“Damn, that Baron!” Emilia exclaimed. “To hell with him!”
Lucille adjusted the towel wrapped around her. “He’s sick. That boy is sick in the head.”
Stick didn’t fully grasp the situation. “Is everything alright?”
“Nothing is alright!” It was Lucille who shouted this time. “He made us- He wanted us to- A child… I mean, you look younger, but most NPCs do nowadays. Why would he want us do something like that? There are laws against that.”
Emilia stood up to embrace the rambling Lucille. “It’s okay, honey. We didn’t do anything wrong.”
Despite the hot steam in the room making the three of them sweat, Lucille was shivering. Emilia comforted her until she calmed down.
“Ew.” It finally clicked in Stick’s head.
Emilia turned sharply. “What do you mean ‘ew’? Does the thought of it disgust you so much?”
He didn’t mean to insult the obviously pretty women. “No, no, it’s just… The Baron. As a person, you know? Just ‘ew’.”
“Oh, yeah.” Emilia turned back to Lucille to massage her shoulder.
“Why are you two his slaves in the first place?” Stick asked. “You’re Players!”
“We’re not some cheap sex slaves, you dimwit!” Emilia shouted.
Emilia was about to slap Stick, but Lucille held her hand.
“Stop it!” she said softly. “He’s right. We might as well be.”
Emilia took a step back. She decided not to participate in the conversation anymore. Instead, she took another towel from the racks and started to clean up the mess on the floor.
“We’re not slaves,” Lucille began to explain, “but we are serving the Baron and his associates in different ways.”
Stick had to readjust his torn rags. He started to get a bad feeling.
Lucille continued: “There’s not much one can do in the East with LVL 15. Most jobs Carnifex provides require you to be a higher LVL. And they usually involve occupying the land of the NPCs, unless you’re exercising a profession like Blacksmithing for the army in the capital. But you have to be Max LVL to do that.”
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“Why is there such a big difference in LVLs?” Stick asked, thinking back to the Paladin who travelled to the front lines.
“You really don’t remember anything, do you?” Lucille asked.
Stick shook his head.
“The war with the Heavenly Union keeps us from going to the appropriate levelling zones,” Lucille said. “We tried fleeing to the West, but the border in the South is too fortified. If we tried crossing from anywhere else, we’d be killed by monsters. The only choice we have left is work here in the Whispering Woods.”
“So you’re trapped here?”
“No, we are free to go whenever, but there’s nowhere else we can safely go to. It’s either work the fields or serve in the mansion. But working under the Baron is-”
Emilia started to weep. She was picking up some shards with a sunken head.
“Emilia…” Lucille started to rub her shoulder.
“It’s fucked,” Emilia sobbed. “Working under the Baron is fucked.”
Stick clenched his teeth. So getting out of here is just the first step. Fleeing from Carnifex to the West will be the bigger challenge.
Somebody knocked on the door.
“Five more minutes!” they heard through the door.
Stick was unsure if he should answer the knight. “Thanks!”
“Whatever he wants from you, don’t trust him,” Lucille said.
“Yeah, I got that already. But thank you for the warning.”
Emilia wiped the tears from her eyes. “He likes to demonstrate his power over people. We refuse to offer him our services, because he’s underage. That’s probably why he wanted us to-”
“Seduce you,” Lucille interrupted her.
“I’m sorry if we made you uncomfortable,” Emilia said. “He promised us twice our pay if we went through with it.”
“It’s fine,” Stick tried to assure them.
But it was in fact not fine. He was still upset about the whole ordeal. This whole system is broken. It’s not their fault, they’re desperate for money. But still…
He opened his [Inventory] and retrieved the [Diamond]. It appeared in his hand.
“Here.”
“What? What’s going on?” Lucille asked.
He offered the diamond to the women. “This is for you two. Thank you for all the information you gave me today.”
Lucille was hesitant to accept. “Do you mean it? Are you sure?”
“Oh my God! Look at that baby!” Emilia grabbed the diamond and held it against the light. “That must be at least 1000 gold!”
“Emilia, give it back!” Lucille pleaded.
But Emilia’s eyes were sparkling like the gem in her hand. She was transfixed.
image [https://i.imgur.com/AkLZjk1.jpeg]
“No, take it.” Stick smiled. “It’s a token of my appreciation. So you don’t have to follow every order the Baron gives.”
“Thank you so much,” Lucille said on the verge of tears. “That’s very kind of you.”
Emilia slowly got back to reality. “I thought you were just an NPC miner. How did you get it?”
“Well, that’s the thing,” Stick answered. “I’m not just a simple miner. I’m the greatest miner. I’m Stick Arslan, the man who will become the greatest hero of this world. I’ll be the one who will free the slaves.”
Lucille’s eyes widened. “You really want Carnifex as your enemy? Are you insane?”
“Don’t let the Baron catch you say that,” Emilia scoffed.
They all shared a laugh together. A knock on the door interrupted them again. Oh shit!