“You want to settle down here in Castiana?” Sergeant Hakhe asked for clarification, obviously not all too happy with my answer.

And honestly, he wasn’t the only one.

However, being essentially lost in the world, and knowing shit about how things worked here, I had no choice but to trust Scoresby that this city wasn’t such a bad place to live - even for Slaves like me. So, unless the old man was lying, my plan was to stay here at least until I got a better grasp of this world or, should luck smile on me for once, find my way back to Earth and my family.

“Y-yeah. I m-mean, yes. That is...if it is possible?”

“Sure it is, ma’am. It’s just a matter of what status you want to have while in Castiana and, by extension, in the Sahal Empire. If it’s just a job you’re looking for, a Temporary Work Permit will suffice...”

“Citizen,” I blurted out to stop him. “I w-want to become a citizen...o-of Sahal.”

According to Scoresby, that was the best option of them all. While other forms of stay had their advantages, only the imperial citizens enjoyed the most guarantees and security. One of them being that you could only become a slave if you fell into heavy debt or committed a serious crime.

“All right,” the sergeant said with a sigh, took his time to finish the report, wrapped it in a roll, put his seal on it - not a wax one, but instead some kind of magical enchantment - and slid it into the tube that appeared in his hand from thin air. When he screwed the cap back on, the runes covering the tube glowed for a brief moment. Then, after checking that the tube was empty and the report had been sent, he put it back into his spatial storage.

“Well, that would be one thing done.”

“Th...there’s more?”

Sergeant Hakhe sighed. “I wish it were that simple, too, ma’am. While you are in for a trip to the Castiana City Guards Barracks, I still have a bunch of paperwork to do.”

‘What? Barracks? Oh, the barracks.’

Scoresby said they would likely take me there. It was the only place they could verify my identity. The place where they would most likely find out that I was not the half-Terr’den they thought I was.

“Are you all right, ma’am?”

‘Of course I’m not!’

Soon, everyone would know what kind of freak that deranged asshole made me into. Thankfully, I managed to keep my mouth shut and not bark at the man. Instead, I hit my mind with [Indomitable Will].

* 110th glyph engraved on Indomitable Will (⦿⦿⦿⦿)

A tad calmer, but with my heart still pounding in my chest like crazy, I wiped my sweat-stained brow and stammered out a blatant lie: “I am.”

“Again, I assure you that you have nothing to fear - that is unless you’re hiding something,” the sergeant frowned and squinted at me. “Are you hiding something, ma’am?”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

“N-no?”

‘Damn it, Korra! You couldn’t have sounded less convincing.’

“Good, very good. Like I said, then you have nothing to worry about.”

“W-wait, is that...you know, it? Aren’t you going to...?”

“What? Interrogate you?” Sergeant Hakhe asked when I paused, the word stuck in my throat. “Not my job, ma’am. The gate guards are there to keep track of who enters and leaves the city. And, if necessary, to prevent the entry of, say, unwanted individuals - which, to my knowledge, you are not.”

‘Great.’

One could only wonder how long that would be the case. Once the truth of what I was made of was out...

‘Well, a problem for the future Korra, I guess.’

“Soooo...I can go now?”

“I wish, ma’am. You are unidentified, and as such, I cannot just let you enter the city. No, I’m going to have to ask you to wait here until they come to pick you up.”

“P-pick me up? Who?”

“My colleagues, I assume someone patrolling the streets nearby. Now, do you mind if I do the paperwork here, or do you need some space and have me put someone by the door in the hallway?”

‘Neither!’

Both options made it sound like I was a prisoner - in a sense, a caged slave again. I’d much rather wait at the gate, outside the city, than in this small room. But I wasn’t blind, nor scared witless. Even I could see that it would be taking a step back, risking my fears getting the better of me when I was already in the city.

So, no.

Despite my instincts urging me to run free in the Wilds, I opted to watch the sergeant do his paperwork. If anything, it kept my mind distracted from slipping into dark places.

─◇─◇─◇──

“Hey, we’re here!” a woman’s voice boomed through the gatehouse, scaring the shit out of me and causing Sergeant Hakhe to rip a hole in the form he was filling out.

“This shitty day just keeps getting worse. Why...why the fuck does it have to be her,” he cursed under his breath - but not silently enough for my ears not to pick it up - put down his pen, crumpled the ruined paper, and looked up at the corner of the room where I had taken up residence. “Seems like your escort is here, ma’am.”

The tired tone of his voice did not sound very reassuring, to be honest.

“Are you there, Elias?” came from behind the door with a fierce banging.

“Yes...Yes, I am, Vara. Come in.”

With every sense of mine on high alert, I watched as the door opened, and in walked a woman much smaller than her loud voice would suggest. That in no way meant she was short. If I had to guess, she stood at least half a head taller than me, not to mention her stocky stature. Even though she didn’t have a whole lot more sigils than I did, my instincts were telling me that she wasn’t someone I wanted to mess with.

[Guardswoman: 124 sigils]

The only thing I wasn’t sure about was whether it was because of her strength or something else entirely. At times, the instincts were just weird.

“Look, E-l-i-a-s, just because you rank over me now doesn’t mean you can order me around like some slave girl of yours,” the Guardswoman huffed as her eyes fell on the sergeant, storming over to him and slamming her hands down on the desk. “Why should I drag myself halfway across the city when you have a gatehouse full of slacking tits with their thumbs up their asses and having no fucking idea what to do all day?”

“Because it’s part of our duty, Vara,” came a soft voice from the doorway as another Guardswoman walked in.

[Guardswoman: 117 sigils]

This one was of a fairer stature, just as tall, but slender. Unlike the loud one’s, her blue eyes found me sitting silently in the corner of the room immediately. “Hello there, I assume you’re the Korra Grey we’re supposed to escort? Is that correct, sir?”

“What are you talking about, Elira...,” the loud Guardswoman grunted, running a hand through her short-cropped auburn hair, only to pause in shock as she turned around and her eyes finally fell on me. “Sweet mother of freaking tits!”