{Unnamed Companion}

  [0 Str 10 Hp]

  “Be honest. Do you like Serenity?” I asked.

  Sern nodded from where she sat, crisscrossed on the floor with the flower pressed against her face.

  “If you don’t like it, I could always call you something different,” I said. “Like…Lumpy?”

  Sern gave me a flat stare, as if she couldn’t tell whether I was joking or not.

  “I’ll take that as a no.”

  {Serenity (Sern for short)}

  [0 Str 10 Hp]

  Since we were still in the Bestiary, the notifications for her quest hadn’t yet appeared. For now, I wait here in the hallway for the rest of my…entourage? Party? Family?

  If I was being honest, getting other freed slaves to join my party was making things complicated. I considered Sern an adopted daughter, since she was really just a little kid and needed some parents in her life. But Rose was at least my age and Junior wasn’t too far behind.

  Well…actually Junior looked like a kid but he spoke like someone twice his age, which made me think he’d actually be alive for quite a while, just not aging. Rose and Junior could actually be the same age.

  And then there was Axel.

  My best guess was somewhere between thirty and a thousand years old.

  And then I had to wonder what my relation was to each of them. They couldn’t all be my kids, but it wasn’t like they’re just some hired hands.

  So family it was.

  Rose walked into the back of the Bestiary, dragging Junior by the ear. “Sorry to keep you waiting, Sir.”

  “No trouble,” I said, smiling. “And you can call me Grind. ‘Sir’ is a little formal. We’re family now.”

  Rose hesitated.

  “We’re what now?” She asked, blushing a scorching red. “Sorry, Sir, b-but we barely know you, Sir.”

  I sighed. “Then I guess we’re just a squad.”

  “Wait,” Rose blurted, “When you said the elf was your daughter, you meant, like, adopted?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Why’d you ask?”

  Rose blushed a whole lot harder. “No reason. Just wondering.”

  “Okay,” I said, with a shrug. “Have you seen Axel around here?”

  She frowned. “Axel is waiting outside. He needs to…burn off some energy.”

  Something exploded in the distance.

  “Don’t worry,” Junior chuckled, walking up and patting me on the back. “He’ll be here by the time we’re heading out.”

  “Have you grabbed food yet?” I asked. “Or clothes? There should still be some left.”

  “I tried,” Junior started. “But there’s too much of crowd, and it didn’t feel right to disturb—”

  Rose shushed him.

  Junior glared at her. “What?”

  “Don’t give him any ideas,” she muttered.

  “Ideas about what?” Junior scoffed. “It’s just Madelaid causing a scene, not like he’ll care much—”

  Screamed echoed out from the street. By that point, I had long since started running.

  Rose facepalmed. “You just had to say it. You just had to.”

  “How was I supposed to know he'd do that?” Junior huffed. “Hey, Lesser Grind, wait up!”

  The two dashed after me, struggling to keep up to my pace.

  Madelaid was Urgot's main servant, right? What kind of a scene would—

  I staggered into the street, immediately spotting the problem.

  Ten to twenty of the children stood around a crumpled figure, beating and kicking and screaming.

  “ENOUGH!” I shouted, putting enough force into my steps to send a clear message. “What’s going on?!”

  A kid fell to the ground in shock. “M-madelaid—”

  “I’m quite alright,” Madelaid stated, clutching her side, where she’d obviously broken ribs. “It’s no trouble. They were merely venting frustration.”

  The street was dark, but enough of the nearby lights were on for me to find thin sparkling cuts and welts over Madelaid’s star-speckled skin.

  “We don’t need your help,” a little girl hissed. Some of the other children bristled, but nobody went to attack her again.

  Then I noticed the corpse Madelaid had been standing beside. Urgot’s skin was torn and broken in a hundred places.

  I let out a sigh. “What are you doing?”

  “They were hurting him,” Madelaid said.

  “But he’s dead.”

  She shuffled. “He wasn’t a bad man.”.

  Former slaves began shouting, and I made them leave, giving me and Madelaid some time to talk.

  “Please. Explain.”

  She stepped between me and Urgot, kneeling, then pressing her face to the floor. “I would like to take care of him, until he wakes up.”

  “Don’t bow,” I muttered. “I am not your master.”

  “Very well,” she said.

  “You want him protected?”

  “Yes.”

  “He hurt you,” I said, absently noting the other flickers of scaring that covered her neck and shoulders.

  “He did what he had to,” Madeliad stated. “I am his property."

  “Not anymore. You are free.”

  At this, she laughed a little, before catching herself, and dipping back into a bow. “I thank you for this consideration, Sir, but this is want.”

  “Don’t bother!” Rose puffed, almost out of breath from a jog across the store. We’d have to build up her stamina in the future. “That thing’s one of Urgot’s dogs.”

  “Dude, she’s messed up in the head,” Junior wheezed. “Really messed up, if you get what I mean.”

  “You want to be a slave?” I asked, and Madelaid nodded. “I could take you with me, into another land, far away from all of this. I’m more than strong enough to keep you safe. So you have a choice.”

  Madelaid smiled wide. “I will stay.” She gave me another shallow bow. “I am a monster. My purpose is to serve. There is nothing that could delight me more, so I would prefer not to leave my post.”

  “When he wakes up, he’s going to hurt you again,” I snapped.

  Madelaid nodded.

  I was at a total loss. She didn’t feel hopeless, like the other slaves, and though nothing she said made sense to me, it seemed to make sense to her, which would make it hard to convince her otherwise.

  A warm hand set down on my shoulder, before flinching back.

  “Leave her, Grind,” Rose whispered. Though she kept her voice low, her eyes had narrowed to slits. “She’s not worth saving.”

  “They’re all worth saving,” I muttered.

  Madeliad offered a smile. “There’s nothing to save, Sir.”

  “You don’t consider yourself worth saving?”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “I’m already saved,” she said. “Right where I want to be.”

  “But…” I mumbled.

  Rose cleared her throat. “Sir?”

  “Is that truly what you wish?”

  Madelaid nodded.

  I gritted my teeth.

  “Very well,”

  I stepped away, addressing the kids around me. “Nobody gets to hurt her. If there’s anything you want to do in the city, do it now, before adventurous people start trying to hunt you down.”

  “You could kill all the adventors,” A boy—Jewels—offered. “Then we—”

  “I can’t kill all of them,” I snapped. “And I don’t kill people unless they really, really deserve it. I’m willing to buy you an extra day of time, but I can’t offer more.”

  The Urden boy—who obstinately chose not to pick a name for himself—stood next to the wall, arms crossed.

  “Do you know where the markets are?” I asked him.

  “Get another dog if you want something done,” He huffed. “I’m busy.”

  I tossed twenty gold rings into the air, which he caught, snapping forward and cradling the ludicrous amount of money to his chest in disbelief.

  “Buy as much power as you can,” I ordered. “Urgot has a hundred thousand health and a thousand or so strength. He might also respawn with some healing potions, so be careful.”

  The boy frowned. “Those extra hit points aren’t natural, Sir. He won’t be nearly that strong.”

  Then, he burst out in wild laughter. “You coulda bought every slave Urgot had a hundred times over. Why’d you fight him?”

  “He and I had business," I stated.

  The boy shook his head, jamming the rings into his pocket. “Alright, I’ll get myself some power. Where’s you going?”

  “Second area,” I stated. “I can’t save everyone yet.”

  “Yet?” He grinned. “Good luck.”

  The nameless boy patted his bag of gold and walked down the street, whistling a low, eerie tune. I’d imagine his day just got a whole lot brighter.

  “Sir?” Rose asked. “How much money was that?”

  “Enough,” I stated. “If he buys the right stats, he might be strong enough to stall Urgot for a couple days.”

  She frowned. “That’s not going to work. Urgot’s too strong. He’ll just keep respawning until he kills that kid. Freed slaves don’t respawn.”

  “I know.”

  “We’re monsters,” she growled. “Which means when they hear about his power, the town’s going to go wild—”

  “I know!” I hissed. “I know that I haven’t really fixed anything yet. Right now, I’m just buying these kids some time.”

  Despite herself, Rose started smirking.

  “You know we’re probably all older than you are, right, Sir?”

  “Then call me Grind,” I huffed.

  Sern huddled by the bins of supplies, picking through the dresses. She found one made of sparkling gray fabric, and slipped it over her rags. After a glance to make sure nobody was watching, she hugged her sleeves in delight.

  “You know, if people hear about this, we’re all dead meat,” Rose muttered.

  I smiled. “I’ve got all of infinity to try.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Nothing.”

  She hesitated, before a strange look eventually settled on her face.

  ‘What are you?“ She asked. “Your stats should only be at a thousand, but you’re clearly stronger than that, aren’t you.”

  “Magic,” I stated.

  “That’s a lousy answer.”

  I shrugged, walking down to the bins. “You ought to get some food.”

  “I don't need any,” she snapped.

  Her stomach of course, chose that exact moment to growl loud as a foghorn in the dead of night.

  I smiled a little brighter. “You sure?”

  She wrapped her arms around her belly, hunching over. “Traitor…”

  I’d bought way more food than the freed slaves could eat, so even though a lot had taken far, far more than they really should’ve, there remained a thin layer of red boxes.

  “Sir? That’s not food,” she snapped.

  “I thought you weren’t hungry,” I snapped back, grabbing one from the pile and cracking it open, revealing a sandwich, purple fruit similar to apples, and a silky pouch filled with water. “One of the merchants had a bunch of pre-made lunches, so there should be a decent variety. If you don’t like it, you can always grab another.”

  She sniffed, snatching the box from my hands and devouring everything—including the container in a matter of moments. Rose blushed, dusting the crumbs off her hands. “Thank you.”

  “No problem.” I handed her another.

  Junior wandered over, having changed into a new pair of clothes from the bin, this one with black jeans and a white tank top.

  Just like what I was wearing.

  “Sup’ Lesser Grind,” he said, grabbing the box of food from his sister and biting into the sandwich through the cardboard and plastic.

  “Yo-you!” She glowered, ripping her box back.

  “That was good,” Junior said, licking his lips. “The outer layers taste like actual garbage, but the inner stuff is fine. Are these like clams?”

  “Sort of,” I started. “Have you never seen a box before?”

  “Not for food,” he scoffed. “Speaking of which, I’d love another bite.”

  “You can get one,” I said, gesturing toward the bin.

  He waved me off. “It tastes better if I steal it from her,” Junior snorted. “Goblin thing.”

  “That’s a thing?” I asked.

  “Of course not!” Rose snapped, turning toward me for a moment, during which Junior stole another bite from her meal. Rose screamed, jamming the sandwich into her mouth and throwing the rest of her meal at Junior, bonking him on the head.

  “Meanie,” he said.

  Junior grabbed her apple and took a bite out of it.

  “Wow. That’s the good stuff.”

  The two started fighting again, so I turned, handing Sern a meal.

  Rose frowned, looking down into her empty box. “I-I don’t suppose I could have another, right?”

  I handed her a meal, then glanced at Junior, and handed him one two.

  “If you two aren’t well fed, you’re not going to survive the journey.”

  Junior snarfed his down, before processing what I’d just said. “Jounrey where?”

  “To the Second area.”

  Crumbs from his sandwich fell onto the street. “Dude.” He raised a skinny green arm and flexed. “We’re going to get so jacked.”

  Sern stood nearby, nibbling on a sub with fantasy mayonnaise and bright cherry-pink tomatoes.

  Junior glanced around. “Should we get Axel? He’d totally want some of this—”

  A shadowy figure crash-landed into the bin of clothing, burrowing down, before reappearing with a set of blue overalls. He was, as before, completely shirtless.

  “A-aaxxeel,” Axel hissed.

  He hobbled over the bins and stuck several boxes in his metal jaws, before eating them whole.

  “Okay, you can open those with your hands, and they’ll taste a lot better,” I stated, demonstrating with a cardboard box.

  Now that he had a little more light on him, I saw the scars covering his entire body, ringing up from his chest to his neck.

  Junior gave him a hug, ruffling his white fur.

  “Before we head out, I’ve got some errands to run,” I said. “You can join me if you’d like. I’ll be back here at midnight to kill Urgot again, then we’ll head for the second area. Oh, and there’ll be quite a bit of good food.”

  “If we join?” Junior chuckled. “I gotta see what you’d can an ‘errand.’”

  “AxxXXeel.”

  Sern crept up to the rest of us, staring down at the ground. She shuffled her feet, before leaning just forward enough to rest her forehead on Axel’s side.

  “AXEL.” Axel lunged forward, grabbing her in a smothering hug. “Axel.”

  Sern smiled.

  Junior looked between the two of them in shock. “You know each other?!”

  “Axel.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Alright, if you trust her so much then I’ll try to be nice.”

  “I won’t,” Rose hissed. “No offense Sir, but those two might be more trouble than they’re worth.”

  “A little trouble would be much appreciated,” I said. “It gets awfully boring without it.”

  As we left the street, Sern bonked face first into some sort of barrier, knocking her off her feet.

  [{Serenity} cannot exit the area until its quest has been claimed.]

  “I figured it’d be something like that,” I sighed, watching the notification appear.

  {Quest : Lost and Found}

  [+1 companion]

  “Deliver the slave girl to her hometown”

  [no reward]

  [Y/N]

  “Yes,” I said.

  {Quest : Lost and Found}

  [Are you sure?]

  [There is no reward.]

  [Failure will result in {Serenity’s} return]

  [Y/N]

  “Yes,” I said, rolling my eyes at the confirmation. This was such a weird quest, not to give rewards. If I had to guess, there was some sort of hidden prize.

  That or the game was just messing with the players who tried it.

  Could the game itself be a troll?

  Sure felt like it.

  {Quest : Lost and Found}

  [Quest accepted.]

  “So, where are we going?” Junior asked, now riding ontop of Axel.

  “To see some old friends,” I stated.

  “Friends?” Junior smiled. “How long have you known them?”

  “Technically? I haven’t met them yet.”

  “Huh.” Junior hesitated. “Sooooooo, do you have a lady friend?”

  “Nah.”

  “So you’re single?”

  “Yeah.”

  Junior started nudging his sister, cackling under his breath.

  Rose promptly blushed red-hot and flung Junior off Axel and into the street.