I used to live with my family of six in a village located in the county of a baron. We struggled every day to barely live by. We were not able to have a house of our own because of the high tax the baron had implemented upon the county. We had no choice but to stay in a community house, built by a charity organisation, together with other families who were also in a similar situation. This charity organisation, which was known to be founded by an otherworldly, also provided food relief periodically to those living in the community housing.
Despite having their help, it was insufficient for my family, as the food would also have to be shared with others. Therefore, my parents would work in fields during the day and do odd jobs at night to support all of us siblings. Being the eldest, I opted out of the community school to work so that I would be able to support the studies of my younger siblings. I thought it would always be this way, until someone came knocking at our door claiming to be able to provide a better means of income. He offered to give us a large amount of money in exchange for someone in the family to work for him.
My parents were flabbergasted at the price offered as it would have been able to last our family for a few years. Not only that, they would receive a portion of money from the earnings of the member who worked for him. Even at the time it sounded too good to be true, but during those times we needed money, so we agreed to his offer. I, who was 14 and still naive, offered myself in so that my younger siblings would not have to work and my parents would not have to separate. Because the youngest child is still a toddler, it could not afford to have either parent be away.
Three days after I left my family, I was brought into a dark and unkempt warehouse located in the middle of a forest. I found it strange as I followed the man along the corridor full of cells on both sides, with guards guarding each one. When we stopped at a cell filled with teenagers around my age, I was pulled by a burly man, who then tied my hands tightly and shoved me towards the insides of it.
Both men started to discuss some things after making sure that the cell was locked. I was able to hear parts of their conversations, such as: ‘Sell her…’, ‘price…’, ‘slave…’. It was then that I realized that my family had been tricked. At that time, I was more worried about whether my family received the money that man had promised than my situation. I rushed towards him, but the bars separated us. My hands, which were tied, were starting to hurt from the rough and tight ropes that bound my hands. Ignoring the pain, I slammed my body against the bar and shouted towards the man.
“You tricked us! You promised that you would give me a job!”
“Haha! You only realized this now? It’s too late! I bought you so don’t ever think about escaping from here, girl.” The man replied mockingly.
“The money! Did you give the money to my family at all? You also promised to pay us a portion of the money from my pay!” I asked to confirm that he would at least deliver what he promised. After all, my family desperately needed the money.
“Your family DID receive the money that we paid before we left, but do you seriously think I would give them a portion of the money the customers would pay for purchasing you? You gotta be kidding me!” He rebuked with disgust before continuing, “Who knows how much you will be purchased for. I would be making a loss, wouldn't I? If anyone was to blame here, wouldn’t it be you and your family? It WAS you guys who fell for it.”
“You!! Since we have been tricked, I want you to pay twice the amount you offered and I will remain as a slave!” Even though I knew that he would not accept, I took the opportunity to demand him.
“You dare to make demands even though you are a slave? Men! Teach her lesson! Remember girl, you are now a slave and the person who buys you will be your master. You should understand you are to do whatever you are ordered to, understand?” He shouted at me while ordering the guards. He looked at me coldly as the guards entered the cell and pushed me to the ground. They started to kick and stomp at me as if I were an inanimate object, merely useful to relieve their frustration and anger.
“Behave well next time if you do not wish to be punished.” He emotionlessly warned me as he walked away while I was still getting abused. The abuse did not stop even after an hour. I soon lost consciousness at one point. By the time I came to, I was lying on the ground with the walls beside me and the bars next to my feet. I was groaning in pain when a dark figure covered my view.
It was another girl who looked to be in the same situation as me. She told me that I was badly beaten and that I would have to be bedridden for a few months. I thanked her for her care when she said I was given medicines for the bruises. Apparently, because I was still a new commodity, my price would drop if I got any scars, and so the man had brought some cheap healing cream for my bruises. We talked more as we learnt about each other’s situation. Days went by fast, I spent most of my days lying on the ground healing with the medicine while chatting with the girl who had been taking care of me from my first day. We got closer and she became my first friend in the cell. However, when I was healed, I was told she was picked by a customer and was immediately sold.
I was also sold a few days later. However, my new master was not a kind one. He was the baron of another county, and was quite the pervert in his late thirties. I heard he was looking for young girls to be his sex slave, and return the girls once he lost interest of them. The baron would make me work as a lowly maid the whole day and at night, he would summon me to have sex. I was broken thoroughly by him throughout the first few weeks of working there. I was not only mentally and physically tired from working during the day but also from his night summons where I was forced into various positions at his orders.
Being his slave, I was not allowed to run away from the mansion and escaping would be impossible with the slavery magic that had been imbued on me. Slavery magic would be imbued during the purchase process lest the slave run away. Those who try to escape would die from suffocation and the magic would be gone, which makes things harder for the soldiers to investigate. However, contract magic, such as the slave contract, could only be imbued and removed by those with magic talent and high mana. Being a commoner with no magic, I would not be able to escape and could only do as I was told to.
After a few months had passed, the baron finally lost interest in me and returned me back where I was bought from. Even though I was returned and the slave seal had been lifted, I was still not free from being a slave. I was placed back into a new cell where I was told to wait to be picked by another customer. I was also told that my value had dropped because I was no longer a virgin. By then, I no longer had any interest in what would happen to me and accepted whatever I was ordered to.
Many years had passed since I was returned by my first master. I had been purchased and returned multiple times by my new masters; and also witnessed scenes of new slaves entering and old slaves being terminated from this slave industry. My value as a slave had dropped as I aged and gained scars throughout the years. By the time I had reached 40, I looked almost 20 years older and no longer had any value. Because customers would no longer be willing to purchase me, I waited nonchalantly in my cell knowing that in a few years, I would be permanently terminated as a slave.
One day, a new girl whose body was extremely frail was brought into the cell. She was so thin and small that she looked no older than a 10-year-old kid. She was played with by the guards that brought her in, but they would not take her virginity, knowing that their boss would be furious if the value of a slave dropped before they were sold. Because it was such a normal activity here, the other slaves and I ignored whatever happened and just minded our own business. The next day, the girl woke up and groaned in pain for a while. I had expected for her to be broken just like the other slaves.
Unexpectedly, she had more spirit than I thought she would have. She pushed herself up onto the wall closest to her and sat down. She then calmly scanned her surroundings as if she was gauging her situation and paused for a short moment as if she was in trance. She made no movement for so long that I believed she had lost hope. Just when I was about to lose interest in that girl, she looked at me as if she thought of a brilliant idea. She started crawling on the ground towards me and struggled against her pain.
I was surprised at how different she acted compared to the others I had seen. I felt a huge respect for her to be able to stay strong despite what she had experienced the previous day. After about a full candle 1time denomination in this world. 1 candle = 30 minutes long of crawling, she finally reached my side.
After propping herself onto the wall, she asked in a soft and polite voice, “Hello madam, I’m Rose. Would you mind if I sit and talk with you?”
“...”
I looked at her for a moment and was shocked at how polite she was to me who was almost four times older than her. Without replying, I turned my head away with a ‘hmph’ and looked at the window.
‘How long has it been since someone has spoken to me? This kid, even after what she had gone through, spoke to me in a polite and respectful manner. Such a kind and strong kid, to have been brought here as a slave is pitiful, but isn’t that normal here already.’
I sighed as I pitied the girl who would have to go through the life of a slave. As I contemplated more about the girl, I felt a light touch against my shoulder. I shifted my eyes to the side to see what happened. Through my peripheral vision, I saw the girl sleeping with her head tilted onto my shoulders. Her face was full of sweat from crawling and occasional soft moans of pain could be heard.
I sighed once again; seeing how reckless she was to have crawled here without resting despite her small and injured body. I laid her onto my lap while making sure she did not wake up; after which, I patted her to comfort her while staring into the sky from the window.
After about two candles, the girl woke up and sat up immediately after realizing she was sleeping on my lap. Right after she sat up, her face wrapped in pain for a moment. Acting as though nothing had happened, she made herself more comfortable to sit. The atmosphere became more awkward after she quieted down, lost in her thoughts. To break this atmosphere, I decided to be the first to speak to her.
“You are awake? You should be careful with your injury. You were beaten up pretty badly last night.”
She looked at me in surprise after I spoke to her. I stared at her with a worried look; worried that I was rude for speaking to her first. ‘Was it that rude? I haven’t talked to another human for a long time. As a slave, it would be rude to speak without permission.’ After not getting a reply, I started to panic on what I should do next. Right after I started panicking, she thanked me and got flustered about how she could address me.
“... Ann… You can call me Ann.”
I felt nostalgic when I told her my name. She quickly introduced herself soon after, “Ah, yes! Thank you, Ann. Again, my name is Rose. If you don’t mind me asking, what will happen to us?”
‘So her name is Rose.’ I decided to remember her name since she was the first person in a long time who talked to me as an equal. Wanting to know how she was faring, I asked in a cautious way so that I would not scare her. “You are new here, correct? Tell me what you think?”
I made a huge mistake. I didn't mean to phrase my question in that way but hopefully she would understand. I thought she would start crying once she was reminded of her situation, but instead she calmly replied with, “We are slaves in our holding cells, but I don’t know the slave system, so I am scared of what will happen to me.”
I was shocked at her reaction. Many girls her age would already have cried, and would have known their situations very well. Realizing that Rose was this naive, even in this situation and also a reckless girl, I grew more worried about her and decided to educate her on how the system worked so that she would be better prepared.
She then asked me, “Then, would that mean that you had not been chosen? What would happen to you if you have not been sold for years?” I looked at her, and when I recalled what I had experienced throughout most of my life and the man who lied to my family and me, I felt anger, disdain, hatred and other negative feelings I had holed up until now.
I scoffed and replied to her in detail while remembering how much time I had left in here before getting ‘disposed’ of by the guards and the slave merchants. ‘I had turned 40 years old recently, haven’t I? I guess it will soon be my turn. Finally, I will be free from being a slave. Though, I still wish to see my family at least once before I die.’ I regretfully thought to myself as I remembered my family and visualised what they would have looked like after 25 years.
‘Mother and Father would have aged by now, and the youngest would not only be a 25 year old young woman, but also have a husband. How I wish...’ I thought to myself as I started to recall all the regrets I had made in my life. However, no matter what I wished for, I understood clearly that they would not be heard and fulfilled by anyone. It was then that I heard Rose trying to suggest something.
“Then let’s escape! I’m su…”
I quickly picked up her idea before she finished her sentence. ‘No! You can’t do that! You’ll die!’ I quickly stopped her from such an idea and warned her of the consequences that had befallen those who had tried before in the past. Those girls whom I had witnessed escaping were immediately caught and killed by the guards. Sometimes, I also heard from the guards who were gossiping with each other about finding half-eaten corpses of the slaves who had run away from other cells.
Rose immediately got dejected and curled up against the wall. Looking at her like this, I decided to give her the space that she needed to herself and stopped talking. Later that night, I heard her silently crying to herself. It seemed she was still young after all. Who would have thought that the next day, she would be chosen immediately as a selection piece and would also be selected by a customer as well. No matter where she is now and what she is experiencing, I could only pray for her well-being.
‘Good luck out there, Rose. If possible, I would love to talk to you again.’ But I knew that I might not meet her again if I am to be disposed of soon.
Edited: Meandering Otaku, Minecraftlord (forgot discord username),
