You have been enslaved.

Ah… I'm tired. My legs are aching and I can feel my heart beating through my chest. Getting down that hill is more physical than I thought. I'm not even going up, I'm going down, so why is it so exhausting? How can people say exerting yourself feels good? I hate feeling tired like this. Exercising releases endorphins? What a load of bullcrap. I guess I'm really not cut out for sport after all.

Finally reaching the valley, I let a long sigh of relief escape my mouth.

"You okay, Cotton?" I asked the young girl at my side.

Cottontail nodded, her face impassible.

Why am I even asking? She's not even sweating one bit. I'll just comfort myself pretending it's normal since she's a spirit.

The camp probably wasn't too far from here, but since we couldn't hear any voices in the distance, we set out again on our way.

"Cotton?" I called.

"Yes?"

"Do you know where we're heading to?"

"A slavers' camp," the fox girl responded.

"That's right," I confirmed, "a lot of mortals will be there."

"I know."

I marked a pause, carefully studying the fox girl's expression.

"How do you feel about mortals?" I asked.

"I think they're fragile," Cotton replied immediately, without having to think about it, "but quite prolific. A good compromise for their survival since they don't live long."

Such a bland response. As I thought, although she doesn't particularly disdain them, she doesn't feel any sort of attachment for them either. They are simply disposable beings in her eyes.

"Cotton, when we get there, don't do anything rash," I ordered. "Follow my lead. No matter what happens, do not pay attention to the mortals. Do not talk to them, do not attack them. Just… Let me handle this, alright?"

The fox girl did not reply immediately. But after a few seconds of reflection, she accepted my order.

"Alright," she complied, not questioning my intentions.

Good. She's not very talkative, but at least, she's obedient. She's much easier to handle than Yoko, I don't think she'll cause any problem.

After walking for a few minutes, there were finally some changes in our surroundings. Cottontail was the first to stop. Then, right after her, detecting an unknown mana, I realized that we weren't alone anymore.

"Someone's here," the fox girl said.

"Yeah, there are two of them."

Since the strangers hadn't noticed our presence yet, I turned to Cottontail, for one last rehearsal.

"You remember what I said, right?" I inquired.

Cottontail nodded.

"Don't talk, don't attack, don't do anything rash," she replied, "just follow your lead."

"Good, and who am I?"

"Aileen."

Perfect.

My eyes set on the direction of the two strangers, I took a deep breath.

"Let's go."

◊◊◊◊◊◊

It was just as I expected. The two strangers were slavers, patrolling around the area. Seeing how they allowed themselves to rest, lazily chatting on the ground, they had clearly not expected to meet intruders. Nevertheless, the moment we got within their sight, they quickly got back onto their feet. The first one to react was the older one, a bulky middle-aged man.

"Don't let them get away!" he shouted to his partner, as he first charged Cottontail.

According to my request, the fox girl did not try to fight back and allowed the man to overpower her, tackling her to the ground. Following his example, his partner, a much younger boy, charged at me. Without resistance on our part, it was easy for the two slavers to subdue us. Within the matter of a few seconds, we found ourselves completely tied. Then, eager to show their comrades their new found captures, the two slavers brought us to their rallying point. And just like that, Cottontail and I infiltrated the slavers' camp.

The camp seemed even bigger from here. Completely crowded with slaves, it was hard to see the end of it. Still, among all these people, our abductors still managed to venture deep into the camp, as the slaves opened a path for them upon their arrival. And after a couple of minutes, we finally reached our destination. Stopping in front of a bigger tent, the two slavers put us down on the ground, as the older one whistled loudly.

"Guys!" he called, "check this out! Look at what we found!"

A few slavers came out of the tent. Immediately noticing our presence, they quickly gathered around us.

"Shit, a chosen one and a demi-human?"

"And quite pretty too. Talk about a booty!"

"They're going to fetch a lot!"

As the slavers grew excited at out sight, one of them crouched down to reach my eye-level. He extended his arm to grab my cloak, carefully studying its fabric, and frowned.

"That's some high quality apparel," he noted before getting up, returning his attention to our abductors. "That one's clearly a noble," he pointed out, "or the daughter of a wealthy merchant."

"Who cares?" the bulky slaver dismissed with a shrug. "Do you know where we found them? In the middle of the forest. No noble or wealthy trader would let their daughter wander there, all alone. She's probably a runaway. No one will look for her."

"What about this one?"

Their attention shifted to Cottontail.

"They were together, she's probably a servant who followed her."

"No collar?"

The bulky slaver shrugged.

"There are some people like that once in a while, who consider demi-humans our equals. But it doesn't matter now. Now, they're our booty."

The others nodded at this statement, seemingly convinced.

"Hey, kiddo!" one of them called out.

The young boy who captured me immediately took a step forward.

"Yes?"

"Bring the collars."

Complying with that order, the boy headed to the big tent, before coming out of it only a few seconds later, two locking steel collars in hands. As he was about to hand them over, his senior gave him a meaningful look. Understanding the silent order, the boy crouched down in front of us. He brought one of the collars to my neck but, his eyes meeting mine, he suddenly stopped in his action.

"What are you doing? Hurry up."

The boy averted his eyes, unable to maintain the eye-contact. I guess one of them still has some conscience left. He couldn't have been older than Aoban, so I couldn't help but wonder how he ended up becoming a slave trader.

"Sorry…" he muttered, guilt showing on his face, before bolting the collar around my neck.

You have been enslaved.