Vol.2 Ch.22- Now or Never.

Living in this terraced city must be a nightmare. Who in their right mind would want to spend their days going through this. This city uses lifts to move people, cargo, and carriages throughout the different levels. Of course, the lifts aren't automatic and run on manpower from slaves.

It seems it takes nearly twenty slaves per level just to crank the damn thing up. It must be just as grueling as it is dangerous. The machinery used on these lifts is old, old enough for me to be able to tell that it's old. The machinery must have been mostly made of stone or metal at one point, but now replacement wood and metal parts are haphazardly thrown in trying to keep the things operational.

Gazing around at the poor souls who are being forced to crank the lifts is heart-wrenching. Even while riding in the back of my new mobile cage, I can see the damage done to these people. The lucky ones are missing a finger or two. Most are missing much more than that. A vast majority of them look like they are about to drop dead from exhaustion at any given moment.

I doubt most slaves who get that assignment live for very long. The cramped compartments in which they are forced to work are probably riddled with as much pestilence as the bottom of that slave ship. I'm surprised this city still exists. I'm sure they are days away from having a full-blown pandemic erupt from these lift gates alone.

And no amount of healing magic can save you if an entire city gets sick with a plague.

On top of just how awful commuting must be in this city, the noise levels are ridiculously high. It's only mid-morning, and the entire city is at full blast. It sounds like a mess hall at max capacity, but all the time, never dropping in sound. I'm glad my hearing is damaged right now. I'm sure if my ears were normal, I'd agonize over the noise level.

I've only recently figured out where I am as well. This place is definitely City State Ostela. I saw a guard with a worn-down heater shield that had the symbol of this nation crudely painted onto it. The symbol was a circle where half of it was a robed woman holding a scale while the other half was a knight in full plate with his longsword in the ground. I'd seen it before in a book Grandpa got me for my birthday… man, I wish I read that book now.

I can't even keep a promise to myself anymore...

This city doesn't seem all that safe either. Guard patrols are sparse, and unsavory-looking people can be seen around every corner. Perhaps that's just this side of town, though. This area is definitely what could be called the black market area. The number of armed civilians and slaves are at the extreme. I'm sure everyone here has a weapon or is a slave.

I thought the docks were jam-packed with slaves, but here in this market alone, the slaves probably outnumber the civilians and guards nine to one. Merchants and their stalls are carelessly tossed around with no rhyme or reason. Prospective buyers wade in and out of shops looking for deals. Some are even followed by a group of slaves. I saw one man who seemed to have at least seven people bound in chains following behind him. Humans were definitely the majority here as well.

I haven't seen this many Humans in years…

Also, the sheer amount of commerce in just this market alone is astounding. I had heard that Ostela was the trade capital of this world, but this was beyond my expectations. They even have stalls dedicated just for weighing money, even though every shop has a scale of its own. It's almost blinding with how much light is being reflected off the silver and gold coins being traded.

Going up the lifts I saw multiple terraces areas with entire sections dedicated to markets. This city is probably 60% business alone. But right now, this was a golden opportunity.

With so many slaves and people moving about this city, running away and hiding might not be impossible. If I can just escape and blend in, I'll have a decent chance at making it out of here. But I have conditions that must be met for my escape.

For starters, I can't be the only slave to escape. If I'm the only slave to attempt an escape, I'll end up like that Wood Elf from last night. That Vampire is also too much of a wild factor, I can tell she is strong, but I don't know how strong she really is. I also don't know anything about Vampires, so I have no idea what she is actually capable of.

I'm sure she has some way of finding me if I'm alone. So with that being the case, I have to create a scenario where the others will want to at least try and flee. It's a shame that man sacrificed himself last night. Having him here right now would have been perfect.

The second condition is that I need to threaten the life of the slave master somehow. I'm sure with the master-servant relationship they have; if I somehow put his life in danger, the Vampire will prioritize saving him.

I can't take him hostage or directly go for him myself, however. I'm sure as a slave; I'm considered to be worth absolutely nothing to everyone around me. Holding a hostage would just see me getting my head chopped off by the guards or some other opportunist wanting to make a name for themself.

And in my current state of constant pain and starvation, I'm in no condition for a frontal assault. If I had more covert ops training, this would probably be easier, but sadly I was more of a toss a flashbang in and blast Xenos kind of Death Commando.

Hiding my magical abilities will also be a necessity. Hopefully, as long as they don't know I can use magic, I will always have a chance to escape… hopefully.

But right now is a perfect time. My luck is finally turning around. We are still in this black market area, and our slave master has gone into a shop to buy more slaves for whatever reason.

At this time of day, there shouldn't be any drunkards out and about, but there is plenty of scum to be used in my plan. I want to start a riot in the market. By doing so, I hope I can endanger the slave master enough to where the Vampire has no choice but to defend him. And using the chaos, I can make a break for it into the city.

So by getting these drunk meatheads to bash each other's heads in and forcing the guards to react, I can create an opening. Preferably I can time it when they unlock the cages on the carriage to make it easier. Now all I need is for a guard patrol to wander by… finally there might really be a God.

After waiting forever, a guard patrol finally decided to wander down this street. But, of course, calling them guards is a long shot. They look more like bandits wearing shoddy chainmail uniforms than guards meant to protect a capital city. But, whatever, the more ill-tempered and scummy these guards are, the better it is for me.

And as if the stars are aligning for me today, the scummy slave master himself is walking out with his new purchases. They are all young able-bodied Human men, perhaps he means to sell them off as laborers somewhere else, but these are precisely the type of people I need.

If they were too old or young or not strong enough, they might hesitate to flee if given a chance. But these young men will hopefully take the opportunity given to them and at least try to escape. None of them were wearing slave collars either. And even if they don't make a run for it, hopefully, they will resist just long enough for me to escape.

Once the slave master started fiddling with the lock, I made my move. Through all my years of practice in launching pebbles at Padraic's thick skull, I never imagined this skill would be useful in helping me escape slavery. So I found the biggest, ugliest, and the most intoxicated person I could find and launched a pebble the size of a coin at his head.

The man was surrounded by a group of thugs walking down the street with a massive two-handed war hammer on his back. The pebble connected with the back of his head, forcing him to whip around and glare at another group of armed men.

He turned on his heels and got in a Dwarven man's face and began yelling. "What is your problem, pal, huh?!"

"What are you talking about? And don't call me pal, dickhead."

"You threw that rock at me, didn't you?"

"What rock? What are you talking about? And get the out of my face, you drunk bastard. Your breath stinks enough to drop a Dragon."

"Screw you, you damn midget!"

"No, SCREW YOU, you overgrown ogre!"

"NO, SCREW YOU!"

With a final war cry, the large Human man unsheathed his war hammer and went to slam it into the stout Dwarf.

Well… this exceeded my expectations.

Before the man even took out his war hammer, I enacted the final pieces of my plan. I sent a barrage of even smaller stones into the crowd to get everyone nice and riled up. I even sent a few towards the guard patrol.

I wanted full-blown pandemonium in this market square, and things were going far beyond my wildest dreams. It was like lighting a fuse. All it took was one spark, and everyone just started brawling.

It almost made me think this was a common occurrence around here.

Everyone has already begun yelling and swinging at each other with barely any provocation. People who weren't openly brawling with each other were running away. Slaves were screaming and sprinting away to safety. The small team of guards didn't stop anyone and instead joined the melee. I gazed back towards the fight that started it all, and my eyes felt like they were about to burst out of my skull.

Oh, yeah. People other than me can use magic, duh.

I watched as the Dwarf smashed the ground with his mace, sending a shockwave through the floor. Stone pillars erupted along with the shockwave, heading straight for me. The stone spikes pierced into the cage, forcing it up and flipping it over in the air. I almost lost my morning water soup from the sudden barrel roll, but I managed to keep it down.

The timing was perfect as well.

The slave master had already opened the door to let the new slaves into the cage, so now I had an exit. I wasted no time, and neither did anyone else. The first one out wasn't even myself but one of the Human men.

Jessine and the slaver were brawling with everyone else. The slaver had a fat grin on his face as he sucker-punched some random passerby who was just trying to run away. Jessine didn't even bother unsheathing a weapon as she batted opponents away with ease. I barely paid them a glance as I ran into the crowd.

I was running straight into the oncoming fire. I dodged and weaved my way through the throngs of fighting and received plenty of stray blows. Some were accidental, but others would actually stop and aim for me.

I caught an elbow to my nose and started gushing blood. Not even ten seconds later somebody tried tripping me, but I hopped over his leg and crashed into a market stall. The poor lady yelped in surprise as I broke through her booth with a bloody face, but I didn't even think about stopping.

I regained my footing and continued plowing through the people as fast as I could. I needed to increase the distance between myself and that Vampire as quickly as possible. While running, I noticed a stall selling clothes and immediately snatched a cloak.

The merchant was too busy trying to stop someone else from looting his stall, so he didn't even notice me. I put the brown cloak on and tried to cover myself as much as possible. Even in this entire section of town, I must be the only Dark Elf, so I stand out like a sore thumb.

Are Dark Elves really that rare?

Finally, after running through the market, I reached my destination, a lift. It didn't matter where this lift took me as long as it was anywhere but here. A few guards were stationed next to it and trying to keep the herd of people from piling on. The lift was already ascending but there was no way I could wait for another ride. So I enhanced my body and ran to the side of it. I nimbly scaled the scaffolding, and I jumped for it once I was almost at the same level as the lift.

I grabbed onto the side but lost my grip with one of my hands. I was dangling by a single hand gripping the side of the lift as it was ascending to the top most of the city. It was at least a four-story drop at this point, so falling would be fatal.

I tried pulling myself up, but my little body which was weak from starvation and from using what little energy I had to run, was not able to manage it. Even with mana enhancement, I was struggling and out of breath. I almost lost my grip with my other hand when someone reached over and grabbed my arm, pulling me up onto the lift.

I scrambled up with the stranger's help and looked up, much to my surprise. It was the young bear Beastmen that was on the ship with me. He quickly helped me up then placed his hands on my shoulders, turned me around, and faced me towards the front of the lift. He didn't say a word to me, and he just kept his hands on my shoulder.

"Thank you," I whispered.

"Don't mention it. Did you escape from your master?" he whispered into my ears in rough Elvish. I nodded in response.

"That is dangerous. The odds of you making it out of this city is low. You understand this, yes?" his voice was a whisper, but his deep baritone voice rattled my chest.

"I had to try. It was now or never."

"I see. You are either very brave or very stupid, but only time will tell. What do you plan on doing now, Little Elf?"

"Being anywhere but here," I told him.

"You do not think very far ahead, do you? How are you going to cross into the upper city without a pass? Unless you have one, the guards will not let you in without a master."

Crap. Of course, there had to be something else in my way. Maybe I can just fight my way in—

The bearman gripped my shoulders tightly and whispered into my ear. "If you do not have a plan, then follow my lead. Of course, I can not promise you success, but I can at least try, okay?"

"Why? Why are you helping me? Won't you be in trouble if they catch you?" I asked.

"These things do not matter. What are they going to do? Beat me more? Enslave me for longer? Retake me from my home? It matters not. And why? Because you remind me of my sister, and you are far too young to be in chains, Little Elf. I shall help you, even if just this much. I can not get you out of this city, but I can get you to people who can. Do you trust me?" He spoke with a hint of fondness in his voice as he spoke about his sister.

"Do I look like your sister or something?" I teased.

"No. You look too angry to be my dear little sister," he said flatly.

Well, I guess I'm just not specced for comedic relief. And what do you mean I look too angry? This is just my face...

"I trust you. Please help me."

He gripped my shoulders softly in response. Upon nearly reaching the top, I gazed out onto the city. This was the highest up I've been so far, and I could really see just how massive this city was. The cool wind swept over those of us on the lift, chilling the air. The smell of the salty sea was being carried by the winds.

The multi-layered terraces were oddly satisfying to look at it from this height. You could see all the people moving around the streets from up here. The further ones looked like little ants moving about. You could also see the sheer size of the dock. This city was built into the side of the cliff with a massive deep water bay at the base. The port had at least fifty slots for full-sized ships to dock. Even now, most of the slots were filled with boats. Any vessels that weren't immediately docked were lined up just outside of the harbor.

"Impressive view, yes? It is a shame we can not witness this as free men," he said idly. I solemnly nodded.

Not being a free man… this is indeed the worst possible outcome.

I can't believe this was what it was like not to be free. It was an odd feeling, knowing I spent fifteen years of life as a different kind of slave. I really didn't have any free will of my own looking back. I guess I didn't even understand what it was like to be free, so it never bothered me.

Back then, would I have felt as disgusted being forced to kill as I did being enslaved now?

If I even had a modicum of emotion back then… how would I have felt? Things are definitely different now, though. I thought back to my recent fight with the slavers in the jungle. When I killed those two men, something felt… different? I didn't feel bad about killing them, and I didn't feel good either. It was just something that had to be done.

But I wonder what was so different now compared to back then. How did I use to feel when I killed people? I don't even know if I felt anything before. I've snuffed out thousands of souls in the name of Humanity, and I didn't even so much as blink.

I mean I can't even remember the first life I took, let alone the thousandth.

I sighed. I can't say what the old me would have done, but the new me definitely doesn't want this. I've tasted the ichor of freedom, of family, and emotions, and I want more. I want to return home. I want to see everyone again. I just want to live a peaceful, everyday life with those I care about.

I resolved myself further as the lift reached our destination. Hopefully, this man's plan will work.

He might be the only hope I have left.