Aaron slowly opened his eyes, the sound of a horse waking him up. He quickly shook his head when he realised something was tickling his nose.
Getting up slowly Aaron was still a bit dazed and confused by his surroundings. Reviewing his system notifications, however, quickly put things in perspective.
You have been afflicted by the status effect: Sleep
Duration remaining: 5 hours
Status effect: Sleep, has expired
Right, he’d been drugged. The soup.
As his thoughts finally started to weave together and his head cleared up, he began to take stock of his surroundings. The first and most noticeable thing was the thing he was most weary of, iron bars. Flat rectangular iron bars in a crossing pattern made up one of the ‘walls’. The other three appeared to be made out of thick wood logs.
He was currently resting on top a thick bed of yellow hay. A lot of it. There was hay scattered about all over the place. Judging from that and the horse he half remembered hearing a moment ago, it was a pretty safe bet that his captors had built this little enclosure somewhere in the stables.
Aaron also noticed that somebody had put fresh clothes on him, the ones Dianna had come downstairs with if he remembered correctly. Well at least his jailers were semi-civilised if nothing else.
Aaron puffed up some hay as a makeshift pillow and then relaxed. There was simply nothing else to be done at the moment. He was out in the middle of nowhere so screaming would be useless and it was pretty certain that all three of the people he met were involved in whatever ‘this’ was, considering how exposed the stable that this little jail cell was located in, is. He had eyeballed the walls of his little prison, but they all looked way to sturdy to do anything about. Yep, all that was left to do now was wait and see.
Destiny my ass! Aaron mentally snorted at no one in particular.
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Someone did eventually turn up of course, it was Rita of all people.
“Hey there Rita, how you doing this morning.”
Rita flinched, nearly dropping the tray that she was carrying in the process. She probably had not expected him to be awake yet.
“So… Funniest thing happened, I woke up this fine morning and found myself imprisoned. I mean, imagine that!”
Rita ignored his rant and hurriedly placed the tray on the ground, then proceeded to quickly pull a bowl of porridge, a plate with some bread on it and what was probably a glass of milk off of it and within reach of a slightly larger gap in the bars.
“...I don’t suppose you know anything about that?” Aaron simply continued his monologue.
Rita grabbed the now empty tray and scampered off at a rather surprising speed, without saying a word.
Aaron had already puzzled out by this point that Dianna was the one that had drugged him. She had forcibly taken over from Rita at the last minute and served the soup herself. Rita’s behaviour right from the start also seemed to suggest that she was aware of what her mother intended for him. That being said she did come off as something of an unwilling participant, like someone that was conscripted against their will.
Now Thomas on the other hand, there was a real mystery. The more Aaron thought about it, the more that guy gave him the creeps. He had never said a word in the end and he was as lifeless and vapid as ever. Perhaps Dianna did something to the guy, maybe she’s some kind of necromancer or witch or something.
These thoughts were turning darker by the second, so Aaron set them aside, lest he start contemplating what horrid end is waiting for him. Strangely despite all this, he was rather calm. He should be in full blown panic stations, but he wasn’t. Aaron wondered if that was something to do with his ‘hero’ status or divine affinity or something, but in the end couldn’t really arrive at any tangible conclusion.
So he dug into breakfast instead.
A while later Dianna came to pay him a visit. She was wearing gladiator like sandals this time and a flowing white dress that had a slit most of the way up her leg, revealing a lot of it as she walked.
“Hello Aaron”
“Hi Dianna!”
“Oh, I see you seem to be more comfortable with your new lodgings than I anticipated” Dianna half smirked at him.
Aaron refused to let her get to him. “The bedding is really soft, best I’ve slept on in a while and breakfast was a rather nice touch too, so no complaints here.”
“Well that’s good to hear. Tell me... when Rita informed me that you were awake, she seemed rather frazzled. You wouldn’t have done anything to upset her would you? She is a rather gentle soul you know.”
“Heavens no! Perish the thought. To be honest I am rather smitter with her you know.”
“Oh? Well she is a beautiful girl. Anyway I just wanted to come check on things after seeing the state she was in. I’ve enjoyed our little chat, but I really must be off now.”
“Sorry, can I just ask one question?”
Dianna’s jovial mood soured a little at that, “If it’s to beg for your freedom or your life I would rather you not waste my time with it.”
“Oh, no. It’s nothing like that. I just have one question. It’s something that’s been bothering me ever since we first met.”
“Well what is it?” Dianna gave him an analysing look.
“Are you wearing any underwear?”
Dianna was immediately taken aback with a clear look of surprise on her face. What Aaron did not know at that moment was that she was not actually offended by the question so much as she was surprised that a teenager she had just kidnapped would have the balls to ask her, an older woman, such a thing.
The look of surprise was quickly replaced with a mischievous smile that was clearly only barely able to hold a laugh at bay. Dianna was about to turn to leave, but stopped short and seemed to instead be in contemplation of something. She then turned to face Aaron once again, her mischievous smile quickly returning to her face.
She slid her middle finger into the slit in her dress and slowly traced it up and to the side. Soon more and more of her fantastic leg came into view. When she finally stopped, Aaron could make out the beginnings of some well trimmed and shaped black hair, and the initial curve of one of her ‘lips’.
With that she gave him a small wink, and walked away.
Well, that was one mystery solved.
Congratulations, skill unlocked: Charm
Congratulations, skill unlocked: Alpha
‘Charm’
Skill: Charm Type: Buff Element: Divine Cost: 30 mana Duration: 15 minutes Cooldown: 24 hours Description:
As a harem protagonist you obviously need to be able to lay it on thick when the time is right, this skill will give you that little bit extra. Effect:
+50% Charisma
+5 Charisma for each level of this skill
Interesting.
‘Alpha’
Skill: Alpha Type: Buff Element: Divine Cost: 30 mana Duration: 3 seconds Cooldown: 24 hours Description:
Not every harem MC is a total loser. Sometimes woman flock towards him because he’s a living legend. Effect:
+1000 Charisma for each level of this skill
Holy shit!
What a ridiculous bonus! However, only three seconds… can’t do much, if anything, with that. Of course such a powerful buff would have to have an equally devastating drawback.
----------------------------------------
Aaron awoke to the sound of horses once more. It had been 24 hours since his incarceration. The thing they don’t ever tell you about incarceration is how insanely BORING it is! There is seriously only so much jerking off a guy can do before he runs out of ‘juice’. And although he did mentally file away the H-scene of a certain pussy from the Dianna route, the images clarity had already faded a bit and was no longer what it used to be.
Aaron watched as Thomas walked past, leading one of the two horses that resided with Aaron somewhere in the stables. That guy still didn’t acknowledge his existence in the slightest. Yep, Dianna definitely mind fucked him.
It should be time for breakfast soon. Rita seemed to be the one responsible for bringing him his meals, as she was the only one that ever did. She also was the one that took away the ‘chamber pot’ they had provided him with, each time. He seriously hoped she wasn’t the one that was cleaning it out, he would die of embarrassment. The people of this world may be used to such a thing, but by god he was certainly not.
Of course in all this time Rita hadn’t spoken a single word to him, even though he had tried to engage her in conversation a few times. He would probably try one more time and if that failed he was considering investing his one and only skill point into ‘Charm’. Maybe the buff would be enough to make a difference in his communication with her. He certainly didn’t see any other way of getting out of this mess and who knows how long he may have left, before whatever Dianna’s planning for him came to fruition. No, best not to linger too much, holding out for that perfect skill.
There was of course also, ‘Alpha’, but he doubted that would be of any use. Three seconds was just too short for any purpose he could come up with at the moment.
Aaron could make out talking in the background, but he couldn’t quite tell what was being said. It seemed like Dianna was doing most of the talking.
Then he heard the sound of the reins being whipped above a horse and the sound of it trotting off. Come to think of it, Dianna had said before that she was making another trip to town in a day or two. Maybe she had been telling the truth about that. She also didn’t seem the type to drive herself, not with Thomas the zombie around and all, so he was probably going with.
Let’s just hope she didn’t take Rita as well, cause then he’d likely starve.
Before long, Rita came around with breakfast. So at least that fear had been alayed.
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“Hey, good morning. How you doing today”
Rita once more placed the food from the tray, without saying a word, not so much as even meeting his eyes.
“I hear Dianna went to town, stocking up on some groceries or what?”
Rita still ignored him, picked up her tray and prepared to leave.
“Ah come on! Do you know how bored I am sitting here all day?”
For a moment Rita froze up and seemed to shift in place, as if undecided.
“Won’t you at least chat with me a bit? I won’t tell anyone.”
A quiet voice finally responded, “What do you want to talk about. I can’t really talk about- ‘things’.”
Well, this was different. Aaron wondered what had changed, perhaps she was more willing to talk to him because Dianna wasn’t around. She did still strike him as an unwilling participant after all.
“I don’t know, anything really, the weather?”
She gave him a complicated look.
“Okay, fine. So… how long have you lived here?”
She pursed her lips for a moment as if deciding whether or not to answer him. Or was it perhaps she was deciding how to answer him? “Pretty much all my life” Her voice was at least a little less subdued this time.
“Do you like living out here? I mean the whole kidnapping thing aside of course”, Aaron said while making playful hand and facial gestures.
“Yeah sure.” Aaron could swear he saw the faintest hint of a smile cross her face for just a fraction of a second. “I like the forest and the animals. And also, you find a lot of great plants out here.”
“Oh, so you know a thing or two about plants then I take it?”
“Oh yes. I have my herbalist class all the way up to level 10 already, despite my age” She said proudly. She seemed to perk up another couple of octaves when the conversation headed in the direction of what was clearly her passion.
Aaron kept the conversation in that domain for quite some time, letting her do most of the talking, in the hopes of building some rapport. She proceeded to explain to him about different types of plant and their alchemical properties. What they look like, where to find them, their potential uses, etc. He had not realised she could be so bubbly when you get her going.
Maybe she just had to hold it back all this time. Maybe she didn’t have anyone to chat with. Maybe she was lonely. Aaron was reasonably sure she generally didn’t chat with any assumed past prisoners before him. She seemed a bit afraid of Dianna, despite the woman being her mother. And then there was Thomas. Yeah... stimulating conversationalist that one was bound to be.
After she finally exhausted the number of things she could tell a layman about plants, the conversation lulled a bit, so Aaron changed topics to something a little closer to home. “So I assume your pretty red hair and freckles come from your father’s side. I mean Dianna doesn’t have any of those.”
All at once her demeanour seemed to darken. Shit, did he touch on something a little too sensitive. It was only for a moment, but then she spoke once more, but back in her ‘soft voice’, “That’s because Dianna adopted me.”
Oh, that is interesting. Rita paused for a moment as if hesitating whether or not to continue. “When I was really young my parents were killed by bandits and Dianna found me and took me in.”
“I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to dredge up old pain”
She gently shook her head before replying with a smile that looked awfully forced, probably more for her own benefit than his, “It’s OK. I was really young and I don’t even remember anything about my parents, not even their faces.”
“That kind of sucks. You really don’t remember anything about them?”
Rita paused for a moment in thought, “Well there is one thing… I remember this stormy night. I was huddling up with my dad next to a fireplace trying to keep warm. And, I remember being really scared. There was a lot of noise, a lot wind and thunder. The shutters of the house were practically being ripped off, maybe some of them already had. I think I was crying. I think my dad sang to me. And when that didn’t work he did this thing with his thumb, he dragged it down the bridge of my nose and smiled at me, and it was like all my fear went away. With that one simple action, everything was going to be okay.”
Aaron listened to her and watched as she seemed to lose herself in the pleasant memory. She likely cherished it deeply, having next to no other memories to fall back on.
Rita’s expression changed again, to one that was almost- apologetic. “I- I should be going now”
Perhaps she only now realised how personal things had gotten and it had made her uncomfortable. “Okay well, next time you feel like chatting I’ll be staying in the area, so just pop on by.”
That seemed to bring a small smile to her delicate face, as she departed. She did not acknowledge Aaron’s passing quip, but he could tell it was a yes.
Hah! Who needs a charisma buff? Not me!
Two days passed just like that. Rita had returned for a chat, with each and every meal she brought him. Once near the end of the second day, she had even visited him of her own volition. She claimed she was just checking on the remaining horse, but he could tell she was lying. She really sucked at lying.
They had chatted about many things over the course of those conversations, however, Rita always steered clear of topics surrounding his imprisonment or reasons therefore. Naturally, he also steered clear of topics about himself. Not that this was particularly difficult as Rita honestly believed that he had amnesia. Although she never said it out loud, he could tell, that she suspected her mother to have been responsible for his current mental state. Which was funny, since that’s the one thing Dianna actually hadn’t done. Regardless, he left her with that misunderstanding, it would be convenient for him in multiple ways.
Unfortunately, Aaron never unlocked another new skill, much to his chagrin.
On the night of the third day of his incarceration, Dianna returned. Aaron never actually saw her in person, but he did of course hear the horse and wagon returning. He saw Thomas the zombie leading the horse into the stable, unpacking a few things, including some fresh bales of hay.
Aaron actually tried to engage Thomas in conversation this time. However, it turned into something like trying to talk to a brick wall. Utterly unresponsive.
Once Thomas was apparently done with his work, he simply strode off. It was already dark outside, well at least based off the surrounding lighting conditions filtering into the stable, that Aaron did have access to within his line of sight.
It was once again supper time, as Rita came around, bringing with her more food. “Hey, there”, Aaron called out to her.
However she seemed to keep her head down and ignore him as she bent down to unpack the food.
“So, I see Dianna is back”, he tried once more to engage her, but she only gave him a strained smile and said nothing back. Perhaps she was too afraid to talk to him now that Dianna had returned? Well that would certainly throw a spanner in the works.
Aaron couldn’t help but sink back. The look of depression must have been plainly visible on his face, because when Rita caught a glimpse of it while she was getting up, her face visibly contorted like she was in great pain. She did not however say anything and turned to leave.
Just before she did, however, she seemed to freeze up. She glanced down at the food laid out in front of the cell, seemingly deep in thought. She seemed to be deciding something. After one final look at Aaron with a truly apologetic expression on her face, she hurried off and out of sight.
Well, that was different. But Aaron had a hunch that he knew what it was all about, she really did wear her heart on her sleeve.
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Thomas steadily approached the jail cell. ‘Make sure the prisoner is asleep’ Thomas peered at the drugged Aaron. No movement. The plate of food had been half eaten.
‘Open the door’. Thomas unlocked the jail cell door and stepped inside.
‘Check that the prisoner is unconscious’. Thomas gave Aaron’s lifeless body a solid kick, having received no specific instruction on how to accomplish this ‘check’. No reaction.
‘Bring the prisoner to the altar’. Thomas bent down and and picked Aaron up. He slung him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and as if he weighed little more than that.
The world had always been a wash out to Thomas. The orders. The compulsion. That’s all there was. Nothing else mattered. Nothing else existed. He knew only what he needed to and only when he needed to know it.
Just like he knew only what he needed to, to carry a drugged unconscious prisoner, or at least one that was supposed to be.
Aaron had made his move in the blink of an eye.
He had grabbed the rope in his pants pocket, flipped it around Thomas’ neck and was now pulling as hard as he could. The rope dug deep into Thomas’ neck, even drawing blood in some places.
Aaron had made it into a slip knot of sorts, probably not too far off from a noose. It would be easy for him to keep it tight, and difficult for Thomas to get off. Aaron clung to Thomas’ back while he kept the noose as tight as he could manage. And for the first few moments Thomas just stood there, choking to death. It was like his brain had short circuited or something.
As for where Aaron had gotten the rope, well, he simply made it. You know when you’re watching youtube videos and one video leads to the next until you’re so far down the rabbit hole, that you have no idea how you got there. This was the result of one of those times. Aaron had ended up watching a short video on how to make rope from hay or straw.
Aaron, now putting his odd knowledge to use, seemed to be coming out on top quite splendidly. He was winning.
Until he wasn’t.
Whatever had gone wrong with Thomas’ head seemed to finally correct itself. Thomas began spinning around first one way, then the other trying to throw Aaron off, while clawing at the rope that was digging deeply into his neck. However, no matter how hard he tried to pull at it or how strong he was, it was futile. It was always way easier to tighten a slip knot than loosen one and he couldn’t even get his fingers under the rope to get a grip on it.
Aaron hung on like his life depended on it. Obviously his life did actually depend on it in all likelihood. He really hoped that Thomas wasn’t an actual zombie, otherwise this would end up being a rather fruitless endeavour likely ending in his death. Luckily, if the gurgling and choking sounds Thomas was making were any indication, this was likely not the case. I mean, zombies don’t need to breath right?
Thomas not getting anywhere with the rope, changed tactics and start trying to grab a hold of Aaron. Aaron had locked his legs and one free arm around Thomas, holding on steadfast, so that Thomas couldn’t really pull him off. Not for a lack of trying.
Thomas had a really bulky figure and his arms weren’t that long, making the task of trying to grab a hold of Aaron and pull him off an awfully difficult one. The most he succeeded in doing, was digging his nails into Aaron’s left arm and while that was quite painful for Aaron it had little effect. Heck Aaron didn’t even receive so much as a notification about HP loss, the damage probably being too minor. Assuming of course one was supposed to receive such notifications.
As Aaron slowly squeezed the life out of Thomas, Thomas resorted to trying something different, perhaps more than a little desperate by this point. Thomas stumbled backwards and rammed his back into one of the wooden walls of the cell. Of course what he was actually ramming was not so much his own back, as it was Aaron.
Aaron grunted in pain. The blow was harsh, it was painful. He could swear he cracked a rib and he even faintly registered a notification about HP loss.
Thomas took a step or two forward and then repeated the process, with even more force this time. Aaron cried out loud in pain this time. It hurt so fucking badly! It was like being rammed by a bull and Thomas probably wasn’t all that much lighter than one.
Apparently not happy with the level of effect he was having, the next time Thomas rammed Aaron, it was instead into the iron bars of the jail cell. Aaron cried out in pain, almost completely losing his grip on Thomas and the rope. He paid more attention to the notification this time and more specifically the amount of HP loss. It was not insignificant.
He was losing. If this kept up Thomas would either recover or he himself would perish. Aaron tried to secure his grip even more, but it was futile, another ram left him even worse off than before. The pain was tremendous, he could barely see straight anymore, he was panicking.
Congratulations, skill unlocked: Plot armour
Aaron did not have even a chance to pay any attention to the skill, nor a chance to examine it and determine its effectiveness. He simply trusted his gut and mentally sunk his one and only skill point into purchasing it. He couldn’t even determine if it was actually a passive skill like he suspected or not.
Thomas rammed him again.
Something was different this time. It’s like Aaron didn’t feel the pain as much, or like he was somehow empowered, his grip didn’t waver in the slightest this time.
Thomas rammed him again, but it was somehow much weaker, and did less damage than before. The tide was inexplicably turning. Aaron couldn’t be sure how much of that was Thomas finally running out of steam and how much, if any, of it was due to the skill.
Thomas finally went down to his knees, and then fell over flat on his face. Aaron kept up the choking for quite some time after that, just to make sure.
Finally releasing his grip and rolling off of Thomas, he just lay there for a while. Breathless, exhausted, in tremendous pain. His HP was down to about half. Just thinking about how, if it had reached zero, he would be dead. The thought sent shivers down his spine.
Aaron mentally checked in on his first ever skill, ‘plot armour’
Skill: Plot armour Type: Passive Element: Divine Cost: N/A Description:
We all know that the main character is very unlikely to die, wouldn’t be much of a story if he did. Effect:
The skill will assist in any way it can to keep the user from dying. How much it can interfere in the course of fate, is directly proportional to the skills level and the users destiny attribute.
Sounds like a cheat ability if ever there was one. Not that he wished to test the limit of the skills ability to protect him though. He would not be doing anything stupid intentionally. Well, perhaps not too stupid.
Aaron got up, left his cell and took a look around. On the one side of the barn, there was some kind of hatch that was open and clearly leading underground. A lot of hay had been swept to the side, Aaron expected it was likely normally completely hidden below the hay.
And just outside the barn on the opposite end, there was a tree stump that was clearly used for chopping up logs. The hatchet that was buried into it, a clear tell.
Aaron, as fucked up as he was at the moment, felt there was still one thing left for him to do here. As he walked over to the tree stump, he received another notification.
Congratulations, skill unlocked: Last stand