Starting that day, as what Zarda, the chief of the Amani tribe had declared, Rain had truly become the tribe’s slave. Even with Lafetti’s desperate opposition, she couldn’t do anything but to accept such verdict.

The one who has the most power in the tribe was none other than the chief, Zarda.

At first, Rain felt despaired and sorrowful for becoming a slave but as time passed by, he realized it wasn’t as bad as he thinks it would be.

Slave… was in fact just a name, a title. Not really as brutal as the one he had seen in movies and stories…

He had managed to live inside the tribe, with no danger whatsoever looming around him, unlike in that small pedestal. He was given food, and shelter which is Lafetti’s personal house made of wooden planks and dried leaves similar to a nest – Though not really a proper house but it had some kind of wall, like fences but no roof.

Nothing had changed with their relationship as Rain and Lafetti still live the same way they had in that small pedestal.

The one thing that can only prove that he was a slave was that every day he needed to help the other Lamias with their chores and stuff. He can’t refuse nor object…

At first, it was extremely awkward as many Lamias tend to avoid him but time passed by, Rain was approached by several Lamias, most were Lafetti’s close comrades and friends.

In that moment on, Rain became a well-known existence within the tribe as the only human and only man.

Another advantage by his slave status was that, due to his work, he was able to learn some things like herbs, medicinal weeds, and plants and many things. It was taught to him by Sarete, a Lamia who was growing and taking care of the garden of useful plants and weeds which was Rain’s first chore.

Sarete was quite amiable and they managed to become very acquainted, though mostly due to Rain’s strong thirst for knowledge which Sarete found pleasant whenever Rain act like a student and ask her questions.

She was never impatient in teaching him…

Rain enjoyed the life inside the tribe; still, he knows that many people were still observing him, especially Zarda. He knows that she still did not trust him and was only trying to test him all this time.

However, no one made any extreme actions against him… not if a very rabid wild dog was following him all the time…

No! Not a wild Dog, it’s Lafetti who for some reason was always guarding Rain.

But Rain didn’t care about it. He goes his life with his own way. Besides, even though he wasn’t fighting monsters at all, his status was still rising steadily from the foods he was eating, albeit extremely slow… such an absurd power.

[ Master, I have listed the name of the herbs and plants Sarete and shown you and taught you… so, even if you forget about it, you can still view the list. ]

As Rain was trying to memorize the things he had learned, suddenly Sylphy’s voice appeared inside his mind, giving him a very pleasant surprise.

“Really?!”

Then, in front of his retina, a screen had appeared, listing all the plants Sarete had shown him and told him. Even their pictures were shown beside their name… looking like a catalog of Medicinal Plants.

“Sylphy Good Job!” Rain made a thumb up inside his mind.

[ Hehe, ]

Aside from names of some common monsters, Sylphy didn’t know about many things in this world.

When Rain made fun of her being useless, she angrily retorted that she wasn’t a dictionary or an encyclopedia.

But for her to do something like this, even Rain didn’t expect that. Now, he indeed possesses an encyclopedia inside his mind.

Rain spends his time taking care of the medicinal plants in Sarete’s garden.

“Oh?”

Suddenly, as Rain was working, he spotted several small silhouettes behind some logs and broken wood planks. These silhouettes belonged to the children of the Lamia race.

“Is he really a human…?”

“It is.”

“But, I heard humans are terrible and hate our kind. Why is he here then?”

“I don’t know but I heard this human was a strange one…”

“Why I wonder?”

The children were talking about something while looking at Rain. They had overheard the adults speaking about a human coming to their home and came to take a look.

That said, he couldn't just stand there and watch them. He had to talk to them in order not to scare them.

Rain dusted his hands and called, out, “Hey, needed help?”

He tried to appear more gentle and friendly as he could, fear to scare the children away. He even tried copying Jim Carrey’s smile just to appear more amiable and friendly. Though it might make an opposite reaction.

“Ahm… are you a human…?”

Thankfully, it probably did its job right as one of the children hiding finally came out and timidly asked Rain. They haven’t seen a human before…

“Indeed, I am, what is this beautiful sister’s name?” Rain asked with a soft voice. He was quite good in dealing with children after all; he lived in an orphanage and has some experience interacting with his brothers and sisters.

“I’m, I’m Starl…”

“Nice to meet you Starl, I’m Rain but you can call me Big Brother…” Rain introduced himself softly.

“D, do you not like us…?”

That was what the children worried about the most. Still unaware of how the world worked the last thing the children wanted was to be hated by someone. Rain felt the girl’s unease and his smile became even gentler.

He rubbed his hands at his side pants and carries the little girl to his lap. The moment he touched her, the girl trembled in fear but Rain’s gentle smile somewhat relieved the girl.

She was actually quite heavy, fortunately, he had managed to increase his strength bit by bit and his current strength at this moment was already poles apart from his original capability.

“Do you want me to hate you?” He asked while gently stroking her hair.

The little girl timidly shook her head in a hurry. Her face beet red as she was feeling embarrassed but for some reason, she liked Rain stroking her hair. It was a bit different from her mother’s… big, rough, but somewhat warm…

“Then I won’t hate little sister Starl…”

“Really?”

As Rain smiled, the little Lamia girl; Starl let out a sigh of relief. Seeing Rain being friendly and all, children came out from behind the wooden planks, one after another. In total there were four of them, and they looked at Rain with sparkling eyes.

Rain started talking with the children while Starl seems to have taken a liking to his lap since she never left nor separated herself from him.

They talk about many things such as about what the outside world looked like. Since Rain was pretending to have amnesia, he can’t possibly tell the truth. Besides, he never saw it with his own eyes yet… the new world he was currently in.

And so he plays it safe. He told them that he also doesn’t know but he can recall some pieces of memories which were quite blurry. He told them the world outside was quite beautiful but also dangerous…

Rain was hesitant to give them fairytales about the world since they were still children and knows nothing about the dark side of this beautiful world. Who knows they might want to see it for themselves and got hurt instead. That would be the worst.

Rain and the children continued chatting away. The topic gradually shifted away from the sensitive topics and onto other things. However, the contents were much innocent than before.

Then for some reason, he started narrating about stories… fairytales he could still remember, of course, after warning them that it was nothing but fiction and not real. Like Cinderella and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Cheering the Lamia children, giving them new dreams.

Through their chat and stories, Rain and the children were now getting along a lot more.

Unbeknownst to him, there were several people who were watching over him and the children from afar.

Two of them were Lafetti who was guarding him from a distance and Sarete who came to see the Herb Garden.

However, she couldn’t show herself and instead just stayed beside Lafetti, watching them silently. It was hard to join in on the topic since she might ruin their peaceful mood and there was a strange atmosphere between Rain and the children that she didn’t want to break.