Back at the caravan, he had to postpone his questions as the train set itself in motion. They asked Noviel to take the reins, and he went inside the carriage with Awa and Anabella.

As the spying spell had not been lifted, they could not talk freely, and a lot of info was exchanged through short sentences written on paper.

Anabella thought that the spying spell was probably only sound and raw images, but there was a certain risk there, so they abstained from exchanging too much info.

What he slowly started to understand was that the spell 'marrying' them was a strong spell giving benefits when they were close together and deficits when they were separated, both of them suffering during separation.

They could not break the spell themselves; only a high-level druid could do that. It slowly dawned on him that he was really married for an indefinite time, married to an undead elf and had two teenage girls as daughters.

This was a little bit more than what he had initially planned...

He did not dare inquire too much about the girls and what spell Anabella had done to make them her daughters; the only important thing now was that it was made true; they were bound in a similar way to her until maturity.

Considering that Awa was about twelve and Noviel fifteen or sixteen, they were talking about years!

He breathed deeply. No, probably after all this agitation with the slavers was gone, he will be again a free man. Fucking fuck, he was nineteen in the other world and had certainly no plans to marry in the next decade or so.

After a while, he had enough and went outside to sit near Noviel on the bench. He glanced at her and quietly giggled: a couple of hours ago, he was stressed about the question of which one to declare as his wife! What if he had named Noviel his wife, Awa as her sister and Anabella as Noviel's mother? That could have worked too? Or Awa? That small defining moment! Would Anabella have been able to pronounce them man and wife? Why not?

“What? Papa?” - asked Noviel with a small ironic grin, getting his glance but not understanding why he giggled.

He sighed and then hugged her under one arm.

“You can go inside; I can take over the reins...”

She shook the reins and shrugged.

“I prefer to stay here.”

“OK.” - he said

“What will happen to these people?” - wondered Noviel looking at the walking line of slaves.

He sighed again but did not answer directly.

“I don't understand why the caravan is headed for the Silver Town. We are in enemy territory, and anything may happen.”

“Enemy? You mean the republic?”

“Yes. We are an imperial caravan; the republic may attack, but the imperials seem to be quite confident, so I would think that there are no republican troops around.”

“And the kingdom?”

“I don't believe the kingdom wants to enter the war, even after small provocations like the caravan's raid. The empire has many troops, and it could easily face both, so the kingdom might protest, but they will not come over the border to attack. So, these people will go through triage, the promising elements will be educated to become brave slaves, the recalcitrant will probably end up in a salt mine or some other mine or simply be tortured and killed.”

“Tortured and killed? But then they lose a slave?”

He let a small, tired laugh and shrugged.

“There is always a small percentage that is being tortured to death as an example for the others. That is a very efficient way of ensuring compliance.”

“How do you know all this?”

He sighed.

“Don't forget that I lived inside the empire for about a year.”

“Huch!” - she exclaimed but did not ask further.

She threw him such a glance that he felt like hiding under a rock. How could you! - her glance yelled at him. As if the serfs in the kingdom would have it much better!? A noble has the right to fuck your bride before marriage? A noble can kill a serf, and the worst penalty would be to pay for the deed some money.

He shrugged.

The night that came was horrible. Some of the slaves had tried to protest and revolt, and they were condemned to watch how the revolt was suppressed without being able to do anything. Exactly as he had foretold.

They ate something in a hurry and went to sleep, and Geral ended with a shocked, crying Awa in his arms.

That was a new experience for him. The sobbing teenager was anything but sexy at that moment, and worse, he did not know how to calm her. Only holding her tight seemed to help, and interesting enough, that did not arouse him, even if her slender body was clenched to his. No, he could not think with his penis this time around! Only the thought of it send shivers through his spine. He cleaned her nose with a handkerchief he found in his inventory box and patted her head.

Her fear went deep, there must have been something that she had seen or lived through that added to it, but all he could do was try to soothe her.

She slowly calmed down in his arms, but only after more than one hour was she finally sleeping, still whimpering from time to time in her sleep. He stood tiredly up and went outside. Anabella was stirring something in a huge cauldron on the fire. Was she preparing their soup for the next month, or was this another undead witch's brew?

He sat by the fire with a tired look in his eyes.

“You cannot sleep?” - asked Anabella.

He shook his head. He looked at her, acknowledging her maybe for the first time. She was svelte, as tall as he was, with a pale white skin tainted blue, mostly covered by her dress with long arms, a practical grey dress that went down over her knees. She had half-long silver hair coming over her shoulders and strange golden eyes that lit in the firelight. She wore practical boots that went above her ankles, leaving just a couple of centimetres of her slender legs to be seen.

As she bent above the cauldron, he saw her rather slender but firm ass sculpted beneath the robe. She tasted the mixture with a wooden spoon holding her left hand on her tight as if suffering from back pain.

He had never looked at an NPC when looking for sex or friendship. Well, maybe like looking at objects. Some were even objects of art, like this undead elf. NPCs came as mercenaries or servants. Doing it with an NPC would have been like doing it with a tool, isn't it?

“Maybe this would help!” - she had left the cauldron and came closer with something in her hand.

She was holding in her hand a glass with something dark inside. He took it hesitatingly while she covered his back with a blanket. Was she role-playing for the slavers? Was this from the cauldron? No, it was not hot. He smelled the drink, then took a sip of it. It was a strong alcoholic beverage with an attractive peachy aroma! Not bad!

He let his thoughts wander.

Noviel had been the one that had raised his interest. At first, he thought she had been another player. She was the first NPC he had seen looking for quests at the adventurer's guild. He had joined their group expecting players and found out there were more NPC girls. Awa was even sexier than Noviel when looked at like an object, but she was a tad too young. Noviel was a bit too boyish to his taste. Anabella was... well, maybe she tried to stay in the background? She was beautiful but not the beauty that sprang into your eyes.

And now? Yeah, you join a trio of beautiful girls, hope for the best, and end up raped by a cadaver and with a psychic labile teen crying in your arms. Well, that was not really rape, but neither could he call it 'having sex'. He sighed.

He had suspected something foul about her ever since she had made that undead wolf, but not that she was an undead. Rather some dual class with a necromancer disguised as a priest. Dual classes were possible, but you had to carefully choose your skills to avoid clashes; in reality, a big pain in the ass.

He downed the drink in one gulp and felt the incendiary liquid slashing down his throat towards his stomach.

He shrugged, defeated: he felt responsible for them! Fuck! Was this her spell, or was this him?

He handed her the empty glass, and she asked:

“More?”

He nodded.

She took the bottle from her inventory and filled the glass again. He took it from her hand and sipped from it again.

“Maybe we should stay guard for the night?” - he said

She nodded.

“You can go to sleep; I'll stay.” - she answered.

“Oh yeah, she does not need to sleep.” – he thought somehow with envy. How was life when you did not need to sleep?

“I'll sleep tomorrow in the wagon!” - she added for whoever was listening.

There were so many things he wanted to talk about with her, but he knew he couldn't. Not now when they were actively spied on; it was a miracle they were still alive and free. One error would destroy everything.

“Please keep an eye on Noviel.” - said Anabella - “She is too impulsive and may do some stupid thing!”

He nodded. Was she talking about now, during the night? No, probably about tomorrow and about the slavers. Yeah, Noviel would gladly shoot arrows at the slavers.

Was this still a game? He had long lost the feeling it was a game, but now and then, such stupid thoughts passed through his mind. He watched as Anabella stood up and walked towards the guards with the heavy cauldron in her hand. What was she doing?

She chatted a while with the guards, gave them something and then went to the rows of half-sleeping slaves. He sipped again from his drink and observed her. She was walking between them, handing down bowls of soup and carefully healing left and right. Not making much noise, collecting back the empty bowls and spoons after a while. He watched her fascinated, like a dance in the darkness, another small ritual designed to bring a little bit of comfort.

Why was she doing this? Was she programmed to be a charitable NPC, or was she following some darker targets?

About half an hour later, he felt tired and went to sleep. Awa woke up and came to nest herself on his side, all wrapped in her blanket. When Noviel came on the other side, he warmed a little up. Was she seeking his company? He thought about what he could do, but then he heard her: she was silently crying under her blanket. He sighed. This was not exactly how he had imagined it.