Going forward, having 8 wins meant that I was still a hot commodity. More nobles, merchants and even a mercenary company came for me. That was pretty cool. I asked them the same question. If they wanted me, would they free me and marry me to their daughters or sisters. Only one minor noble was willing to consider it. He was an elderly baron to the southeast of the duchy capitol. He had 4 daughters and no sons. They were 20, 18,16 and 15 years old. His enemies in the duke's court wanted to take his lands and he had little clout to fight back with. Apparently, the succession laws did not allow women to inherit land if there were any male relatives. The distance in relation did not matter. It seemed harsh, but apparently Players could try to change that by influencing the politics of the land. Anyway, his cousins had some younger male heirs that would be able to move in on his land. In order to save his daughters from destitution, he needed to find a way to get at least 1 male heir before he died. It would be really tough. His wife had already died and he was already way over 50 now.
He was very unlikely to find a new wife. The baron was not rich and he only had average looks. He looked like he was considering it. "Listen. If you take the Cat Pack out of here and free us, you will have lots of protection. If the enemies come for you, they will fail." I said. "That's certainly nice to hear." he sighed in relief. This was the time to strike. "I also can swear to you that if you marry me to one of your daughters, your family will be a force to be reckoned with." I added seriously. That seemed to sell the idea in his mind. He sprung us all out the slave pits and bought our freedom. Since we had nowhere to go, the best thing to do was follow the baron back to his small manor in the capitol. There were the 4 daughters there and they were pleased to see us. "Father! You did it! We're saved!" the youngest daughter said. The baron sighed deeply. "My daughters, things are a bit more dire than all of us first suspected." he told them before sitting in a chair. They all crowded around him. "I spent the money on hand to purchase these gladiators. We'll have to tighten our belts from now on." he said.
I kept silent as the daughter reacted. The old man had gray hair and dark green eyes. All 4 of his daughters had various shades of green and blond hair. I thought it they were all very beautiful. They were all concerned with their futures. Having the most to lose as the oldest, the eldest daughter took his hands and said "Father! What good is this for us!? 4 gladiators won't matter when we are on the streets." "You told us that you would be saving up for doweries for us to get married." the second daughter said. "Father, what are we going to do now." added the third. The fourth was quiet and just looked at him. He addressed them in turn. "Juliet. Elise. Cassandra. Nicole. I need you to be obedient and listen well to your father. In order to secure your futures, I made a hard bargain. Respect my decision." He then called me forward. I stepped closer and the 4 looked at me. All of us nekojin were still in our rags from the slave pits. He explained the situation to them. All of them screamed and tried to hide behind their father. "Nooo!! Father! You can't give me away to some beast!" Elise screamed.
