It didn't take long to get back to camp.

 

 

 

After they finished looting, Andrew had everything left behind piled up in the middle of the camp. There wasn't much in the way of loot, at least not much that Andrew was willing to waste space in his backpack over. There were the wizard's spell books, but not much in the way of magic. A few potions, little else. Andrew was boggled that the wizard didn't even have a crown of intelligence to boost his spell-casting ability. Andrew had expected to pick that up through gameplay and hadn't bothered to buy one at character creation.

 

Andrew sprinkled a bottle of Troll's Choke on the pile and one flame sphere later, the pile was burning nicely. Soon the group was off and running through the night. Andrew had to rely on his headband to see, apparently the elves all had excellent night vision. They eventually returned to Andrew's camp, where he used his enchanted rope to summon an extradimensional space to hide in. It was a cramped fit, but he managed to squeeze everyone inside before pulling up the rope after them. Everyone immediately started to eat the food they had scavenged.

 

Andrew nodded off after casting the personal version of Alarm on himself. It would only wake him up if he was personally targeted for an attack. He might be the elves' rescuer, but that didn't mean he trusted them. Fortunately, nobody slit his throat during the night and he woke up to Elyin and Miriam deep in conversation.

 

Andrew took an hour to review his spell book for his divine spells and woke everyone up as he snapped the book shut. His next move was to fish out flasks of a milky-white substance from his backpack. He offered two around, "Okay. This is ambrosia. Everybody take a swallow."

 

"Ambrosia?" Elyin looked shocked, "Where did you get Ambrosia?"

 

Andrew blinked, "Uh... Distilled Joy?" He pointed at himself, "I'm trying to become a Manasmith, and if you are going to Manasmith, the two most essential spells are distilled pain and distilled joy." He slipped into lecture mode, "Normally you can just make a harvest check to get craftable materials from monsters and whatnot, but not from humanoid corpses. You can't harvest craftable materials from anything that has a soul. Only distilled pain can turn a humanoid corpse into craftable material." He held up a finger, "However if you want a sustainable source of crafting material, Distilled joy can turn happiness into ambrosia." He smiled, "And nothing puts a smile on my face quite like crafting magic items!"

 

Miriam interjected, "It does. It's kinda crazy how happy he gets when he makes things."

 

Elyin took the ambrosia, "So... why are we drinking this?"

 

Andrew pointed, "I'm going to cast Heart's Ease on all of you. Ambrosia, plus Heart's Ease will help you deal with the trauma of what you've been through. You won't forget what happened, but it will prevent nightmares and take the edge off. I'm not quite sure how it works, but Ambrosia does the same thing as the spell, so I figure after the hell you've been through, better safe than sorry and use both on you."

 

Elyin looked to Miriam who smiled reassuringly, "It's okay. Trust him."

 

Each in turn took a swallow, and as they did, they blinked and their eyes started to brighten. As the last kid finished off the flask, Andrew gestured then waved his hand over the group, "{Heart's Ease}"

 

The elves shuddered and blinked a lot. As they sat in the extradimensional pocket, a calmness washed over all of them. Andrew just kept quiet and watched, waiting to see the results, "So... how you feeling?"

 

Elyin blinked and stared at her hand. When she spoke, it was with confidence, "I... do feel better." She frowned, "No. Not better. Detached? That's the word. I remember everything that happened, but it feels... separate?" She flexed her hand a few times before looking up at Andrew, "I'm not sure what you did, but I feel like I can... function?" She nodded and her expression brightened, "Yes. I can function again." She looked at Andrew with a most stern expression, "Thank you."

 

Andrew nodded and spoke softly, "Good. You'll have to deal with everything at some point, but for now, we can do what needs to get done to get you back home."

 

"Home?" Tiri chimed in. It was the first time she spoke without a thousand-yard stare. The child turned to Elyin, "We're going home?"

 

Elyin gave Tiri a sad look and replied in a soft voice, "I... don't know if-"

 

Andrew cut her off with a clap of his hands, "Of COURSE you are going home! I wouldn't have done all this just to abandon you in the middle of this godforsaken scrubland!" He grinned, "But first, breakfast." He gestured and waved his arm towards the group, "{Conjure Food and Water}" In everyone's lap a simple wooden plate appeared covered with food. Mostly simple and bland flavored foods like bread, cheese, and an assortment of fruits and vegetables. Next to where they sat appeared a wooden cup filled with water. They all looked rather stunned for about three seconds before they dug in and started to devour everything.

 

"Whoa-whoa-WHOA! Slow down! if you eat too fast when you've been starved as much as you have, you might get sick." He gestured with his hands as he spoke, "Don't worry. Until I get you back, you'll eat your fill every meal, I promise."

 

The children barely slowed down at Andrew's urgings, but Elyin stopped entirely. She stared at Andrew. He stared back. Eventually, he spoke, "You... okay?"

 

Elyin shook her head, "Why? Why would you help us over your fellow humans?"

 

Andrew scowled and spoke more harshly than he intended, "FELLOW HUMANS?" Everyone stopped eating. Andrew shook his head and hooked a thumb at himself, "Oh, I'm human alright, but none of those... MONSTERS were human." He waggled his finger in the air in a broad sweeping motion, "Not even close. Do NOT compare me to those... THINGS. They weren't human. They gave up any claim to being HUMAN after-" He paused, glanced towards Elyin, then averted his gaze, "I'm sorry for what happened to you. What they did was wrong. What they did-"

 

Andrew stopped himself as he saw how everyone was staring at him. He was shaking with rage and it was bleeding into every word he spoke. He turned away, closed his eyes, then took a deep breath to force himself to calm down, "I don't know if what they did was legal or not, but I don't care. Slavery is wrong. What... that... person... did..." He swallowed and composed himself, "Was wrong. There is right, and there is wrong. Wrong is just wrong."

 

Elyin stared at Andrew, then gestured for the kids to resume eating. She didn't. Instead, she watched Andrew for a minute before speaking, "May we talk outside?"

 

Andrew looked concerned, then nodded. He paused after climbing out to pull a blanket out of his backpack. He offered it to the woman. Her clothing was a mishmash of what they had taken from the camp, pieces of leather and metal armor over poorly fitting clothes. She dropped down to the ground and looked surprised at the offered cloth. She closed her eyes and nodded slowly as she wrapped the blanket around herself. They left the rope hanging in the air as they walked away a short distance to not be overheard by the children.

 

"It was legal."

 

Andrew's head snapped to look at Elyin as those words took him off guard. She continued in a matter-of-fact way of speaking, "All of us had been captured at different times. We had only met when we had been bought at the auction. I was captured defending a village from slavers. It's been over four years, maybe more. We have changed hands several times. Most recently we had been bought at a slave market to the north on the coast. Mast-"

 

She cut herself off from saying the word 'master'. She paused to compose herself, "The bastard who was in charge had a buyer for all the children. I was someone he had bought for his own... amusement on the trip back." She jogged her chin back the way they had come, "Tiri had some skill in tracking, so they sent Tiri out to go hunt for food..." Her voice trailed off as she thought about what happened, then continued, "Which is how I suppose you found her."

 

There was a long pause before she spoke again.

 

"Thank you." She bowed her head, "We are in your debt."

 

"Oh no." Andrew shook his head and made a dismissive hand gesture, "You owe me nothing. It was the right thing to do and someone should have done it a long time ago. If anything, I should be bowing my head to you and begging for your forgiveness. Monsters like those disgusting wretches give humanity a bad name." Andrew turned to look off into the distance, "I only hope you might see past what happened and come to understand we're not all like... THAT." He lowered his voice, "Although I cannot blame you if you hate humans for this."

 

Elyin thought about Andrew's words and went silent. Andrew stared off into the distance for a while, just enjoying the stillness. When Andrew turned back to look at his companion, he noticed she had laid the blanket out on the ground and was kneeling on it as she took off her clothes.

 

"{JUMP}" Andrew cast a spell and leaped fifty feet through the air to land on the far side of the clearing, looking at her with the widest of eyes. He abruptly slapped his hands over them, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING???"

 

She had already taken off her top and was working on removing her pants. She stopped and looked rather puzzled, "I..." She slowly pulled her pants back on, "You gave me a blanket as soon as we got out, so-"

 

Andrew pulled his headband down so he would see in Magic-Scan Vision, yet not see her exposed breasts directly, more as a glowing outline. He winced as he pulled out another blanket, rushed over, then wrapped it around her, "NO." He pulled away to crouch at the edge of the blanket she was sitting on, "I thought you were COLD, I didn't want SEX."

 

She looked down at the blanket now covering her, then up at Andrew, "But... I thought your kind all wanted to bang sexy elven waifus?"

 

Andrew rubbed the back of his neck as he looked away, "Look. I'm not saying you-" He froze, "Hold it." He turned back to face her, "Bang... sexy... waifus?" He narrowed his eyes, "Where the heck did you hear something like that?"

 

Elyin froze.

 

Andrew sat down cross-legged on the edge of the blanket making sure to keep at least arm's length from Elyin, "I'm... not angry. I just want to know."

 

She paused to put her clothes back on under her blanket then returned it to Andrew. She stared at him for a while before asking, "Are you an infernalist?"

 

Andrew double-facepalmed.

 

Elyin tilted her head to the side, "You seem like one, but you also... aren't one. Have you found some way to hide your investment?" She paused then added, "Your cheat?"

 

Andrew looked up abruptly, "I have NO CHEATS." He looked pissed.

 

Elyin was taken aback, "Really? Because-"

 

Andrew held up a hand and cut her off, "Okay. LOOK. I'm going to level with you. Promise me you won't tell anyone else about this, okay?" He gestured back toward the kids, "Consider it payment for saving you, okay?"

 

Elyin nodded once, then waited.

 

"I... was offered the chance to become an infernalist." Andrew raised a finger, "BUT..." He paused as he watched Elyin's reaction. She remained impassive. His shoulders sagged, "But I turned it down. I had already gotten caught up in this mess. I signed an agreement without really understanding it and I wound up before... what I assume you call the evil gods?" He raised an eyebrow and looked at her questioningly.

 

Elyin thought for a moment, then shook her head, "We elves call them the game masters. They appear to be playing some sort of game amongst themselves using the lives of mortals as pawns."

 

Andrew made the surprised Pikachu face.

 

Elyin frowned, "Is... something wrong?"

 

Andrew clicked his tongue and then straightened up, "Uhhh... nope! It's just... that's... a surprising name. It has a lot of connotations where I come from." He cleared his throat, "Well, I... played the game... they were playing." Elyin looked increasingly worried, "A lot. I... practically wrote the book on it." He paused, "Literally. One hundred and twelve handbooks and guides on how to play the game, to be exact."

 

She blinked, "What?"

 

"I called it, the Encyclopedia Viniculum Draconus. It's an old language. Latin, to be exact. It means 'A collection of books about dungeons and drag-'"

 

Elyin cut him off and held up her hands, "Wait. You mean, I can't sense any cheats from you, because you have none?" She looked completely flabbergasted, "You had the option to accept a cheat power, but you TURNED IT DOWN?" She blinked, "Not only that, but you know the RULES of their game... AND THEY LET YOU LIVE?"

 

Andrew recoiled slightly, "Uhh... Yeah. I'm not a cheater. I don't cheat. So, I refused the cheat. I play by the rules, I win by the rules, and I'll die by the rules."

 

Elyin's jaw hit the ground.

 

"Why are you making such a big deal out of this?"

 

"Because nobody... and I mean not one SINGLE infernalist has ever arrived without a cheat."

 

"Okay... so I'm the first. So what?"

 

"Have you gotten any quests?"

 

"Quests?"

 

Elyin nodded, "Yes. Quests. Have the Game masters spoken to you? Contacted you? Interacted with you in any way since you got here?"

 

Andrew started looking at Elyin out of the corner of her eye, "Uhhh..." He turned away, "Status." His character sheet appeared. He started to scan it in earnest, looking for anything he might have missed. He saw something in the upper corner. Three lines, like a drop-down menu. He reached up.

 

A large, red, glowing window popped open, "Oh yeah. I remember seeing this before."

 

[NO CHEAT DETECTED]

 

Andrew noticed a question mark in the bottom corner. He touched it.

 

[THIS FEATURE DISABLED]

 

Andrew turned to Elyin, "I take it you can't see this?" She shook her head. Andrew gestured, "{Minor Illusion}" and made an exact copy of the window in front of him appear superimposed over the original.

 

Elyin's eyes grew wide as she got closer and looked at the window, "It looks... but that's...." She pointed at the words, "What language is that?"

 

"English." He gestured at the red window, "I take it this is where the quest window should be?" He closed the window, then reopened it just to demonstrate then stabbed the question mark a few times, "To translate, it reads, This Feature Disabled."

 

She nodded, "Yes. You... have no quest panel. Only infernalists have a quest panel." She looked at him with the widest of eyes, "You are... impossible." She looked back towards where the children were, "Then again, you have a chaotic good devil as your familiar, so... who am I to say what is and isn't possible?"

 

"You met... other..." He paused, "I hate the word infernalist. How about transmigrator? Can we use that term?"

 

"Transmigrator?" She nodded, "Yes. Of course. You aren't an infernalist, so we would have to call you something else, won't we?"

 

"Great!" Andrew smiled, "So. You met others?"

 

Elyin frowned, "Yes. Several."

 

Andrew's smile faded, "It... did not go well?"

 

"How do you think I wound up a sex slave?"

 

Andrew recoiled and looked disgusted, "Ouch! I... crap." He frowned, "I'm sorry. I am. I... I'm sorry that a few bad apples-"

 

"A few?" She seemed to be getting angry, "A FEW BAD APPLES???" Andrew backed away and kept his mouth shut. Elyin stopped, ran her fingers through her hair, and then abruptly stood up, "I think... we should finish this conversation another time." She turned and started walking away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Andrew bit his lower lip, got up, and quietly followed her back.