Chapter 10: Chapter 10: Into the Slave Camp

Scarlet’s feet felt heavy as she climbed down from the wagon and started to walk slowly towards the gate house of the slave camp.

Her hands were gripped tightly to the spider silk staff that she and her mother had made for her, using the same composite and molding methods she had used to create the carbon fiber armor before.

An enchantment had been woven into the spider silk weave before the composite phase of the process, which had carried over into the final product, so the staff supplied her with an additional 2 mana a second, to go with the 10 she was getting from the rest of her set.

Scarlet clutched the white and red, child-sized staff close, as it was the only part of her mother she had with her at the moment.

A dozen guards and their Bonds formed up around her, there to protect her and her father, but their looming forms were anything but reassuring for her.

At Jonathan’s instructions, the gate was opened and they passed into the camp.

Scarlet looked about her, at the shack-like structures all around her. A few people, dressed in thin and dirty clothing, were starting to get up and walk about, preparing themselves for a day of labor. Their eyes as they looked at the passing group full of worry.

There were a lot of men, but many were women and even children. Their tired and ragged bodies showed a lack of basic human needs they were receiving. The low sounds of a labor song carried over from elsewhere in the camp.

The lyrics were unfamiliar to Scarlet, but the melody wasn't. All labor songs had that same steady rhythm, regardless of the work… or the world.

It drew her back. All of it drew her back.

Back to that small 200 square foot shed, where two dozen people were squashed together, the smell and heat of human bodies making the air taste like sick. The door was locked, keeping them all trapped in there. But Scarlet knew that eventually the man would come and they would all be sent to work in that factory line again, until the day was through and they would be packed away in the room... That is, if they were lucky.

Scarlet was jolted back to reality by something wet on her cheek.

The large dog that was the Bond of the guard named Thomas had come up next to Scarlet and given her a lick to her cheek, licking up some of the tears that has fell from the girl’s eyes and she had frozen and started to cry.

“Thank you.” She said as she wiped away the tears.

The dog lowered itself to the ground next to the girl and gestured towards its back.

“He wants to know if you would like to ride him.” Thomas said. “I know they say that you don’t like to be touched, but if you are fine with Scrappy, he’d be happy to carry you.”

Scarlet looked from the guard to the dog, whose tail was wagging steadily before she nodded her head. “Thank you.” She said again as she climbed up on the dog and buried her face in its fur, blocking out the sight of the camp all around her.

She was carried like that through the camp, until they reached the barracks where the slaves were gathering to eat their morning meal. Scarlet’s ears could pick up the sounds of laughter and small bits of singing from those who were desperately trying to keep spirits up. 

There were also the sounds of people fighting while people cheered them all. There was probably no reason for the fight at all, other than the catharsis of the fight making them feel momentarily better about their lives. It was human nature to try to find escapism.

But as the guards got close, any attempts to pretend that they were a happy community would be silenced. 

It was here that the group stopped and Jonathan spoke. “Scarlet. You are to practice your healing magic on these slaves.”

Scarlet was momentarily confused. She had figured he would be bringing her down into the mines in order to use [Earth Magic] to dig or to reinforce the walls. Or that he wanted her to use [Magic Appraisal] to scout the surroundings for good pockets for mine, or to avoid dangerous gasses. But instead he wanted her to heal the slaves.

She quickly realized that this wasn’t an act of mercy. A healthy slave was more productive than a weakened one.

“Gather some of the slaves for healing and keep bringing more so long as the girl can continue.” Jonathan instructed one of the guards.

Scarlet felt sick in her stomach, the idea of the slaves coming up to her one at a time for hours and hours, having to look them in the face and feel their presence so close to her was beyond horrifying to her. Scary enough for her to speak up.

“W...Wait!” She said, getting their attention. “Wo...Wouldn’t it be faster if I just healed everyone at once?”

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After Scarlet’s suggestion, the guards started to gather all of the slaves into the barracks, so that Scarlet could stand in the middle of it and be within 200 feet of all of them… all 700 of them. There… there were more of them than she thought there would be, and all of their eyes were on her as she stood there, surrounded by the guards.

Swallowing down her fear, she turned her mind entirely to the task at hand, using it to distract herself.

Area of effect healing of more than a half full of individuals was mostly contained within [Holy Magic].

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Her [Holy Magic] level wasn’t that high, but the people around here weren’t in need of heavy duty healing. Something to fix up minor scrapes and bruises and restore stamina would do the trick. And she knew of a spell for that.

It had a long chant, taking 30 minutes without [High Speed Invocation] and required a total of 10,000 mana spread throughout its casting. It really was a spell meant to be performed by four or five low level people, but it wasn’t beyond her to do alone. Her [Invocation Magic] was at level 72 and her [High Speed Invocation] was at level 71, with her [Memorization] being at level 72 and an intelligence stat was past 1,350, she was able to keep the entire spell in her head as cast it properly. She had spent time memorizing all of the spells that Will had ever brought her, more for training her [Memorization] skill than out of a belief that she would ever need them.

The mana cost was really steep, but with her mana regen being 12 mana a second, she could manage it.

“That should be all of them.” One of the guards. In response, Scarlet took a deep breath, clasped her hands on the staff in front of her and started the invocation. 

“Moon,Sun,GraceOfTheMother.SheGuidesUs,GuardsUs,NurturesUs.LifeSheGaveUsAndOurLiveAreForHer…” To those listening, Scarlet’s words were like a Youtube video on x2 speed as she burned through the incantation with the help of her [High Speed Invocation] skill. Though the words were still recognizable to them as a prayer.

It was why [Holy Magic] was considered a completely different branch of magic to the rest of [Evocation] and [Conjuration Magic]. Because unlike all other forms of magic which made use of spell words, to cast their spells, [Holy Magic] spells used prayers.

Admittedly, Scarlet didn’t know much about the religion of the world, though it shared some elements with other religions in her old world, in that there was a Mother Earth and Father Sky who were the primordial gods.

This spell, the ‘Prayer of Healing’ was a prayer to Mother Earth, as well as the twin daughters, the Moon and the Sun Goddess, Artaia and Solimar. 

As Scarlet chanted, holy attributed mana was gathered and pulsated around her staff, growing brighter and brighter before forming ribbons which moved through the air about the crowd. Their gasps of amazement did not reach the girl’s ears as she continued her spell.

If she fumbled, she’d have to start all over, and she was already 7 minutes in, just shy of half way done. Starting over would be a pain in the ass.

Start-to-finish, it took her about 15 minutes, at the end of which the built up magical energy came exploding outwards, moving down and snaking its way through everyone present. It penetrated into their body, healing their wounds and washing away their physical and emotional fatigue, making them feel light as air.

Meanwhile, Scarlet slumped against her staff, taking deep breaths.

“Are you alright?” Thomas asked the girl as she sank to her knees.

“F...Fine… Just… need a moment…” Scarlet said before taking a deep breath and casting ‘Restore Strength’ on herself in order to regain her stamina. She then allowed her mana regen to restore her mystical strength.

Her stamina and mana would be back to normal in a minute or so, but the mental strain of the spell would last a while longer. She would need to do a good meditation in order to regain her wits.

The sounds of the confused and happy slaves reached her ears, making Scarlet feel a bit proud of herself, as if she had done a good thing. Until her father’s words reached her ears.

“Since they can be healed, feel free to work them harder than before and don’t be afraid to injure them.” He said to a man holding a whip. A literal slave driver.

Scarlet had not saved anyone. She had not made any of these people’s lives better. She had at best prolonged their suffering.

“Scarlet. From now on, you will be doing this twice a week, on days where you do not have lessons. Do you understand?” Jonathan said to her as he told his men to drive the slaves back into the mines to work.

“...Yes, father.” Scarlet said with a heavy heart.

“Good. Now take her back to the house.” Jonathan instructed the guards.

The dog Bond from before once again lowered himself next to Scarlet, offering her a ride, which she gladly took.

She once again buried her face into Scrappy’s fur and let herself get carried away, trying her best not to let sympathy cripple her.

This was the way the world was. She didn’t have the power to stop it. Even if she removed her father, they would still be slaves. Even if she destroyed all the walls of the camp and let them run away, they were marked by the fact that they had no Bond or Class. Once spotted, they would be captured and would still be slaves.

She felt bad for them, but she was just a child. There was nothing she could do, save for healing the wounds and that would only prolong their lives.

She supposed that this was going to become a routine. The slave drivers would beat them, she would patch them up, and her father would make profit from it.

...The fact that it had been so good for her experience wise didn’t help matters much. It really only made her feel worse about it.

Her [Holy Magic] had grown 20 whole levels from that single spell, bringing it up to level 37.