Luz awoke in a horse-drawn cart. His head was still aching and throbbing, but he could neither see nor speak because of his blindfolded eyes and tied mouth. Having both his hands and legs chained together behind his back didn't make the situation better.

At least he could hear what was going on, and it appeared that the cart was driven by two men, who were talking loudly.

Luz slowly rubbed his head against the cart in hopes of removing the blindfold enough to glance, even though the cart's floor was dirty. Nevertheless, that didn't stop Luz. It took our Mc great effort to free his mouth and eyes slightly. Finally, Luz could talk and see something.

'Wait and see. I'm going to kill all of you! Now the only question remains, how am I supposed to escape from them when I'm shackled together?'

Luz was lying on the floor, and his bulging veins were visible as he tightly gripped the chains in his hands.

After a few minutes, the cart stopped, and one of the men got out.

"Ey Dylan, I'll bring the merchant here. You keep an eye on him until then," Elon commented with a smile on his face. 

"Will do," Luz heard as he paid attention, and after waiting for ten minutes, he grabbed the opportunity.

Dylan didn't even bother watching over Luz upon seeing him not moving for a minute and opted for a nap with a hat over his face.

Only after hearing his loud snoring did Luz feel the courage to stand up.

Slowly but steadily, Luz moved his body as silent as possible toward the sleeping man's face before stopping a few centimeters above it. His hand began to tremble over the hat as Luz grew unsure if he should continue with his plan.

With grinding teeth and a pounding heart, Luz tried to calm down.

'Calm down, Luz. Remember, You have to do that. It's not like you want to do it. It's more like you have to do it if you don't want to end up a slave.' he thought before taking a deep breath while his eyes remained closed.

It took him a second to calm himself down and strike. But the calmness was a farce, as he couldn't contain it more than a second before immediately grabbing the hat and pressing it tightly against the latter's face.

"What are you doing," Dylan furiously shouted while grabbing his arm instantly.

Emotionally Luz shouted: "[spatial disorder]," and blood and flesh immediately splattered everywhere, staining Luz with brain matter.

The arm, which had a tight grip on him moments ago, immediately lost its grip before falling slowly with a thud onto the cart.

Luz was horrified by the damage he caused with a simple spell. Of course, he used it on an animal earlier that day, but using it on an animal was different and could easily be justified.

Blood and pieces of flesh dropped from his face and body as he muttered with a trembling voice: "I just k-killed a hu-human."

The damage he inflicted not only rendered the corpse unrecognizable in front of him, but it went beyond that. It even cracked the skull open.

Seeing how the brain matter slowly dripped out of Dylan's broken skull made Luke almost puke.

'Remember he tried to sell you. One shouldn't pity such a person,' Luz thought before throwing himself from the cart, as he didn't know how much time he had till they would find out of his departure.

He fell headfirst onto the ground before moving like a caterpillar towards the forest as his limbs were bound.

"If only the spell didn't consume all of my mana. I could have easily broken these chains," Luz murmured with his gaze fixed on the forest.

It was a fight against time since Dylan's companion merely had to follow the trail of blood left on the ground. What made the situation even worse was that any carnivorous creature with a good nose could probably smell the blood and flesh on his body.

Luz was like a bright beacon, shouting his address every second to everyone in the area. But that didn't demotivate him, as he moved with renewed determination as fast as he could toward the forest. 'My only hope is a stream or a river. If I can get to one, my escape should be easy.'

Twenty minutes passed, and it seemed like there was still hope for Luz, as he could hear and see the river.

But unfortunately for him, luck wasn't on his side as he heard a man shouting in amusement: "There you are."

Luz didn't want to believe that his escape failed so narrowly, and despair immediately filled his head. He ignored the person and moved further towards the river.

Only after Elon's shadow loomed above him did Luz lose all hopes.

Elon didn't stand idle and immediately kicked Luz's stomach to relieve his frustration while cursing loudly.

Luz groaned loudly in pain, and the beating only stopped after the stranger, who had been silent till now, cleared his throat loudly.

Scared, Luz immediately shifted his gaze towards the stranger, whose presence he didn't notice till now. The latter wore a dark cloak covering most of his face and body while his hand stroked his black goatee.

Realizing that the stranger was unsatisfied with his action, Elon immediately apologized to him. "I'm sorry that you, Master Brian, had to see it."

Brian nodded before taking out a small pouch filled with gold coins and throwing it toward Elon.

"Is that enough?" he asked with a deep and dry voice while gazing at Luz.

A shiver immediately ran down Luz's spine. It felt as if the man in front of him stared through his soul.

Elon merely glanced into the pouch and what he saw made him smile from ear to ear.

"That's more than enough, Master Brian. It's a pleasure to do business with you," reassured Elon while pulling Luz hastily up by the collar.

With a smile going from one ear to the other, Elon sneered while opening the shackles. "I have to thank you, brat. Without you, I'd have to split the money."

Seeing how his customer still wasn't content, Elon quietly asked: "Is there anything wrong with the slave?"

Master Brian merely shook his head, and before Luz could even react, Elon's head cleanly fell off his body.

Blood splattered onto Luz's face again as he looked in horror at the man in front of him.

Standing in front of Brian made Luz feel like a prey standing in front of its natural predator.

Seeing how Luz remained frozen, Brian slowly pulled down his hood before turning his back toward Luz, offering him an opening.

Luz's instincts screamed loudly that this was his chance to escape, to make a last attempt, but even if he wanted to, his feet didn't seem to listen to him.

On the other hand, his new mater merely bent down to grab the purse while commenting: "What a bargain. I got another mage for free." After that, he turned his attention back to the trembling Luz, letting his gaze travel from his toes to his head with a raised eyebrow before his eyes lingered on Luz's heart.

Only now did Luz see the face of his new master.

Brian looked like a man in his early thirties. His face was jagged and covered with scars, with sharp black eyes.

But that wasn't all. The presence radiating from Brian made Luz feel like an ant in front of a god who could crush him with a mere thought.

Although Luz was scared shitless, his heart was exciting because it was the first time he had seen a powerful mage in action.

Seeing how Luz remained frozen in his presence, Brian commented in amusement while scratching his head: "So… Don't you wanna try to escape from me or attack me?"

Gulping, Luz answered in tremble: "In front of a being like you, I have no choice but to submit."

The latter was taken aback by his answer and laughed loudly before contracting his presence.

"It seems like we got a smart fella here. The last mage I bought thought that he could escape in front of me," he laughed while clapping Luz's back.

Luz didn't know how to act and chose to refrain from saying anything as the man could kill him with a thought.

"Anyway, follow me, young lad. We got a long way in front of us," Brian commented upon realizing how awkward Luz was.

'Such a large building belongs to Master Brian, but I don't see a single human soul around.'

"You should be grateful that Brian was the one who bought you," Alfred sighed as he opened a squeaking door.

The door was made of white wood and had a golden handle. Luz gazed into the room, and he saw a few bunk beds with people sitting on them.

"Why is that?" Luz asked, stopping at the door.

"Because Brian has a good heart, who often buy unfortunate or rather mages who got unjustly enslaved in hopes of giving them a life worth living," Alfred stated with a sigh.

Luz nodded, and before the talk could continue, Alfred opened the door wide and the kids inside immediately scrambled under their blankets.

"I may be old, but I'm not a blind man," sighed the butler, before continuing with: "Anyway, you got a new friend. I hope that one of you could lend him some new clothes and bring him to the showers."

After seeing how nobody reacted to his name, Alfred merely shouted: "Lewis, I give you the responsibility to deal with him," before leaving and closing the door behind him.

Luz immediately felt the uncomfortable gaze of all the children in the room, sitting in each bunk bed. Only two were empty.

10 boys of different ages sat on their beds and stared holes at Luz. The atmosphere remained tense for a few seconds before a young boy who seemed to have no masculine traits interrupted the building atmosphere with, "I'm Lewis. Please introduce yourself before I bring you to showers."

"My name is Luz, and I am 18 years old. I'm from the Northern part of the kingdom," Luz stated as he moved his gaze from child to child, looking each of them into their eyes.

Some of them had green eyes, others brown, and there were even some with golden eyes.

'In this room alone are enough eye colors to fill a color palette,' thought Luz.

"Wow, if it continues like this, Master Brian will have saved at least one child from each province of the kingdom," a boy commented.

Another child whispered loudly: "Gotta catch them all," and a few children giggled at his comment.

Before the room could grow louder, Lewis silenced it immediately before taking two towels out.

"Follow me," he replied, and the two slowly left the room.

"Normally, Alfred would kill us for leaving our rooms without wearing the proper clothes. But I don't care about it," whispered Lewis while carrying a small lamp to lighten the dark and small hallways.

Luz nodded, and after wandering for a few minutes, the two finally reached their destination.

Narrator: Don't expect an ecchi shower scene between two teenage boys, it's way to early for that. I'm too lazy to narrate such a scene, but I might include that in a later chapter, who knows.