Chapter 6

Surprisingly enough, this time, Ethan didn't suffer any nightmares. As he got up and looked around for a moment, he was even confused about his surroundings, but after a moment he remembered…

Shaking his head, Ethan got up and decided it was time to leave and create more distance between himself and Hamlan.

As he looked around, he was astonished to see the same tray from last night that should have been empty, packed with food. Feeling confused, Ethan figured the group from the previous evening probably didn't want him to be an eyesore for their VIP.

Without giving it much thought, Ethan ate as much as he could. Before long he finished and the dishes were empty again. Thoroughly stuffed, and somehow feeling tired just from the enormous meal. He lay against the cave wall and before long, he passed out.

…

When Ethan eventually awoke, he felt sick. He had a hard time opening his eyes. He was groggy, but at the same time he felt as though someone kept shoving his stomach, which made him want to throw up.

When he was finally able to open his eyes, he noticed that he was looking at the ground. Even weirder than that was that he was actually moving. Looking around, Ethan noticed a horse's feet in front of him and realized that he was on a horse.

He suddenly heard voices coming from behind him to his left, to which he turned. He saw a tall, muscular brown-haired man riding a horse grinning at him.

"Hey boss, the runts awake! Should I put him back to sleep?"

Ethan tried looking at who he was talking to, but he couldn't see past what looked like a supply cart. While trying to move about, Ethan noticed that they actually tied him up.

He tried moving his hands and feet, but someone had tied them in such a way that he wouldn't be able to set himself free.

"No, it's fine, I'm coming. Let's see if he is going to be difficult."

As Ethan heard the reply, he could immediately make out who it was.

It was Oscar!

Looking in the direction the voice came from, Ethan saw Oscar on a horse moving towards him. Unlike his stern look the previous evening, Oscar appeared quite jovial.

With anger, Ethan spat out,

"What did you do to me!?"

With a laugh, Oscar replied,

"Ho-ho! So you're a tough guy, huh? Listen closely, you belong to us now. You're my property and If I'm not happy with my property, do you know what I will do with it?"

Without waiting for a reply, Oscar went on

"Wrong! I won't throw it away. You see Michael, I'm not a wasteful person. I would rather spend my blood, sweat, and tears to make sure my property is acting as it should."

With that, Oscar took out a whip from his side and unfurled it.

"So what do you think kid? Do I need to do any fixing?"

With that question in the air, Oscar just stared at Ethan as the horses kept moving. With a gulp, Ethan thought to himself.

'How unlucky am I? Running into this bastard as soon as I set off.'

In a low voice, Ethan replied,

"No…"

Thinking to himself, Ethan knew that there was no point in resisting when he wasn't in a position to do anything.

'I should wait. If I make a fuss now, it will be harder to do anything later if I'm injured. I should just wait till he thinks I have given up, then try something.'

With a grin, Oscar replied,

"Good, now don't cause us any problems. We will get to where we're going in a few more days, then we will sell you. If you remain well-behaved, we will take you to one of the decent auction houses."

With that, Oscar rode off and seemed to head towards the front of the convoy.

With that, Ethan decided to not rush and think about his situation.

`How did they even get me in this…'

As soon as Ethan started thinking about it, he immediately realized what happened.

'The food! They must have drugged the food. Dammit, I guess that's it for free food.

I can't believe I'm already in this position. Helpless… my life in someone else's hand.

If I can make it out of this somehow, I can't just trust anyone. Learn Ethan, fucking learn!'

As Ethan was lecturing himself, he heard a low voice.

"Are you hungry…?"

As Ethan turned to look, he saw the young woman from before. With that, Ethan immediately felt anger again and decided to hide it and appear resigned but resistant.

"So what if I am? You want to drug me again?"

Looking ashamed, the young woman couldn't look Ethan in the eye.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to, it's just…"

Ethan could guess that she was probably forced into the situation, but so what?

He was still stuck as a captive, and her regret wouldn't fix it. Knowing that giving up food wasn't a good idea he relented.

"Fine, just give me something to eat"

She gave Ethan one more look and ran back to the front. Before long she came back holding a tray with the same food as before, but there wasn't any meat this time.

She looked at Ethan, seemingly too embarrassed to say something, which irritated him even more.

"What!?"

It spooked the girl for a bit, but she went on to say

"Since you can't move, I will have to feed you..."

Not at all bothered by this, Ethan just replied.

"Fine, just hurry up."

With his consent, she started dipping the bread into the soup and would occasionally feed him.

"Hahaha, you two are quite the pair. Let me give you some privacy"

Ethan had already forgotten about the guard behind the caravan. After his laughter, he rode his horse a bit further ahead and left the pair alone.

The young woman looked a bit more awkward than before, but Ethan just ignored it and kept on chewing.

Noticing that he was hungrier than he expected, he wondered about how long he had actually been unconscious. Since the girl seemed somewhat innocent, he decided to try to get some information from her.

"What's your name?"

With a look of surprise, she looked at him and replied,

"It's Lily… like the flower…

My mother liked them so…

...so yeah, Lily"

It surprised Ethan to notice that she actually seemed like she wanted to talk. He decided to grab this chance and went on with his questions.

"Okay Lily, how long was I out for?"

"Uh… about three days. Wait, you're not going to tell me your name?"

Ethan was immediately shocked at the revelation. He had assumed it had not been more than a day and yet three whole days had already gone by.

With that, he turned to the more important question.

"Where are you people going?"

As soon as he asked that she looked to the front of the convoy and then right back at him and said,

"I can't tell you exactly, but we should be heading to the Huru Kingdom… We should arrive at the border in a few hours… Wait, you still haven't told me your name!"

"Shhhh, it's Michael alright, Mi-chael"

Knowing there was a chance of people still looking for him, he had already decided to use a pseudonym.

Ethan took a moment to look at the situation.

'I guess things could be worse. I've put some distance between myself and Hamlan and if I can cross the border with these people, it will be a tremendous help but…. How to escape?'

Lily just stared at Ethan as he was trying his best to come up with a plan.

Ethan soon noticed that he had forgotten to ask her something important.

"Lily, one more thing. Who are you people?"

As soon as he asked that question, she looked worried.

"I'm sorry, I-I don't think I'm allowed to tell you."

Seeing her reaction, Ethan stopped his questioning for now as he saw the guard moving back to join them.

At that moment, he decided on the first part of his plan.

'I need to win this girl over. She seems to be scared of these people and if I can win her over that will make things easier.'

With that, he changed topics as the guard approached and changed his demeanor towards Lily.

He had casual chats with her now and then as they traveled.

After a few more hours on the road and just before night time they finally arrived at the border.