There was a line for mealtimes in the morning with about fifty people looking to get bread and chowder, and as a special treat today, apples. Noa could hardly stand the fruit anymore, given how much trouble they'd been for him, yet he wasn't about to pass it up, especially when his diet sorely lacked at this point.
As he waited at the back of the line in the servants’ dining quarters, Noa studied the groupings of workers that either mingled, or simply hung out. The number of those were small. Most just hung their heads with exhausted looks, and from what he could tell, most of them were younger than him. Well, looks could be deceiving, considering how many people called him a twelve year old. Oh hell...
That brought another thought to mind. Maybe he’d been targeted because he appeared young. By way of knowledge of this world, he felt naive━likely the trait She-monstrosity looked for when manipulating others into doing free work for her.
After receiving his meal, Noa set his eyes on a small group of workers as they moved further into the large room━two men and one woman━and started in their direction. He sat down beside them, taking up a space between a blond guy and a dark-haired girl. That left what looked to be a dark skinned foreigner and the oldest looking of the group sitting directly across from him.
“What are you doing here?” the foreigner said with a clipped accent.
“I had a few questions,” Noa said.
“We do not wish for the likes of you here. You have the eye of Yana,” he pointed.
Ah, maybe that was why nobody talked to him. Noa cringed. He was, as far as anyone could tell, trouble. Surely some of them had to have caught on already that something was amiss around him, and Noa banked on it. “Maybe that’s because I’m brave enough to say I’m being wrongly punished.”
“Or too coward to admit you get what you deserve.” the foreigner crossed his arms.
“Alright,” Noa started, setting his tray on the floor in front of him. This man faced him head on, but when he looked at the blond, the young man was looking away entirely, and the brunette was staring down at her food. Leaning towards her a bit, he asked, “What were you accused of?”
“Nothing,” she said. “My family simply couldn’t pay for food anymore, so I work here to feed them, but...” she looked towards a dark-haired boy across the room, anger written across his face━a face similar to the brunette’s. She didn’t say more.
Noa furrowed his brow. There was definitely more to the story, but he didn’t want to pry too much. He turned to the blond. “And you?”
“Street urchin,” he simply said. “Got caught, and this town doesn’t exactly have a jail to hold criminals for long periods of time, or other ways to deal with folks like me.”
Huh. Maybe Noa was reading too much into this. Did other criminals go to other farms? Then again, the sheer size of the wardens here━She-monstrosity and her brute of a husband━would encourage people to finish out their time, considering if they broke bones every time someone ran. “Kind of a small town to be a street urchin in,” Noa said.
“Better to bounce between towns. I hitched a ride on the wrong caravan,” he said.
Noa sighed. This was fruitless. He looked at the foreigner, who sat straight-backed. “And what did you do?” he asked.
“Did I not tell you to go away?” he glared.
“Come on, man, just answer the question. If it’s not what I’m looking for, then I’ll go away.”
“And what are you looking for?” he narrowed his eyes.
After contemplating it for a moment, wearing a frown, he leaned forward and whispered, “I think we’ve been wrongly forced into servitude. It can’t be just me.”
“It’s true.”
Noa raised his brow, looking at the brunette.
“It’s true,” she repeated. “Yana promised that my family wouldn’t starve if I worked for her until they could get back on their feet. We thought it’d only be a year, but now my little brother is here, and he’s been convinced that I started working for pay, and that’s why my family is no longer getting food. Won’t even say another word to me, and when I visited home...” she sighed, rubbing at her forehead.
“Why did you not tell me this before?” the foreigner asked.
“Because you keep preaching morality more than any priest I’ve ever known,” the brunette huffed. “Saying cursed things like ‘we got what we deserved’. And what is that? You trespassed, and were told that’s three years of indentured servitude!”
“You got off on three?” the blond said. “I’m serving for five! Thought it was crazy. Most of the time, they send us urchins to a home instead. Ain’t none of those here. Would have been a better alternative than this place.”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Did Yana catch you both?” Noa ask the two guys.
“Waroc caught me,” the foreigner said. “Terrified me. I am glad you deal with him and not I.”
“I was caught by Yana. She saw me under the merchant’s caravan, which did sit higher than most caravans,” he said.
I bet Yana looks for these types specifically, or makes crap up.
“And none of this strikes you as weird?” Noa asked.
“Perhaps it does now,” the foreigner stroked his chin.
“You know what is weird?” the blond asked, and went on when they all looked at him, “When I got caught just over a week ago, the merchant mentioned something about how Yana has kept a stable price on her apples while the price has quickly increased on other farms. Something to do with all the apple thieving.”
“If the thieving is bad as she claims, Yana too would have to increase her price to keep running the farm,” the foreigner said.
Noa shook his head. “Not unless she doesn’t pay workers. If most or all of her workers are indentured servants, that’d give her the upper hand in the industry,” he said.
“Indeed.” the foreigner said, and the conversation fell silent, everyone wearing their best Sherlock Holmes faces as they tried to make the connections, though Noa suspected his looked more like he was constipated from how hard he thought about this.
The only conclusion he seemed to be drawing was that Yana was trying to run a business that would give her the maximum amount of profits possible, but then he wondered about the conversation with Priest Olwen the day before. She-monstrosity mentioned that what’s-his-bucket who’d served out his time just up and left town, and he vividly remembered the wrinkles around Olwen’s eyes, indicating he didn’t buy that.
“What happened to... to...” Noa wracked his mind to remember the name. “Ben...?”
“Bennigan?” the blond asked. “He was just gone one day.”
“Not a single word to any of us,” the brunette said, her eyes watering.
He’s dead, Noa thought, sure of it. He didn’t put murder past She-monstrosity or her husband. “Is that like him at all?”
“No,” the brunette shook her head, and wiped a tear away. “He promised he’d take care of me here, and then...”
“He was digging around for something, but said he didn’t want to drag us into it,” the blond noted.
I’m guessing he found it, Noa rubbed a hand down his face. What a mess. Maybe Bennigan had the right idea, considering the dangers, not to drag anyone into things, but... what if everyone was a part of the conspiracy Noa felt like he was building? What could he do to convince them of the shady crap?
He could go around, talking to everyone like this every mealtime, but given how short these times were, that could take weeks. He needed something that would grab everyone’s attention quickly and build rapport. Imagine fifty indentured servants just decided not to work anymore? Together, as a group, they could splash some big waves.
I can heal, he listed his greatest asset, and hummed. He pulled an aether strand out, and performed [Lesser Assessment] on the blond, hoping that’d give him a clue to if he had injuries or not. The information the spell gave him was good, vaguely indicating the blond’s general wellness and noting some superficial wounds over his hands. Should really use this spell more...
System [Lesser Assessment] level 1 → 2.
Picking a wound on the palm of the blond’s left hand, he healed it.
System [Lesser Mend] level 22 → 23.
The blond paused, picking his hand up out of his lap, his spoon halfway to his mouth. “Are you a [Healer]?” he asked, putting his spoon down and looking at Noa.
“A [Mender],” Noa said. “I’ll provide healing for anyone that comes to tell me what they know about Yana, this farm, or their ‘crime’,” he used air quotes, “that landed them here. However, they must come to see me in the church after work each day. Healings for information, as long as I have aether left for it.”
“A bargain,” the foreigner said. “You are a very interesting young man. Do you have a party?”
“Yes,” Noa said. “How come?”
“If there is room, I would like to join it. I am working on my third base class towards my enhancer grand class,” he said. “Even if we do not work together, the bonus will still apply.”
That was true, and given how long it took, even with a massive exp bonus, to level up from level 1 to 2, Noa highly appreciated that the system didn’t differentiate whether or not party members were working together or even within proximity of each other, far as he could tell.
Uh... System, invite... Who? Screw it, Invite Black Panther to the party.
System Invite Zahur to party?
Yes or no?
Yes.
After a moment, Noa received another notification.
System Zahur joined the party.
Status Effect [Party Exp Bonus +20%]
[Total Exp Bonus +50%]
Huh, neat that anyone could add people to the party. He’s going to max out our party with people here, isn’t he? Noa thought.
Sure enough...
System Zahur invited Conagan Calvez to the party.
System Conagan Calvez joined the party.
Status Effect [Party Exp Bonus +30%]
[Total Exp Bonus +60%]
“You weren’t already in a party with them before?” Noa asked.
“We were. I had to leave it to join yours. Now I’m inviting them to form a bigger party,” Zahur said.
System Zahur invited Enora Garandel to the party.
System Enora Garandel joined the party.
Status Effect [Party Exp Bonus +50%]
[Total Exp Bonus +80%]
That’s a nice jump, Noa thought, raising his brow.
“I will help you, Noa Kai, solve your mysteries here,” Zahur said, giving a smile. “In honor of Bennigan.”
Well, this is working better than I thought. Noa smiled. “Okay, then here’s what we need to do,” he said, leaning forward. “Have you ever heard of a strike before?”