The half elf from the first instance she finally became aware of her surroundings, she found out that she was being raised as a slave.
She remembered her caretaker getting whipped for making a small mistake of staining the shirt of the slave merchant that owned them.
From that day forward she witnessed a life of hell.
She had seen slaves suffer and die in the most miserable way possible.
Those regarded as poor merchandise were always treated worse than dogs.
A single small mistake was essentially a coin toss between life and death.
The half elf witnessed attempted to take their to only fail and get punished for doing so.
As all slaves are branded with a slave mark that innately forces the slave to not take their life unless instructed so by their owner.
She was lucky, she was a half-elf with an innate talent for spirits and archery, so she was treated as one of most important merchandise the slave merchant had.
She was lucky that the slave merchant had no interest in kids as well. She had heard many stories of the slave merchant's distasteful preferences which targeted mostly little boys.....
She had heard stories from her fellow slaves many times in the past of what lies beyond after being sold.
Slaves would find it lucky if said person was sold to work as a cannon fodder or carrier for an adventurer, because it was the fastest way for the slave to die and end their miserable lives.
Especially women, they were the most unfortunate of all the slaves she had seen so far.
Many deplorable people would buy them for the sake of their disgusting hobbies.
Even children weren't safe from the clutches of such people.
The half elf, however, was always saved and groomed for the day when the right buyer would come for her.
The slave merchant mentioned that she was going to get auctioned off after she reached the age of ten, when she finally unlocked her class to make her more appealing to the buyers.
The half elf could only nod with hollow eyes.
But there was at least light in the midst of darkness.
It was when she turned the age of seven, when a special person came into her life.
Her new caretaker, Penelope, was a woman in her forties who became a slave because of her son's debt.
The first caretaker she had after the last one was disabled by the slave merchant in a fit of anger.
The new caretaker was kind and gentle on how she treated and cared for her.
The half elf believed the reason why such a kind woman became a slave was because of her faults of raising a naive woman that inevitably fell in the hands of evil and inevitably perished after getting taken advantage of.
And she was right, Penelope would tell her stories about the outside world and her life.
She would also talk about how she raised and cared for her son after his husband died in an unfortunate accident.
The half elf, initially didn't care about what the lady was rambling about, she just wanted to be left alone until the day when she gets bought and dies the most miserable death imaginable.
The half elf back then was a bundle of negativity, not once had she thought of even hoping or expecting anything in the future.
She ingrained in her head that she was going to be used as a tool and disregarded as a tool after boredom.
She didn't cling to the small chance that she would be bought or saved by a hero.
The half elf already saw and heard too many examples of what a real end of a slave will be.
She could only scoff at those who believed in such a fragile and futile dream
However, even though the half elf tried her best for years to ignore the annoying woman.
She would just keep talking and treating her with unending kindness and care.
Penelope would take her time to bathe her and she would continue to speak of stories about the outside world to her.
Apparently Penelope owned a small bookstore before she was enslaved in a small town in the far south west of the northern continent.
Penelope also had a good memory so her words were very accurate from the books she read for her past times as she waited for customers to enter her shop.
She would speak of legends and heroic stories that occurred hundreds or even thousands of years ago.
Half elf couldn't help but get captivated by her storytelling.
It took a year for light to finally bless Half elf's eyes.
She opened and talked with Penelope more and one was the one, if not one of the most memorable moments she had with Penelope.
"I've been calling you little lady for the past year, don't you have your own name?" Penelope said while showering the elf child with water, while making sure the soap doesn't land on her amber eyes.
The half-elf child shook her head in response, her silver hair dripping with water and soap.
"No.... I have been a slave since I had awareness and the master hasn't bothered naming me."
The Slave merchant wanted to give the rights of naming the elf to the owner who would buy her, which would give her another perk and interest to those who would want to own her.
"I see.... how about I name you?" said Penelope as she rinsed the remaining soap from her hair.
The child visibly shook and hastily faced Penelope in terror.
"YOU CAN'T!!" The child said, her elf shaped ears were revealed, because of her sudden movement that moved her wet hair to the other side of her head.
Penelope was taken aback by the instantaneous response from the child, who trembled at the suggestion of Penelope
"Why not?"
"Because, Master will be angry at you if he discovers that you unnecessarily named me and knowing master, he will punish you...." The child explained with her voice slowly losing strength.
The child knew that if the slave merchant found out about this, it would be the end of Penelope or worse, she would be sold off to a nasty purchaser for a small dime.
She knew how deranged the slave merchant was so she didn't doubt that he would do that from just naming the half elf.
"We can just keep it a secret between us. I believe that everyone, even slaves like us deserve to have a name."
The half elf listening to Penelope's gentle voice as she patted her head, asked one more question.
"T-then if you're naming me! You'll become my mother right!?"
The naive half elf said with sparkling eyes as she excitedly anticipated her caretaker's response.
Penelope became shocked once more from the unexpected response the child gave her.
Was this even the soulless child I met a year ago?
Penelope simply chuckled and smiled reassuringly at the half elf.
"Huhu, Yes I'll become your mother and now your name....."
Penelope held her chin up and stared out of the steamy window.
After a few seconds of deliberation, Penelope finally arrived at the name that would fit the half elf perfectly.
"How about Liana? It's a perfect name for an adorable elf like you"
******
"I wonder where pops went again. I'm about to start the academy exams and he's still roaming around the world saving people. He's the headmaster, he should be here to welcome the first years, not miss Olivia..."
Liana sighed in exasperation
But Liana knew that her father was the type of person that followed his ideals of saving as many people as he could no matter how small or big their worth was.
Though, only does this a few times every year and most of the time he leaves at the worst timing possible.
This was one example, when the new batch of students just arrived and his father, the headmaster, was not present to accommodate them.
Good thing for her father that there were many competent educators that would take up his role in a heartbeat because of their endless passion for teaching.
I don't really have the right to complain when his whims was the reason I was saved from the hellhole.
********
Penelope had died after the city they lived in was plagued with a newfound disease.
Liana only heard the news after a week of not being able to see her mother at the age of ten.
An abrupt death that Liana refused to accept.
A mother she never had slipped between her fingers in just one week.
All her memories of Penelope cracked and shattered into a million pieces.
A significant piece of herself was forcefully torn off from her heart
She despaired, yet no tears streamed down her face. not one drop.
Many had died from the plague but mostly older men and women were afflicted by the disease.
Some weaker willed also died from the disease but for the most part, many survived after a couple of days of resting.
The Slave Merchant was even affected by the disease, but sadly for Liana, he survived the disease unlike her dear mother who gave her name and hope for the future.
But that hope shattered into pieces and once more she became the soulless doll she once was.
After a couple months after the plague had died down and most of the residents developed a resistance to it.
A grand underground auction was held, where many top tier criminal organisations and corrupt nobles sponsored as a celebration of the passing plague.
It was also the auction where Liana was about to be sold to.