On the other side, the girls’ situation was indeed dangerous.
A group of guards formed around the dozen or so girls. They didn't even bother to hide the lust in their eyes. They don’t get too many girls here in the mins, especially not pretty girls. This was a feast.
“How about this?” One of the guards scanned Sophia from top to bottom. “If you girls make me and my brothers happy, we won’t kill you. How about that?”
“That sounds like a terrible deal.” At the heat of the moment, Alex stepped up. The guards were intrigued to see she wasn’t exactly afraid. “Look, you have to make a choice. Do you want to have sex or do you want to keep your head?”
The guards froze. For a second, they couldn’t believe their ears! They were threatened? By a handful of unarmed girls? Was this some sort of sick joke? “What?”
Alex tilted her head. She could feel the eyes of her fellow girls trained on her. A part of her knew she was playing a dangerous game. If she failed, she and her classmates wouldn't just be killed. They would be tortured and killed. Yet, even in this position, she was strangely calm. Her words were slow, yet they were filled with confidence and resolve.
“You are obviously short-handed. If you guys force yourselves onto us, do you think we will be in any condition to work? The boys that came with us, do you think they will work if they hear about what happened to us?”
“We will make you work.” One of the guards retaliated, not willing to be cast low by the words of a mere girl.
“Really?” Alex rose her eyebrows and took a step forward. “I wonder how you are planning to make dead bodies work, because I don’t know about others, but I will kill myself before I let myself get raped.”
The guards exchanged a few looks, and when none of them made a move, Alex knew she was right. The group of riders went through all the trouble to chase them down across the forest, march them across the road for half an hour, and hand them to the guards. They wouldn’t do it if they had sufficient labor. In that case, it wasn’t up to a few guards to decide. If the commanders knew the mining process was delayed because a few guards couldn’t keep their pants on…
“That’s enough.” A voice called from behind the guards. The guards stepped to the side, revealing a short man. Instead of wearing a suit of red armor like everyone else, the man wore a red cloak.
“Advisor Jonah.” One of the guards acknowledged. He knew Jonah was the most trusted advisor to Vice Commander Liam. He might also be the smartest man in the field. “What do you suggest we do? These girls are defiant...and we cannot allow this to go unpunished.”
Jonah scanned Alex from top to bottom. Alex faced his gaze without any hesitation. She knew her fate, as well as the fate of all those behind her, was at stake. Yet...she wasn't afraid. She just wasn't. Of course, the same couldn't be said about all the other girls.
Finally, after a few long seconds, Jonah spoke.
“You’re right. We can’t afford to lose the labor of all thirty of you...but we can afford to lose one of you.”
Alex could hear the girls gulp behind her. Jonah searched Alex’s expression for any trace of fear, but he didn't find any. Originally he wanted to take Alex and make an example of her. The girl’s calmness might make her difficult to subjugate, but the lack of fear on her face changed his mind. Instead, he turned to another girl.
Sophia.
“Bring her to my chamber.”
Two guards stepped into the crowd and dragged Sophia out of the crowd. The girls sobbed, but there was nothing they could do. Alex glanced at the guards and toyed with the idea of jumping on them, but she managed to control that impulse.
As the two guards brought Sophia away, Jonah turned to the rest of the girls.
“Now, get them to work. We have a quota to fill!”
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Three days passed in, well, three days. Every day, the boys and girls would get into the mines with an ax and try to break down pieces of iron ore. put them into a cart, and bring them outside. It was back-breaking work. They would work for hours, going from before the sun even came out to nightfall with little rest. The food was terrible. The shelters were like pig barns. Within days, everyone was completely worn out. They have suffered more in three days than they have for their entire previous life.
The boys and girls weren’t the only slaves. There were at least five hundred more people acting as forced labor inside the mines. Some of them were prisoners from other empires captured in battle. Some were criminals, or at least those accused of being criminals. Some were former Sullivan soldiers who were sentenced to slavery for disobeying superior officers or for other reasons. Even more were just Imperial citizens from surrounding villages and cities who the Imperial forces simply decided to kidnap.
Inside one of the better rooms of the camp, Jonah stood in front of a battered Sophia.
Sophia wasn’t in a good place. Thanks to what happened, she didn't have to work. Unfortunately, that didn't mean she could take it easy.
Jonah turned out to be a sadistic dick. He enjoyed beating her over and over again and only laughed when he heard her screaming and begging.
“Please…” Sophia coughed. “Don’t do this anymore…I can’t take this anymore...I’ll die...”
“I’m sure you’ll live. You aren’t my first toy, you know.” Jonah grabbed onto Sophia’s cheek and squeezed it hard. “I have had quite the experience.”
He dropped Sophia and kicked her in the stomach once again. Sophia closed her eyes as she coughed blood. An overwhelming ache covered her entire body, but she managed to keep her scream down and her tears in.
She wondered how much longer she could endure. She always took pride in being a strong and determined woman, but strength and determination could only do so much when she was tied up and beaten like this. A part of Sophia was looking forward for all of this to be over, but another part of her didn't want to die. Not here. Not like this. Not when she was tied up like a defense animal and beaten to death by a sadistic monster.
Meanwhile, in the mines, Raymond collapsed on the ground. When he tried to escape back in the forest, even though he surrendered, the rider that captured him still proceeded to land a slash on his back. The wound was never treated, and it had festered. The fact that he could stay standing for three days was already a miracle, but his will to live only did so much.
When Raymond collapsed, he was in a corridor with only him, Jerry, Alex, and one other guard. The guard walked up to Raymond and kicked him. He tried to get Raymond to stand back up and back to work, but it soon became clear that it was a lost cause.
Jerry saw it, but there was nothing he could do. He simply turned his head the other way and sighed. Alex gave him a comforting look. Neither of them could do anything. If they tried to jump on the guard, they would die. Up to this point, their unit summoning systems were merely for show. They could only summon individual units one by one, and every militia took ten minutes. Even if they could get a handful of militias out before being inevitably discovered, they would simply be slaughtered by the guards.
The guard was slightly annoyed. He drew his blade and knelt down beside Raymond. If he killed a healthy worker, he would be punished. If he slit the throat of someone who could no longer work and provide value, it was a different story.
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“Wait…” Raymond suddenly coughed. His eyes were getting blurry, but he was able to see the piece of metal that might land on him any second. The fear of death drew a primal surge of fear from the bottom of his heart, and he suddenly made up his mind. “take me to your leader.”
The guard simply smirked at the request. "You are delusional, fool." He declared quietly.
“He will thank you for this!” The injured young man on the ground added. "I won't try anything! I promise! I have important information to give him!"
The guard thought about it. There would be no harm done. If it turned out well, he would be awarded. If it turned out to be problematic, he could always just kill the prisoner and have some extra fun for his trouble. The entrance to the mine was guarded. It’s not like the others could escape. With that in mind, he decided to take some risk and proceeded to prop Raymond up with his arms and head out to the entrance.
This left Alex and Jerry alone.
“You know,” Alex suddenly dropped her shovel and slowly walked up to Jerry. She licked her lips and touched her ragged-tagged clothes. “It’s been a few painful days. What do you say we have some fun?”
It took Jerry a few seconds to understand what Alex was proposing, but he decided to ignore the offer. Now was neither the right place nor the right plan. Even if it was the right time and place, he would simply say no. He treated Alex as a friend, not a girlfriend.
Instead of saying anything, he opened his interface and tried to figure something that could get himself and Alex out of this hell hole. He knew his chance of escape would only dwindle as time passes.
Suddenly, as he moved with his eyes trained on the interface, he accidentally tripped. As he hit the ground, a piece of iron was suddenly placed in where the interface was.
Transform iron ore into gold? Yes or No?
Jerry tapped the yes. Immediately, the piece of iron disappeared. In return, Jerry’s gold storage rose from 100 to 105.
“Wow. That is...good to know.” He turned to Alex, who seemed a little irritated because of Jerry’s lack of response. He informed her of his discovery.
“That’s nice.” Alex's response was a simple comment.
“Nice? That’s awesome. We are in the middle of a gold mine!” Jerry’s breathe went heavier despite his attempts to calm himself. It was pure luck, yet the luck might’ve saved everyone’s life. Without this accident, he would never be able to figure this out. “Give us enough time and we can make an army and overwhelm the guards…”
“We don’t have the time.” Alex cut him off.
“What do you mean...oh crap.” Jerry suddenly remembered he could only make a militia every ten minutes. “If us two can somehow get an hour in the mines alone, then we will only get, what, 12 militias? That’s nothing.”
“But what if we can tell the others about this? Get them into the fight as well?” Alex threw her hands up and suggested.
Jerry tapped his forehead. He didn't know how he missed it, but Alex had a good point. “Then we can get thirty times the units, if we have the gold.” He glanced at the surrounding floor. “We don’t know when the guard will come back. We should convert as many minerals here to gold as possible. Leave some so the guards don’t get suspicious.”
The two proceeded to clean up all the remaining iron ores lying around in that sector. Some of them were placed onto a cart, and the two split the rest. The guards didn't bother to constantly keep an eye on the prisoners. They didn't have the manpower. Plus, without a way out, how in the world were the prisoners supposed to hide tons of iron ore?
Alex and Jerry divided the gold evenly. They each got an additional 62 gold. That was more than four militias.
Given the time and resource, they could assemble an army. Unfortunately, time was something they really didn't have a lot of.
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That night, Jerry sneaked up to Patel and told him his discoveries. Thankfully for him, while the guards patrolled the fences and the towers, they paid very little attention to what was actually happening inside the tent. They just didn't bother. As long as the slaves couldn't escape, what they did in their free time didn't matter as long as they could keep providing the necessary labor.
Most of the prisoners were asleep already when Jerry made his way to Patel's bed. The young man was, luckily, still awake.
“What do you want me to do?” Patel asked after Jerry finished explaining his discovery and his plan.
“Tell everyone about this. If we are to rebel, we need to do it together to even have a chance.”
"Fair enough." Patel nodded slowly. That was when he suddenly realized something and tossed Jerry a suspicious glance. Why are you telling me this instead of doing it yourself?”
Jerry frowned at the question.
“You are afraid of the risk.” Patel already knew the answer. “You don’t want to be brought down if this thing goes south. You want the benefits, but you don’t want the consequences. You are using me.”
“You're paranoid. I just don't like dealing with people. I am not a leader.” For a second, Jerry found himself scoffing as the accusation. "Now, if there is nothing else, I have to go."
As Jerry left, Patel gave this matter some more thought. Maybe Jerry really wanted to use him as a tool. Maybe he really was paranoid. Either way, getting out of captivity was good for everyone. Plus, it wouldn't necessarily be bad for him to lead this whole rebellion. If this failed, he would indeed be the first to pay, but if this was successful...Patel had enough experience to know it also paid to be the leader. If he led the others to victory and freedom, then his possibilities were boundless.
Jerry returned to his shelter and got onto his bed. He closed his eyes and tried to think through his plan of escape once again. Suddenly, he heard footsteps closing in. Immediately, he grabbed onto a piece of sharp rock he found in the mines and held it up.
What the piece of rock could do didn't matter as much as showing the visitors that he wasn’t afraid of defending himself with force.
Alex and Christopher were standing in front of his bed.
“What is it?” Jerry asked, slightly relaxed after he saw Alex, knowing she would probably be the last person to hurt him.
“Do you want to get out of here?” Christopher demanded bluntly.
“Of course. What did you think I’m gonna say?” Jerry’s response was a little irritated.
Alex followed Chris up. “We’re planning an escape. Chris has found an opening in the fences to the north side of the camp. We can get out. We move tonight. We have already got a couple of people with us. Raymond is in. He somehow got the guards to treat to his wounds. Five more of us are in. We can make it out.”
Jerry’s mind flew to Sophia and the rest of his people. “And the others?”
“All of us moving will draw too much attention. We have to save ourselves first. We will go to the wild and create an army before coming back and wiping out this camp. There’s no room for us to work with in here.” Alex continued.
“We don’t know if we can outrun the horses. We don’t know if we can find resources in the outside to convert to gold. We have no information about the surroundings and who these soldiers are...”
“Yes or no?” Chris finally got impatient. “I am not staying in this place any longer. We can never make sure of everything! If you want to join us, do it. If you don’t, shut the fuck up and keep quiet about this.”
Jerry ignored him. Instead, he turned to Alex.
“We should talk privately.”
“I’ll wait for you in the rendezvous area. Be quick.” Chris turned around and left the room.
Once Chris was gone, Jerry snapped to Alex with anger in his voice. A foreign sight.
“What are you thinking? I thought we decided we were going to mass up an army and take this place down from the inside! What was that? Couple of hours ago?”
“That plan takes too long.”
“What…” Jerry was taken back by surprise. “Takes too long? That plan is safer. If you get caught trying to escape...”
“I won’t get caught.”
Jerry’s mouth went wide open. “What is wrong with you, Alex? It’s one thing to not do homework in school. It’s another to mess up here! You’re being reckless with your own life and that’s not good! It’s almost as if you want to die or something…either that, or you can’t feel fear, which is equally bad when it comes to your chances of survival!”
“Speaking of fear,” Alex didn't back down at Jerry's words. If anything, it seemed like those words rubbed her the wrong way.“you’re a coward, do you know that? We have a chance of escaping this hell, and you want to sit back and do nothing?”
This time Jerry was truly hit. Patel calling him coward was different from Alex doing the same thing. “Coward? I’m just trying to keep both of us alive. I thought you could tell that! Christopher's plan is too risky...” He couldn’t help but defend himself.
"And hiding an army within these mines and hoping the guards don't notice anything is not?" Alex stood her ground. "Nothing is without risk, Jerry! If we take our chances this time and get out, then our future is limitless! With this summoning interface, no one will be able to stop us!"
"If you get out!" Jerry repeated once again. "If you're caught...you will die! Every single one of you! And it won't be a pretty end!"
Jerry thought his concern was genuine and reasonable, but it was clear Alex didn't share his belief. Then again, he had always known Alex to be an irrational one. She was emotional. Impulsive. He couldn't count the number of times where she took action and got into trouble before she didn't care about potential consequences.
The brunette standing before him bit her lips.
"I think I will take my chances. In the meantime...take care of yourself."
With that said, Alex turned and left the room, leaving Jerry alone and speechless.