Cass and Adeline were waiting in the reception of the slave market when Luna came out from behind the same curtain that the merchant had. Instead of the filthy potato sack she had been wearing in the cage, she was wearing a basic tunic and trouser combo, with open sandals on her feet.
She walked out with her head high in the air, stopped in front of her new master, put her right hand across and over her heart, and spoke directly to Cass. 'Young master, I promise to serve you to the best of my ability, until the day my services are no longer required, or I die.'
Cass placed his hand on the girl's shoulder and replied, 'And I promise to always treat you with respect, and consider your wellbeing before all else. Also, I promise that sawdust is not considered food in our household, so you can rest easy in that regard.'
His last little joke earned him a smirk from his stepmother and a giggle from the wolf girl, and after saying their short and forced farewells to the slave merchant, they walked out of the shop together.
'Step mother, if you don't mind, can we get some lunch please, I am pretty hungry and I am sure that Luna is doubly so'
'Yes, that is a good idea. Holding myself back from tearing that man's head off has given me quite an appetite. Cass, when we get back to the merchant's guild, remind me to send my brother a message regarding the sawdust issue, I am sure he will find it most enlightening.'
'Certainly, stepmother, I will remind you. Shall we go to that restaurant on the corner? it seems they serve hearty meals. And as I said, I am quite hungry.'
'Sounds good to me. Come along, Luna.'
The three entered the small but tidy restaurant and made their way towards an open table. Cass and Adeline sat down and signalled for a waiter to come over, but Cass noticed that Luna was still standing near the table. 'Luna, you can sit down too'
'I could never sit at the same table as you, master. In the slave house, they taught us that slaves are not fit to be seated next to their owners.'
Adeline looked at Luna, sighed, and then spoke. 'Luna, your master just ordered you to sit at the table, so sit at the table. And before you get any ideas about refusing anything else, we fully expect you to eat lunch with us and converse with us as though we were just ordinary people. Also, the food you will be getting will be the same as ours, and I want to hear no arguments about it. Understood?'
'Yes, mistress, I understand.' Luna sat at the table next to Cass, looking quite nervous.
The waiter arrived and they ordered 3 servings of beef stew, 3 servings of roasted potatoes, and 3 baskets of bread rolls. While waiting for the food to arrive, Adeline addressed Luna.
'Luna, I know we have just bought you. And you must be nervous about having new masters, so I am going to explain a few things to you. Cass, you also better listen well because this concerns you as well.' Luna and Cass both nodded their heads, not daring to interrupt. Luna because her mistress was speaking, and Cass because he didn't want his stepmother to thump him for being rude.
'Luna, you might have guessed already, but we are a noble family. Cass' father, my husband, is the lord of the next village over, Wycliffe. Your sole duty is to make Cass' life easier for him and serve him as his personal maid. But, before we get into that, I want to make some promises to you.'
Luna just sat in place, open-mouthed, staring at her mistress. This was the first time in her entire life that anyone had ever spoken to her without insulting, abusing, or ordering her. She was so shocked that she did not even realise that the waiter had arrived with their water and bread baskets.
Adeline, seeing the stunned expression and open mouth of the wolfkin girl, leaned forward, placed a small green ball in the slave's mouth, closed it, and then continued speaking. 'Swallow that healing pill, those bruises are unsightly.' Luna did as she was told.
'Luna, my husband really dislikes slavery. I know it is pretty hypocritical to say this, considering we just paid for a slave, but he really does hate it. So first let me make my first solemn promise to you, Cass, pay attention to this because you will have to follow this too; Luna, nobody in our family will ever abuse, beat, hurt, starve, or curse you.
You will have your own bedroom and your own bed to sleep in. You will be able to bathe every day, and eat 3 full meals a day at the same dinner table as the other family servants, You will not be treated any differently than the maid and guard we already employ. We will provide for your needs, and we will also pay you a small salary and give you one day off every week.
When you awaken your system, we will give you whatever support you require. You will, for all intents and purposes, simply be a maid in our employ on a lower salary.
Luna, whose bruises were starting to fade thanks to the effects of the healing pill, began to open and close her mouth repeatedly, however, no words came out. Instead, tears started welling in her eyes and running down her face. Seeing this, Cass pulled out a handkerchief and dried a few of her tears before they dripped onto the table. He then gave her a kind smile. Luna started to sob lightly, unable to control her emotions.
'As for our second promise, it is quite simple. When Cass becomes an adult, you will be freed. The reason your salary will be lower than the other employees of our house is that we will take a portion of it and set it aside for you. When Cass becomes an adult and you are freed, we will give you the money for you to what you wish with it.
You can leave the house and start a new life, or you can stay on as his personal maid and use the money to make a large purchase if that is what you want. Up to you. All we ask in return is that you support Cass. He will take over from his father one day, and he is so busy learning everything he needs that he has no time for anything else. We just want you to lift the burden a little.'
After hearing she would be free in the future, Luna couldn't suppress her sobs anymore and started wailing. Cass reached out to put his arm around her. Initially, when he did this, she stiffened up, having been conditioned to being punished, but she soon relaxed, and when Cass pulled her closer, she buried her face in his chest. It took her almost 20 minutes to calm down.
'Thank you so much, mistress, young master. Nobody has ever treated me this way. I am so grateful that you are the people who bought me. I promise from the bottom of my heart to repay this kindness somehow. Young master Cass, I will become the perfect personal maid for you and make sure you only need to worry about preparing to take over from your father.'
Just then, the waiter arrived with the missing stew and potatoes, placing the servings on the table. Cass and his stepmother started eating immediately, however, Luna just looked at the food, a bead of drool coming out of the corner of her mouth.
Adeline looked at Luna and said 'Eat, you need to put some meat back on those bones. Not eating for 5 days must have been difficult. Fill yourself up now.
Luna did not argue; she simply took a heaping spoonful of stew and put it into her mouth. Her expression of joy was unmissable. Cass thought that the way she lit up after her first bite of food was adorable. She swallowed and turned to Adeline.
'Actually, mistress, it has been more than 10 days since I last had food, and even before then, I was not eating much. The merchant usually gave us meals of jerky and gruel twice a day, and for the first 10 days, I ate it without complaint. Then, one day, I noticed that the gruel I was served had the smell of cut lumber.
I couldn't bring myself to eat it and just ate the jerky. When one of the slave handlers noticed I wasn't touching my gruel, they stopped giving me jerky and cursed me. After 5 days of not eating the gruel and saying I refuse to eat sawdust, the merchant had me beaten and thrown in the cage. Then they would beat me every day, trying to force me to eat the gruel.'
Cass and Adeline were appalled to hear this, so as a gesture of kindness, Cass pushed the rest of his stew over to Luna, and Adeline piled 2 more pieces of bread on top of Luna's basket. 'For today, you don't have to worry about table manners, go ahead and stuff your face with food. After that, we will go around the city and buy any of the necessary things Luna needs.
Cass, you still have 3 gold coins left, right? Except for a few things that only girls need to know about, which I will buy for her, you need to get her 3 sets of clothes, 3 sets of socks, work shoes, leather boots, and 2 maid uniforms. She will also need soap, toothcare products, a knife for self-defense, and while you are at it, choose a couple of books from the bookstore for her too. She will need to have something to do on her day off.'
Cass simply nodded, and the 3 of them ate until all the food was gone. Luna managed to clear her stew, bread, potatoes, and then she finished off the rest of Cass' leftover stew, as well as the bread rolls Adeline had given her. She left the restaurant, completed the days shopping, and went to Wycliffe village grinning ear to ear the entire way.