Limestone Mines, 1 Hour Prior
Late at night, the activity at the mines continued without pause. Slaves continued to work overtime, even when their arms were shaking, even when their bodies were exhausted.
The slaves of Fargo were divided into two shifts. One part was dedicated to mining, and the others would be handling the harvests, as well as their transfer and processing. At this time, there were only a few hundred slaves outside the territory, and watching there were about two dozen guards.
Clack! Clack! Clack!
Rebi just relished in the numbing activity as he was left alone among his group of friends. Every friend he made as a slave had passed, and he couldn't help but want to cry for Bruce and Lina.
His heart was heavy every time he remembered them. If he fought harder, would they still be alive?
A part of him knew that he wouldn't have made a difference, but there would always be a 'what if' that would lurk in his heart as long as he thought of their deaths.
Clack! Clack! Clack!
Hard labor just happened to be a good way to numb that intangible pain and guilt.
He was filled with bruises and dried blood—as most were—and they had been hungry and parched for so long their bodies seemed to be in the state of perennial shock.
They were also extremely dirty. They hadn't had a bath after becoming enslaved. Worse: some people were beaten up until they pissed or shitted on themselves and they had no choice but to live with those hanging on them. They not only had to endure pain, hunger, and thirst, they had to get used to smelling their own feces, too.
However, while the slaves struggled to keep standing, the slave drivers struggled to keep awake. The Terran guards didn't dare sleep during this time, but the aborigine ones—the members of the mercenary team—were naturally different.
An aborigine guard's head bobbed up and down, and he flinched awake a moment later. "AH! I'm so sleepy…" he mumbled, but then he saw the person next to him was already snoring and he kicked him awake.
The man on the ground cursed, glaring at him. "What was that for, Inuk!"
"We were asked to make sure not all the slaves die, idiot."
"Why do we have to even guard these trashes," The man—Penko—muttered under his breath as he got back up to his chair.
"What's the use of having guards when we need to keep them alive at this time! I want to get a woman by my side!"
"Don't we have some here?"
"Tsk! That little girl was a pity. Too bad!"
"You said you didn't like flat."
"But a woman's a woman, especially now that we had access to so few of them in this place.!"
This made the slaves shiver, but they continued to work as if they didn't hear anything.
Penko looked at the Terran guards, giving them a bad look. "If you people weren't so weak, would we have to suffer like this? We could be hanging around our base right now!"
At this time, if he was in the territory, he'd definitely have one or two women from the 'roster' serving him!
They said so as if they were prepared to beat them up, making the Terran guards pale.
The Terran guards went over to them, looking respectful. "Sirs…er, If you want, we can go look for some," he said. "We still have a few here…"
"So there're few?"
The guard looked awkward. "Well, not many women survived the subsequent disasters, so we… reserved a few stocks."
The good ones were kept by the lord's party or the Rongos, they naturally had to keep some decent ones ready for themselves.
"Oh?" Inuk said, looking at the Terran who shivered under his stare. He gasped when a huge palm found his neck, lightly strangling him.
"Next time you dared to hide such a good thing for me, this will be meeting my sword."
The guard nodded urgently, face becoming blue, and he gasped as he was let go. He heaved a deep breath and he lifted his head, maintaining his pandering expression.
"L-Let me take you there, sirs…" he said, and they nodded. Before heading out, the aborigines looked at the other guards. "Better guard this place well or else—"
"Yes, sir!"
Inuk grinned, satisfied with their obedience, before following the guide deeper into the cave system with Penko.
While the limestone mine cave system was not too deep compared to other mines—for instance, mines handled by goblins—it was naturally not small. After all, thousands of slaves had worked hard on it for many days and, even with the reduced manpower, there were still hundreds of them currently doing the same.
The Terran guard led them deeper into the cave and they arrived to their destination after about ten minutes of leisure walking. It was a cavern the size of a room, and it was obviously created after being abandoned or fully harvested—that was to say, all the resources had been taken away and this had effectively become a 'dead spot'.
Well, not exactly, because there were two very beautiful 'resources' occupying it now. At this, the two men couldn't help but study them well.
One was a cute one with relatively pale skin and bountiful breasts. She had a short hair and a little unsightly, but clean compared to the other slaves. The other one had long dark tresses and darker skin. She had longer legs than the other, and her eyes were rounder but a lot more defiant than the other one.
The two women were tied up on a makeshift bed, and there were earthenware pots next to them. Judging by the smell, it was probably their 'bathroom' during their stay here.
The two women saw the newcomers entered and frowned deeply. The terran guard smiled and looked at them. "These are Master Inuk and Penko. They're from the great Rongo Mercenary team. Serve them well."
At the confirmation that the newcomers were, indeed, aborigines, the two women paled even more, shivering. "Aww, are you cold?" He asked, "Don't worry, the bosses would warm you right up~"
He stood up, giving way to the other two men whose eyes never left the women.
They were not naked but they were flimsily dressed, as if they were just covered for the sake of covering. It certainly didn't do much to hide their generous features.
The sight made the two aborigines heat up down below.
"Not bad, not bad at all!" Penko said, licking his lips.
The Terran saw this and smiled in relief. "We reserved two for our own use. One was a slave from Bright Village, while the other one we just kept."
"One isn't a slave?"
The guard nodded. "It's the darker-skinned one," he said. "But don't worry. She's weak and signed a contract to work for us."
"Okay, okay, leave us be," Penko said, looking at his companion. "Which one do you want?"
"The brunette is prettier," Inuk said, and Penko nodded.
"Hmn, I like the breasts of the other one."
Seeing as there's no conflict, the two went to their respective women, dragging them to each side of the room to taste.
The two women's eyes met, a little panicked, especially the short-haired girl. After all, she was a slave and she could do nothing but do whatever was asked of her.
The dark-skinned woman, on the other hand, was a angry, but otherwise a lot calmer. She glared at the man who was approaching her, gripping on her ropes. Aborigines?
She did not plan for this!
But—she has had enough!
Inuk just smiled at her glare and approached, immediately taking her lips. At first, she seemed to be reciprocating and Inuk was being taken to Elvendell by her superior kissing skills.
However, a few moments later, his instincts as a level 16 tingled and he bent backward, seeing the woman holding a sharp edge to where he just was.
His eyes twitched and his smile turned malicious, immediately grabbed her hand. "Yo! I got a really feisty one!" he said, pressing it just a bit, but it was enough to shake her due to the pain.
Crack!
"AHHH!"
She screamed and let the blade go. Inuk listened to its clanging and kneeled to take it, realizing it was one of those good knives a few locals here had.
Of course, it didn't do much damage as it wasn't infused by aether, but he found it to be a good material anyway. "And I got a bonus," he said, placing the blade in his space.
Nearby, Penko shook his head. "Good for you," he said, before touching the slave's legs. She struggled a bit but unlike the others, he liked them well-behaved.
"Don't move," he ordered. "Open your legs as wide as you can."
The short-haired girl sniffed, unwilling, yet her body moved on its own, following the man's order.
Meanwhile, the other woman's legs were also dragged and opened. She wanted to struggle more but the pain of her strained arms was too much. The women's eyes turned red as the hopelessness of the situation dawned again, and they could only look at each other in sadness.
Was this truly their fate for the rest of their lives?
No… right?