Urgot used a pulse of mana to rupture the girl’s heart. I felt it.

  If nothing else, she died instantly.

  “What is this?” I asked, perhaps in shock. Urgot was a merchant. A slaver, yes, but also a merchant. He couldn’t just destroy his stock, especially not out of spite.

  So then, this was a trick.

  The girl fell toward the floor, landing in my arms. Her veins were already blackening. Poison?

  “Madelaid, where is the cure?” I asked.

  Madelaid’s head bobbed down.

  “There is no cure.” Urgot chuckled. “There isn’t any trick either.”

  Madelaid staggered. Blood ran from her lips onto the floor, coating her feet.

  “Did I do good?” She asked.

  Urgot smiled.

  There was another pulse of mana.

  “Yes.”

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “She’s dead,” Urgot stated. “They’re all dead, actually.” He began to cough up blood, laughing all the while. “That includes me too.”

  “Stop it!” I shouted, seizing his throat in my hand. “Call it off!”

  Blood muddled his smile. “You, boy, have too many weaknesses.”

  His eyes rolled back.

  I squeezed my fists.

  Calm down. Think! Think! What’s going on?!

  Urgot’s crumpled body pierced through neighboring buildings, evaporating on impact.

  Of course, he was already dead, so it didn’t make much of a difference.

  I started running, tripping down the steps from his office.

  The first screen appeared soon after.

  {Notice}

  [Party member : {Sueiaie} has been killed]

  [{Sueiaie} has not met the requirements for respawning. {Sueiaie} has been erased]

  “No.”

  If Urgot had ever intended to sell the children he captured back from my control, he would have used a spell to make them his. But he never wanted that. His plan was and had always been to group them up, and then to kill them. All at once.

  This was simply his form of revenge.

  And I couldn’t ignore it. Not in the slightest.

  When a body fell onto the floor beneath me, it sent shockwaves up through the stairs. I could feel each and every one of them striking the ground, dropping like rain.

  {Notice}

  [Party member : {Rex} have been killed]

  [{Rex} has not met the requirements for respawning. {Rex} has been erased]

  I remember Rex. He was a goblin, similar to Junior, but with a grayish complexion instead of moldy green. Due to spawning as a beast class, he awoke with knowledge of nearly all earth creatures. Including dinosaurs.

  He had asked me for my favorite. After a bit of talking we figured something out. I remember he had lost an arm after running into a player. The player swung at him. I remember promising him some more food the next time I came back. He liked the color purple, but always thought of it as too girly.

  I reminded him that the emperors of Rome wore purple.

  He reminded me how stupid some of those guys were.

  {Notice}

  [Party member : {Sofie} have been killed]

  [{Sofie} has not met the requirements for respawning. {Sofie} has been erased]

  “NO!” I shouted, shredding the floor apart in my hands. Corpses appeared below me.

  Who was Sofie again? I believe a player with that name once gave her a loaf of bread.

  She hadn’t yet realized that player was who sold her to Urgot in the first place. She was unconscious, at the time. The other slaves knew, of course, as many of them shared the same fate. And yet, nobody wanted to speak up.

  And especially no one wanted to explain how that player died.

  {Notice}

  [Party members : {Angela, Marsha, and Dijio} have been killed]

  [None of your party has met the requirements for respawning. {Angela, Marsha, and Dijio} have been erased]

  The notifications piled over one another, into neat little stacks.

  {Notice}

  [Party members : {Joriie, Chocolate, Maxius, {Unnamed}, Ruth, Motterfellow, Everworld, Rhubarb Pie (Rhuie for short), {Unnamed}, Detenta, Yokikoto, Erenaita, Winch, Lucky, Polli, Gareth, Joy, Nickel, Soda, {Unnamed}, Killjoy, Annanahia, and 36 other members of your party} have been killed]

  [None of your party has met the requirements for respawning.]

  [{Joriie, Chocolate, Maxius, {Unnamed}, Ruth, Motterfellow, Everworld, Rhubarb Pie (Rhuie for short), {Unnamed}, Detenta, Yokikoto, Erenaita, Winch, Lucky, Polli, Gareth, Joy, Nickel, Soda, Killjoy, Annanahia and 36 other members of your party} have been Erased.]

  So many names, each packed so close to one another that I couldn’t begin to process it all. For most of these children, I remembered only the color of their hair, or their favorite object. Ruth had a blanket she loved, even though it had virtually dissolved over fourteen years of use. Lucky always had that as his name. He had a knack for finding interesting bugs and plants inside his cell. And Nickle—

  My whole body shuddered in grief.

  How had I forgotten her? She was one of the strings.

  They were children Urgot had instilled fear into from the youngest possible age, so that by the time she had grown, she thought of nothing but keeping her master from hurting her. Like many of the strings, when I went to free her, she refused. When I asked why, she showed me a little coin, made of nickel, with a big smile on her face. She said that Urgot had given it to her as a gift of obedience, and that if she was good for the next year, she may get another.

  I spent a long time trying to convince her to change her mind.

  Eventually, I gave up, promising to find her a hundred coins just like hers, so then she would leave the bestiary.

  I could probably do it now. Her nickel was a summoned object, and I could summon a whole lot more.

  She said that if I did, she’d be my best friend.

  The name ‘Nickel’ wasn’t so much something she wanted to be called as was a promise. Just as Rhuie wanted some pie.

  I’d made so, so many promises to these children.

  Somebody moved, and I was running again.

  This was different. I was no longer helpless.

  “NAME!” I shouted, grabbing the boy by his shoulder.

  He looked up at me.

  Crank.

  “Hang in there!” I ordered, causing his body to freeze. That’d only buy seconds of time.

  But the screens were lagging behind. Where was it?!

  I drove through the piles of notifications, seizing a screen moments after it appeared.

  {Notice}

  [Party member : {Crank} has been killed]

  [{Crank} has not met the requirements for respawning. {Crank} has been erased]

  One survivor. One survivor out of a hundred children.

  I understood Urgot's game.

  When a child is sold, or when they die, a new one spawns at the Bestiary in their place. Killing everyone has no impact on Urgot’s bottom line.

  He can do it again and again, for as long until his point is made.

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Crank!” I shook him, breaking my order. “Hey! Crank! Look at me!”

  His eyes flickered to normal, and his jaw clenched. Tears rolled down the sides of his cheeks.

  {Notice}

  [Party member : {Crank} has suffered [Internal bleeding X] : Indefinite]

  [Due to a weakened state, {Crank} has been inflicted with [Instant Death]]

  “Hey, you’re alright,” I said, smacking the next notification. It clattered against the stone floor, splashing in puddles.

  {Notice}

  [Party member : {Crank} has suffered [Tissue Rupture XVIII] : Indefinite]

  [Due to a weakened state, {Crank} has been inflicted with [Instant Death]]

  Another notification.

  I grabbed those too.

  But there were others.

  Organ failure. Fracturing. Brain damage.

  I could keep specific injuries from killing him, but I couldn’t prevent injuries from causing other injuries.

  I hadn’t healed anything.

  This was only extending his pain.

  Crank shook. His skin was going pale, but his body simply couldn’t die.

  His eyes were wide and red and scared.

  I hugged him tight. “I’ll fix this.”

  Forty notifications unfroze, and his body disintegrated.

  By now, the room reeked of ash.

  But I kept myself there, watching each screen, forcing myself to remember who these children were. I would not—could not—rush this. I would remember them, I would cry for them, and I would move to the next screen in line. Sometimes there were children without names. They had refused to be named. All of those never left the Bestiary.

  I cried for them anyway.

  Finally, only two remained.

  {Notice}

  [Party member : {Madelaid} has been killed]

  [{Madelaid} has not met the requirements for respawning. {Madelaid} has been erased]

  For all the love, care, and loyalty she gave to Urgot, to him, she was a means to an end.

  I already knew the last screen before I even looked.

  The children with more Hp lasted longer after Urgot’s attack. With that in mind, there was only one child who could be at the end—

  {Notice}

  [Party member : {Unnamed} has been killed]

  [{Unnamed} has not met the requirements for respawning. {Unnamed} has been erased.]

  Who—?

  A face in the pile of bodies caught my attention. There was an Urden boy, from a race somewhere between goblins and elves. He had refused any name. I had also given him money, in order to increase his stats—but if he died—and if Sern didn’t have another notification—

  If I never saw Sern’s name, she was still alive.

  Sern was still alive!

  “SERN!” I shouted. “SERN! WHERE ARE YOU?”

  Idiot.

  If she’s not in the main area she has to be in the side room for Urgot’s more valuable slaves.

  But Urgot should have killed her! He must’ve! Wouldn’t he want to get revenge? Or was there a trap of some sort, designed to kill her the moment I arrived, so she would die where I could see her?

  I gritted my teeth.

  Yes, that could be possible.

  So, I never bothered with the door, blasting the walls inside out.

  And in the middle of her room, Sern was sitting with her knees up to her chin. Our eyes met.

  “Sern—” I laughed, moving toward her.

  She turned herself away from me.

  Ah.

  Right.

  “Sern, I-I’m sorry about Axel, okay?” I began.

  Over my journey back into the first area, I’d been preparing a speech. Something to show I was truly sorry.

  I couldn't mess this up.

  No matter how much Sern changed, I knew I could get through to her. She was my kid. “Sern, he knew what he was getting into, he chose to follow me into the second area.”

  No response.

  “People, Npcs, monsters, everything and everyone has a time where they enter the world and a time where they leave it. I know you’re angry—”

  Sern let out a venomous hiss, and my preparation went out the window.

  “Sern, look at me!” I begged. “What’s gotten into you? Can’t you see that I’m trying to help you—”

  “Go away,” Sern whispered. Mana poured out of her collar, cutting her voice off once more.

  “Go away—go where, Sern?” I asked. “You’re my kid! Well not actually my kid, but I made a promise a long time ago! I can’t just leave you!”

  Her voice filtered past the enchantment.

  “Why not?”

  “Because I want to help you!” I snapped. “Becuase you’re a wonderful person and what you’re going through isn’t your fault! And because I still haven’t been able to help you! I can’t give up when I haven’t done anything. I need to help! It’s who I am, Sern!”

  In a moment she grabbed me by my neck and punched my face through the hole from which I’d entered. While I was still reeling she had dragged me over to the piles of corpses, shaking in anger.

  She said only four words.

  “Here is your help.”

  And then she left, back to her little cell, where she sat down, ignoring the stinging pain from her collar or the trickle of blood running down her neck.

  “Here is your—is that supposed to mean anything?!” I shouted.

  No response.

  Here is your help.

  “Yes, okay, I get it!” I said. “Because of my help—my interference—Urgot killed a bunch of children, and if I hadn’t intervened they would probably still be alive. But that’s not my fault! It’s not my fault Sern! Urgot killed them, but I gave them life! I’m the good guy!”

  She closed her eyes, clamping her hands over her ears.

  “Oh don’t give me that, I’m helping people!” I said. “I am doing good no matter what you, or anybody else thinks! Just a few more resets and I’ll have this figured out.” I shuffled closer to Sern, kneeling down as I spoke. “Hey, I’ll tell you a secret. I’m a time traveler, which means that if I get strong enough, I can fix any problem. Urgot won this time, and I know it sucks, but I’m on the right track! Just a couple more resets and I’ll have this fixed. C’mon Sern, don’t you trust me?”

  She shuddered.

  “Sern! Please, just…just try understand, okay, I know this may seem bad but—”

  “Stop,” she whispered, almost pleading. “Please stop.”

  “I can’t—”

  “Do.”

  I took a deep breath in, then out. “You’re mad, because when I try to help people, others get hurt, right? But you don’t understand,” I said. “I’m immortal! Sure a normal person can’t save everyone but I can, I just need you to trust me and help me and not be so difficult all the time! Is that so hard?”

  She looked at me, with tears running down her cheeks and her teeth bared, like a wild animal. Mana wrapped around her neck, mitigating some of the damage from her collar’s enchantment.

  “So you can save everybody?” She huffed. “You beat all the monsters?” Sern ignored the searing smell of her own skin. “I’m a monster.”

  “I never said anything like that!” I snapped. “I don’t care what the game calls you—”

  She punched me in the face, hard. I stumbled back like an idiot.

  “I’m going to kill you!” Sern shouted. “And I’m going to like it because I’m an evil monster! That’s who I am! We’re all stupid, horrible monsters! How is that so hard for you to understand!?”

  As she shouted, her voice rose and cracked to the extent it became almost entirely incoherent.

  “What is wrong with you!?” I shouted, wiping blood from my nose. My Hp expanded, breaking the floor as I prevented another half-hearted attack. “The Sern I know is nothing like this!”

  “I’m a monster. I lie to people!” She shouted. “I lie to them and then I kill them! But I’m sorry if that hurts your feelings!”

  Sern jabbed a finger out to the Bestiary doors. “And now, I’m going to go into town and kill some people, because that’s what I do! So stop me! Or if you won’t, LEAVE ME ALONE!”

  The mana around her neck agitated, feeding off her emotion, which caused the collar to agitate in return.

  “Sern, we can talk this out!” I pleaded, summoning Crapshoveler and tossing him on the ground. “See? You’ve got a lot of big feelings, and you’re confused, and you’re angry! But calm down before you hurt yourself.”

  “Why can’t you just kill monsters?” She asked.

  Sern started crying, hot, angry tears.

  “Why do you have to toy with them, getting them to actually think you’ll change their lives. Do you get a kick out of it, or are you just so apathetic you don’t care what kind of impact you have?!” She screamed, clawing at her face as the collar distorted her voice into a whistle. “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!”

  And then there was a crack, and a sudden snap as her voice cut off.

  Sern froze.

  “Sern—”

  She looked at me, glaring. Blood ran down her neck from where she’d built up mana, and at least one bone in her neck had broken.

  “Don’t touch me.”

  She crawled away, into Axel’s empty cage, where she fell unconscious.

  I took a step in her direction.

  No movement.

  Maybe she hates me, but Sern’s just a child.

  From my best guess, even though she’s been alive for a long time, her physical brain is that of a twelve-year-old, complete with all the wild, volatile emotions swings you’d expect.

  I took a step back.

  Technically, yes, she’s a child, but that doesn’t make her wrong.

  I had caused this, hadn’t I? I had been stubborn and Sern got hurt, and if I kept being stubborn, then she might get hurt more.

  H-how much had I hurt her? Indirectly, I mean.

  I’ve led Sern into dungeons, and she’s gotten killed a couple times, but that’s not my fault. I never hurt her. I gave her food and clothing and care. Yes she was more or less forced along—due to the quest systems, and yes there’re things I could’ve done better, but—well I’ve used commands a couple times but that was only when necessary!

  I’m not…I’m…I’m not a bad person, am I?

  My will faltered.

  I looked down at the bloody puddles.

  I’m just a man.

  Just an average guy, really. A weak, pathetic, helpless man too stubborn to care for the people he’s trying to save.

  But he tries, alright? He tries.

  Isn’t that enough?

  No it’s not enough. Who cares what your intentions are?!

  I took a step back.

  And another.

  And one more.

  And more beyond that.

  My hands ran along the cages, feeling their metal ridges.

  Why do I keep losing?

  Is something wrong with me?

  This is evil. Death and blood and suffering. Everywhere. Everything around me is beyond any doubt, evil.

  So why aren’t the bad guys losing. Games are supposed to be fun, simple ways to avoid real problems.

  But this…

  I clenched my fists, stepping into the alley.

  Any decent human being can see how utterly, despicably evil this all is.

  And as a decent human being…as an adult…with the full picutre…I need to do what’s best for the people I love.

  Even if the best choice is…to do nothing at all.

  Even if…the best choice…

  My throat choked up.

  I tossed my head back and screamed into the air. When my throat gave out, I sank down and began to cry. I cried and screamed like a child until I could no longer bear to hear the sound of my own voice.

  // {Notice} //

  Hope you withstood this chapter. As much fun as a fantasy is, there’s things in the real world beyond what writing can fix. That’s where you come in.

  Want to fight human trafficking? Whether you’ve got money or time there are two organizations I wholly recommend.

  Race Day — Thirty

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