For those of you who know my previous and ongoing work "Hiro's Journey" I appreciate you coming to read this story. For those  of you who are new to my writing I hope you will be entertained by reading this story. I will be adding 3 more chapters over the next day or so please rate and review my work. I will always take your comments into consideration and adjust my work to me the desires of my readers.

Enjoy the next chapter

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Chapter 3

The carriage quickly returned back to the master’s home. Once the carriage stopped Antonio jumped from his seat and opened the door to get his master. When he opened the door Antonio saw his master faced down in the Mistress’s lap.

Her eyes were filled with tears

“Quickly take him into the house!”

Antonio bowed his head and picked up the Master.

“Get the doctor!”, yelled the Mistress.

Slaves immediately dispersed as Antonio ran into the house with the Master in his arms. He quickly ran through the door and ran up the steps to the biggest bedroom he could find. He laid the Master on the bed and removed his armor. There was a deep wound in his chest and several superficial wounds on his arms and legs. He grabbed a blanket and pressed it into the wound to stop the bleeding.

“AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!”, screamed Master Sky

“I’m sorry Master but I have to stop the bleeding”, said Antonio.

Just then the doctor came in and said, “Antonio, you’ve done well. I’ll take it from here.”

Then the doctor began working on Master Sky. Antonio bowed his head and exited the room. The Mistress was in the hallway crying.

“How is he?”, asked Mistress Storm.

“I don’t know Mistress. He was losing a lot of blood.”

“Thank you for helping me and my husband. For that you will be greatly rewarded. Go and get your things. From now on you will be allowed to sleep here in the house tonight until the other slaves can build you a hut.”

“Thank you Mistress.”

“I was impressed with your skill today when you were fighting off the attackers.”

“Thank you Mistress”, said Antonio as he bowed his head and placed his hand over his heart.

“As my husband said, you will now be our personal guard. Your job will be to practice your fighting skills daily in order to protect us. You will be given better food and you will be provided with other perks that he will tell you about when you finish. No go bathe and I will have the doctor take a look at your wounds when he finishes with my husband.”

“Yes Mistress.”

You have gained favor with your Master and Mistress because of this you have developed the charm trait. As this trait increases you will be able to sway people towards you own ideas. They will listen to your words and follow you.

That is definitely good. When the time comes I hope this is high enough that I can convince the rest of the slaves to follow me in revolting against these two.

Antonio walked down the stairs and got the carriage. He drove it back to the stable and took the catgirl that was tied up into the barn. He placed her down on the ground gently as she still had not regained consciousness. Then he grabbed the horses and brought them all back into their stalls.

I’m starting to feel a little lightheaded. I’ve got to finish so I can lay down and get the doctor to look at my wounds.

Antonio braced himself against one of the beams that supported the roof of the barn. He took a couple of deep breaths and then started walking back to the house. As he made his way to the house, his pace slowed down dramatically but eventually he made it back. Once he got into the house the doctor was waiting for him.

“Antonio, come here”, said the doctor.

Antonio walked over and the doctor handed him a small vial with a red liquid in it. Antonio looked at it and took a sniff of the contents. He immediately frown his face up.

“Drink it. The medicine will numb you while I sew up your wounds.”

“Thank you doctor”, said Antonio as he drank the red liquid. He removed his shirt and glanced at a mirror.

What the hell!? I look like I’m only about 20 years old. I was 45 years old when I died. No wonder I was able to move so fast. My muscles are back along with my reflexes and stamina. At least I know that when I begin training again my body will respond.

The doctor sewed up the wound on his back and then rubbed some sort of paste on the all of his wounds.

+90 (140)

My health increased? I guess because he gave me medical treatment. Why did my max health increase? Maybe I should check my status.

StatusAntonio MeridiusLevel:4Race:HumanTitles:noneClass:Warrior Level 4Jobs:Slave level 9, Farmer level 5,Beast tamer level 6, Guardian level 1Health:140/140Mana:0/0Strength:60Agility:35Endurance:65(+1)Dexterity:37Wisdom:35Intelligence:37Luck:10Charisma:5-Attack:48Defense:46AbilitiesTame Beastcrop growingSkillsBow MasteryShield MasterySword Mastery

Hmm what do those two new skills do? How do I check them? I wonder if I…

Antonio touched his hand to the words “Shield Mastery” and then another blue translucent screen appeared.

Shield Mastery: This skill shows a person ability to handle a shield. This includes deflecting attacks, taking damage, and causing damage.

Oh so I guess sword mastery and bow mastery are the same. They just refer to my ability to use a sword or bow. This stuff seems very self-explanatory.

“Go rest in the room they prepared for you upstairs”, said the doctor

“Ok. Just one question doctor”

“You’re a slave like the rest of us so how did you learn medicine”

“Well, the elf doctor that used to be here took me on as an apprentice. I watched him for years as he sewed up soldiers and cured some illnesses. At some point the original doctor began to let me do some of his work. As the years went by the old doctor got grew feeble and he could no longer perform his duties as a doctor. One day we went into his home and he was dead. Ever since then the master took me on as the new doctor.”

“That is pretty amazing.”

“Now we can talk another time. Go get some rest before you injuries worsen.”

“Thank you again” Antonio said as he left the room walked up the stairs.

One of the maids in the house opened a door for him. Antonio walked in and immediately collapsed on the bed. His eyes slowly closed and he fell asleep.

In the morning, sunlight began to come through the window.

Knock.. Knock… knock.

“Come in”, said Antonio.

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In came one of the maids. She bowed to Antonio.

“What is your name?”, asked Antonio.

“My name is Elizabeth and I was sent up by the Master to have you come to his chambers.”

“I will get dressed and meet him now.”

“Thank you. Breakfast will served soon.”

“That sounds great because I’m extremely hungry.”

Antonio stood up and the maid quickly turned her head away quickly. She hid her eyes from the sight of Antonio’s naked body.

“I’m sorry do you have an aversion to the male physique?”, said Antonio as he quickly dressed himself.

“No I just haven’t seen a physique like yours before.”

“Oh well I’m sorry to have startled you.”

Antonio walked out of the room and went down the hallway to the master’s room. Once he was there a maid opened the door and he entered. There he found his master lying in bed. His skin was pale and his face was haggard. His chest was wrapped in bandages and he had several blankets keeping his body warm.

“Antonio, how are you feeling?”

“I am fine Master. My wounds from yesterday were minor.”

“Do you know why you are here?”

“No, Master.”

“Well I wanted give you a gift for your work yesterday. You skill in battle saved the lives of my wife and I.”

How should I respond? Should I be greed and ask for my freedom? Should I ask for a woman? That Elizabeth was cute and very shapely. Or should I simply be modest?

“Master your thanks is enough for me.”

“Skillful and humble, those are rare qualities in a man these days.”

“Thank you master”

“Well now, first I am having you a house built next to this house as we speak. In addition, I am having a couple of training dummies sent over for you to practice.”

“Thank you master.”

“I want you to interrogate that prisoner and find out who sent her. You may keep all of the equipment that you took from the dead soldiers as that will stop me from having to purchase more.”

“As you command Master”

“Now leave me. I need to rest to heal from these injuries. By the way there is food made for you downstairs in the kitchen.”

Antonio left the room and went downstairs to eat. The maids gave him some food that looked like bacon and eggs with some sort of potatoes.

I guess this world is very similar to mine.

Once he was full, he took a little of the food to go along with some water as he walked towards the barn where he left his captive.

Once he arrived at the barn he saw the catwoman on the ground still tied up. He left her alone and went to the carriage. Once there he took out the sword and shield from the previous day’s battle then returned to the prisoner. He shook the woman gently.

“It’s time for you to wake up”, said Antonio

“I’m awake and don’t touch me you filthy human.”

I guess I need to scare her a little bit so that she understands her position.

“Oh filthy human am I? Well this filthy human is able to decide whether you live or die. Now I’m going to ask you some questions and if you answer me truthfully and completely I will let you live. If you don’t answer me I am going to peel your skin off”, said Antonio as he slid the blade along her leg.

“Wait…Wait…Wait. I’ll talk”

“My first question is who hired you?”

“I don’t know. My boss the wolfman told me that we had a job to do so I did it. Only he knew who hired us.”

“Oh so you guys are mercenaries?”

“Yes we are assassin group known as the crimson guard.”

“Where is your headquarters?”

“It is about 2 days ride from here on horseback. You will have to go through a forest and deep within the forest is our stronghold but that doesn’t matter now because all of the members are dead now except me.”

“Oh your whole group is dead. Hmmm….. Since you can’t tell me who hired you and all of your group is dead I have no more use for you. So I guess…”, Antonio raised his sword.

“Wait, wait, wait! I will do anything. Please don’t kill me.”

“Anything?”

“Yes anything just don’t kill me.”

“Your offer is intriguing. I will think about it today and then speak to my master to see if I can keep you as my slave.”

“SLAVE!! You want me to be a slave!”

“Either that or a corpse. You choose!”

She lowered her head. Antonio walked over and lifted her chin. He fed her the food that he had taken from the main house. Then he held the cup up so that she could drink.

“Thank you. I was starving.”

“Your welcome. I’m going to leave you tied up until I get permission from the master to keep you here. They are building me a house and you will stay with me.

“What are you going to do with me?”

“You’re cute I’m sure I can think of something.”

“You’re not some sort of pervert are you?”

“Well I guess it won’t matter if you are my slave”, said Antonio with a sly grin. “I’ll see you later.”

Antonio made his way back to the main house to make his report. He walked up and saw the slaves working in the field and as he walked to the blacksmith shop. There was an unusually large man with bulging muscles and extremely dark skin. His head was shaved bald and he wore some black cloth pants without a shirt. In his hand was a large metal hammer that he was using to work on the metal.

The man turned around and said, “Ohhh.. you are the one that saved the Master and Mistress’s lives.”

“Yes that was me. I’m Antonio what’s your name.”

“My name is Bruce. How can I help you?”

“The master told me that I am supposed to be his guardian so can you sharpen this sword and repair this shield.”

“I can do those things but why are you are going to protect the man that enslaves us?”

“Well, what would you have me do?”

“Meet me at the stables tonight and I will let you know.”

Are the slaves here already planning a revolt? What should I do? Would they trust me because of the favor the master and mistress were showing me? I should just play along for right now though.

“Ok I will meet you then.”

“Don’t tell anyone about the meeting”, said Bruce with a stern face.

“No problem. I will keep it to myself.”

“I will take care of your equipment today and bring it to you this evening.”

“Alright thanks.”

Antonio left and returned to the Master’s home. Once there he was met at the door by Elizabeth. She led him to the Master’s room.

“Wait here I will check to see if he wants to see you any visitors”, said Elizabeth.

“Ok. Let him know I came to report about what I found out from my interrogation of the prisoner”, said Antonio.

She opened the door and after a moment she came back out.

“The master said that he will see you now”, said Elizabeth.

Antonio walked in and greeted his master.

“Greetings master. The prisoner was unable to give me any information as to who hired them. She was an underling and was not told the information about the employer.”

“Well that is disappointing. Is there anyone else in the gang that might know about who hired them to kill me?”

“From what she said, the wolfman was the leader and the only one that would have known. As you know we killed him.”

“So your interrogation gained no promising leads?”

“No master.”

“Is there anything else?”

“Well there is actually.”

“What is it?”

“I would like to keep the catwoman as my slave.”

“HAHAHAHA! My slave would like a slave. For your act of bravery I will grant you that wish. Take this and place it around her neck. This collar will force her to bend to your will as long as she wears it. All you need to do it put a bit of your blood on the lock. Once you do only you will be able to remove it.”

“What happens if she does not follow my orders?”

“She will experience pain like she has never felt before”, Master Sky said with a sinister grin.

“Thank you Master”, said Antonio as he took the collar and left the room.