After beating Aisha to a state where she could barely move a single muscle, Hapia knelt in front of a heavily breathing Aisha and grabbed her by the chin.
"Shit, we went too far with that, boys. If we damage her too much, her price will go down by a mile. She's an elf, remember? She needs to be perfect and healthy." His voice was no different from a farmer speaking about livestock he wanted to trade.
Ash frowned slightly, his gaze momentarily shifting from Aisha to the elf mother, who was also on the ground, struggling to get to her feet.
"D-don't touch her…" the woman managed to choke out, despite the blood dripping from her mouth and ear.
She was already halfway up when one of the three men surrounding her grabbed her by the hair and yanked her back down.
"Yo, boss, should we kill this one? She's old and used. Won't be any more profitable than a dying weed."
"Let go of my daughter! Please, someone, help me!" the woman's voice rang out, loud enough for the people roaming the street to hear.
Yet, no one dared to acknowledge it, let alone come over to help. Her screams were met with deaf ears.
Hapia laughed at the woman's failed effort, then he looked back at Aisha, who was crying her eyes out, too weak to do anything. He then spoke to her.
"Do you want your mother to live?"
Aisha managed to look at the man. The hideous expression on his face was impossible to miss, but at the same time, the offer was too good for her to refuse.
Her father had just died in front of her; losing her mother too would certainly break her beyond repair.
In response, she nodded.
Hapia smiled. "Good girl. So let me tell you what you should do."
"NOOO! AISHA, DON'T—!" The man behind the woman positioned his blade at her neck before clamping a hand over her mouth.
"If you do as I say and pay back your father's loan, then I'll secure your mother and make sure she doesn't get harmed. In two days, you'll get to see her again," Hapia smiled, the exact kind of smile you'd see on the face of a criminal.
"So what do you say? Do you want to see mummy live? Or do you want to be stubborn and not do as I say?"
The elf mother struggled to warn her child, tears dripping from her eyes as her cries came out as muffled sobs.
After hearing what the man had to say, Aisha figured all she had to do was whatever this man asked of her, and her mother would be free.
They could reunite in two days. So she nodded again, agreeing to his terms.
"Good girl."
The very next second, the men had carried Aisha on their shoulders and away from the building, leaving Hapia alone with the mother.
He then proceeded to beat her and do despicable things, the nature of which could only be understood from her painful screams.
…
Soon, Aisha found herself living the worst days of her life.
For the next two days, she was barely given food or water, and every night, she was tortured by the men around her.
They claimed they were trying to instill fear in her in case she ever thought of running away.
Although none of them raped her, as they knew doing so would reduce her market value to the sick nobles, they still managed to leave permanent markings on her skin.
Still, she endured it all, clinging to the knowledge that she would see her mother in two days.
When the last day finally arrived, Aisha realized not only had she been tricked, but the hope she clung to shattered right in front of her.
On the ground, naked and bruised, was her mother, covered in dirt as men stood around her, laughing.
Hapia was right beside Aisha, a satisfied glint in his eyes as he uttered, "I promised you would see your mother after two days, did I not? Here you go. Look at her. Isn't she beautiful?"
Aisha was so shocked that not a single word left her mouth. Her mother had the same lifeless look on her face.
The bandits were stomping on her head, pulling her hair, and slapping parts of her body in a perverted manner, all while Aisha and Ash watched.
Ash had his fists clenched, seated on top of a building, watching from above.
Seeing that Aisha had fully understood the situation, Hapia moved down a bit, rested a hand on her shoulder, and then whispered,
"You have been a good girl these last two days. You've done well. Just one more thing, and you will be the perfect slave. No will, no motivation, just the drive to live. Because right now, not only will you lose your reason to live, but you will also gain your fear of death."
He suddenly grabbed her head and forced one of her eyes open.
"Do it," he ordered.
Suddenly, the biggest man of the group walked forward, pinned the mother elf to the ground, and then—
Slash!
He slowly began to cut her into little pieces.
The woman cried and screamed, begging for mercy that would never come.
Instead, all she got was laughter and chants for the man to keep going.
As Aisha watched, she kept crying, knowing there was nothing she could do as her mother was being dismembered alive.
In what seemed like forever, all that was left was the severed head of the woman, lying in a pool of thick blood.
"You are ready," Hapia whispered into Aisha's ear.
With that, Aisha began her life as a slave, moving from one household to another, getting punched and tortured by adventurers before being abandoned.
She was never sexually abused because she was an elf they could sell for a high price, but that didn't stop anyone from torturing her, sometimes to the brink of death.
[The trauma link has ended.]