Chapter 28

The Capital of Harrelson

Present. Sunday 6/5/119

Their plan was in motion. As Michelle moved towards the city wall exit, Ethan was carried by Chris to the Harrelson mansion.

Chris, resuming his earlier character, removed his glasses and re-dirtied his clothes. He then scowled his face to look tougher. Well, that should have been the reason, but truely, he was just squinting his eyes due to his poor eyesight.

To walk throughout the city, although his eyesight wasn’t so terrible that he couldn’t avoid bumping into people, he decided to err on the side of caution and force Ethan to act as his main source of sight. Though Ethan had his eye closed in order to play his part as a captured person, he could still use his Geinta as a three dimensional sonar.

They devised a system in order for Ethan to give him commands during their walk through the streets. Ethan would convey commands through a shoulder tapping system. A tap on Chris’s shoulder from his index finger meant to go left, a tap from the pinkie meant right. The number of taps from index and ring finger signalled how many steps he must take in a specified direction. A flat palm meant ‘stop’ and a fist meant ‘go.’

With this, they were able to navigate the city rather quickly and eventually came upon the main road, which was a straight shot to the mansion.

Sure enough, after walking down the main road for roughly fifteen minutes, appearing in front of Chris, blurrily of course, was his desired location. The mansion was huge, by far the largest house he had ever laid eyes on. Standing at three stories tall and possessing a total area of 20,000 square feet (1858 m^2), it’s presence within a city that only had small, two story buildings was overwhelming. It was a hubristic symbol of power.

After a few more minutes, he reached the front gates. Two guards stood out front and he was sure they would stop him.

However, the guards, without hesitation, opened the gates for them to pass through. Chris frowned his confusion for a moment but did not dwell on it too much. To stay in character, he gave the guards a reserved nod.

As the driveway led in to the front door of the mansion, he squinted his eyes and could make out a blurry figure standing near the door. As he got closer, the details of the figure became more apparent.

Standing there was a stern looking man in combat clothes. At this man’s side was, to Chris, a blurry black lump, but he could infer that it was actually a pistol holstered to the man’s hip.

He approached the man, whom he didn’t know was a leasher, while still trying to keep in character. However, doing so became difficult as his mind went blank as for what to say. Instead, he waited for the leasher to initiate the conversation.

“Boss is waiting for you inside.”

Chris nodded his head cooly before following him into the mansion. Upon entering, spread out in front of him was a foyer which contained three different hallways leading further into the first floor, as well as two staircases leading up to the second. The leasher guiding him started ascending one of these staircases.

Reaching the top, there was a large hallway in front of him. At the far end of this hall were two large wooden doors. He immediately guessed that that was their destination, to which he was correct. The leasher began briskly walking towards said doors while turning his head every tenth step to check if Chris was still behind him.

The leasher, once at their destination, knocked on the wooden door with a good amount of force, presumably because the doors were quite thick and required a heavy knock.

Instead of gaining permission to come in, the door suddenly swung open. The person who did so looked at the leasher, at Chris and then nodded his head.

Turning back around into the room, the man said, “Boss, the kid who caught the target has arrived.”

“Ohh … great!” replied an enthusiastic voice. “Let him in!”

Chris didn’t think much of this exchange, but Ethan did. Rather, he recognized the two voices who had spoken. The one who had answered the door was Darrel, the head leasher, while the one who replied was Samuel Harrelson himself. Their voices grated on his ears, causing his face to slightly grimace as bad memories surged to the forefront of his brain.

Having received the order, Darrel fully opened the thick wooden door to the office, allowing them to enter.

Stepping inside the office, Chris could faintly see signs of damage on the walls but he chose to ignore that detail. Instead, his eyes were drawn to the large conference table that had been set up in the middle of the room. Sitting around this table were important looking men in suits.

Of course Chris didn’t know, but these guys were Harrelson’s Territorial Committee. They advised him on all political, financial, governmental decisions he made. In fact, the person who bought Ethan from the Rose Corporation's slave market three years ago was sitting at that very table.

At the head of the table was Harrelson. He had stood up upon hearing Darrel’s announcement and a smile had crept across his face upon laying eyes on Chris.

Unlike most people who met Harrelson, he did not feel any discomfort. Maybe that was due to his poor eyesight and thus he couldn’t not see Harrleson’s face, but all he could feel was anger towards the man for the atrocious deeds which he had committed. An anger which he quietly kept in check.

“I trust that my guards didn’t cause you any trouble,” Harrelson said, circling around the table to greet him.

“Nah, they just opened the gates without saying anything. It seems I was expected.”

“That’s good. That’s good.” Harrleson repeated this twice, as he had half-tuned out what Chris was saying. Instead, his gaze was laser focused on the person who hung off Chris’s shoulder.

In response, he harshley tossed Ethan onto the floor near Harrelson’s feet in order for him to get a better look at his face. Ethan landed with a rather loud thud but didn’t stirr awake from the impact. Ethan played his part beautifully as his passed out body laid still, not even so much as flinching from being dropped.

“T-that’s really him.” Harrelson's smile became even bigger. He turned around towards his committee members with a joyous expression. “See. I told you when we raised his bounty that someone would turn him in.”

Hearing this, both Ethan and Chris internally smirked. Their rather impromptu plan had worked.

Back in Border Town, instead of fleeing with Chris, he had chosen to stay behind and create a big scene. Due to his actions there, Harrelson had become aware of his presence and had raised Ethan’s bounty in order to better ensure his capture. That way, when Chris turned him in, he would receive a larger reward than the original bounty specified.

Although Ethan’s plan was simple, it was effective.

“I’m glad we didn’t have to use the trap we had set,” one of the committee members with a frown still plastered on his face. In fact, all of the committee members had the same look. It seems they were not pleased with Ethan’s return.

Ethan could sense their reservations through the tone in the committee member’s voice. He guessed the reason behind it was because they considered him to be extremely dangerous, since he scarred Harrelson and had killed many leashes. Not to mention that his presence fed Harrelson's obsession with him. An obsession that one could imagine got in the way of work.

“True. We probably would’ve lost quite a few lives in the fighting, but it still would have been worth it. Well, it doesn’t matter now.”

Harrelson pointed at one of the leashers near the door. “You. Take Ethan to black box for the time being.”

Before the leasher could carry out that order, Darrell placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

“Sir, we’re currently using it to punish a group of house slaves,” Darrell reminded Harrelson.

“Oh right. The ones who were envious of Melissa and tried to harm her. Damn, I would rather not cut their punishment short. Still, put the roof over the box and let it cool down.”

“It will take a while for that to happen if we do cover it now.”

“Remember who Ethan Blade is, Darrell. Unlike when we first met while he was on the brink of death, now, he’ll be able to withstand the heat. Hell, he’ll last far longer than the slaves already in there.”

“Understood.” Darrell released the leasher’s shoulder.

As ordered, the leasher gently picked Ethan up off the ground, wary of him waking up. He nor the other leashers present had a slave collar on them. Therefore, should Ethan wake up, he was not confident he could restrain him. The leasher didn’t release how right he actually was as he carried Ethan out of the room.

As they left, Harrelson turned towards Chris. “You’ve done me an excellent favor, young man, and in such a short amount of time too. You deserve a reward. Ms. Ti… oh right. She’s not back yet.”

Having remembered that Melissa hadn’t yet returned from her lunch break, he was then forced to fetch the reward himself, a job which he would’ve given to her had she been there. This, despite him being not six strides away from where the money was stashed.

Walking back behind his desk, he pulled out a briefcase under it and set it atop the expensive wooden surface. Opening the briefcase with a satisfying click, he spun it around so that Chris could discern it’s contents.

“500 grand for you kid. I imagine you could probably use the money, given the state of your clothes.”

“Ha, tell me about it,” Chris said in a jokingly nonchalant manner while letting out a faked chuckle.

“No, you tell me about it,” Harrelson suddenly fired back with a serious glare. “What’s your situation? Someone powerful like you should be working for me. How about it?”

“No thanks. I just came for the reward.”

“I see,” Harrelson said in a dejected tone. “That’s a shame, really. And to think someone your age could take down Ethan Blade, the only slave powerful enough to give me a scar.”

He pointed at the scar under his left eye. “Man, you two’s fight must’ve been something else.”

“It wasn’t that tough,” he replied back with a smirk while shrugging his shoulders. These actions gave the illusion of confidence, but deep down inside, Chris was apologetic for lying about the subject. Especially when he had gotten his ass kicked by Ethan before.

“Really?!” Harrelson gave an impressed smile. “You must be quite powerful then, huh? What are you? A 5th tier? At your age? You must be one of those freaks that grow stronger extremely quickly without working too hard.”

“Maybe,” he said. Secretly, though, he was quite hurt by this comment. After all, if he was just a freak who became a 5th tier after minimal training, then Harrelson’s comment might not have evoked any kind of emotional response from him. However, he was, in actuality, a 7th tier who hadn’t trained a day in his life.

If someone much weaker than he was considered a freak, then what did that make him? A monster? Ethan had only stated that Chris was powerful, but that statement wasn’t very convincing coming from someone stronger than himself.

Now, however, he understood his words. According to Ethan, both Michelle and Alex Spencer (while on the serum) were 5th tiers, and he exceeded them in strength by a large margin.

“‘Maybe,’ huh?” Harrelson murmured to himself. “It sounds like you're unsure. Damn, your strength would be invaluable to us. Right, Darrel?”

Darrel nodded his head. “That’s right. If I’m being honest, it’s tempting to put a slave collar on him.”

Harrelson smirked at his statement. “You took the words right out of my mouth, Darrel.”

A tense silence overtook the room. Chris, taken aback by their sudden words, began frantically looking at his surroundings. He noticed that Harrelson and the leashers were staring at him with carnivorous eyes, as if they had found their prey to attack. The Committee members were slowly inching their way towards the exit in case a fight broke out.

He felt like they would try to enslave him at any given moment.

He gnashed his teeth, cursing Harrelson and Darrel’s greed. If they attacked, then all bets were off and the plan for Ethan’s revenge would fall through.

No one moved from their positions. Harrelson continued to smirk at Chris while Darrel and the rest slowly readied themselves to capture him should they be given the order.

Chris narrowed his eyes and widened his feet into a battle stance.

“You can try it, but you’ll die for sure.”

He spoke with absolute confidence.

Harrelson smirk turned into a full smile, as if amused by Chris’s answer. “Of course. I’m sure you are fully capable of making that a reality. Besides, I wouldn’t dare attack someone who had done me such a favor. It wouldn’t do well for my image.”

Chris, though he was naive, knew that everything out of his mouth was complete horseshit. He didn’t care about honor or his self image. Not to mention, he could tell that they fully believed that they could actually enslave him should they desire it. Though he wasn't prone to conceit, he still felt that these guys were far too overconfident for their own good.

The committee members, who hadn’t yet left the room, began shuffling back into their chairs while the other leashers relaxed their bodies, convinced that a fight would no longer happen. Chris marched over and grabbed the case of money off Harrelson’s desk, scowling at him as he did so, before walking back towards the door.

As he turned his back, Harrelson began apologizing to his committee. “Sorry about that gentlemen. It wasn’t my intention to cause a scene. Now, let’s restart our discussion from earlier. I’m quite eager to continue, given the great opportunity we have.”

“‘Great opportunity?’ Is it really wise to attack Arbhar? It is still empirical territory.”

Chris froze in the doorway when he heard this. He didn’t turn his head back, choosing to just listen.

“Why wouldn’t it be wise?”

“If a take over were truly an option, then we would have done so already. However, we always ruled that it would be disadvantageous. We would have to travel down Sucker’s road, which would put our army at great risk. And then, even if we were to arrive in one piece, the empire would surely do battle against us. We wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“But you see, that’s where you're wrong,” Harrelson said as he began pacing around the table. He failed to contain the excitement in his voice. “Recently, a terrorist group rampaged through there and killed off many of their law enforcement. Yet, the empire was nowhere to be seen. Once upon a time, this territory was also empirical land, yet my grandfather claimed it as his own and defended it with only a rag-tag group of mercenaries. While he did so, the empire never intervened. If they didn’t care about this land then, why would it care about Arbhar now? We’ve always though they would, given how little Territory the empire still owns on the continent, but now … now its clear that they don’t give a fuck what happens to the Territories here in the north.”

Chris’s eyes widened at hearing this proposal. Where had he heard about a terrorist group? A small thief gang became desperate and killed a handful of cops. Not a terrorist group.

What does he mean the empire doesn’t care? The Sheriff called in the empire for reinforcements because the police force was understaffed. That happened right as he and Ethan were leaving.

None of what Harrelson said made sense. Chris, at first, immediately scoffed at such a ridiculous idea, but then he thought about what would happen if Harrelson’s army did show up while Empirical soldiers were there. There would be a large battle that would involve civilian casualties.

His thoughts then shifted to what if Harrelson’s army arrived before the empire did. What then? He didn’t know how long it took for the Empire’s soldiers to reach Arbhar. In fact, he hadn't the slightest idea how long it would take Harrelson’s soldiers to get there either. It’s possible the latter could arrive before the former.

With this realisation, a wave of anxiety hit him like a truck.

“T-that’s true … I guess.” The committee members had no choice but to agree. Not when Harrelson was so adamant about the idea.

“Arbhar is a cash-cow for us. If we can wrestle control away from the locals, then we …” Harrelson noticed Chris was still in the room, listening.

“Hey, fucking get him out of here!” he yelled to Darrell.

Chris began thinking of him home. Arbhar, the place where he grew up. Where everything and everyone he knew resided.

He thought about his friends and family being lorded over or even enslaved by this power hungry, sadistic jackass and it made his blood boil. He curled his fists and began to turn around, only for an image of Ethan to pop into his mind. An image of him abandoning Chris for failing to follow the plan and thus ruining his revenge.

That was something he did not want. Though he couldn’t consider their travels thus far to be fun, he had felt more alive over the past week than ever before.

He knew that if he was abandoned, he wouldn’t have a chance of surviving on his own. He was too ignorant to navigate the world alone. His only choice would be to go back to Arbhar, and he adamantly didn’t want that.

He took a deep breath and attempted to calm himself down, knowing that, after today, this piece of shit would no longer be alive in this world and that his family would be safe.

Having calmed down, he resolved himself to leave Harrelson to Ethan. However, before he could exit of his own free will, Darrell decided to violently push him out the door.

“Get moving, boy.”

Chris stumbled out of the doorway and began to walk down the hall, aiming a scowl back at Darrell. After a few steps, a leasher, the same one who guided him before, exited the office as well and ran to catch up with him. He joined Chris at his side, proceeding to guide him out of the mansion and off the property.

Chris, once outside, looked back at the closed metal gates with an enraged look, finally discarding his calm and nonchalant persona which he had adopted for the occasion.

“Tch. Ethan, you better make sure he suffers.”

A dark thought, considering the person who it originated from. At first, he was not completely on board with the idea of revenge, but now, he gladly hoped for it. As long as he was not the one performing the killing, he had zero qualms with evil men facing retribution.

He glared at the mansion one last time before turning around and jogging, at a nice comfortable pace of 200 kph, towards the city wall.

***

Near the wall exit, a tall woman could be seen leaning against the side of a small, one-story building. Her arms were folded with one of her fingers tapping against her arm. Her single eye wandered as she aimlessly observed her surroundings.

Michelle, who hadn’t been there for very long, was not feeling impatient. Rather, she was just restless. In times such as these, her laborer personality would rear its head, causing her to yearn to keep herself busy. Time is money; a motto that matches her personality well.

During this stretch of time, she began to think about how crazy the day had been. Meeting Ethan again for the first time in years, being knocked unconscious, and now she was about to set a massive amount of slaves free. Obviously, this is not how she envisioned her day going.

Ethan. It’s the first time I get to see you in years and you're already putting yourself in mortal danger again. I understand that you're strong now, but it wouldn’t kill you to walk away from a grudge every once and awhile. Not that I’m one to talk. After all, now I’m also helping you with this.

She then wondered if she was physically capable of carrying out this plan. After all, a few of her ribs were still broken and, although the serum was quickly healing her body, she still was unable to exert full strength. Her back ribs ached when she moved.

Also, my gun. That damn kid broke it in our fight.

She resolved herself for the task of stealing a firearm off one of the leashers.

After waiting for roughly twenty minutes, her ears perked up to the sound of a commotion coming from the direction of the Harrelson mansion. Right as she turned her head to see the cause, Chris skid to a halt in front of her, taking off a good amount of rubber from the bottom of his shoes.

Raising an eyebrow, she looked behind him to see the people on the streets looking around for the fast moving object which passed them. She let out a slight smile as a result.

“Looks like you scared the people with that speed of yours.”

“Eh? Really?” He turned around and saw what she had. “Oh, guess your right. Sorry, street goers.”

“So, did you hand him over to Harrelson.”

Chris’s expression darkened. “Yeah. That asshole won’t know what hit him.”

"The money?"

He pointed with his thumb at his overstuffed backpack. "Here. I almost couldn't fit it with all the shit I have."

"Good. It wouldn't be worth it if the only thing that came from this was his own revenge."

"If that happened, I wouldn't care that much ... but I get your point. Anyways, let's do this."

They exited through the city gate, the guards only sparring them a look as they passed through. The guards standing by at entrance into the city were more strict as they couldn’t allow dangerous elements in, but if such elements were leaving through the exit, then that problem ceased to exist.

Once they were outside the earshot of any of the guards, Michelle and Chris turned towards each other.

“If we want to do this, then we should split up,” she said.

“Aight. I’ll take the mine.”

“That’s a bad choice. Your talents will be wasted there. Instead, use your speed to free those in the fields. You can cover larger distances than I can.”

“Ohhhhhh. Smart.”

“Remember, take out the guards first before you try to free anyone. While I think you could rip apart the metal collars with your hands, the guards should have the keys on them. Give those to the slaves. It’ll make your job easier if you allow them to free themselves.”

“Roger that,” he said with a cheeky smile before racing down the road towards the first field, blasting Michelle in the face with a gust of wind from his acceleration. She watched him disappear into the first field before turning her attention in the opposite direction.

Located north of the city was the mine. Not wanting to waste energy getting there, she broke out into a light jog, her ribs hurting every time she took a step. However, the pain wasn’t intolerable, so she pushed through.

***

A moment ago, back inside the mansion, after kicking Chris out, Harrelson turned his attention back to his committee members.

“Sorry about that. So, let’s discuss how to best mobilize an army. Since I’ve never attempted to overtake another Territory before, and neither did my Father, I haven’t the slightest idea how best to do so. So I will hinging on your suggestions.”

***

Meanwhile, a leasher carried Ethan down the halls to the west wing, where the black box was located. Eventually they rounded a corner and a putrid smell infected his nose. It was the smell of feces and intense body odor; the smell of the black box. He had honestly forgotten how terrible it had smelled when he occupied it in the past.

There wasn’t a bathroom inside, and a group of cleaners only sanitized it once a week.

Though it never reeked to this extent in the past, Harrelson and Darrel had talked as if there were multiple slaves being punished in the box right now. With multiple people trapped in a cage while in unbearable heat, it’s no wonder as to why the stench intensified.

Seeing the leasher round the corner, with Ethan on his shoulder, the guard stood from his chair and unlocked the door. As it opened, a few groans were generated from the slaves inside due to the sudden inpoor of bright light.

The leasher entered into the black box while holding his breath, quickly dumping Ethan onto the floor and chaining his hands to the wall with the Giovantine cuffs. He then quickly stepped out of the box and exhaled. The leasher apparently refused to breathe while inside due to the smell. The guard stationed there understood his pain all too well.

They quickly closed the door, entrapping the slaves in darkness once again. While the others had gradually become nose blind to the smell, Ethan had not. He struggled not to gag as the door was shut, cutting off any supply of fresh air.

The peep hole provided almost zero light. Therefore, he could not see the condition of the others, but he could sense it. Their Geinta signatures were all far weaker than the average person. At the current moment, their strengths were equal to that of a seven year old child.

That wasn’t surprising since they had been trapped in the box for over a day, persevering through the intense heat without food or water.

One thing Ethan noticed upon entering the box was that, although not enough time had passed for the box to cool per Harrelson’s instructions, he wasn’t affected at all. At most, it produced a light sweat on the surface of his skin. This was probably the result of his training.

During the winters in the far north of the continent, especially at high elevation where he was, the temperature dropped far below freezing. Yet he could train outside without much more than a light jacket. This was because he was taught how to regulate the temperature around himself with his own aura.

This was why, in Arbhar, he hadn’t minded the heat while wearing a black longcoat. The only reason he bought the coat at the time was because he hadn’t possessed one while in the mountain range and thus bought it out of an appreciation for warm clothing.

It took him many cold days and nights without a warm coat before he learned the technique.

Suddenly, he shifted his eyes towards the black box’s door, as if he could see through it. The reason for this was because he sensed that Chris had left the mansion.

Unless something went wrong, he obtained the reward.

Ethan wanted to start his revenge the second he had entered the mansion, but had held off until Chris received the bounty money. Unfortunately, during that time, he was brought to the black box.

Whatever. Anyways, they didn’t waste any time cuffing me.

Just the feeling of cuffs on his wrist grinded on his psyche and caused his heart rate to spike. A collar would surely achieve the same effect. Though he wouldn’t admit it, this was a form of PTSD.

He looked down at the cuffs which were meant to keep him subdued and snorted loudly, the sound turning the heads of a few curious slaves.

“So this is how they intend to keep me locked up. Pathetic. I cringe at the thought that I was ever this weak.”

In a swift motion while letting out a small grunt, he ripped the chains from the wall, shocking all of the slaves around him.

With the cuffs unattached to the wall, he pressed his fingers against their frames and applied pressure, eventually twisting the cuffs off his wrists.

He dropped the broken fragments of metal onto the ground and stood up, rubbing his wrists while he did so. Unimaginably surprised, the eyes of the other slaves were about to pop from their sockets.

They underestimated me. Best guess, those cuffs could only restrain people 5th tier and below.

To surpass the 5th tier is to surpass what most considered the natural limit of Geinta. The 5th tier is the strongest you could get without a Power Gem or undergoing a specialized type of training. Even if one trains, surpassing the 5th tier is extremely difficult. As such, technology that could suppress 6th tiers and up was non existent. There was no use for it, and even if there was, it would be highly expensive to create. The only ones capable of doing such things were Territories ruled by Kings and the Empire itself.

Ethan stood in front of the door and widened his feet, his left foot forward and his right foot back. He cocked his fist as it began to glow white.

[Geinta Fist]

The slaves all began backing away from him as much as possible, though they were chained to the walls so they couldn’t go very far.

He launched his fist at the door and struck it dead center.

BONG!

The metal door exploded off its hinges and into the hallway, where it crashed to the floor with a loud series of clanks. It continued to slide across the floor until it struck the wall at the end of the hall.

Ethan then cooly walked out of the box and faced the guard standing there in a panic.

“H-how?!” the guard screamed. “That door is Batrock metal! It’s indestructible!”

“Yeah, but the hinges weren’t,” he answered back in a monotone voice. He then quickly reached out, faster than the guard could react, and crushed his neck with a single hand. The guard lifelessly fell to the ground.

“Batrock is too stiff. You can’t build hinges out of it.” Ethan muttered this to himself as he reached down and swiped a key off of the deceased guard’s body.

He tossed it into the black box near the foot of one of the slaves. This entire time, they had been watching Ethan’s actions with starry eyes, and upon receiving the key, said eyes quickly turned to sheer disbelief.

“Use it,” Ethan urged them. These simple words induced an unwanted response from them. As they began to free themselves, each one professed the undying gratefulness with teary eyes.

He was annoyed at their overly appreciative attitudes, since it was honestly a bother for him. He hadn’t the slightest idea how to react, and thus found it awkward, embarrassing and irritating. Quickly leaving them to unchain themselves, he briskly walked down the hall. His expressions hardened as he recollected his focus.

Freeing them isn’t my objective. From now on, no more favors. Anyone that stands in front of me gets killed.

As he walked, he could sense the locations of all the leasher’s within a one hundred meter radius. Around the next few corners stood three. Unluckily for them, they stood in the route to go back to Harrelson’s office.

I’ll start with them. If they’re smart, they’ll run. I might even be merciful and let them go, but I know they won’t. They’ll be killed if they abandon their duties.

His eyes sharpened.

“It can’t be helped. This will be a slaughter.”