Day 48

(Rick POV)

Dramatic entrance aside, what is this?

I almost overlooked the figure behind my sister and little Tirmin because I was interested in their well-being. Niala seems quite shocked, but none is more surprised than slave girl. Probably because she made me fall personally and watched as it happened. Niala rushes over to hug me joyfully. She seems taken aback by the metal parts of my body. For a moment. Then she goes right back to hugging.

From the looks of things Niala and the little rat are in good health. Really, I should have suspected as much with her healing power but I'm still trying to get an idea of what is going on. It was an escape of some kind, is there pursuit?

“What happened? Are you being followed?” [Rick hurriedly in rat language]

“No. I placed our vengeance upon them. They are nothing but monster shit by now.” [Niala]

…processing...

Okay, so they're dead. I'm a bit surprised by that, I can only assume it was an uprising of the slaves, there were several.

“How about you, did they hurt you badly?” [Rick to Niala]

“Not nearly enough...” [Niala laughing softly.] “To make it stick.”

Uh... I guess that means she can heal herself, I suspected but never really knew. It is a relief to know.

“How about you, little guy? They didn't hurt you?” [Rick]

“Big sis made sure I wasn't hurt.” [Little rat]

“I'm proud of you, sister. I am glad you were able to get out without coming to harm. Incidentally, you brought a gift?” [Rick]

Niala smiling proudly pulls the traitor over by a leash. The girl looks a lot worse than she did last time. A matted cut on the scalp and bruises and grazes in a variety of places. She wears little more than tattered rags.

I REALLY want to kill her. I can see Niala does too. But calmly does it. You don't want to rush these kind of things and end up with empty regrets. We have all the time in the world.

“Hello there, so good to see you again. So... lets start over. Your name?” [Rick smiling without an ounce of humor]

“Chanti.” She replied without a trace of resistance.

“Good, good. So Chanti, you are a slave?” [Rick]

“...yes.” She finally admitted.

“Were you a slave before we met?” I asked.

“In a sense, I suppose but I never felt as such until you asked for me and the deal was done.” [Chanti]

“Yeah, I got that kind of feeling from the guy, when I sold him my golem. That he'd do anything for power.” [Rick] “Actually I intended the suggestion to be a joke, but had no way to back out without seeming unstable. They'd have tried anything to kill me if I seemed insane, with my capacity for weapon production.”

He paused chewing on this information.

“So, in the end you never really trusted me and everything you did was an act.” [Rick] “Even that silly wrist thing you kept doing.”

“'Wrist thing'?! You started that! I thought it was some obscure custom!” [Chanti]

“No, I just wanted to check your heartbeat. Apparently it relates directly to the average lifespan of the species. I wanted to know the differences between your species and mine.” [Rick]

“Apparently? Check my heartbeat? What are you talking about?” [Chanti]

“Hey, aren't you being bold all of a sudden.” He nodded to Niala and the female rat kicked her enemy in the shins, forcing Chanti to her knees. Niala stepped forward to do more but Rick stopped her. “You tried to kill me twice and enslaved my sister and friend. I am only barely keeping my anger in check here, I really, really want to rip your insolent tongue out right now, but then how will I get the answers I need to know? Sketches perhaps?”

“So let me explain this to you very clearly. Your civilization is perhaps three thousand years behind the one I used to know.” [Rick]

“Three... that isn't possible. You rats are so primitive it is ridicul...” She stops her mouth as Rick waves a finger cautioning her.

“I did not say the rats. I am reincarnated from another world. I have seen things everyday that would seem like miracles to your whole race of primitives.” I shrug. “I'm not being insulting, you really are backward. Look at you, your number system, your bronze, your slavery... these are all antiquated to the point of ridiculous where I am from. The knife you used, my hand-made knife. The metal it is made of is harder and sharper than anything you have known, right? That is an alloy made from iron called steel. It is one of the hardest and most useful of metals. The one you used? A flawed mix, not up to the standards of my world. Too brittle. I had hopes you see, of making more steel of higher quality. Even if I failed, I could still use iron which is also superior to your bronze. You idiots just didn't hammer it into shape properly.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“That proves nothing.” [Chanti]

“Who said I HAD to prove it. In this situation I am simply telling you the truth. I have no reason to lie to a dead woman.” [Rick] “But don't you worry your pretty little head over it. I'm not going to take your life away from you just yet, since I have goals that have priority over petty revenge. In fact you won't even have to interact with my sister and I, since we can't stand the sight of you. No, you're getting us the resources we need. Since I've seen first-hand how corrupt you people are I'll be taking over your nation in due time.”

My claws grasp her chains and I make a weapon. An evil weapon, something I'd never have done before. It is bluntly, a geas. A curse of such magnitude that to disobey specific commands will bring agony and death. Those specific commands? To follow the orders of whoever owns a simple looking key. The key to her manacles. There are other orders that blend within the overall curse, such as 'if the object's owner dies, so does the cursed' and also 'ownership is not changed by the changing of hands of the object the owner must confirm they are giving the person ownership of the object' and finally: 'the cursed must follow all commands of the owner to the best of their ability' so no slacking off.

I toss the key to little rat. He's the only one I'd trust to keep an eye on her, since he understands the language and he doesn't have an abundance of hatred toward her. She is going home, as a mole. He'll be following behind as her 'loyal slave'.

“You like to see and experience new things, right Tirmin? How would you like to visit her city? She has to do as you say, if she wants to live. If she tries to kill you, because of the item she dies. What I want is for her to ensure I get sent more of the stuff the merchants brought with them. The brown rocks.” [Rick in the ape language] “You own her now. Just only use it over her in secret, preferably behind closed doors.”

The little rat nodded excitedly.

“We'll see you to a safe point and from there you can go on your own. I'm sick of home; I'm going to find someplace new to settle. We'll work out a way to get in touch later. For now, get her out of my sight.” [Rick]

For now, I spend the time catching up with my sister. It is funny, the things about her I used to hate, such as the endless hugs seem almost bearable now. Still, in no way is she ever going to be my wife or lover.

She argued a lot about killing Chanti, but I managed to explain my plan to her enough that she isn't going to stab the ape-girl without warning. Even so, I make sure they are never alone together, mostly by staying close to Niala. My sister is too thrilled by this to complain.

Day 47

We return to the trade caravan (abandoned). Almost all the weapons are still there. Treasure, not so much. A few gems, nothing else. The iron ore is there and I spend the remainder of the day refining it into pure iron bars which you could use as a weapon if you so choose.

I load these into the carts, thankfully the refined metal is less bulky than the ore, now the impurities are removed. We have only two full carts to haul instead of four. The weight is terrible, so I have to pull them personally. It seems the iron still isn't good enough for a personal upgrade, so I'll need to think about it.

Using the gravity cube I stash the carts on a ledge high above the floor and thieves. The bars did spill out as the carts tipped over as gravity normalized, but the stuff is all there. I'll come back when I have a golem and a home base.

Day 48

We scout out several new rooms and one with a single huge geometrically shaped clear crystal set in the roof with a single entrance is designated as our new camping point. I craft some simple stuff to make it comfortable and cut off from any roaming monsters by traps. We rest, Niala foraging for better quality food than the rest of us can find.

Tomorrow we set out toward the so-called 'Bastion' city. With our senses we should at least be able to sniff out the correct path. Conquest itself sounds hard, as the current population is estimated to be above seventy thousand people. More than two thirds are capable of fighting back, since the residents are bolstered by fresh recruits from their empire every week. But I have a few ideas that should work on a large scale. Not least of which, simply walking into the room and flipping my cube. Yes, that should be devastating. For now though, simple reconnaissance and sabotage.

What we learned:

Rick has started to dream of bigger things than simply meddling with metal.

Niala is easily distracted...

Chanti: slave girl once again.

Tirmin is easily the most excited by this new change.