of slaves? Why does someone even need slaves? They're even more expensive to purchase than employees cost over several dozen years...
Isn't that similar to the Drake family's harsh soul contracts? If someone has even a little bit of talent, they might be worth being purchased and trained into soldiers to build a small army?'
With this thought, he remembered how much Emily was worth even without an enslavement contract, which indicated that her soul awakening and mana aptitude should be quite high.
There was also the possibility that the small group's leader exploited him, but from Jason's perspective that was unlikely because the leader didn't even hesitate to say the price which was only possible if he knew it beforehand.
Maybe he was also quick-witted, however, Jason doubted that.
When he thought about the Drake family's way to create his own loyal army, Jason couldn't help but think that it was extremely beneficial for himself, while it was terrifying for his underlings because they were enslaved, which was not a good way to live.
However, now that Emily stood in front of him, with the unique emerald-green colored crystal in her hand, he suddenly wanted to build his own faction.
This thought was something he never had because he had more than enough things to take care of about himself.
But after witnessing how the Drake and now apparently also the Jual family treated their own citizens, Jason couldn't help but think that it might be a good idea to form a faction to change the tides.
Mankind seemed to have more problems than he initially expected and Jason could only sigh deeply, thinking that it would have been so much better if his vessel was larger and reinforced so that he could become stronger even faster without the need to care about his high soul world amplification and other issues.
Jason was furious about how the weaker were treated and it reminded him about the Blood-sect heir that killed his mother without any reason.
He subconsciously released his killing intent and Emily stepped back in fear, only for Jason to calm down a few moments later.
'I'm a little bit too easy emotionally triggered in the last few days....' He thought confused about himself.
Apologizing, he looked directly into Emily's green eyes, before he asked
"You have nowhere to go, right? Do you want to work for me?"
