Everyone who escaped from the slave traders was now looking at Mike for some sort of explanation as to where the others were. Originally there were around twenty-odd people but after the who ordeal, there was less than half of them remaining. This was putting Mike in a tough spot since if he were to tell a lie he would have to roll and that was something that he would want to do since there is the possibility that they all might turn on him or something like that cause of lying.
"Sir, what happened to us and w-where are my children?" The mother says with worry in her eyes as she starts shaking for the fear of her children
This was putting Mike on the spot and just signs before looking at all of them.
"I will give you guys the option to choose whether you want to hear the truth or whether you want to hear a lie about what happened" Mike offers
"Why would you do that?" Someone asks
Mike does not respond but is dragged by Mike away from the group and out of earshot from the remaining elves and humans. The man was a human with some plain features, slightly tanned skin which is common for farmers who work under the sun, and the only odd thing that Mike could see was his blonde hair. Once there Mike whispers into the ear of the man who asked and Mike tells him the truth of what he found when he first entered the room but omitting the details of Irina letting them go and some other pieces of information.
17 and 9
17 remains
The man's expression was changing rapidly from shock, fear, denial, and a bunch of other negative emotions that he was feeling about the entire thing as Mike recounted the scene to him. As Mike went on however the man's face suddenly paled visibly in the middle of Mike's recount of what happened. Mike was a bit confused at what had happened since he had not said anything specific about what this man had done while he just gave a recount of some basic happenings down there.
"You all right?" Mike asks
"Y-yeah I am good... just fine... never been better," The man says
15 and 15
'Huh same number' Mike thinks
The roll takes effect and Mike deduces that this man is remembering something from what Mike has been telling him.
"You remember something don't you?" Mike asks
The man with fear and regret in his eyes slowly nods his head as he remembers what happened due to the effects of a spell that was cast on them the moment they entered the room.
Even if magic can erase memories or change them as long someone recounts the truth of what happened they will be able to remember what happened eventually as their mind would put the pieces together bit by bit.
"Look I am sorry for what you all went through alright just take some solace in that you were being forced to do those things by someone else and that you were not trying to do that yourself" Mike offers some comfort to the man who just slowly nods his head
"Now you see why I am offering you guys the choice between the truth and a lie. Think about it how would that mother react when she realizes that she was the one who murdered her children?" Mike says
At that, the man's eyes go wide with horror as thinks about how everyone else would react to the news that they had killed the others. Sure they were under some sort of spell but that did not help much as they still did the deed that caused their deaths ultimately.
"I understand sir I will talk to them and make sure that those who want to learn the truth can do so while those that don't want to know can not," The man says before going back to the group
A few minutes go by as the man talks to everyone in the group before he comes back to Mike with a majority of the group behind him following.
"Alright those that speak elvish translate what I am going to say to the elves if possible," Mike says as he looks over the group
His eyes however end up on the mother from before who was looking at him with that look of worry on her face for her missing children that Mike knew what happened to them.
"Miss are you certain you want to hear what happened to your children?" Mike asks
"I want to sir and not knowing will not help my conscious so I believe I have the right to know what happened to them," She says
"Then let me save you the pain by saying they are both dead is that good enough?" Mike says a bit too harshly
At those words, the mother broke out into tears as she started to grieve for her dead children as others around her came to her to help comfort her in her time of pain and sorrow. Some of the people did look at Mike with cruel gazes for what they said but Mike did not care what they felt towards him.
Now that may seem a bit cruel to say such a thing straight to her face but Mike wants her to know that now her children are dead, but not the fact that she killed them. Mike wanted to spare her the regret and pain of knowing that she took the lives of the children that she cared for, protected, and gave birth to. So while it may seem harsh to others Mike was doing her a favor without even knowing it.
Mike asked for some of the people to move her away from the group who wanted to hear the truth for now as he still needed to tell these people what happened.
There was no dice roll this time, just Mike recounting the same story that he told the first man who wanted to know the truth. Mike of course omitted some details and made it seem like Irina was a male who got away, how "he" was an evil magic user who was helping with the slave trade, and how he forced everyone to fight for his amusement before his men in the room. By the time he was done with the story, all of the humans were pale as ghosts while the elves were looking at the translator confused since he suddenly stopped doing anything as their memories also resurfaced of what happened. These people would be mentally traumatized at the least while those who could not cope with what had happened would choose to end their life early to escape the pain of the memories.
This is why Mike wanted to lie to them all as he wanted to save them from the pain of remembering as sometimes the truth is more painful than the lie that is fed.
The translator eventually remembered his job and completed Mike's recount to them and when they all heard about the events that transpired they all broke down as well.
"Alright everyone listen up cause I am only going to say this once," Mike says prompting everyone to look at him
"I know that what happened is something that you all want to forget and I completely understand why you feel the way you do. You were used by someone else to kill those who were apart of your group and now that I have told you this and now your memories of the incident are back. I have just one thing to say to that. Live on in their memories. What good does dying have for you? All you will do is just make others sad and grieve for you. Would those that die down there today want you to throw away your lives just because you are depressed? No, they would want you to live on and do what they could not do in their life, learn from this and come back into the town stronger and better than before!"
Mike's speech was short and to the point which was exactly how speeches should be in his opinion. The speech was strong, precise, and resonated well with those before Mike as those words hit hard on their minds and broken spirits.
"He is right guys we are not the ones at fault for what happened it is that damned magic users fault!" the man from before says
Everyone starts nodding their heads in affirmation as their grief and sorrow transformed to anger against their captors and the one who did this to them.
"Sir we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for saving us as you could have just escaped when you had the chance but you saved us instead, for that we are truly grateful and want you to keep the money that you found" The man offers Mike as everyone else nodded their heads in confirmation of his actions
"I would be glad to accept the money but unfortunately I can not do that to you all you all need it more than I do," Mike says as he brings out his money pouch
He then takes out 100 gold pieces and divides them up between everyone and leaves nothing for himself, which moves everyone. Mike did not care about the loss of gold since he had all sorts of items to sell once he got back into town, he had taken all the equipment from the people that Mike had killed since they would be having no use for their items and money any more where they were going.
With that out of the way, everyone starts moving back towards town as the sewer system let them out someplace about 3 miles from a town near and they would need to walk back to the city through some farmland. With all that done they all start their trek back to Irondale before it turns dark as it seemed to be around 1 or 2 in the day by looking at the way their shadows were cast on the ground and the position of the sun in the sky.
Mike was leading everyone since he was their great savior apparently and they spend the next hour or so moving back to the city and arriving at the gates. Everyone went into a line that was made to go through to get into the city, but the smell from the sewers was still lingering on everyone which made the other people who got a whiff of their smell gag a bit and look at them like they were pigs. When everyone finally got up to the gate Mike and everyone else asked to see the captain of the guard as the people said that they were a group of escaped people about to be sold into slavery.
The guard was probably overwhelmed by what was happening as this position was probably the most boring and safe since all he was is just a glorified door manager. The guard eventually recovers and asks someone else to cover his position while he goes to get his captain while they all are waiting.
Now that they were going to get some help from the guard everyone starts handing in their money back to Mike just so they aren't taken. The guards of the city were supposed to protect them but given how they did not and some stranger did their views and trust of them dropped as a result. Mike took the money once more and put everything into his system inventory but with the addition of that, he has no more slots to use for anything else for now even his sword could not be put in there.
'Actually, could I even put my sword in the system space if I have Sarenthia inhabiting it?' Mike asks Abbey
"You sure can bro. You can put your sword in" Abbey says
'...'
'Never say that again okay?' Mike says
"Say what?"
Mike ends the conversation there as Abbey did not understand and he did not want to go there after all this was something he was not prepared to explain.