Fortunately Leo didn’t let the girl down. He woke up right after noon, full of strength and even though he still couldn’t go at his usual speed, he felt there was a chance to survive this ordeal if he had enough food on the way.

He figured it was because of the peculiar differences in their biology and the lack of Qi in the air, but his body required much larger amounts of energy compared to the native inhabitants of this realm. He guessed that if members of the Sacred Order’s expedition figured it out earlier they might’ve not died from Qi deprivation and maybe even not from fighting beasts, but it was too late for them.

To him, on the other hand, this was a great opportunity – growing in strength by eating and sleeping was every man’s dream and with the goddess by his side, despite her being slightly angry and annoyed, Leo felt his life was not half bad.

Of course, it was not as simple. The boy was practicing hard and on the way Anna was not only teaching how to walk or run ‘properly’. She taught him how to breathe during different exercises and while they rested – how to hide his presence.

Leo was amazed by the peculiar techniques of this realm mainly not because they were so effective, but because random hunters like this squad of seven women knew and practiced such high level stuff. Sadly either because of the language barrier or for other reasons she wasn’t too keen to teach and showed only basics, but for now Leo felt it was enough.

They did catch up to the main group after the sunset despite making another stop to have a meal. Of course, it was only because Lana decided to be lenient and stopped for the night much sooner than usual.

Leo was dead tired again, but with clenched teeth he prepared dinner for the ladies to his best ability using the herbs he gathered on the way and afterwards gobbled down a deer by himself leaving everyone but Anna stupefied. Today she already witnessed the sight of the small boy devouring an animal of his size twice and was slightly used to it. To the others it seemed like a magic trick and even Lana had to agree she could never eat that much.

The next morning Leo woke up fully recovered and before noon was dead tired once again. Then he and Anna fell back, had a meal and rested only to catch up to the main group later in the evening. This cycle continued for ten odd days until he finally got more or less used to the Cleaver’s current weight and everyone could finally pick up the pace.

Of course, he kept consuming enormous amounts of meat and ladies agreed it was because of some illness or trauma. It kind of served as an excuse for Leo’s crime of stealing their game the first time they met since obviously the male-slave was not able to survive without enough food.

They did have discussions on daily basis whether keeping him was a good idea, but fortunately Leo’s cooking skills were enough for him to hold on to his puny life. After twenty five days of travel when they finally arrived at the next town his traveling speed was passable and the decision was made to permanently accept him as their collective male-slave.

Obviously he kept ‘properly’ serving only Anna and the other squad members found it somewhat annoying, but the young girl also behaved as if she was the only Leo’s rightful owner since Lana gifted the male-slave exactly to her. The other six did consider smacking him few times each between the legs to beat the boy in submission, but the idea was scrapped since he was already so weak despite eating more than the strongest woman.

In the end Anna technically remained his formal master, but the others didn’t shy off to order him around and if it didn’t have to do anything with an actual running, Leo usually complied.

Of course, he clearly understood he had become a servant or even a maid to them all and some parts of the job he hated from the bottom of his heart like, for example, washing Una, Tia and Nina. They had strong bodies with wide shoulders, flat chests and muscular arms, and according to Leo’s understanding everything about them, except for the lower parts, more resembled men than women and it was incredibly creepy to even touch any of the three with a linen towel.

Vida and Ruta were more or less ok-ish even though they were likely over forty so he didn’t have a strict opinion regarding them and took care of the two as if they were his mothers. On the other hand Lana, despite her tall and burly stature had a strange allure about her and from time to time Leo caught himself enjoying drying her, especially her strong and round butt cheeks.

Of course, no comments were needed regarding the goddess who didn’t even need to reveal her skin for Leo to become lightheaded around her. Her presence and the sweet scent were enough for the boy to feel a permanent bliss and the fact that he could serve her was an additional bonus.

“Alright! The plan remains the same.” Lana ended the briefing before entering the city, “We’ll go do our thing and meet up with you three in the afternoon. Watch your backs!”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Two days ago the group arrived at Seda city, but for some reason didn’t leave the forest and camped outside. At first Leo thought they simply couldn’t afford the price of lodging inside, but it didn’t make any sense since on the way they collected a large pile of pelts, including bear and lynx pelts that had to cost a lot and it should’ve been enough to cover any expenses.

In addition, apart from Lana and Una, everyone patiently stayed in the camp doing their own thing while the two disappeared in the morning only to show up late in the evening for dinner. Even stranger was the fact they didn’t share anything they’ve seen and others didn’t pry thus Leo could only wait.

Truth to be said, Leo was quite excited to be a part of civilization once again. Since the arrival to this realm he had only seen mountains, forests and the seven bossy women. Even though normally he was more of a loner, he longed to shake a man’s hand or just to wave or say hello to a one.

Wisely following his own rule number six, Leo always stayed vigilant around women, but sometimes it was much more tiring than carrying the Cleaver. He was all stressed out from being on the guard all the time, but he was certain it was one of the reasons he managed to keep his life up until now.

Actually it was that and the new rule Leo invented during the last fifteen days. Rule number seven: listen while women speak and try to talk less around them. It was added to his rule list few days after he was enslaved by the group and not only because the moment his words or actions were interrupting anyone he instantly got smacked on the head.

After he spent a bit of time with the seven madams, Leo realized they were not of a very high opinion of him. Any time he tried to say something it was mostly met with expressions of ridicule and scorn except for the food he prepared – that was handled like a small treasure during every meal. Fortunately the goddess liked him enough to persuade the rest to allow him to eat his full every time thus doubling the amount of food the group needed, but from what Leo guessed the other ladies agreed it was worth it.

Keeping his mouth shut at all times was quite inconvenient, but Leo soon got used to it. In fact, it saved him quite a lot of trouble in addition to allowing to learn more. The last part was especially complicated, because apart from the few basic things no one intended him to teach anything, including the language and this experience was completely different from what he went through in the Voodoo sect.

Fortunately the Dreadlands dialect Leo’s seven masters used was already the third language he learned thus this time it went slightly easier. Obviously not knowing how to write was a downside, but he intended to ask the goddess to buy him a book or a manual in the next city they were going to visit.

Unfortunately no only this, but all other dreams and illusions Leo had about this realm were crushed like a bug under the wheels of a carriage when they finally left the forest and entered Seda city.

The city itself was fine, even impressive. While it couldn’t be compared to the holy city Avila, it was much larger compared to Farrand where Leo came from. For a city in the middle of forests the size alone was remarkable – the group covered several miles through the dirt roads of outer city that had one and two storey wooden houses on both sides, but the city center had three and sometimes even four storey buildings made of stone, encircling large plazas and marketplaces. The streets were busy with people and there were countless businesses open left and right and food stalls attracting passersby on every corner.

But the problem were the passersby.

Not only they were women of all ages and builds, dressed both in fancy robes and in hunter leather gear like Leo’s group. Even the city guards marching around with stern faces and artisans were women.

It took Leo some time until his mind registered that the chained creatures pulling carriages, carrying palanquins or loads of goods were fellow men. This realization was so shocking he never noticed the lack of tamed beasts like horses or even dogs, cats and chickens.

The way he was treated during the past month finally started to make sense although he was in much better situation than those male-slaves who had their hands bound or even chained, to not speak about the poor souls who were pulling carriages and wagons while being mercilessly whipped by their owners.

Of course, not every male-slave had it so bad. There were few half naked ones who proudly strolled at the side of their masters with ornamented leashes around their necks and some men in poor clothing who were carrying wares in sacks and baskets, fulfilling the roles of pack mules.

No matter how Leo looked at it, he got the feeling he had somehow fallen in the worst nightmare ever and couldn’t wake up. If until now he thought the most terrible thing that could happen to him was being eaten by those huge water lizards in the Oceandesert realm, then currently he was revolutionizing his understanding of the subject.

Truth to be said, compared to the other men or in his case – boys, his life was a paradise. Not only he could eat all he wanted and practice all day long, there was a beautiful goddess by his side he could feast his eyes upon. On the other hand one wrong step or word and he could become just like the male-slaves he saw on the streets or simply get killed.

The feeling of men turned into inferior beings in this realm or at least in this part of Dreadlands was less humiliating compared to the terrifying sense of helplessness it gave. Leo understood he didn’t have a chance of escaping his seven strong masters and could only snicker at own silliness when he though his life was the road of cultivation in order to become stronger. As it turns out him being alive was only a matter of coincidence and maybe a whim of another person.

At this thought Leo’s mood hit rock bottom, but before he said or did anything stupid, Anna’s smack on the head returned him to reality.

“Straighten up and smile!” She said, “Don’t embarrass me in front of all these strangers!”

“Yes, master!” Leo complied with a nod.

Only now he realized what the word ‘master’ meant in this language. At first he thought it was some kind of nickname for Anna and, when the other lades told him to address them this way, he got confused. But now, overhearing the other men on the streets calling their owners this way, it became clear he was not much better compared to them.