In a remote location, a distance away from the nearest city was a base. A base of dangerous bandits, savage and crude, ones who would hold not a shred of mercy to their victims, nor their slaves. It was a base in rough terrain, scattered around it were dead trees without leaves. Indeed, dead but somehow still growing, as if they were nourished by the foulness of the land. Trees that provided nothing but blight, not a contribution to the world, not even fresh air.

The surface was plain black dirt, with some grayish short grasses that somehow managed to grow. But, one ought to expect for them to wither away any day. Nature may persevere and find a way to grow, but not for long. As what it should be as a land forsaken by the grace of the gods.

The bandit base consisted of small buildings made of stone and wood from the trees that still grew on this barren land. But there was a main building made of wood, some sort of warehouse. The bandit boss’s home, in other words. And his personal storage room.

No one was to enter it without his permission.

Currently, it was day. And inside this warehouse was a special cage. The metal bars were made of black metal that disrupted anything magical it touches. Inside of that cage was a young girl, who appeared to be around ten years old. She was wearing ragged clothes. But calling them clothes was putting it generously. It would be more accurate to consider it as a single piece of cloth put on her. Her skin was of a light brown complexion. She was dirty and grimy. Her long, dark hair was messy and dusty. Her lifeless, empty amber eyes stared into space.

In the same room, she could hear groans, sobbing, and moaning of despair. The bandit boss chuckled with pleased and satisfied breathing.

“Hah-hah… You’re performing a bit better, aren’t ya?” He caressed the face of a naked woman before moving away.

He stepped backward as he beheld the scene before him with a proud smirk. There was a large floor bed. On them were several naked women in rough states. Some of them were tied, the more resistant ones. While the rest were untied, could freely move, but had already given up on life and had accepted their fate. The fate of being sex slaves. They were a variety of flavors — there were those in their late teens, early twenties, or in their mid teens. Some of them were sold, some were kidnapped. But they all shared the same fate, and they would never go back home. Here they were to remain as joy toys until their host grew tired of them.

The young girl in the cage shifted her eyes towards the bandit boss. The bandit approached a girl and grasped her cheeks.

“You rested enough yet?” He suddenly forced his lips into hers. The girl writhed, but to no avail. “Haha! That’s the spirit. But too bad, I’m a bit tired.” He groped the butt of another. “I need some time to recharge, so wait up, aight?”

He caressed the bodies of the girls nearest him and fondled their chests before stepping back. The slaves did nothing but remained laying on the floor bed. There was no point in doing anything else.

The bandit boss casually stretched.

“Uh, yeah. Never gonna get sick doing this.” He moved around still naked.

A moment later, his gaze ended up on the cage. The girl inside flinched. Slowly approaching her, the bandit smirked and grabbed a metal stick with a sharp point.

“Hey there little monster. Everything good?”

The girl didn’t answer.

“Oh? Is it getting boring already?” He approached closer. “Well, I need time to cool off anyway.”

He slammed the metal stick on the cage, and the girl flinched with evident fear in the loud sudden sound. The bandit slammed the metal again, an amused smile curled on his face, entertained by the girl’s reaction. The girl trembled.

“Aaaw, you’re scared? Haha!” He suddenly stabbed the metal stick into the cage, the sharp edge piercing the girl’s skin.

“Ah!” The girl yelped as she retracted her wounded shoulder.

“Oh come on, it’s nothing.” He stabbed the stick again, hitting the girl in the chest.

“Mm!”

He stabbed and stabbed, more and more blood spilled to the cage’s floor. She wanted to move further away, but this was a small cage just fitting for a small person like her. There was nowhere else she could go.

More and more holes were pierced into her flesh. And then, the bandit stopped with a grin, watching her closely.

The girl’s wounds began to close and heal, as if they were never there before.

“Amazing! Really amazing. I can really do anything with you and you'll recover! Just what kind of monster are you?!”

He pierced the metal into her body once again several times. But each time, her wounds would rapidly heal. The girl, unable to endure the pain, her body involuntarily turned to black fog. The fog moved around inside, and when her fog touched the metal of the cage, her fog trembled. She couldn’t get past the metal cage.

The bandit slammed the metal stick on the cage. “Hey! Return to normal, now!” he shouted in anger and irritation.

But the girl didn’t comply. Electricity cackled in his hand. He poked a finger through the cage and cast the magic. Electricity shone and engulfed the fog.

“AAAAHHH!”

The girl cried in agony as she returned to her tangible form. Her body smoked, flesh burned. She took in labored breaths, her shoulders going up and down. Her tears streamed down her cheeks as she did her all to bear the pain.

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“Don’t ever do that again! You fucking understand you little shit?!”

The bandit stabbed the girl again dozens more times.

But, no matter how many deadly wounds were inflicted upon her, she would regenerate without limit. Such as her nature as an undying monster of the night.

***

Yup, this place is not safe for the crew at all.

I had never seen such a rowdy, tumultuous, debaucherous place since Vegas! That place might as well be called saintly compared to this place — or not…? Imagine me calling that city saintly, where are my manners. Every place has its charm, I guess.

Anyway, this place was not safe at all. It felt like someone would just pop up and stab me from out of nowhere. As we were walking down the street, we had to keep our guard up. I was aware it was dangerous, but we were out here to sightsee. So, of course, we would be walking around to check out the place. Even I was curious. Learn to enjoy the things around you, enjoy the process, enjoy the journey. Otherwise, it would be so empty.

I glanced at the soil. First I saw them, I was in disbelief for a moment to see that the soil was indeed black. Like all luster was just taken off the land. I thought that Taneva was exaggerating a bit, but yeah, the soil was literally black. Not just any metaphor that the land was dead or something.

As we continued on walking down the street like tourists, I could feel the multiple stares coming from different directions. There were some through the windows of the buildings, and some were outright staring at us from the corner of the street. It didn’t feel like we were welcome. Well, considering how lawless this city appeared to be, it wouldn’t be strange if people were a bit territorial or cautious of strangers.

But we did stick out like a sore thumb.

“Hello there.” A seductively looking woman waved at us with an inviting smile. My guess, she was a prostitute. “Want to have a good time?” Yup, see that?

Velar and Taneva ignored her for the most part, but it was an entirely different case for the fucking bard who came along with us. Hartwin waved back with a grin. I pointed a sharp, narrowed eye at him.

Hey, no time for that shit.

Hartwin seemed to have sensed my gaze. He flinched and immediately straightened himself. Looking at me, he mildly scratched the back of his head with a wry smile.

“I-I have to say,” Hartwin tried to shift the focus away from him. “This place is quite… um, unique.”

Velar glanced at a group of armed men looking at us. “I can’t lower my guard here. I feel like we would get attacked at any moment.”

I felt the same. And there were a lot of armed men here. Could it be that a lot of people could fight here? In this city? Or worse, the entire country?

“I have never been to a place like this before,” Hartwin said. “Even the slums back on the continent are way better than here.”

“Hey now, lower your voice when degrading them,” Taneva warned. “They might take offense.”

I quietly scoffed. “Take offense? Of the truth? How stupid. At least they should realize how crappy it is to live like this.” There was no way I would live in a place like this shithole. If I was, I’d leave.

“It’s just the way it is for them. Life is hard in these lands,” Taneva said. “Live in a savage land, you live savagely, as one might say.”

I frowned. “I wonder how they even survived this long.”

If this was such a crappy place, I would have expected that all humans had died out centuries ago. Or at least, they could have left for other lands across the sea in search of a better life. But I guess there are just some people that don’t wanna leave the place of their birth. And not like moving to another land would make it instantly and easily easier for you.

Taneva smiled. “That’s human nature for you. Perseverance is among our best aspects.”

“What’s perseverance without effort to make things better than before?”

If you loved a place too much, you should have made things better. And this was just plain crappy. Don’t judge a place where you’re not from? Fuck that, I’m judging shit if there’s something to be judged. I mean, look at this place, and you expect me not to judge? If it’s truly crap, I’ll think it’s crap.

“If it counts, things seem to be a bit better compared to the last time I was here. Around a century ago, trading wasn’t as big as this. So that’s progress, no matter how little.”

Wait, what did he just say?

Velar, Hartwin, and I paused, noticing the same strange thing from his sentence. We all stared at Taneva.

“What?” He looked at us with a confused look.

I directed a sharp look directly into his eyes and asked a question. “Did you just say a century ago?”

“... Yes, I did.”

“You’ve been here a century ago?”

I scrutinized him from up and down. There was no way, he looked too young.

“Oh! He-he…” He awkwardly laughed. “I didn’t tell you yet? I’m immortal.”

“What…?”

“Huh?”

“What did you say?”

I was in disbelief.

“You’re not human?” I warily asked.

“Oh I’m human, just cursed to live for eternity.”

He was so casual about it.

“Wait, how old are you?” Hartwin asked.

“Honestly, I’ve lost count. But more than a couple of millennia.”

My eyes widened. A couple of millennia?! That’s ridiculous. That’s ridiculously long ago. How was that even possible? I was in shock. And he never even mentioned it. Dammit, no wonder he seemed powerful. He was thousands of years old.

“You didn’t think of ever mentioning that part?” I asked him in a displeased tone.

“Well…” He shrugged awkwardly. “You wouldn’t take me kindly if I told you that from the beginning.”

I groaned. “What else are you hiding?”

“Hey, it’s not that big of a deal, you know.”

“It is a big deal.” I tried not to shout in this place. “You’ll have to explain more about that immortality stuff later.”

“Eh, sure. But really, you have nothing to worry about from me.”

I looked away and continued on. Considering that he hid that crucial information about himself from me was displeasing. I threatened to kill him, you know. If he was immortal, then it was an entirely pointless threat. Taneva just became a force that I would be completely incapable of defeating. And that was what I was always worried about.

But fuck, whatever. At least for now, he’s on my side.

Suddenly, a door from a particular building burst open, and someone was thrown out to the ground.

“Get lost, pig snot!” The man at the front door shouted before walking back inside. Loud laughter could be heard from the inside.

The man on the ground slowly got up, wobbling around, obviously drunk. “Ah, what a bunch of pricks.” The dirty man began walking away.

I returned my eyes to the building, and there was a wooden sign. Carved on it was a pint of bear, well, a rough drawing, that is.

“Ooh, a bar?” Hartwin seemed particularly interested. “Anyone got some coins? I have a few, but I’m not sure if it’s enough.”

“Are you seriously planning on drinking right now?” Velar asked with a frown.

“We can’t?”

Taneva clapped his hands. “Oh, I wonder if they had made a new brew of liquor. Let’s check it out.”

Huh?

“Certainly not,” I said.

“Oh come on, Estelia. Have a little fun. You’re gonna be immortal soon as well. A little tip, enjoy the little sights.”

I know that… But I have standards and interests.

I looked at him with a sour expression, but he disregarded me and began walking to the bar.

“So, let’s go!” Taneva waved inward.

Hartwin then directed a pleading gaze at me. The bastard almost looked like a puppy that was waiting to be fed.

I let out a resigning sigh. “Fine. Let’s just not get into any trouble.”

Although considering how fucked up this place was, I doubt we could avoid that for long.

A bar… At least I know we should avoid a brawl.

“Alright, let’s go!” Hartwin immediately made his way inside the bar.

Velar and I followed behind.