There was a strange silence in the mine, as the large burly man, and rest of the slave workers stopped working and glanced towards a weird masked individual that appeared in front of him.
"State your Business, This mine belongs to Viscount Silva, you can't just barge in here whenever you like." A large burly man grumbled.
Karn didn't panic, despite the guards grumbling before glancing towards the slave workers chanined with Iron chains casted on both their hands and legs.
"Show me the documents, stating these peoples crimes."
"Didn't you hear me ?, This is not the place where you can walk right in, Leave right now." Saying so the guard immediately drawed his whip towards Karn.
Karn unsheated his sword he picked from Viscount Silva's body and cleaved the incoming whip charging towards him into 3 equal parts.
"Heuk" The guard exclaimed witnessing the state of his whip.
"Now, where are the documents."
"Ahh!, all these people are spoils of war, from the tribes, their isn't any criminal documentation about them." the guard answered hurridely, as his previous deminour was now nowhere to be seen.
Karn gave a nod, understanding the situation.
"I see that's great that makes my task a whole lot easier."
The reason why Karn asked for the documents, were to make sure not to rescue some criminals who might be held in here.
Even if they are planning on recruiting people in their army, they would prefer if they are not not convinced rapists or arsonists, it was one of the instructions Ian gave to him, to filter out the candidates, but it turned out to be completely unnecessary as this mine didn't hold any Criminals, but people from those tribes who tried to fought back against the Empire.
Karn immediately brandished his swords and walked towards the group of Slaves standing infront of him, As he casually started swinging his sword around.
Clank ~ Clack ~ Clank
With each swing of his sword, the steel restraints around their limbs broke free, as those life less faces of those Slave labourers turned into a glint of surprise.
After Karn finished removing the restraints of all the Slaves around him, he noticed almost couple of hundred pairs of eyes looking straight at him.
Karn glanced at couple of hundreds of slaves looking at him with a confused gaze. They had no idea who this individual infront of them is and why did he bother rescuing a bunch of nobodies like them.
The Slaves didn't exactly feel thankful towards Karn or anything, cause if they wanted, they could have gotten away, given the lack of security this place had.
The reason they didn't was because they had nowhere else to go, the place they call home has already been burned and reduced to ashes, by the Empire.
"Ahem!, Alright I'll be blunt and get straight to the point, people who are here with their family, or have someone still alive out their please gather to my right and those who have lost everything to the Empire and are orphaned gather and stand to my left."
The Slaves started questioning and discussing among themselves before following the instructions given by Karn.
Soon an orderly group of two was standing right in front of Karn.
The Right side consisted of scenes like a man holding his half naked young daughter on his arms, or a skinned woman holding hands of a young child who body appears to have been just made out of bones, or an old woman getting mended by his young son, While on his left side there where people standing with a completely lifeless eyes, as if they have nothing much to live for and they wouldn't even bat an eye if someone told them they are going to die tomorrow, on the contrary they might cherish that news.
Karn closed his eyes and took a deep breath while engraving this scene in front of him, 'I need to put things back into their place' those thought appeared in his mind before opening his eyes.
"I am not going to do or say some grand gesture, if that's what you're expecting, I am here just to promise you guys two things." Karn glanced at the crowd, who had their complete attention towards him, before he continued.
"For the People in the Right I'll promise you a place for you and your family, a place you guys can call Home." Ian immediately turned his towards his left while saying "And for the people in my left, who have already lost everything to this barbaric Empire, I'll make you a promise to do everything I possibly can to make sure this very Empire which did this to you Cease To Exist"
A loud sound of murmuring errupred from the crowd, as those words left Karn's mouth, as those people gathered around him started discussing.
I'll not force you guys to follow me ,There's no rush, go back and discuss it with ease, and if you have made up your mind, come and gather outside the outskirts of this village tomorrow morning."
As Karn was about to walk away, letting these Slaves discuss among themselves, he immediately halted his steps and looked behind.
"Ahh! right I almost forgot about you." Karn said while glancing towards the guard who was silently standing in the corner, with a handle of a whip.
"Huek!, I..I..I didn't see anything, please don't kill me ,I was just doing my Job." Guard said with a stammering expression on his face.
"I won't kill you but Do you really think those nobles are gonna let a commoner like you go, if they found out you failed to protect their mine."
Hearing those words, a sudden realisation dawn on the guard as he immediately kneeled infront of Karn.
'Right those dambed privileged scumbags, won't even bother listening to me.' As that guy felt horrified with what the nobles might do to him and his entire family.
"That offer also stands for you, but unlike them it appears you don't have much of a choice." Leaving those word's behind Karn immediately rushed out from that mine.
He has done his part of rescuing them, now for those who are willing to follow him and his mission, he will know it tomorrow.
As Karn reached towards Ian, he saw a familiar figure standing besides him before he could unsheate his sword, he heard a familiar voice to calm him down.
"Calm down, he is our newest addition to our Army." Ian said Immediately, to prevent any ruckus from happening in front of him.
"I am Stanley Barnes, nice meeting you again." Barnes introduced himself with a vivid smile plastered in his face.
Karn glanced at Ian asking for explanation, but the black cat merely shook his head and said.
"We just came up with a deal."
"Ahem !, Karn , Nice meeting you." Karn gave an awkward greeting, has it might be quite wierd to get on friendly terms with someone who was about to take your life just a few days ago.
"So, how did it go ?" Ian asked with a questioning tone.
"I tried my best, as for how many of them are willing to follow, we'll know tomorrow." Karn answered honestly.
"Great, I've explained about your situation to Sir Barnes, I think he's perfect to take your parents out of this place."
"Hey do you really trust this person to hand him out such a personal task." Karn could help but ask.
"I am standing right here, and can still hear you" Barnes said with a complaining tone.
"You don't have to worry about that, do you really think I'll put your parents at risk."
Karn finally gave in and decided to put his trust on Stanley Barnes, just for this once.
Alright then let's meet up tomorrow morning, as the three went back into the village waiting for the Slave traders to come up with a decision.
"Ian do you think anyone of them will come and be there tomorrow morning" Karn asked.
"I think a majority of them will be present tomorrow, I think you're forgetting that this people have nowhere else to go."
Karn gave a nod, as he seemed to have already put his complete trust on this cat.
Barnes who has been quiet all this time, decided to ask the question that has been revolving in his mind "You said you're going to create an army, but an army isn't formed with just a large number of people gathering around, what are your plans after that ?, we need our own base and stronghold ?"
"You said we are going to leave for madwa, tomorrow is that where we are planning on building our army ?" Karn asked.
"No, we are going for madwa for some other reason, and as for our base, its not going to be any where inside the Empire, but in the Khar plains"
"Wait !, isn't that place completely infertile, despite being in the middle of Crune Empire and the Kronos Empire, no one decided to claim it, since no one is willing to invest on land that produces nothing."
"That place is an untouched goldmine, that's why I prioritised the fact about your parents being a merchant, you'll find out soon enough."
"Then what about Madwa, why are we going to that place again."
"To convince that person to take Naikda as her disciple."
"Are you talking about that owner of the house, we stole that herb from." Karn immediately chimed in "You didn't tell me who exactly is that person, is he someone strong."
Ian paused while glancing at karn with a smirk while he said
"Is a 'MARTIAL EMPEROR strong according to your books."
"Huekk!!, Y.Y..You made me steal from a Martial Emperor." Karn exclaimed as he started breathing heavily.
Stanley Barnes who seemed completely lost from the conversation that Karn and Ian were having, almost stammered his feet on the ground the moment the word 'Martial Emperor' left from Ian's mouth.
"There's a Martial Emperor in our army, why did you hid such an important fact, phew atleast you guys have something to back yourself up." Barnes said with an esthetic tone.
All those talks about raising an army and all had been giving Barnes anxiety, but since he already gave an oath there's nothing he could do about it, but now hearing about having a Martial Emperor backing them up, takes quite a bit of stress out of his shoulders.
"Hold your horses you two, it's not how both of you guys think, anyway you will know it on your own tomorrow, we need to rent a large number of carriages for the people tomorrow, well thanks to this generous donations from Viscount Silva, we won't be lacking in money for atleast a few months." Ian said while glancing at the money pouch they picked up from the Viscount, as they waited for tomorrow.