Felix decided to wander around Gurnkey for a bit. It would probably be a few days until he was shipped off to the north.

He had a sudden realization that he had spent an awful lot of time traveling across the kingdom in a wagon lately, and was due to do even more of it in the near future.

Regardless, he decided he should make a couple of preparations. He decided it would probably be a good idea to have a gift ready for the Earl. He then immediately realized he had no idea what would make a good gift for the Earl. What do you buy a 70 year old man who has an effectively infinite amount of wealth?

Still, he thought, a token would be better than nothing. He thought about it for a second and he had an idea. He headed to the pub. Lucas was there, like he always was, currently cleaning. It was still rather early, so there was only Lucas and one old man eating some soup in the far corner. Lucas kept the place open even early in the morning just on the off chance for another sale. Felix respected the work ethic.

"Felix! I haven't seen you in ages. I heard you got shipped off to Fort Basil and then you came right back! What happened? What can I get you?" Lucas asked.

"Hey Lucas. That's about right about what happened. I am here for a small bit of business though. I'm moving out of Gurnkey actually, and heading up north. I wanted to buy some of the cider from my orchard back off of you for a gift. Can I pay you a bit extra to have you pick up 2 small crates in the market and fill both of them up with 20 bottles of that cider for me?" Felix asked.

"You want 40 bottles of your own cider? Don't you have any on your orchard?" Lucas asked.

"Nah, sold it all, so now I gotta buy it all back from you." Felix said with a shrug.

"Sure, I guess. I don't have much to do today actually, I'm pretty free, so I'll have that done by tonight. For 40 bottles of cider and the crates... lets see, each bottle of cider is 10 coppers... times 40 that's 4 silver... and for the crates... eh, probably 10 copper? So, 4 silver, 10 copper, please." Lucas calculated out.

Felix nodded and handed him 4 silver and 10 copper coins, as requested. He then hesitated for a moment.

"Lucas, I want a bit of information as well. I heard from someone that you have a semi-regular who comes in here named Scott. I know you can't give out too much information, because you have to respect our privacy, but... I just want to know, would you say he looks happy?" Felix asked, handing him a silver for the information.

Lucas hesitated for a moment, looking at the silver. He looked like he was thinking for a moment, then nodded and accepted the silver. "I suppose if that's the only question you'll be asking about him, then I can answer that much. Yeah, I know who you're talking about. He works out in the fields and comes in sometimes in the evenings, he works for the Lord. He always comes in with his fellow farmer buddies, and he has a smile on his face and they always laugh together and enjoy themselves, as quite a lively group. I would say he does look happy." Lucas said, with a nod.

"I understand. Thank you, Lucas. I'll be back tomorrow morning for my order." Felix said, and he turned and left the pub.

Felix headed to the market to have a look around. If he was going to spend yet another week or two in a thrice-damned wagon, he should at least make it a bit more comfortable. He perused the shops and bought himself a new bigger looking and well-crafted hempen and leather backpack, a jacket, a thick wooly blanket, a couple of new changes of clothes. All sorts of things which would make his traveling a bit easier. The Lord would be handling rations, so he didn't need to worry about that. While he was out, he spotted some of the perfumes that Faith had mentioned on display in one of the shops. He gave a light puff from one. It smelled of lavender, and was contained in small glass container. He decided to buy 5 of those as another gift for any potential female relatives he may have up north as well.

With that... Felix didn't really have anything to do. It was only about noon, and he had done all the shopping and whatnot he wanted to do. He decided to head home and double check everything was good there. Felix walked home without incident. He took a bath, and then he sat on a chair on his porch, staring at the orchard.

"Arboro." Felix said, turning his attention inwards to his spell space. Arboro was sitting there, looking bored.

"You're the grand spirit of darkness, right? Slavery spells fall under your purview, right?" Felix asked, looking at her.

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"That's right." she said with a yawn. "What of it?" she asked.

"Well... in my old world, there was no slavery. Well, there was, but it was illegal, and highly frowned upon, and largely seen as evil." Felix said.

"And?" Arboro asked.

"Are... are you really okay with slavery?" Felix asked.

"Why shouldn't I be? I'm a dragon, and a grand dragon spirit at that. Lesser beings exist to serve me." Arboro said, with a hint of pride in her voice.

"I guess I can see why you would feel that way, but... okay, let me ask you this then. If given the opportunity, would you enslave another dragon?" Felix asked.

"Probably not. Except for bounded couples, we dragons are pretty solitary and territorial. It takes the resources of a pretty large area to sustain a dragon, and unlike your kind, it's not like I could have a dragon do a lot of productive things like work a field or something." Arboro remarked.

"So, you wouldn't enslave another dragon more out of pragmatic realities rather than any moral issues?" Felix asked.

"Pretty much." Arboro said with a shrug.

"But, say, there was an important town you wanted guarded. Would you enslave another dragon and order them to protect that town while you went back to your own territory?" Felix asked.

"If they were weak enough to become enslaved by me, that's on them for being weak." Arboro said with another shrug.

"Wouldn't you take issues with being enslaved yourself, though?' Felix asked,

"Who could enslave the grand dragon spirit of darkness herself?" Arboro asked incredulously.

"You know what I mean, Arboro. Just hypothetically." Felix asked.

"If someone that powerful really existed, it would be an honor to serve them." Arboro said.

"And what if they mistreated you? If they beat you, or bred you against your will?" Felix asked.

"Then that is my misfortune for not being strong enough." Arboro said simply.

"Don't you think it would be better to avoid that entirely? You gave up your right to take slaves so that you don't worry about being enslaved yourself?" Felix asked.

"Felix, let me simplify this matter for you. What you take issue with is not really slavery, it is hierarchy. At the end of the day, you don't like the thought of someone being able to be above you who has the ability to do what they want with you, and so you don't want to take that power yourself because you have empathy. However, this viewpoint is not pragmatic in the slightest. First off, let me tell you, no one else will show you the same leniency in this world that you seem intent on sharing with others. The Baron and the military gave you no such pause when they drafted you to ship you out to the demons. And really, if the Queen or any other member of the Royal Family came out here to Gurnkey and ordered you to work a field, or to breed against your will, could you realistically resist them, or would anyone stop them? The only difference between you and Scott the field slave is that those in power realize it's more pragmatic to use soft controls and to give you an illusion of some freedom to keep you happy and compliant and productive, rather than directly enslaving and ordering everyone in the kingdom. They absolutely could do that if they so wished, though. But at the end of the day, the only reason you're better off than Scott is because that's what the rulers of the kingdom feel like." Arboro said.

Felix thought about it for a second and realized Arboro was right. If the powers that be could, and in fact did, send him off to fight the demons, or back to his farm, whenever they wished, then he really was only more free than a slave in theory. Hell, Scott might actually have been better off, he only had to work the rice fields, he didn't risk his life out at Fort Basil like Felix did, even though it was only by chance he became a field slave rather than some kind of a battle thrall.

"I see your point Arboro, but, two wrongs don't make a right. Just because other people are wrong for abusing the hierarchy, doesn't mean I should do the same." Felix remarked.

Arboro sighed. "Make up your mind. Do you want power, or not? If you do want power, take the opportunity with the slavers. If you don't, go tell the Baron tomorrow you've changed your mind and you want to spend the rest of your life sitting in this orchard cultivating apple trees, and then you can sit here and be perfectly moral and blameless while having absolutely no power to change anything." she said. "And besides, just as the Baron said, if you join them, you will have the opportunity to cut down on abuses more than anyone else outside of the industry. Think of how the Queen mentioned that castration of slaves was outlawed some 20 years ago. If you're inside the industry, you can make other, similar changes happen from the inside, and improve their lives directly, rather than pointlessly discussing morals with me here in your orchard where it won't have any impact." she added.

Felix thought about it for a moment. He realized a couple of things after thinking for a while. Firstly, even in his old world, feudal punishments were brutal. He had heard many horror stories of gibbets, and burnings at the stake. It may in fact be better to have slavery in this world, at this time, rather than to be without it, if it was being used as an alternative to a gibbet. A world with perfect morals didn't happen overnight. It happened very slowly, over time, with small improvements here or there. So it wasn't really fair for Felix to be judging this world by the moral standards of his own world, especially when this one was not as far developed yet. It was better to see if things were slowly improving over time, which, since castration of slaves was outlawed, it was proof that there were tiny steps being taken in better directions over time.

Felix didn't have the opportunity to become god-king of the world who could lead it to moral perfectionism, not that he was morally perfect himself anyway. But he did have the opportunity to get in to the slaving industry. He could do some work there, and maybe make things better.

"Okay Arboro. I understand. I'll go to them, like you said." Felix said.

He then began to absorb the wood element around him, while he worked on the wood element portion of Harden, which he still needed to finish.