Chapter 26
Karen led Rennel inside the guild master’s office. Inside, Rennel saw a muscular dwarf with a full beard. The guild master seemed to be very busy and was almost buried by large stacks of documents. Seeing this scene, the end of Rennel’s mouth twitched.
“You’re finally here, I’ve been waiting for you,” Guild Master Tigre put down the pen he was holding and greeted Rennel.
“Good afternoon, guild master. I heard from Nora that you have something for me.” Rennel asked eagerly.
“I do but before that, please take a seat. I want to first hear the report of the quest I asked you to do.”
Rennel nodded and took a seat, after that she proceed to report the result of her quest. Guild Master Tigre listened attentively to the girl’s report. And from time to time frowns would appear on the guild master’s face.
While Rennel was talking, both Karen and the guild master was silent. And after twenty minutes of speaking, Rennel finally completed her report.
“I see... to think that you’ll encounter an orc settlement in the northern forest while investigating. Seriously, it's another close call. If you didn’t took the quest, we might have only known of the settlement’s existence after the orcs attacked a village or town. By then it would have been too late...”
The guild master let out a sigh. He was aware that the number of monsters had increased significantly over the years due to neglect. If not for the accidental discovery of the goblin village in Greenhorde forest which alerted the authorities, monster settlements might have just pop out everywhere.
Thinking about the consequence of letting monsters multiply unchecked sends chills into the guild master’s heart. Thankfully they have prevented the worst scenario.
“This damn war…”
Guild Master Tigre gritted his teeth. I was mainly due to the war that the kingdom was almost overrun by monsters. After the king started recruiting mercenaries and soldiers to fight in the war, the guild had been greatly lacking manpower to complete quests.
The reason for guild's lack of manpower was because many skilled adventurers answered the call of the king and became mercenaries. After the king offered large amount of money as compensation, many adventurers were tempted.
Of course the guild master would not blame the king. After all the king had no choice. The war that had been raging for years was not started by Almena but by the warmonger king of the Kingdom of Forst. If the king did nothing to counter the threat of Forst, Almena might have been easily invaded.
“Thank you for your report. You’ve been great help to not only the guild but for the kingdom as well. Since your arrival, many things have started to go in the right direction. I’m grateful.
Guild Master Tigre and Karen bowed their heads towards Rennel which surprises the girl greatly. Slightly panicking, Rennel asked them to raise their heads.
“There’s no need for that guild master, Karen. I’m just doing my job.” She said.
“No, this is necessary to show our gratitude,” The guild master argued.
“I agree.” Karen said before nodding her head.
Karen and Guild Master Tigre’s action made Rennel felt very awkward. Thankfully, the two finally raises their heads a minute later ending the the awkwardness.
“Now then… it’s my turn to return the favor. After almost two months of investigating, I finally found some clues on the people you asked me to investigate.” Guild Master Tigre started, “Unfortunately, it’s not complete since the event you mentioned happened many years ago. So I apologized that I only managed to locate some of them.”
Hearing the guild master’s explanation, Rennel was not too disappointed that the guild master only managed to gather information on some of the missing children. For her, it’s already good that the whereabouts of the some of the children were located despite the years that had already passed.
“It’s fine. I’ve long prepared myself for that possibility. Actually, I’m aware that my request was extremely difficult considering that the clue I gave was very limited. Therefore, you have nothing to apologize for, guild master.” Rennel replied with a smile, “Please tell me what you know.”
Guild Master Tigre fixed his sitting position and went through the information one by one.
****
“After months of digging and searching, and using most of my connections, I’ve manage to find three of the people you were searching for. The guild master started.
“First I’ll start with the young man named Lucas. He was bought by a noble who owned a silver mine two years ago, and had been working for him since then.”
When Rennel heard the word ‘mine’, her expression drastically changed. How could it not? Being a miner was very dangerous occupation in this world. Those who worked on mines are always in danger of dying. After all, accidents could happen anytime inside the mine. This was especially true for slaves.
Regular miners were still treated well but the same could not be said to slave miners. If regular miners were injured, their employees would have to pay for their medical treatment as stipulated by the law. But slaves didn’t have such right, if slaves are injured while working, their owners will usually not bother having them treated.
The reason for this was because it’s much cheaper to buy new slaves to that'll become miners than to have injured slaves treated. What’s more only criminals and death row inmates were sent to the mines to become slave. Regular slaves are more expensive and therefore would not be sent there to become miners.
“How did he become a miner?” Rennel asked anxiously.
“According to the report, he was bought by another nobleman three years ago. The said noble seemed to have been quite the cruel owner and have the boy beaten or whipped every time he made mistakes. Unable to take it anymore, the boy attacked his previous owner in a fit of rage.
Fortunately for him, noble was relatively unharmed as the nobleman's guards managed to subdue the boy before he could hurt the man or he would have been killed then and there. Still, he didn’t escape punishment, and was sold to another nobleman who owned the silver mine I mentioned earlier for a silver – most likely as revenge and to spite the boy.” The guild master explained.
Hearing this, Rennel’s heart grew heavy, “How is he now?” The girl asked
The guild master didn’t answer instantly and instead stayed silent which made Rennel’s hear lurched. As she was thinking of the worst possible scenario, Guild Master Tigre spoke again.
“He was injured in a mine accident a month ago, and is currently in a medical facility being treated for his injuries.” The guild master finally answered.
Rennel was worried after hearing that Lucas was injured in a mining accident but was greatly surprised after hearing that he’s injuries was being treated.
“Was it his new master that paid for his treatment?”
Slave owners are not really known to treat their slaves with kindness. That said, not all slave owners are cruel. Some of them are actually weirdoes that still treated slaves as people instead of properties. These slave owners are a rare breed and not easy to find. If a slave find such an owner, he or she should thanks his or her lucky star.
“Could it be that Lucas found a kindhearted master?” Rennel thought to herself.
As if reading the girl’s mind, the guild master spoke, “How could that be? It’s not his current master that paid for his treatment; it was actually thanks to the other miners that he could even be treated for his injuries. From the reports, the boy seemed to have made quite the good impression on the regular miners while working in the silver mine that they willingly pooled their money for his medical treatment.” The guild master explained.
“As expected…”
Rennel was feeling a little disappointed. She really thought that Lucas managed to find a good master. Unfortunately, Lucas was not so lucky.
“Where is Lucas staying now, guild master” Rennel asked.
“He’s currently staying at a medical facility just east of the city. I’ll have Karen take you there later.” Guild Master Tigre answered. “For now, I’ll tell you about the whereabouts of your other friends.
Friends? Hearing the guild master refer to the other village children made Rennel's heart feel sour.
Can she really call them friends? If Rennel recalled, she barely speaks with the other children after her best friend, Pina was sold by her parents.
Actually, Rennel pretty much cut ties with them. Moreover, besides Pina she’s not that close to the other children in the village to begin with.
Questions that Rennel tried to buried inside her heart finally resurfaced. Now that she found the whereabouts of the other children, how was she supposed to face them? Will they blame her for being the only one that escaped the fate of becoming a slave?
Confusion starts to cloud the girl’s mind but managed to regain her calm after remembering her teacher’s teachings.
“I should try to meet them first before thinking of anything. Only after meeting them and finding out their thoughts should I decide my next move…”
Rennel ignored her doubts and focuses on the guild master’s report. According to the guild master, the other two children were bought by traveling merchants. One was a boy named Rudy, and the other was a girl named Adel.
The merchants that bought the other children didn’t live in the capital but was from other cities. Which mean that Rennel have to go to these cities just to meet them. Not that Rennel mind as she plans to move around anyway. Moreover, the girl was in no hurry to need to meet them as compared to Lucas, the other children were doing quite well. At least as slaves goes.
From the guild master’s words, the two children seemed to have talents in business which was the main reason that they were bought by the two traveling merchants. This somehow put Rennel’s heart at ease…
****
After conversing with the guild master, Rennel followed Karen to the medical facility where Lucas was currently resting. The two ladies rode a horse carriage owned by guild employees. Although Rennel preferred walking, she didn’t insist that Karen walks with her as she knows that not all people liked traveling on foot like her.
After an hour in the carriage, Karen and Rennel finally reached their destination. But the moment they get out of the carriage, they saw what seemed to be two groups of people arguing. Surrounding these two groups of people was a large crowd of onlookers.
Also, among these people was a young man with bandages on his head, and arms which indicates an injury.
The moment Rennel laid her eyes on the young man, she already knew his identity. It was Lucas, one of the village children than had been sold three years ago, and the same person that she wanted to visit.
It had been three years since he was sold and had now grown into a young man. Just like her, the boy Lucas had also changed.
Lucas has short, shaggy red hair, and green eyes. He’s not handsome but not ugly as well, just average. His arms that were covered in bandages were muscular, most likely thanks to working in the silver mine for two years. Appearance wise, the young man didn’t changed as drastically as Rennel.
Although she was not close to the young man, Rennel somewhat remembered that Lucas used to be a boy with cheerful personality and eyes that seemed to always glow with hope.
Unfortunately, the betrayal from his parents and villagers, couple with the young man’s experience as a slave wiped that glow from his eyes. Right now, Rennel could only see some sort of darkness within it.
“He had changed…”
A complicated emotions rose from inside the girl’s heart. There was a feeling of happiness, sadness, and a little despair. She was happy that the young man was safe but sad that he had to experience what he did. Lastly, she felt despair that the happy-go-lucky boy she remembered no longer existed.
“Calm your emotions. To live in this world meant that one would experience countless things both good and bad. Suffering injustice is part of life. If one has a strong heart, suffering could make one stronger while those with weaker hearts would be sweep away by despair,”
Noticing the girl’s complicated emotions; Chaos could not help but give the girl some advice. Chaos knew that Rennel was harboring the feeling of guilt since a long time ago. After all, she was the only one among the village children that was not sold to slavery. Not to mention she was fortunate enough to meet a teacher that could show her the way.
Of course, what happened to the children of her village had nothing to do with her. If someone was to blame, then everything was the fault of all the adults in her village who had chosen to sacrifice the children in order to survive.
“I understand, teacher…”
Thanks to Chaos who spoke up before Rennel could doubt herself more, the girl was finally able to calm herself. She then looked at Karen who was watching her all this time with worried look in her eyes, and nodded – signaling that she’s feeling okay now.
Seeing this, Karen let out a sigh of relief. She then signaled her to walk with her in order to ascertain why these two groups of people were arguing.
Rennel agreed to this as she too was curious why these people are arguing. Not only that, she also want to know why Lucas was out about instead of resting considering his injuries. As the two ladies draw closer, a fat man with a large belly pointed at Lucas who then proceeds to berate the young man!
****
To be continued
Previous Chapters: https://read.cash/@beastion
