Seven levels for killing all those guards wasn’t too bad, but now I had a decision to make. Where to invest? I was only going to gain fifty attribute points, so keeping everything balanced wasn’t going to be an option. So. How to live my life? This was obviously a dangerous world, as Elendria had insisted a basic understanding of monsters was part of my education. So how to stay alive when things want you dead? I could go with the invincible man, generating such a massive health pool that things couldn’t kill me. That might work, but the bunch of dead bodies at my feet presented a problem. They were all much stronger than me, and had died to one attack from a level zero. That means that even if I have the world’s largest health pool, losing my head means losing my life.

That was out. Looks like I was left with killing them before they killed me. I loved martial arts movies, but let’s be real. I was never going to be able to do what they did. Hell, I couldn’t even play catcher as a kid, as I blinked every time someone swung the bat. Swordplay? Not a chance. Besides, doing damage from a distance is the least painful way to deal damage. I could go with archery, and might pick that as a backup, but magic had already helped me so much in this world. Not only that, but magic could also double as a defense against damage. All I had to do was create a mana shield.

Looking things over, I decided that I would drop a little bit into my health, just in case, and the rest into intelligence and wisdom. So two points went to constitution, and six each to the magic categories. I felt a bit of the mental fog from staying up all night leave, and took a quick look at my stats.

Name: Sean O’Carrol

Age: 32

Titles:

Slave

Chosen of Ariana (hidden)

Blessed by Lokir (hidden)

Otherwordly traveler (hidden)

Summoned Hero (hidden)

Attributes:

STR – 6

AGI – 5

DEX – 7

INT – 17 (+3)

WIS – 18 (+3)

CON – 8

END – 10

Health: 80/90

Mana: 270/300

Health regen: 0.057/min

Mana regen: 4.48/min

Class: celestial sorcerer (650/10,000)

Available classes: slave

Secondary class: none

Profession: none

Available professions: none

Secondary profession: none

Level: 7/25

Exp to next level: 35%

Available attribute points: 0

Not bad. So long as I keep adding one to wisdom and intelligence equally, my regen rate would give me a full mana pool every hour. It also seems that increases in pool size don’t automatically fill, which was slightly annoying. I guess hanging on to attribute points wasn’t going to be a good idea. Hmmm, if I dumped everything straight into those two I would be at level 39 before they maxed out.

That settled, I headed over to my former cage. There was a lot to do in a little time. “Elendria? Elendria wake up.” I spoke softly, gently pressing on her shoulder.

“Huh? What? Sean! Get back inside!” She hissed, frantically looking around for a guard.

“It’s Ok. I’m free, and the new owner of everything in this camp.” I said, watching her eyes widen in shock. “I know you have better senses than me, do you smell all the blood? Every guard is dead, as is our former master.”

“You, you did it. You really did it!”

“Quiet, we have some things to do first. Come on out.” I stopped her celebrations, wanting to try something. I touched her collar, and felt a bit of my mana flow into it. “As the master of this collar, I command it to open.” Nothing. Bah, it was a long shot. “As the master of this collar, I command that Elendria’s mana be unsealed.” That got a reaction, as I felt something shift within the complex magics of the collar.

“By Shalora!” She hissed, falling into me as she started crying. My arms immediately moved to hold her, preventing her from falling. “After so long, it’s back! My magic! Thank you!” She started babbling then, and I had to give her a little shake to get her to stop.

“Elendria, come. I need you to get ahold of yourself. I need your help.” She needed a few more seconds to contain herself, before straightening. The tears hadn’t stopped, but I was ok with that. “Excellent. Now, part of the bargain that allowed us to travel with the caravan was the added guards. Can your magic be the equal of all of them?”

“Sean. I am a level 24 frost elf, holder of the Ice Mistress class. With my mana unlocked, and your permission to use my magic, I could hold my own against three times the number of guards that pathetic slave master employed. They will have no problems, I guarantee.”

“That solves that problem.” I said, impressed. “As your master, I allow you to use your magic to defend yourself and any under your care. The degree of response is your choice, up to and including lethal force.”

She froze for a second at the implied trust, and slowly spoke, “Thank you.”

“Now, I’ve already distributed my points, but I have a problem. I don’t know any spells other than mage’s dagger. While I could easily change it from a dagger to a sword, I need to increase my magic. Can you teach me to unlock any elements? And spells from each one?”

“Easily. Though you might have better luck with the human wizard. That said, what is your class?”

“Celestial sorcerer.”

“Celestial. Sorcerer.” She stared at me. “In one night, you obtained enough magic experience to obtain a master class? That’s, that’s just absurd!”

“Enough of that for now, I’ll show you the spell in a bit. What I need next is information. My title now says escaped slave, am I going to be immediately arrested should we go into town?”

“Unlikely. Most towns just check the status of the main merchant. You’ll have to convince him to keep your secret, and it looks like you don’t have much time. Here come the cooks.” She pointed, and I saw three cooks walking over freeze at the sight of the guards before them. Shit, they look panicked.

“Easy there fellas.” I called out, slowly walking towards them. “Nobody’s going to hurt you, but we do have an issue. Perhaps one of you can head back and get the leader of your caravan? The other two should go about feeding the slaves as usual.” I think my calm demeanor must have had an effect, as they went about doing that with a quick shrug.

“Slaves, wake up!” I shouted. “Pay attention! I’m your new master, and these are my orders. You are not allowed to have sex. You may not injure another, either through action or inaction on your own part. You will not attempt to escape. You will follow orders swiftly and safely, understood?”

I got a chorus of yes master, so I continued. “Before you get breakfast, you have a task. Break into groups of two. Most of you will be bringing the bodies of the guards back behind the tent there. I want two groups to set about removing the valuables from the dead. Coins, rings and other jewelry will get placed on the table I will provide. Weapons and armor will get their own separate piles on the ground. Clothes will make a fourth pile, and anything not covered by the previous categories will be placed in a fifth pile. Go.” As I explained things, I had taken the proper keys from my new ring. I was glad that it had a sort of mind interface, as I just had to think about the general item to get a mental picture of anything that matched close enough. As they got to work, I set about preparing to meet the leader of the caravan.

I set up a few logs that looked like they had been used for this exact purpose for several years. I took a chair for myself and Elendria, but also added three seats for whoever was coming from the caravan. Just in time too, as a group of five was making their way toward us. Three were obviously guards, walking in a semicircle in front of two others. One was the human wizard, while the other was much shorter. Too thin to be a dwarf though, at least by Earth’s general description of dwarfs.

“What is their leader?” I asked Elendria, who had smoothly sat by my side.

“A gnome. Probably best to keep things slightly informal, and make sure that you don’t let on how desperate our situation really is. If you need, I could run the negotiations for you.”

“Sorry Elendria, but that would put us at a worse disadvantage. What kind of master lets his slaves negotiate for him?”

“There are very few.” She reluctantly admitted, but that was all we had time for.

“You are not Bartoss.” The gnome said.

“Correct. Name’s Sean O’Carrol. Please, have a seat.” He looked over the logs, before simply turning and jumping up to sit on the middle one, legs dangling freely.

“Wilgam Bargip Bribis.” He answers with a nod. “Just call me Bribis.”

“Sean then, pleasure to meet you Bribis.”

“So. What happened here that required the death of half of our caravan guards, and how are you going to repay us for their loss?”

“I have my reasons for their deaths, as well as for Bartoss’.” I answered. “And you’ll get no compensation from me for their loss. Judging by how they acted, you might want to be offering me some pay for the upgrade.”

“Oh? And why should we treat with you? One who commits murder in the dark of the night.”

“All murdering aside, I assume you had a contract with Bartoss?” At his nod, I continued. “After I enslaved Bartoss, all his property became mine. That means I assumed his contract with you as well.”

“Enslaved him? Can’t say that he doesn’t. Didn’t. Deserve it, but let’s hear your offer before we outright reject it.”

“Thank you. Elendria here will replace the guards. Elendria, let them know what they need to in order to trust you as a guard. Nothing more.”

“Level 24 Ice Mistress. There is nothing in these lands that can threaten me.” She said without any emotion.

“Hmmm. A tier two with a special class. Alright, I’ll accept her as a substitute for the guards. Transportation was already paid for, so you don’t owe anything for the drivers of the wagons. But since I know you need us a lot more than we need you, I’ll be needing you to sweeten the pot a bit.”

“Of course.” I nodded. “I’ll need one thing from you though. When we reach the city, I need to head immediately to the slavers guild. I’ll also need you to cover for me with the guards at the city gates.”

“What am I covering, why, and most importantly, what’s my bonus?”

“That I am an escaped slave who was unlawfully enslaved in the first place. As to a bonus, I find myself holding pay for twenty or so guards but no guards to pay. Perhaps that could be considered a sufficient bonus?”

“I suppose I could do it for that two hundred gold. But I’ll not risk crossing the law without the whole story.”

“Very well, but make sure your guards keep silent. I’m sure the wizard there can corroborate some of my story.” The wizard flinched, but made a go on gesture. Guess he wasn’t expecting to be included. “Not sure how common they are, but I’m a summoned hero from another world. Something went wrong, and I ended up in the forests. Two of the guards came across me, realized I couldn’t speak the language and knocked me out. I woke up with a slave collar around my neck. Your wizard was paid to give me the common tongue.”

“I can at least confirm the last part.” The wizard nodded. “Do you still have that status card Bartoss made?”

“No. It seems he destroyed it to make sure nobody came across it.” I answered after a quick check of the ring.

“Never did trust that Bartoss.” Bribis said. “Alright, I’ll cover for you, but I think you need a plan. Just waltzing in to the Slavers guild isn’t going to fix things. Most likely they’ll just have you killed and take all the slaves.”

“Unfortunately that’s the only choice I have, unless someone who didn’t particularly care about the slave guild would be willing to help out.” As I spoke, a slightly crazy idea popped into my head.

“Oh?” The wizard perked up a bit. “Depends on the danger, but I might be interested.”

“I was hoping so. You seemed pretty disgusted by Bartoss when he hit me with that punishment. If you were to go to the Mage guild, and release proof that the Slavers guild had not only enslaved someone illegally, but enslaved a hero of Ariana?”

“There would be riots.” The wizard smiled. “But how does that protect you?”

“I only want you to release the information if I’m not out in two hours. That should give me more than enough time. I saw Bartoss use a communication stone, would that reach from the Slavers guild to the Mage guild?”

“Not nearly.” Bribis said. “Bartoss would never buy something that powerful if he didn’t need it. But, I happen to like how this is playing out. Trade me his communication stones, and I’ll upgrade you for free.”

“Done!” I said with a chuckle, pulling out one of the stones. “The other is likely with a body, I’ll have it cleaned before I deliver it.”

“I’m in as well. Call me Carrigan.” The wizard stood and offered his hand, which I shook.

“Now, how are we schedule wise?” I asked.

“Slightly ahead believe it or not.” Bribis said. “Rains were light this year.”

“Perfect. Would everyone be okay with us spending an extra day here or at the next rest station? Most of these slaves are absolutely filthy, and I want to get them cleaned up for their own health.”

“That’s fine.” Bribis said. “I’ll fill everyone in, we could probably use the rest. Carrigan will help light a fire for the bodies. Just make sure the slaves go a good ways downstream before they try washing. We wouldn’t want to contaminate our water supply.”

“Not a problem.” I said, standing up. “As a gesture of good faith, here.” I handed over a pouch of coins. “Half the bonus pay now, the other half when we make it through the city gates.”

“I like the way you handle things Sean!” Bribis brightened up at the jingle of coins in the pouch. Leaving with a lot more of a hop in his step, the rest went with him.

The rest of the day was simply anticlimactic. The slaves were well behaved, especially when they were told that tomorrow they would be getting the rations the guards would normally get. Unsurprisingly there wasn’t much of value outside of the armor and weapons of the guards, but that was fine with me. I wasn’t about to get rich off of them. The cages were cleaned out thoroughly before the slaves were allowed to bathe, and I had several of the guards go with them. Only three of the men came back and had to be sent back to scrub again, probably some cultural differences. I also decided that the guards’ old clothes would be perfect to dress the slaves in, especially since it wasn’t anywhere near a uniform.

I also brought the slaves into my new tent one by one. There they were ordered to tell the truth, and give the reasons why they were enslaved. To my surprise only two of the women were illegally obtained, or at least I assumed so because they gave the evasive “I can’t answer” reply. Several of the men came from questionable practices. I guess the caravan would send a few guards ahead, and they would work together to cheat a mark out of his coin. When they offered small loans, just to keep the game going, ya’see? Well, the addicts couldn’t resist. Eventually they had enough to enslave him, and would claim their marks on the last night the caravan was in town. Leaving at dawn, by the time people realized that their friend was nowhere to be found the caravan would be long gone.

It was simple, and disgusting. Then again, several of the slaves were there for very legitimate reasons. Mostly killers and thieves, though there were a few that had been slaves since childhood. Apparently some parents simply sold their kids, something I couldn’t understand. Thoroughly disgusted with this world, I headed to bed. At least the slaves would get some comfort for the next month.