I whistled a familiar tune as I mined the fire crystal in the heat. My whole body was soaking in sweat, but I was far from distressed.
I still have the energy to put in ten tis the effort even though I almost reached my quota for the day and still have hours left of the deadline.
"Well, you seem to be in a good mood," Caron said. He was barely halfway point of eting his quota.
"Why wouldn't I be?" I said, eting his gaze. "Or right, we're just slaves."
Well, at least not the lowliest of the low among the slave, which I was a month ago.
"Did sothing good happen?" Caron asked again. He was suspicious about my newfound strength, although he hadn't asked anything about it yet.
"Good like?"
"Sothing related to won?" Caron asked, shooting a knowing look.
I halted, giving him an odd look. "Won? Where are they?" I asked, scoffing. "I ain't seeing any woman, and you're using the plural form of it."
Caron clicked his tongue. "Then what's the secret behind your happiness?" he asked. "You used to be all gloomy during working hours, although with your usual jokes, but the gloom never disappears from your face like this."
"Well," I said, hesitating, "look at my trolley. I'm doing pretty fine with my slaving work."
"That I can see." Caron narrowed his eyes. "I guess all your exercise ca to fruition. I'm just too old for anything after I clear this out."
I was pretty sure Caron was already onto . Although his behaviour seed fair, he was one intelligent guy. He was at his wit's end after every day's work most days, but it wouldn't take a genius to figure out sothing wrong with soone who grew twice or more powerful in a matter of a month.
Well, I hadn't shown all of my power at work, but it didn't take for soone to grow suspicious.
Well, I had my argunt, like the healing potions helping to adapt quickly while most people would take half a year or more.
Anyway, since the topic was going where I wasn't ready to talk about, I excused myself, lying to the forr accountant. I felt bad about lying, but there was no other choice for at that mont.
I really wanted to tell , but that wasn't just my decision to take, since it wasn't just in this. I promised Saarya, and she had put all her trust in . Both of our lives were interlinked through this cooperation. Although she acted all mysterious and probably not under any of the guard's overview, Saarya feared them considerably.
She had no power to struggle on her own. I'm her only hope. Of course, she never said anything along those lines, but it didn't take a genius to figure that out, either.
Telling him so white lie that I had to et Elea, I moved deeper into the mine. I could sense, Caron's eyes on , but I simply departed, letting out a breath.
I rested my trolley, going sowhere quieter and fierier, and picked up the pickaxe again.
Now it was ti to make so money.
I started to pick the fire crystals, mining them from the relatively hotter region. After getting a handful of them, I poured them all into the alternative dinsion of my left wrist.
I did not intend to use those to earn a few coins as a slave. I was planning to use them once for sothing more bombastic. Yes, I was barely a copper ranker, but a plan had been growing in my head since the day I advanced.
Saarya helped in curving out most of the plan, but that's exactly what teamwork was about.
The only problem was that I still couldn't manage to pull anything out of the pocket dinsion, even after Saarya taught the trick which could help . It was simply not possible to learn the 'Qi Sense' spirit art she imparted to .
According to her, this art was particularly hard for low-rankers to learn. I needed a high grasp over your Qi to let them emit as threads in the surroundings to pick up any disturbance.
Saarya told that anyone with higher proficiency in this art could literally see and hear anything under the scope of their Qi Sense.
I guessed that's how she knew all those things about , even though I never saw her spying on . She was probably doing it from a respectful distance away.
I stole about an hour of my work, putting in most of my effort. That was already one-third of the trolley. It tired out greatly, but it was still far from filling the space.
I started cycling Qi as a soothing feeling surged through . That's one benefit of Qi. It could relieve your exhaustion quickly.
After I recovered, I pushed the trolley back to Caron. The forr accountant was still putting in his effort into completing his quota.
I decided I should help him a little. Although I couldn't tell him all the truth, I could spend a part of my energy on him after everything he did for .
However, I wasn't finished with anything when soone ca to disturb our honest work.
Joseph, the only among the earthlings that managed to elevate his position from a lowly slave to a lowly guard, glowered at the mont he found us.
He was in his guard costu, a thick black robe with purple straps on his person, a sword hanging low on his hips. I was a foot taller than the fella, but his muscles were well-built after he went through the iron transformation.
According to Saarya, most guards were iron ranks, while there were twelve captains and handfuls of other workers who were silver rankers. Above them were those n I t during my summoning.
Joseph ca over and halted to stand before us. He turned his head towards , as if wandering whether he found the right person or not.
"You," he said.
"?" I arched my eyebrow.
"You're number 309?" he asked, his voice cool and inquisitive.
"No, I'm just Gale," I answered before I could think of anything.
Joseph narrowed his eyes at , eyes boring at in malevolence. I kind of had the urge to et his gaze. I really wanted to shove sothing into this arrogant piece of work's face, but it wasn't the ti yet.
So I lowered my head, which seed to satisfy Joseph sowhat. But not completely.
He ca forward and caught by the hair that had been growing for so weeks now.
Joseph pulled it upwards, leading to groan in pain. I gritted my teeth as the guard drew his eyes to the collar on my neck.
Saarya already made the collar faulty, but he didn't know anything about it. I suppressed my anger, keeping that in mind.
Joseph was simply looking for the number latched onto the collar. Satisfied with finding number 309, he released , albeit jerking one last ti.
"Co with ," he told in his ever-commanding tone.
"Where?" I asked. "I still haven't completed my quota for the day."
Joseph lifted his head to look at again, displeasure growing in his eyes. He simply ramd his foot into my chest.
I saw it coming and could've dodged it if I tried, but for obvious reasons, I endured.
His kick landed on my chest as he pinned to the ground, still sticking his foot onto , putting pressure, causing to groan loudly.
"I didn't hear it clearly, Bard," Joseph said in his chilling voice. "Did you just question ?"
I groaned, blood coming out of my mouth.
"Sir, he didn't an to." Caron ca to my rescue, kneeling in front of the guard. "He just fears the lashing. It's already over 270 tis. He could barely endure that number of lashing."
Caron's words put Joseph into contemplation as he stared at the sorry figure under his foot.
"When I ask you to do sothing, you follow," Joseph told , eyes boring at , "is that clear?"
No answer. I just stared at him.
"Is that clear?"
Caron nudged on the back, reminding that I was making a mistake. At last, I relented, rembering I had a bigger purpose than shoving a foot into so prick's face.
"Yes," I croaked, answering.
"Good," Joseph said. "No follow ."
He released as I breathed in and out excessively, as if to show how much distress he had caused . I found no remorse in his eyes, knowing that he was harming an innocent individual.
What am I looking for in him, anyway? I questioned myself. Imani had already ntioned not to do anything with this fella. There was so history between them that most people weren't aware of.
I stood back up and followed the cloaked figure without questioning him again, even though my heart was crying, demanding to know where he was taking .
What did this fellow want from , anyway? I was a hopeless slave to outsiders. That's a bona fide fact.
Joseph brought to the collection place, but that wasn't the destination, either. I left my trolley with Caron as I would have to go back after this to complete my quota. Well, unless this guy had so other intention in mind.
He led towards the guard's chambers so distance away from there. We went further from there until we reached a relatively quiet place. I had a bad feeling about this.
We finally stopped before another long row of chambers, mostly empty ones, this ti around.
"Why are we here again?" I couldn't help but question. A glare from him led to shut my mouth again as I uttered a word of apology. "Sorry."
"Soone wants to et you inside. Go on."
_________
This is the last flashback chapter sequence of volu one.
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