“I, it wasn’t there either.”

“Damn it, it was definitely there until the auction, where the hell did it go!”

“I’m, I’m sorry!”

Hearing the subordinate’s reply, Aguil couldn’t contain his anger and overturned the table next to him.

The glass on the table shattered with a cracking sound. The subordinate flinched briefly at the noise.

“Go out and find it right now! Even if you have to search other warehouses, even if some thief stole it, find it immediately!”

“Y-yes, sir!”

After the subordinate hurriedly left the room, Aguil slammed the door shut. His nostrils flared and his face turned bright red.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it!”

Soon he shouted and smashed a flower pot. As the shattering sound spread, subordinates outside came in and prostrated themselves to clean it up.

‘If I sold that, I’d get that money! Two million gold would be in my hands!’

Immortality? Elixir? It was just a white snake he happened to find while passing by on the road.

It was already weak and dying. Even after bringing it to the auction house, it didn’t move at all when put in the cage.

‘What idiot said they’d buy that for two million gold!’

He couldn’t miss out on the million gold right in front of him. He had no intention of letting it slip away when it was within reach.

‘Damn it, I told them to watch it so carefully!’

Aguil recalled the face of the subordinate he had just beaten to a pulp minutes ago.

‘P-please spare me, I’m sorry, please spare me.’

Just thinking about it made his blood boil again. Clearly they didn’t monitor it properly because they looked down on him as just the deputy director.

If he had been the director, they would have listened properly!

‘No, come to think of it, I’m no different from the director. How many years have I been running this auction house!’

Just how much gold is circulating in this auction house today? Frankly speaking, if he took all the gold earned here, he could probably buy a title from some starving nobleman.

“D-Director!”

One of the subordinates rushed into the room. Aguil glared at him with bloodshot eyes.

Though intimidated by that look, the subordinate still had to report what needed reporting.

“Th-the number of slaves doesn’t match. O-one of the women is m-missing…”

“What?!”

How much is each of those slaves worth! After losing a million gold right before his eyes, now he’s lost merchandise to sell as well.

“You incompetent bastards! Which warehouse are you talking about?”

“Warehouse number 1!”

“Have you counted the numbers in the other places?”

“I already told them to recheck the headcount…”

In the end, the subordinate was hit in the head by a flower pot thrown by Aguil. Pushing aside the subordinate who was staggering and bleeding, Aguil left the room.

He intended to search for it himself.

Clearly if he left it to those idiots, they’d fumble around and end up losing a perfectly good slave.

“Useless fools!”

I heard footsteps a little distance away. I quickly hid myself in the shadow cast behind a tree.

“Hey! Did you search over there?”

“Yes, it wasn’t there!”

“Dammit, what are you dawdling for?! Don’t rest and go search somewhere else! If we can’t find that snake for good, we’re all finished, so look carefully!”

Everyone was busy moving around searching for the missing white snake.

I quietly held my breath, hiding in the bushes near the warehouse, praying for the remaining two employees to hurry up and leave.

Actually, after escaping from Yan, getting to the warehouse wasn’t difficult. This place was one of the locations that appeared in the original work.

“Damn it, what kind of situation is this!”

“It’s invalid, this is all invalid!”

“Please just one more game, just one more…”

Ellazer gritted his teeth.

The first thing that greeted them was people gambling.

“Your Highness.”

“I know, let’s watch a bit more and then go.”

Despite the guard’s warning, Ellazer did not turn away.

What could be seen further inside were people with unfocused, hazy eyes, tilting their heads and making strange laughing sounds.

“How dare they do such a thing…”

Seeing the scene unfolding before his eyes, Ellazer was enraged.

“I will absolutely, absolutely not let this slide.”

‘Ellazer had come here too, after all.’

Or more precisely, he was supposed to come.

I walked east past the back of the building as written in the original work and found the warehouse.

I knew exactly where this was as soon as I entered the building.

What the many people gathered on the first floor were doing was gambling.

‘That’s why Yan tried so hard to block my view.’

The duke also pressed my hood down deeper.

However, even if my view was blocked, they couldn’t stop what I could hear and smell around me.

‘That’s why Philen was so against it too.’

This place wasn’t just an ordinary auction house. It was an illegal auction house that dealt not only in auctions but also gambling and drugs.

I don’t know how much those around him opposed when the adult Ellazer tried to come here in person.

But Ellazer secretly visits this place with just one guard.

Then he gathers evidence of all the illegal activities happening here and shuts down the auction house.

‘Usually they put warehouses in the back of buildings and gather the merchandise there.’

I carefully looked around as I slowly moved. Following the directions given in the original work, I was able to find that warehouse without much difficulty.

‘Found it!’

Just then, the warehouse door clattered open.

I quickly hid myself in the nearby bushes.

Crying sounds leaked through the gaps in the warehouse. The man who came out of the warehouse kicked the door threateningly and shouted.

“Won’t you be quiet?!”

At those words, the crying subsided, but the sound of whimpering like little baby birds still continued.

For a moment, I felt my head go cold.

“If you make a fuss one more time, you’ll never be able to go home again!”

A warehouse for storing goods, children sobbing in fear, and an employee threatening such children.

It wasn’t difficult to deduce what was going on after seeing that scene.

After all, the auction house Ellazer visited in the original work also operated illegal slave auctions in addition to gambling.

‘But today wasn’t supposed to be an auction!’

However, I thought this place wouldn’t be like that. I had just seen the auction house here myself earlier.

‘They weren’t auctioning people!’

I clenched my fists tightly as I watched the man who came out of the warehouse slam the door shut irritably.

‘Then was the auction house earlier just a front?’

“What’s this?”

‘Ah!’

Just then, someone yanked my hood back forcefully. I fell backwards with a thud.

‘My hood!’

The hood covering my face was pulled back. When I raised my head, I met eyes with an unfamiliar man.

His gaze scanned me up and down.

“Oh~ Was there a kid like this among our merchandise?”

The man’s lips split into a vile grin. I glared at him with strength in my eyes.

Judging by his attire, he was an auction house employee. However, his attitude was different from the other employees I had met earlier.

When I was with Clemens, the employees had acted so politely towards me that they seemed almost servile.

But the employee who appeared now had a completely different arrogant attitude from the others’ polite demeanor.

It started with the look in his eyes as he appraised me like merchandise.

‘He mistakenly thinks I’m merchandise.’

After all, it wasn’t common for a child like me to come here as a customer.

The man gestured behind me and shouted.

“Hey, Hans! Aren’t you managing the merchandise properly?”

“What’s the problem now?”

“One of them almost escaped!”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“There’s a kid here, you idiot!”

The man who had been guarding the front of the warehouse belatedly noticed me. With a surprised expression, he looked back and forth between the warehouse and me as he approached us.

“What’s this? I’ve never seen this one before.”

“What do you mean you’ve never seen her? She was hiding here. Must have escaped from the warehouse.”

“How could a kid like this escape from there on her own?”

“Then are you saying a kid like this came here as a customer?”

The man grabbed my hood roughly and dragged me along. I struggled as I felt suffocated, but it was no use.

‘Ugh!’

Soon the man pushed me into the dark warehouse and warned:

“This time, don’t do anything unnecessary and stay put.”

Bang.

The door closed.

The brief moment of light that had entered the warehouse was quickly filled again with dark shadows.

I carefully looked around.

Perhaps because I had just come from a very bright place, it was pitch black all around. I stood still, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the darkness.

Then something poked me from the side. Soon my eyes grew accustomed to the dark and my vision brightened a bit. I saw a girl about my age.

The girl’s eyes were so swollen from crying. She clutched my clothes tightly and asked.

“M-mommy, *sob*, d-did you see my mommy?”

It was a choked-up crying voice. I felt my breath catch. Trying hard to swallow the lump in my throat, I replied.

“No, I’m sorry. I didn’t see her.”

“*Sob* I, I want to see my mommy. S-strangers said, *sob*, that mommy was here…”

The girl couldn’t continue speaking and burst into tears. From beside her, the sound of sobbing grew and other children spoke up.

“M-me too. They said my mommy was here too… They said they’d let me meet my mommy…”

“Strange men said my mommy was here… *sob*”

“It’s so dark here, I’m scared…”

I couldn’t say anything and carefully looked around.

It was an empty warehouse with nothing in it. Instead of objects, it was filled with young children huddled together.

As one or two started crying, tears welled up in the eyes of the other children as well.

Just then, there was a bang from outside. It was the sound of the man outside kicking the door.

“Shut up! I told you I won’t let you out if you cry one more time!”

At those words, all the children immediately stopped crying. I asked the girl who had first approached me again.

“Why are you all here? Who brought you?”

“*Sob* I don’t know, *sniff*, scary men said they’d send us to mommy if we behaved, *sob*, *sob*, th-they said they’d sell us because we didn’t listen to mommy. They said we’re being sold because we didn’t listen. *Sniff*”

I felt my head go cold. My eyes widened and my heart pounded wildly.

I remembered the woman from earlier searching for her child.

‘They treated her like a strange person and chased her away.’

While behind the scenes, they were locking up children like this and doing such despicable things.

I gritted my teeth without replying. My anger was directed where it rightfully should be.

‘I absolutely, absolutely won’t let this slide.’