As I entered the village, I moved northwards towards the river in the clothing area. The vermillion hue was still covering the village in red. I looked around and noticed that the crowd of slaves has significantly increased. They were roaming around, chatting below a tree and enjoying the warmth of the vermillion.
I didn't know if there was a clock in this world or not but if it were, only the higher ups could use it. I had to go around guessing the time with just my experience and the surrounding. There was no day and night cycle; there was only a dim darkness so I just went around following the habits of others. It was difficult at first but after spending five days in this world and with the help of Alex's memories, I somewhat got used to it.
I walked to the river and after finding a secluded and unguarded area, I sat on the river bank. The river in this area was shallow and the flow wasn't very strong. After sitting down, I called out the black vortex which was my inventory and guided it to completely fill the Space 2 with the clean water in the river.
After that, my Space 2 had only one slot which was completely filled with water. I had a whopping 250 liters of water I can carry anywhere! I then took out the blood soaked shirt I used as a bandage from my inventory and started washing it.
I thought that blood would be difficult to remove from my clothes but it wasn't so. Due to how dirty my clothes would get every day, I realized that if you wash your clothes roughly, the stains could be removed without soap. The problem was that it made the clothes tear easily. Luckily, the clothes here were actually very strong!
After I finished washing both of my blood stained shirts, I sat down shirtless and looked at my reflection in the clear water.
I saw a pubescent boy with dark brown eyes which have lost their luster. He had black hairs that were neither too long nor too short, just a medium height that would not hinder his work. Alex's face used to look pale and like a skeleton but now after adding the stat points, his skin got flushed with a slight pink and his face looked less bony and more like a human.
I looked at my chest, my arms and my abs. I was skinny, very skinny but the only muscles I had were toned despite being only slightly noticeable. In the name of chest, I only had visible ribs! I had more quality in my muscles than quantity.
My skin was loaded with scars, especially my back, which had deep scars that I could feel with my fingers.
'I have the same build as the skinny construction site workers with the only difference being that I had no sun tan as there was rarely any sunlight here. I wonder why the place hasn't frozen yet!'
Step! Step! Step!
As I was looking at my new self in the water, I heard heavy marching footsteps approaching me.
"Oh! What a coincidence princess, we came here to kick the slave loitering near the castle and look what we found, Princess Josephine's Helot in the flesh!" A loud and hoarse voice said mockingly from my back.
I turned around to look at the source of the voice when I saw 5 men in leather armor. Each of those men had a sword tied on their back.
After hearing the words of the tall muscular man, everyone started laughing.
Another knight looked at me with a smile and said, "So the brave slave Alex wants to escape into the forest? He wants to follow the light? Ha ha ha!"
My breath got stuck in my throat. My eyes opened widely.
'How did they know? Did they overhear my conversation with James? Is there some kind of device they use to monitor the slaves?'
Various questions ran through my head but I still couldn't make sense of how they knew what we talked about last night. I knew that death was the only punishment waiting for me.
'Should I make a run for it? No, I won't make it. These guards obviously have a better physique than me and they're also more in number. How should I get out of this situation?'
Just as I was processing ideas in my brain, I heard a soft and pleasant female voice that said, "James told us everything on his own accord just for a reward of spending an hour with a breeder!"
My heart sank. 'I was betrayed! I was betrayed by an old man for s*x? My life has the same value as spending an hour with a breeder?"
My mind became unstable. How should I say it, the taste of betrayal was very disgusting.
I slumped on the ground and blankly looked at the female. The five guards were laughing and passing comments at my state and the female was no exception.
She looked like she was in her late twenties. Pink lips, blushed cheeks and sharp siren eyes were her facial features that distinguished her from the others. Her eyes were blank with no luster, contradictory to the smile she was showing. She looked like she didn't belong to this forsaken village. She had a similar face to the little girl I saw in Alex's memory who gave him his name.
Slap!
Suddenly a slap landed onto my cheeks, bringing my attention back to the situation I was in. One of the knights, who just slapped me, said angrily, "How dare a son of a whore like you look directly at the princess with his lustful eyes? You should instantly be beheaded infront of the whole village!"
After saying this, he held my arm tightly and pulled out his sword. I've never actually seen a sword in my life and now here I was, seeing my own reflection in a metal sword which was going to end my life.
"Stop it right there Bellows, I gave him a name and he's my Helot. If you kill him now, I will feel the brunt due to the Curse of Submission." Princess Josephine said with a stern look. "Moreover, who gave you the permission to punish my slave? I will be the one to decide the punishment for the horrendous crime he committed which will obviously not be such a weak punishment like your recommendation!" There was a creepy smile on her face.
"Forgive me princess, my anger got the best of me." As he said it, all the five knights lowered their heads in silence.
"Good, now that you understand, tie his arms and legs and leave us alone. I don't want any interference while I'm using the curse to torture him." Her smile deepened.
The knights moved towards me with ropes and creepy smiles.
"No, please…wait!" I pathetically thrashed around but to no avail.
As I was about to ask for forgiveness and try calling Delta, the princess commanded, "Silence!"
It was as if she used a spell on me. No matter how much I tried, not a single word escaped my lips! I couldn't even call my inventory!
All the knights started to leave and only the princess was left. She was slowly moving towards me, her smile slowly vanishing and her eyes gradually gaining luster. At this moment I realized, 'I'm dead!'