Ugh... my head hurts... and it's dark... Wait... my eyes were closed.
I was asleep? That hasn’t happened in... a while. More importantly where the hell am I?
Looking around it looks like I'm inside of a pretty big tent, big enough to fit this bed that I was laying in...
A bed? But I was high up in the tower, how the hell am I on a bed right now? What the fuck happened...
Oh. Right.
I lost.
I went into the fight with too much confidence in my strength, that giant demon whooped my ass so hard that I passed out... and...
I look down to see a missing arm, my right arm to be precise. The moment I and the giant demon clashed his giant sword that was even taller than me moved at a blur... it was so fast that even with my superhuman reflexes I couldn't see it properly.
After losing my dominant arm and my weapon it was pretty obvious how the rest of the fight was going to go.
Only after a few exchanges, I was on my knees from losing so much blood.
So that means I’m at a demon encampment? Either that or I somehow made it back down to Gaia.
Either way, I need to get up and- UGH
The moment I tried to stand up my legs gave way and I fell to the dirt floor.
What's wrong with my body... It feels so weak...
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
While trying to figure the cause of my weakness out I hear a loud rumble coming from my stomach, it looks like I was just starving... wait.
STARVING!?
That's right... I feel so hungry, I haven't felt hunger in such a long time. Food. Where can I find some food?
I desperately drag my body around the large tent looking for food, going as far as to dig through the small boxes near my bed.
Luckily I found some dried meat hanging on a nearby rack, not even thinking of what the meat was from.
After eating the entire rack of dried meat I finally felt full, a bit too salty but at the very least my stomach isn't eating itself from the inside anymore...
As I was in the middle of monologuing I hear footsteps coming from the outside, immediately reaching for the nearest pointed object, the stick from the drying rack, as a makeshift weapon.
I was surprised, to say the least when a girl came through the tent’s flaps, a human girl no less!
Was I really saved by humans from all the way up in the tower? Impossible...
“Oh, you’re awake.”
She’d mutter in surprise, not at all bothered that I was pointing a sharpened stick at her
“Brother wanted to talk to you as soon as you woke up, come.” She’d say with a gesture of her hand.
Should I follow? Well yeah, I need to say thanks at the very least for the ones that saved me...
I followed the girl outside, only to be greeted by even more humans who were casually walking around the tent city doing their day to day activities.
To confirm my suspicions I looked up and saw three Suns, the only way to separate the worlds inside the tower from the world outside, so that means there’s a human settlement this far up the tower? Amazing.
The farther in we go the more diverse the crowd becomes, from humans to harpies, heck even a few dwarves are in the mix, this is the most diverse group of people I've seen in a long time...
After all I was summoned in the Empire of Gaia, a nation named after the planet itself, they had a belief of human superiority over other races and treated their summoned as demi-gods... of course that only counts when the Summoned was in agreement with their beliefs, when I saw demi-human slaves in their markets being sold as products I let my displeasure known to everyone around me, this, in turn, made the higher-ups, mainly the bishops and the pope himself decide that my attitude was too unruly and had to be fixed through “Re-education”.
They held me down and cast a ritual spell which was a slavery marker that was amplified by a hundred, it changed me completely and stripped away my identity, All I could think about was climbing the tower and following orders...If I tried to disobey my mind was attacked with an intense headache.
Speaking of which, I haven't had a single headache the entire time we were walking through the tents...
My thoughts were interrupted once more as we finally reached our destination, a massive tent that had different flags displayed in front of it.
At first, I wasn't expecting much from the visit with the leader of the village but now I can't wait, someone who could manage a village this high up the tower must be extremely powerful.
The girl that lead me here simply bowed her head and gestured for me to go in, I guess I have to go in alone? Sheesh, this reminds me of a job interview back home.
As I enter the tent, the first thing that greeted me was the smell of herbs paper, lots of it.
A small mountain of scrolls was placed on top of a large table in the middle of the tent, and in front of the table itself was the very same giant that took my arm.