I Woke Up In Another World As A Slave

"Initiation? Now?" Stick couldn't believe what he heard.

Why today? It didn't bother him to wait a few days when I accepted the offer.

"Yes, now. Go take a bath!" Becket grunted. "You reek."

Becket was missing his usual calm. He seemed agitated. Something's up at the mansion.

He quickly glanced over to Cadmun, who gave him a determined nod.

"What's wrong, baldy? Got attached to a Player?" Reacher asked sarcastically. "You knew this was coming sooner or later."

Cadmun didn't respond. Instead, he turned his face away.

"What? That much? What a fucking idiot," Reacher commented.

"Oh, will you shut up? He's already coming with you," Cadmun said.

"What did you just say?" Reacher's horse moved closer as he pulled out his mace. "Wanna repeat that, you little shit?"

"You better shut your mouth and leave that slave alone," Stick ordered, "or do you really want to defy a superior?"

Becket snickered.

"What was that?" Reacher snapped. "Who are you to talk?"

He raised the mace over his head, ready to strike Cadmun, but Becket intervened.

"Stand down, Soldier. He's right. After his Initiation, he'll be an Officer."

Reacher's face soured. He looked at Cadmun and then back to Becket and Stick. The mace still hung threateningly in the air, but instead of crashing it down on Cadmun's skull, Reacher slowly lowered it back into its leather holster. Then he sharply pulled on the reins of his horse and turned it towards the mansion.

"Then let's go initiate him."

Becket turned to Stick. "You heard the man. Still got that Letter?"

Stick nodded.

"Good. Follow me," Becket said as he turned towards the shanty town to leave.

Stick followed suit, although he had his concerns. This is not what we planned. The mansion is much closer than the Slaughterhouse. How will we separate them from the other Players? And more importantly: how will we separate those two first?

"Hey, wait a minute!" a man yelled.

The three Players had just arrived at the shanties when they looked back to see Titor and a few other miners approaching them. They seemed upset. Reacher immediately turned his horse to get in between the two groups, eager for confrontation.

"You got a problem?" he asked provocatively.

"Yeah," Titor said, "you didn't bring us our holiday meal today."

True! How did I miss that? Titor, you genius!

"So what?" Reacher asked, "That's not our priority right now."

"You're inhumane!" Titor pleaded.

The other miners started to complain too.

"How can you do this to us?" one yelled.

"Do our holidays mean nothing to you?" another cried.

Their wailings were a bit too fabricated in Stick's opinion, but the knights didn't seem to notice. Stick used the distraction to take the [Scrap Meat] out of the [Inventory] and throw it into a nearby bush between two shanties.

"Why don't you ask your bald friend over there if he wants to catch a rabbit in the woods? I have it on good authority that you guys like to poach on the Baron's grounds," Becket said coyly. "He'll hang you for that."

The slaves, surprised, stopped their fake cries. How does he know?

Finally, it was Titor who pushed back once more. "We have to eat!"

"You want to eat?" Reacher threatened. "How about I give you some steel to eat?"

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The Mace took out his weapon and knocked Titor out with one swing. Titor fell uncontrollably, and his head hit the ground with a loud thud.

"I think you garbage NPCs have gotten way too comfortable with Players." The Mace got off his horse, hunched over Titor, and raised his weapon again. "Let me remind you."

He swung down his weapon, and it came crashing down on the unconscious Titor. The miners around them recoiled. They were too shocked to act. Then he raised the weapon once more and swung it down again. And again. And again. Each time he hit Titor's limp body, the mace produced a metallic clanking sound that reminded Stick of the pickaxes in the mines.

"Your hunger is not real! You are not real! This world is not real!" he screamed as he hit Titor over and over again, each hit registering with a loud clank. "We are just in this fucking game with you fucking NPCs under those fucking Players!"

"What the hell are you doing?" Stick shouted.

But Reacher just kept hitting Titor's head over and over again until one hit sounded different than the last. It was an organic, fleshy squish. Oh no, his Protection!

When Reacher noticed the blood dripping from his mace, he let out an animalistic roar. Then he tightened his jaw and swung his mace once more, this time creating a wet crunching sound.

"Stop!" Stick screamed. "Stop this right now!"

Reacher was about to bring down the mace again, and just like before, it took him a moment of consideration while it hung in the air, ready to attack, before he lowered it slowly.

"What did you do that for?" Stick yelled. "I ordered you to leave them alone!"

"Right now you told me to stop." Reacher, taking heavy breaths from all the exertion, just grinned as he slowly stood up and pointed the mace splotched with blood towards Cadmun, Titor's blood splashing on the slaves' feet. "Before, you ordered me to leave just him alone."

Stick balled a fist. "You fucking bastard."

He took a step forward, adamant to hit Reacher in the face. I don't care if that's a crime. He has it coming.

"Bring it, Officer," Reacher sneered.

Tempers flared between the two, a sword thrust between them halting the escalation.

"If the results don't meet your expectations, be more precise with your orders next time," Becket interjected, defusing the situation.

Stick tried to swallow his anger. He stared down the smiling Reacher. How can they be like this?

Reacher, on the other hand, was delighted with the outcome. He strolled to his horse, retrieved rope from his saddlebags, and tossed it in front of the miners.

"You know what to do," he instructed.

Struggling to calm himself, Stick glanced at the rope on the ground, a reminder of his first day. He then turned his gaze to Titor, whose face was unrecognizable with blood. His eyes darted around the shanty town as though searching for an explanation for the witnessed violence, or perhaps trying to avert his gaze from the violence his plan had caused. Something I caused.

His eyes met Cadmun's. Ensuring he had Stick's attention, Cadmun discreetly flashed two hand signals. His right little finger pointed to Stick's hidden stash of meat, while his left thumb indicated the fireplace in the slave camp. Stick blinked to confirm. The plan's still on. Thank you, Titor!

Reacher, having cleaned his armor and mace of blood, called out to Becket. "I'm off then."

"Make it quick," Becket replied. "I need you back at the mansion ASAP for the food delivery. And ease up with the weapon this time. We can't afford more workforce losses."

Comfortably in his saddle, Reacher smiled. "See ya in a bit."

The horse set off eastwards, dragging Titor's body behind. Without Protection from the God of Life, his skin scraped against the ground, leaving a blood trail.

"Stop staring, we need to move," Becket said.

The horse trotted on without waiting for Stick's response. Stick jogged to keep pace with the last row of shanties. Fortunately, Becket, too agitated, failed to notice the shanties had been worked on. Like Stick, he stared eastwards until Reacher's horse, its rider, and the slave tied behind it disappeared behind a hill.

"Not much longer and you'll be a Crimson Custodian," Becket murmured. "Tomorrow he'll be out of your hair."

They had managed to separate the knights, progressing to the plan's second phase. The hope of a successful escape reminded them of the Players' danger. Now I need a way to get Becket back to camp. Or should I wait for Reacher to bring the food delivery? I hoped we'd eliminate his healing powers first. But there might be many like Stamos at the Initiation. It might be the best chance for the Lords' escape without me. They won't need my Inventory then. How long will the Initiation take? How long can I stall to keep him isolated? On the other hand: who knows when Reacher will be back from the Slaughterhouse? What if the Initiation ends too quickly and we lose our advantage? We can't face more than one at a time. Damn it. What will it be? Becket now or Reacher later? If only I had more information. This Initiation's thrown us off.

Ascending the hill, Stick felt the clock ticking. He weighed both options, knowing a decision was needed before reaching the mansion at the hill's summit. After tossing around "ifs" and "whens," he concluded any Initiation-related scenario had too many unknowns. What he knew was Reacher was away, most Players awaited him for his Initiation, and Becket was right in front. They reached the tree stumps, Varyan's childhood hideout beneath the mansion, when he decided to act. This is the only way!

"So, um…" Stick gulped, crafting a convincing lie. "How important is the Letter?"

Becket halted his horse abruptly, his eyes disturbed.

"What did you just say?"

"I, uh…," Stick stammered. "I was just wondering about the Letter of Initiation's importance for, you know… the Initiation."

"Are you serious?" Becket moved closer. "How will the game flag you as a Carnifex member without the item?"

"I don't—" Stick fumbled for an answer.

Becket wasn't having it. "Where's the Letter, Stick?"

"I don't know."

"Stop playing games!" Becket shouted. "Open your inventory!"

What's with them today? Why are they so aggressive?

Stick struggled to stay calm. "I think I left it at camp."

"You won't ruin this for me! Not now!" Becket brandished his sword at Stick's neck. "Open your goddamn Inventory right now!"

Stick's mind raced for an escape, but then he noticed movement by the building. Figures emerged from the pantry, descending swiftly. A shiver ran through him as he realized it was the servants. Shit, why now?

To his horror, Becket's gaze followed his, spotting them too.