Transmigrated as a Ghost

1133  Chapter 1133

Szusha began explaining how she first met Petros.

Around every two years a group of high-level Lamias would make their way to the surface to bring men back down to their town. And thanks to having both healing and earth magic which made the trips far safer and easier Szusha almost always accompanied the party.

Naturally as Borealia and Tralenstein were the two closest nations, these were the two countries that the Lamias would go to.

Hearing this did not sit particularly well with Lyra. To her it sounded like the Lamias were kidnapping the citizens under her protection.

"No, we don't ever abduct anyone!" Szusha said, waving her hands in front of her frantically as she denied the accusation.

She quickly clarified that they would purchase slaves from legitimate business that they had managed to form mutually beneficial ties with. Or recruit those that had nowhere else to go.

"Does that mean that most of the salves down here are criminals? I'm not sure how Tralenstein operated before, but I know the only slaves allowed in Borealia are people convicted of pretty heinous acts." Marcus said.

"Yes, that's true, of the humans that came from Borealia at least. And sometimes we end up with some men that simply can't function in any sort of society. A lot of them though, only ended up becoming criminals in your nation due to certain circumstances that few of them could fully control. We've developed ways to help them and get them adapted to our community."

Szusha looked pretty proud of this fact as she spoke about it.

"I don't know too many specifics, but I know that Tralenstein's laws on slavery used to be mostly unregulated. Depending on what territory you lived in could make a big difference. I heard about some lords turning entire villages into slaves simply because they were short on paying their taxes." Lyra said, wearing a sour expression. Her parents had executed because of their fairness and unwillingness to bend to the avarice that had been eating away at the kingdom for generations.

Szusha agreed with Lyra's assessment of past Tralenstein. Except, the Lamias actually rarely bought any slaves from them.

"Instead, we mostly searched for people that were impoverished and living without hope. Many were willing to come with us despite us being monsters in order to escape the horrible conditions they were living in."

Lyra's expression only worsened as she heard this. Back during the civil war and just before it could easily be considered the harshest times in Tralenstein's history. Once her parents had been killed and she joined the rebel forces, she had seen plenty of the settlements where people were treated worse than livestock and were barely able to survive. Their eyes devoid of any sort of emotion and the air of hopelessness around them still haunted her to this day.

"Yes, I could see many taking your offer." Lyra admitted bitterly.

Still, this was clearly not what happened with Petros.

He had not been living an impoverished life. As a knight and nearly level forty, he had a fairly high status within Tralenstein. Even when he joined Lyra as a part of the rebel forces, he still was an officer and never lacked for much of anything.

What Szusha told them next was something that both Marcus and Lyra had already basically figured out.

The Lamias had come across Petros on the verge of death, and Szusha had taken it upon herself to nurse him back to health. Even with healing magic his condition had been bad enough that it took multiple weeks before he fully regained consciousness. By that time Szusha and her companions had already made the trek back home.

"It was honestly quite the shock for me. I'd had a few hazy moments of awareness during my recovery, and most of what I remembered was a beautiful woman taking care of me. It wasn't until I finally was able to stay awake and take in my surroundings that I discovered I had been saved by Lamias.

At first Petros had been terrified, lamias were monsters after all. Yet, when he recalled that it was Szusha that had saved him, he calmed down.

"She even offered to bring me back to Tralenstein if I wanted to return. But I just couldn't. I've never been so close to dying before. The pain, the fear, all of it was too much for me. I couldn't go back. For me, the war had already taken my life." Petros admitted, his fists clenched tightly as he remembered what had nearly been his last moments.

He had an ashamed look on his face. Before his former commander, he was basically admitting he had deserted their cause.

"It's fine Petros. I forgive you. As far as I'm concerned, you gave your life for us that day. We didn't save you, so I don't blame you for wanting to stay with the one that did. The war has been over for a few years now, and while the outcome wasn't perfect, we did win. The vision of our nation that we all shared is coming together. I've no intention of taking you back by force. If this is where you want to stay, then I will accept it."

A visible weight seemed to be lifted off of both Szusha and Petros' shoulders when Lyra said this. This entire time, they had feared that she might forcefully bring Petros back to Tralenstein. At her level, she could easily do so without either of them, or anyone one else in the town being capable of stopping her.

Nevertheless, it was plain for both Lyra and Marcus to see that the two loved each other. They possessed the same type of bond that the two of them had with their partners.

"But does that mean that Petros isn't your slave?" Marcus asked.

This erased the calm atmosphere that had been building and an awkward silence pervaded the room for a few moments.

"Technically he is considered my property, but he's also my husband. It's a part of our culture from so long ago that there are hardly any records. 'All men must be slaves'. Of course, a lot of the Lamias of my generation and younger don't treat the men living with us like some sort of belonging. They are precious members of our community."

It was as Szusha was frantically trying to explain how well the men in the town were being treated that the door to their home suddenly swung open.

Standing in the doorway was a young Lamia girl decked out in the armor of the town's guard, and irate looking blonde Vampiress.