Chapter 5: Freedom [1]

Chapter 5: Freedom [1]

"S-sir! Please save us! Please!", came a cry from a young woman who was handcuffed not too far away from him.

In the huge cellar, there were a lot of prisoners, most of them exhausted. But this woman, who had been keenly observing Arwol and was waiting for an opportunity for Nami and the guards to move out, finally called out to him.

Arwol looked at the woman... he had nothing but one word in his mind - 'Ugly'. 

Her skin was a mixture of red, pink and black. There were white patches all over. It was as if, her face was burnt.

Other than that, there were deep scars all over her body - the ones that Arwol couldn't take his eyes off were her legs' and arms'.

There were several bruises as well. A lot of her skin hard turned purple due to constant beatings and abuse.

Tears drenched down her eyes, stopping and pooling at her uneven facial surface and continuing to trickle down.

"Sir... please...", she uttered as she moved her right hand towards her abdomen.

Arwol follow her hand and finally looked at her abdomen. It was bloated!

At first Arwol thought that it could be gas... a lot of gas had been accumulated because of not eating or some other reason. He also thought that it could be some internal bleeding... but little did he expect that she was pregnant.

"My child... I don't want another of my child to die. Please..."

???

Arwol was confused.

Another of her child? Did she lose a child previously?

"I can clearly see the questions on your face young man." - there came a hoarse voice from the distant.

Calling a 30 year old young? The person must be at least 100 year old sage!

Close but not correct.

Behind the woman... a little too behind, he spotted an old man wearing a spectacle only on one of his eyes - left eye. He had long white-Grey hair and quite a lot of wrinkles.

He wore shorts and an orange shirt.

His name...

[Name: ???]

Well, even the system couldn't discern that.

"So, Oldman, if you can see the questions, then why don't you try answering it?"

The old man raised his hand and showed his rough palm.

Seeing that, Arwol squinted and with a confused gaze, asked, "What?"

"What do you think I'm doing?"

"I don't know. Showing your palm?"

Arwol was just saying what he was seeing literally.

But the old man meant something else.

"Pay up.", he said with a cold and hoarse voice that matched his age.

"...?"

"Don't stare blankly. Pay up if you want any answers."

"...", Arwol just stared blankly.

"What? You expected an answer for free? Kwokwokwo, wake up to reality. There's nothing free in this world. Even the air you breathe is at the cost of someone's effort."

The man spoke facts and Arwol didn't have a word to argue against. 

The green plants, trees, bacterias and algae - if not for them producing oxygen, right now, he wouldn't even be alive.

It was crystal clear but the old man made it sound quite important.

"I don't have any berries with me.", Arwol just to be sure, checked his torn shirt pocket, half stripped pants and even one of his shoe that he was wearing... sadly, he found nothing.

"Oh come on, lad, did I ask for money?"

"W-what you want then!?", Arwol, going with the flow of conversation, just asked it. The old man didn't hesitate to voice out his thoughts.

"Freedom..."

"Can you grant it?"

Note: One of you readers requested me to write longer chapters. I wasn't going to, cause I'm rather busy and it takes a lot of thinking... but he was polite. He was good. So, I'll be increasing the word count from next chapter [500 words to 800 words].

Note2: Guys, please support me on patreon. You can buy the lowest of tiers... writing even 1 chapter takes over 30 minutes, so even a single $1 would help. Plus, I'll be uploading more drafts in patreon first [upto 20], so please subscribe. Thanks.