[{Urgot} has been defeated]

  [Defeating Npcs is frowned upon, as it disturbs the gameplay loop for other players]

  [You will receive items the Npcs had, but no additional loot or exp]

  ~

  [You have claimed {Urgot’s} possessions.]

  [assorted rings.]

  [43 Slaves.]

  [4 Greater Slaves.]

  [Madelaid.]

  From Urgot, silver and bronze rings spilled out, followed by a single gold ring.

  I picked it up, then sat crisscrossed on the ground.

  After a couple seconds of waiting, I got a notification.

  {NOTICE}

  [You have suffered (1) instance of [Shock]]

  [Shock must be processed before continuing.]

  [Virtual Deterioration : Negligible]

  My vision became disorientated for a couple seconds, before reverting back with a pop.

  [Instances of [Shock] have been cleared]

  [You have been stabilized.]

  [Additional trauma may harm your playing experience]

  [Have a nice day]

  Even though the fight had happened mere moments ago, it had faded in the back of my mind. It wasn’t so much that I struggled to remember it, as I struggled to remember why it mattered in the first place.

  Killing Urgot felt both natural and justified. And it was. So I should feel good about it.

  My feelings toward it weren’t erased, but they were dulled, as if the event happened decades ago, rather than a couple seconds.

  Killing was easy, both in the act, and in processing over it.

  I let out a deep sigh, and got to my feet.

  Once my life went back to normal, I’d have time to think about something like this. For now, I had some people to meet.

  I grabbed Urgot’s degrading corpse and jumped into the air, reaching out a hand, brushing against the clouds before gravity pulled me back down, crashing into the street.

  I’d landed just outside the alley, close enough to hear screaming and shouting.

  By the time I rushed to the scene, the Bestiary was a mess.

  Children swarmed around boxes of supplies shouting at one another, attacking whoever they could. The majority of the children hung in the back, too afraid to move past the mob, out into the street, beyond those, others clung to their broken cages, hugging them for comfort.

  I facepalmed.

  Of course they were going to fight. They’d been living in a dog-eat-dog world for who knows how long.

  I concentrated, flaring my stats, shocking the Children to attention.

  Once they looked at me, they spotted the corpse I had slung over one shoulder, which I promptly tossed on the ground in front of them.

  From what I could tell, Npc's had black blood like a monster, which disintegrated on death. Unlike a monster, their disintegration seemed to take longer. That probably had to do with their ability to respawn.

  One of the children crept close to Urgot, then poked his nose.

  When there was no reaction, he punched him in the face.

  Immediately, former slaves mobbed around Urgot, tearing his clothes and striking him in the face.

  Things were getting ugly, so I sighed, waving my hand. It caused a rush of wind, knocking the children back. “He’s already dead. Don’t waste another second on the man.”

  At my command, the Children hung back, though some spat on his corpse.

  Eventually, one cleared his throat. “You’re the new master?”

  “What’s your name?” I asked.

  His eyes flashed white, and he sat up. “{Unnamed}”

  “Well that’s not going to work,” I grumbled. “What kind of name would you like to have?”

  He hesitated, but was unable to withhold the information. “Greg.”

  “Greg,” I said. Once called, his name appeared above his head. “I order you to do whatever Greg wants you to.”

  Greg blinked. “I’m Greg.”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “You want me to do what I want to do?”

  “And that’s an order,” I said.

  Greg blinked. “Why?”

  “I simply want to prove to myself that I can fix certain problems,” I pointed to the boxes of food, which had been cracked open. “Now, I need you to only grab one meal and one outfit, as well as one flower.”

  Greg scoffed. “A flower?”

  “If you don’t want it, give it away,” I said, with a shrug. “But nobody is allowed to steal from one another, understand? There are plenty of dungeon teams looking for recruits, as well as miscellaneous Npcs quests, which you should be able to do. Those will give you the money, exp, and stats you need to survive. You're all each other has, and you won’t survive the day by attacking one another. Once everyone has taken their supplies, I’m going to release all of you, permanently. I trust I won't have to get myself involved after that.”

  A little girl waddled up to me, waving her hand. “Me? Now me?”

  Other children joined her, swarming around, so I had them go into a neat line. First, I asked their name. If they didn’t have any ideas—and most didn’t—I’d offer one of mine, which was usually so bad that their fight or flight instincts would kick in, generating a decent name for themselves.

  The bolder children were easier, since they talked openly, and had been planning to escape for a long while.

  The other children were quiet, struggling to look me in the face, and barely saying more than a couple words.

  “What would you like to be named?” I asked.

  The girl squirmed, struggling as she spoke. “M-marsms-ma-marsha.“

  “Marsha?”

  She nodded, before hustling away.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Soon, the line cleared, and the children had gathered into loose clusters, talking to another. Some were loud, cheering and shouting, but the majority didn’t speak at all, sat down on the floor, enjoying each other’s company.

  “Release.” I said.

  Smoke gathered in the air, and cheers arose as Children blasted down the street, tasting their new freedom.

  Most of the others stuck around, shocked that I’d actually gone and freed them.

  “Sir?” A boy—Joriie—asked, wiping crumbs of bread from his face. “Are there seconds?”

  “I’m sure there’s some,” I said, walking to the bins.

  Then I stopped.

  It wasn’t empty. Actually, it was almost entirely full, loaded with food.

  While I’d bought far more food than necessary, I’d have expected it to be emptied out by now.

  “Sir?” the boy asked.

  “Hold on a second,” I muttered. “Who hasn’t eaten?”

  Joriie pointed to the shadows. “I don't think those kids have done anything.”

  I started running, finding almost a quarter of the children huddled in the back, standing where their cages used to be.

  “What are you doing?” I asked. “You’re free. You can go anywhere.”

  One girl shot me a nasty glare, shuffling out of sight.

  “You don’t want to leave?” I asked.

  “No, they don’t,” a voice growled.

  The boy, the large Ureden with gray skin and pale copper hair, stood behind me, arms crossed.

  I frowned. “Why not?”

  “Look, this isn’t working,” the boy muttered. “Once the city reverts, Urgot's going to be back. He’ll have a bunch of money, and he’ll order us to hunt down. Once taken back into his control, we’ll start respawning back here. We can’t stay in the city, we can’t stay in the woods, and we’re far too weak to survive in some distant land, where we’d be safe.”

  “You could try.”

  He let out a harsh scoff. “I am. Once Urgot respawns, I’ll try and kill him. If I fail, then I’ll have all of forever to try again. If I win, then I’ll kill him the next day.”

  I glanced at the other children. “So what’s with them?”

  He shrugged. “Most are too scared. They’re only thinking about what’ll happen when Urgot gets back. If they stay, there’s a chance he’ll be nicer, maybe place them with the strings.”

  “Strings?”

  His face darkened, and he pointed to the kids by the back wall, with strings bound to their wrists. Each string had been broken, only to be retied by their captives.

  “Don’t bother with them.” The boy growled. “They’re not going anywhere.”

  I tried pressing for answers, but he just walked off, so I tried talking to the “strings”. That was quickly proven ineffective, since virtually nobody spoke a word, and those that did were rather vocal in their distaste for me.

  “Shoo!” A goblin barked, stepping back, her hands over her younger brother. She was taller than me with lanky, almost wispy limbs. She likely hadn’t eaten in days. I had brought her some food, hoping to start off a conversation on the right foot. But she glared at it with such burning hatred that I eventually just tucked it back into my inventory.

  The two of us watched each other for a long while, before she stepped forward.

  “You must think pretty highly of yourself,” she hissed. “‘Saving’ the whole lot of us.”

  “No.”

  She opened her mouth, about to shout, before cutting off. “No?”

  “No…” I said, with a low groan. “As of yet, I haven’t saved anybody, have I?”

  She glowered.

  “I need an honest answer,” I started. “If every slave here worked together and fought Urgot, all at once, would they win?”

  The girl snorted. “No. He can respawn. We don’t.”

  “You’re monsters,” I mumbled. “Not Npcs, so when you die, that’s it, right? Given enough time, he would beat each of you in a fight.”

  I deflated a little, slumping on the cold rock. “Then I’m still too weak to protect you.”

  Urgot really was strong. Maybe not compared to myself, but compared to a kid twenty to thirty stats? It was a hopeless fight.

  But for now, I’d have to do something different.

  “I’ll give you two days,” I said. “I’ll stop Urgot again tonight. It’s not a lot of time, but it’s worth something.”

  The girl backed away. “And I supposed you’ll supply all the food? You think I’d eat from a strange man?”

  “I have food, clothes, and flowers.”

  “Flowers?” She scoffed. “Is that supposed to make our problems just disappear?"

  A smile peeked out from the side of my mouth. “Have you ever seen one?”

  She bit her lip. “A couple.”

  “This isn’t living,” I stated. “Live for a day, then you can come back here, and Urgot won’t ever know.”

  “Oh he’ll know,” she hissed. “His eyes and ears aren’t dead yet.”

  When she spoke, she spoke to the back wall, filled with shadows.

  The girl huffed. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  I took a deep breath, then stood. “If that’s what you want.”

  As I started walking, an idea came to her, and she hesitated.

  “Sir…”

  I turned.

  The girl bit her lip, squeezing her brother in her arms. “You…well…t-there’s something you could do.”

  “What might that be?”

  She took a deep breath, pushed her brother forward, bowing to the floor. “Take my brother as a servant. You don’t have one, do you? He’s good.”

  Her brother—perhaps eight or nine years old—bolted upright, shocked, and he grabbed his sister, and she burst into a whole string of expletives before forcing her brother into a bow as she continued. “Please, Sir, he’s quite a wonderful boy, and I’m certain he’d make a great apprentice or messenger—”

  Ah.

  If her brother stayed by my side, he’d be safe from Urgot. That would be a safe, relatively permanent solution.

  Her brother started screaming, but she continued, one arm clamped around his mouth.

  “He’s very smart, and he can pick up after himself, and—”

  “I’M NOT GOING!” her brother shouted, shoving her back.

  Then the girl burst into tears. “Pl-please.” She gritted her teeth, and the tears stopped. “You said you would help us, so please!—”

  “Taking care of a whole child is a big task,” I said. “I won’t be able to. So I’ll have to bring both of you.”

  She hesitated, for a moment.

  I nodded to her brother. “I can’t take care of him. Evidently, you can. So what are your names?”

  It took the girl a moment to process what was happening, but at a name, she blurted the first thing that came to mind.. “You could call me Rose!”

  Her brother scoffed. “That’s a stupid name.”

  “You wouldn’t know a good name if it hit you!” She snapped back.

  He scoffed louder. “Sure do!”

  “Like what?!”

  “Ah…uhm…uuuhhhhh,” Her brother glanced around, then puffed out his chest. “Grind.”

  I blinked. “That’s my name.”

  “Is it?” He asked. “Then I'll…call me…Better Grind.”

  His sister and I gave ‘Better Grind’ a flat look.

  “How about Junior?” I offered.

  “Junior?!” He recoiled, but his sister grinned, smacking him on the back. “Perfect!”

  “Now that that’s out of the way, I need your help with something,” I said. “Do you know where Serenity is? She’s a little girl with blond hair and pointed ears.”

  “An elf?” Junior asked. “We don’t have many of those around…oh.” he shared a glance with his sister. “Yeah, she’s in the back.”

  I glanced around. “We’re already in the back.”

  “No, the back-back,” he said. “Way back.”

  The pair led me to a steel door, set with padlocks.

  I almost opened it, before Rose pushed me back.

  When she realized what she’d just done, Rose immediately fell on her knees, begging for forgiveness.

  “I’m so, so sorry sir—”

  “You’re good,” I said. “What’s the issue?”

  “Wrong door,” Junior said. “That’s where we keep ‘expired’ monsters.” He made little finger quotes when he said it. “Basically, the monsters there are balls crazy.”

  “BROTHER!” Rose hissed, muttering expletives.

  “Sis it’s not even a swear—”

  “Oh so you get to decide what is and isn’t—”

  “I can say what I want can’t I?”

  “We’re trying to make a good first impression—”

  “You’re trying, sis. It’s not like he cares—”

  “I swear one word out of you and so help me—”

  I cleared my throat. “If there’s slaves in there, shouldn’t we let them out?”

  “Monsters,” Junior corrected. “Mmmmonnnnnsssttterrs. Not slave-monsters, straight-up, actually monsters.”

  “That’s…a thing?”

  Rose sighed. “A monster needs to feed on Exp, or they’ll go feral, like a wild animal, in order to become much, much stronger, and much more unstable. They’ll eat anything. The best Urgot can do is bolt them inside massive mana-reinforced cages and wait till they die of starvation. A lot of the slaves turned feral yesterday morning, which usually happens when some sort of sickness goes around.”

  I frowned, turning back to the door.

  “No, seriously, don’t.” Junior said, reading my expression. “I think I like you, Lesser Grind, and I’d rather not get killed on my first day as a free man.”

  “Free boy,” Rose corrected.

  “Free man,” Junior snapped.

  “Where’s the right door?” I asked.

  Both pointed to the wall.

  On closer inspection, there were thin slits forming a frame. After a couple good tugs, I got it open, spilling light on a few large cages.

  “These are Urgot’s ‘Greater slaves,’” Rose hissed. “Careful.”

  There were three cages in the room, with the one of the far end bolted in rows and rows of chains.

  “He’s still being trained, I think,” Junior said. “Not very stable. Nice guy, though.”

  Other than that, there were two smaller cages.

  Sern’s was closest to the door, with a thin wicker build that looked like it could blow down at a moment’s notice. There was no lock on the door.

  “She’s inside, asleep.” Rose whispered. “Do it quickly.”

  I opened the cage, spotting a familiar little elf curled up the cold floor. Chains bound her to the ground, not the cage.

  They contained intense mana, probably to strengthen the bars.

  A couple hundred strength peeled the metal apart without any difficulty.

  Junior nudged Rose. “What’s he doing?”

  “I’m taking her with me,” I stated.

  Rose and Junior glanced at each other.

  Rose cleared her throat. “Are you insane?”