The Arlin Empire acquired slaves through multiple means, one of them being the penal system. The death penalty was uncommon even for the most heinous of crimes as the Empire believed that even the worst scum still had their uses. Crimes that were considered a blemish on society such as rape, murder, arson or mass larceny would lead to mining camps or permanent servitude.

***

Fuck… how am I supposed to do this?

I was extremely eager that night, but my mind began to stew as I laid back in my bunk. My statement about not having a plan was sadly true. I definitely wasn’t the best at that type of stuff and would need help from others. But the main things I needed to think about were all the issues that I would have to deal with.

According to Sera, there were currently 83 of us at the camp. My belief was that in order to make a revolt work, we need to at least get over half of them to work with us. If we get more than half, it’s way more likely that others will join in during the actual revolt. That means we needed to convince around 42 people at least to potentially put their life on the line just to escape. That was already enough of a problem since it seemed like a good portion of the people here were pretty adamant on surviving in the safest way possible and might have seen what happens to an escapee. It wasn’t a pretty sight. But that was an issue that could be dealt with after we had a plan, although the thought of it did weigh on my mind.

The first and most obvious issue was the cuffs. As long as these things were on our ankles, none of us could use mana in any form. I was the only exception, but I had no idea how to do anything other than act like a crappy candle. Thinking back to my past, it was somewhat fitting. From what I could tell, Elm had some knowledge about how to use magic and understood way more than I thought. He also apparently knew that the cuffs were imperfect on some level, which confused me. He hadn’t told me much about his past, but he definitely knew a lot more than he was letting on. Either way, the cuffs were going to be a major problem when it comes to escaping and potentially finding a way in society. The brands on our back were small enough to be hidden and could be dealt with through natural means. There had to be some way to get the cuffs off and I was hoping that it didn’t include any form of amputation.

Then there were the guards. From what I could tell, a majority of them lacked any magical aptitude. I didn’t remember really seeing anyone in the mines who wasn’t wearing that protective armor. That didn’t mean that they weren’t dangerous. Every guard carried some form of magore weapon which could mow us down like flies. They also carried batons, which were used to hurt us and immobilize us, but not to kill. There was a separate building farther back inside the camp which was more heavily guarded than others which I assumed contained most of their weaponry and important tools. From what I could tell, the higher ups at the camp most likely had some form of communications device which they used to talk with others. Although I’d not really thought too much about it, there was very little exchange of letters or mail outside of shipments of tools and exportation of magore to refinement locations. The closest thing I’d seen to a letter was a care package one of the guards showed off to us during dinner a few months back. If the camp had some way to contact others that was faster than a letter, then it was something we had to take into account.

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The guards had to die fast and not have a chance to give out word. The longer we could delay news of the revolt the farther we could get away from the camp. But we also had to be able to find the mechanism to remove the cuffs… it was an absolute headache just trying to put it all together. The best case scenario would be to get our hands on the magore tech that the guards had, but we had no idea how to get them without taking it from a guard, and that would inevitably set off a chain of events where they would declare a warning and it would all fall apart.

The second biggest issue would be timing. If we’re going to do it, we need to plan out a specific time where we can do this and have a check on the position of all the guards so we can take out as many as possible. They swapped shifts with each other, so there wasn’t any time when there was nobody on watch. That wasn’t the most pertinent problem. The problem was the 60 days. My first and foremost priority was making sure that Sera survived. We had less than 60 days to plan this all out and get everything set up for what would have likely best been planned over the span of years. It was probably closer to 50 days, considering the camp wasn’t too keen on wasting time and effort on what was assumed to be a useless tool. There were a few others at the camp who also liked Sera, so the time limit did have the benefit of making it easier to sympathize with our cause and be more proactive. Still, it was a harsh time limit. Once Sera could move slightly, she’d probably be sent to do menial work that didn’t require her to go into the mines, but that didn’t make her safe. In fact, it put her at risk of more abuse. The camp had one goal, and any tool that couldn’t fulfill that goal was a waste of space. It was going to put a wrench in things.

It didn’t help that we were also under constant watch and rarely had time to talk with each other for extended periods or have access to material which we could write upon. Too much interaction that wasn’t necessary was punished, and getting people on our side through discussions with them would naturally look suspicious. The second a single one of us talked or was discovered planning to do a revolt, it would all fall apart. Most of the people here could keep quiet but there were some voices that were naturally louder than others.

I didn’t even want to think about what we would do afterwards, assuming the non-existent plan went well and we destroyed the camp. The camp was far from anywhere that could be called civilization, and the only road that presumably led somewhere was the road towards the refinery, which meant we would be walking even further into the Arlin Empire. We’d have to go somewhere at least, since the supplies that arrived at the camp would inevitably stop coming in and any shipment that arrived would find this place completely in shambles.

It was just one massive headache after another trying to plan out how to escape. I knew there was a way, but there were so many things limiting us that coming up with a strong plan felt like an impossible task. I couldn’t do it alone, but Elm clearly expected for me to be the mind behind this operation. Sera would probably be able to help since she was a lot better at thinking these things out than me, but I couldn’t burden her anymore than she already is burdened now. Elric would be useful, since he had some pretty good craftsmanship skills, but I couldn’t ask much more from him than that.

We needed help. Lots of it. It wasn’t going to be easy but the people here were determined to survive. If they weren’t, their bodies would have already rotted away.

I lifted up my left hand and clenched it into a fist. Although no light came from it, I could feel a soft warmth pass throughout my entire body.

Nobody ever said this was going to be easy…