Shopping was an uneventful affair. I decided to buy 2 cheap training swords, a bow, arrows, clothes, food and water. I tried to find out where I could get my hands on a quality map but no one I talked to seemed to be able to give me a clear answer. I would just need to try again later I suppose

After getting back I brought everything up to the girls room and we had a long discussion. We now had almost all the items we would need for traveling.

The only things we currently lacked were a map and some real swords. In either case we decided the best thing would be to stay here for 2 weeks and keep our heads down.

I asked Maddy about my town to see if there was any hint she could give me. As I suspected, it was too small and out of the way for her to know anything about it.

If there was a silver lining when it came to coming from a hole in the wall town, It was how difficult that would make it for the Armingtage house to find out about me.

I probably didn’t leave much of an impression on the people who took me or the ones who brought me to the auction. I don't think any of them were around when I made my big speech so there is a reasonable chance that my origin would be impossible to discover.

Assuming that was the case, there wouldn't be any guards in my town waiting for me. At least that was my hope. Meri had no roots to go back to either. I don't think she even remembered where she lived before she was sold into slavery.

Maddy obviously wasn't going to see anyone that she knew. They would just hand her over to her father. While the lack of options for help was unfortunate, in a way it did give us an advantage. They had no idea where we may be heading.

I may not have even needed to change my name. Besides Maddy and Jeffrey's mother it was unlikely that anyone knew it, and I would lay fair odds that Jeffrey's mother forgot it five minutes after she saw it. I was just another slave in her eyes.

Dinner began and we went down stairs in our new clothes to start our jobs.. I would be changing the sheets and putting them in the washer. I did my very best to avoid any love stains by keeping to the outside and rolling inwardly. I wasn't about to make either one of the ladies do it.

The next 5 or 6 hours became very hectic. The owner was right that everyone else he hired seemed to be useless. This wasn't the kind of place that attracted the best, brightest or most motivated.

Meri swept and mopped the floor as well as cleaned the tables and chairs. She didn't seem to have much experience as a server but she did it well. They only wanted more drinks in any case.

Maddy wasn't all that useful. She tried to pitch in with the cleaning but kept missing obvious spots. When she took an order she was often short with the customers which I was worried would get us in trouble. If anything, it seemed to make us less suspicious and allowed us to fit in better with everyone else here.

It was late by the time business stopped. I took the smaller room with Maddy and Meri sharing the bigger one. It may have just been a room at a shady inn, but it was one of the best rooms I’ve slept in since I arrived in this world.

We woke up later than any of us had since the day we first started our escape. To no ones surprise the place was dead. Clearly breakfast wasn't a big attraction at this establishment.

We all had to get our own buckets, tubs and soap, but those kinds of things were easy to find here. After washing ourselves and our clothes we set out to find a quiet place to do some training in the woods.

We came across a nice secluded spot not far from the inn. Meri sat on a rock as Maddy and I took out our practice swords. It was the first time I'd gotten a chance to train in a while.

Maddy was still much better than me and tried to make it look like sparring with me was as easy as carving a turkey, but the effort she showed on her face betrayed that. I practically never landed even a glancing blow on her, but I was now at the point where she had to go all out to make me look bad.

We agreed that it would be a good idea to take out our daggers and fight with those while our swords still clashed during critical moments in our spars. It was important to get use to handling 2 weapons at once in case the need arose.

We had to be careful with them, as unlike our practice swords they could easily cut flesh, but if we were to fight monsters in the future, not to mention other people, we needed to practice so that when the time came we could fight with all we had.

You can't entirely avoid risk in life. If we tried to avoid all risk in our training that would just end up putting us in danger at a more critical moment. Best to face a sharp weapon now in a controlled situation than to fight someone with a sharp dagger unprepared.

I coaxed Meri into getting up and asked Maddy to lend Meri her sword so I could practice with her a bit. Between the two of us giving her instructions she started to learn how to correctly wield her weapon and work through the attack forms correctly.

With her strength she had a chance to be better than either of us, but when it came to live practice the theory broke down. I would swing my sword at her, only to see her step back and cower.

I had to promise I wouldn't hit her before she stood her ground, and even then I had to swing lightly and was just aiming at her sword. Maddy wanted to step in for me but I shot down the notion. She would push her too hard. While that was good for some people, I could tell it would only hurt Meri's training.

Between Meri needing practice and Maddy wanting more, I didn't get a break. After we were spent we traveled back to the inn. It was clear that if Meri wanted to fight with us than close combat would need to be put on hold for now.

I worried about them both, but particularly Meri. They were only going down this path because it was the path that I chose and they didn't know where else to go. The thought crossed my mind, what if they weren't cut out for this and I was leading them to their deaths?

Well, for now it wouldn't be something I needed to worry about. First I had to find my sister. Maybe once things settled down I could convince them to take up safer jobs while I took the risk alone.

The next 2 weeks went by pretty quickly. Maddy wanted to buy some real swords so I brought her out with me once I felt it was safe. I had to admit that she did know a good sword from a bad one.

We didn't buy their absolute best swords, but we got a good deal for the quality we selected. She even haggled them down from 10 gold coins to 8 for both. It didn't have any pretty designs on it like the others but the blade, grip and guard were all well made.

We didn't use them much as we were worried they may be damaged and we had the practice swords for that anyway. We only train with them enough so we could get use to the weight and feel.

Meri wasn't getting on well with her swordsmanship training so we decided to drop it and let her focus on the bow. She picked it up like a natural. Maybe because of all that discipline being beaten into her over the years. In a more calm situation, where she could aim and shoot a target from a distance she came into her own.

Maddy gave her a few tips on her form, but Meri seemed to find much of the correct form just by instinct. Maddy borrowed the bow to take a few practice shots but quickly gave it back.

The shots were okay but not amazing. While she looked to have been taught the bow she had no love or natural skill for it. I took a turn with the bow myself, but I decided the sword was a better fit for me.

I could feel myself getting closer to my goal of being an adventurer with each passing day as I made small improvements. When I finally did go into a dungeon it would be nice to have a team with some more experienced people.

If worse comes to worse I can just pay someone to come with me. It may be a waste of money if it turns out they aren't needed, but better safe than dead.

It would also be nice to learn a few basic spells so I wouldn't have just the power of my sword to depend on. I don't know if that was strictly needed for a level 1 dungeon. But If I were to take the test to achieve level 10... Well, It's better to not get ahead of myself.

It took almost the entire first 2 weeks but I was finally able to find a comprehensive map. Sadly there were a few other towns that shared the same name as mine. It took a bit of guess work and some logical inferences before I could find it.

I was able to estimate the distance and general direction of my town from the slave market where I was sold. It looked like from the town we were in that it would be about a 7 day walk. If I picked the correct town that is.

As a bonus the map also marked the locations of all the level 1, 2 and 3 dungeons in the area as well as along with the more safe and unsafe forest. Before leaving I asked if there were any guilds or people who sold magic.

It turned out this city and every other major city usually had at least 1 place. It didn't sound like it would be cheap or easy to learn unfortunately. I thought of making a stop just to take a look, but there would be time to learn magic later.

We decided against buying armor and shields before we were ready to actually go into a dungeon. It would've just been more to carry and a 7 day walk sounded tough enough without all of that extra weight.

We finished buying supplies that included a few items we went without last time. You didn't realize until they were gone how big a difference a few minor comforts could make.

With everything packed we set off toward what I hoped was the correct destination. We decided to take the most direct path. It would lead through some forest that might have a few monsters, but that as all for the best.

I was tired of taking things so slowly. You don't get anywhere if you never take any risk. Besides, I felt a lot more comfortable with a sword.

I kept grabbing the hilt of my sword as I walked. The feeling of walking through an untamed wilderness with nothing but a sword at your side was thrilling. I actually found myself smiling dumbly, and took care not to show it to Maddy or Meri.

We went through the woods at a steady pace. Better to take an extra day and be able to fight at all times than try to get there a day sooner, only to be killed because we were too weak to deal with what came our way. During our breaks Meri set up a target and practiced her archery.

She practiced whenever we stopped for meals, whenever we went to a town to buy supplies and whenever we set camp for the night. She seemed to find a sense of peace in the repetition of the actions.

I thought it was starting to get a bit obsessive, but I wasn't about to tell her to stop. Not when she finally found something she enjoyed in her life.

We alternated between sleeping at inns and camping out. Every night we camped out we needed to take shifts to keep watch. Doing that too many nights in a row would only make us tired and sloppy.

When we arrived in a town I always asked about any news that had come in recently. No one ever mentioned anything about Maddy going missing.

I took that to mean the Armingtage family was keeping the matter quiet. They could have had the entire empire on alert if they wished it. But if we were found by any agents of the empire it could be troublesome for them.

Not only would Maddy proclaim that she wasn't kidnapped, but we could argue the death of Susan was in self defense. With the word of a Lord's daughter on our side, it would be difficult to convict Meri and I of any wrongdoing.

That would cause more issues and further embarrassment, to go along with the embarrassment of them being forced to claim that 2 mere slaves managed to kidnap the lords daughter right off his own estate. That would no doubt signal a high level of incompetence and a loss of face.

It meant we probably had less people looking for us than we would have otherwise, but that the ones who were looking would be more dangerous and weren't bound to follow the laws of this world, whatever they were.

During camp on our 4th night Meri managed to gain the Archery skill. We both gave her a hardy congratulations for her accomplishment. Instantly it made her shots a bit more accurate. I was glad to see her training was paying off. I hope that would lead to her gaining more confidence in herself.

I still asked her to do some training with the sword and dagger. You never know what situation may pop up, and it was always good to be prepared. As bad as she was with the sword, I was worse with the bow.

I still forced myself to do it anyway, as one day it may be that a shot from a bow would be the only way to save my life or the life of someone else, and a snowballs chance in hell was better than no chance.

On the 5th night we finally ran into a monster. It was a bit smaller than the last one we saw and looked a little like a goat mixed with a pig. When it saw us with it's blood red eyes it charged.

Meri let loose 2 arrows in the time it took the monster to closed the distance. The first one missed, but the second one hit its front leg, causing a limp. Maddy and I charged forward with our swords in hand to finish it off.

Maddy got the final hit in but didn't level up. Her experience barely went up to boot. I guess the higher your level gets the less these weak monsters can help you. During the 2 weeks in Northwood our group learned a bit about how to properly prepare animals and monsters for food.

Meri took the lead as the butcher of the group without looking the least bit squeamish. Maybe it was her foxkin nature, but she didn't seem to mind cutting the beast up or the sight of blood and guts, as long as they weren't human or any species close to human.

With it being a monster we had to roast it extra well. But we were told the monsters in the wild are the closest ones to animals, so they were fairly safe to eat in most cases.

Two days later we found another monster. It was like the badger one that we first saw. It charged us again but this time Meri put it down with a single arrow to its red eye and received all the experience points.

We cheered her on but she didn't seem to get excited by the victory and moved right along to the business of carving it up. I think I even saw her licking her lips. She never got to eat much meat before, but she was starting to really get a taste for it now.

I got to thinking. If I slayed both of those monsters myself I may have been level 6 by now. Don't mind me ladies. I'll just sit here being level 5 while you rack up experience that barely helps you.

The next day of travel we went through one of the most dangerous stretches of the forest. I was very pleased to see another monster on our travels.

This one looked like a giant rat besides the blood red eyes, horns and oversized teeth. While I say it looked like a giant rat, it was the smallest monster we had seen so far.

I didn't wait for it to come at us. I told Meri and Maddy to get back and to let me handle it. I tried to play it off as wanting to protect them, but honestly I was tired of being 2 levels behind them. To be honest, it felt a little emasculating.

This was a damn fast rat. My first swing missed and it sprung towards my left leg. I avoided the attack with a quick jump to the right. It was awkward as hell to fight something with a sword that was so low to the ground.

I had to bend my knees more than normal or my swings would never hit it. The position made it hard to move quickly and allowed it to keep escaping me swing after swing.

Meri readied her bow and arrow, but politely waited to see if I needed help. Going after it was proving difficult. I needed it to run towards me.

I lunged forward leaving my left leg open on purpose. It instinctively went for the opening, as I hoped. I swung my sword down and finally managed to hit home. I swung a few more times until it stopped moving.

I tried to kill it without attacking the eyes. We knew by now that the eyes were their weak point, at least for these kind of monsters, but I wanted to find out if it could indeed be killed without destroying them. It took a lot of damage to get the job done, but eventually I confirmed it was possible.

I hoped that the rat would give me enough experience to level up to 6. No such luck. Still level 5 and still two full levels behind the others. Maddy gave me a sarcastic applause.

“Well done Bill. You go off and steal all the experience for yourself, but can't even level up. That must be sooooo frustrating.” She knew what I was doing all along then? Well it's not my fault these monsters aren't worth much.

“Go wonder off a cliff Maddy.” I cleaned my sword before putting it away. She seemed please to know she irritated me but she also seemed to have a sense of when enough was enough. Something I find is often lacking in others.

During this time I checked the map again with Maddy looking over my shoulder. I didn't think we were far now. We would probably make it by tomorrow night at the latest. Since it was getting dark we set up camp and practiced as usual. I probably went a bit harder than I needed to, but Maddy didn't complain about it.

Part of it was because I was still ticked off at her for pointing out I was still just a level five, but the other was I had a sense of excitement about getting to see my sister after so long. There was a lot of energy in my body that I needed to work out.

I also wanted some pay back on my father too. I wondered if it would be going too far to chop anything off. I guess I would see how I felt when I saw him. You didn't need two hands to be a worthless drunk after all, did you?

The next day of travel felt like the longest one so far, at least to me. I was pretty sure we were on the right path but it was hard to keep my sense of direction in the woods. Had we perhaps taken a wrong turn? It wasn't impossible.

Maybe when we got there it could turn out to be the wrong town and then I would have to start all over again. If this was the wrong town then I would have no idea where it was. This was by far my best guess. Would I just need to check all the towns with this name? And what if it wasn't even on the map?

Most concerning of all was the worry that it would be a trap of some kind. Well it wasn't like I wouldn't go even if that was the case, but I certainly didn't want to lead anyone else into it and have them pay for my actions.

We finally arrived at our destination just as dusk came. To avoid any chance of being seen in case the town was under observation we hugged the tree line and stayed in the shadows. This was definitely my home town. Well, my other version's home town.

It gave me a feeling of relief as well as made me anxious. Everyone here knew my face and if I was seen it could ruin absolutely everything. For the first time in our entire journey, I felt my anonymity taken from me. It gave me a keen insight into the pressure Maddy and Meri had felt at times during our escape. I didn't fully appreciate it until now.

We slowly moved along the outer perimeter of the woods until we found my house. We watched it silently as the sun set looking for any activity inside or in any of the nearby homes where a guard could be posted. It wasn't until well after dark that my father came home with a drink in his hand.

We stayed where we were until the candles in the house went out, and we continued to stay still a good while after. We waited until the entire town was asleep for what seemed like a good hour before we made our move. I didn't think anyone could be watching when it was this pitch black, but it was impossible to know for sure.

Meri's eyes saved us from having to stumble around and risk making a noise. We had grown to depend more and more on her vision in the night during our travels. We were astounded to learn that even on the darkest of nights, she could see just as clearly as in the day.

Maddy and I could barely see anything even a foot in front of us right now. We both held on to her shirt from behind and followed in her wake. She moved slowly for our benefit and turned back to whisper updates on our progress and warn us of potential obstacles on the ground.

Finally we reached the walls of my house. The original plan was to have us move as one as we checked all the windows, but seeing how much of a chore it was just to move from the woods to the house as 3 people I decided to ask Meri to quickly check them all by herself.

I didn't want this to take longer than it had to, and with 2 of us moving blindly behind her it only increased the chance that we would make a noise. She agreed and told us that she would be right back. She left Maddy and I against the wall in the dark.

For Meri it may have been just a quick look around the house, but without her here there was now a since of dread as we waited in the dark with small noises all around us that we couldn't identify.

Not only was there no moon tonight, but the clouds had all but blocked out the stars. You could still see your hand a few inches in front of your face, but that was the extent of the human eye's ability at the moment. While I was comforted with how well that would keep us hidden right now, I felt nothing but unsettled in my current predicament.

I felt Maddy's hand fumble on me and then lock onto my shoulder. For some reason it calmed me for her to be more worried than I was. I couldn't help but wonder how silly we might look to Meri when she saw this sight.

As if on cue, a voice spoke out in the dark a few feet from us. I felt Maddy give a small jump that I matched. Thankfully it was just Meri. I had no idea she could be so stealthy

“I checked every window. I couldn't see everything but I'm pretty sure no one is awake.” We could have left and watched the house for another 24 hours just to be sure that the house wasn't being watched.

However, something like that would carry it's own risk. We wouldn't get a night darker than this to work with again, and we may as well take advantage of it.

“Okay, sneak us around to the door. We can try to use our daggers to break in. If that fails I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to climb through a window.” I think she nodded but I couldn't be sure. We grabbed on again and we crept towards the door.

My drunk of a father made it easy on us and didn't even lock the door when he stumbled home tonight. Why did I think it would be any different? He was always a screw up. The fact he got one over me will be hard to live down.

I slightly opened the door with my other hand holding my dagger. I was hoping there wouldn't be a problem as I didn't want to stab blindly into the dark. Meri looked inside and all of us listened. After a few moments I opened it the rest of the way and we hurried inside as I silently closed it behind us.

Now that we were in the kitchen, we were through the worst. Meri grabbed the candles that were located exactly where I told her they'd be, and gave one to me and one to Maddy. I told Maddy to light hers but I kept the one in my hand unlit.

As long as we didn't get too close to the windows the light from these small candles would be hard to notice and no one would know we were inside.

I put the dagger away and pulled out my sword. Maddy decided to keep her dagger in hand while holding the candle. We quietly walked past Armilda's room and went straight to my father's.

We slowly crept in and checked the blind spots to be sure it was safe as he laid passed out. Once I was sure it was clear, I moved closer until I stood over him. What an uninspiring sight he was.

“Wake up you rotten drunk bastard.” I poked him with the sword, maybe harder than I had to. A few drops of blood formed on his shirt while he recoiled and came to.

“W-what. Who the hell? William?”

“I'm actually going by Bill for the time being.”

“Impossible! There's no way.” I put the sword by his throat.

“I'm not going to give you a long drawn out explanation of how I got here. The important thing is I’m here now. There's no need for you to get up, I'll be leaving here soon, but I’ll be taking my sister with me, as well as the gold you stole, the amount you didn't spend on booze yet anyway”.

I held out my candle for Maddy to light and then I motioned her to go to my sisters room. Pointing it out with my hand holding the candle while I kept my attention on my father. He gave me his best drunk snarl.

“You little shit. You'll never leave me alone will you? You troubled me when you were here and even when I do everything to get rid of you, you still trouble me. I never wanted you in the first place.” I laughed at that.

“Well I guess there had to be at least one thing we had in common. I never wanted you as my father either. ” Maddy rushed back in.

“She's not there.” I turned to her slightly and asked in a confused voice.

“What do you mean she's not there? Check the other rooms then.”

“I checked them all Bill. There's no one else here.” I turned to my father.

“Where. Is. She?” I emphasized each word with a poke of my sword. My father was still drunk even now. He looked up at me with an accusing glare.

“It's all your fault. It's always been your fault. All of it. She never treated me as well as she treated you. You turned her against me. When you left she wouldn't stop crying. Every fucking day.” I cut him across the cheek with the flick of a wrist.

“When I left? I didn't leave, I was taken away from her, because of you.”

“It was your smart mouth and disrespectful attitude which caused that. I had to teach you a lesson. You got what you deserved.” I grew tired of his ramblings. I brought my sword down to his pants.

“If you don't tell me what happened to her in 5 seconds, I'm going to start cutting things off.” His hate only gave way to his fear..

“She could have chosen to let it go and move on, but she just wouldn't. She believed something happened to you and she wouldn't stop whining about it. She stopped cooking, she stopped cleaning, she was being a lazy little cunt just like her mother.” I gave him a stab in the leg.

“You will never talk about my sister like that again. Understood? Now, where is she?” He grabbed his leg. The pain motivating him to get the words out.

“A man came a few weeks ago. He said he might be looking for you but wouldn't say why. He only told me that they were looking into any recently sold male slaves around your age and description in the area.

When I said that I had no idea what he was talking about, he told me he wasn't here to arrest me, and that he would pay me a good price for any information I had. He stayed in town for well over a week, but after it didn't looked like you were coming, he got impatient and decided to move on to check somewhere else.

I told him if he wanted, just in case you were the one they were looking for, he could have my daughter. If you were the one I assured him that you'd come for her no matter what.

I told him if he gave me 15 gold coins, I'd tell everyone that she went to live somewhere else with a distant relative. Even if you didn't turn out to be who they were looking for the, price wasn't bad.” I opened my mouth in shock. I couldn't believe it.

“You sold her to them?” I finally got out in a shaky voice.

“She was no good to me anymore. Always crying, not doing anything she was told, just another damn leech feeding off me. No matter what I said or how much I tried to teach her to not be so damn lazy, she would just go to her room and cry all day. She was useless, just like everyone else.” My anger sprung up.

“How exactly did you teach her not to be lazy, father? Tell me.” I pressed my sword hard against him. He paused at that, but I didn't need or want an answer. Then with a scowl he pointed to a cupboard.

“Your gold is there. Now go! Leave me alone. I want nothing else to do with any of you. I never wanted anything to do with any of you in the first place.”

This wasn't like Susan. My life and freedom weren't on the line. He didn't even know who that man worked for. By the time he had any chance to contact them, we would be long gone.

There was no way to spin this as self defense. This would be murder, plain and simple. Was something like that in me? Could I really murder someone in cold blood?

I pulled my sword back and with a mighty sideways swing I cut through him at cheek level. Everything below the bottom row of teeth was still in place. Everything above was now laying on the bed next to his leg. His body slumped back against the wall.

I guess I could.

[Level up: LVL 6]

[Level up: LVL 2/10 Assassin]

Bill Mitchell Age 17 Race Human Class None Sub Class None Level 6 Experience 34% Constitution 17 Dexterity 18 Intelligence 22 Strength 19 Wisdom 22 Charisma 18 Health Mana

Stamina 40/40 40/40

20/20 Attribute Points 0 Skills 1/10 Teaching

3/10 Swordsmanship

2/10 Assassin

I cleaned my sword off on the bed and walked into my sisters room. Meri and Maddy didn't follow me inside, but stood in the door way. I don't know what I was looking for or why I bothered to enter her room. It was like I was still hoping to find her here against all reason. I put my hand over the cold sheets.

I felt something under them. Opening them I found the fantasy book I brought with me to this world. Did she find it in my room after I was taken, and sleep with it every night since I left?

What must she have been going through then? What must she be going through now? I grabbed the book and held it tightly to my chest to try to stop the pain I was feeling there. It didn't work. Nothing would ever work again.

I fell to my knees and started to cry.

End of Arc 1