The opening of the door to Mrs. Fera's room seemed like an endlessly slow process as the creaking sound filled the air. Not even the breathing of the children or Mrs. Fera could be heard, and she lowered her whip- ceasing the beating of the child she was on for just a moment after she heard the disgusting voice which seemed to captivate the attention of every person present.
From the inside of Mrs. Fera's room, a monstrosity exited.
It was disturbing. A hairy spider, standing on two legs- wearing bandages wrapped all around him like a mummy, with cones that looked like spikes covering his lower four arms. The bandages completely covered the upper two arms, and he wore a large backpack made from a similar bandage material.
He had four bloodthirsty eyes, and two fangs which dotted the ends of his mouth- which smiled with a horrible sadism.
His hair which looked to be spiked up, and he slowly came into the hallway for everyone to see him as he nonchalantly making his way in front of the group.
"M-monster! T-there's a monster here! Nathan! Go kill it!!", Mrs. Fera shouted, reeling back.
Nathan looked concerned and afraid, unsure what to do.
Should he listen to Mrs. Fera to avoid later punishment, or should he run here and now to escape the clutches of the monster in front of him?
He didn't know, so he kept frozen still.
"S-somebody go kill that abomination!!!", Mrs. Fera said while shoving her way through the crowd of children, making her way to the back so that the children acted as meat shields. She had dropped the whip, and the children who were bent over with their backs exposed stayed still while closing their eyes. They had been expecting to be whipped soon, but now they heard that another person had entered so they simply kept their eyes shut and remained curled up in balls.
Coran stepped forward, and put his human hand on his face.
"These children.... they are your slaves, no?", Coran asked while facing Mrs. Fera.
"S-slaves?? H-how can a monster like you speak, and how do you even know what that word is!?! Anyways, these children are not my slaves!!! What a vulgar word! I would never even consider having something like slaves! That would be disturbing! Evil! How dare you accuse me of such a thing?!"
"Oh?? You say these children aren't your slaves then?", Coran asked, while walking over to the children who were bent over.
"O-of course not! I would never consider having slaves!"
Coran picked up the whip, and started to inspect it.
"Then what is this? Is this not a tool used by a slavemaster to drive her slaves?"
"That is merely a disciplinary tool, for bad children! That has nothing to do with slavery!!"
"Discipline?"
Coran looked over to the scars on the backs of the children.
The ones who had been flogged were covered with bruises and partially dried blood.
"You call this discipline? This is quite excessive for discipline."
"What can you even say!? You are nothing more than a monster!! How could.... how did you even get here!!!??? How could you understand the difference between discipline and slavery!? You couldn't!! You have no say in this!! You are nothing more than a monster!!!"
Coran dropped the backpack so that he held it with his feet as he did before, and jumped up to the ceiling, sticking to it, so that he had a good shot, and then fired off a net made from sticky webbing at Mrs. Fera.
She was caught in the net, which trapped her lying on the floor.
"Agh!!! Children, help me out of this thing!!! Help!!! What are you waiting for!?!?! Get me out of here, or you won't ever eat again!!!"
Mrs. Fera struggled violently within the net, only further entangling herself until she reached the point where she was unable to move at all.
"H-help!!!! Why are you all just standing there!!!??"
The children were all too scared to move, but it was also that they did not care to move.
Even if they could save her, they weren't sure if they would have- however they were too scared to even move with the monster behind them like this.
"Now then..... let me ask you this. Is there something wrong with slaves? Is there something wrong with owning them? Is there something wrong with being a slave? Tell me from your mouth directly. What is wrong with slavery?"
"Of course there is something wrong with it! Only a brute who had no sense for society would do something so disgusting as owning slaves! To confuse my orphanage here, a place where I care for these helpless children and raise them to become productive members of society, with slavery, is a grave misunderstanding! One that should never be made! Those who own slaves are the scum of the earth!!!! And I am nothing like those people!!"
Coran became infuriated at this.
"Oh? I see. So you are that type of hypocritical garbage."
Coran shot out a web, and swung over so that he was next to Mrs. Fera, who was trapped on the floor.
"But let me tell you this, 'ma'am'. That claim you made just now was a direct attack against those I serve, and I can't allow that to go without anything to show for it."
Coran smiled.
"But.... I suppose I have a use for you, so I will have to keep the punishment minimal for now...."
Coran then swung over to the children, who's backs were still bent over, and he reached into his bag.
"Alicia. Red potion please."
"G-got it, master! I mean, Coran!"
"Wha- master!? Do you mean to say that you have a slave inside that bag!?!? You disgusting monster!!!!!!", Mrs. Fera shouted. "I will gather the entire village to hunt you down!!! The monster who has taken slaves for himself, and invaded my poor orphanage!!!"
Coran grinned devilishly as he heard this.
"Please do. That is exactly my intention, after all."
"Wha- you!! You are filth!!! You abomination!!! What are you trying to do??"
At this point, Alicia had handed Coran a red healing potion- one of greater quality that his master had packed for him. Coran opened the cork, and dumped a small amount of it onto the backs of each of the children.
"There we go.... I don't really prefer to see something like this."
The backs of the children healed, and even the scars and lashes from before seemed to disappear in an instant.
"You all too. Get on the ground.", Coran ordered to the other children, and they all listened without question.
Coran went around to each one, ordering them to show their backs, and he poured a small amount of the potion onto each one.
The scars and wounds on each child were healed instantly, and Coran smiled with a devilish aura.
"There we go.... I can't have damaged meat after all. I'm quite a picky eater, you know. You all will make for some delicious delicacies."
The children, who were all bent down after receiving the healing, were unfazed by this.
They didn't expect this monster to do anything good, and were only confused by the healing touch they felt when the potion was poured on their backs, but they now realized why.
This monster was out to consume them.
He didn't do anything like this for something like kindness or compassion. He was simply a monster who wanted to devour them in the best possible state.
And that was exactly how their entire lives had been. From the moment Mrs. Fera took over as the headmaster, they were simply being consumed bit by bit.
The children did not so much as bat an eye, but seemed to accept their fate.
Mrs. Fera however began slurring insults.
"Why you- do you know how much effort I spent producing those products!??! There was even one who was almost ready for sale, and now you tell me that you're going to rob me of all my hard work?!?!?"
Coran approached Mrs. Fera, and looked down on her condescendingly.
"Yes. Exactly. I'm robbing you of everything. Do you know why?"
"Grr!! Why!?"
"Because I'm a monster. I take pleasure in seeing other people's hard work crumble."
"You vile being!!! I will have you killed for sure!!! If you kill me here, people will investigate my death.... they will hunt you down, and you will regret ever crossing me here!!!! I have great political power, and ties with the Senator! They will send a unit after you!!!! No, the entire town!!"
"Is that all? A single town? You would need more than a legion to defeat me."
"You arrogant prick!!! Don't underestimate the soldiers of the Empire!!!! They will slaughter a mere spider-freak like you!!!!"
"Heh heh.... well then, you're acting like I'm going to kill you or something. I think you've misunderstood me here. I have no intention of killing you right now. That would be too easy for you. I can't allow a piece of scum like you an easy way out by killing you here and now. Oh no.... but I do have a role for you to perform."
Coran then spun a web, shooting it out and wrapping all 30 of the children in what looked like cocoons with their heads sticking out. He then strung the cocoons to each other, attaching them like a string of beads.
"The giant spiderlike abomination who wields strange weapons and owns slaves has kidnapped all the orphans. We need to save them, and defeat the MONSTER before he consumes them all. Something along those lines? Yes. Please go and spin this tale around for me. I'm sure you'd like to take your revenge, right? Ah, but wait! I need to make absolutely sure that you have something to take revenge on me for!! HAHAH!!!! OF COURSE!!!!! But first..."
Coran wielded the whip which Mrs. Fera was previously using to beat the children, and smiled demonically as his shadow fell upon her.
"A little humiliation."
Coran brought back the whip, and began furiously slashing at Mrs. Fera, who was unable to move.
"AGH!!! Cease this!! Get the hell away from me!!!"
"What's wrong??? Does it hurt??? Does it hurt??? Huh???"
Coran brought the whip down on her face, slapping her head back and forth multiple times, leaving bruising and red marks.
"Eek!"
"I bet it hurts, doesn't it?? Never. Never. Never. NEVER. Act as if slavery is a bad thing. You're right. You aren't a slavemaster. You treat these children worse than slaves. You called them your property!? Don't make me laugh. To you, they aren't even property. Any decent person would treat their own property with care and respect. If my masters were to see something like this, then I'm sure they would be disgusted that I would even have called something like this slavery."
Coran spit into the face of Mrs. Fera, after purifying his spit of any poison inside his mouth before turning back and whispering into his bag.
"Slave. Knife."
Alicia handed him a knife from inside the bag, and Coran approached Mrs. Fera, menacingly while licking his drool from his lips.
"Lets see here.... just what should I take from you???? Just robbing you of your hard work is not enough to ensure that you hate me.... lets see.... I suppose I should go with something like this...."
Coran sliced off the fingers of Mrs. Fera's right hand, slowly and carefully implanting the knife into each finger. Mrs. Fera began to scream and shout in pain as the blood ran across the floor, seeping from her fingertips- however he did not stop.
"AGH!!!!!!!"
He continued to slice, one finger at a time, until he had cut all five off. He then grabbed all five of the fingers like a handful of change, and threw them up and down.
"AGH!!!!!!! HELP!!!!!!"
"M-MY HAND!!!! MY HAND!!!!! AGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Coran simply smiled, and he began licking the fingers before sliding one down his throat.
Crunch. Crunch.
"A bit chewy, and somewhat crunchy as well. Not bad."
"AGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU MONSTER!!!!!!"
"Would you like one, slave?"
"Sure."
Coran handed one to Alicia, and the crunching sounds could be heard from inside the bag.
'Just.... just what kind of abomination is this??? And just what abomination is inside that bag!?!? This.... this is extremely bad.... AGH!!! My hand is in so much pain!!! I can barely even think straight.... Urg.... I..... I have to kill this thing.... this thing needs to be eliminated.... this things doesn't belong in this world...."
Coran gulped down the remaining fingers, and then left the scene, dragging along the chain of children in cocoons, who seemed to be completely passive to the situation. While some of them did look scared, it was actually only because they were scared of what Mrs. Fera would do when this was all over with.
None of the children screamed out for help, as they were too scared of being reprimanded to do so. Even if they did, nothing would be heard, as Mrs. Fera ensured to isolate this place so that nobody could come running to their aide no matter how much they screamed.
Coran then exited the building, and smiled as he set off for the mine which he had seen from a distance beforehand.
"That might be a good place to hide out."
He shouted back to Mrs. Fera, who was still inside the building, tied up and fingerless on one hand.
"The monster has taken over the mine, and is hiding there with all the orphans. Don't forget that part!!", pointing towards the mineshaft so that she could clearly see where he was headed.
He heard a few more insults and screams from the woman, until he was far enough from the building so that her screams disappeared, drowned out with the dead sounds of night.
----
Mrs. Fera was completely infuriated.
Veins popped and wrinkles covered her face as she writhed in pain.
Not only had her children showed such disobedience, sitting by and ignoring her orders to kill that thing, and not only had that monster robbed her of her assets, but it had accused her of treating the children worse than slaves.
She could never accept such a thing.
To accuse her of something so repulsive made her tremble with her very being.
It was beyond unrealistic, but what if people were to hear rumors?
Of course, they wouldn't listen to such a monster, but what if they spread in a different way? This was the terrifying thing about a rumor. It doesn't matter who spread it, or how credible the information is. It would still damage her reputation. She could not tolerate such false accusations.
However, what preoccupied her the most at this time, was not the accusations and the words of the spider which had angered her.
It was the pain in her right hand.
Her fingers had been removed.
Despite being chopped off, she felt the stings as they were chewed up as if they were still connected to her.
It was grueling.
Only a monster beyond imagination would do something this cruel.
However, this whole situation, her fingers aside, was extremely concerning.
A monster with intelligence.
This monster posed a great threat, not only to the business of Mrs. Fera, which happened to be it's target, but also to the entirety of humanity.
But, Mrs. Fera could use this against it.
She didn't understand why the monster said what it did, but the being made it clear where it was headed.
Mrs. Fera didn't care that it seemed suspicious that the monster had told her it's exact location, and exactly what to say.
She would use this against it.
She would spin the tale of the monster kidnapping the children, and spread it throughout the town.
Out of their respect for her, and their concern over the orphans, she could easily get the entire town to rise up together, forming a militia in order to defeat that monster who had fortified himself in the cave.
Her hand had gone numb at this point, and the pain lessened, allowing her to think straight.
This was a good plan. That monster may have been intelligent, but it was actually relatively stupid if it thought it could defeat an entire legion.
There was no way!
She would gather everyone up, and raid the mine- slaughtering the monster, and retrieving as many of her children back as possible all in one swoop.
'This has been such a setback.... grr...'
Mrs. Fera tried to move, but she couldn't. The net was too strong to break with her own strength. If only she had a knife or something.
'I can't move! I have to wait for someone else to come and let me out! Did this monster do this to me, knowing that I wouldn't be able to escape!?'
She cursed the monster once more, however, she felt the strings which bound her slowly loosen.
'What's this? They can't last forever! If I continuously struggle, I should eventually be able to break free!'
This was of course, a part of Coran's plan.
He had tied her in a new type of strings who's stickiness would deplete over time, and eventually she would be let free- after around 12 hours.
Mrs. Fera spent the rest of the night, trying to break free.
'Tomorrow, I will go around the town, showing off this hand and proclaiming what happened... I should speak to the Senator, and have him organize another meeting among the people of the village.... this is very troublesome, but I must do it. And just when I was so close to being able to sell off my first product....'
----
Coran made his way to the mineshaft, which was in the side of a hill while dragging the children in toe, who were connected by a string of cocoons.
Alicia peeked her head out from his bag.
"Master... I mean, Coran.... is there something wrong? You seem to have thrown all caution out the wind."
"No, things are actually going exactly according to plan. You cannot achieve any results without risk. This is merely a large risk, with a large reward. Please bear with me."
"Of course!"
"Now then... as far as these children...."
The line of cocoons who he was dragging along looked at Coran with fearful faces.
"Please don't eat us.", one younger child asked calmly.
"We'll do anything you want. We'll work for you, or whatever you need. Please don't eat us.", another pleaded with a dead looking face. "But whatever you do with us, don't give us back to that woman. I would prefer to be eaten."
Coran held up a hand.
"Save this for inside the mines."
Coran then entered the mines, instructing Alicia to go to the back, and carry the other side of the chain of children.
The two entered the mineshaft, which wooden beams spanned, covering the thin tunnels. Torches adorned the walls every so often, however as they got deeper and deeper it became more dusty and cobwebs appeared.
"Let's see.... I haven't heard any sounds of humans around here. It seems that this mineshaft is abandoned. Perfect. I don't even have to capture or fight anyone to use it."
The group continued through the tunnels, until they eventually reached the point where the walls were no longer made of dirt, but now stone.
The tunnel then opened up into a clearing, a large cave that looked like an enormous circular room.
"Ah, I think this will be the perfect spot to set up camp."
Coran left to head back to the entrance, telling Alicia to keep watch over the children for a moment. He traveled back to where the torches were, then grabbed a few of them and returned to the cave, where he placed the torches around the area.
"This is acceptable."
Alicia had hauled the rope of children into the open area, and they were lined up now on the ground.
Coran then stood in front of the children, and prepared to speak.
"P-please...."
"Spare us...."
"Help...."
Some children whimpered lightly. They were too famished to even plead properly at this point. They were barely even able to get the words out.
Coran stood forward, and inspected each and every child.
There were almost no similarities between them. They were all different ages and genders, and the only thing in common was the fact that they were all malnourished, worked to the bone, and broken mentally.
It reminded Coran of the goblins in the tunnel that day, long ago.
Coran smiled.
"You all have escaped one slavery, and entered another. Rejoice, and prepare yourselves to work hard for my masters."