I couldn’t sleep. My mind was racing all night just thinking about yesterday’s events. Were my peers really ok with slavery? That was surely wrong. They were from Earth, just like me. They had the values of 21st century Earthlings. They couldn’t revel in the ownership of humans as property.
Then I figured it out. Slavery was actually some Gen Z slang that I wasn’t aware of. Maybe it meant e-cigarettes or something. Come morning, they would be selecting their favourite flavoured-vape at a shop. A selfish part of my mind imagined the hall being filled with that awful smelling smoke and wondered if actual slavery might be preferable.
I fiddled with my System. In that dark room the intense glow hurt my eyes. I went to the settings to reduce the light and found a toggle called adaptive brightness. Much better.
One of the options on the sidebar was shimmering.
[Status Effects]
I clicked it and a new menu opened. Within it was a single effect.
[Tired]
[All stats slightly lowered.]
I checked the stat page, and my Mind, Body, and Soul were all still at zero. I suppose you couldn’t get worse than that. I tried to go back to the previous screen, but I was having trouble navigating the System. “Ughhh.” I hated using this touchscreen. Why couldn’t it have tactile buttons instead?
This was the same misery I felt when casinos turned all their slots to digital touchscreens. I wanted to press buttons. I wanted to pull levers. I wanted to hear the turning of gears.
My mind remembered the level-up game. I touched the level-up button and a slot machine appeared in front of me. It was just like the ones I liked. A big lever on the side to crank. Three rolling reels in the middle. It looked real. I touched the lever. It felt real. This wasn’t a hologram. I could imagine the beautiful sound it would make if I played it.
I pulled my hand away and stopped myself from going further. I made a vow to abstain from gambling, and I wasn’t going to break it now. Plus, the ‘coins’ to play this one were created by the deaths of those goblins. It would be immoral to use this slot machine.
But the goblins were already dead, not playing wouldn’t bring them back. I placed my hand back on the lever.
No, I couldn’t get addicted to gambling again. I pulled my hand away.
Technically I wasn’t using real money, so that made it ok, right? I placed my hand on the lever again.
But I still shouldn’t. I pulled away.
But I wanted to. An alarm sound jolted me out of bed. I heard the others all getting out of bed too. I touched the alarm rune next to my bed. Below it, the clock rune read ‘07:00’.
The godforsaken clocks in this world were digital too. Analog clocks were so much easier for me to tell the time with. I sighed and got dressed.
There was plenty of food in the fridges. I made myself some beans on toast and sat down in the canteen. Loftus bade me good morning and sat with me. He had made himself porridge filled with fruits and nuts. Others gathered round as well to eat with us.
Everyone participated in a conversation while eating but I found it hard to include myself.
“Do you lot have a build in mind?”
“I would estimate at least half of us are going to invest heavily into magic.”
“Yeah, I agree. Casting spells is the first thing that anyone would want to do in a fantasy world.”
“Some of us won’t have much of a choice, though. The levelling-up system is different for everyone. Some people can choose what they want to specialise in, whereas others can rely only on luck.”
“I have a combination of both,” said a girl with a white bob cut. The name appearing over her head was Selsie. “I have to play Candy Crush to spend my level-up points.”
“Oh, so that’s what that was,” responded a boy sporting a broccoli haircut. His name was Thaxted. “I thought you were playing HuniePop.”
A few in the know chuckled.
“What about you, ancient one? What have you got?” Thaxted asked.
I only realised he was talking to me when I looked up, and his eyes were on mine.
He raised his eyebrows up and down repeatedly. “Well?”
“The slots.”
He raised his fist to his mouth and blew air into it. “Unlucky, bro. You have no control over what you get, huh?”
“I guess not.” This was my chance to finally join the conversation. “So, what did you all do before we came here?”
No one rushed to answer. I suddenly became aware that I was the only one to mention anything about Earth, our home world. Everyone else was chiefly focused on this world. I looked at Loftus for backup. He scratched his chin. “To be honest, I was a NEET.”
The girl next to him replied, “Me too!”
Then the girl next to her replied, “NEET here as well.”
In a circle, everyone answered in order.
“NEET.”
“NEET.”
“Shut-in NEET.”
“Autistic NEET.”
“Kissless, handholdless, virgin, otaku NEET.”
Ok, he didn’t have to mention all that. What the heck was a NEET anyway? Why couldn’t the System have something useful like a dictionary in it. It was my turn to answer. “Acupuncturist.”
Everyone’s gazes lingered on me. I was the odd one out, after all. “Like you poke people with needles and stuff?” Selsie asked.
“Yeah. I pierce pressure points to aid the flow of qi through people’s meridians.”
“Oh.” The conversation died down.
Someone asked, “Are you lot planning on romancing anyone so far?” The conversation livened up again.
“Yes! The royal knight who guided us was the cutest femboy I’ve ever seen. I’m definitely rizzing him up.”
“I heard the king has dozens of sons and daughters. I might bag myself a princess or two.”
I placed both of my palms on my face and pulled down. I had the distinct impression that I would have more in common with the residents of this world than I did with my own.
Hyde and her cronies came to gather everyone from yesterday’s goblin expedition. The twenty of us followed her to a large stone building. The place was right next to a bustling outdoor market full of stalls, vendors and customers.
“We’re here,” said Hyde. Her voice was so grating. She introduced us to a man standing outside the building, ready to welcome us in. “This man is the proprietor of this establishment.”
“Pleasure to meet all of you.” The man took off his top hat and bowed to us. He was a fat man with a large protruding belly. The top of his head was balding heavily. He had a double chin, yellow teeth and pudgy fingers. Truth be told, he looked kind of like me. Or at least, he looked similar to my Earth self.
“Godamn he’s ugly,” Loftus whispered my way.
How rude! That was basically me he was insulting. “Yeah, well, he probably has a beautiful soul. Plus, it’s not about being pretty on the outside; it’s the inside that counts. And he’s probably really handsome when he tries to shape up. Who cares about looks anyway? Scientists say that being funny is more important than your appearance. I bet he tells great jokes. And you know what? Even if he’s a little ugly, to compensate he probably has a massive—”
“Relax, Yarm! Calm down and breathe. What’s gotten into you?”
“Oh, sorry.”
The proprietor guided us into his vape shop. Inside was a place I could only describe as, ‘a little worse than hell’.
The interior resembled an economist’s idea of a prison cell. There were numerous tiny individual cells alongside long passageways. The cells each had a toilet and a piece of ragged cloth that I assume was supposed be a blanket.
There was a variety of people jailed within. There were both young and old, male and female, human and nonhuman. The first person I saw was a little boy with clipped wings. He wasn’t human. His legs were like a bird’s. His arms should’ve been wings but they had obviously been cut. The poor thing had the most pitiful look on his face.
The proprietor put his hand on my shoulder. “You like harpies, kid? I know he’s half-bird, but I need to get an identifier in to verify what kind of bird. You can have him as he is, if you’re not bothered about breeds. He’s already been declawed, so you won’t have to worry about his talons.”
I couldn’t face the boy any longer. I turned to the others. They were prancing up and down the rows of slaves, looking for their favourites. They looked like kids in a candy shop.
What was I even supposed to say in such a situation?
Thaxted shouted in our direction. “Oi, slaver, show me your strongest slave. I tend to mine a lot of ore in games, so I need someone to carry cargo for me.”
“Does this half-chicken girl lay eggs? And would it be weird if I ate them?”
“Woah, this slave used to be a masseuse. I could make him give massages to me every day.” Each cell had a chalkboard detailing the characteristics of the slaves within.
“Are there laws that prohibit doing certain things to your slaves?”
“Not at all.” The proprietor laughed. “They’re your property. You can even kill them if you wanted to. They’re only slaves, after all.”
“Stop messing around, you psychos!” My voice echoed through the building. “These are people! They’re sentient beings being caged up and sold like merchandise. Are you from Earth or not? Don’t act like this is normal!”
“Here we go again.” Selsie rolled her eyes. “Mister Holier than Thou is going to tell us what we’re doing is wrong.”
“It is wrong! It’s wrong to own people. I didn’t think I would have to explain that to a person.”
Loftus raised and lowered his palms at me. “Now, now, Yarm. Just because something was considered wrong in our world, that doesn’t mean it’s wrong in this world. Haven’t you heard the expression, when in Rome do as the Romans do?”
I punched Loftus.
I know I should have calmly explained why he was wrong, but something came over me. I punched him.
Thaxted came over to calm me down, but I punched him too. I started punching everyone around me. I was being surrounded by people trying to restrain me, but I kept punching. I was like a wasp being swarmed by buzzing bees. I threw out punches all around me with no regard for who they hit.
I knew one thing: everyone outside these cages was a filthy slaver or slavery apologist. It didn’t matter to me that I was technically hitting children.
My arms and legs were being grabbed so I started biting too.
Outnumbered I was finally tied up. I sat cross-legged on the ground as ropes bound my ankles and wrists. I saw that several people around me had bruises from my outburst.
I had calmed down. I cleared my throat. “Everyone, I would like to formally apologise for my earlier actions. I shouldn’t have hit you lot. Now please listen as I calmly explain to you all why slavery is wrong.”
Loftus kicked me in the face and left a large bruise on my cheek. “Shut up! We’re done listening to you. I can’t believe this is how you repay me for all the help I gave you.” He went in for another kick but the others held him back.
Hyde stepped in. “Everyone, continue looking for a slave you want to buy. I’ll deal with him.” Hyde picked me up by the collar again and dragged me out to the front of the building.
The outside fresh air was nice. The atmosphere in that building was stifling. It felt like every breath I took in there was slowly poisoning me.
“Just what in the world is wrong with you?” Hyde crouched down to eye level with me.
“That’s a question I could ask to all of you. How could you ever condone slavery? Those so-called slaves are no different than you, yet they have no human rights.”
“They are different from me. One doesn’t just become a slave by accident. They’ve done something that deserves them being stripped of their rights.”
“No one should ever be subjected to slavery, no matter their crime. And how can you call them rights when they’re so easily stripped away?”
Hyde slapped her knees and got up. “Forget it. You can’t be reasoned with.”
She took the words right out of my mouth.
“As punishment for what you did, you can stay here for the entire day. Sit here and repent while I take the others to our next destination.”
I struggled against my restraints, but they were too tight for me to even attempt an escape. After an hour or so, everyone emerged. The proprietor walked out last. “Thank you all. Your slaves will be delivered to you once the paperwork is complete.”
“Are you happy?” I shouted. “Is this what you all want? This is the world we’re supposed to protect from the Demon King?” I was ignored. “And they call you heroes? They’re having a laugh with that one. What kind of hero kills children one day and buys slaves the next?”
They were gladly walking off into the distance while I screamed my heart out.
The fat slaver looked down at me. “Don’t cause too much trouble, alright? The captain told me to keep an eye on you till she gets back.”
I glared at him but before I could retort, a customer walked up. He wore a suit and tie. His hair was slicked back and his eyes were sharp. “Mr Radso, how is your selection today?”
“I’ve some lovely gems for you in the VIP section, Mr Ongar,” the proprietor answered.
“Slavery is wrong!” My sudden shout startled the new customer.
“Huh?” His face was the height of confusion.
“You shouldn’t buy slaves. It’s immoral to act as if people are a commodity.”
“Ignore him.” The proprietor lead Ongar inside.
While I sat, I shouted at everyone who attempted to enter. I pleaded with them to stay away. I educated them on the fundamental rights of people. They paid me no heed.
My voice was getting hoarse and I was getting tired. I really should have slept.
“You’re one hell of a nutjob, aren’t you?” A girl giggled while mocking me. “It has been entertaining listening to you.” She looked to be about my age. Or the age of my body, I should say. Her long black hair fell straight to her waist, but part of it was tied with pink ribbons into pigtails. Above her head I saw:
[Penrin]
[Age: 10]
[Level: 26]
“Do you really think anyone’s going to stop buying slaves because a weirdo like you tells them not to?” she asked. Her arms were folded and she smiled down at me.
“You’re quite sassy for your age, aren’t you, little girl?”
“Who are you calling little girl? You look like you’re the same age as me!”
“Can’t you see what it says above my head, young one? I’m far older. Now respect your elder and shoo.”
“What do you mean above your head?”
She couldn’t see it? Loftus did mention the System being different for non-heroes. “Never mind, I suppose.” I thought it a shame that the only person that gave me their attention was a child. But perhaps this was a golden opportunity to educate the youth. “Listen close, child. What is happening in this building is pure evil. Do not step inside.”
She blew air out of her nose in a mini-chortle. “No way am I listening to you. My mother and I need a maid so we’re buying a slave.” I looked behind her and saw an older woman in heels struggling to catch up. “What’s wrong with that?”
“You could just hire a maid instead.”
“But I want a slave. You should consider getting one yourself. They’re convenient.”
“Just as I would not be a slave, nor would I be a master. So said Lincoln.”
The girl tilted her head. Her mother caught up and took her into the building.
My wails did naught to sway the incoming customers.
“Please don’t go inside,” I whimpered to the next person approaching.
“Why not? And why are you tied up?” he asked.
I couldn’t answer as I did before. I knew I would be disregarded. “The proprietor tied me up because I coughed near one of his slaves. He said he’d sue me into bankruptcy if I got one of his slaves sick.”
The man covered his mouth with his hand. “How awful. I won’t be shopping at an establishment like this.” He turned away.
A devilish smile appeared on my face as I realised the power I had. Another customer came. “Don’t go in there! The proprietor has thugs in there that force you to buy overpriced slaves.” The female customer thanked me for my warning and left.
I came up with all the random bullshit I could to keep customers away.
“There are rats all over the place. Be careful or you’ll get bit.”
“We’re closed. Go away.”
“The entrance fee is more than you can afford.”
“The proprietor doesn’t wear a wig. Also, he smells.”
“The slaves here are actually bombs. Don’t buy them or you’ll get blown up!”
I managed to heavily reduce foot traffic. I knew I wasn’t really changing anyone’s view on slavery, but damn was it satisfying seeing the look on the proprietor’s face when he found out.
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