Chapter 161 – The choice
As Noah gazed around the dome full of people fucking as if their life depended on it, he noticed something going on in the furthest from him part of the room. He floated through the room above the crowd deciding to check it.
As he closed in on the spot that attracted his attention he saw a few Bullmen that were not in a strange craze-like mating delirium. Instead, they seemed like workers busy with chores. They went around the place checking on the states of some of the overexcited men and women that in their crazy mating desire forgot to even drink, offering them some kind of tonic-looking drinks and blue pills that Noah looked at with suspicion. These pills looked just like the ones in Firrias dream only in different color.
A few minutes later, he found an answer to his suspicion as he saw two burly-looking red bull males bringing a new woman to the dome.
She screamed and struggled, crying her eyes out, but could not get free from their steel-like firm hold on her. Once she was brought in, one of the dome workers grabbed her face, forcing her mouth open, while forcing a few blue pills down her throat and making her wash it down with the tonic that was fed to everyone in this place.
As it was done the guard bulls pushed her away with force into the room where she fell on the floor. A few seconds later the woman started to breathe hard as if she was suffocating, but as Noah watched closer he saw her face now full of desire instead of suffering.
She struggled with her feelings for some time, fighting that desire, but with all the sounds of sex around her, her defense soon crumbled and she crawled into the room like an animal in heat.
"These motherfuckers!" Hissed Noah. "I knew it." Said Noah with anger clenching his fists.
"We are out of the blue pill, bring us some more." Said one of the servants coming over while stepping over the crawling woman as if there was trash under his feet instead of a living human.
"You'll have to wait. The warehouse is almost empty. The new shipment has just arrived, so it'll take time to unload it." Said, servant.
"Go help with the unloading to hurry them up." Said the man that seemed in charge within this dome.
As the man left the building, Noah followed him in his ghost state spying on him unseen by anyone. He could not do anything to help in this state, as his hands simply passed through people and objects, but he wanted to know everything that was going on here to maybe find a solution to stop this madness later.
Alice silently floated behind Noah watching his stern face as he followed the people of the Red Bull clan and just followed him from a distance without interfering.
After some time the servant reached a warehouse-like building guarded by a whole team of burly Bullman warriors, where Noah saw a whole caravan of carriages that was being unloaded by the team of Bullmen and humans that stored crates in the warehouse.
As the work progressed Noah saw a bunch of merchant-looking humans standing aside with a team of red-skinned Bullmen discussing something as they watched the shipment being unloaded. And from seeing this group Noah's eyes went wide.
Among them stood one Bullman that Noah saw in Firria's nightmare. It was that giant like ferocious-looking warrior that made the girl tremble in fear. Just as in her dream this man stood head above everyone and looked like a solid mountain of muscles.
Suddenly that giant warrior turned around and grabbed one old-looking man from the group of humans by the neck, lifting him from the ground. The warriors that seemed to be that man's guards grabbed the handles of their swords readying to fight. However, instead of a panicky expression or fear, a huge smile spread on the lips of a lifted merchant as a cunning light shone in his old eyes. He waved his hand making his guards back down even as he was being suffocated in the clutches of the giant warrior.
Seeing this, Noah floated closer to hear their conversation
"Why don't I just kill you here, old man, and take it all away?" Said the Bullman with a roar like a deep voice full of anger.
"Then what?" Said the old merchant with a wicked smile. "How long will this amount last? Two to three months? What will you do after that?"
"I'll find a new supplier." Said the giant still holding the old man several feet above the ground.
"Oh? How many have you found so far?" The old man asked and the giant went silent.
"And do you think my boss will sit still? Tomorrow the entire world will hear what is going on here. We will find a new tool in time. But you. Without us you are nothing. You will be dealt with in less than a year." Added the old man, seeing as the angered bull had nothing to say, but kept silently staring at the old man with fury in his eyes.
A few seconds later he let go of the old man and he dropped to the ground coughing heavily.
"Good." Said the old man as soon as he barely regained his breathing. "You understand your place, it seems. Now go bring us what we agreed for."
"Only the girl!" Grumbled the warrior turning to stare at the old man. "The other bitches are mine."
"Why are you so obsessed with them when you have any amount of holes you can fill?" Asked the old merchant.
"Don't compare me with this livestock, old man! They can fuck whatever filthy ugly shit they get their hands on. I am their king! I take best! We sell you the most beautiful of women, giving my man the leftovers. But now you want to take what's mine?!"
"We had an agreement." Said merchant calmly unfazed by the giant's anger.
"AGREEMENT? ALL THIS…" roared the warrior "was because of her! I wanted her! Now you take her away from me. I agreed to that. But you bend the line, old man. I will keep the best next thing that will remind me of her or I take her and you go tell your boss that the deal is off."
"Off?" Asked the old man, chuckling. "Do I need to remind you, what this would imply?"
"I know it better than you! Yes without blue pills the women would lose constant fertility returning to their seasonal cycles. Recovery of my army will slow down. But without red pills, men would cease to wean at a quick speed too. Yes, I will lose my trump card which gives them power beyond their capability. But now that I have destroyed the strongest clans that stood in my path. Do I really need the pills, old man?"
"You forget the discord that would follow in your clan when your young ambitious males lose the source of power, young chieftain. Do you think you are not exchangeable? Or you forgot what level of power you had before we gave you red pills?"
"I will manage." Answered the red giant glaring at the old human.
The old merchant gazed at the furious Bullman for a few moments, measuring him with his gaze, before nodding in agreement.
"Fine, take the leftover family. We take only the youngest daughter of the white bull chieftain, however, you substitute women from his family with six other bitches no less beautiful." Said the old merchant with glee.
"Five." Said Red Bull Chieftain turning to walk away without looking at the merchant a second time.
"Five it is then." Said the merchant confirming the deal.
As the giant bull walked away the human team kept staring into his back only letting go of their weapon after they could not see him anymore.
"Why do you need to provoke him like that, Master." Said a young merchant at the side. "He is barely sane from all the red pills already. He could have snapped at any moment. If he wants the used goods, let him have them. The boss gave us no orders regarding the Wife of the White Bull chieftain, his sister, and eldest daughter. Why do you want them?"
"I don't need them. I demanded them just to provoke him to see the depths of his realization of the situation he is in now and how obedient he has become. A few weeks ago he would have crushed my skull. Now look at him going away with scraps of dignity in his hands. We want him to not see his life without our product. But unlike others, this man is not a usual livestock. He may be a dumb bull but he is an ambitious dumb bull that is holding on to his ambitions. I wanted to see how firm that hold of his still is." Said an old merchant thoughtfully.
"I see." Said the young merchant nodding before turning to the other people from the merchant caravan. "Alright, hurry up people! Get this over and start loading the slaves. The sooner we get out of here the sooner we can breathe out. This stinky beasts' dwelling makes me sick." He ordered walking away, giving commands to the human workers.
Noah watched as these men loaded up one of the empty by now carts with chained women among which was also the young girl named Firria that unknowingly brought Noah here through her dream. When she was pulled out of the prison building, a merchant came over to her, grabbing her by the chin and turning her head from side to side making sure she was the right girl and that Red Bull Chieftain did not try to scam them.
After all other carts were emptied of the crates with red and blue pills that this caravan brought, they were filled back with tightly sealed barrels that Red Bull clansmen brought from another warehouse.
As Noah stared at these barrels the conversation of these men played in his mind.
"Fertility pills." Thought Noah as he gazed at the barrels for some time with suspicion while thoughts swirled in his mind. He tried to remember all the information that he read about Beastmen in the books trying to fill in the missing parts of the puzzling situation in this town.
"What's in the barrels? What was this for? All these inhuman acts. What for?" He questioned in his mind.
An idea passed through Noah's mind making him go white in the face. He floated up to gaze at the city from above and looked around until he saw what he thought he was searching for.
Noah floated toward one of the buildings that looked like a factory where he saw multiple empty barrels in the yard similar to the ones being loaded into a caravan right now and passed through its roof, sneaking inside.
When he entered his nerves finally gave out and he could not hold himself from wailing as he gazed through his tears-filled eyes at the scene inside the building.
"You fucking monsters!" Screamed Noah in desperation but his voice could not be heard by anyone.
Rows of women, many of which had clear signs of being pregnant, stood bent over some stands with their limbs locked to those stands, unable to struggle and even move. They all stood entirely naked with their lactating breasts hanging down while factory workers walked from place to place milking them as if they were just regular cattle. And in their blurry drugged minds from constantly being fed with the strange mixture of blue and red pills, they could very well be no different than livestock as the Red Bull Chieftain called them.
Noah left the building running through the wall and fell on his knees outside as he screamed, unable to hold his feelings inside from all the horror he had witnessed here.
"How can you do this? How can anyone do this? They are people! They are not cattle! They are living, thinking people! How can this be allowed?! HOW?! These poor women! These poor people!" He wailed, sitting in the yard alone, unseen and unnoticed by anyone. "What kind of monsters are you!?"
"How long has this been happening? Why would no one stop this? Why would no one come here to save them?" Cried Noah hitting his head on the ground in frustration.
"The villagers in that ruined Vega village, slaves in the underworld dungeons, kids in that bastard's church, these poor women. We fight for survival against monsters and demons that haunt us, damn it. But so many people suffer at the hands of humans themselves. Why do you add to all the suffering that humans go through because of monsters? How can you be so inhuman and so cruel towards your own kind? For what? Money?" He screamed to the sky as all the cruelty he met in his recent months hit him like a hammer.
Just a few months ago he thought himself the most miserable sod as he lived with constant scorn from people. Yet he lived in a warm house, slept in a soft bed, with guards' protection and freshly cooked food on his table. But what about these people?
He thought himself miserable? In just a few months after reaching adulthood and leaving his house he saw more darkness than in his entire life. The misery of people he has met, his suffering was nowhere near to what they lived through.
His family stabbing him in the back, people trying to kill him just to steal his skills. People slaughtering full villages of people and people that closed their eyes on such monstrous actions blinded by greed. People that were meant to protect justice, following only their own interests. People desecrating god given gifts and disregarding the lives of others as if they were some kind of cattle. How could this world be so fucked up? Where were the laws and morals his father spoke of? Where were the guild and adventurers? The nobles? The armies? Kings and their fucking Royal investigators? Church? Where was the fucking Saintess with her legendary shadow squad? Where is the fucking Hero from all those stories where he enacted justice? Where is the fucking God?! Screamed the voice inside Noah's head.
After a few minutes, he lifted his head, straightening his back with tears dried from his hot fury.
If no one comes, then he will. If no one brings justice, he will! If no one knows of what transpires here, he will convey this to every single human in this world. If there are others suffering in some darkest part of this fucked up world unknown to others and unable to ask for help, then he will find them and get them out of there!
He came here! He found these poor suffering people. He can find others. With Ugy's help, he can do this. If there is no one to take this path. Then he will choose it!
At this moment the world around him shuddered as he felt a sudden pull. Suddenly he knew the direction to his body and how to get back to it. The view changed as if flashing away from him into the distance, passing him by thousand miles a second, and pulling him away.
Alice stood on the roof of that building gazing at the spot from where Noah disappeared and sighed.
"So this is the important thing I was supposed to see here." She said. "The choice that Mr. SmartySmarty made… That's what you wanted to see through me, aunties." Added Alice as if confirming some guess.
"I have fulfilled my part. Now pay up…" She said turning to the side where she saw three blurry half-transparent shapes. "Aunty Yesterday, Aunty Present, Aunty Tomorrow." She said addressing the three shapes.
"What information do you wish to exchange for this?" Spoke three voices in total synchronicity.
"Why are the Goddesses of Fate so interested in Mr. SmartySmarty?"
Silence spread after her question as no one answered for some time.
"When you change someone's fate…" Said the blurry shape on the left.
"You bear responsibility for their choices…" Said the blurry shape in the middle.
"But even if all you did was close your eyes…" Answered the blurry shape on the right.
"You must gaze upon the consequences of that action." Said all three shapes in unity again.
"Someone paid you to close your eyes as they change his fate? Who? Why?" Asked Alice.
"That is another question." Answered three shapes. "And we have paid your price." They added as one before disappearing.
"Tsk." Voiced Alice with annoyance, taking one last look at the town before disappearing as well.