A New Name

What do you want from me?" Rutem-the woman once called Rutemia demanded of her new master once again after Adam's inability to process the question. He was still down and out for a while but to see the girl only pipe up when they were alone was... surprisingly threatening.

"Freedom?" He asked half-jokingly, only to watch the severity of her glare to deepen even further. "I didn't want this okay?"

Slave number two... it would get weird calling her that, he needed to get her to give herself another name. stood up and yelled a string of phrases that even Adam's advanced translator couldn't comprehend other than that they were all expletives. "I know you can't be like that! your words are too intent at confusing me on your intentions to be so simple!"

Adam for his part seemed to get angrier at this. the girl was just yelling at him however she wanted and with her ranting, her threatening position diminished. "Didn't you ever hear about me wanting loyalty? I want proper loyalty not scaring people into obeying."

"What's the difference?" Slave number two yelled in anger. this human had ruined her life and now was just messing around. Why lie when you can do whatever you want and get away with it? At this point, her stress had broken through common sense and she was angrily lashing out at those who did this to her.

"Well unlike everyone else in the universe it seems, humans actually had the concept of devotion! where a leader gained the support of his subordinates through trust. all sides working to help both their underlings, those above them, and themselves."

"What the hell does that even mean?" Rutemia called out, punching the wall beside her. only for Adam's first slave to trudge in, only to move between the two of them. Rutemia could easily tell that the armored beast was threatening. she could see his limbs twitching like it was about to attack. and that graviton steel was as impenetrable as it was expensive. "Well now that you've gotten the protection of your pet, mind telling me the truth?"

Adam only sighed at this, going to his plan B. "Okay then, think this through for me. if you were offered another job with the same or slightly worse conditions under someone else? would you leave me for them?"

"What does that matter? I'm your slave." Slave number two stated in annoyance, only for Adam to forcefully retort.

"It does matter. you have no penalties for leaving, you're not my slave in this hypothetical, would you leave if given the chance?" It took a moment for the Shu to puzzle through the meaning of the term hypothetical. The Shu were notorious for only thinking of reasonably possible ideas.

"Yeah, I'd leave. -"

"Then I'm a bad leader." Adam cut her off curtly as she was about to start talking again. angering her because she still didn't understand.

"Isn't your ability as a leader measured by what you can give us and how you keep us disciplined?"

"No. The aspect of leadership I want is for you to prefer being under me. And that was completely sabotaged with the higher-ups deciding to make you my slave. It makes it look like I was lying and I'd just enslave people who crossed me."

"So? that's everyone. what makes your way of doing things so special?"

"Because instead of people doing what they need for the salary, those under a good leader do what they can because they know their leader will honor them." Before they could talk any more about it Cruma burst into the room. Though as she came in so suddenly, the tense atmosphere beforehand caused the twitchy Charles to charge the woman.

"Hey, what's this about?" Cruma called out as she dove to the side, barely escaping the trampling she was about to receive.

"Cruma!" Slave number two called out, drowning out Adam's voice so as Charles was turning around for another run Adam barely had time to call

"Charles stand down. despite how the situation appears, not everyone who comes here unannounced is an enemy." Adam finished. He added the last part after Rut-Slave number two called the name. which meant the Shu in question was likely her friend and so should be safe.

"Bit of a wild beast you have there." Cruma stood up, dusting off her uniform despite the sterile nature of the hospital room she was in. "What have you done to Rutemia?" Cruma asked only to see the signs of the slave tattoo, causing her to grow angry.

Adam realizing this could go downhill quickly and not wanting any other incidents to lead to a spiral of pain for those around him, Adam would hastily wave his hands and speak loudly. "I'm still infirmed. I haven't been able to do anything since the incident."

This caused Cruma to shake her head as it was one of the rare times her translator had to figure out what Adam was saying. "Your language is weird. why are there common words that are so hard to describe to others?"

Adam chuckled, glad that he had solved the issue of Cruma's anger somewhat and a little embarrassed about not being understood. "I get that a lot. human language has a lot of phrases relating to relics of the past. I understand more than normal because I had an interest in human mythology."

"Huh, well you're not the first race with a storied past. too bad your stories are patriarchal and horrible."

"Why are you here Cruma?" Rutemia cut in, cautiously trying to get as far away from the two as possible, hiding in the corner while still standing. "How did you find out I was in here?"

"Well, I was going to ask the human where you were and since they were in the infirmary it was a good guess I'd be able to find out where you were from them. I didn't expect to see you here... or with that brand." Cruma's last line got the two of them down, though Adam definitely felt it too, he wanted to distract from the emotional pain he could feel by getting back on track with something that would be better for all of them.

"Yeah, it's... something I couldn't help." Adam began, only for Cruma to turn to him ready to start up again so he raised his voice as he continued to stop her from butting in. "But we have a problem here. Rut- your former friend has no name. and I don't feel comfortable calling her by a slave's name. especially since I made her your peer again."

"You want to give her a name? didn't she try to kill you? Why would you do that?" Cruma's words were shared by Slave number 2. Although unlike the more outspoken Shu, she was more subdued due to her friend being there.

"What? is naming my slaves bad? I don't feel right calling slaves by a weird name. and since they cannot have their old name I need to make up a new one for her." he motioned over to the target of the conversation.

"It's a big deal! Slaves are classified by their titles. basic slaves are numbered, masters don't know their titles. then you can grant special titles to slaves depending on their ability and position. the only time you give a slave a real name is if they have pleased you and are worthy of working near you." Adam gave a look of confusion at this. Why so many weird rules when it comes to slave-owning? it shouldn't be that hard to just learn... wait.

He sighed thinking about it. with people who have lots of slaves, they only need to really know the ones that are close. if you have tons of slaves giving them all memorable names is too hard. and since they lost their old name they needed a classification. damn, he could be stupid sometimes. "Yeah. Well, I'm not that much of a fan of slavery so I only want slaves good enough that I would give names to. and since I didn't mean for her to become my property." he pointed to rutemia again. he didn't want to call her by her current title. "I need a name for her."

While Cruma still couldn't understand what was going on she decided to go with it. "So why don't you tell me what you want her to be called?"

"Like I know. I don't know your race that well. so giving her an appropriate name is something I can't do."

"But you're the one who will give her a name!"

"That's why I want your advice on a name for her. it shouldn't be that hard to figure out a good name for her."

"Can I join in on the conversation?" slave two finally gained enough willpower to push past her shame and join the conversation with her friend and master.

"Sure. I was going to ask you about it but your friend barged in. do you have a name you want?"

"Yeah... could I be Barruni?"

"Like that woman from the legend?" Cruma cut in. "Do you really think going for such an ambitious name is even worthy of your position?"

"Hey, he's letting me have any name I want. can't I see if I can take advantage of it?"

"I'm not against it," Adam admitted. "If she gets called out on it we can just call it a part of dumb patriarchal human antics. she could keep it or I'll change it. it's all good."

Cruma just scoffed at it. "Honestly your idea is a stupid patriarchal idea. do what you want" She said, leaving the room as she had a lot to think about.

"Well then, sorry again for your enslavement Barruni."