Rebirth: Rise of the Slave Master

Chapter Forty-Four: Rising Sun, Setting Sail

The Shapeshifter opened its eyes.

“Ha! Hahaha! I'm alive!” it screamed in delight.

The body of the adventurer sprawled out on top of it, tangled up with the creature's tattered body. No matter how hard it strained to move the corpse away, its arms were mangled beyond repair, and what had been its chest cavity was partially caved in from behind. Internal organs had been shoved around wantonly during the free fall, allowing it to somehow survive. Although it had passed out for a while, it would recover after a period of time.

“I did it… The girl escaped, but at least that damn adventurer is out of the way forever!” The voice was little more than a tattered rasp, since one of its lungs was barely working.

The Shapeshifter smelled the blood approaching before it heard anything. Still, without the ability to dislodge the adventurer's mangled body, it frantically looked around for something to defend itself with, but then a sound rang out as the rocks on the pitch black shoal shifted. Light footsteps approached as a figure with porcelain white skin slicked with red came into view, tattered clothes whipping in the seabreeze. A long curved blade reflecting the moonlight, glistened in her hand.The sword was the same one that had followed Bertram the lighthouse steward into battle.

“No! No!” the Shapeshifter's eyes twisted in their sockets to get a better look.

The girl with long black hair stood over the creature, her usually blank expression a study in contempt, as she stared down at the Shapeshifter.

“You don't… have to do this! Your Master is dead! I freed you! I freed you!” it shouted desperately as the princess held up her weapon.

“Master isn't dead,” Anastasia said with a hushed tone, gently running her slender fingers over the brand that glimmered on her chest, “I can feel it.”

The Shapeshifter's heart shook, although it wasn’t sure if it was from hatred or fear. A corpse was definitely lying on top of it. Was it body replacement magic? An automatic revival charm? Was this bastard protected by the Gods or something else!? Could the girl be lying? The thoughts clattered around in the monster’s broken skull as it tried in vain to understand the girl's words.

“But… you should just become food all the same,” and Anastasia swung the blade down.

Gargled screams were drowned out beneath the crashing waves, as the crescent blade rose and fell. The Shapeshifter had always been overly protective of its head, so Anastasia put two and two together. It had always loved to talk about its macabre hobby with such glee, but now its fate would be to end up in someone else's collection.

The princess took one final look at the pair of corpses before pushing them both into the water. She didn't notice the absurd boost she’d just received to her level, or the fact that all of her wounds were suddenly gone.

“It would probably taste bad anyway…” Anastasia murmured as she began to scale the cliffside.

…

Completely unaware of this exchange, Theo respawned at the Founder’s Statue in Aleside and was immediately beset on all sides by a mob of furious combatants. The city square had become the last line of defense, with most of the citizens barricading themselves inside the Town Hall and the few remaining guards blocking the entrance. From the boarded up windows, several men with crossbows fired wildly into the crowd of mercenaries. One of them even shot at Theo, though the bolt missed him by a mile.

“Dammit! Your leader is dead, leave!” Theo roared as he dove into the combat.

The mercenaries didn't pay the whirling dervish of death and destruction much attention at first, but those nearby quickly remembered the display Theo had put on in front of the city walls. The moment he returned, the already frenzied battle erupted into even further chaos.

Theo, already ticked off by the fact he had to kill himself to take out the Shapeshifter, didn't have an ounce of mercy to spare for the bloodthirsty Castle soldiers. Like a raging stormfront, he swept into their flank and started slashing body parts and hacking off heads with reckless abandon.

“The adventurer! The adventurer is back!” one of the guards shouted triumphantly.

The words were not lost on the invaders, but they were in no mood to retreat with victory this close at hand. A staggering number of attackers surged toward the adventurer forcing Theo to break free of their encirclement.

The battle seemed far from over as the exhausted remnants of the guard tried to redouble their efforts.

At that very moment, the deafening roar of cannon fire erupted from the direction of the harbor. Huge geysers of seawater burst into the air as a number of warning shots landed just outside the boundaries of the city. The crack and boom of the artillery fire signaled a death knell that gripped the mercenaries’ hearts with an icy claw.

“Reinforcements! The Marines made it in time!” Theo felt a rush of relief as he smacked another man across the side of the head with his poleaxe.

Despite the sabotage to the lighthouse, the Marines still managed to get close enough to make out the location of Aleside. Although it was much too dangerous to dock without the much needed light, the cannons clearly warned that help was on the way regardless.

Like a cat jumping in surprise, all of the mercenaries not embroiled in direct combat turned tail and ran for the city walls. The undefended city gate provided a clear path of retreat. Scattering like cockroaches, the men flooded out of the city en masse. No spoils of war were worth claiming, if it cost them their lives, besides the invading army had already loaded up on anything worthwhile they could loot. Theo couldn't help but be impressed by just how professional they had been with their ransacking.

The moment the adventurer finished mopping up the last of the fleeing mercenaries, he turned and spied a familiar figure in the midst of the town guard. Relatively unscathed but completely flabbergasted, the mayor stood with a decorative cavalry sabre in his hand as he witnessed the unsightly retreat.

“Mayor!” Theo called out as he approached, causing the nervous man to drop his sword in surprise.

He barely managed to gather enough of his wits to form a reply, “Mr. Theo, by the Gods we did it, I'm - I mean, we're still alive!”

Theo rolled his eyes, thinking, “Speak for yourself, I’ve already died once tonight.”

Thankfully, as stipulated in the mission decree, he incurred no penalty for that death. Which was as it should be since the Guild forced the mission upon him in the first place. Of course, that protection was a one-time only benefit.

“Planning to go down with the ship, were you?” Theo couldn't help but say, seeing the skinny, sallow-faced man’s attempt to arm himself.

As a government official, the ridicule would have been brutal and endless had he tried to escape. Not to mention, all of his business assets were tied up in the citizens here, and he couldn't afford to sacrifice his reputation. Theo didn't know if it was an honorable or a selfish gesture, but he had noticed that those two things overlapped too often for him to worry about the distinction.

The Mayor mumbled something under his breath before Theo continued, “There's still some trouble brewing at the Lighthouse, so I'll leave things here to you. I’ll expect a full debriefing when I return!” he called shamelessly.

The Mayor rather wished he could keep the indomitable adventurer close to him in these unsure circumstances but couldn't find a single reason to delay the man. That, and Theo had already run off.

“S-spread out!” he ordered quickly over the raucous cheers of those still alive, “There might be some more hiding out!”

Theo ducked into a nearby ransacked building and let out a sigh. He would prefer to stay and boost his contribution some more, but time was against him. After taking a look at the clock in his menu, he realized he had no choice but to logout again. He wouldn't be half as worried if Alaine…

The Slave Master scowled… “Dammit…” he murmured as his body disappeared into a cloud of shining particles.

The bright hospital lights left Rick temporarily blinded as he removed the helmet. At the first sign of him stirring, the two other people in the room turned to him. The two pairs of eyes trained on him made him feel as if he were some kind of criminal about to be questioned, but Officer McGuire was nowhere to be seen. Of course, Bai was watching him with a rather amused expression, but the addition of a somewhat peeved looking Mary Ann was unexpected.

“Rick! You actually made me drive all the way out here to watch you play a game?” although her words were a bit harsh, Rick didn’t feel any actual anger from her.

He sighed and shook his head, unsure of what to say.

Bai chimed in, though hardly to the rescue, she said, “I was just telling Mary Ann that Rick is always playing the game, even when his friend is in hospital.”

“You should be ashamed!” Mary Ann scolded him, though she did so with a smile peeking through her features.

Rick had no idea what these two had been talking about while he was in the game, but it was clear that they were messing with him. He frowned at the pair of jokesters, but didn’t have the energy to argue with them. It had been an exhausting day, to the point he was actually considering sleeping through the aftermath.

“Spare me, please,” he said, leaning back against the wall.

The women took the opportunity to tease him a bit more while he wasn’t fighting back, and Rick almost dozed off listening to them go back and forth with their various little jabs. There wasn’t a chance the two of them knew each before all of this, was there? Perhaps it was just his tendency to pick up friends who wanted to bond over their mutual exasperation with him, but they were getting along quite well for people who had just met.

“So Rick, what did you have to deal with in the game world that was so important?” Mary Ann asked, and Bai followed up with a look of equal interest.

Rick didn’t see any harm in letting the two know what kind of mess he had gotten himself into, and took a few moments to get the story straight. He started from the journey to Aleside on the cart, going over the first bandit attack, being drafted into the city defense by the guild, the battle with the Beastmaster, and culminating with his duel at the lighthouse. He left out anything related to his class, but for the most part found it unnecessary to embellish the tale any further.

“Well, so I logged out once the Marines showed up.” he finished after a few minutes.

Mary Ann was staring at him with her jaw hanging open, and nearly jumped on him in frustration, “What? What about Alaine? You don’t know if he’s alive! And the girl you were escorting, what about her? Her sister just died, how could you leave her there like that?”

Gobthnora and Meatshield had transformed from slaves into refugees that fell under his protection.

Bai grimaced from over in her hospital bed, “Rick is like a monster… somehow I feel bad now...” she might have been thinking back to the duel they had after their first encounter and realizing the distance between them in the game after hearing about his absurd exploits.

Rick looked at the girls with a confused expression, “You were the ones just making fun of me for getting too involved in the game!”

“I didn’t know it was that serious!” Mary Ann grit her teeth, “Mmm, I want to know how it ends!” she sounded like she just missed the finale to her favorite television show.

The man sighed, “I need to get home first, don’t you think?”

“Oh, right,” Mary Ann snapped out of her irritated state.

Rick stood up, putting the Lucid Lock back into his bag. He stretched for a moment as a wave of mental exhaustion washed over him, and couldn’t help but let out a yawn.

“Bai, just send me the bill, okay? It’s fine as long as you pay me back,” he had almost forgotten to wrap things up with his friend before he left, “Just focus on resting and getting better.”

“Rick! Thank you!” Bai promptly bowed her head, “I promise to pay it back. I will!”

Mary Ann quirked an eyebrow, “Wait, what? Since when does Rick have the money to pay for anything?”

The man scowled at her for a moment before realizing he hadn’t told her about the events at the auction house. Bai had heard the whole story beforehand, so of course knew that Rick had some extra cash. At least, enough to cover for the poor college student who didn’t want to face her parents. Bai had enough on her plate now worrying about her coursework and scholarship, and Rick never had any real intention of leaving her in the lurch.

“I’ll tell you about it in the car,” he told Mary Ann, “Now we need to get going before the policeman kicks us out.”

In the end, Rick left the hospital feeling sicker than when he entered. Of course, he wasn’t there for treatment, but it reminded him why he avoided these things in the first place. He hoped it would be awhile before he had to return. The young man was hoping to rest on the way home, but the car trip back with Mary Ann was anything but quiet and soothing.

“Are you kidding me? That’s more than I make in a month!” after hearing about the Bloody Auction, she almost ran into the back of another car leaving Rick a basket of nerves in the passenger seat, “Hell, you could’ve probably made twice that if you spaced it out! You could have even hosted it privately!”

“Mary Ann! The road!” Rick couldn’t help but call out as she swerved past another driver on the highway.

“Not to mention, low balling the price across the board? What were you thinking?” she continued.

“The truck! The truck!” Rick clung to the dashboard.

He hadn’t been this scared when he was facing down an actual army of the Gods, but Rick had completely forgotten about his exhaustion by the time they pulled up to his apartment. It was a huge relief when he finally stepped out onto the familiar sidewalk. He raised a hand to wave goodbye to the woman, his knuckles slowly returning to their normal color.

“I-I’ll remember what you said next time,” Rick attempted to placate Mary Ann as best he could.

She nodded firmly, as if making up her mind, before looking as if she suddenly remembered something important, “Oh, right, Rick.”

“Huh? Yeah?” he turned back.

Mary Ann smiled at him, “It was a nice thing that you did for your friend back there. +2 cool points.”

“Is… that supposed to mean something?” Rick asked vacantly.

She winked at him, “I guess we’ll see.”

Mary Ann rolled up her window before he could make fun of the stupid line and pulled off onto the road. Rick couldn’t help noticing how much more relaxed her driving appeared, causing his anger to spike. This woman had been messing with him on purpose.

“I should have taken a picture of her after she passed out,” he quietly lamented the missed opportunity for blackmail before returning to his room.

By the time he logged back into the game, the sun was starting to rise and peep through the shutters. Although that wouldn’t be enough to deter him from sleeping, Theo had a day of virtual meetings, red tape, and reputation salvaging to look forward to rather than resting.

His first line of business was to collect the princess, who was seated by the lighthouse where the front door had once been. Next to her was a large pile of weapons looted from the mercenaries. They were all mass-produced and of subpar quality, but he could probably turn them over to Aleside for a bit of reputation. He put what he could into his already stuffed inventory. The guards weren’t anywhere to be seen, presumably having returned a short time before to seek medical attention for their wounded.

“We’re going,” was all Theo said, and Anastasia quietly took up her preferred place by his side.

Gobthnora was dead, but not forever. Although he would have liked to revive her as soon as possible, that was simply an impossibility. Money wasn’t the issue, and there was a priest in pretty much any town who would be willing to call her soul back to the mortal plane, but that would involve revealing two things Theo had no intention of making public just yet. One, it would reveal that the little girl Nora had been an evil Goblin, which wouldn’t sit well with the citizens of Aleside. Two, it would reveal his status as a Slave Master, which would also be a bad idea.

“The longer she’s gone, the more troublesome it’ll be,” Theo muttered sourly.

According to the lore, in order to be revived, a soul had to be called from the afterlife and returned to Orpheum. In the case of most players, this was done automatically. For NPCs, it was a bit more complicated. After they died, unless the system preserved them for story purposes, there was no ‘soul’ left to answer the call. It was just assumed they preferred to stay in the afterlife and refused to be revived. Slaves naturally didn’t have a choice in this matter, as even their soul was bound by the contract with their master.

Theo hoped the Goblin was merely in stasis while she was dead, but in truth there was no way to know what she might be experiencing. Slave Masters in the alternate timeline weren’t really known for opening up and sharing their mysteries.

After putting down a few pockets of resistance from some trapped mercenaries, the navy quickly took control of Aleside and declared martial law until further notice. Theo, as one of the big players of the battle, was tossed aside and forced to wait for orders to come down from above. It was during this waiting period that he discovered his slave's sudden rise to level 13. It didn’t take long for Theo to understand what had happened. Honestly, it was better that his slave got the experience for killing the Shapeshifter instead of him, since she was already falling behind and it would avoid attracting attention from the game devs.

The experience Theo got for completing the quest, after the numerous battles, was already enough for him to level up. Not to mention, the achievement points he received from the Adventuring Guild were astronomical, and thankfully without a snarky letter from his liaison. The city of Aleside wanted to reward him as well, but Theo simply requested the runes they had previously provided. After some arguing, he was eventually forced by the Mayor to accept an honorary citizenship. It entitled him to buy property here if he so chose, but that wasn’t something Theo had the capital for now.

The most harrowing event of the day was when he received a system alert granting him the [Savior of Aleside] title and a large number of Good alignment points. Apparently, he dodged a bullet without even knowing, as the system also informed him that he had lost a significantly large portion of these points for negotiating with the bandits who attacked Aleside and allowing the Shapeshifter to ‘escape.’ Even still, the number was dangerously close to pushing him over into the Good alignment, and he reminded himself to be less charitable in the future. With all said and done, it was finally time to say goodbye.

After chartering a reasonable sized boat to take him to the only place he could think of to revive his Goblin, a number of the citizens, including the surviving guards, the Mayor, Bertram the lighthouse steward, and even the Monster Subjugation Officer, gathered to see him off.

“Mr. Theo, we wanted you to have this,” the Mayor was still as respectful as ever after his exchange with Beatrice, “The men believe that it’s what the late guard captain would have wanted.”

[Bellamy Family Insignia] - The Bellamy family is considered a powerful household in the Merchant Alliance, and this insignia bears their mark. It once belonged to the third son of Alistair Bellamy, Alaine, before falling into your hands. Although Alaine had an estranged relationship with his family, the Bellamy house would no doubt thank you for its safe return.

“A quest item? Bellamy family? Isn’t that...” Theo mused as he received the token, though he could hardly bring himself to consider it a stroke of good luck, “That guy should have lived long enough to tell me about this himself…”

Theo gratefully accepted the gift with a difficult to read expression, along with a care package that Bertram and the guards had arranged for the princess for some strange reason, and boarded the boat. The citizens of Aleside didn’t stick around too much longer and soon the sails unfurled and the town grew smaller and smaller until it became a speck on the horizon.

“Ravenperch, city of pirates and thieves! Here we come!” Theo couldn’t help but smile as the salt air whipped against his face.

Bweep! Bweep!

“Huh? Another call?” Theo turned away from the side of the boat and quickly linked to his phone, “Hello?”

“RIck?” the voice that came from the other end of line belonged to his little sister, Molly, though it sounded urgent and choked.

“Molly? What’s wrong?” it felt like years since he’d last spoken with his sister, and he racked his brain to try and recall what kind of emergency might have happened around this time in his life.

“It’s Dad! Rick, he’s… he’s… Mom is… You need to come back right away!”

That’s right… he had forgotten.