My plan was not off to a great start. I was made aware of how terrible my sense of direction was when I lost track of the route we’d taken to get here. I was already missing Corby and his tracking abilities. The destination was a mine of some kind. The number of bandits was…a lot. More than I could count on my toes, for sure. There were a couple dozen kids being unloaded.

The undercover part was also harder than I expected. I got singled out as soon as we were taken off the wagons. I suppose an armless rabbitfolk in a sea of humans was never going to go incognito.

This might not have been the best thought out plan I’ve ever had.

“Who the fuck thought it was a good eye to bring a damn beastfolk along?!” The bandit yelling was the one I assumed was in charge, sporting a rather gross looking beard full of scruff and what looked like a decades worth of food crumbs.

“You girl, whatcha doing here?” Scruffy asked.

“I was in the town when you came.”

“What’s a rabbitfolk doing in a tiny human town?” Scruffy asked.

“I was on my way to the capital.”

“An armless girl was going to a human capital all alone, was ya?”

“I wasn’t alone.”

“Who were ya with then?”

Careful, don’t say something dumb. Be like that stabby jackass. Tell honest lies.

“I was with adults who were taking care of me.”

They totally count as adults. Especially Corby; he acts like such a stuffy old guy sometimes.

“Hm, alright then, girl. Arms or no, we gonna put you to work. After all, we are job creators.” He gave me a predatory grin that made my skin crawl.

“Ya sure, boss? If word gets out we have a beastfolk in here…”

“Too late to do anything about it now. Can’t kill her and can’t risk letting her run back and snitching to those damn mutts.”

Abducted kids and “jobs.” Fuck. This really is a pseudo-slavery ring.

I hated being here so much already. Within every beastfolk was an innate hatred of captivity and slavery. It was against our very nature to be forced into anything. Beastfolk criminals would often request a death sentence rather than be even imprisoned. Slavery was the ultimate disgrace to our kind. Even though I came here voluntarily, just knowing I’d have to work to maintain a cover had me furious. It was taking so much restraint to not try killing them all.

A long time ago, before even Allium was born, the practice used to be rampant across the continent and beastfolk were the primary targets. When the Awakened Ones finally gathered enough power, they swept through the continent, a maelstrom of death and destruction against any and all slavers they came across. The three of them would destroy crops and supply shipments to get whole countries to abandon the practice. I heard rumors now and then that the practice still survived underground, but only the stupidest dared to try to subjugate a beastfolk. The Awakened wouldn’t bat an eye at a whole group of beastfolk dying in a battle, but a single one enslaved was liable to bring forth a calamity. Which means if word gets out that I’m trapped here, maps might have to be redrawn by the time they’re done.

Reeeeeally not one of my best plans. Oh well, too late to worry about it now.

I was escorted back to the others and assigned a group. I was ‘hired’ to lug whatever they were mining up the mine to the base camp. They kept the kids separated into small groups. Made sense. Even Tutorial kid can pose a threat to an adult if you get enough together.

I was with nine kids. Most of them seemed the normal amount of terrified and confused that you would expect from kids. There was one girl who looked pretty close to my age trying to calm people down. And then there were two girls a little bit younger than me–maybe sixteen–who were entirely stone-faced. I watched them for a bit longer. They moved mechanically, if they moved at all.

Oh, I remember that expression. They must have been one of the ones whose parents or siblings didn’t make it. I can’t do much for them on that front.

I went over to the older girl. “Hey, anything I can do to help right now?”

She looked up at me, surprised. “You’re not from the village. Why’re you here?”

“I was passing through town at the time. Got unlucky.”

“Alright, then.” She tussled her hair. “Sorry to have you, but oh well. Not much I can do about it. Thanks for the offer; I’ll take you up on it if something comes up. Right now, these kids just need to try to sleep and gather themselves. We all have a long day ahead of us. I can’t even figure out what the hell they want or how they’re getting away with it.”

“I can sorta answer that one, but you won’t like the answer.”

“There are a lot of things I don’t like about this,” she grumbled.

“Good point. This seems to be what’s called a pseudo-slavery ring.”

“We’re slaves? How can they get away with that? The goddess’ blessing protects us from being smacked too hard by a parent, let alone slavery.”

“Hence the pseudo part. Technically, we’ve all been ‘hired’ to perform ‘jobs.’ Pally’s blessing is incredibly strong, but it’s not infallible. It can’t read the fine print on every job a Tutorial kid is given. As long as they don’t beat you too bad, Pally’s blessing can’t do a thing.”

“I don’t know what’s more surprising: this fucked up situation, your apparent calmness in the face of being enslaved, or you giving the Goddess a nickname like you’re old chums.” She buried her face in her hands.

I left her to process, and before long they were drifting off to sleep, the exhaustion winning the battle with their anxiety. I had other plans.

I can afford to push myself. A little recon is in order.

As the kids fell asleep, I started sending out pulses. I had gotten much better at doing it without anyone hearing. I didn’t have Corby’s mapping abilities and memory, but I was able to get a solid feel for the mines. The walls of the mine were fantastic conductors for the echoes, so I got an excellent look at the whole area. There were eight groups of ten kids, and another of six.

That’s…86! Kids. See, I can totally do math.

Barely. You were using your toes to count. Pretty sure the whelps you’re stuck with can already count better than you.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Still counts.

As for bandits, I was struggling to count them all, and I could hear Crayon’s smirk as I struggled in the attempt. I was able to at least count the number that were sleeping: forty-eight.

As I kept pulsating the sounds, I started to make out who was who from the echoes. It was subtle, but I was getting better at it. Trying to memorize all the echoed figures was the hard part.

Was it wrong to dump everything into Best Stat and not put anything into Intelligence? …Nah.

I was at least able to memorize the distinct ones missing body parts or were non-humans. No beastfolk, but there was one demon and a species I didn’t recognize. That made up 12 of the sleepers.

They woke the kids up early–it was hard to tell what time it was down here, but they’d only been asleep for five or so hours. Most of them looked ready to complain before they remembered what was happening. The two mechanical girls from yesterday woke up and relived the trauma all over again. Broke my heart.

Maybe I can sing something for them? No, they’d probably find out I have a class then.

“Alright, my new recruits. We are sending you down into the mine. You will be given tools and told where to dig. If you work well, you will get food and water. If you don’t work well, you will only get the bare minimum. If my young recruits refuse to work, then we don’t need to pay you at all.”

The rest of the kids went pale at that. I flinched, too. I looked back at the sullen pair staring ahead blankly, and I knew I had a problem. They could barely function, let alone work enough to get these bastards to feed them. Hell, I’d probably have to get the older girl–who I now dubbed Kid Senior–to force feed them.

They escorted us deeper into the mines, and I couldn’t help but notice the shaft infrastructure. It looked like shit. Clearly not the work of a professional. The wood looked like it had been chewed up by a monster trying to get it to resemble the shape it needed, and the beams looked like they could collapse at a moment.

Man, Corby’s mom would be disgusted by this shit work. And the slavery.

Two bandits–Mushroom and Fwipshit–shoved the kids toward their designated mining stations. I took a wheelbarrow filled with rocks up and down the shaft. It looked like they had taken one of the harnesses for the land sharks they used to pull the wagons. My instincts screamed at the thought of being treated like a wild beast to be used, but I grit my teeth and put it on. There were things more important than my pride. I tried to take my mind off the indignity by talking to Crayon more.

Damn, I’m working up and down the shaft and Corby isn’t even here to tease. Fuck this place. Do you at least appreciate the joke?

Meh, not your best work. 4/10.

Tough, but fair.

As I went, I tried to whistle as innocuously as possible, mapping out more of the shafts. They were interconnected, and the tunnels extended quite far. But they were shoddy work, so I doubted any of the bandits had any tunnel related skills. I had to assume someone in that shitshow crew had a mapping or tracking skill like Corb, but that didn’t mean they could navigate through these easily. They didn’t strike me as the most thorough bunch. It’d be especially hard if I started to add more tunnels. It wasn’t a solid plan, but it was a plan, nonetheless.

I hated the work so fucking much. Well, not the work itself, but being forced to do it. I felt like I was going insane with rage with every trip. But I needed to be around to protect these kids. I was the only one who could right now. So I ignored the throbbing in my head and got to work.

A few times I would stop to help one of the kids move some rubble or crush a rock. I refrained from using any magic, but raw stats were a kind of magic of their own. The kids were really struggling. The sulky kids were barely functioning, mindlessly moving their pickaxes, sometimes not even hitting anything

. Kid Senior was picking up slack for kids as well, but she wasn’t able to be quite as subtle as I am, so the bandits monitoring us gave her and the kids some shit. Fortunately, nothing got violent yet and no workplace accidents, either. I didn’t expect that to last, though. I didn’t know what I would do if it did. What level of harm was I willing to let these kids endure to keep my cover? No, I did know the answer. Corby’s life was on the line with mine, but I knew I wouldn’t let even that stop me. It tore at me, but I couldn’t let anything stop me from doing what I thought was right. The worst part is that I knew that no matter how much I put him in danger, Corby would be more angry about me risking myself than his own life. And Bea would be so devastated. God, we just pulled her back into this life.

I kept mulling this over and over. The bandits finally let the kids stop for the day, and they were already exhausted. I was scared of what the other kids were going through, especially the ones who had been here longer. The bandits led us back up the shaft into the main cavern. The bandits talked to each other and then started distributing the food. A ‘healthy’ portion was barely a meal, even by my standards in Laketown. Which meant the return of my long-time nemesis: bone broth. I did spot the bandits eating bread and meat, and my rage nearly boiled over hotter than the damn broth.

I looked over and saw what the kids who didn’t perform well were eating. If I could even call it that. It was barely even a sip of broth and some water. The message was clear: work hard or starve. I had other plans.

When we were brought back to our quarters, I waited till everyone was asleep, then made my move. The main hall between us and the exit was guarded by a couple bandits, but they didn’t bother to put any in with the kids. I started burrowing under the shithole that was our new living quarters, first with my feet, then with magic. It was hard to dig horizontally with just feet. Magic made it go by really fast, and it was great experience. Especially since I would probably get killed if I fucked up. Still, making a safe passage took a lot of time. I stopped after a few hours; I was betting that I was still a few meters out from the central hub where I had sensed the food stores, but I could get there tomorrow.

Never expected my foraging skill to be used like this, but I’ll take it.

I filled up the hole to hide the entrance and smoothed out the rest to hide the extra dirt. Kid Senior noticed what I was doing, but didn’t say anything. The kids would be hungry for a bit, but I would help them soon. First food, then safety.

By the time everyone woke up, I had finally finished my headcount of all the bandits in the mine: 203. I had a lot of work to do.

Name: Nymia

Age: 18

Species: Rabbitfolk+ Lv. 60

Class 1: Musical Medic Lv. 32

Class 2: Student of the Unorthodox Blade Lv. 3

Stats:

Bonk: 108+10

Zoom: 254

Sturdy: 98+9

Senses: 251

Brain: 105

Mana: 144

Willpower: 231+138

Free points remaining: 0

Class Skills

* Sound magic Lv. 32

* Soundproof Lv. 30

* Calming Music Lv. 1

* Healing Words Lv. 31

* Medical Knowledge Lv. 18

Class 2 Skills

* Weird Stabbies Lv 3

* Easy Stabbies Lv. 3

* Studying Stabbies Lv. 1

* Zoom Stabs Lv. –

* Must stab weird Lv. –

General Skills

* More Running Lv. 15

* Dodge! Lv 57

* Barefoot Lv 60

* Sneaky Lv 59

* Stubbornness Lv 60

Species Skills

* Rabbit’s Foot

* Enhanced Senses

* Forage

* Burrow

* Cuddles