Chapter 11

Leia's cabin was just further up, located at the heart of the forest, Leo was impressed by how easy it was for her to navigate them through the thick similar looking trees.

It was large enough for three people to live in and was stocked up with supplies to last them for half a year. Once inside, Leia slumped on a sofa, she gestured for Leo to sit on the opposite seat, whilst Leatrix and Kael stood at the door.

"Out of all the stupid things I've heard, swallowing the Philosopher's Stone has to be the dumbest of all!" Leia cracked up, killing the awkward tension in the room.

"I'm curious, what made you do it?" She sharply followed her widened eyes and overly hysterical tone hinting to Leo that he had fucked up big time.

He averted his gaze from Leia to the fireplace, "I thought it was the rational thing to do at that point. Plus, I felt it would settle down once nature takes its course." Leo retorted, earning more reactions from the beast woman.

"Nature?!" She cackled, slapping her thighs to curtail her surge of unrefined laughter.

"So, did you hear that in a folklore tale from your village? Just where in the boonies could you be from, to get off thinking like that?"

Leo pinched his chin, 'this body doesn't have memories to fall back on, just who the hell is this?' As a gamer, he was well familiar with the troupe of transmigrating into a magical world. But in those games, there was a pre-saved introduction walking them through the background story and goal of the MC.

"I don't remember," Leo replied.

Leatrix was the first one to react, "who he is isn't important, the problem is how we're going to tell our employer that this idiot swallowed the stone."

Leia narrowed her eyes at her, and sighed, "Okay, then let me ask the both of you something. Why didn't you just rip the stone out of him?"

The chillness of her voice and still in her eyes as she casually spread her arms across the sofa, gave off the impression that, that course of action was the most natural to take.

In response, Leatrix said, "I tried but it seems that the stone has been awakened already."

Leia looked like she would explode, "awakened you say?" She asked with widened eyes.

"Wait, the legend only made mention of the celestial scepter as the only stimulant to awaken the stone's power. How then could a mere..." She took a pause and then redirected her attention to Leo.

"Tell me, what kind of magic do you use?"

Leo straightened his back and then replied in a firm tone, "none."

Leatrix frowned, "that's impossible, everyone has a natural affinity that falls under one of the various kinds of mana abilities."

"Big sis, language!" Leia huffed, Leatrix rolled her eyes and then retired inside, perhaps to recollect her thoughts. Once was had left, Kael cleared his throat and said.

"She's angry because when she stabbed him with her stiletto, not only did he not die, but the stone regenerated his body, masking the wound."

"Wait, that means..."

Leia interjected, "you're an odd one, the King is going to have a field day with you. This is the first time something like this has ever happened."

"But, what exactly is the importance of this stone? And what's all this talk about merging with someone?" Leo finally decided to ask, seeing things had settled down.

Though slow-witted, Leo had picked up on a few things from the events that happened thus far. One of those things was, that Warwick and his crew had somehow gotten in possession of said Philosopher's Stone. And that Leatrix and Kael, under the instruction of an employer that goes by the name 'King' invaded his ship with the sole intention of taking it back.

"Also, there was a dead woman in one of the cabins, do you probably know who that was?" He chipped in, recalling a corpse that wasn't thrown overboard but rather kept in a cabin.

He noticed a decline in Leia's demeanor and knew he had hit the bull's eye.

Leia sighed, "Aaah, you've already up and asked, that means you don't remember anything. In that case, might you have been a slave from the lower region?"

Leo's intrigue was sparked, "what or where is the lower region? And what does that have to do with my memory?"

The woman looked to Kael, hinting at him to answer, after all, he had roots and loose ends in that place. The teen nodded, then walked to the center of the room.

"In the Kingdom, segregation of territories is defined by their Gross Mana Accumulation. G.M.A. Because of this, we have the Highest, Middle ground, and lowest region, each with cities graded based on their G.M.A." he started, giving Leo a walk-through of the country's structure.

"So, that means the King stays in the highest region?" Leo observed, and Kael nodded.

"Then how about the lowest?"

"In a bid to raise their G.M.A. the lowest region is ideally meant to be occupied by those blessed by Mana and have stronger abilities." He answered.

"But of course, how many high-level mages would want to settle in the Boonies?" Leia let out an amused chuckle, though her eyes weren't smiling.

"That part of the country is teeming with the lowest grade of mages, and as a result of its low concentration of Mana, there's always a drought or natural disaster happening. Not to forget the periodic attack from monsters and migrating wild beasts, it's not the ideal scenery."

"And what does the King do about it?" Leo inquired.

"The affairs of the lower region are of no importance to his Majesty, he only thinks about them when he needs new slaves," Leia answered in a spiteful tone.

"Slaves?" coming from a modern world, the existence of slave trade seemed foreign to Leo.

Leia chuckled, "just who is this guy? He doesn't know anything at all! See this..." She pulled down on her red blouse, to reveal a triangular mark imprinted on the skin of her left breast.

Next to her mark, there was a tally numbered up to seven.

"All slaves have one, it's a nasty reminder that we have to live with all our lives."

"A real sick genius with a fucked up kink thought it was funny to give me a mark here. Oh well, I've been handed around for so long that I don't even remember his face." Leia's tone turned flat towards the latter part of her statement.

Kael in turn, raised his shirt, to reveal an identical triangular mark, branded on the lower left side of his abdomen. Next to his, there was a tally numbered twelve, Leo guessed that was their body count, of how masters they must have had.

'For a kid, that is too high, just what kind of upbringing did he have to go through?' Kael didn't look a day over fifteen, and yet he had to go through twelve masters.

"To gain maximum satisfaction from slaves, our memories are wiped once we're handed to a new master. The only thing we remember is the nature of our abilities and combat skills, weaved into our bodies." Kael explained, pulling his shirt down.

"Then, if both of you are from the lower region, does that mean she..." Leo left the last part hanging, Leia shook her head in response and crossed one leg over the other.

"That corpse you saw on Warwick's ship belongs to the fiance to the crown prince, Artemis. Preserver of the Philosopher's stone and eldest daughter of the Archpriest." Leia's demeanor dampened,

"And Leatrix's older sister."