It is saddening that despite the progress in our social and political structures, slavery is still legal. Not even frowned upon.

As the revolutionary leader of the century, I call upon everyone to fight against the corrupted churches! They are the cancer of society; the institutions that allowed slavery to reach the heights that they are today! Are we really going to sit around and let the churches taint the words of Nanthos and destroy everything that Luna Assyra fought for?

Come join me! Viva la revolución!

-Glenn Claidart, in his infamous "Fight for Freedom!" speech of 1785

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As soon as Myr woke up, she felt the cold hard floor against her back. What? Where am I? She opened her eyes.

Blood. Red. Darkness.

That was what Myr was seeing. But then, she heard a click, followed by a rush of white light filling her vision. “You’re up? Damn, another hour and I can have my way with you.”

Myr glared at the voice. It was familiar. She didn’t need her eyes to adjust to the sudden light to know that it was the Thief who was speaking to her.

As such, she gritted her teeth and snarled. “You! What did you do!?”

“Nothing.” He laughed playfully. Though, Myr could still feel that he was frustrated. “The boss says that virgins sell for higher prices, so I can’t play with ya. Though, he doesn’t care if I beat you up to vent.”

As soon as he said that, Myr felt pain all over her body. Looking down, she saw that she was heavily bruised in multiple places. There were also several shallow cuts, but they didn’t hurt as bad as the bruises.

Calm down. Let’s think about it first.

Aside from the pain, Myr noticed a very concerning lack of Luna by her side. It only made sense. No one would let a captive like her have a weapon here.

She then directed her gaze outside the iron bars of her cell. Other than the Thief, there was another man sitting on a chair with his back to her, sharpening his spear. Her guess was that he was assigned to guard her in case she tried to do anything funny.

Finding Luna is my priority. “Where’s my rapier?”

The Thief smashed his hand on the bars. “You’re in no position to ask questions.”

“Oh, I’m gonna make things difficult for you if you don’t answer me.”

The Thief stayed silent. Eventually, he sighed. Seemed like he didn’t want to go through the hassle of dealing with a resistant captive. “The boss has it. He’d always been a sucker for good weapons.” He laughed hollowly. “But this is just something else. He’d been refusing to come out of his room since two days ago.”

“And w—”

“Enough.” He cut Myr off. Throwing a loaf of bread inside her cell, he curtly turned around. “That’s your ration for today. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

Only Myr and the guard were left inside this room.

Myr looked beyond her cell. Her mouth agape as she laid her eyes upon a bathroom, a kitchen, and even a bed! It seemed just like Myr, the guard was forced to live here.

Speaking of the guard…

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“Hey you.”

The guard turned around, curious as to what Myr had to say to him.

“Don’t you find staying here boring?”

He slowly nodded.

“Why don’t you help me escape, I—”

“No.” A resolute answer came from the guard. “I’m not suicidal enough to go against them. I’d rather be bored than dead.”

Then, as if scared of being swayed by Myr, he turned his back on her.

Myr sighed. So much for persuasion. But in any case, not having the guard’s cooperation wasn’t the end of the world.

She stood up. Pain coursed through her entire body. A short squeal escaped her mouth, making the guard turn back to check on her. But upon seeing that nothing was serious, he shrugged and turned away.

Myr leaned against a wall to catch her breath. Dammit, why does it hurt so much? She slumped to the ground, feeling her feet on the straws that she’d have to use as bedding, and her butt on something slimy.

Her body shuddered in disgust. Please don’t tell me it’s what I think it is. To her surprise, it wasn’t anything disgusting. Just some blue moss growing from the wall.

Wait, blue? She grabbed some of them and sniffed. It’s Icean moss! Myr was delighted, and a bit giddy. They didn’t call her the “Foraging Herbalist” for nothing, even if she found that title a bit embarrassing.

She waited until the guard went to sleep before she sprang into action. Carving out the bread to make it into a bowl, she crushed the moss and sprinkled them into it. Then, she squirted a bit of Wyvern poison out of her tail and mixed it with the moss. Wyvern poison when exposed to air for a few seconds would lose its poisonous attributes and turns into something that I can use for medicine. She found out about it when she squeezed out her poison and tried to sell it to a shady merchant, only to have him direct her to an apothecary.

After waiting for an hour or so, Myr scooped the mixture with her hand and smeared it on her cuts and bruises. She could feel her wounds slowly healing. Emphasis on slowly. She estimated that it’d take about three days for her fighting prowess to return to before.

When she closed her eyes, she could feel Luna being in the general area as her. This gave her comfort. Luna… Just wait for me.

On the third day, all of Myr’s wounds were healed. Now, she needed to find a way out of there. And she did, after thinking about it for less than a second.

The guard… I can use him.

Myr stared at the guard’s back. She knew he was a kindred spirit as soon as she laid eyes on him; having gone through nineteen years of her life without even so much as a kiss.

So, she quietly removed her weights and hid them under the straws. She then began undressing her lower half, deliberately making it as loud as possible.

When she saw the guard looking at her, Myr gave him an embarrassed laugh and started touching herself. “Hey, Mr. Guard. Want to join in?”

The guard stood there in absolute shock. A bulge could be seen forming in his pants. Though, he still had control over himself. “Whore. Much as I want to, the boss’ going to kill me if he finds out.”

“Come on,” Myr said in a coy voice that disgusted even herself. “He won’t find out. It’s the middle of the night. And I don’t think my hymen is there anymore.”

After the hellish training that she’d put herself through, it’d be a miracle if it was.

“If you’re scared, perhaps you can use my other hole?”

This pushed the guard over the edge. "Fine then, if you want it so much. You don't look half bad out of those stuffy clothes." He unlocked Myr’s cell and quickly unbuttoned his pants. Kneeling down between her legs, his breaths became ragged. “Try to keep quiet, whore. Jerry ‘big D’ is going to make you squeal in pleasure.”

“Yes.” Myr smiled. Her hands sneakily grabbed the weight in the straw bed. “You too. Try to keep quiet.”

Myr tensed all the muscles in her arm and struck the guard’s head with the weight. She heard a loud crack as the guard fell to the ground; head bleeding.

After kicking him a few times to make sure that he was dead, she heaved a sigh of relief. She dressed herself again, re-equipped her weights, and got out of her cell, stretching herself freely for the first time in what felt like years. Grabbing the guard’s spear, she sneaked out of the dark room that held her for days.

Just wait. I’m gonna kill you all.