Scarlet’s feet felt heavy as she climbed down from the wagon and started to walk slowly towards the gate house of the slave camp.

Her hands were gripped tightly to the spider silk staff that she and her mother had made for her, using the same composite and molding methods she had used to create the carbon fiber armor before.

An enchantment had been woven into the spider silk weave before the composite phase of the process, which had carried over into the final product, so the staff supplied her with an additional 2 mana a second, to go with the 10 she was getting from the rest of her set.

Scarlet clutched the white and red, child-sized staff close, as it was the only part of her mother she had with her at the moment.

A dozen guards and their Bonds formed up around her, there to protect her and her father, but their looming forms were anything but reassuring for her.

At Jonathan’s instructions, the gate was opened and they passed into the camp.

Scarlet looked about her, at the shack-like structures all around her. A few people, dressed in thin and dirty clothing, were starting to get up and walk about, preparing themselves for a day of labor. Their eyes as they looked at the passing group full of worry.

There were a lot of men, but many were women and even children. Their tired and ragged bodies showed a lack of basic human needs they were receiving. The low sounds of a labor song carried over from elsewhere in the camp.

The lyrics were unfamiliar to Scarlet, but the melody wasn't. All labor songs had that same steady rhythm, regardless of the work… or the world.

It drew her back. All of it drew her back.

Back to that small 200 square foot shed, where two dozen people were squashed together, the smell and heat of human bodies making the air taste like sick. The door was locked, keeping them all trapped in there. But Scarlet knew that eventually the man would come and they would all be sent to work in that factory line again, until the day was through and they would be packed away in the room... That is, if they were lucky.

Scarlet was jolted back to reality by something wet on her cheek.

The large dog that was the Bond of the guard named Thomas had come up next to Scarlet and given her a lick to her cheek, licking up some of the tears that has fell from the girl’s eyes and she had frozen and started to cry.

“Thank you.” She said as she wiped away the tears.

The dog lowered itself to the ground next to the girl and gestured towards its back.

“He wants to know if you would like to ride him.” Thomas said. “I know they say that you don’t like to be touched, but if you are fine with Scrappy, he’d be happy to carry you.”

Scarlet looked from the guard to the dog, whose tail was wagging steadily before she nodded her head. “Thank you.” She said again as she climbed up on the dog and buried her face in its fur, blocking out the sight of the camp all around her.

She was carried like that through the camp, until they reached the barracks where the slaves were gathering to eat their morning meal. Scarlet’s ears could pick up the sounds of laughter and small bits of singing from those who were desperately trying to keep spirits up. 

There were also the sounds of people fighting while people cheered them all. There was probably no reason for the fight at all, other than the catharsis of the fight making them feel momentarily better about their lives. It was human nature to try to find escapism.

But as the guards got close, any attempts to pretend that they were a happy community would be silenced. 

It was here that the group stopped and Jonathan spoke. “Scarlet. You are to practice your healing magic on these slaves.”

Scarlet was momentarily confused. She had figured he would be bringing her down into the mines in order to use [Earth Magic] to dig or to reinforce the walls. Or that he wanted her to use [Magic Appraisal] to scout the surroundings for good pockets for mine, or to avoid dangerous gasses. But instead he wanted her to heal the slaves.

She quickly realized that this wasn’t an act of mercy. A healthy slave was more productive than a weakened one.

“Gather some of the slaves for healing and keep bringing more so long as the girl can continue.” Jonathan instructed one of the guards.

Scarlet felt sick in her stomach, the idea of the slaves coming up to her one at a time for hours and hours, having to look them in the face and feel their presence so close to her was beyond horrifying to her. Scary enough for her to speak up.

“W...Wait!” She said, getting their attention. “Wo...Wouldn’t it be faster if I just healed everyone at once?”

After Scarlet’s suggestion, the guards started to gather all of the slaves into the barracks, so that Scarlet could stand in the middle of it and be within 200 feet of all of them… all 700 of them. There… there were more of them than she thought there would be, and all of their eyes were on her as she stood there, surrounded by the guards.

Swallowing down her fear, she turned her mind entirely to the task at hand, using it to distract herself.

Area of effect healing of more than a half full of individuals was mostly contained within [Holy Magic].

Her [Holy Magic] level wasn’t that high, but the people around here weren’t in need of heavy duty healing. Something to fix up minor scrapes and bruises and restore stamina would do the trick. And she knew of a spell for that.

It had a long chant, taking 30 minutes without [High Speed Invocation] and required a total of 10,000 mana spread throughout its casting. It really was a spell meant to be performed by four or five low level people, but it wasn’t beyond her to do alone. Her [Invocation Magic] was at level 72 and her [High Speed Invocation] was at level 71, with her [Memorization] being at level 72 and an intelligence stat was past 1,350, she was able to keep the entire spell in her head as cast it properly. She had spent time memorizing all of the spells that Will had ever brought her, more for training her [Memorization] skill than out of a belief that she would ever need them.

The mana cost was really steep, but with her mana regen being 12 mana a second, she could manage it.

“That should be all of them.” One of the guards. In response, Scarlet took a deep breath, clasped her hands on the staff in front of her and started the invocation. 

“Moon,Sun,GraceOfTheMother.SheGuidesUs,GuardsUs,NurturesUs.LifeSheGaveUsAndOurLiveAreForHer…” To those listening, Scarlet’s words were like a Youtube video on x2 speed as she burned through the incantation with the help of her [High Speed Invocation] skill. Though the words were still recognizable to them as a prayer.

It was why [Holy Magic] was considered a completely different branch of magic to the rest of [Evocation] and [Conjuration Magic]. Because unlike all other forms of magic which made use of spell words, to cast their spells, [Holy Magic] spells used prayers.

Admittedly, Scarlet didn’t know much about the religion of the world, though it shared some elements with other religions in her old world, in that there was a Mother Earth and Father Sky who were the primordial gods.

This spell, the ‘Prayer of Healing’ was a prayer to Mother Earth, as well as the twin daughters, the Moon and the Sun Goddess, Artaia and Solimar. 

As Scarlet chanted, holy attributed mana was gathered and pulsated around her staff, growing brighter and brighter before forming ribbons which moved through the air about the crowd. Their gasps of amazement did not reach the girl’s ears as she continued her spell.

If she fumbled, she’d have to start all over, and she was already 7 minutes in, just shy of half way done. Starting over would be a pain in the ass.

Start-to-finish, it took her about 15 minutes, at the end of which the built up magical energy came exploding outwards, moving down and snaking its way through everyone present. It penetrated into their body, healing their wounds and washing away their physical and emotional fatigue, making them feel light as air.

Meanwhile, Scarlet slumped against her staff, taking deep breaths.

“Are you alright?” Thomas asked the girl as she sank to her knees.

“F...Fine… Just… need a moment…” Scarlet said before taking a deep breath and casting ‘Restore Strength’ on herself in order to regain her stamina. She then allowed her mana regen to restore her mystical strength.

Her stamina and mana would be back to normal in a minute or so, but the mental strain of the spell would last a while longer. She would need to do a good meditation in order to regain her wits.

The sounds of the confused and happy slaves reached her ears, making Scarlet feel a bit proud of herself, as if she had done a good thing. Until her father’s words reached her ears.

“Since they can be healed, feel free to work them harder than before and don’t be afraid to injure them.” He said to a man holding a whip. A literal slave driver.

Scarlet had not saved anyone. She had not made any of these people’s lives better. She had at best prolonged their suffering.

“Scarlet. From now on, you will be doing this twice a week, on days where you do not have lessons. Do you understand?” Jonathan said to her as he told his men to drive the slaves back into the mines to work.

“...Yes, father.” Scarlet said with a heavy heart.

“Good. Now take her back to the house.” Jonathan instructed the guards.

The dog Bond from before once again lowered himself next to Scarlet, offering her a ride, which she gladly took.

She once again buried her face into Scrappy’s fur and let herself get carried away, trying her best not to let sympathy cripple her.

This was the way the world was. She didn’t have the power to stop it. Even if she removed her father, they would still be slaves. Even if she destroyed all the walls of the camp and let them run away, they were marked by the fact that they had no Bond or Class. Once spotted, they would be captured and would still be slaves.

She felt bad for them, but she was just a child. There was nothing she could do, save for healing the wounds and that would only prolong their lives.

She supposed that this was going to become a routine. The slave drivers would beat them, she would patch them up, and her father would make profit from it.

...The fact that it had been so good for her experience wise didn’t help matters much. It really only made her feel worse about it.

Her [Holy Magic] had grown 20 whole levels from that single spell, bringing it up to level 37.

Her stats had grown high in the last year, and there were still entire branches of magic she hadn’t yet explored, like [Material Enhancement Magic], [Abjuration Magic], [Illusion Magic] and more… but… what was the point of it all?

The sight of all of those slaves. An entire school gym full of them, it had shaken her, and made her question herself. They dug up that feeling of being truly, undeniably helpless.

“Healer! Healer, please wait!” 

Scarlet looked up from the dog’s fur to see a child running towards them.

...Well, she said child. He looked eight year old, so he was older than she was.

The guards formed up as he came close, to protect the girl from this twig who looked like he could be blown over by a strong breeze.

But before he got too close, the boy went down on his hands and knees. “Please Healer. My father, he wasn’t able to make it to the kitchens. He is too sick to get up.” The boy looked up at her with tears in his eyes. “Please Ms! He’s the only family I have! Please help me!”

“Your father.” Scarlet repeated, looking at the boy before nodding her head. “Alright. Lead the way.”

The guards accompanied her as they followed the boy to one of the shacks.

Thomas poked his head in to make sure that everything was safe before Scarlet herself was allowed to enter.

She got down off of Scrappy and entered into the dusty, dark, hot, smell, horrible place. The smell of human waste made her stomach turn, but she pushed on.

“Father. Father, can you hear me? There is a healer here. She said she would help you.” The boy who had yet to name himself said as he kneeled next to a man who was wheezing horribly.

...A woman gasping for breath. The heat too much for her. She wasn’t going to make it. They begged for the men to help her, but no help was given. The glassy eyes that never blinked. The smell after the bowels emptied themselves. The flies that gathered around…

Scarlet shuddered, pulling herself back to the present.

She quickly cast a few spells to cool the air, blow away the smell and light the small room.

The light didn’t make things any better, so she opted to close her eyes and navigate by her [Mana Sense] instead.

...Huh?

The man’s body was on fire. Its mana levels were nearly equal to Scarlet’s own.

“Scarlet, stay back!” Thomas said, standing between her and the man. “He’s diseased. You mustn’t get near him.”

“No! Please, you have to help!” The boy cried out in panic.

“It’s alright. It isn’t contagious.” Scarlet said, moving forward. She peeked one eye open for a moment to see the man’s body, covered in blood and pus from the open boils that littered his body. His mouth hung open and a small line of blood came out of it. “It’s the Mana Intoxication Disease.”

Will had told her about it as a warning. Saying to never sleep with her enchanted clothes on or let her mana levels get too high.

People regenerate 100% of their mana capacity over the course of a day, regardless of their current mana levels, and the human body would only naturally expel a certain amount of surplus mana, relative to the surface area of their body, regardless of the amount inside of the body.

Normally, this wasn’t a problem, since an individual’s Bond would absorb surplus mana. But it would be dangerous for children under the age of 5 who grew too high of a level, as their small bodies wouldn’t expel the mana fast enough.

Scarlet never had a problem, because her [Mana Control] allowed her to manually get rid of her extra mana.

However, slaves didn’t have Bonds or Class skills that could use up their mana, so if a slave was too high of a level and didn’t know how to use [Mana Control], their lives were in serious danger.

Despite how bad the damage on the outside looked, Scarlet was fairly sure the damage inside his body was even worse.

“I’m guessing that the man was a former soldier who only recently became a slave.” Scarlet said.

“That’s… that’s right.” The boy said with a nod. “You can help him. Can’t you?”

“...I…” Scarlet could help the man, but there was a problem.

Even if she healed the damage, it wouldn’t fix the underlying problem of his mana levels being too high. She could drain the mana out of him but… that required… touch.

Scarlet swallowed and shook herself before starting to chant.

The intermediate level healing spell could be cast at a short distance, and Scarlet used this in order to quickly restore the man’s health.

It wasn’t as effective as it would be through touch, but after five casts, the man’s breathing had become easy. She then restored his stamina with another spell, before dumping three rapid casts of ‘create aqua’ on him to wash away most of the blood and pus.

There was still more of it stuck to his clothes, and Scarlet could have removed it completely using [Transmutation Magic] but… touch.

The splashes of water woke the man up and he shot straight up into a sitting position on the ground. “What in the blazes!?” He shouted in confusion.

“Father!” The boy cried out, throwing his arms around his father’s shoulders.

“Martin? Martin what’s going on… I…” The man said, blinking in confusion.

“She made you better, father. The healer made you better.” The boy cried.

“I… What?” The man looked over at Scarlet, who was still holding her staff and had a few glowing orbs of light floating around her. “This… Is this real?”

“I’m afraid your father isn’t cured yet.” Scarlet said, biting her lip. “I healed all of his injuries, but if he doesn’t have the mana drained from his body soon, he will end up sick again.”

“You… you can do that, can’t you Healer?” The child asked Scarlet with pleading eyes.

...She could… but…

Scarlet looked from the boy’s puppy dog eyes, to the man, then back to the puppy dog eyes.

She swallowed hard and nodded her head. “Please, turn your back to me and stay still.” She instructed.

The father was confused, but seeing the guards giving him meaningful looks, he did as he was told.

Scarlet walked forward, dragging her feet and she got closer and closer. Her hand trembled as she reached out towards the man’s back. She even had to fight down a whimper as she touched his clothes.

It’s not so bad. It’s not so bad. It’s not so bad.

She kept telling herself it over and over again, trying to make herself believe it before she fell back on her tried and tested method of her meditative breathing exercises. 

As she brought her breathing under control, her heart and mind soon followed and she regained some level of clarity. 

She had to be careful. He wasn’t related to her like her mother was, so his body wouldn’t accept her mana easily. She had to take it slow if she didn't want to damage his body again.

Reaching into him with her [Mana Control] she grabbed a small part of his mana and started to move it out of his body, before returning and doing it again, and again.

It was a slow process. Painfully slow to Scarlet, who had to hold her hand to his back for the entire time. But after a half an hour, she had brought his mana down to safe levels.

“That should do… for now anyways.” Scarlet said with a sigh, stepping back and creating cold water in her hands, trying to wash away the feeling as fast as possible.

She's only been touching the clothes on his back but... It was still almost too much for her.

She looked up to see the father and son hugging.

Once again, she felt as though she had done a good deed… but there was that pesky thought in her mind that told her that it didn’t matter.

In two or three months, the man’s mana would have increased yet again to dangerous levels, and he would once again be suffering. It was amazing that his body had held out as long as it had the first time, but if he didn’t learn [Mana Control], then it would happen again.

...Unless he had a magic item to drain the mana for him.

Scarlet could make something like that. The opposite of her mana regeneration enchantments. That way, the man’s life would be safe.

That wasn’t all. While her father only wanted her to heal them, there were many blessings she could give the slaves in order to make their lives easier. Blessings of strength and stamina regeneration. Blessings of agility and endurance. 

They wouldn’t last for long, but they would still make their lives a little easier for a time.

Maybe, just maybe, there were things she could do to help these people.

DyslexicWriter

For those who didn't get what was going on, Scarlet's past involves being the victim of human trafficking at an early age. There are an estimated 15,000 new victims of human trafficking in the USA every year, which ranges from forced labor to sex trade. It is a form of slavery that still exists in the modern age and has always been illegal in almost every culture, as it usually involves blackmail, threats of violence and/or kidnapping. (Though parts of Africa is still full of slavery. Like tens of millions of them.)

I've been trying to spread what her past is throughout the chapters. Hinting towards it without diving into it or having her directly talk about it. Because she herself is supposed to be trying to emotionally distance herself from what happened. Doing whatever she can to not have to think about it.

DyslexicWriter

I'm about to have a time skip till Scarlet is 5. So she's probably going to be receiving her Bond next chapter, or having a cliffhanger ending.

That said, I am doing some moving today and my classes start tomorrow. So things will probably slow down now from me. Guess that will give you all a chance to vote on what your favorite is when it comes to her Bond. I do reserve the right as an author to overrule you all if I suddenly gain a strong personal preference, but I could go with any of these pretty equally.

I like the idea of the Raven, but understand that it comes with the minor set back of not being fluffy. So sad.