Sitting down in the middle of an office was a young Sergeant. A knight of the kingdom of Axes. His name was Silver Alexander Kendall. He was a young man with silver hair.
He was sitting on a comfortable sofa with a cup of tea, waiting for someone. He had been traveling for a few days from the Capital. The roads of the kingdom were mostly calm. Organized crime had been dismantled decades ago thanks to the efforts of King Gabriel Lothar The III and the support of the knights of the army.
Unlike the Republic of Selus in the south, the Kingdom places a high value on family names and nobility. As a Sergeant, Silver had been granted the title of Knight, nothing unexpected since he was born in a high house. But what was truly unique about Silver was his talent.
He joined the military like any other person, but his talent caught the attention of several Sergeants and Captains. It didn't take him long to get promoted to squadron leader. From there, he successfully completed every mission he was assigned to.
His achievements, strength, and chivalrous attitude made him an ideal knight for the common folk and his companions. The Supreme General himself noticed him and decided to take him as his pupil, conferring on him the titles of Sergeant and Knight. To most, Silver was also known as' the promise boy'.
Even after being showered in praise and recognition, Silver was still humble and respectful. He always sought to behave like a model knight. He trained with the sword for long days and studied the military law and history of his nation during the nights.
Silver wanted to repay all the gratitude and expectations put on him by becoming a Knight that could protect the innocents and his nation. That was the reason he made this trip alone on the roads. He had received news that an event was about to happen. He had come here looking for the support of a man he knew was loyal to the kingdom.
The door opened, and a man entered, greeting Silver. "Hello, Sergeant Silver, to whom do I owe the honor of greeting you?"
"Thank you for receiving me at such short notice, Captain Cadoc." He bowed his head.
"Please raise your head, Sergeant. Since you came to my house while I'm off duty, I assume there is something important." Cadoc Leivre was a strong and loyal captain. Silver's teacher, General Gen, had spoken about this man's ability. Silver knew in his heart after seeing him that he could trust him.
"Captain Cadoc, you're correct, this is an important matter. I have come to discuss it with you." Both sit down on the sofa, ready to talk. "I received a letter a few days ago. It was from a noble I met on my recent journey to the Republic. In this letter she spoke about one of our own nobles. Are you familiar with Ennis Elwin Damos?"
Cadoc took a sip of the tea in front of him. "Yes, I have heard of that man. He possesses quite a bit of territory on the eastern frontier. Some nasty rumors too, but only rumors."
"What if those rumors are actually true?" Silver looked at him directly in the eyes. "What if Ennis is keeping slaves hidden deep underground in his mansion? He's also planning a party in exactly one week, where he is going to torture and abuse these slaves for entertainment"
Cadoc looked at Silver with sharp eyes. "That's a very bold assumption to make, especially because the army has searched his mansion for any trace of illegal activities and didn't find anything. Are you implying the soldiers in charge are incompetent or perhaps..."
"Corrupt. There are corrupt soldiers who fill their pockets with gold in exchange for letting suffering pass behind their backs. Ennis is sitting on a fortune he inherited from his family. He has been bribing soldiers to keep his secret." There was no doubt in Silver's mind. Not only for Lia's letter, but his instincts told him that Ennis was an evil man.
"If what you're saying is true, then why have you come to tell me this? You could have told that directly to General Gen or the Supreme General himself. In the worst-case scenario, I could be in Ennis' pocket.
"General Gen is busy at the moment with other matters. I'm a simple Sergeant. I can't skip the chain of command on my own. General Gen also spoke highly of you, Captain Cadoc. He called you 'A man with good senses and a loyal knight to the king' I trust the general's judgement better than my own. That's why I chose to come here alone. I don't know how deep the corruption goes. I came to ask for your help in arresting this man and exposing his crimes." Silver kneeled as he finished requesting help.
Cadoc looked at him for a moment and closed his eyes. He grabbed the cup. He drank all of it in one gulp. "AAAAhhhh... You have good instincts, but that will only carry you so far. You need to improve your people skills so you can correctly choose allies to support you." He gave him a smile.
"Then are you going to help me?"
"Of course, I'm going to help you arrest that cruel psychopath. He's a danger that has been free for far too long. I always knew the patrols were useless since he had people inside telling him the schedule. If you are certain of the veracity of this letter, then we can finally catch the degenerate with his pants down."
"Yes sir, I only met her for a short time, but I can assure you that she's a woman worthy of trust. She's also the daughter of one of the members of the Republic Council."
"Then I'm going to trust you. The party is in one week, right? Then we need to gather forces to raid the mansion quickly. I'm going to call all the men I know with certainty aren't corrupt. There won't be many, but if we attack fast, we can arrest him and all his perverted friends." Cadoc got up and walked out of the room. He made a gesture to Silver to follow him.
They walked to the first floor and into a large room. It was mostly empty except for a few weapon racks and training dummies. He took a sword and gave another to Silver.
"S-Should we be training right now, sir? There's a lot of work before we can put the plan into action." Silver asked.
"I'll deal with that later. Now, I want to check something. You have been training with Gen, correct? I want to test how good your skills are with the sword." Cadoc made a few cuts in the air as a warm up. "It is not going to be easy. He could decide to try to kill us all to prevent us from exposing his secret. Let me see if you can defend yourself."
Silver's expression changed. He didn't want to be a burden on this mission. He grabbed his sword and took a battle stance.
"Then I'll go with everything, even if it's only a training battle."
"Good, because I can't waste my time on weaklings. Let's begin." The clash of metal began with a thunderous attack.
The smell of blood and viscera filled his nose. He could barely keep his stomach from puking. He hadn't eaten anything in two days. The smell was so bad that he still wanted to puke. He was a demi human, trapped along with many others. He had been captured a few days ago by some strange group.
He had become a slave. He was told to obey everything they asked him to do if he wanted to live. The first week, he was chained inside a cell with only some bread and water. He was then released into a large room with many others; humans, demi humans and even wild animals. A battle for survival, the last five will get to live another month with delicious food and women.
He didn't understand, but when people start killing each other, your only option is to protect yourself. Kill or be killed. He bit with his teeth and clawed his way out of hell. He managed to survive, one of the last five remaining.
After that, he was moved to a better cell. Still, it was a cell, but there were women inside. He recognized one of them as a demi human from another tribe. She told him they were chosen by their appearance as slaves for the fighters. All the ones that refused were killed.
"You can do whatever you want with the whores; the master has given them as prizes already. He took all the ones that picked his interest for other things." That was the only thing the mercenary told him.
He waited with the women trapped in the cell. The sound of battles coming every few weeks from deeper into the labyrinth kept him awake at night. Until the time for hell came back after a month had passed.
Another battle. This time, the arena was bigger and there were balconies for people to see. He was nothing more than a toy for these people. Armed with a sword and shield, he once again emerged victorious. A dozen people lay dead at his feet, but he didn't care. He just wanted to live.
They gave him more food and a bigger cell. He was told to prepare for the next battle. A couple more weeks passed, until the demi human girl told him something. "I heard that you fought well in the past events. I have heard from other girls that the most powerful warriors are sent to a special arena. But one has returned alive. Please be careful."
He took her word at heart. He wasn't going to die here. No, until he had his revenge on all these bastards that toyed with people's lives. He trained the remaining time he had to beat anyone that attacked him, maybe even convince them to join forces to rebel and escape instead of fighting each other.
When the day came, he was transported to a secret room. It was enormous, but only a solitary balcony was watching, about three people looking at them. Him and another five warriors were present. One of the people on the balcony spoke, a man with black hair.
"Slaves if you want your freedom or anything else. Our Master is going to give you a chance. Defeat the champion and you can ask for any wish to be granted. You can attack him all at once. Everything is permitted in this fight."
After saying those words, a giant door opened. From inside, the Champion appeared. A single look was all it took for all of them to lose any semblance of hope.
The first one tried to run at the champion with his axe; he was crushed instantly into a bloody pulp. The rest tried to attack him together, spear and sword, even one of them tried to cast a spell.
"HAHAHAHAHA" With a menacing laugh, the champion killed them all with his bare hands. There was only one slave remaining. The demi human who only wanted to live, wanted vengeance for his tribe, for other tribes, and for the innocents trapped and murdered here.
His body was being crushed by the enormous hand. He vomited. This time, his stomach was full. He looked with despair at the terrifying champion.
"SSSSSOOOOO WEAK. WHY ARE YOU SO WEAK? US ARE THE SAME, WE BOTH ARE DEMI HUMANS RIGHT? RIGHT? SO WHY ARE YOU SO WEAK?" He put the head of the man between his fingers. "TOO WEAK. TOYS ARE TOO WEAK" He crushed the head like a grape and dropped the body.
"Ahahahaha he´s too strong Master, there´s no way weaklings like those could ever hope to beat your Champion ahahahaha" The laughter of a woman dressed as a clown filled the room. "Aaaaahhhh, I wish Sully was here. He loves to hear the screams of pain of demi humans. He's taking his sweet time returning. Ooohhhh, maybe he's dead in a hole somewhere ahahahahahah…"
They haven't heard from Sully in a week. The probability of him being dead was very high, but he didn't care. Ennis was drinking wine and looking at his champion munching on the remains of a slave. "Oh, these fights are so boring. I want the day of the party to come soon."