Chapter 363: A last ditch effort
*Bing-Bong*
The following scene has been removed from the work because it has been deemed too boring to open for a, to quote, “fucking flashback that spun out of control”.
But to those who were curious as to what this scene entailed, it namely involved Victor informing Simos and Graff on how to meet with Miss Venus, how to dress and what to say and what not to say. There was even a trip to an underground tailor that proceeded to give the three of them new suits of clothes on a rush order.
It was all very “Pretty Woman” but with criminals instead of nobility.
|Tautology!|
On a side note, Miss Venus had five rules when it came to making a deal with her.
First, all goods must be present for the meeting. No IOUs and/or ledgers, either put up or shove off.
Second, all deals must be established by one of Miss Venus’s “associates”. Plausible deniability and filtering are a must.
Third, anyone making a deal must be dressed appropriately. Namely, they must appear as a member of “old money elites”. Supposedly it had to do with how law enforcement were more lenient to established families more so than random upstarts. Of course, law enforcement rarely showed up to any of these dealings, but it didn’t hurt to try.
Fourth, all sales were final and Miss Venus had the last word. It didn’t matter if you thought the deal was unfair, if she thought it was fair, it was fair.
And last, but definitely not least, never ever attempt to lie, cheat or steal from Miss Venus. Otherwise, you’ll end up being sold as parts.
However, while Graff and Simos were being given a crash course on how to conduct themselves in front of Miss Venus, Jasper was doing his best to cut through the bag as carefully, quietly and quickly as possible with an edged coin.
In a couple of moments he will have cut open a hole in the bag large enough to plan a escape!
But it wouldn’t be until they actually made the attempt that they would realize it was grand mistake.
*Bing-Bong*
________________________________________________
“Mew…”
“It’s okay kitty, Japser is about to get us out,” Janice told the kitten in a soothing tone.
As time went on inside the sack, kitten appeared to grow weaker and weaker before Janice’s eyes.
A stuffy sack with barely any breathing space is no place for a kitten.
Janice may not have known the words for it, but she knew the feeling.
She stared at Jasper who was still cutting away at the sack’s fabric.
A lot of time had passed since their original hole was discovered and sealed up by their kidnappers, but since that moment, Jasper had been slowly and carefully cutting through the fabric little by little so that it wouldn’t be noticed this time around.
The two children were unaware of how many hours had passed exactly, but they could see through the little hole that the sun was setting at this point, as rays of orange sunlight snuck into the bag and illuminated everything with a lovely tint of sunset.
The two of them felt hopeful as they saw the setting sun…but the eldest of the two felt a touch of dread in his stomach.
‘I gotta get her out of here before moon rise or else….no! Can’t think about that now. Focus on getting her out of here, now!’
With renewed diligence, Jasper doubled his efforts to cut through the sack. The hole was growing bigger and bigger by the second, and once it reached a certain point the whole sack would fall apart and the three of them would have to hit the ground running or else…
Jasper didn’t want to think about it.
“Jasper,” Janice whispered, “are we going to escape soon?”
“Won’t be long now Janice,” Jasper assured her as he continued to cut, “the hole is about to get big enough that the bag will split open like a fish and we can run. The moment you feel the ground, do you think you will be able to run?”
“I…I think so…,” Janice replied in an unsure tone, “but what about you? You’re not going to leave me behind are you?”
“Of course not. I’ll be right there behind you.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
________________________________________________
“Victor, are you sure we have to wear this clothes? This fabric is making my skin crawl…,” Simos complained as he pulled at his collar.
As of this moment, Simos, Graff and Victor were all dressed in a particular style of three piece suit, that came with a male corset of all things, it was the kind of dress that would be considered “out of date” by the frontier’s standard, but would be considered “vintage” in the metropolitan areas of the kingdom.
In layman’s terms, these were old ass style clothes that were not designed for the modern build of men.
Well…what constituted as modern in a magic cultivation world…
“Weren’t you two members of some prestigious sect or something?,” Victor asked as he led the trio, “How can a pair of cotton suits be uncomfortable to you two?”
“To be fair,” Graff answered, “we were kicked out of that ‘prestigious sect’. We had a lot of grievances, the uniform was one of them.”
“…fair enough,” Victor conceded.
The three of them continued to walk in a set direction towards the Royal Reef Hotel, until suddenly stopping in an empty alleyway that was across the street from their destination venue.
Simos and Graff were confused as to why their guide/fixer suddenly stopped here and not inside of the hotel.
“Huh? Why are we-?”
“Victor Afnac.”
“Evening, Shadow.”
“Whoa! What?”
“He just emerged from the shadows like it was water!”
Correction, they were no longer confused as to why theynwere stopping in an alleyway and were now confused about the man who walked out of the shadows.
The man in question had on black robes that seemed to writhe like snakes and a mysteriously blue mask that didn’t look it belonged to any factions the two of them were familiar with.
Perhaps it was just the uniform of Miss Venus’s personal guard?
“Pray tell, toothed one, what manner of business do you have with our dear lady?” the man Victor called “Shadow” asked with a curious tone.
Victor for his part just smiled wide before directing focus to Simos and Graff.
“Actually, my shadowy friend, I have brought with me two colleagues of mine who would like to establish a working relationship with Miss Venus.”
“I see…,” Shadow nodded with a touch more disinterest than before, “what have they brought for their first… exchange?”
Sensing they were being promoted, Simos and Graff proceeded to present their sack and the contents within.
“Well, Mister Shadow, the two of us have brought in-”
*RIIIIIIPPP*
“JANICE! LET’S GO!”
“Hold on tight, kitty!”
“Mew!”
“It can’t be…”
The moment Simos and Graff brought the sack forward to have Shadow inspect it, the sack proceeded to rip apart due to Jasper’s handiwork for the past two to three hours.
As soon as the sack opened, the children fell to the ground like rabbits and began to run hard and fast as they could down the alleyway.
Everyone was so taken aback by this sudden escape that they stood their, frozen with shock as the two children and kitten ran further and further away.
However, the Shadow recovered quickly and he was much, much faster.
“Jasper! My feet hurt!”
“It’s okay Janice, we’ve almost gotten out of-”
WHAM!
“AH!”
“JAPSER, NO!”
“Mew!”
Shadow suddenly appeared right in front of the two children, grabbed Jasper by his face, and slammed him into a nearby wall. No blood was spilled, by the pain was immense.
As a result of this action, Jasper’s consciousness was starting to get fuzzy, while Janice ended up freezing up in fear.
“Now now little one,” the Shadow chided, “don’t you know it’s rude to run away when the adults are talking about your future?”
Shadow released Jasper from his grip, causing the latter’s semi-concious body to slid down to the ground in a heap.
Janice didn’t know if her dear brother was alive or dead, but she was too scared in this moment to find out.
“Holy shit, Shadow! What the fuck?!”
“Shit, shit, shit! Now our payday is ruined!”
Seconds after the Shadow caught Janice, Simos, Graff and Victor had managed to catch up and overlook what had happened.
The three of them didn’t look too pleased at the situation, but Shadow gave off this feeling like this was all okay.
“Worry not about the boy, he has a much…lesser value than the girl here,” Shadow assuaged the trio, “and I believe the lady will be very, very pleased at just this girl being presented.”
“I-wait…she would be?”
“Yes she would…so…why don’t we discuss the price elsewhere?”
“Uh…sure.”
“Come on girlie, you’re coming with us.”
Janice was stunned at this turn of events, so much so she couldn’t cry out or scream as one of the men picked her and the kitten up without so much on checking on Jasper.
“Wait…don’t…”
As for Jasper himself, he could only lamely reach out before falling unconcious, his body burning with pain.
“Somebody…please…”
Funnily enough, his quiet plea of help would come in the form of some not-so unfamiliar faces.
