Chapter 7: Chapter 7

Chapter 7

With a bit of effort, the girl managed to push open the heavy front door and rushed towards Laten. She jumped into his arms and he swung her around twice before putting her down, laughing all the while. I just stood by, silently observing. First impressions matter the most, if I’d decided to run away while in the wildlands that’d be one thing, but running now that I was in the heart of enemy territory was basically suicide. For that reason I have to immerse myself in the role of a dutiful servant, and play the cards I’ve been dealt. It won’t be too late to turn things around after I’ve gathered power and financial resources. 

“Father, who is this?” the girl asked curiously. 

Laten turned and pointed to me as he said, “Clarissa, I’ve bought this young savage from the wild lands, he’ll be your personal property from now on. Treat him as a servant, or labourer or whatever you want!”

My heart ran cold at this thought, being a slave meant that I was easily dispensable and replaced. If this “Clarissa” was a sicko or depraved person, my end wouldn;t be a good one.

“THANK YOU! THANK YOU!” Clarissa responded ecstatically, “The other young lords, and ladies have always bullied me for us being poor, but now I will be able to hold my head at the next event!”

Laten couldn’t stop grinning as he heard the words of appreciation from his daughter. He’d worked his way up from a small time mine manager for The House, to a full time raider and scavenger, before finally catching a lucky break by saving a Son of Misery on a raid. That meritorious service allowed him to become a full member of The House of Anguish, he used his new position to move from the outskirts of the Holy Land to Armageddon, the center of wealth and power for all of Zeland. He’d hoped to be able to rub shoulders with rich and influential people within the city, however reality proved to be completely the opposite. 

The taxes that he had to pay alone took up quite a bit of his yearly revenue. Moreover everything from food to sanitary products cost 3 to 4 times more in Armageddon than likely anywhere else in the Holy Land! All in all, since moving here it had been a struggle just to keep food on the table. Which forced Laten to go on a raiding expedition at least once every few months. The other minor nobles, or full members of The House, were a bit more well off than Laten and his family. Which led to quite a bit of prejudice and bullying to members of his clan. Luckily he managed to catch a few people from the River Walker Tribes, which was basically people like Toska who lived off of the river, and did small scale farming as well. This boon allowed Laten’s clan to rise in prestige, because slavery, although not banned in Zeland, was heavily taxed and tariffed in order to discourage the practice. Which means that any family that owned slaves had either very deep and strong political connections, or an abundance of wealth.

Clarissa turned to me and asked coldly, taking on the appearance of an arrogant young miss, “What’s your name slave?”

“Toska,” I replied servilely

She smiled as if she’d somehow won, she turned her back to me as she slowly looked skyward and said, “From now on you will serve me, to both live and die at my command. If you understand then follow me.” Then she slowly sauntered off looking at the sky the whole while.

“Truly like parent, like child” I thought as I followed her.

The house was large, although the exterior was a bit crude the interior was very nice. The entire floor, after passing the entrance way, was padded by what appeared to be bear fur rugs dyed black. The walls were adorned by statues of The Lord of Misery, paintings of the prophet, as well as family portraits. I didn’t get to see much of the house, because it seemed Clarissa had a specific spot that we were headed in mind.

After a brisk walk down a long hall, then taking a left we arrived in front of a rather large door. Clarissa fished an iron key from the small purse that she wore over her black dress, and fitted it into the lock. As the door swung open a bedroom came into view.

There was a large, queen-size bed in the center of the room. Immediately to the right, there was a large wardrobe with an equally large mirror placed above it. To the left there was another, smaller room, that I assume was likely the bathroom. To the right of the bathroom was a desk with a rather large and posh chair set behind it. She walked past the desk and sat in the chair imperiously as she eyed me while commanding, “kneel.”

Although it was heart wrenching to have to be subjected to the will of a girl many years younger than me. I resisted the urge to send her flying with a round-house kick, and bent the knee.

She smirked while stating, “From now on you have no rights. I don’t know how my father treated you, but forget any kindness. You are an object, and a tool. You’ll do as commanded without any question or complaint, do you understand?”

“Yes,” I replied, slightly baffled

She slammed her hands on the desk as she stood and said angrily, “Anytime you respond to me, you will say, yes miss! Do you understand!”

“Yes miss!” 

“Good, good,” she said, calming down slightly. “From now on you will follow me without question, and do as I order without hesitation. Above all you will never, and I repeat NEVER report anything back to my father. Do you understand?

“Yes miss!”

“Very good, tomorrow we will be going out, I have to show all the young nobles that my Naymore Clan is not to be looked down upon! Anyway, that will be all for now, go guard the door slave.”

“Yes miss.” I said for the last time before excusing myself from the room and taking up a position outside the door. I stood there for a while, immersed in my thoughts. So the clan I now served under was the Naymore Clan, specifically as the bodyguard of the Young Miss, and as far as I’ve seen the sole heir to this clan. The Naymore Clan doesn’t appear to have many connections or a decent status, from what I could glean from the conversation Laten and Clarissa had earlier. They also don’t have many resources, seeing as how the location of their compound was far from the Miscropolis, as well as the adornments being a bit drab in comparison to a few of the houses that I’d observed on my way here with Laten.

Moreover the Young Miss seemed a bit overbearing, and controlling. She also was a bit of a showoff, which could lead to a lot of problems in the future if I’m to be her guard. 

Right now, the most important thing to me is to:

1. Complete The Forced Missions

2. Gain My Freedom

3. Progress on The World Domination Questline

In order to do all of that, the first thing that I need is money, lots of it. When I make enough cash I will slowly start building my forces, and influence within the city, before expanding outwards and taking over Zeland. At least that’s the rough plan that I have for now, but it all starts with money. Speaking of, it’s about time I checked my loot from the leaper attack, I never got the chance earlier due to the sheer exhaustion from learning a new language and constant travel. 

Peering into the storage space I began sorting things out. I had about 12 silver atums, and 32 copper atums, using the conversion rate, I have 1 gold atum, 3 silver, and 4 copper atums for a total of  $134 O.E. (old era). There was also the P220 and 4 mags of ammo (8 rounds per mag), 2 daggers, some gauze, and a small statue of Misery (A.N: Will call the Lord of Misery, just Misery from now on, too much to type every time).

Having some money in my hand is a big boon, as a slave I highly doubt that I’ll receive any money for services rendered. The atums that I have on hand will have to be spent wisely in order to rake in greater profits. As for the gun, I’ll only use it in life threatening situations. Since firearms are prohibited within Armageddon, I should be one of the few people who possess one within the city. This gives me a bit more confidence and manuverability when it comes to any risky manuevers I might have to make in the future. As for the daggers and gauze, they are common items, and I should be able to use them without raising any suspicion. However for now I’ll just keep them in the storage space, keeping the element of surprise that may one day save my life.

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After all that was settled a few hours had passed and I could hear the deep breaths from within the room I was guarding. A tell-tale sign that Clarissa was now sleeping. 

I decided to get a few hours of sleep myself. Due to the fact that I’d camped in the wilderness for close to half a month, I was a very light sleeper, and would wake up if I heard any movement. There was no danger that I’d get caught slacking the first day on the job. Thinking this I quickly faded off into a dreamless sleep.

The Next Day 

When I heard Clarissa groan as she grumpily got out of bed I swiftly woke up and stood in a professional position. Imitating the things I’d seen in military movies, I straightened my back, puffed my chest, and stared blankly down that hall. I did all of this just in time for Clarissa to swing open the door and glare at me. 

When she saw how serious I was she couldn’t help but chuckle. Thinking about it, perhaps it was a little funny that a young man, not even 18 yet, was playing soldier.  I guess I got too into character, I looked at her glancingly and was surprised. She was actually a very beautiful woman neither too skinny nor large. She had a nice hourglass figure, with darker olive skin, full lips and hazel eyes. Long, dark and curly hair, just a bit frazzled from the previous night's sleep. In the Light Era she’d be a solid 8 even before wearing makeup.

I guess I was staring because my stumped look caused her to laugh even harder. She looked at me bemusedly and said, “I guess you at least have some work ethic, wait for me to change then we’ll head out.” 

“Yes miss!” 

She smiled then closed the door. Not too long after, two maids that I hadn’t seen before bustled up with large warm tubs of water, presumably for Clarissa’s shower. I made a show of stopping them, patting them down for weapons, and checking the water for poison by making them each drink a bit of it before letting them in. 

So there are more servants in the house besides me, that’s good to know. When I get the chance I’ll have to investigate the compound some more. It’s always better to know more about one’s surroundings than less.

It took close to 3 hours for Clarissa to completely finish getting ready, she stepped out wearing a semi-figure fitting white dress that complimented her skin and eyes. She had two golden earrings hanging on her ears, on one ear the insignia of the Hoas, and on the other her family crest, which depicted a snake triumphing over a lion. I believe the moral was flexibility and lethality can triumph over pure strength, but what do I know?

I once again stared for a moment but quickly snapped out of it. I’m not in the position to worry about love. There are dangers all around me, the place is unfamiliar, and tomorrow is nowhere close to assured. The only way I can survive is by raising my personal strength, and building a force of my own. 

Clarissa breezed past me as she said, “Slave, follow 3 steps behind me at all times. You will be seen and not heard when I travel, and most importantly , don’t embarrass me or my family while we are in public or the consequences will be dire.”

“Yes miss.” I replied in the affirmative, after which I continued and said, “Excuse me miss?”

“Mmm?” She replied lazily.

“I have a name, Toska.” I said. Although I’d accepted my circumstances and was playing my role well, it was still uncomfortable for me as a man from the 21st century to constantly be called a slave by a girl who’s yet to even hit her twenties. It was just a bit disconcerting. 

She stopped in her tracks and wheeled around, looking at me sharply. “What right do you have to ask me to speak your name? You’ve done nothing for the clan, and as of yet are just another mouth to feed, essentially a waste of money. So if I decide to call you a slave , that's your name. If you manage to prove yourself useful, then I might consider using your name.'' After ranting she wheeled back around and continued on her way, with me in tow, 3 steps back of course.

By the time we’d made it to the city center, it was about midday, and the streets were bustling with activity. 

“Miss,” I said, “Allow me to hold your purse, it would be terrible if a thief were to steal your belongings.”

Clarissa looked at me coldly then threw her purse in my direction, which I swiftly moved forward to catch. Now I know you are thinking, why the hell am I acting like this? Playing the perfect servant? Well allow me to educate you, we all have that sibling who’s a super bad kid, they do the worst things and always get away with it. As their sibling you can clearly see that they’re satan spawn however your parents never do, why? The reason is that your brother or sister have good grades, are obedient children, and they are always sweet and considerate. So even if the evidence is directly in your parents' face, they’d rather blame you than their “perfect child.” That my friends, is called the long game, and it’s exactly what I’m playing, now back to reality.

Clarissa

I’ve acquired a new toy and I’m quite happy with it. This morning he couldn’t stop looking at me, like a zealot finally seeing their God, it was cute. I’ll have to thank my father for getting me this adorable little guard dog. I might give him a more important role in the clan when I become the Matriarch. If I'm satisfied with his performance, freeing him isn’t off the table! This, however, depends completely on how well he does today. This will likely be one of the toughest days of my life! The wager I made with my greatest adversar-

“Clarissa Naymore!” yelled a slimy, sneaky, disgusting hunchback- you get the point he’s detestable!

“Mason Snowborne” I said with disgust.

This man, Mason Snowborne, had been trying to court me since the day we crossed paths. There’s nothing wrong with his appearance, even the fact that he’s a christian can be overlooked. The one thing that makes him disgusting is that he’s a notorious flower picker in Armageddon. The fact that someone like that was pursuing a demigoddess like me was irksome. For that reason I had to reject him in the cruellest manner of course. However instead of warding him off it made him more interested, and he constantly flies around me like an annoying mosquito!

Somehow, some way he goaded me into a duel by proxy, the winner gets to request one thing from the other party. My request would obviously be that he fu*ks off, and I can only shiver to imagine what he’d ask of me. 

I intended to spend my whole year’s allowance on paying a fighter to be my representative, however just when I was about to splurge all my cash, my father showed up with a free warrior!  

“Clarissa, today was the final day! I hope you’ve brought a warrior with me, if not follow me back to the inn obediently.”

“Mason, you’re really too much, how can you leave the house without at least brushing your teeth, and who said I didn’t have a warrior? Have you gone blind or can you not see the man behind me? Also where is your warrior? I see no one.”

Toska

What warrior? Is there someone behind me? Why do they seem to be so antagonistic? What duel? Who’s that tall guy walking over here? Mr. Kicks?!?!

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