Counting out the money he had gotten, Victor realized that this was a lot more than he would typically make in a day and started to wonder if he might do better trying to become a bard or a troubadour instead of working at the guild. It would also be a lot less risky to sing compared to exploring the lands and dealing with creatures, which would help him with the first goal he had set out for himself.

He did, however, see it getting in the way of the second goal. People who were capable of a lot and helped a lot of people ended up being those who had others willing to help them, at least that's how Victor saw it. Words of wisdom, advice, or favors could end up as the best form of currency, for what he needed, while being a singer would only provide money as a way to try to move forward and everything, even money, had its limits.

Thinking about some book he read, Victor recalled how two people trying to get information from some guards worked differently. Sure this was a work of fiction, but he thought it was likely still close to how life really was.

One attempted a bribe the guard and got arrested while the other just shared a drink and steered the conversation to where he wanted it to go, which got him the information. Everyone is different and sometimes you need options to work towards your goal beyond the most obvious one.

Wasting the next part of the day, Victor eventually found himself at the inn he had been staying at. As he walked in he saw Doliy speaking with someone who had two mugs near him on the counter, as well as a third one in his hand. When he closed the door behind him, the woman's eyes turned to find him.

Leaning towards the man, Doliy whispered something to him before she stood up and walked over to Victor, wrapping her arm around him as she pulled him close.

"How was your day? Mine went well. I think we should have something to eat and then we can go see the sunset and the stars coming out. I think the star bugs are having their mating seasons so we might be able to see a lot of interesting lights if we go to the outskirts of town. How's that sound?"

Victor looked at Doliy for a moment, taking in what she had said. Luckily he was able to figure it all out easily enough as he pulled her closer with a smile, into something that was nearly a side to side hug.

"Sure whatever you say. Just nothing too spicy for dinner. I'm not a big fan of anything too spicy and would rather be able to enjoy the natural flavor with just a hint of something added to it if needed. Maybe a squirt of juice on top as it cooks or allowing it to simmer mixed with something that we won't actually eat."

The duo left the inn, arms intertwined as they headed out. Doliy seemed to be leading the way for them while Victor spoke up.

"Were you serious about getting something to eat? I am feeling a bit hungry. I did just eat something, but to be honest, it wasn't much. I have some ideas of what I might like to buy before we all head out, assuming I take the job of course."

Looking at the position of the sun in the sky, Doliy tapped a finger on her thigh, "Sure let's go get something to eat. We got time anyway and we can talk about everything we should talk about. I think that stones agony woul..... wait you said nothing too spicy and that's all they deal with. It's expensive since they use a good amount of spices, especially the hot ones. In that case...."

She paused her speech for a bit, leaving the silence in the air just long enough for Victor to wonder if she was going to continue her thought, only to be stopped when he was about to speak.

"I want to go somewhere that's not too busy and if spice is against the rules the only option I can think of is the bread bowl eatery. They make stew and serve it in bread. Pretty cheap because they only have the choice of today's food or nothing, but since most people take their meal and leave, or use the side window, it's usually empty."

Steering them towards the setting sun, the pair soon found themselves at a small building. There was a window at the side where people could pay for a meal and keep going without any real wait, which reminded Victor of a drive-thru, and some outside stools at a ledge people could sit at after paying.

Inside however was only the workers, visible in the kitchen refreshing the soup or stew as it sold and working on turning some bread into bowls behind a counter with four small tables against the wall opposite them.

Walking in the pair sat down at the table farthest from the door. Doliy took out two small silver coins and set them on the table, "Two bowls and two milks please if you don't mind. Oh, and we want to stay and relax a bit so you can keep the change if you let us stay for a while after we finish eating."

One of the workers, a young girl who looked similar to the adults in the kitchen, albeit with all the unique features missing, walked up to the table and collected the coins.

She spoke with a slightly unsteady voice that was just showing that she was at the point in her life that it was changing, "I'll be back with your food."

Once the child left Victor spoke softly, "First I am going to check you still want me to be the one you have as your guard? You had plenty of time to reconsider after all."

Doliy smiled silently, "You're my best chance I think. You have a strangeness to you that makes me want to take the chance. On top of that, your name makes me think that you're the best choice. At least that combined with what I heard the guards saying about the situation at the farm. I'm sure the farmers weren't able to properly reward you so I thought I would give you a chance to earn a greater reward and prove your skill."

Before their conversation went any further, the girl who took the money came back, struggling with a tray that held their meals and their drinks, "Mom said you can stay, but you have to leave before the sun's all the way gone. She said we aren't an inn so no sleeping on the floor either."

Taking the food and drink off the tray, Victor set one of each in front of both him and Doliy before the girl scampered off behind the counter.

Picking up the spoon provided for her, Doliy started to eat, "I'm sure you have some more serious questions about this request, and now is the time to ask. We can get supplies, for the most part, here, and depending on how far between towns, there are a few routes we can take. There are times, however, that we might have to make due with only what we have on us or can gather on the way. Especially if we try to avoid all, or most, the towns."

Victor took this moment to decide to take the lead, between bites of the stew that tasted a little fishier than he expected.

"I'll list off the questions I already have. One where do we need to go and how far away is it? Two what supplies do you have already? I imagine having a horse and cart would be nice, but we would probably have to rent one. Three what are the risks that you can think of that we are likely to face between point A and point B? Four can you or this girl do any magic thats useful and if so what sort?"

Drinking some of the milk, Doliy sets down her spoon and spoke a bit more hushed than before.

"One. We need to go to the capital and it is, about, fifteen days on foot, assuming nothing happens that isn't too unexpected and we take the most direct path."

"Two. I have various foods that are dried, money, medical supplies for the basics, and a weapon for both Ruuz and myself, just in case. No cart or horse as those tend to attract more attention and we want to keep from being noticed if at all possible."

"Three. I don't know how to answer this because I don't know what an Aye or a Beee is. If you can reword it I'll be glad to answer."

"Four. Outside of the normal mundane types of magic, I can but she can't. The only sort of magic that is worth mentioning is that I can make sounds softer and if I concentrate hard enough almost unhearable. That really drains my mana though. I mostly make things harder to hear and can even choose how far the sound goes before it starts taking effect. For example, I’ve made it so only the people sitting at this table can hear us right now. It's very useful in the right situation. Watch."

Clearing her throat first, Doliy let out as loud of a yell as she could, "This food tastes worse than the manure the stables sell to the farmers! I think I'll come here later and burn this shit store to the ground."

To Victor's surprise, none of the people working even looked up to what they were doing. An interesting magic that would have some uses during travel and would explain how she was able to sneak around like she had.

"Now do you want to reword the third question or is there something else you are thinking about now?"

"Oh right," Victor said as he mentally adjusted his thinking, "for the third question I just meant, what sort of risks can we expect between leaving here and arriving at that place you mentioned."

"You should have just said it like that then," Doliy replied almost spitting out the words in an annoyed fashion, "Just the usual stuff. Beasts, maybe bandits. It mostly depends on if we stay on the main paths."

Victor nodded his head in agreement, "I suppose that makes sense. More animals away from the roads, but I imagine bandits keep an eye on the roads. I just hope they aren’t too common. If they were nobody would travel right? Right."

Eating some more of their meal the two of them were quiet for a bit before Doliy broke the silence again.

"I still think we should get going tomorrow if we can. Is there anything we can do to speed this up? I got everything I can think of on our end and the reward for your kill, if there is even one, will still be here for you when you get back. Although if you're gone for more than fifty days the reward will be liquidated if its an item and a ten percent cut will be taken as a holding fee, but whatever you get from us will easily make up the difference, at least I’m pretty sure."

Rubbing his head a little bit, Victor spoke again. This time not caring if he was quiet, because of the magic he had just seen.

"I have something I might want to buy from those traveling merchants and..... let's just say I am not sure if I can buy..... what I want right now and I am hoping to earn enough money that I won't feel like I'm broke after. I have until those merchants leave to get it all figured out and I might be trying to buy more than one."

Doliy spoke up louder with a hint of excitement amplifying her voice, "Well depending on how much it is just let me buy it for you, and then can go tomorrow! How does that sound?"

Victor's mind started to race. His main concern had been the financial strain that it would put on him when he bought the, as the merchant called them, defective products. He hated that people here thought of other people in such a way, but knew it couldn’t be helped. The real concern was that he found himself thinking of them as products just as much as he was remembering they were people. Something he blamed on how this world was so casual about slavery.

"I'm..... thinking of getting a slave..... or maybe more than one."

Doliy didn't even stop eating to speak, "Well I suppose if you're only a bit short I can help you, but I guess it depends on how much you're trying to spend. I figure the most I am willing to help, for something like that, is two small gold coins. Any more than that and I will expect you to explain why we actually need them, him, or her. What sort of slave is it? Or are they?"

The cold way that Doliy spoke made Victor cringe internally.

"I'm not sure actually. I just..... I found out they're defective products..... people shouldn't be seen as defective like that. I can't just let this go and not try to help them. I know there is at least one but there could be more and I want to help them all if I can. I can't just sit back and let..... he said they would be put to work in mines until they die working."

Doliy made a few odd motions with her hand as she stared at him, two of her fingers twitching a little bit as she started to speak.

"So you are buying slaves because you feel sorry for them? That isn't a good way to invest your money."

"It's not an investment!" Victor protested before realizing how loudly he was speaking.

"I just think that I want to help them and if they help enough with things I can pay them and..... I...... They should have some choices and I thought if they pay back their cost and..... well maybe a little more since I'll spend money to keep them fed......"

Victor's words were cut off as Doliy put two fingers to his lips.

"I'll do it. You can have two small gold coins for this if, and only if, we leave by sunset tomorrow. If you aren't willing to do that then you get nothing. Do we have a deal?"

Victor looked forward as Doliy took away her fingers, "Sure... I guess that we can have a deal, but I won't pay you back those coins."

Doliy smiles as she reaches into her pouch. She took out one small gold coin and ten large silver ones, offering them all to Victor.

"Buy what you want and meet me here around the midday bell. Pack up anything you need and we'll go. We are not going to return to Green Rebirth so don’t leave anything behind."

Taking the coins, Victor swallowed hard, his mouth dry as the reality of what he was about to do hit him. Doing something he found morally repugnant was weighing hard on him, but leaving someone who was only treated as defective was even less moral than what he was considering, at least in his mind.

A short walk after the meal brought them to where Ruuz was hidden. With the sunset over and the darkness of the night around them, the pair went to the basement of the incomplete building that Doliy directed them towards.

At first, a voice could be heard as footsteps ran towards the pair, but slowed quickly to a stop, as the figure took the sight of them both in.

"Doliy...... are we in trouble or is...... is he going to help?"

Doliy ran up to the girl, who Victor assumed was Ruuz, and pulled her into a close hug.

"Yes, we're leaving tomorrow after he gets some stuff. He and his slaves are going to help us get the rest of the way to Skies Watch. I promised you that we would be out of here soon didn't I?"

"Yeah," she retorted with a hint of snark, "but that was a lie! I've been down here forever!"

Victor felt a bit awkward as he got to where he could see the girl easier.

He guessed that she was around twelve years old and took her in as best as he could in the near darkness. She had hair that looked like it could barely manage to be styled into a short bob style. The hair also looked dark, but he thought it might actually not be that dark. Likely a trick of the lighting.

Kneeling down, Victor noticed the girl pulled back from him as she stared at him, her eyes wide as she looked at his face. He didn't try to get any closer to her, instead just staying in place so she could see him.

"I know you don't know me, but Doliy thinks I can help. She also well... I'm going to help. It's probably better for you to be cautious of me since you don't know me, but I'm going to try to do something good and I think I can get something out of going there with you so we both win. How does that sound?"

Extending his hand toward the young girl, Victor saw her just looking at it, her eyes slowly going up to his face again before he pulled his hand back.

"Listen um... Ruuz, My name is Victor. If you can't trust me just trust that I will do what I can to live up to my name. Do you want to ask me anything? Do you want me to do anything?"

He watched as the girl held tightly to Doliy who closed her eyes and sighed, "I'll talk to her. I should have known to talk to her earlier, but I try not to slip in and out too often during the day, in case someone notices. Just go out and we will be there at the same place at the midday bell. Just don't react no matter how we look alright?"

With a nod, Victor left the abandoned building and went to the inn he had been staying at. It wasn't to much of a conversation for him to let the owner know that he would be leaving the next day so he would have everything packed up and take it when he left in the morning.

When morning came, Victor gathered up all of his things, wanting to get to the traveling merchants as soon as he could. With the money he had been given from Doliy. He did the math and thought he could while keeping a cushion of money for just in case, buy four of the slaves that were labeled as defective. His only concern was if there were more than four how he would choose who deserved to be saved.

Once in line, Victor waited for his chance to see the products. While he hated thinking of people as property and wanted to help everyone, he reminded himself that it was how things were done here and his desire to break the merchant's face needed to be suppressed or he might fail in his goals and end up a new piece of merchandise.

After the merchant finished talking to, what Victor assumed was, a couple who left with a man walking behind them he walked up to the man who waved him over.

“Welcome. Do you have anything specific you wanted today or are you just browsing?”

Forcing a smile that was a little wider than it would be naturally, Victor took a deep breath before he spoke.

“I was actually thinking about your defective products. I was thinking having some slaves would be a good idea, but I want to keep my budget in mind with my first purchase. If I mess up it won’t be too big of a loss with something that’s already broken after all…. I might even get more than one.”

The man smiled a bit, “Oh that’s great. We have a few that we have in the broken product section. I’ll bring you to take a look and pick which of them you want.”

Since this wasn’t the man he spoke with the day before, Victor decided to try and haggle a bit. Since he had a price from the man yesterday if it went badly he thought he would just wait to see the man he had talked to last time and make the purchase.

“I was told that there might be some new additions. That’s why I didn’t buy the one from yesterday. I was told that I might be able to get a bit of a discount if I buy all the trash from you at once. He said the money saved on feeding them all would be worth it.”

The man stopped and looked back, his dark eyes looking at Victor with a certain level of intensity.

“If you buy all three of them, without even looking at them, I’ll sell them for two small gold and five large silver. If you look at them the price is one small gold coin each. I won’t offer this deal any other way so make your choice now.”

“I assume that means there is something really wrong with one,” Victor said without hesitating.

The pair of them looked at each other for a bit, before Victor started to take out his money.

“I’ll take the deal. I know I might be getting ripped off or tricked, but I wanted them all anyway. Even if it’s something I’ll discard later I’ll considering it the cost of learning how to manage them.”

The smile on the man's face as he took the money told Victor more than any words could have about the purchase. He bought something... No someone, he reminded himself, that was either beyond broken or a risk of some sort. At least that was the best guess he could come up with as to why he was given a deal so easily when he made the attempt.

Once the purchase was completed, Victor was brought to the backmost cart. Inside of it were three people.

In one corner of the cart was the man who was missing an eye and some fingers. He looked to be trying to keep to his corner while looking at the other side of the cart.

Not far from him on the same side, but within a different corner sat another man. His skin had something similar to foam bubbles that twitched on occasion. His body looked a lot frailer than the first man.

On the opposite side of the caged cart sat a human woman. She had a lot of fresh wounds on her body and dried blood all over her clothes. She looked like someone who had gone without more than a few meals lately, not enough to look starved to death, but enough that it was obvious she could use better meals.

Opening the door the man almost barked as he spoke.

“Alright rejects this man bought you. He knows you’re already broken so don’t hide it from him. He is probably the last chance you have at anything, so move your ass!”

The three people came out of the cart at various speeds and looked at Victor who suddenly felt like someone who would be thought of as trash back home for what he just did. Regardless of the reason he now owned other human beings. He could tell himself it was to keep them alive, but that didn’t change how he felt now about becoming a slave owner.

Now that they were his slaves, instead of just nameless faceless people he had no connection to, Victor took greater note of how they looked.

The man from yesterday stood fairly tall. If Victor had to take a guess he was about six foot, maybe slightly taller. His muscles were well defined, but not overpowering like at some muscle man contest. His hair was short brown, a shade only slightly darker than the brown of his eye. He wondered if this man used to be some sort of fighter to have muscles like that, but for the moment shook it off as something to ask later.

Standing next to him was a man closer to Victor's height. A bit lanky in his form and thinner all around. This man had no shirt on and only shorts that barely covered anything, unlike the rest of the slaves. This was likely because his left shoulder and left knee had the weird skin bubbles that were twitching. He looked to have nearly no muscle to him or fat. Almost like an anorexic would look if Victor remembered.

His face was a bit sunken and his soft blue eyes almost looked hollow. The real concern was that the man had no visible body hair. Whatever had made him a defective product, Victor thought the first thing to do would get him some food.

Lastly was the woman he had bought. Her hair was a dark black but looked like it had been cut randomly and wasn’t in any sort of way that one might expect it to be cut. A little bit went nearly to the small of her back while other parts seemed to be near to her scalp. It made it hard for Victor to concentrate at first on her.

She looked a little thin, like she could use a good meal, but not to the extent that the man with bubbled flesh did. Like she had gone slightly too heavy on the diet. With her slightly smaller frame she looked to be about half a head shorter than Victor was. Unlike the other two, however, she was looking right at him and her hazel eyes seemed to have something of a spark still behind them.

The most perplexing thing about her, as far as Victor was concerned, was all the blood on her body. Not just some between her legs like one might think you would see on a slave that wasn’t cared for, but all over her clothes from her neck to her ankles.

Taking out a small thin knife, that looked closer to an ice pick, the man looked at Victor, “Do you know this process or not?”

The silence, while Victor was trying to think about what to say, was enough for the man who twirled the thin blade between his fingers.

“I’m going to assume that you mean no. It is a very simple process. Three drops of blood will be mixed together. The last owners, the new owners, and the slaves' blood will mix together. That’s all you will need to help with. From there we will do what needs to be done and it will absorb into their slave ring. At that point, the last owner has no power over them and you have all of it.”

Taking out a small vial, the man holds the pointed blade to Victor, “So do you want to do it yourself or should I get the blood from you?”

Instead of picking up the blade from the other person, Victor looked at him and the slaves, thinking about the situation

Only the fact that he was a businessman who would likely lose a lot of money if he tried to enslave people while selling slaves made Victor feel like he could trust this man enough not to trick him into slavery.

Rather than taking the offered blade, Victor chose instead to use his own pocket knife and cut a little bit into his arm.

“Let's just get this done with. I want to talk to these three a little if you need to go and do whatever it is you need to do.”

The man gathered the blood from Victor and all three of the slaves before heading off to the front cart. Now that he was finally alone with the slaves he relaxed a bit, making sure the merchant was far enough away to not hear him.

“Look…. I’m sure you all are worried about me. I can understand that concern. You have no clue who I am and it’s probably not common for someone to buy…… slaves that are in the back cart.”

The three slaves all looked at him and before he could continue a small explosive sound came from the woman. There was a fresh wince of pain, that flashed across her face, as she went to touch the back of her head, but stopped short.

Running over to her Victor saw that a chunk of her hair was missing about three inches behind her left ear. Blood was trickling down her hair and neck, but the wound itself, while not healing in the flash of an eye, seemed to be already creating a scab to hold in the blood the injury caused.

The uncertainty of what went on made him start to panic as he tried to think about what this could be, but he snapped back to reality when he heard the woman speaking, albeit softly.

“Almost."