Alec and Millie snuck around to the brothel’s back. It was where they recieved deliveries and transports. It took a lot of food and drink to keep such a place running, after all. Carts, some not very different from the one they rode to Nuss, entered and left the estate in a semi-steady stream.

Whenever the gate opened, Alec and Millie glimpsed the back doors of the brothel. Almost too many young servants too count were busy running to and fro with all kinds of things in their arms. Some helped unload the carts. Others went around with buckets of water and mops.

Alec was pretty sure he saw one young lad carrying a bucket from which pinkish water squillped out of.

That meant blood, enough of it to dye a bucket of water.

“Let’s go.” Alec and Millie darted out from their cover and tagged along behind a carriage. As soon as they were past the gates, they scurried over to the closest building, a storage building.

They cracked open the door and disappeared inside into the darkness before anyone could notice.

“Alec…” Millie said in a low voice while scrunching her nose.

Alec popped a spell to shed light upon their surroundings instead of answering. He was a little worried about a worker or something noticing them, but it was more important to figure out what kind of storage building they had entered.

The light from Alec’s spell, a simple one that created a sphere of light, chased away the darkness, uncovering what had hid beneath it.

Alec was suddenly hit with a flash of deja vu. Scrawny people in shackles and behind bars.

It was not jail but people were still imprisoned.

Most of them were young women or feeble-looking young men. Their bodies were bruised, and they all looked starved.

Alec could figure out what it was.

The fact that their injuries weren’t worse could only mean that they still had use as long as they recovered.

It was a disciplinary room for those who tried to flee or disobeyed orders or clients.

They flinched at the sudden light, but their eyes were hollow and lifeless. If it hadn’t been for the lifelessness and despair, Alec would have mistaken them for the eyes of monsters. They had given up.

“Alec,” Millie said, grabbing Alec’s arm hard enough to make it bruise.

“Yep. We’re not leaving with just Red. We’re tearing this place down.”

There was just one problem. He had to convince these people to move. It wasn’t a matter of whether they could or not.

Their injuries looked bad, but they weren’t crippled. It was their minds that had been broken.

“I’ll talk to them. You go do…stuff.” Millie approached the iron bars closest to her.

“I’ll grab Red and start going wild along the way. You might run out of time.”

“It’ll be fine. Trust me.”

“Alright. If things go sideways, make sure you will escape. You remember the way to Dario, right?”

“Just go already. Stop wasting time.”

Instead of answering, Alec turned around and cracked open the door to peek out. He took the first opportunity he saw and sprinted to the shadows of the next building, which was another storage building, but this one was for food and drink.

“Red’s over there…I guess a distraction wouldn’t be that bad.”

‘Fireball.’ Alec tossed a bundle of fire toward the wooden building without hesitation.

But a moment later, flames roared and started to devour it. And another moment later, cries and shouts rang out.

A port city with water a stone’s throw away and moisture as thick as fog in the air did not have much experience with fires, but there were a couple of quick-witted ones that immediatley went to fetch buckets and pull water from the wells.

Alec stood in the middle of the commotion and gazed at the flames for a moment. Maura would be proud. They were ones even a boatload of water would struggle to put out.

He had made sure to cram in a lot of heat into the flames, after all. It would make for a shorter fire since the fuel would run out quicker, but that was not a problem at all.

He quickly walked over to the building from which he could sense Red. It was one of the fancy buildings, which meant it was where the courtesans lived and worked.

Hopefully, Red was there because he was chosen as a servant and not because he was chosen to serve. He was a scrawny, dirty, little boy.

People who visited brothels mught have peculiar tastes, but he doubted they were that peculiar.

A few servants hurried out to hep with the fire and check on the commotion. Alec took the opportunity to sneak in when they turned their backs.

The hallways were lit with live candles. The rooms right inside the entrance looked like makeup rooms or restrooms.

Red was on the other side of the revolving door at the end of the hallway. He wasn’t alone. Alec heard many voices and cheers.

He heard bids being called and accepted.

It was an auction.

Alec closed the doors he passed and sealed them with wooden vines. He did not have time to check if everyone in them were involved or unfortunate victims.

For now, they had to stay put. Fortunately, the vines helped isolate the sound once they started pounding on the doors.

Alec gently pushed open the revolving door and peeked inside.

It was like he had expected. The door led to the area behind a stage, in front of which was a crowd.

On and at the back of the stage were multiple young and younger men and women, ready to be sold to the ones in the crowd.

As Alec looked, a servant grabbed the next ‘item.’ A young girl with fiery red curls that shone like rubies in the light from the chandeliers.

“Whoever gets their hands on this one won’t regret it! Locks like these with a face to match come once a generation! We’ll start the bidding at thirty silver!”

Alec frowned as the prize instantly soared to hundreds of silvers.

It wasn’t just becuase of what was going on.

It was because the spot in his mind telling him where Red was overlapped with the young-redhead’s location.

‘Red…’

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep