Magore poisoning is complex and has a variety of different effects on the body. Overloading one’s body with energy that it has no protection against leads to internal systems shutting down and the body to start to fall apart. If a person is in vicinity of it for a prolonged period or is repeatedly exposed to it, it could cause the entire body to shut down or leave permanent damage.

***

“You seriously forgot about the penal laborers?”

Sera had taken a break from the bread she had been chowing down to scold me for my foolishness. It was true that I had completely ignored the existence of the slaves who were not sent into the mines. I couldn’t say I was entirely at fault, since I was rarely in contact with them and most of their work was centered around supporting the guards. They still were the ones who washed off the mining outfits and clothes of the guards in order to remove any residual magore, as well as served and cooked the food. There was one important distinction, and that was that they couldn’t enter the mines. They lacked an aptitude, and the magore poisoning would kill them.

They worked here because they were criminals and had some level of usage to the Empire. They were still getting poisoning from the small residue that was left on the clothes, which meant that the work was very slowly killing them. In a way, it was a genius method to deal with the scum of society while still getting worth out of them and making sure they didn’t come back.

If it wasn’t so morally abhorrent I’d compliment it, but it doesn’t help that the slaves in the mines are innocent of any criminal acts against Arlin outside of warfare… I think.

Once I started thinking about it, I also didn’t remember seeing many male criminals… or any, for that matter. Maybe men were executed or were sent to do other work.

“I’m sorry, I just didn’t really pay attention to that. Plus, how much can they help us? Most of them look like they’re rotting away and I’ve never seen a single one look at me with any facial expression other than contempt.”

“Can you blame them?”

Sera felt a lot angrier about this than I expected. It was obvious that she had been thinking about this for way longer than I had and really wished that the person who was supposed to be the leader would take every single person possible into account.

“North, they hate this place just like we do. You want to liberate this place, and they’re just as much a victim of this place as we are. Once I get sent back to work, I’ll probably be doing the same stuff that they do.”

I let out a deep sigh, trying to keep my cool. It wasn’t even day 4, and I was already struggling to keep everything together or get people to work with me.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“I’m sorry. Do you mind telling me how you’re holding up?”

“It’s alright… still hurts like all hell, but Elric did some fine work getting it all in one place. You know, when it happened, I remember having the weirdest thought. I already knew it was bad when I was crawling out of the tent, but when I saw my leg my first thought was ‘Oh. So this is how it was for Liam.’”

I stared at her, hoping for the name to trigger some deeper memory in my mind. After searching for what felt like hours, it finally clicked.

“Wait, Liam? The kid who had the entire village searching for him for nearly 2 days?”

A smile slowly formed on her face as memories flooded back into both of our minds.

“I remember the search for him starting when my dad came with the news about it to me and mom. Liam’s mother was screaming about how he was lost and how she was worried that he might have gone into the woods on his own. So my dad and the other elders got all the other adults together to do a search for him, checking the outskirts of the woods. That entire night, the only sounds you could hear were the winds and a bunch of people yelling ‘Liam!’. The village basically gave up on the second day, and then I remembered some of the other kids in the village screaming that they finally found him. Turns out he’d just fallen into a ditch next to the road, and his leg broke. When I got there, I looked down at it and I swear it was broken in the exact same places as mine.”

Now that she had given a part of it, I could clearly envision the event and even the kid’s face.

“Actually, my dad was part of the search. He came back in the morning to the candle shop after the big search and the first words out of his mouth were ‘If I ever have to say Liam again, I’m going to lose it.’ I never saw him much but I remember my dad always looked at that kid with a glare whenever he showed up for how much work he made him do… pretty sure people were already annoyed with him, but that event definitely made it unanimous.”

We both let out a soft chuckle at the thought of him. I was glad to see Sera doing better and being able to relax slightly more. It was clear that the events of that night were still haunting her, but seeing her talk about it casually gave me some hope.

In that moment, Marlisle’s spirit was given a bit of life.

***

I woke up to the feeling of my arm being grabbed by a large palm and the sight of two very distinct blue eyes. I slowly got up, careful not to slam my head on the bunk above me and not wake anyone else up.

“Get up. We need to get moving.”

“Wait, are we trying to make a run for it?”

Elm stared at me and seemed to be holding back a laugh. I could still hear the rustling of the guards outside having small talk with each other. The nights of the camp were never too quiet, but having a man directly up in my face was more activity than usual.

“No. We’re heading to the Guard Captain’s office. From this day forth, you’re my magore technician apprentice.”

An unnatural smile creeped along his face.

“Hope you don’t miss sleep. You’re not going to be getting too much of it for a good while.”