Predatory Marriage

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“Please have a drink, lady.”

However, Leah did not accept the drink he offered her, and the slave trader, upon realizing this, frowned in dismay with his eyes narrowed.
Then he asked, “Don’t you like the wine?”

At her question, Leah raised her glass just to wet her lips.
The powerful taste of the wine filtered through her tongue, and she looked at the man, who was now smiling happily.
A strange sensation invaded her, and she could not find the right words to express it.

It was a difficult feat to enslave the Kurkans as they were natural-born warriors.
However, the more difficult the task and the more the result was coveted, the greater its value.
If the Kurkans were particularly beautiful too, then that value would only increase, becoming practically incalculable.

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As a result, the slave traders essentially dedicated themselves to enslaving these exceptional goods, with the intention of satisfying their greedy clients.
But that raised the question: How was all this possible when the Kurkans were such proud warriors? Surely, the slave traders could be easily defeated.

The answer, then, lay in the vulnerable youth of the Kurkans.

Mature Kurkans were strong and experienced fighters.
It was almost impossible to capture them, and were even harder to tame.
In the event that they were captured, the probability of their escape was very high.
Therefore, traders sought out those who were still young and naive, as they were fundamentally incapable of fighting their kidnappers.

It was a repugnant cycle.
A young and uncultured Kurkan was no different from a young beast.
They were weak, lacked training, and could easily be trained as slaves over time through strict education.

However, their education would be far from normal.
They would be severely beaten and abused until their identities as Kurkan evaporated, forgetting what they once were.
They were taught submission and obedience through ruthless violence, until they became meek slaves unable to oppose their masters even after reaching adulthood.

Because of this demanding process, Kurkan slaves were traded at tremendously high prices.
However, although the traders wanted to adopt this practice frequently as it benefited them large sums, they couldn’t.
They quickly ran out of these slaves, since Kurkan slaves were an extraordinary rarity.

A base of consumers were desperate to obtain them, which made the slave traders and mercenaries anxious.
Their eyes were bloodshot, poisoned by greed and desire.

Later, a slave trade route was established, with Estia as a base.
Estia represented a privileged place for this, since it bordered the western desert, which was the home of the Kurkans.