Anti-Hero: Journey Of Fear

Chapter 15 - 14: Slavery

Poison Immunity-3

Tastes like chicken

LvL 1: You are immune to basic poisons

LvL 2: You are immune to intermediate poisons

Types: Spore, Bug

LvL 3: You are immune to advanced poisons

Type: Plant

It had taken four days. Four very long and painful days. I had my team strap me n.a.k.e.d to a giant log. Ulther would spread the poison on me and we waited. I had him apply more every time my HP regen was greater than the damage the poison was causing. The pain was mind numbing, and we weren't progressing fast enough for my liking. I then had Ulther cut down the length of one of the vines and wrap it around my shaft.

In all honesty I was probably out of my mind at that point, but it had seemed like a good way to proceed at the time. My d.i.c.k felt like it was burning off, Ulther quickly gagged me as I began scream myself raw. I also discovered that my high pain tolerance made it harder for me to pass out. So I lay there bound and gagged as with a piece of poisonous vine wrapped around my d.i.c.k.

I lost a third of my HP and succeeded in developing an intermediate immunity. Again I decided to escalate things. Many people ask why, I ask why not. Ulther had collected vine juice in one of the canteens. He laid a drop in my mouth and gave me some water. That was when I felt like my insides were being cooked with burning shards of glass. I have never been cooked with burning shards of glass, but that is probably what it feels like.

Note to self, this would be a very effective torture technique. Yalow and Gillow sometimes came into look at me and I could see Gillow cringe. I wasn't too worried about them turning on me. The main reason was that they thought they needed me to get to Balkor alive. Fortunately they had no clue that it was my insanely high fate that was most likely pulling in the monsters.

After four days I was completely immune. We set off the following day. We came to the place with the monster vines and I took off my clothes off first. I then moved in with just my two swords and the battle commenced. All I had to do was make sure not to become overwhelmed and it was a simple matter of hacking them apart. Sure I was coated in purple juice, but now it didn't matter.

Next I filled up three canteens with vine juice. We kept encountering more and more vines. I couldn't help but smile, this was an incredible experience grind. I killed enough to reach level sixty nine and was able to raise my Dexterity up to ninety one. When we finally stopped for the night it took a while to clean off all the vine juice. It had started to dry off and had become sticky enough that it made scrubbing it away difficult.

"Damn Kenji, that was some disgusting shit." Yalow said.

"No more vines." Gillow said and everyone looked at the normally quiet man.

"Well, then. Let's talk about Balkor and the wonderful women the city probably holds." Yalow said.

"It will be a while before we get there, but this is how we will do things." Everyone turned towards me. "First we are going to sell off the iron and steel bars we have been carting around along with the gems. We will stick together. No one goes off by themselves. Yalow you will be with me at all times, Gillow with Ulther. We will take a couple days to sample some of the nicer wares the city has to offer and then we will gear up and set off once again to kill monsters."

"Can't we, I don't know, set up shop in the town?" Yalow asked.

"If we stay then we will be hunted down. I don't plan on letting that happen. Do you wish to leave? You will get a fair cut of the money if you do." There was a long moment of silence.

"Honestly this shit is getting a bit scary."

"Indeed. I would want you to stay, but if you choose to leave let me know. If you do stay with us, you can sample the women from all over."

"Okay, just have to think on it a bit more." The last bit I said seemed to have made an impact. I looked at Gillow who just nodded. The guy really needed to open up more.

"Everyone think about what you want. We will need to be discrete, but before we leave we can buy quite a bit." Everyone nodded at that. That was when it began to drizzle. We pulled the wagon closer to the fire pit and slept underneath it. It was wet, smelly, and frustrating. As I lay there trying to go to sleep I smelled rotting flesh.

"Everyone, we are under attack." I whispered. Everyone was quickly awake and we rolled out from under the wagon. We couldn't see shit. It was dark, raining, and in the middle of a forest. The fire had smoldered out and we looked around. Yalow climbed on top of the cart trying to get a better view.

"Don't see anything."

"The smell, there is a smell of death." They all sniffed.

"Yeah, faint but there. You really think it is an attack?"

"If I am wrong, then we got some midnight exercise. If I am right, then I would rather die on my feet than asleep." We stood there waiting for an attack.

"There is definitely something out there, I can sense it." Ulther said. My mind raced. He was our only magic user, that probably meant a magic based monster.

"Over here!" Gillow roared. He was on the opposite side of the cart from me. I looked around for an ambush before moving towards him. On the ground in front of Gillow lay a trashing black mass. He brought up his war hammer and smashed the thing again and again. After the fourth time it finally stopped moving. It was definitely the source of the smell.

"Stay alert, protect the horses." I said. I got yeses in return. Two more of the creatures attacked during the night, spacing their attacks far apart. They blended in well, but weren't fast or strong. They also didn't attack all at once, which was both a blessing and concerning. If this kept up it would be a long couple of days in the forest.

We all sat on the edge of the wagon as it slowly got lighter and lighter in the gloom of the rain and trees. Looking at the monster corpses, they appeared to be a black looking cloak. I then noticed patterns in the monster that looked like a person screaming. They would probably sneak up and wrap people up in their sleep. I walked over and began to cut one apart.

I poked it in numerous places but wasn't poisoned. I was either immune or they didn't have any. They didn't have internal organs either. They were about an eighth of an inch thick and six by six feet big. The size varied a bit, which I guessed depended on the age of the critters. I made an attempt at skinning them. Unfortunately their internal membranes were fused with the black shimmering outer layer of fine hairs. I checked my experience and saw they were level seventy nine or higher.

After an hour the others had finished a soggy breakfast and we set off again. I sat in the cart and let my mind wander as I chewed on some though jerky. The creatures weren't that strong, which made me wonder what their true ability really was. Probably something to do with flight or shadows. That wasn't a stat, which meant magic, something to look into once we reached Balkor.

It took two more days to get through the forest. Thankfully there were no more vines or shadow cloaks. That was when we came to a lake so large we couldn't see the far side. The road curved around the edge and there were numerous farm houses along the route. As it grew darker I directed my team to heads towards one just up ahead.

I went up and knocked on the front door. It opened and there was a burly man, I could see his family behind him sitting around a table. "What do you want?" He grunted out.

"My companions and I were looking for a place to spend the night and warm food. Unfortunately there didn't appear to be an inn on the road, so we are asking you." The man looked out over all of us.

"You all look like trouble, I don't want trouble."

"Then perhaps you would do well to invite us in and be polite." I rested a hand on one of my sword hilts.

"You can pay right?"

"We will pay what is fair. Now we have horses and a wagon. Do you have a barn to put them in for the night?"

"Yeah, come on, I will show you." The farmer got on his boots and led us to a barn behind the house. It was low hanging and worn, but it would do. Ulther and Yalow got to work at unhitching the horses and moving the wagon into the barn. Once they were done we all returned to the house with the farmer.

"Listen up you brats, we have some guests. Be polite." I counted fifteen kids of varying ages. The oldest looked to be about in the lower twenties. "These three are my wives." I noticed how he had emphasized my in the sentence. The three women were fairly young, not much older than the children and two of them were incredibly pregnant.

"We could use some relaxation, would you be willing to give us a couple of your older girls for the night?" I asked. The farmer just looked at me. "If no one has been with them, twenty coppers each. Otherwise ten."

"Fifty coppers, and fifteen." The farmer said. "Those three haven't been with anyone."

"Forty coppers and twenty, that is a hundred and forty for four of them. Also we want dinner, good fresh stuff." The farmer grinned. "Twenty coppers for dinner and breakfast."

"Not a problem. You boys get to work on preparing a meal for our honored guests." He gestured at some of the older boys who glared at me and then got to work. "Brats need manners."

"Indeed." I pulled out the money and handed it to him. "Now you might get an idea to ask for more, or even threaten us. Let me explain two things to you. First, the moment you start thinking about something along those lines you are not going to die but die in terrible pain. Do you know about the Creepers in the forest, vine things."

"Yeah, people complain about them all the time. Incredibly painful."

"If you misbehave in any way I will make you drink an entire canteen full of vine juice. If you talk about us and I find out, I will come back here and pour the purple nectar down your throat. Finally if somehow I die, I will return, and I assure you I can and I will give you the vine juice one drop at a time so you don't die. You understand me."

"…yes." He muttered out.

"Good, I really don't want to have to do all that unpleasant stuff. It really is a lot of work to carry through on threats you know."

Dinner was okay, fresh bread, fruit, and cheese. There was no meat which was unfortunate. It made me wonder what the meat I had been eating was. I had seen no farm animals of any sort so far. We all took turns with our individual girls out in the barn. One of the boys was glaring at me while I poked at my food lazily and I decided to find out why. The old farmer was in his bedroom with his wives and I could hear the thump of flesh against flesh.

"What is your problem?"

"Nothing." I pulled out my sword and put it on the table. "Talk, or I will talk to your dad and then your family with my sword."

When he spoke, it came out in a flood. "He sells us. The older ones to slavers. If any of us start complaining he sells us off. Kal, Ural, and Balita were all sold off recently."

"Why don't you kill him?"

"Kal tried, but he just got taken down."

"Hmm, so you are a coward then."

"No, but there is nothing I can do."

"Okay." I could see why they were angry and frustrated, but I didn't need pissed off slavers after me. Helping out these kids was the quickest way to get stuck in some stupid chain of events that would culminate in freeing all the slaves. That was not happening, no way, no how.

I took my turn with my girl once Ulther returned flushed. Another problem with being part horse, it is too big to fit a standard sized mouth. I tied a gag on before I speared her. There was taking and giving p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e, and I only took that night. Luckily nothing ripped and she didn't resist. Note to self, being part horse was not as awesome as I had originally thought.

That night we slept in the barn rotating shifts again to keep watch. Nothing happened and we had a nice breakfast the following mourning. I paid some more to the farmer and gave him a glare. "I will probably be passing back through this way some day. Oh, and the three older boys are looking to cause a bit of trouble, you might want to sell them off soon."

"Thanks, but no one to sell them off to. Got to wait for a war or something to get top coin."

"How much for the eldest?"

"Him, hmmmm, three silver."

"Two, since I will have to break him."

"Two and forty coppers."

"Deal." I counted out the money. The farmer went back inside the house and pulled out his eldest by his hair.

"This guy owns you now, make sure you behave."

"Bastard." The boy spat at, I stepped to the side and the spittle missed.

"All deals are final. I don't remember shit for shit. Probably won't after I get drunk off my a.s.s."

I ignored the chuckling farmer and grabbed the boy. I slapped him across the face. He struggled more and I slapped him again. After the fifth time he stopped struggling. "You will walk with me. Yalow you drive, Gillow in front, Ulther in back." I pulled the boy with me and we walked next to the wagon.

"You want to leave?" The boy looked at me in shock. "Listen, you speak your mind, and are half clever. If you want to leave you can. It is too much headache dragging a prisoner around."

"I haw you." He mumbled out between his swollen cheeks.

"Stay or go?" There was a long moment of silence.

"Gow." I looked at him and saw the defiance in his eyes.

"Alright, once we get to Balkor." The boy just glared at me.

The day was uneventful and we stopped in a small grove. I quickly over powered the boy and tied him up and gagged him. Night fell and no one else came to the campsite. I pulled the boy over by the fire. "Little shit, cost us some money. Now I am going to teach you all some biology. Pay attention, this stuff is important."

I began dissecting the boy and explaining the various functions of the organs and tissues. My goal was to keep him alive as long as possible, while at the same time providing an educational lesson. He finally perished when I began to cut into his skull and explaining the different portions of the brain. Once you got past the grisly scene it was a pretty good lecture if I had to rate myself.

Basic Biology-4

Depraved-16

Apparently the game system agreed with me as well. We chucked the dissected corpse onto the fire and went to sleep. It took another whole day of traveling until we saw the walls of Balkor at midday. They were twenty feet tall and mortared stone. Nowhere near as impressive as Breckley, but that wasn't that big of a concern. We approached the gate and I was already in my wig and hat.

I would let Yalow do the talking. Ulther was a bit young and Gillow far too quiet. There were six soldiers standing around the entrance. Their equipment seemed slightly mismatched, but there was more metal than the Breckley soldiers' outfits.

I pulled the wagon to a halt and Yalow stepped up to the soldier who approached us. "Hello, good day to you."

"Hmm, been to Balkor before?"

"No, but I hear the women are to die for. Any recommendations?"

"The Perky N.i.p.p.l.e is nice, but if you can afford it the Curves is the best place to visit."

"Anything we should know before we enter the city?"

"Behave. No killing, no stealing, no raping. Oh and no telling people what to believe. I swear those priests of the Eight get more determined each time they come through."

"Well good thing none of us are priests."

"Hmmm, I see you are all carrying weapons. You can keep them, but any trouble and it is off with your other sword." Yalor paled at that and took a step back. "The merchant council somehow got it into their heads that people valued that part of themselves more than their heads or hands. So that is what we chop off."

"Got it."

"Excellent, now entry taxes."

"I am sure we can-"

"Don't even try. The merchant council watches everything. The only people they allow to be bribed are themselves."

"Doesn't seem very fair."

"I like my parts attached. The last guard who tried something like that…his screams made an impact."

"So how much?"

"Visitors like yourselves, ten copper a person, twenty for the wagon." We were willing to bribe up to a silver, that was actually fairly cheap. Yalow quickly handed over sixty copper.

"I was wondering if we could pay you to guide us about. Since we have never been here before."

"I just started my shift, but…Hey, Gelt, you feel up to showing these nice people about the fair and beautiful city of Balkor?" A younger looking soldier ran over.

"Yeah, sure."

"A couple copper for arranging this." Yalow passed over a few copper to the soldier we had been talking to. He smiled and then let us through. The city was laid out haphazardly and was fairly busy. I would probably say it had half or a third of the foot print of Breckley and about a quarter of the people. The houses were a combination of wood and stone thrown together. At least the streets were paved and there was a sewer system to carry the filth away. The place still sunk to high heaven though.

"Geld, we wish to visit a jeweler and the best black smith in town." Yalow said.

"Well the only jeweler is in the central plaza. Come on." We followed the young soldier through the streets. This place would be a nightmare to mind one's way around. I noticed side streets closing off at angles and the constant twists and turns would make navigating through the city a chore.

"Ah here we are. Come on." We had come out in a large plaza teeming with people. There were stalls set up all over the place with people shouting. Soldiers stood around the perimeter watching everyone. The buildings were all three stories tall and solid stone with large glass windows on the first floor to display their goods. We slowly made our way around the plaza to one side, the wagon taking time to move through the crowd.

My entire team had their hands on their weapons, giving people glares if they came too close. Thankfully no one risked a confrontation. We reached the shop Geld was leading us towards and I saw an ornate neckless displayed.

"All of you remain out here with the cart. No one leaves." I got a bunch of yeses. "Thank you Geld, if you don't mind waiting, I will make sure to compensate you very well."

"Yeah no problem, nothing else to do this afternoon."

"Good." I turned and went into the store. It was a nice change from the dark buildings that were the norm as the large windows let in a fair amount of light.

"Hello, what can I do for you?" A small looking man had come up to me.

I stepped over to a countered and pulled out the satchel of uncut gems and opened it up. The man's eyes almost exploded out of his head. "How…I mean, where did you get all of these?"

"Deep in the wilderness, they are not stolen." He just waved his hand at the last comment and began picking them up to inspect them one by one.

"A few of them are chipped, see here and here. Also some of them are dull. Compare these two, you see the l.u.s.ter is greater in one than the other. You have five high quality ones, and only one of them is of exceptional size." I just stared at him and he let out a small cough. "The chipped ones, I will give you a silver each. The dull ones, three silver for the small, and eight for the large." As he spoke he divided them up into piles.

"For these four, I can give ten silver each. Finally this one, well I can pay an entire gold piece." I quickly did the math in my head.

"A hundred and twenty five silver is too low. One hundred seventy."

"A hundred thirty, I have to cut them and sell them. It will take at least a year to sell this many."

"Maybe if I took half of them away, you could keep the price at one twenty." He scowled at me.

"One forty, you highway robber." I looked at him and gave a small nod. I could push things, but even for ten more silver it wasn't worth it. I made by point by haggling, but also by giving in when I did that I didn't want to make an enemy.

"I want it in gold." The man looked at me and then chuckled.

"Gold it is." He pulled out a strip of paper and went over to an inkwell. He began writing. "Take this to the Merchant's Bank at the west end of the plaza. They will pay you."

I looked at the strip of paper. There was a bunch of fancy writing and symbols on it. "While I am inclined to trust you, we go together. You can collect the gold and then we can return."

"Not very trusting are you."

"Paper is paper, and while I can read, these symbols might mean anything. Once I left it would be my word against yours." The merchant gave me a grin and snatched the paper out of my hand.

"Come on." We exited the shop and he locked it up. I had taken the satchel of gems with me. I waved for Gillow to follow me. We made our way through the plaza and into a large building. There were three desks laid out with two chairs in front of each of them. The merchant and I took a seat and the man on the other side looked up.

"Merchant Ralo, welcome. Welcome esteemed guests. I am your humble servant Yal. How may I help you?"

"Merchant Ralo agreed to pay my seven gold in trade for various items. We are here to collect. I also expect the quality of the coinage to be at Breckley's level or better." The merchant gave me a glare and I just looked back.

"Very well, is that acceptable Merchant Ralo?"

"Yes, yes, just go already." Yal got up and left. "You are a tricky one you know that. Have some merchant blood in you?"

"Possibly, I deal in many things. In all of them lies and deceit are but second nature."

"Very true, well I can respect your attention to detail, I didn't catch your name."

"Names can be more valuable than gems. Pardon my rudeness to respond to a question with a question, but do you truly wish to know?"

"Not really, all that ominous nonsense is too much trouble. Just professional curiosity. For I heard about a red eyed, white skinned man, who is a bit on the shorter side. While your hat and wig do well to conceal you I think I can guess who you are."

"And what do you plan to do with this information?"

"Everything has a price including silence."

"What about your life, your city, your store. How do those compare to silence?"

"A tricky thing to measure abstracts, but I get your message but others won't. There are many eyes in this city and your presence has been noticed."

"I will speak to your Merchant's Council then. Since they rule the city, I will discuss the situation with them."

"You can always go through me and I could influence things."

"There is a gold piece for you if things turn out my way. I won't make outrageous demands."

"Two, since I will have to arrange the meeting on your behalf. Your reputation proceeds you and I will have to give assurances."

"Very well, both coins afterwards. It will not be worthwhile to betray you with the plan I have in mind."

Yal returned with a small wooden box. He opened it and there were seven gold coins. Ralo picked them up and looked them over. He then passed them to me. It wasn't the standard Breckley coin, but had the same symbol as the bank did outside and on the banners inside. "We prefer to coin our own gold and maintain a high standard. Balkor currently dominates most of the regions coinage for this very reason." Yal said as I inspected the coin.

"Acceptable, Ralo, I will return later this afternoon. Will that be enough time?"

"Barely, meet in front of the bank here at sunset." I nodded and we returned to his shop. I left the satchel of gems with him and my group set out towards the best blacksmith in town.

It took an hour to navigate our way to the other end of the city through the winding streets. Making a map of this place was probably a legendary level quest at the minimum. We finally reached the forge and I entered by myself once more. A young boy ran up. "What do you need mister?"

"I am here to sell iron and steel bars and to order some weapons."

"Hmmm, let me go get master." The boy ran off. A minute later the hammering stopped a burly man stepped out. The guy was jacked and I guessed his Strength stat was insanely high. Things went fairly quickly from there. He bought all the bars, twenty copper for the iron, and fifty for the steel. It came out to twenty seven and a half silvers.

"What about enchantments or special metals?"

"Hah, those things cost a lot. Best metal we have is Hardened Steel, enchantments well that might be possible. Guy only takes a job once or twice a year. What were you thinking?"

"I want a sword that emits fire at my command. It won't melt and the handle will remain cool enough to hold. Also a war hammer that can change its weight."

"Possible, possible. Not the stupidest things I have ever heard. Let me ask, come back tomorrow. Anything else?"

"Two light and durable blades. I also want metal arm and leg guards made up for myself. A half suit for my friend over there. Eight throwing daggers and a harness to hold them. Fifty needles about eight inches long, thin, strong, and balanced."

"That last one is tricky. All doable, but it will cost. Take at least a week, and that is if I put off my other orders. More like a month."

"When I return tomorrow we can discuss the price and how much time you will need." We left the forge and returned to the plaza. "Geld who do I have to talk to hire you for our stay here?"

"That would be Sargent Tilm."

"Excellent, here is five copper for today's efforts." A Breckley soldier made about a copper a day and I figured it was the same out here.

"Thanks, yeah we can swing by. The barracks is near the central plaza."

"Excellent, we need to head that way."

***

BoyHearts: We are coming for you, Rain of Blood

GODHAXLOL: HORSEYS STILL ALIVE!

HatMan: I loved the biology lesson

6996: No one should ever refuse Kenji

UltimataSecret: The self torture, was scary, I wonder what ultimate power he unlocked

Ramponator: Probably blow people's heads with his mind

FuriousGhost: I am coming for you!