CelestialShadow
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Chapter 21 - Slavers
🕑 Added 2023-11-22 17:25:03 +0000 UTCBea tried to peek out through the cracks of the wagon wall. She couldn’t make out much, but it gave her something to do and kept her mind off things. She had only been in the wagon for a few days, but she knew that they would reach the ocean soon, and then she would be lost forever, sold off as a slave in the Meloria Kingdom or perhaps as far as the Alago Empire.
“Bea, when will Father and the others come?” a meek voice sounded beside her. It was her younger sister.
“Don’t worry, Fem, they will be here soon. The village head will contact Silver Gelm in Mermi as soon as they know we are gone. They have probably gathered all the fighters and are on their way now.” Bea comforted her sister.
“If they will even be able to find us.” a voice sounded from the corner of the wagon. He was a boy Beas's age and had already been here when they were captured. There were nine children in total: seven girls and two boys. All with their hands and feet tied, though none had any weapon or mana core, so Bea didn’t see the use.
“Of course they will!” Bea vehemently shouted. Even if she started to get scared of not getting rescued in time, she refused to give up.
“Maybe, but what if they did? They would only be killed.” the boy spoke back in an emotionless voice.
“What do you mean?” Bea asked.
“I once saw Silver Gelm when I went with my father to Mermi to build a pavilion in the village head's courtyard. I got a strange feeling from him, a feeling that he’s really strong.”
“Well, isn’t that good then?”
“I got the same feeling from the leader of the slavers. He was as strong, if not even stronger than Silver Gelm. And I don’t think the rest of the group is weak either. Most of them should be Bronze mages. So even if they found us, what could they do? Even if they could win, the cost would be great, and I don’t think the town head would take that risk for just a few kids from poor families.”
“That-” Bea didn’t know what to say. The boy seemed to have thought it all through, and Bea couldn’t argue against his logic.
“Our older brother is in the Outskirts Guild, you know. Even if we end up on the other side of the world, he will come to get us.” Bea finally said with newfound conviction.
It did little to cheer up the other kids, though. Almost all of them had their heads down, some silently crying. Only Sabi, a girl from the same village as Bea, didn’t seem sad. Her eyes were burning in anger and rage. She had always had a temper, and it looked like not even getting kidnapped by slavers could quell her strong emotions.
I just need to stay with Fem. As long as we are together, everything will be alright.
The wagon continued to travel in silence, finally stopping only when night fell. The sound of the slavers carried through the thin wooden walls, and Bea could hear how they were eating and drinking in an almost celebratory manner.
“I’ll kill them.” She suddenly heard a voice and lifted her head to see Sabi, now having stopped squirming and calmer but still with rage in her eyes.
“And how are you going to do that? They are mages, you know, not to say anything of how you are just a kid.” Bea didn’t see any point in entertaining Sabi’s crazy ideas.
“Then I’ll become a mage too. I might not be able to now, but one day. And then I will find those guys and kill them. I swear it.” Sabi said with conviction.
“I thought you were sparkless?” Bea asked. She herself had an earth spark but didn’t have any plans to become a mage. She didn’t know how to. And even if she did, she knew earth mages weren’t worth much.
She didn’t have her brother's passion for magic. She had heard how he would constantly pester the village head, travel to Mermi, to every surrounding village and town with mages to get a nugget of wisdom from them. He had trained every day all day in the pursuit of his dream. And it paid off. He was an Outskirter now. But Bea had no such dream. She didn’t want to fight beasts. She just wanted to live her life in her village in peace.
She had heard mages stayed younger for longer though, so she might try it if her brother would teach her.
“So what if I’m sparkless? I’ll find a way.” Sabi stubbornly said.
How?
Bea thought to herself but didn’t ask. After that, she slowly fell asleep. But she didn’t wake up to the wagon moving like usual. She woke up as she heard shouting from outside. A few screams and sounds of fighting followed them.
“Did they come to rescue us?” A girl said aloud. Even the boy who seemed to have given up all hope long ago now had a new glint in his eyes.
The fighting lasted only a few minutes before it was entirely silent again. Everyone held their breaths, waiting for something to happen. After a moment, the doors to the wagon opened, and everyone turned their heads to look. It wasn’t Silver Gelm and his men. It was a young man. He was bare-chested and had blood all over his torso, long, unkempt black hair, and deep dark blue eyes. He looked extremely deadly as he looked at them, but more than that, Bea thought that he was the most handsome man she had ever seen.
“Hey, kids. The bad men are gone now. Do any of you know the way back?” the young man asked. Everyone was still quiet.
“I-I am good at that. I have a good sense of direction.” Fem’s weak voice sounded from beside her. The young man looked at her without a change of expression.
“That’s good. I am new around here, so I will need your help. Oh, I should untie everyone.”
The young man went away for a short moment and came back with a knife. He cut the children's ropes one by one, and when he was done, he spoke again.
“Yeah, so, it's a pretty gruesome scene out there. You should stay here while I drive the wagon away, and then you can come out later.”
“No! I want to see.” Sabi said, still with anger written over her face. The young man looked at her and then at the rest of them before nodding.
“Alright, you can come out. The rest of you wait here for a moment.”
“I want to look, too!
“Me too!”
The two boys yelled out, but the young man shook his head.
“Sorry, but I won’t allow it. If you want to prove that you have the stomach to see dead bodies, you should have the stomach to kill first.” The man walked away with Sabi and closed the wagon doors.
—
Outside the wagon, Adion started looking for clothes on the dead men that might fit him. He had been wearing rags supplemented by Gray Wolf's fur for years and needed a new pair of everything. He needed a haircut as well.
He eventually found everything he needed from the men on the ground and carried them away from the small dirt road one by one. He took their money and weapons with him—no need to leave that behind.
Adion turned to look at the girl who had followed him out of the wagon. She looked around at the messy bodies strewn about, and if anything, Adion only felt satisfaction and a slight annoyance from her. It was like she had wanted to kill them herself, but at least someone had done it.
Adion had noticed she wasn’t afraid in the wagon and only seemed angry, so he didn’t mind letting her watch. The two boys, however, just seemed to want to act tough but didn’t really want to see dead mutilated bodies. Even though death was a common occurrence in the world, and they would see it one day, Adion didn’t see a reason to expose them so soon. The oldest one was only 12 years old. They still had some time to be kids.
When Adion had felt the presence of humans for the first time in 2 and a half years, he was ecstatic, but he was still cautious as he was in a foreign land. Adion didn’t even know which kingdom or empire he was in. He had snuck up on the traveling company and tried to hide his aura as best as he could. That’s when he felt the aura of the kids in the wagon, and listening to the conversations of the slavers, he had gotten a good idea of what was going on.
He waited till nightfall for his attack. There were seven men in total, and the strongest one was even a Silver. Normally, he would have just gone his own way as it wasn’t his problem. But the fact that it concerned kids made him want to do something. He wasn’t any hero of justice, but some things he just wouldn’t let pass. He wasn’t about to show mercy to people who kidnapped children. Even though it would be the first time he killed humans, it didn’t feel that different from killing beasts to Adion. Beasts in the higher stages had just as much self-awareness as humans, and Adion had killed plenty of beasts.
He knew even before his family was massacred that this was the way of the world, and after that, more than ever, he knew he couldn’t stay weak and overly compassionate if he wanted his revenge. His goal was to kill every single one responsible for his family’s death, and if he took out a few scums along the way, Adion didn’t mind.
But even though Adion was a middle Bronze mage now, and an especially strong one at that. He didn’t feel confident fighting a Silver, even less so a Silver with 6 Bronze mages to back him up. So he made Silver his priority and waited for him to go to sleep.
Two of the men were awake to stand guard, but they weren’t very attentive. He managed to hide his aura well enough for them not to notice him, and he snuck towards the sleeping Silver. He had a tent for himself. Adion struck down with his sword across the man’s throat, freezing him just before impact in case of any last-minute struggle.
Fortunately, the incident went without notice, and Adion went around finishing the rest of the men who were sleeping before taking on the two guards. They were both middle Bronze mages, but Adion managed to win the fight fairly quickly by freezing them in space, surprising them greatly, and then piercing their heart without resistance.
He felt that he could probably win against a peak Bronze mage without much trouble at his current strength. A Silver mage was a different story, though. Unless he was sleeping, of course.
Adion finished up his looting and throwing away the bodies. All in all, Adion was now fitted in an entirely new outfit, new for him, that is. It still had gone a few days without being washed. But it was much better than what Adion had had on him earlier.
He also took two knives and strapped them on him, as well as a total of two gold coins, twenty-two silvers, and 283 coppers. He put them all in his backpack and was pleased with having enough money for food and housing for a while.
This feels great, now I only need a bath and a meal made by an actual chef, and I will be content for a year at least.
The girl had been looking around at the bodies and kicked a few of them, as well as taking a knife after asking Adion if she could. The carriage was being carried by two horses, only normal animals without mana cores, but it was enough to carry a wagon.
“Where are we?” He asked the girl.
“Er, about two days away from Farfield Village.” The girl answered.
“No. What country?” Adion clarified.
“You mean the Delovan Empire?” She asked, uncertain what Adion was getting at.
“Are we in the Delovan Empire?” Adion asked to make sure.
“Yes?” The girl finally answered to Adion’s satisfaction.
“That’s fine, I guess. Hop on.”
Adion jumped up on the driver's seat along with the girl and turned the carriage around. The forest was off to one side of the road, and the trees had been mostly cleared on the other, so it wasn’t much of a problem.
“What is your name, mister?” The girl asked as they drove off.
Adion had thought that maybe he should use a fake name, lest anyone could track him back to the Adion Remori, who is supposed to be dead. He came from the other side of the continent, but someone might be able to connect the dots in the future, so it could be good to be cautious. At the same time, the Adion Remori known to the world was sparkless, and most wouldn’t associate the Adion, a powerful mage in the Delovan Empire, with the same person.
And his identity would be known once he reunited with his brother, sister, and grandfather anyway.
Eh, whatever. I’ll just be Adion with no last name for now.
“I’m Adion. What’s your name?” Adion asked in return.
“I’m Sabi. Where are you from? Why did you ask if this was the Delovan Empire?”
“I’m from the east.” Adion simply answered.
“East? Are you from the capital?” Sabi excitedly asked.
Adion just ignored her and responded with his own questions.
“How about you? Where are you and the other kids from?”
Sabi silently looked at Adion for a while before answering.
“I am from Farfield. It's just a small village with a couple of hundred people. Two of the girls in the wagon are also from there that I know of. The others are probably from some other villages in the area or maybe Mermi. Mermi is the closest town and kind of oversees a couple of villages around here. The village head there is a Silver, you know.”
“I see. Well, we should stop now and let the others out.”
“By the way, the boy said that there was a man as strong as Silver Gelm in the group that kidnapped us. How did you defeat them?”
Adion paused. He hadn’t been expecting this question. Or any questions, really.
I should start thinking ahead a little more. I’m only showing the strength of a peak Iron mage right now, so it is indeed very strange. But not impossible.
“I waited till they all went to sleep. They didn’t expect anyone to attack them in the middle of nowhere, so it was quite easy.”
Adion answered, jumped down from his seat, and went to the back of the wagon to let the other kids out. They seemed to still be somewhat uneasy, but Adion ignored it and just told them they could come out if they wanted, and everyone was happy to get out.
“I’m guessing you might want to stretch your legs after being cooped up in there. We can take it slow for a while. If you get tired, you can just get up and ride in the wagon again. Does anyone know where the closest village is and how far it will be?” Adion asked the gathering of kids, who were from the ages 7-12 from what he felt from their auras.
“We should get to Farfield in about two days if we follow this road. It is the southernmost village in the area that I know of.” A girl said as her arm was held around what appeared to be her younger sister.
“Alright then, let’s get you home. I found some supplies the slavers carried with them that should be more than enough. We can stop to eat now if you’d like. You guys seem hungry.”
The kids nodded their heads and started smiling at the thought of food.
