Chapter One Hundred Twenty Seven

Joe glanced over his pile of logs with pursed lips before nodding and sprinting, using as little mana as possible upon his stats, back to the kid. Didn't hear him scream… so probably OK? He came into the area where he'd stashed the kid and sighed with some relief to see him still safely there. The kid's eyes immediately glued on him when Joe zipped into the area and Joe nodded to the boy as he slowed and walked towards the boy. The boy simply stared back, cautious but relieved and Joe stopped at his side before holding out his hands. The boy immediately stood and prepared to be carried by Joe and Joe stifled a smile as he came forward although he did also struggle to hold back a bit of a frown as well, as the boy was incredibly careful in his interactions with others. That, more than anything else, made Joe pretty pissed off when he saw the other kids stiffen up in their interactions with the other adults.

Joe turned his thoughts back to the moment and carefully cradled the kid in his arms before zipping off back to the pile of logs. He moved cautiously, speeding and slowly at a much more measured pace and never going too far beyond average human capabilities both to save mana and to protect the kid. When he arrived back at the clearing, he set the kid down to the side before nodding to the boy then turning back to look at the pile of logs everywhere. OK. Let's get this done. A hidey hole for the kids.

He revved up his mana output towards his stats, ready to work. Gonna need to lift these things, but… He glanced at his MP and HP bars and frowned a bit. Dropping pretty fast. He pulled the two logs he was going to place on the bottom layer, placing one down against the lined up trees so it wouldn't roll. The second he put against the tree set up to keep the logs from rolling on the other side. It left just enough space, if he was eyeballing it right, to place two more logs between, making a base of four logs and a pyramid that would be almost four logs high. He didn't fill the space between the two logs with another two full logs, instead, he grabbed four of the shortened logs and put them in the place of what normally would be two full logs. He put two of the logs at each end of the pile of logs, leaving a rather large empty space between the outer two logs and the shortened log ends that filled in the space at the end of the logs. OK. That works… now need a gate. He pulled another shortened log, then paused and wnet through all his short log ends until he found the shortest. Replacing one of the longer middle ends he'd put into place with this shorter one, he then placed another log end about a third of the way in on one side. That set the log pile up to have two long logs on the outside and between them, spacing it out where another two logs would be, two log ends were placed at either end of the long logs with another log end placed nearer one of the ends butting up against the log end that capped the end of the pile. He then fiddled with the whole setup a bit before nodding in satisfaction, creating the bottom layer and making as massive a hole in the bottom layer as possible. After fiddling a bit more to make sure it looked like full logs and no empty space in the middle if looked at from the outside before beginning on the next layer.

Like the first layer, the two outer logs were complete logs, and he settled a short log at the end for the middle log, allowing for a bit of height for the space inside. At the other end, he settled the log in then frowned with annoyance as he realized it was too short and work needed done.

He considered just making a new log but then glanced at the kid and frowned with a different annoyance. Right… so… He considered for a bit before he roughed out a plan that was really janky but would still leave the kids safe and pulled out the bottom logs another couple feet or so then got the longest one of his 'short logs' out and settled it in the middle layer as the middle log. This would allow him to still pull out his cap log door and then the kids could slither in at an angle between the short log on the right and the other weight bearing log further inside on the left side. He then could slide the log in and out to open up a way to the space inside. Satisfied, he pulled the boy forward and pointed out the space. The boy nodded, when Joe tried to pantomime his information but Joe frowned. Not… well… another sentence isn't going to be bad, right? Just gotta make sure the original command remains… perfect… exact.

Joe then led the kid away from the pile again and turned to finishing the home for the soon to come kids. He climbed into the pile, the open roof still open enough for him to climb in and he began clearing things out inside to make it clear and a bit more comfortable. As he did so, he stood and glanced over the pile of logs to see the kid occupying himself well enough, only glancing over every once and awhile. Joe nodded to the boy then squatted back down and quickly pulled out all the cloaks he'd brought, layering them around the quite small space several layers deep. Better than nothing… I guess.

Joe then stood and finished the pile of logs, putting on the two log roof and capping it with the single log on top so that the log pile was complete. He then hammered in extra stakes on both sides to keep the logs all in place, although more on the single tree side since he trusted the other side a bit more with all the trees there.

Even as he did this work, however, his mind chewed on one last piece of information and the single extra sentence he needed to add for explanation. It had to be perfect and could not circumvent what needed to be done. After he thought for a bit, he quickly reasoned that statements of fact were ultimately his best bet since they were relatively unimportant as long as the factual statements did not modify the command he was going to give. Finally, when all was done, he brought the kid before him and opened up the path to the inside.

Wait… no light to see inside… so… Joe frowned then looked around before he found a small branch and pulled it forward before frowning again. Need something… Joe sighed and crawled into the space himself, not able to get that far at all, but enough to get a hand on a cloak. He then ripped off a narrow long strip and climbed back out before wrapping it around one end of the stick. Right… so… now… Joe sighed with some resignation and tightly gritted teeth.

Joe turned then looked at the boy, concern easily breaking his control and flickering across his face, "Sorry, kid, for what's about to happen… what I'm going to do. This… Kid, this is really going to suck. But I hope you can forgive me one day."

The boy stared at him attentively even if he did not understand anything. Finally, Joe took a deep breath with closed eyes before swapping his language over to Common. He knew it worked when the boy's eyes widened in shock when Joe began speaking again next.

"Go inside and look around. Here is a torch so you can see. Be careful! There are cloaks inside. Don't catch anything on fire. Come back out quickly after you have seen everything," Joe commanded before lighting a torch then handing it to the kid.

The boy nodded and took light torch cautiously before slithering in much more easily, his small frame easily allowing him a way in. The boy took only a bit of time to see and he came back out. Joe nodded.

"You understand?"

The boy quickly nodded and Joe began again, this time with much more caution and no small amount of worry, "Listen. Carefully. I will bring your other friends here. You will all be here. Do you understand?"

The boy nodded but said nothing.

"All of you will be in here."

The boy nodded again.

"Be silent and make no noise."

The boy nodded quickly.

"One boy will have food and water. The boy with me will have all the food and water."

The boy nodded again, a little more relief showing but worry still staining his face.

"Now, listen carefully. You were told to obey me, yes?"

The boy's tension rocketed up but the reaction was incredibly subtle as he stiffened slightly even though he nodded in the exact same way and time as he had before. Joe's hand lifted to comfort the boy then stopped as he realized he didn't have time. He'd be pushing it as it was anyway, and he accepted it for now. Later… if there is time later… then I can try to really help them…

Joe then began his carefully constructed command, "Go inside and stay silent. Stay there until I will return to you the next time you see the sun. Then you will be safe. If you do not stay and stay silent until I return at the next time you see the sun, you will die and fail your master."

The boy shivered at that last statement, something visceral and not biological at all slithered its way through the boy's body, but despite its alienness, Joe easily recognized it as a shiver of fear. Joe frowned, almost turning his thoughts to understanding what he was seeing before forcing himself to stop. No time!

"Do you understand?"

The boy nodded and Joe closed his eyes then opened them again as he struggled through what was soon to come.

"Show me your status and want me to understand it."

The boy nodded, this time with some confusion and small amount of curiosity, but did so rather quickly, his status showing up and appearing before Joe. Joe pretty much ignored it. It didn't matter, not quite yet.

"When I send you into the log pile, I will push you to the entrance. When I do so, enter and wait as I said. You can turn off the status then if you want or do as you wish with your status. But until I send you into the log pile, do not move."

The boy nodded again then seemed to freeze in place and Joe sighed with some relief but quickly shifted to bitterness. I… hate this… I hate this soo much… and now… this… Right… now it really begins to suck. Joe quickly changed his language back to anything else, cowardice driving him to flee.

Joe pulled out a dagger from his back and the boy's body language almost didn't change at all, although there was some now obvious fear. Joe struggled to ignore it and brought the dagger down on the back of the forearm near the elbow. He poked it lightly and the boy did not move. Joe grimaced, struggling not to stare at the boy. He turned his gaze to the boy's status. He poked only a couple more times before the boy's HP was zeroed out. Then, he paused, anxiety gnawing at his gut as he found himself struggling to continue. Do I really need to … maybe the eyes don't matter? Definitely the ears… but… Joe's eyes closed in regret even as he firmed his heart and returned to his original plan. Better safe than sorry… just gotta do it!

Then he moved like a viper, mana swelling through him even as perception slowed. His HP and MP began draining rapidly, but Joe's compassion couldn't allow him to take too long on this anyway. His dagger moved with ease, in perfect control as it leapt forward and dipped just barely into the left eye of the boy before slicing slightly as it came out and leapt across the bridge of the nose to the other eyeball, piercing it just slightly. The boy's HP still flared in brilliant bright zero and Joe found his breathing spiking to an uncontrolled pant.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Joe panted again and again under his breath even as it grew ever more erratic as the horror of what Joe was doing swelled up within him.

The dagger disappeared into his inventory even as it slipped from the left eye of the boy, the kid's shock not even appearing on his face yet, the autonomous response of the boy's body only just now sliding the kid's eyelids shut. Joe didn't even try to stop and think. The next thing appeared from his inventory immediately. He fumbled the needle like sliver of wood he'd been carving for the last few weeks then grasp it easily enough before bringing it up to the kid's right ear. The clinical need to line it up correctly and slide it into the boy's ear seemed to smother the panicked horror in his mind but also twisted him, almost breaking him before realization that the boy would be dead if he didn't do this, helped him firm his will and continue. The needle of wood slid down the boy's ear canal until it reached the end, piercing the ear drum. Joe did not do much more, although he made sure to wiggle it slightly to make sure the eardrum was completely torn without hope of healing again. He can't hear… he can't… focus… if he can hear… he's dead… and so is every other kid in that log pile… he can't hear… he can't… focus… FOCUS!

Despite his efforts to convince himself and despite knowing, absolutely that he was right, Joe found his mind clamoring in ever more horror at what he was doing. He pulled the needle out and did the same to the other ear, sliding it in and destroying the kid's ability to hear.

By now, Joe was hyperventilating and panicked to the point where he was losing control of his limbs, but it was done and he collapsed back on the forest floor. Perception collapsed and reality returned to its proper speed. The quiet noise of the world around him hammered against the rushing sound in his ears. The world was at peace, the soft susurrus of night noises continued on unabated and Joe found calm returning to him until he realized there was one noise missing. There were no cries of pain from the boy, and Joe looked up in horror to see the boy crying with blood running down from ears and more than tears running down his cheeks. The horror returned, magnified by the fact that the boy didn't cry, even after all that had happened, simply standing there and waiting.

Joe stared in horror for too long until he finally forced himself to move and he pulled the door log away. He stood and remained in place, horrified for a little longer but his heart never really slowed so he placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. The kid jerked in fear, but remained in place, stiff and unmoving despite his obvious fear. Joe pushed the boy slightly towards the log pile and then the boy hesitantly began to move. Joe moved him carefully, directing hands to places so the boy could feel out his place then pushed him to the entrance. The kid dutifully slithered into the log pile and Joe watched the boy's feet disappear inside before he found himself shivering in horror outside the log pile, unmoving and deeply disturbed.

Slowly, over time, he came to grips with what he'd done, if not with an acceptance of what he'd done, but with the need to continue, he pushed on. He quickly pushed the horror of it all deep down inside where he didn't have to think about it anymore and slammed shut the memory in a cast iron chest, unbreakable and hard. For a moment, he considered burying it completely, beyond his thoughts and memory but a small shiver of memory cried out against such and Joe instead took a deep breath and calmed himself. Just for now… just for now… I got work to do… It was enough. He sighed deeply and turned away, then turned back and shoved the cap log back into the doorway. Let's get this done.

Joe raced back to the camp, stealthed, and slid through the shadows back to his tent. The urgency of the work was enough for him to lock things away behind a wall of duty, especially as a glance up revealed much of the night now gone. It was already well past midnight and he could only hope that the nightly tortures really had stopped.

He entered the room with relief to find it devoid of his torturers and this time woke two more kids. No more time… I can do two at a time! Or… I could put them in my space? Or… no… oxygen probably still basically gone! Maybe? Gonna have to leave it open then… Maybe later… no more time to make sure it's clear now… Decision made, he discarded the option for the night and pulled them into his chest. He wrapped the cloak around them, uncaring and rushed, much too impatient or offer meaningful explanation. Time did not allow it.

The race back to the logs was a moment to the Joe's memory, his focus purely on getting things done as fast as possible. When he arrived, the necessity to explain brought a moment of pause, forcing cognitive thought to return and he explained everything to the two new kids, pulling off the log cap into the room and only adding on that there was another already inside. That small break and return to awareness proved poor timing as he needed to immediately cripple the two new children before him. Horror returned and it took almost everything for Joe to commit. In a moment of lucidity, he did put the two kids back to back so they wouldn't see, but that proved the only boon as when it was all said and done, Joe found himself outside the fake log hut shivering in horror once again, and struggling to return to the task. The cast iron chest was opened once again, and another memory stuffed inside even as he struggled to keep the other memory already in there constrained.

It took a long time to come to terms, but less than before, and he was soon racing back through the woods to his tent. Only to repeat the process. And two by two, Joe took two kids from his tent, blinded and deafened them for their own safety, then hyperventilated on his run back. His mind was numb by the time he was almost done, and whatever horrors had been piled upon him paled in comparison to the weight of what stained his hands now. Knowing what he was offering the kids, the chance at life he was attempting to gift them, offered almost no commiseration to the horror he was perpetrating, and he found himself shivering in horror as he came back to the tent for the last time.

He slipped inside to find only one left; his boy. The boy stared up at him and Joe stared back. The two remained silent as the stared at each other, and the then boy smiled, softly and happily before nodding. He knows! He knows… he knows what… he knows! The horror bound tightly in the chest ripped free like wet tissue, the memories flooding back outwards even as Joe collapsed to the ground and wet throbbing sobs hiccupped from within him and he curled into a fetal ball, tears wetting his face so quickly and so much he could see nothing. Another sob ripped from his chest, even as he struggled to keep the wails silent and only allow the horror to come out in short silent bursts of coughing air.

All of it shredded everything that was him and he curled around himself and ignored everything that was around him until a small hand pressed onto his shoulder and then everything was gone. The horror erased, the memories vanished, and the task returned. Job! Job! Job! Job! Gotta job! Gotta… The rushed thoughts calmed and faded behind a crystal clear moment as he looked up at the boy and the boy smiled again, nodding softly. Joe breathed deep and all of the horror, pain, and self-disgust vanished. No time! No time! Joe nodded back, tears evaporating with that nod even as his cheeks glistened with their remnants. The horror that had twisted his face was gone, and all that was left was a rocky surface of sharp planes and lines.

Joe nodded again and stood and the boy held out his arms. Joe pulled him into his arms and wrapped his cloak around them both before stepping out into the shadows outside his tent. This time, the shadows bent with such violent perfection that none could see Joe, even if they wished. The shadows bent to the will of non-observation, quantum states leaping into wild possibilities as none could observe and nothing saw. For a moment, Joe was a universe apart, incomprehensible to any other sapient, not in his alienness but in his simple nonexistence upon this plane. There was nothing, so what could be seen?

The moment popped like a bubble and Joe suddenly found himself standing outside the pile of logs in some small amount of shock. He didn't have time to consider as the boy wiggled out of his grasp and Joe's thoughts quickly returned to the task. A false dawn rose far in the east and Joe grit his teeth as he realized he was out of time and the collar seemed to know, an itch beginning to burn on his neck and at the back of his mind. But Joe didn't care. He knelt and looked at the boy. His language switched almost automatically, no thought or consideration; just a simple will for such a thing to occur.

"You know."

The boy didn't even react to Joe speaking common, simply smiling as if he'd always known, "I know."

"How?"

"I'm not stupid, and I'm not…" tears welled up as the boy struggled to continue, the collar writhing for a time until the boy took a deep breath and changed what he was going to say, "I've heard… whispers amongst the older slaves… but my friends don't know and they deserve a chance."

Joe frowned, even as his own tears returned, "If you know…"

The boy nodded, "You can't leave me here. I'll… I know… and… I'll…" the collar writhed once more and the boy closed his eyes, breathing carefully to neutralize his thoughts and calm the collar.

Joe grimaced, rage settling through him even as he recognized the quandary, "You'll call for the guards."

The boy's tears grew but he said nothing as he nodded and struggled to remain calm, the collar still twisting a bit wildly at that statement before calming. Worry grew within and Joe realized he might not have planned enough.

"Any of the others… will they," the boy quickly shook his head.

"No. They… they shouldn't, if you are fast enough. Besides…" the collar twisted then calmed as the boy shifted the topic again, "… they wouldn't know. They won't."

Joe nodded, then grinned ferally as he realized that there still might be a chance, "Well, it doesn't matter. Their chances depend on you?"

The boy's stance changed as curiosity replaced bitter despair, "What?"

Joe quickly changed the boy's job to transporter and the boy noticed even as realization slammed home then he huffed, "It doesn't matter. I don't know what you were trying but it doesn't matter. I can't…"

"Shut up. It's simple. You have the transporter job and with it your own space. You can open an inventory and store things inside," Joe cut him off as he explained and reached down to pull up a couple pebbles, giving one to the kid, "Just will it into your inventory space. Oh… and accept the job change."

The boy stared wildly in shock, stiffening slightly in raw disbelief that finally replaced the despair that thinly coated his face. The boy stared at him for a bit before smiling with something akin to excitement. He finally turned his gaze to the job acceptance window and accepted it rather easily, his job changing immediately.

The boy turned his gaze from his status and towards Joe as he held a pebble out in his hand. He pointed out the pebble in his hand, pointing to it to get the kid's attention on it. When the boy was watching, Joe sucked it into his inventory. The boy gasped and Joe stifled a grin. Glancing back up, he saw the boy glancing between his empty hand and up at him and Joe had to force the kid's gaze back to his hand by pointing with his other hand. He then popped the pebble back into his hand then began taking from and bringing it back to his hand repeatedly while the boy watched on with amazement.

After the kid was fully invested, Joe then opened up his inventory to show the boy, but met his first snag as the system didn't seem to allow showing his inventory to anyone else. Huh… wonder why… maybe a safety thing? Probably… although with a priest's lie detector skill… that's… moot, right? Or… I guess with proper training, they could try to weasel out of revealing anything… then again… a properly trained interrogator would recognize that, right? But… ok… uh… Then… Joe sighed, unable to figure anything out from this, and turned back to making things pop into and out of existence in his hand. After a few more examples, Joe then pointed at the boy and gestured encouragingly for the boy to do so.

"Right. Your turn."

The boy stared at him with uncertainty before nodding and taking on a serious expression, although he was much more excited. Excitement overwhelmed his serious expression and he quickly began focusing on the pebble, staring at it for a moment. Wonder and excitement quickly died as the boy continued to fail and Joe watched with growing concern.

After several attempts, Joe had to struggle to keep the worry and disappointment from his face before he spent some time explaining the effect of what was happening. Questions and answers flew between the two of them for a time, and the boy grew ever more and more frustrated until finally Joe flipped open both their statuses and showed the skill to the boy.

"Its right here, see? We both have it?"

The boy compared both their statuses for a while before frowning, "But you have more? I don't have what you have?"

Joe shook his head, "I have more jobs, so I have more skills. Skills come with jobs, right?"

The boy began to nod, and Joe continued, "And I have many skills, some that don't match specific things, right? Like using weapon."

Understanding came and he began to nod, "OK. Then, where's my job?"

Joe nodded firmly and pointed both of them out on both their statuses, "Here. Right here. And this is the skill that you should be using."

The boy stared at Joe a bit obstinately and Joe willed the pebble into his space. It disappeared. The boy frowned, then looked at Joe.

"I'm not sure I can…"

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"Don't think. Do it. It goes into your inventory. Your own private 'backpack' or 'sack' as it were, if you want it that way. It's called magical bag!"

The boy grit his teeth then looked back down before gasping in surprise when the pebble disappeared. Joe breathed a sigh of relief and then nodded. Good! Awesome… done… now!

"Great job, kid. Now you got that, get rid of that pebble. You don't want to waste space on that. Take out the pebble and throw it away."

The kid held out a hand and the pebble came out again and Joe nodded, "Good. Now hold out your hand and start taking this stuff into your inventory."

Joe held out his hand and the boy brought his forward. He pulled the boy's hand under his own and began willing over the food and water supplies he'd prepared into the kid's hand and the boy slowly, then with increasing expertise, sucked it into his own inventory space. It was all basically jerky from the hunting he'd done out in the forests at night to feed himself with inexpertly made leather water pouches. It wasn't much, but it was enough for possibly a month or two for all the kids, if they were careful. Which made Joe grimace as he realized he'd not left a good place to poop for the kids and the logistics of it all slammed home. Well… crap… literally. And they're all deaf and blind now…so…

Joe hoped they would all think of it, hoping they would, before turning back to his kid, "You have to go in."

The boy's excitement quickly waned and he shook his head, "Make one of the other kids do it. I'll call out to the guards as soon as I feel compelled… and it's coming pretty fast. I know what you are trying. This…"

Joe frowned, then hardened his gaze, "Then we'll do the best we can. You have their food. If you do not feed them, they die, and you have failed your master and theirs."

The kid shivered at that, then nodded, "That works, but I'll keep trying to get people to get us."

Joe nodded, sternness falling to sad self-recrimination, "I'm sorry about this."

"You did the best you could. I'm truly grateful."

Joe almost opened his mouth to correct the kid but then let it lie. Gotta change some things, but…

"I can make this work," Joe growled out, trying to offer hope to the boy.

The boy grinned, but bitterly, not believing. Joe's responding grin was defiant.

"Make sure you can pull out the meat."

The kid did, the meat appearing in his hand and Joe nodded, "Go ahead and eat … well, wait. Put it back into your inventory."

The kid nodded and the meat disappeared and Joe tried something different. Going to need to change plans… a lot.

"Now try to make the meat appear in your mouth."

The boy frowned, and did exactly that, causing Joe to blink with some surprise but grateful, "Good. Go ahead and eat that, you'll need it for a while."

The kid's smiled, grateful but still unable to hide the bitter despair before he forcefully shifted his gaze to a happy smile again. He said nothing, simply looking at Joe for a bit while eating before turning his head away and looking down. Joe stared back then clenched his fists before turning away as well. He glanced towards the horizon and saw the glow there, but couldn't push himself to move on. He understood in a very real way that this could be the last time he had with the kid. The next time they met, there would be no more words if he was caught. Joe wouldn't be able to speak with him. Joe looked away then back at him.

"What's your name?"

"I …," the collar reared up, writhing, before calming rather quickly as the kid looked up at Joe with a grateful smile.

Joe stared, teeth clenching in spasmadic randomness, stifling his anger, but Joe kept his bitter anger hidden, "You will be able to tell me the next time we meet."

The kid's smile grew and he nodded. Joe waffled some more but then the kid glanced towards the sunrise and turned the conversation to stranger and more stomach clenching directions.

"You know. I've never really seen the sun… or the sun coming up. The sun up? The sun… morning?"

"The morning. It's the sunrise in the morning."

"Oh. The sunrise. It's… it's so beautiful."

The two fell silent again because Joe couldn't find the words, the rage building inside him. To deflect away from the anger, Joe turned to another question.

"How old are you?"

The boy writhed the quashed rather quickly as he looked at Joe, his grin faltering for a bit, "I…"

Joe's eyebrows flickered at that, even as he grit his teeth. Probably still younger than fifteen or his stats would have been at least level fifteen for his job… if he'd taken the coming of age blessing… right? But…

"You seem to be pretty free in how you are talking now…"

"My time is coming to an end soon… tomorrow if how you and the others are acting is true."

"Pretty sneaky, aren't you."

"I can only guess it's why I was put with you. If you don't want them knowing your secr…" the kid trailed off, choking as the collar that was around his neck rose up in wild horror, turning back upon itself and burying needle like extensions all around the kid's neck and chest, even some into his head. Joe clicked his mouth shut, saying nothing knowing there was nothing he could do but remain silent and hope the kid could get whatever treasonous thoughts out of his head. Must be bad ones… for this… The collar's reaction was as much from what the wearer thought and felt as it was from what the collar judged. The collar calmed down after a while and before it could act up again, Joe quickly spoke up.

"Don't say anything else, although I understand and am grateful for what you tried to do. Don't worry, they will not find out my secrets."

That seemed to calm the boy, and his efforts to struggle calmed with the collar and he was soon seated and panting slightly against the log pile, "Thank you. I'm dead tomorrow anyway. I've never fought the collar before. Too afraid to… until I saw you. How do you do it?"

Joe smiled softly, "It's as much as what I believe as this piece of garbage."

The kid cocked his head to the side, confused but before the boy could continue, Joe looked to the side, taking in the false dawn still growing and the boy chuffed a small laugh, changing his comment, "You don't have much time."

Joe's smile grew bitter, "I don't."

"You have to feed them or you will fail your masters."

"It won't keep my mouth or fists silent."

Joe nodded, "I'll take my chances."

The kid nodded so Joe continued, "I need your status."

The kid opened his status as Joe asked and Joe nodded, "Good. Now, listen. I'll come to save you the next time you see the sun. You cannot leave or you will die and kill yourself and all others inside, failing your masters."

The boy grinned at that, even as the alien shiver of the command took hold, "It won't help."

Joe grimaced but then growled in rebellion, "I'll make it work."

The boy's grin grew sour this time, but before the kid could argue anymore, Joe moved. If I have to do this anyway, I might as well do it a bit easier on the kid. His hands came up and twisted the boy's neck, the spine cracking under his rapid twist. Joe grit his teeth at the feel under his hands. It was the first time he'd ever felt it despite the years of training he'd had. He was learning more and more quickly the difference between training and experience.

He laid the boy down on the ground even as his inadequate HP struggled to repair the catastrophic damage, his status showing zeroed out HP already. Joe still put his head to the boy's chest to double check and sighed with relief at still hearing the boy's heart beating. He remained by the boy's side for a good couple minutes, checking heart rate and a bunch of other things and felt an overwhelming relief as the boy remained strong and healthy, if now quadriplegic. Not done though… Joe shivered at that realization and grit his teeth as he turned to continue. He struggled to engage his stats so he could get it done, pushing through for another couple minutes before his perceptions and physical capabilities skyrocketed. Almost bottomed out on MP… HP getting close… but… Almost done… almost done… I can run back on normal stats after this… recover just enough MP for my stealth…

Fear and disgust shuddered through him when he finally turned to what he had to do next. With numbed feeling, he blinded and deafened the boy. The tools he had more than adequate to do the job. Next, he took his dagger once again and punched it through the kid's larynx. He didn't know how voice boxes worked, not sure of their structure or form in anyway, not remembering it at all from his high school bio classes. With desperate clinical precision, Joe opted for violent destruction, and made sure to grind the dagger through the Adam's apple as completely as possible before turning his efforts towards healing, making sure the boy could still breath and that there was no internal bleeding. He first sent mana in to heal the breathing tract, specifically excluding the voice box as much as he could before also sending his mana into the kid's body to heal everything else but the eyes, ears, and throat until his mana refused to go in anymore. That seemed to work, so then he turned to healing the boy's neck, sending in mana to accelerate the healing of the kid's spine, but keeping it away from the spinal nerve. Please… let me be able to heal him later… I… of course I can heal him… right? I regrew my entire leg… with the nerves… I can feel that just fine! He's… he's … I can fix this all. I know I can…

When all was said and done, Joe remained by the boy's side until he stirred. The boy didn't really move at all except to open his dead eyes and tried to look around. He couldn't move, and the boy smiled. The boy opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out, and then he laughed, soft wheezing but basically silent laughter even as tears slid down his face. For the first time that night, a tinge of hope appeared on the boy's face; genuine true hope for a possible future. Joe leaned down and put a hand on the boy's cheek and he jerked in surprise a bit, but then calmed as Joe basically pet him, having no other way to offer comfort.

A quick glance at the horizon left Joe no other options, and he grimaced as he stood, his collar now incredibly insistent since Joe had relaxed into relief. His work was done, and that knowledge seemed to spur the collar on into urging him to return. Joe shifted his thoughts. Just one last thing… if I don't do this the job won't be done. And that seemed to do the trick, his collar settling into judgmental acquiescence. Joe quickly stood, not wishing to push his luck, which seemed to be exactly the wrong thing as his collar roused slightly, the back of his mind growing a slight burn again but Joe ignored it and focused on his work which seemed to calm it again.

He turned to look at the log pile the grimaced in anger. OK! Dumb! He can't crawl inside! Stupid! He stepped to the log pile and quickly ripped off the top three logs, revealing the empty space below. He took away one of the second layer end cap logs so he could climb in and turned back to the boy, lifting him carefully in his arms even as he turned his focus to checking him out medically. He then turned back to the already formed puppy pile of kids in one corner and Joe shifted the paralyzed boy in his arms. He then stepped into the pile before shifting people around. Some of the kids began crying out Joe ignored them, even as tears welled and fell down his face.

After shifting everyone around a bit, he had the paralyzed boy placed into the corner then paused, before pulling out a piece of jerky and putting it into the boy's hand. Then he lifted the hand to the boy's face where he could smell it before pulling the jerky away then tapping the kid's hand. The boy understood easily enough and a piece of jerky appeared in his hand. Joe then pulled another kid's hand to the paraplegic's hand before forcing the two to change the jerky.

A few more times of this with a couple other kids and they all learned to quickly ask the paraplegic for food by tapping his hand. One last careful check where Joe tapped the paraplegic boy's mouth had him pull food straight out of his inventory into his mouth. Joe repeated the same with water but needed to take time to teach a couple of the kids how to feed the paraplegic some water as well. He taught the five or six closest, just to make sure they would remember to give the boy enough water. He even healed the five's hearing to explain this to them before killing their ear drums again.

By this point, Joe was fighting a mild panic and the collar driving him to return, so he was a bit rough with the work but couldn't really care less, simply leaning heavily into the reality that he was saving these boy's lives. And to do that, he had to return before the camp awoke and any guards could figure out where he went.

Joe then sealed everything back up carefully, including the log door, before speeding back home. The shadows were luckily still very long when he returned to the camp and they responded to him well, so he easily slipped back into the camp. The subconscious effort proved enough and he cared little for the wasted MP at this point as he only wanted to get back to his tent as fast as possible. Exhaustion didn't let him really notice the ease with which he used his stealth and he simply prepared for bed.

Before he slept, however, he first opened his space to look inside, double checking on the burning log. It smoldered in the corner and his opening brought in another rush of oxygen but didn't seem to ignite the log as much as before since just a few flames leapt to life over the surface of the log. A quick glance around the area showed there didn't seem to be any real change or damage to the space so he decided to just let the log be.

Exhaustion pushed him back out into his tent as he prepped for the morrow. He didn't even flinch as he emptied his HP to the level he'd need to perfectly heal his thighs into stumps then methodically cut off his legs with a practiced paper cutter lever action, holding the sword tip down in one hand even as he scythed the other hand down and through his thigh. The pain was an old and obvious pain now, easily ignored, especially since he was prepared for it. And with his two severed legs sucked into his inventory, he was soon in his bed. He didn't think he would sleep, despite the exhaustion of day being overwhelming, because the jittery fear and excitement of what was soon to come was a burning inferno deep in his chest. He was wrong. Sleep wrung his thoughts from him as soon as his head hit his much thinner bed.

* * *

Ilyelanralo stood before the mustering yard with some anticipation and hope that this would finally be the moment he could break through the eccentric's recalcitrance. The man simply had to learn and submit and if he did so, life would be so much easier and better for him. It was frustrating to have such a clear understanding of how the world worked only to be ignored by those who could learn and grow so much if they would only be willing to listen.

But now, Ilyelanralo was relatively certain that the eccentric would break and finally learn. The man took all the bait to his room and cared for them over these last few weeks. He cannot resist now. It will be enough. His certainty crumbled slightly, tremors rumbling through the foundation of his beliefs as his thoughts twisted slightly. He must! His lips flickered to a twisted scowl before he quickly smoothed his face. Several of the early risers and excellent students had arrived and he calmed, shifting to a look of hopeful pride at the individuals soon to be prepared to work fully and completely as the tools they deserved to be, perfect and ready for their masters. They deserve such. They have worked so hard and done so well, even with the eccentric in their midst. I am quite proud of those who have learned!

The mustering yard continued to fill and soon the majority was there, including many of those who had thrown in with the eccentric. Those who'd thrown in with the eccentric arrived alone, their bait children missing. This only caused Ilyelanralo's smile to grow, certain of the eccentric's soon to arrive downfall. Satisfaction suffused him, and while a little glee at actually 'winning' peeked its way through, Ilyelanralo quickly crushed the prideful and belittling emotion. He was a bigger man than that and it was only appropriate that he should respect the eccentric even if he was so poorly educated and untrained in how to appropriately react in the various social situations one might find oneself in. Still, Ilyelanralo waited with patience.

However, when the eccentric finally did arrive to the mustering yard, Ilyelanralo found his patience deeply tested. Joe arrived alone and Ilyelanralo found his eyes locked on the eccentric, searching him carefully for any clues. The face revealed a certain satisfaction even as the man still tried to play the fool. Ilyelanralo struggled to hide his frown when he noticed the eccentric was apparently happy. There was a slight shiver, maybe a hint of panic or agitation, that seemed to play out on the eccentric's face. That made Ilyelanralo frown before he could even stop himself and he turned his gaze to the rest of the eccentric, eyes raking down his torso and limbs to find any other clue before freezing upon the eccentric's hands. Blood. Ilyelanralo felt his lips twitch and rage swell up within him. Did the man kill them early? While they were asleep? Some kind of mercy? Or was there some other…

Ilyelanralo snapped out with barely concealed rage, "Search the eccentric's tent! Report what you find."

The eccentric wandered to his place and settled in, unmoving and supposedly uncaring. But Ilyelanralo could feel the man's glee and pride warring with fear and anxiety. He didn't know how, but he was certain the man had done something more than what he feared and when the guard returned, Ilyelanralo felt exasperation and anger.

"There is nothing, master. The tent is empty."

"No bodies?"

"No, master."

Joe looked down at the eccentric's hands again, seeing the blood there but also realizing that there was far too little to be what he feared. Rage swelled, but was quickly swamped by a cold disappointment in the eccentric. The rage from before had swept clear his anger and left behind a cold necessity to break the man to his will. And so, it would be done.

"It seems some of you have thrown in with the eccentric once again. You… are fools. Those who are here with the little ones assigned to you, excellent. Now, learn obedience as you must. Slay your little ones. Obey, and experience pleasure. Resist, and feel only pain."

As always, over half of the newly acquired slaves resisted and soon learned resistance was futile, the children still dying under their own hands, then fell to the ground wailing in pain. Those who immediately killed the children fell to the ground in their own screams as well, although pleasure echoed through their cries. All that remained was the eccentric and those who'd joined him. Ilyelanralo only felt some small amount of vindication when he saw several of those who'd joined the eccentric looking on with great worry. Ilyelanralo considered for a moment, his gaze sweeping across all of them, preparing to speak to them from the bottom of his heart, but to be honest, felt only frustrated exhaustion tinged with despair. None would listen, not without the eccentric's acquiescence, and when Ilyelanralo looked over at the eccentric, all he saw was stubborn pride unwilling to retreat. Ilyelanralo shook his head and turned away.

"All without children, deep pain."

The men siding with the eccentric collapsed to the ground, their bellows of pain easily overwhelming the other's cries. But their pain brought no joy to Ilyelanralo. Ilyelanralo walked back to his villa and beckoned over a couple guards.

"Get the eccentric's control artifact and offer him pain. Burn it into his being till he learns the consequences of what he is playing with. Allow his sycophants to wallow in pain as long as he does… say, mmm… until noon. Allow all the others to go after the punishment or reward," Ilyelanralo instructed to the first guard before turning to the second.

"Search the woods. It seems the eccentric has once again attempted to save the little ones."

* * *

Joe watched the slave master walk away, concern rising over the man's response. It was certainly much calmer than the last but much more concerning because of the man's control. Still, there was little Joe could have done in such a situation, his conscience unwilling to allow children to die. He looked over those who'd entrusted their slave kids to him as they wailed quite a bit louder than normal, pain twisting their features. A quick glance back at the slave master showed one of the guards jogging to the slave master's home and Joe grimaced. My turn's incoming… wonder if… A cry rang out and Joe glanced around in curiosity as he saw all the guards around the camp suddenly began shifting, heading out into the woods, calling loudly. Joe closed his eyes and sighed with relief, but also worry. Hope it's enough…

He didn't have long to worry or run through scenarios, the guard sent to the slave master's home had returned rather quickly and pushed a button on it while pointing the artifact at Joe. Even as pain swelled up and cut his thighs out from under him, some small part of him wondered if the pointing was necessary.

* * *

It was well past noon by the time Joe came to. He and those who'd joined him were the last on the field. Joe lifted a head to look around and notice all that before dropping it back down into the dirt and mud. His entire body felt sore. He lay there another few minutes before forcing himself to stand with a groan. His movement roused others and soon the others were rising as well. Some looked at each other with fear. Others with barely held bravery, fear clawing away underneath it all. Only two of the strongest along with Dulan actually looked at him and nodded before smiling with some sense of victory. Joe nodded in return then grimaced, biting back a curse when he saw the two others look at him with some shock. Dulan seemed to notice and waved Joe off, letting Joe know he would talk to the two men. Joe then nodded shallowly to Dulan in thanks before turning away.

Throughout that day, things returned to some semblance of normalcy, although the several individuals who'd chickened out and kept their kids spent much of their time weeping silently to themselves over to the side, not quite with them, but also not willing to break from them either. One of the ones who'd allowed the kid to die seemed uncaring, but was now mostly ostracized from the rest while the others who'd lost their courage were being comforted to some degree by the others who had saved their kids.

Those who'd been terrified after the morning's pain session seemed to take some strength in realizing they'd made the right decision and Joe quickly noticed that most of the talk, even if he couldn't understand it, seemed to be spent in psyching each other up for the next day.

And that was pretty much the schedule for the next few weeks. Those with him comforted each other and prepared one another for the next day's torture session during the mustering. They would then find themselves collapsed and waking on the mustering field later that day, generally around noon although sometimes a bit before it. Then the afternoon was once again spent preparing for the morrow.

Joe did as he always did, fiddling with carvings and strange objects to keep up the image of his insanity even as he continued working on his HP and magical capabilities and skills as well as the mana infusion of his stats. The flow of mana twisting and moving to his will proved a bit hypnotic, much like getting lost in a simple task or skill where fingers or body moved with practiced repetitive ease. It simply flowed, and grew easier and easier.

And with each day, tension ebbed and flowed as guards headed out into the woods and returned empty handed. Joe struggled to keep the fear tamped, anxiety ratcheting up each day only to wash away in the evening as they continued to fail to find the children. The children's continued freedom at the end of the day released the stress of the day and he would collapse into bed exhausted. But each day also lessened his worry, giving a little bit more hope each successful day the kids survived.

* * *

Gwenvair sat in tense meditation late in the afternoon, almost into evening. Joe always went through a moment of deep pain, it seemed, every early evening late into the night. It was deep and intense, but Gwenvair was able to offer some calm, and so she did so. The pain had been growing ever more muted over the long months Joe had been gone but these seemed to remain consistent and almost identical. They did not last long, only a few hours, but she was able to offer some comfort in this so she did. It was the least she could do. And it seemed to be helping, so she continued. Right on schedule, pain swelled and she quickly wrapped it up, dampening it within a soothing field. As always, Joe relaxed with that and was able to handle whatever was coming his way. Gwenvair smiled, and offered soothing happiness through their bond. It would do little for him, but it was better than nothing.

* * *

Joe woke in the middle of the night as he always did, the quiet of the night unnerving him a bit before he calmed with the realization that the kids were safe if not exactly in the most comfortable of situations. It should be remarkably soon that the next set of slaves would show up and Joe only hoped things continued as normal. Regrowing his legs took time but had become such a normal part of his life he thought nothing of it. As he did so, he turned his focus to his stats simply to occupy himself, long since habituated to look at a screen for escape. It was a habit that was breaking, replaced with a rather obsessive effort to develop his HP or mana skills or the few job skills he could work on. It was difficult to do, however, when much of his focus was on using his regenerative and healing skills on regrowing his legs. And manipulating his mana or mana infusing his stats was incredibly difficult, so he turned to exploring his status; a more passive effort. Besides, he had little else he could do, now having a guard upon him at almost all times, even through the night. At least not in my tent, still… Joe thought as his eyes flicked to the legs he could see a couple meters away from his tent doorway.

While Joe tried to ignore the kid's situation and convince himself they were fine, despite how long they were buried under the logs, Joe recognized he was actually trying to flee even the thought of what the kids were going through. They had the food and water, Joe knew that logically, but that didn't stop his mind from creating insane nightmares of what they were going through. But… just a little more… maybe a day… hopefully tomorrow.

Joe wasn't certain when, exactly, the slave caravan came. It was inconsistent each of the times he'd tried to keep track. He was certain it wasn't from his poor counting as the time differed by up to two weeks, but the caravan would arrive soon. Joe was worried, especially if the caravan arrived later, since it would be pushing it for the kids to have enough food and water. Joe knew he could go back and restock the kids with food and water, but with the guard outside his door, he was finding it difficult. He also didn't know how he could face them if he wasn't there to save them. So as long as they had enough food and water, Joe had a rather pressing need to avoid returning without being able to fix the problem.

The study of his status, however, was rather pointless as well since there hadn't been any change since his exploration of the system administration jobs. In fact, he hadn't delved much deeper into them than that, either. They still sat at the same level and without change to any of the skills. But he really could care less about the system or his status, or any new jobs. His focus was turned to his freedom and saving the kids.

When his legs were reformed, he turned to what he'd been doing regularly every night, his katas, although he had to be much more cautious with the guard outside his door. That only increased his efforts, however, and he threw himself into the effort with abandon, glad for a distraction. He flowed through them with ease, enjoying them and reveling in having his body returned. The work went well, and he came to the end of the session before sitting back down on his now very thin bed of two cloaks. He looked at his legs for a bit, exhaustion now returning before sighing and standing back up. Gotta still practice!

The last bit of his nightly practice, now that the kids were safe and taken care of, had added a new exercise to his ritual. He took his prosthetics, new ones that were shorter by about a hand length, out of his inventory and strapped him to his knees. He took his ankle and pulled it hard up into the back of his thigh and rested it against the back of his rear. The stretching needed for this had been rather painful, but luckily he'd always been cautious to maintain his flexibility as well, if not exactly to this extreme level. But, being in a magical world with magical abilities to heal, Joe found a rather self-destructive way to push his flexibility, pulling back until he tore his ligaments and muscles before healing and doing it again. It was incredibly painful, but the drive for what he needed to do next pushed him. Having to do it silently somehow just made it worse.

Taking a strip of torn cloak, he tied his ankle, then his foot, back against the back of his thigh and to his rear. It took a bit of work, but he soon had his lower legs bent back and up towards his butt. It hurt, painfully, as he was not gifted to be able to do such things easily. But, the efforts over the last several months had proved adequate and so he stood on his new shorter prosthetics and practiced walking around the tent. When he'd first started, he'd been both concerned over the effort and worried at keeping a similar image. Ironically, he didn't need to worry about either. His efforts to walk around on his real prosthetics outside proved transferable and he was able to walk around with relative ease. His feet pressing into his buttocks was a bit annoying, but he proved able to maintain the posture and move around relatively easily. The only problem was sitting.

Finding a comfortable way to sit on his shins on a log proved very difficult. He'd tried, but the pain of the log or rock piercing into his shins was really not pleasant. This got him lost down a trail of weirdness about his pain skill and he tried to understand why the pain of normal day to day work still seemed so poignant and deliberate compared to the torture he received and his own self-mutilation when he chopped his legs off every night. It was very strange. Still, Joe shifted the way he sat to now begin sitting on the ground, leaning back against any log or rock instead of on the rock itself, although he still sat on logs and rocks some of the time.

He walked around the room, practicing his movements in a variety of ways while trying to remain as silent as possible before he called it a night and wobbled back to his bed. He didn't sit, first taking the time to untie his legs. That he learned on the first night. He then settled on the bed and stretched his legs out before him, pulling his pants legs up. A large sword popped into existence in his hands and he shifted it until it was wielded correctly before unsheathing it. Placing the blade down over one of his legs, he paused to consider before shaking his head. Nope… still too soon. I'll do it next week, but for now… don't need to chance it.

The blade came down twice, and two legs flopped to the ground before vanishing into Joe's inventory. The pain was almost nothing, now, which brought back to mind the puzzle of why his shins complained so much. He pondered that for a time but soon grew bored of it, finding no new options so turned back to his status page once again. A bored perusal revealed a new title which Joe read with no little humor as it said a lot about what he'd been through over the last couple weeks. It was an interesting new title, but not enough to have Joe stay awake and try to game out anything. He was asleep almost immediately.

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pstrongSelf Mutilation (Superior Title): /strongYou have inflicted significant harm to self for a purpose. You will not be denied. Gain a resistance to any negative affects or attacks targeting your will. You also gain intimate control over body parts in regards to loosing or gaining them./p

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