Kyros hadn’t seen his master in over a week now, obviously people would get suspicious if a slave kept meeting up with a magician. He also wasn’t willing to break his arm every time he wanted to see his master. So for the duration of the week, Kyros had spent his time on: Mining, trying to find a way to escape, and lastly, sensing the worlds presence.

He had a good harvest this week: Levelling his mining, now immediate level eight; Increasing his wisdom stat, currently nineteen; Also ranking number one for most ores mined.

However, he was still troubled on the issue of finding a way to escape. His master wanted him to earn his freedom through mining and then he could come out and show the family his magic talent; thus, allowing him to get sponsored by the family as a magician. Sure, this was a possible way for Kyros to get out.

There were two reasons why he was against it though. One, because once he became sponsored by the family; it would be so much harder to escape. At the moment he was only a gold class miner, he may have status among slaves but there were over 200 gold class miners. They wouldn't go through too much trouble to hunt him down. If they were to invest in him however, they’d obviously keep closer tabs on him. Second, because the family has enslaved him and treated him terribly. Why would he want to work for them?

So he was still looking for a way out, but also trying to earn his freedom just in case he couldn’t find a way out.

Other than all this, his life had been pretty uneventful over the last week. All the slaves now knew what Kyros was capable of, so they intentionally kept their distance from him. They were miners, not warriors. How could they possibly go against Kyros?

Kyros was currently in the mess chamber with the rest of the slaves, they were all standing in a line ranging across the chamber. Supposedly someone of the main family was coming to inspect the mine. Not that this mattered to Kyros, he just wanted to get back to working on the stuff that matters and not hanging around to probably see some old man.

Kyros looked to both sides of the chamber, and saw how there were two groups of guards on either sides; standing in an organised fashion.

“Attention!” A roar erupted in the chamber. At the mention of this word, all the guards who were standing at ease now straightened up and put their legs together. Very similar to the military in his old world.

Kyros looked to where the voice came from, which was the entrance to the mess chamber in front of where he currently stood. He saw the owner of the voice, the guard captain. He was level 58, to the current level 23 Kyros; he was an impossible enemy to defeat. Beside the captain was the master who had sent him the gold mine, the owner of the mansion. He no longer seemed as arrogant as before. Behind the master was that old monster of a servant, the butler. He looked to be as graceful as ever.

They were all men who were powerful in their own way, however these men were currently submissive to the lady who stood in front of them. She was young in appearance, maybe a little over 30. She had long and beautiful blonde hair, that draped halfway down her back. You could tell she had a tight body by the way her above knee-length dress hugged onto her body. Her black dress accentuated her green eyes, the symbol of a Mavis family member.

As soon as all the surrounding slaves saw her, they started to fidget and some had even gone red in the face. Even Kyros thought she was beautiful. She had mature charm about her, just in the way she held herself.

“This is all of them, right Victor?” She spoke in a commanding tone, as if to announce she was in charge here.

“Of course sister, not one is missing.” Victor or otherwise known as the master, spoke in a subservient tone.

“I see… Shall we inspect them than?”

“Yes sister, let me lead the way.” Victor ushered his sister to one end of the line, opposite of where Kyros was standing.

Kyros couldn’t make out what they were saying, but she was walking down the line inspecting the slaves one by one. She would look them in the face, yet all the slaves would send their eyes downcast; not willing to make eye contact with this beauty.

He had stopped paying attention to the beauty, and started inspecting how everyone else was acting. Of course, he wasn’t accustomed to the ways of this world and its traditions, so maybe he could learn something from watching the others.

While looking over the guards he noticed one guard looking a bit odd, he was way too nervous. Everyone was nervous here, not only was this woman a beauty she was also a very powerful person by the seems of things. However, this guard was suspicious. He was overly sweating and trying to look in another direction, as if to hide his face. Kyros tried to look at his status screen, see if he could find out anything.

Title

Mavis Family Guard

Name

???

Description

Guard posted in the Iron Field gold mines.

Level

52

Health

1450/1450

What? This guard is obviously too strong to be a mere guard. By this level, he should be one of the lieutenants under the captain. At the minimum. Something is definitely not right with him, I’ll have to look into it.

“What’s this? The slave dares to not pay attention to me.” A feminine voice rang out to the side of Kyros. Turning his head to look back in front of him, he saw the beauty and her gang of powerful followers behind her.

“Oh… he's an elf, a pretty one at that. Victor, why haven’t you sent him to the main household yet? With his looks we could flaunt him in front of the other families.” The beauty asked of Victor. It was common for the Great Families to show off their assets, trying to prove that they were the better family.

“Ah sister, this was the slave I was telling you about. The one with potential.” Victor stated. She now returned to look him in the eyes, however lifted an eyebrow when she saw how Kyros returned her stare.

“You were right when you said he was arrogant Victor. You think you’re equal to me, don’t you slave?” She directed her question to Kyros.

Better remain silent, lest I say something stupid.

The monster of a servant suddenly came forward and struck Kyros in the gut.

-140 hp

*cough**cough* Kyros had coughed out blood. This monster had only lightly struck him, yet he was already in such a state.

“Answer her!” The servant demanded of him.

Kyros wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth as he stood up straight and looked her in the eye.

“Yes. I do.” Kyros answered with determination. He knew he should’ve just lied and said no, however that would be betraying himself as that was not who he was. There were somethings he could put aside, but his dignity wasn’t one.

Gasps had rung out across the room, not only from slaves but guards as well. Who was this person to claim to be an equal of the first daughter of the Mavis family? Of course Kyros didn’t know her or her status, he just knew she was powerful. However more so than he realised.

*Crack*

-180 hp

Kyros’s whole body was sent tumbling to the ground from the monster of a servant. Kyros hadn’t even been able to see what happened. From his point of view, one moment he was staring at the beauty and the next he was lying on the ground and his shoulder in excruciating pain.

“Shall I kill him, Mistress?” The old servant asked the beauty.

“No… If what Victor says is correct, he's worth more alive than dead. Also, I want him to live and learn that not everyone are born the same. We are not the same.” She directed that last part at Kyros, smirking down at him. It was a cruel thing, she was such a horrible person yet all Kyros thought at the moment was how beautiful she looked when she had smirked.

The old servant just stared down at Kyros, as if he was a bug.

That bastard! He seriously would have killed me given the chance to. He wasn’t acting this way at the mansion… He must be trying to gain favour with this lady. Is he doing it for himself or on his masters order though…?

The group no longer paying attention to Kyros who was still laying on the floor, started to move on and inspect the next slave.

Status Screen

Name:

Kyros

Level:

23

Race:

High Elf

Mana:

190/190

Health:

320/540

Stamina

484/500

Titles:

Copper Mine Slave

Stats

Strength:

61

Intelligence:

10

Agility:

49

Wisdom:

19

Vitality:

54

Dexterity:

10

Stamina:

50

Luck:

10

Kyros checked his status screen, to check how much health he had left.

A little over half… This should give me a reason to visit master again though.

Apart from the scene with Kyros, nothing had happened out of the ordinary. She had inspected the conditions and spoke of small matters regarding the mine with Victor, before moving on leaving the slaves to get back to work.

Kyros however wasn’t heading to work, but to get healed by his master. He had followed the same direction his master had taken him last time. He passed a few guards along the way, however he just lied and told them he was ordered to go get healed. Apart from the guards who were standing watch, the rest were there and saw what had happened to Kyros, so they asked no questions and let him continue on his way.

Arriving in front of his masters room, he knocked on the door and waited for his masters response. He could hear a series of footsteps and objects clattering around until his master opened the door.

“Ah Kyros! What happened to you?” His master hadn’t been at the assembly for whatever reason, so he didn’t know what had transpired.

“Oh I had a run in with that lady from the main house.” Kyros sounded bitter.

“What? You didn’t. Count your lucky stars you’re alive lad.” His masters eyes were wide with surprise.

“She’s that bad, huh?”

“She’s worse than bad. Antonia Saville Mavis, first daughter of Sir Duke Aetius Felix Mavis. She is a very powerful person in the whole of the kingdom of Calux. Particularly known for her arrogance. She’s had many suitors over the years, yet none are worthy enough for her. Not one to make an enemy of.” His master explained to him.

“Oh… Well, too late to go back now.” Kyros didn’t care for the speech. Ever since arriving in this world, everyone has wanted to harm him in some regard. What does it matter if he adds a duke’s daughter to the list.

“Lad, it’s one thing to be brave and another to be stupid. Don’t be the latter. Now come over here while I heal you.”

That heavenly feeling washed over Kyros again, as he watched his health rise all the way back to 540. He noticed his master was sweating a bit after finishing up.

“It’s not easy healing you up. Try and behave from now on. Also have you been sticking to your meditation?” His master asked him.

“Yes master. One hour before work and two after.” Kyros had been waking earlier to focus on sensing the worlds presence.

“Good, good. Once you get your freedom, we can..” *Knock**knock* Suddenly there was knocking on the door.

“Quick lad, hide!” His master whispered to him. Kyros followed the instruction and had hidden behind one of the bookshelves.

“Who is it?” His master called out once he affirmed that Kyros was hidden.

“It’s me.” A deep voice echoed from the other side of the door.

“Ahh captain, what can I help you with?” His master had opened the door to the guard captain.

“It’s the mistress. She wants you to report on your studies. Now let’s go. She’s already in a bad mood because of some ballsy slave.” The captain grumbled.

“Ahh yes, I heard of it. What a foolish slave indeed. You’d have to be an imbecile to anger the mistress.” His master announced unusually loud.

He still hasn’t let go of that huh.

“Tell me about it. Just puts her in a foul mood, making our jobs harder. Now we best get going.”

The captain and his master had left, leaving Kyros alone in his masters chamber.

Well, I better get going before someone finds me in here.

Kyros was about to leave when he looked over to his masters desk, his curiosity peaking.

I’m sure it’ll be all right if master doesn’t find out.

He headed over to his masters desk and started to look through the books and scrolls laid about on it. Strangely enough he could read what they said. That also brings up the point of why he could also talk and understand the language of this world. It was either they used the same language on this world, or for whatever reason he was able to understand this new language. Either way it didn’t matter since he could understand it.

Although he could read what were on the scrolls and in the books, he couldn’t make sense of it. The books were filled with detailed explanations of all sorts of things, such as the relation between the fire-breathing sphinx and the ice Phoenix. The scrolls however had those complex magic circles he always saw in his games, however never understood. He was sorting them out and was about to give up.

Hmm what’s this?

Class 1 spell - Fireball.

Scroll with detailed analysis of the class 1 spell - Fireball.

He started to read through the scroll and try and make sense of it, however he was having no luck.

Dammit, I don’t know how long they’ll be gone for. I better go.

Kyros tucked the scroll into his overalls and then snuck out.

Kyros was now on his way back to the mines, so he could finish work and then hurry back and try to make sense of the scroll he had acquired. On the way back however, he saw that nervous guard looking around suspiciously before heading down a tunnel.

He's definitely up to something, what though? Guess there is only one way to find out.

So Kyros also looked around to make sure no one was watching him before he went down the same tunnel. He was cautiously following this guard, always sure to have something to hide behind. Which was good, because the guard would look behind him every now and then.

The guard finally stopped at a random point, turned to look around before pulling out a blue crystal from his pocket.

What’s that?

The guard brought the crystal to his mouth, where he seemed to whisper a few words to it. The crystal suddenly started to glow when a voice came from the other side.

“Report.”

“Yes, father. Currently Antonia is here at the mines inspecting things. I’m trying to keep a low profile for now. She’s only seen me once, but if she remembers then the whole operation will fail.” The guard reported.

“Hmm, good work. Stay low and hidden, remember your duty to the family son. Good luck. Out.” The voice faded and the glow around the crystal disappeared.

Of course. He must be a member of another Great Family. This could be useful information, I better leave now before he finds me.

Kyros started to back away when his foot kicked a small rock, making it roll.

“Who’s there?” The guard was now alerted, looking in Kyros’s direction.

Shit. I better come out and explain things.

Kyros stood up and out from behind the rock he was using to hide.

“Hi, I’m…”

“I know, who are you are. What’re you doing here?” The guard cut him off.

“I was coming back from the healers, when I got lost. I overheard you talking with someone. You’re a spy. Aren’t you?” Kyros decided he would take a chance.

“Shit. Why did you have to overhear that? I take no pleasure in reaping such a young life.” The guards eyes suddenly steeled and released a thick bloodlust, even thicker than Kyros’s. He took a step towards Kyros and started to draw his sword.

Fuck. Fuck. This was a mistake!