Conny, if it sounds a bit corny, then that's what a lot of it was. A tan-skinned young man with messy black hair, black pupil eyes, and a thin body. He is not a noble, a savant, or a descendant of a legend. He is an ordinary young man, just your average joe that's from a village, wearing ragged tunic and short letter pants giving off the vibe of the damned one.
And in that said village, there exists a farm, this young man, Conny is one of the farmers of that farm. The farm is not his asset. It belongs to his landlord, Jerrim, thus, Conny ended up having the responsibility for managing wheat fields and herding the sheep.
"*Huff*…*huff* just…a little bit more,"
Conny convinced himself while sweeping his accumulated sweat on his forehead, the sun was perfectly aligned above his head, the scorching feeling he felt, and his exhausted mind made his body scream to rest, especially on that spot, a large shade tree on the west, unfortunately, no matter how tired Conny was, he can't leisurely take a rest, not when his job is not finished yet. He must plant these wheat seeds before the end of the day, if it's being delayed for a day, Jerrim will not give him a penny.
This is all to pay my family's debt, if I slack off for a day, Jerrim will sell me and my sister, I can't let that happen at all cost!! Conny murmured.
A couple of years ago, to be exact, a day before his little sister was born. Conny's parents were unable to pay for maternity costs, without many options left, Conny's father loaned some money from Jerrim. Jerrim agreed to give Conny's father the money. Still, he made a contract which stated that Conny's father must pay 50 gold coins as interest. If he can't pay it, Jerrim will give two options, Conny's father agrees with bitter feelings.
A year later, Conny's father barely paid 20 gold coins from his hard work and side hustle. Well, he can't earn much because he is a farmer of Jerrim. To make matters worse, Jerrim intentionally paid him less and gave him harder work, as a result, Jerrim succeeded in blackmailing Conny's father. He threatened Conny's father with two options, the first option, was he would sell Conny's family to the market to clear all the debt, or the second option, was to pay off all the debt with something else.
Conny's father felt furious and frustrated, but he also felt sad because he couldn't do anything solely from the fact that he was a nobody. Compared to Jerrim, the kingdom favored Jerrim more, because he is a noble and has a ton of assets, unfortunately, Conny's family is one of Jerrim's assets. Conny's family is a slave family that belongs to Jerrim.
Moreover, the kingdom gave a verdict that all the people who owned a slave, could make the slave work for them, but not to the point they would die of overworking, the kingdom also stated a law if the slaves were rebelling, the owner may punish them, if the owner got killed by the slave, then the kingdom will hunt down and execute that slave. That's one of the regulations from King Edward IV.
It's a valid rule for all the subjects of the Welsterven kingdom, the Welsterven kingdom won a war with the Rashmol kingdom that's in ruin now, sadly Conny's family is from the Rashmol kingdom, all the citizens of the Rashmol kingdom and it's descendant got labelled and treated as a slave. Also, the nobles and the imperial families of the Rashmol kingdom were executed without mercy, which was a tragedy for the citizens of the Rashmol kingdom, giving some of them life in a perpetual state of depression and frustration that led to the last option. To commit suicide rather than to live a life as a slave.
"*Ouuff* m-my back... man, *sigh* I'd turn to an old man if I keep doing this."
Conny groaned, cracking his stiff body by twisting it to right, left, up and down direction which made quite a popping sound from his tense nerve, then massaging his shoulder with his hand, after that he let out a long sigh, a sigh of relief.
Fuuh~ finally, I've done this exhausting job, next... I need to watch over the sheep.
Having finished his exhausting job, Conny mumbled to himself, he approached a large shady tree, then he lay down underneath it, seeking respite from the sun, and relaxing both his mind and his body, while his eyes glued to the flock of the sheep, some of them eating the grass, drinking water in the clear pond, and sleeping under the same tree beside Conny, that was peaceful. But, Conny's mind can't be in a peaceful state. It keeps bugging him with a question, Conny's mind buzzes with a relentless question like someone is giving a passionate speech over and over again.
Is this what you call life? feeling your skin got burned by the sun on scorching summer, look at your skin, it's darker now than it used to be, you are not a slave Conny!!.
Of course, that is what's in Conny's mind, he can't scream out loud; that thought was too dangerous, Conny still loved his life, didn't he? If he does he needs to shut up and be grateful to even life and still breathing. If he dares to let his intrusive thoughts win, it'll be no different to kiss goodbye to his life or maybe Jerrim will sell him to the black-market, even worse, putting Conny into a slave auction. Conny, who already felt tired because of the physical labour he did, slowly but surely closed his eyes and he thought that nothing could go wrong for the sheep.
"*Yawn*… I think I'm gonna need to take a nap maybe 1 or 2 hours will do…"
The gentle breeze whispered through the leaves, offering a soothing lullaby to Conny as he lay under the shade of the large tree. He couldn't resist it any longer and finally closed his eyes. Everything felt exhausting—he had risen before early dawn and completed numerous tasks before the morning sun even appeared, explaining his profound weariness.
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It was darkness, a pitch-black darkness, when suddenly a torch lit up, the tiny flame lighting up the whole room, the room was small and crude. Inside the room, there are four people, that's Conny and his family, Silvie, his little sister and Conny's mom are sleeping soundly. The atmosphere in that room was tense and gloomy, yet the little Conny looked happy. Looking at his sleeping little sister's face, Conny giggled, his father approached him with a grim face and touched Conny's shoulder which startled Conny.
"D-dad? what's wrong, why did you make that kind of face?... l-look, Silvie might get scared. Besides, today is Silvie's birthday we gotta be sneaky and surprise her tonight, hehe."
Conny giggled again, but his father still made that grim face. Looking at his sleeping sister's face, Conny wanted to surprise her, so he grabbed the blanket, but then his father said this to Conny.
"Conny… forgive me, forgive your pathetic dad."
Conny's father said it while hugging Conny, his eyes were bawling with tears, and he silently cried while embracing Conny, Conny didn't know what to do, he felt…sad witnessing his father in this state, but he also felt confused and upset because his father just ruined his plan to give a surprise to Silvie, the conflicted feeling inside little Conny is overwhelming.
"Why are you apologizing, Dad? You didn't do anything wrong, though?"
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Confused, Conny asked his dad, why did his dad apologize, for what? looking at his father's weak figure, he can't grasp whatever is happening. Conny's father looked straight into Conny's eyes, the torch fire made a reflection of his face, it looked quite scary, then he weakly said.
"Y-you… w-will... become... Jerrim's slave."
Conny doesn't understand, the word slave is strange to him, and he doesn't understand what it means, all of this feels strange, his father's action today is strange, there is something going on that makes Conny doesn't understand which is quite strange.
"A slave is…a person who gives his body and soul to his owner…a living sacrifice..."
Uttered Conny's father, his face looked scary now, and the torch fire went out making the situation worse, then Conny felt something on his stomach… like a warm feeling, yet his hand got sticky wet when he touched his stomach.
The dimly lit torch lit up again, and then Conny saw it, the horrifying situation that befell upon him. His father cut open his stomach with a scythe dripping with blood, the inside of Conny's stomach slowly flowing to the outside, blood splattered around the wooden floor. Conny wants to scream, but he feels that he can't do it, not when his inside slowly flows out like a group of fish trying to escape a pond. His vision got blurry, then he heard a strange noise before he completely blacked out.
-Baa…baa.
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"AAAAHHH!!"
Conny woke up drenched with cold sweats on his back and his forehead. His breathing became erratic, he nervously looked around, and got a sense of relief that he was not in that strange room. However, one female sheep is constantly headbutting his stomach, his lower abdomen, causing discomfort to him. Fortunately, it didn't have any horns or else Conny's stomach might have burst open like in his recent dream.
"Y-you… dumb sheep!, what's wrong with you, huh? Thanks to you, I had a nasty nightmare, if only you didn't belong to Jerrim, I'd turn you into a skewer!."
-Baa…
Conny gets up and tidies himself up, but the female sheep keeps headbutting him, it seems like it's trying to tell Conny about something, if only he could communicate with it somehow.
Man, what's wrong with this sheep?, it doesn't get bitten by rattlesnakes, and its body condition is perfect too, hmm… let's check the other sheep.
Conny began checking the other sheep one by one, well, he just observes them from afar, then the realization struck him, he finally realizes what is the problem and the said problem is a grave problem.
"Shit…it's not 20 sheep but 19 sheep!!, where the hell does that one go? Is it the male sheep that's always sticking to the female sheep that headbutted me earlier? oh lord…"
Conny freeze like a statue for a moment, then he grabs his own hair, and bites his lips. He can't imagine what kind of punishment he will get, his family is already in debt yet he managed to add more debt, one healthy adult male sheep is roughly 1 gold. But, considering Jerrim is, with that kind of person he is, he will probably demand 10 golds, Conny doesn't have that much money and his father is low on money at the moment, Conny's family is already on the edge of the cliff and he managed to push them downfall into the abyss.
"Calm down Conny… calm down…calm- shit, just my luck…damn sheep! …fuc-"
When Conny curses out loud for whatever reason it is, he notices something when he looks at the ground, he immediately crouches down to the ground, scavenging the dirt with his own hands to see it more clearly.
A footprint!! Ah thank god…a lead, but this footprint, it's heading to…
Conny looks at the direction where the footprint ends, a strange and taboo place, even Jerrim forbids anyone to enter that place, a place with one giant tree that looks intimidating even from afar, it's so tall to the point that the tip of it touches the clouds.
"The Cursed Coast Redwood Forest…*gulp*."
Conny swallowed his saliva, his guts, and maybe his balls. For his entire life of 18 years, he didn't dare to even approach the periphery of that place and here he is, he can't help his shaking legs.
The Cursed Coast Redwood Forest is a strange place, it is rumored that it was a place for some kind of heretic to worships an evil god, even Jerrim didn't know much about that place, when the war of Rashmol and Welsterven kingdom occurred, it was said that all soldier from both sides vanished and only their war uniform left that was soaked in blood.
Dad always told me and Silvie many haunting stories about that place, Silvie always ended up crying whenever Dad mentions that place.
Conny mumbled, he kept looking at the giant tree that stood there, what seemed to be the center of the forest, the yellowy red sky and the sun almost set. In that bizarre and eerie situation, look ahead, Conny's life is on the bet.
"Shit, its already this late…I need to at least search that damn sheep first, so I can explain it to Jerrim."
Said Conny as he cautiously entered The Cursed Coast Redwood Forest, the moment Conny set his foot on the forest, all the trees he passed by transformed into deep crimson hue, though he remained unaware, his focus fixed ahead. Little did he know a sinister event awaited him in the heart of the forest, poised to forever alter his life.
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The Cursed Coast Redwood Forest, as its names suggest, not a single animal inhabits this place. The only thing in this place is these ruins that used to be an altar and trees, especially that giant tree.
It seems like these ruins intentionally lead me to that giant tree… is there something in the center of this forest?
That's what Conny thought, he kept walking through the long grass and bushes, all the ruins here being completely devoured by wild plants.
"Honestly speaking, rather than a forest it looks more befitting to call this place a maze, just what is this place?"
Suddenly, Conny heard a noise!! startled by that, he immediately hid behind one of the trees.
W-what is that…c-could it be a monster?? this is bad.
Conny hides and waits for god know how long it was, his heart pounding really fast especially when that noise becomes closer and closer to him. If it's not for this tree, Conny might get spotted and get killed, fortunately it seems luck is on his side today, because that noise gradually became distant from him.
"S-shit, I thought, I would die for a second there… deep breath…deep breath."
Conny tried to catch his breath, that was a nerve-wracking situation, god only knew what kind of thing lurked in this cursed forest.
In the first-place, people avoid going deeper into this forest unlike Conny, but he is desperate now, because he is in a life and death situation. He preferred the uncertainty of the forest to the certainty that Jerrim would put him in an auction. A fate is awaiting him for neglecting his duty over one missing sheep. Conny let out a long sigh, then he continued his searching endeavor.
*Sigh*, still no sign of sheep… it can't be, that was a sheep, right?
-Baa…
It's the sheep!!… but the sound comes from that direction… I'd better hurry… It's almost night time.
Conny began to crouch and move as fast as he could to the giant tree. When he finally reached that giant tree, what it seemed to be a center of this forest with the giant coast redwood tree, it was so tall to the point that the tip of this tree probably touched the clouds. but that wasn't the reason Conny froze on his spot, it was something else, on the bottom, on the roots of that giant tree there was something there, he couldn't help but be stunned and got terrified when he looked at it with his own eyes.
What in the world is this…
In front of Conny is a staggering 15-feet marble white statue without a head, a headless statue with muscular physique, it portrays a person praying with both hands clapped together on its chest and all the roots of that giant tree seems like entangling that statue. Then, Conny heard a sound of the stone moving. The stone slab in front of that statue moved itself, revealing a large spiral staircase leading to the bottom of the place. That stone sound snaps Conny back to reality, since it comes to this, he needs to search for the sheep thoroughly until the end.