Chapter 3 False Freedom
"Greetings gentlemen of Agra, today is a special day we have new stock in store for your viewing and buying pleasure today. We have the wolfkin who is strong and has a gift for cooking. Then we have a minotaur we purchased him from the gladiatorial ranks he is still fit enough and look at the bulging muscles I am also sure the women can have some fun as well."
With this comment the fat man who raised his voice to attract customers in the slave district that is set aside for the selling of slave's. Soon he had a following of people coming over to inspect the wares he sells.
Mike George was a low time seller of flesh. With a height of five feet, he was of average size in this city with blond hair that reached his shoulders that he keeps tied up at all times to keep his hair out of his brown eyes.
"We also have a kitsune." He said the last bit in a whisper that brought people in a rowdy ruckus.
Meanwhile, a man was in the safety of a building and was currently watching the fat man selling a few selected slaves that he had procured from his franchise.
"Ladies we have a problem the breeding of slaves as dropped by thirty percent from last quarter and the king and the various nobles that employ them from us are asking why we aren't selling more and I have to reply that the products take time to grow to the age where we can sell them which takes years. This, of course, did not sit well and I can say that they will be beginning to take steps to take our breeding creatures from us. What are your thoughts on this?"
Count Botwe, the heading factor of the selling and distribution of slaves, is in a meeting with his advisors and business partners that are spread throughout the kingdom. He is a tall and muscular man with a hawkish nose, piercing blue eyes, with a very tanned skin showing that he spends most of his days of riding between his businesses.
"Well we can always change our stance on the female slaves and make them all breeders, but that will backfire on us quickly if we aren't watchful of it."
The person who spoke was Livia Albucia, a young woman who is the heiress of the Cordia Faction who has three large companies and several hundred merchants that ran in three dutchies of the Kingdom of Agra.
The count looked at her and not for the first time wondered how can such a tall and slim beauty be unmarried for her age of twenty. At this point in her life, she should've had an arranged marriage set up by her parents, but it seemed like they had different plans for their soul child.
Livia Albucia is a sponsor of the company Laguna that is run by the count and an advisor to Count Botwe which they have grown close over the years of working together.
The Company of Laguna was made when the former beastkin kingdom was destroyed and absorbed into Agra. When his father Count Botwe invaded and conquered a good portion of the territory the king of Agra at the time offered a good chunk of the region to him and the rights to be the sole owner of the slaves.
Which in turn made his family rich beyond their imagination with a whole former kingdom of slaves that are owned by them. The current count thanked his father even now after thirty years of his fathers passing. But he needs an heir, and he intends to marry the heiress, but he had to go through the proper channels before this can be done.
As the daughter, her hand in marriage especially for such a large business who can rival him in wealth he needed to talk to the father as the daughter has no rights to offer her hand in marriage without permission.
"That is true if we start having more breeding slaves in our care we will need to tighten our security measures, but also our camps I would suggest we make all non-humans slaves regardless of what the nations up north would think of us. Hell, they aren't pleased with us destroying the last kingdom twenty years ago and enslaving the gnomes as well."
The whiney pitched voice was another person whom Botwe had his eyes on. She was a muscular woman who was a former mercenary turned merchant who has done a booming business recently in terms of forming magical contracts, and the primary person who thought of using the slaves in mines and farms to make the work easier on the owners of such places.
Scares were covering her body, and a large gash was on the right side of her cheek do for her fifteen years of mercenary work. But besides her whiney voice and scares she was a stunning beauty. She was approximately six feet and a slim body that showed that even after her retirement she still practices with her swords that she carries around with her.
"Be that as it may Lady Seethe, the king has demanded more slaves. What options can we do, remember some factions want to free the slaves regardless of what that would do to the economy of the nation? We have roving bands of bandits, then we have rebel groups that are lead by former slaves so the question is two-fold how can we get more slaves and how do we improve upon slave training to prevent slaves leaving or even disobeying their masters."
Count Botwe was correct the kingdom of Agra needed the labor that slaves provided, but it was huge and almost categorized as an empire, but there were vast sections of land that are still undiscovered. The Kingdom of Agra is the size of a small planet from what he has heard from the priests, but it is almost an empire just needed to absorb a kingdom then it is done but due to manpower shortage this was what was crippling it, and thus the expansion was put to a halt.
How the armies of the kingdoms move weren't done by mass teleportation or even fast movement like traveling hundreds of kilometers in the space of breath while possible is horrendously expensive that they can only make five such cultivators the method of travel was done by underground tunnels that somehow compress time.
A day of travel in tunnels can save days, weeks, or years off a journey and were this way heavily defended locations. Cities usually act as both a fortress for the military and trading hubs and thus if a municipality was conquered the surrounding territory surrenders to the invading forces however this wasn't always the case.
"Well we can use the various mercenary guilds that I am familiar with and a few of my old friends in the business if we pay in good hard coin they will take on any job. But as for breeders? I heard a healer in compound Afternoon by the name of Healer Thomas made a potion to speed up pregnancies by four to five months why don't we bring him into the project he seems to understand what is needed if only a little and make him lead it? As for the slave shortage and to get more breeders well I say we hold off on that till next year and every other female slave born say one in five are trained as pleasure slaves at first then turn into breeding sows. Do you think this would work? As for the training of slaves we are currently using Drugs, Submissive techniques since birth, then mind control, but the last option is for mages, so it really isn't viable since they are few and far between."
After a few more minutes Livia interjected an idea.
"Why not have the head trainers come with ideas in groups and then carry them out after all new training methods do not come out of thin air or even the time needed to try,
so I suggest hmm let's say ten trainers who will have 15 groups of 10 slaves split evenly between them to see what methods they employ and we do this in say five to ten years then they have a fifteen year trial period."
A few minutes stretched on as the two people that Seethe and Livia were talking to put in some thought into the ideas that they have mentioned before nodding in agreement.
"Those are good Ideas let me get the people who can organize this and get the paperwork done and the letters sent out. Now if you ladies have nothing else to do can I have the pleasure of having lunch with you two?"
P.O.V Tender
That should do it a week's worth of rations and milk for the babies. I have been planning this for the last few days now I know where everything is located while this may not be the best-laid plan that he has known from what he has seen some people have been planning for years and still failed, but he had an advantage that none of the others had.
He was harmless he was allowed to walk about freely, and lastly, no one questions him do to the nature of his work it required him to go all over the compound to serve the various humans in charge of each area. He was sure a few cubs weren't going to be missed.
As I walked to the nursery with a change of blankets that would double as a cushion for the children than onto the stables procure a horse then out of the compound before people wake up simple. With a smile, he nodded his head as if silently agreeing that this will work out.
As he silently walked through the halls, he was stopped a few times by the human guards that patrolled the hallways. It was after thirty minutes of walking that he came in front of the nursery and entered.
He was amazed by the sheer amount of people that work in the nursery during the day, but at night there are a few older slaves around to take care of the needs of the children and newborns.
"Hey Tender what are you doing here your not up for nursery duty today," Asked a pig kin slave from behind Tender who slightly jumped up in surprise as he didn't hear her at all.
"Ah, Julie it's nice to see you again. I came here to see Saki's newborns and to deliver these towels from the washers." He saw a smile on her piggish face which made her seem years younger than what she was actually.
For a thirty-year-old to experience so much pain and suffering in their life its just sad. It's true even though Tender was sixty years old and only had a limited understanding of freedom, unlike his father he was considered one of the lucky ones who can say they knew their fathers unlike the third generation of slaves.
"You are a good person Tender many of us wouldn't know what to do without you around, and some of us just wouldn't be able to coup without you. Saki and her children are in Room 10 in the left hallway." Julie got the towels and left while Tender had a severe look in his eyes about what he has heard.
Tender stood there for a few moments thinking about what he was about to do and how his actions will affect the young beastkins he was the oldest the constant in their young lives a bridge however short, to remind them that there was a time that their people weren't slaves but once free.
"I am sorry Julie but some things need to happen, and I will risk it all for a chance for our people to be free once more even if all the beastkins die here for my actions I fell this needs to happen." His voice was so low that he didn't hear it, but its purpose wasn't to be heard but to firm his resolve for what he needs to do.
He walked to room ten where Saki was in and knocked on the door before entering. The room was as he has expected it to be barren with nothing on the floor but straw and a torn and a ragged blanket. This placed a frown on his face but was quickly brightened when he saw the four cubs curled up on the sides of their mother even that black striped cub that was biting him.
"What do you want Tender." Saki who once had two tails now only had the one again it seems like they really want to keep her with the one. But besides her surly attitude, she seemed to be doing good.
"I just wanted to see if you are doing good or if you need help with anything also I wanted to see the cubs again," I said with a bright smile plastered on my face which she returned with a scowl but with a huff she nodded her ascent.
The first one to stir from the pack was the black striped cub who poked her head up from the others and growled softly before going back to bed after her mother said something softly to the young one.
"Hmmm, that one is smarter if she is listening to you Saki. Did you perhaps name the little ones already." He stood before the four children while the black devil as he was calling her observed him carefully as the other cubs slept, but she was close to sleep as can be seen by her eyelids and her steady breathing.
She beamed a smile on the compliment, but the exhaustion was still there from the birth of the four or really the bright red line that was seen on her stomach that is covered in a foul-smelling green ointment that he knew would help fight off infection and heal the wound faster.
"Sort of I know the need for names in these dark times unlike the others who just say numbers and be done with it but this one doesn't like any of the names I keep spouting which is, and the others are taking their cues from her."
He took a closer look at the young cub that looked like a fox which is a lesser version of the kitsune and once they gain their second tail which will take 10 years or so less special events take place they can have a more humanoid form to live in. After the second tail, it will take several centuries before another one comes out again some circumstances negate this like fighting tougher opponents are one way the other is time and luck the max a kitsune can have are nine tails but rumors state there is a way to get a tenth, but no one has ever seen one with ten tails and thus is considered a hoax.
"What do you mean she won't take a name that isn't by her choice it's yours and its a real name as well does that mean she has one already and if so what does that mean." He was confused while reincarnated beings aren't unheard of, but the gods tend to keep them in free or in high positions to give them options that would best suit them down the road. Which would mean what exactly?
"Saki let me look at the young kitsune please I just need to verify something." He didn't wait for permission before he took the young child into his hand and with a loud whine that expressed its hate at being awoken so violently she started attacking him.
But this didn't matter with a flip that had the cub having her belly facing upward he found his answer but didn't really understand it as it was in ancient writing and a pentagon with triangles interlocked in the Pentagon.
With slow and deliberate movements he handed her to Saki with a questioning glance as if she would know what this meant. While Tender can be said to be an old slave that is in the perspective of him as a mousekin and Saki was a five-hundred-year-old Kitsune who knew many things, but since.
She followed the goddess of rebirth and fertility with all her heart, she had certain advantages that the others didn't that included her large breasts and huge hips that she was favored as one of her priestesses.
The elderly Kitsune had a mix of emotions playing across her face upon seeing the shapes and the letters on such a young kitsune. After long minutes of staring at the wall, a whimpering sound could be heard.
"T..this one will have a hellish future if she stays here she is marked by the goddess and the minotaurs, war god the symbols are saying she has a true name already so it isn't necessary so she will be known as Sasha. The others will get their names soon after I process this."
True names cannot be overstated even in slavery humans will respect the powers behind it. In fact, they don't get a say or even, interfere in the process; usually the parents would be there to name the children themselves, but in this case, that is impossible. The true name of a child is their actual names when the soul was young, and it will always be in a magical language that no one but the parents and the child will know throughout their lives.
This caused Tenders mouth to fall and his legs to shake visibly to have held and assisted a reincarnated person in birth if the humans knew of this no expense will be made to make sure such an individual is enslaved or even bought or manipulated into assisting them.
This only encouraged him to carry out his plans. But still, to be favored by the goddess of fertility and rebirth and the war god of the demihumans it seems her future will be estranged from the others of her kind seeing few were ever warriors.
"Well, we have proof of her being a reincarnated person since you can't give her a true name what about the others though?"
He slowly picked the black striped girl who was back asleep in her mother's arm and slowly placed her back down with the others which had the effect of Sasha cuddling up to them. Slowly as not to wake the other cubs he slowly picked up the second born who is a male.
"Saki I know you want to hold on on the true names, but I plan on leaving this place soon." This bombshell took a few minutes to sink into Saki's psychic before hissing at him for his stupidity.
"You of all people know exactly what they do to escaped slaves you also know there is a tracer on us that makes it impossible for us to be genuinely free, you also know that they will hunt us down the only way to be free is to escape to another kingdom and then you got to be lucky that country isn't allied or doesn't allow slavery we both know that is unlikely to happen.
Then if you are that lucky this kingdom will demand your return and because you have no political connections which by the way are essential EVEN THEN you are assuming they will stick their necks out for one insignificant demihuman no Tender you can't leave there is a reason why the escaped slaves failed they didn't take these factors into account then the fact that the humans aren't really as stupid as you make them out at times, they pay attention to the details. What each slave needs to escape and by the way that includes the horses while I may be legless I do listen to rumors and the talk around the humans."
The sheer amount of vehemence in the statement and truth did surprise him, but he was not deterred, and he wanted the children with him.
The trackers that Saki has mentioned are spells that are interwoven into the skin through a combination of spellcraft and fleshcraft that uses wires of bronze with spellwork that connect to the bones, nervous system, and the flesh to make it impossible for a slave to remove without a great deal of pain or death.
Even if the slave wanted to remove it there are additional spells that prevent it from being tampered with the only way to remove it was to get an artificer to remove it, but they rarely do anything that isn't in platinum but the demihumans didn't know about this information since it is a closely guarded secret to the upper echelons.
"Moreover what do you mean hurry up on the true name? You know such things cannot be rushed or even forced upon the children do have a choice in accepting it however small that influence is."
For a few minutes, she thought about the reason and slowly pondered the ideas on why he would mention the true names of the children. Slowly she looked at him and leveled an accusing glare at him and ever so slowly spoke the words from her heart and in heavy meaning and a knowing tone.
"You want to take them don't you to keep them free?" She said in a hopeful tone not remembering about the tracer spell on him as well.
"That is the plan, but now that you mention it I am woefully unprepared so see you in a few days Saki.