Unrivaled in another world Chapter 4: I became a Slave

[: Daniel POV :]

Another six years had passed.

From five to eleven, the world did not grow kinder, but I grew stronger.

The pain never stopped, and the chains never loosened.

Even the whip never missed, but in between the bruises, I found pieces of sothing worth living for, them, my family.

Caelira, Rika, Marnok, and Kiel weren’t just people I endured hell with.

They were my light in this abyss, a reason I had lived for.

For soone who had lived on Earth, my mind and will weren’t strong enough to endure this harshness.

Even though I had the incurable disease, it wasn’t this bad, and I discovered that all of my abilities could only be awakened once I had gone through the age of awakening.

A process that every living being will go through once they have reached 12 years old.

And I had only reached 11 years old.

Nonetheless, even after 6 years had passed, they had never changed at all.

Caelira still looked like moonlight trapped in a cage.

Her beauty never faded, but her eyes grew dimr each year.

Yet no matter how weak she beca, she would still kneel beside , her once-pristine hands rough with calluses, to clean my wounds with water and cloth.

She couldn’t heal with magic, but she healed anyway.

She braided my hair when it grew too long.

She told ancient lullabies from the Elven Forests.

She called "my little star" and I believed her every ti.

Rika, my sister in all but blood, grew fiercer. Her golden eyes lost their fire only when she slept.

She learned how to smuggle better, how to fight in ways the guards didn’t see, and how to endure.

She taught to walk with my head high, even when we were crawling.

She taught how to climb, how to steal extra food without getting caught, and how to breathe silently.

She slapped once when I tried to protect her and nearly got killed.

"You idiot! You think I want you dead for ?!" she cried, holding after. "If I lose you, I lose the only reason I keep going."

Manork, the one-eyed demon, aged like stone. Unmoving, unyielding.

He beca more than a teacher, he beca my fortress.

His stories grew darker as he told about his life, with his tone more urgent.

He made morise continents, politics, noble crests, strategies of war, and languages I would never speak aloud.

He said, "A day will co, boy, when all this will matter. Knowing who your enemy is will save your life."

He made practice fighting with sticks, spoons, bones and everything.

He grunted when I bled and said, "Better now than later."

He was like a dad to , and he taught everything that I should know.

Kiel remained the sa, he was like chaos incarnate.

Even as we aged, even as his horns grew longer and his voice deeper, he remained my spark.

He once fought a guard twice his size just because the man called a mutt.

He spent three days in chains for it, hanging, bloody, bruised, but when he ca back to our quarters, he limped over and said, "Worth it. Still worth it."

And we laughed, even as I cried while treating his wounds.

The six years weren’t kind.

So children died from sickness and even hunger.

One of the older slaves was executed for biting a guard.

Even Rika lost three fingers on her left hand.

And I rembered how I cried in her arms since she lost her fingers because of .

She protected when I couldn’t hold myself back, when the guards had punished her harshly.

And when I tried to protect her, they punished her instead.

"I-It’s all my fault!" I cried in her arms.

"It’s alright, Daniel, this is not your fault" Even then, she didn’t bla .

Instead, she smiled as she comforted .

Ever since that day, I felt guilty, and I won’t ever forget about that.

I had promised myself that one day, I would punish the guards who had cut her fingers a fate worse than death.

It’s an oath and a swear I had taken upon myself and wouldn’t ever forget.

On the other hand, Caelira grew thinner by the month.

Kiel began coughing up blood whenever it rained.

Throughout the years, I had changed and beco colder.

I couldn’t even recognise myself in how much I had changed.

But even then, no matter how much I had changed, I still I loved them because they were all I had.

I don’t bla my mother, whom I believe was the Empress.

But as of now, they were my light and my reasons for existing.

[: 1st January, Year 2945 :]

I turned eleven that morning.

Caelira sang a quiet song as she combed my hair.

Rika brought a bruised apple that she stole.

Kiel made a joke about how I was now almost a "grown-up bug."

Even Manork gave half a piece of dry at without saying a word.

That day, I smiled, but just a mont until they ca.

A caravan with golden wheels and crimson curtains rolled into the slave yard.

The guards stood straight, and they were nervous.

The slave rchant, that rat-faced bastard, bowed so low his bald head glead.

Out stepped a man in silks and rings, his eyes like twin razors.

He walked with the arrogance of a lion among chained dogs.

"Lord Velroth of House Alburn," the rchant announced, trying not to stutter.

A noble house.

One of the major ones in the Human Continent. Landowners.

There were many nobles existing in the Human Continent, but the Alburn, their head, was a count and known to be cruel.

Behind him, a boy stepped down.

He looked thirteen, maybe and was tall, sullen, with eyes too sharp for soone so young.

"My son, Revan," the lord said. "He has begun his awakening, and we require a practice material."

My heart stopped the mont he said those words.

However, on the other hand, upon hearing those words, the rchant’s eyes lit up.

It was as though he found a perfect custor to sell off his products, and without wasting any more ti, he motioned for us to line up.

"All of you lined up!’’

It was sothing that we always did the mont a potential buyer appeared, but all of them turned their gaze as though they had seen sothing filthy.

It was kinda obvious that they didn’t prefer any other races aside from human.

Revan walked past each slave, inspecting them like cattle.

Until he stopped at our cell.

Caelira beca silent and regal.

Rika’s eyes were defiant, even with her missing fingers.

Marnok was glaring with that one burning eye.

Kiel was smirking like he wasn’t afraid.

And there was .

Revan’s eyes lingered on my face.

"This one," he said, pointing at . "He... looks interesting."

The rchant smiled widely. "Ah, yes, quite obedient. Bit stubborn, but he won’t die easily."

Revan tilted his head. "Good. I want him as my practice target for my awakened skills."

The mont he declared, Caelira, Rika, Marnok and even Kiel were about to throw hands.

They were ready to step forward with their hands tightening, and they would do anything to prevent them from taking away.

However, before they could take any action, Lord Velroth raised his hand.

"Hmm, since my son prefers that boy, why don’t we take these five? I do need so servants"

"All of them? The elf? The demon?" The rchant questioned, since it was very rare to see a noble accepting an elf and a demon at the sa ti.

Well, it was not that rare, but it was uncommon.

’’Do I have to repeat myself?’’ Lord Velroth glared at the slave rchant.

’’R-Right away!’’ The slave rchant felt fear throughout his body, and he didn’t dare to question him any longer.

And just like that, we were sold.

The little belongings we had were tossed or burned and they placed collars on our wrists once again.

The seals have been updated and we were no longer random slaves in a pit, we were now the personal property of House Alburn.

And I... was now a living weapon dummy for a noble’s son.