"Julian! Come on and let me suck your blood!" Elyse nagged. Julian rolled his eyes, continuing to read his book.
"Nope. Can't you go to Oscar or something? I'm sure he'll say yes if you act like it's a life-or-death situation."
"I don't want his blood! I want your blood, Julian!" she whined, latching onto Julian.
"..."
"If you do it, I might let you have a little fun with me~!" she whispered seductively, with a breathy voice.
"I-I'm not that weak-minded! Plus, I'm only 13!" he responded, slightly flustered. He pressed his nose into his book to hide his face.
"That usually works... I'm 16, though. Don't boys usually like older girls?" she asked, casually.
"Th-that isn't the point! The point is... never mind, all you need to know is that I'm not giving you my blood."
She sighed loudly, then stood up and walked off. A new installment was added to the grounds. A training field. There were several leather dummies and a few arenas for people to duel.
There was an extremely strong slave who stood out. He was facing people in 2v1s, and still winning.
It was a young boy, around the same age as Julian. He had long black hair that fell to his back. His hair was slightly spiky. He was tan-skinned with blue eyes.
He had an energetic smile plastered across his face as he fought. Although he was well-built, he wasn't bulked or large. From the looks of it, it seems as if he didn't have much physical strength. If you had to compare his physique to someone else, it would probably be most similar to Oscar's. However, he was definitely shorter.
He didn't need much physical strength, though. It was all in his technique. He swung his wooden spear so majestically. He moved so smoothly, yet his strikes were harsh and fast.
"You are Cherva, correct?" Oscar asked, tapping Cherva's shoulder. Cherva jumped.
"I didn't even sense your presence! You must be strong!" Cherva quickly responded, surprised.
"I would like to fight you."
"Of course! Let's fight!" Cherva smiled, happy to hear what Oscar had asked. Even though Oscar didn't even get to say the reason why, Cherva was ready.
In an instant, Cherva struck Oscar. Oscar kicked up a wooden sword and blocked the strike.
"That was fast!" Cherva remarked, going in for another strike. A second clash came. Oscar's strike was so strong that the sheer force sent Cherva's hand back.
He was open. At that moment, Oscar was about to strike him. Cherva felt a wave of fear travel through his body. Instinctively, he dashed away, narrowly dodging it.
"You're faster than I expected," Cherva said, with the fear inside of him dissipating. That was until Oscar went in for another strike.
It was so fast, Cherva felt as if he would have died there. Though, he managed to block it with his handle. He sent a thrust at Oscar.
Oscar slipped under the spear, getting into Cherva's weak spot. Cherva responded to this by leaping into the air. It was something that Oscar did not anticipate.
He fell extremely fast, clashing with Oscar again. The strength and pressure were overwhelming for Oscar, or rather his sword. It shattered on impact.
"I guess you've won, Cherva."
"You held up well!"
Oscar and Cherva shook hands. Everyone watched in awe, and their respect for the two grew tremendously. In that crowd, Julian and Elyse were there.
"I'm so weak in comparison to those two..."
Julian kept his head down, sighing. Elyse patted his head.
"Don't worry, Julian. You are pretty useless and weak and scrawny. If you gave me your blood, all of that would change!" she reassured.
"You aren't helping! I'm not giving you my blood!" Julian removed Elyse's hand from his head.
Without warning, the chains of mana around Julian began to tighten. He moved without warning.
"Wh-what's going on?!" he asked frantically.
"Ah, I forgot you're fairly new. That's leading you to the master. They're probably gonna tell you to do something."
"I'll... I'll trust you, Elyse."
. . . . .
. . . .
. . .
. .
.
Julian woke up. His hands were shackled to the ceiling, causing him to hang. He was disoriented.
"Hm? You're awake already? Usually, it would last a lot longer..."
"Where... where am I?" Julian asked, looking around to find where the voice came from. Out of the shadows, the owner of the voice walked out, revealing herself.
She had long brown hair that was tied. Her eyes were dark green and her facial expression was stern. She had pale skin and sharp ears, which indicated her being an elf.
"You've been plotting a riot, correct?" she asked, holding something behind her back.
"I haven't! You don't have any proof of that!" Julian denied.
"You wrote it in that book you were reading."
Julian looked back at it and realized his mistake. He looked worried all of a sudden.
"Right. That doesn't matter. I'll let you off if you tell me the names of all the people you're working with."
"What makes you think I'm not working alone?"
"Stop asking me questions and tell me!"
Julian stood silent. The woman responded with a light smile and she finally revealed what was behind her.
It was a large whip, made up of several pieces. Each piece that made up the whip was made of sharp metal pieces.
She whipped Julian.
"Keuk!" Julian groaned. It left a mark on his chest, which started to bleed. He bit so hard onto his lip that it started bleeding, all so he could bare the pain.
"If you just tell me the name of the people you are working with, this will all be over quickly."
"I'm not working with anyone!-"
She threw the whip at him again. It struck his arm this time, slicing it open. Tears trickled down his face as he endured the pain.
The lashing went on for a while until the woman eventually got tired.
"Ah, whatever. I hope this is a warning to you."
She whipped the chains that held Julian, leading him to fall onto the floor. She slowly walked over to Julian and crouched down.
"You're pretty useless, you know? I've observed you for a while and you aren't even that good at work. You're lucky I didn't cut up your face. That's your only redeeming quality."
"..."
"Wait. There is another redeeming quality about you."
"Stop... don't t-touch me there...!" Julian weakly pleaded though he couldn't do anything. The lashing did a lot of damage to him. He could barely move.
"Wow! If I touch it like this, it gets bigger than it already is! Just thinking about this going inside me is getting me off, hehe~!" she bit her bottom lip. Something about her smile was a bit... sadistic.
"Please..."
She pounced onto Julian and placed her hands on his chest.
"I can't wait any longer. I'm aching for it."