Esme felt her body tense up once again, and she bit her lip. She had nothing to tell him, she wasn't that much of a good liar to begin with, at best she could just not tell as long as he didn't ask but in this case, he was asking and she couldn't come up with a satisfactory lie.
'Arthur…'
She hoped with every bit of her heart that he would arrive. She had no one else but him to rely on, if her mother had been alive, she would have convinced some guards at least, unfortunately, she wasn't and Esme was all by herself.
Her heart which had begun to slowly settle had once again begun crashing against her chest. However, she maintained her calm breathing, panicking wouldn't help in this case.
She's dealt with unreasonable people before, this was no different, she just needed to weather it, like she always did.
A gun was a projectile weapon, it didn't fall in either category of blade or blunt weapon. So technically her item wouldn't protect against that, however, bullets were typically round and blunt it's possible they could qualify as blunt weapons.
Regardless of the answer she couldn't just bring herself to test that.
"Aren't you connected to a noble? You should know the answer to that"
Unfortunately, his connection to a noble only extended to just the level of Baron, and one that isn't very well connected. The fact that he's been able to run his business is because the nobles simply didn't care about the slums
As long as his activities didn't disrupt Central, he could do whatever he wanted. Baron Wolfram was in charge of the policing of the capital but most nobles who lived there had their own knights.
It was a simple matter to pay some Baron to keep his mouth shut about what happened at the edge of the city.
He could have extended his connection beyond a single Baron however the higher the rank the more money he'd need to keep them in his pocket. Nobles were just too greedy, at least according to him.
"Humour me…"
He insisted, the pistol pointed at her head.
"I don't know anything, we recently got married, I don't have the information you want."
She spoke truthfully, however, despite her words, the firearm was still trained at her forehead.
However after about five seconds the man let out a sigh and shrugged his shoulders, he tossed the gun on the table.
"I guess doing things this way wouldn't be easy but whatever, you give me the information I need, by fire or by force"
He reached into his coat once again and this time he took out a black metal collar, made from iron. The item was pitch black with bright blue enchantments engraved on its outer surface.
Bulat held it up with his two fingers, it was thin, its width the size of a ring but its circumference was enough to place it around someone's neck.
"This thing cost me an arm and a leg. I'd demand a refund from the Marquis, if I didn't know what it was."
As someone who spent most of her time in the palace library, she's read plenty of books, including history books, as such she was familiar with illustrations and descriptions of the black collar Bulat held it in his hand.
"The Black Collar!"
The words escaped her mouth almost immediately, her tone conveying the surprise she felt at the mere sight of it.
When it came to slavery, the practice was slowly dying out, Of course completely abolishing free labor was not something so easily accomplished, so a compromise was the introduction of debt-based slavery however even that tended to attract disapproving glances.
It was why most peasants didn't typically have debt slaves as that tarnishes your reputation, Of course, nobles didn't adhere to this.
Bulat specifically had managed to have debt slaves without actually having debt slaves, the reason being that a debt slave had an Expiry date and since he had no plans on ever letting the people that owed him go, he didn't officially register them as debt slaves.
"Oh! You know of this? I was still but boy when these things were still around, I didn't think someone so young would know of them"
"I read, they were abolished 30 years ago, when his majesty took the throne"
Esme displayed her historical knowledge on the subject, as someone who spent much of her time in a library, knowledge of history wasn't beyond her grasp
Items were the last remnants of a world that was once filled with mana, they were an indicator that told the world of what it had lost, the miracle of magic.
However above all that, Magic items were tools to be used, tools to harm, or tools to protect, One can use a magic item however they wish and the [Black Collar] also known as the Slavery collar was just another tool that was made to be used.
'Wait he said he got it from a Marquis'
That was what's most alarming to Esme, the was only one Marquis who woud have such an item and he was supposed to be loyal to the king. Not only that the fact that he was selling his items was odd as well, as far as she knew he was more of a collector than a tradesman.
"Good for you…"
Those words left his lips with a bit of venom behind them, he didn't like how she seemed to know more about it than him, he knew they were abolished, but he just didn't know it was because of the current King that they were abolished.
"Since you know so much, I'm sure you can guess what I planned to do with it."
He let himself relax, feeling that he had the situation under complete control.
"You plan to use it on my husband, having an Explorer as your slave would make you untouchable"
That was the most obvious choice, an Explorer as your slave meant having power that even kings dream of being able to wield. However, Esme's assumptions were incorrect.
"Don't be stupid, as if I could get this thing around his neck without him killing me before I could blink"
He gave her a knowing look that paired well with the small smirk that appeared on his lips, Esme understood immediately, if Arthur was not the target of the [Black Collar], then he was going to use it on her and then use her to control Arthur.
A special feature of the [Black Collar] was that it was rigged in such a way that any attempt at the master's life, is redirected to the slave, it was a precaution against slaves who may want to kill their masters in their sleep.
Arthur couldn't kill Bulat without killing Esme.
"Obviously like any item eventually it will become a dead item meaning I'll have to get another now and again…"
He let the room breathe but Esme could not, she felt herself fearing the man before her not because he was going to kill her but because what he planned for her was something worse.
"Of course, I think having to pay 100 000Lh to have an Explorer at my back and call is worth every coin"
The grin that appeared on his mouth sent shivers down her spine. This was definitely not good. Not at all. She would rather he kill her than suffer such a fate.
"If your husband hadn't been the man he is, I wouldn't have to resort to such things. If he had accepted my offer, it would have been easy for us to reach heights of wealth that commoners can never conceive of"
It was a shame really, with an Explorer at his side, nobles would kneel before him, the King himself would be nothing more than human in his eyes, if Arthur had been cooperative, Bulat wouldn't have to lose money on such an item and instead, he could have made more money than usual.
"Unfortunately, your husband had to be a pathetic man who let's a woman make decisions in his house. A man blessed with magic, yet allows a woman to have control over him... It's ridiculous. He clearly doesn't deserve the power he holds"
Bulat spoke with disdain in his voice, clearly unimpressed by Arthur as a man. His mind wandered, with him in control of an Explorer, properly utilizing a powerful piece like Arthur, he wouldn't just be untouchable but he would be unstoppable.
Petty thieves and drug dealers would no longer be able to test his power, the entire slums and beyond would be his to rule. He would be the uncrowned king of the capital.
No longer the slumrat forced to survive on the little bit of scraps tossed his way by disinterested adults.
Esme had nothing to say to the man, the reason being her mind had long retreated into panic, her imagination forcing her to imagine what could be done to her if the Black collar was ever clasped around her neck.
Bulat simply controlling Arthur was just the tip, her mind could see the potential of what could be done to her while she couldn't resist, what Arthur could be forced to do, while she's being used to control his actions.
It wasn't just fear that filled her heart, but disgust, Bulat as an individual sparked a sense of disgust in her. Unfortunately, she could do nothing, she was helpless.
The only thing she could do was scream, call for Arthur once again before Bulat made any moves.
"ARTHURRRRR!!"
Having realized the situation was a bit more dire than she initially realized, she once again screamed for her husband.
This time Bulat simply looked at her with an amused grin, the room had no windows and only a single door and it was the basement, there was no shot that her husband could hear her scream.
*DOON!*
The room shook suddenly, as if something had dropped from quite a significant height, this was followed by some muffled shouting, something that wiped the smirk off his face as the realisation hit him.
"Dammit!"
He moved, gripping the collar as he launched himself at Esme