Limits

It was time to face the reality. Today, exactly one year ago, I made an agreement with Rand that I will work and be slave for one year in this village and after that one year, I will receive my freedom back. I went to see Rand and find out if he would uphold the agreement we had. When I arrived at his mansion, there was a guard waiting as if for me. When he spotted me he said "Follow me" so I did.

Inside the mansion, I could see that it was quite elegant. I guessed 'Well the village chiefs even of small villages like this Horesplain Village have lavish houses'. I followed after the guard. I knew who he was, it was the guy who always watched me. I knew it because I recognised his voice and although this was the first time we met in person, I was 100% sure it was this guy.

We arrived at a room that looked like a study with a large wooden desk in the middle. I saw that Rand was sitting there already waiting for me. The guy that I followed said "Sit on the chair over there". I walked to the chair and sat down. The guy went outside and I was left alone with Rand in this room.

Rand looked at me and said "How have you been doing this past year?". I was a bit confused by that question and thought 'Why the hell would you care?'. I answered him "What do you want me to answer?". He didn't seem to mind that type of answer and said "What do you want to do now?" I said to him "Is there a need for this sort of bullshit? The one year agreement we had is done. I'm now a free man!".

His face went a bit grim and said "That is true, if the agreement was true". I knew he would pull something like that and I was long prepared for it but nevertheless, I acted accordingly and asked "What do you mean?". He said "Can you prove that we made this agreement and can you prove it was only one year?" I played along and with fake anger replied "What nonsense are you spouting! We made an agreement and I completed my part of the deal. I don't give a jack shit whenever I can prove it or not!".

He laid his back on the chair and said "In my books, we never had that agreement, so technically you are still a slave". I said to him "Do you have a proof of me being a slave?". I wanted to test out what he is going to do. His face went a bit more grim this time and said "If you are capable then you can leave". I said to him "Bullshit! Now you are threatening me! You helped me and I worked for you. That is that!" I got up from the chair and walked towards the door.

I could then hear the sound of movement from behind me and I was hit in the head, hard. I could've easily evade that. Thanks to my training and his behaviour pattern, I was able to predict what he is going to do and how this would play out. Even the way he attacked although I didn't see it, I knew he attacked with a bare hand.

But I didn't evade it nor did I retaliate. I still had something to take care of in this village and therefore I needed to stay anyway. After Nick passes away, I will be done with this village. They would probably ask me to do more tasks for them but I wouldn't do so. First of all I didn't have to and so what if they didn't give me food? I could catch fishes by myself and no one in this village besides Nick was a thread to me anymore.

I would have more time to practice all the skills. How are they going to force me to work? If not by food. They can also take away the house I wouldn't care. I slept rough on the streets before and besides, Nick would provide more food for me. If they really pushed me too far, I would just deal with them. I wasn't naive like before. I also killed someone already. Although it was her wish, I still killed someone. I never had any nightmares about it and If they push too far, I wouldn't even bat an eye when the whole village was in ruins!

When I got hit, I faked being fainted. It wasn't hard to fake because fainted people still breathe, they just do it more slowly. I faked this process but I was still very conscious. I learned to be patient and so I just laid there doing nothing.

I then heard the guy that escorted me said "What should we do with him?" to which I could hear Rand's response "Don't worry he is not dead. We still need him for the work. Grond said that his skills in smithing aren't bad and he has good experience with purified steel ingots. He said that this kid can create 2 ingots in the time he is working at the workshop. Grond alone can create maximum 4 of them in a whole day".

The guy I followed then said "What if he doesn't want to do it?" to which Rand responded "We won't feed him. If he wants food, he will have to work for it". To which I almost sneered and laughed 'if that was your plan then good luck with it! HAHAHAHA' I laughed in my mind but stayed still on the ground. The guy said "You forget that he can catch fishes and provide for himself". Rand cressed his brows and said "Then we just have to make it difficult for him".

The guy said again "What if he still refuses to work? If he is bent down on it, the same can happen as with that slave woman". When I heard this I was a bit enraged 'These bastards not only hurt her, they even drove her to wishing for her death!'. I knew what he ment. He was afraid I would just kill myself or die of starvation.

Rand shouted "I told you to not mention this anymore! If she broke down, maybe she would release some information about the manual. These idiots just had to **** her. I don't care if they did but this idiot killed her because she wanted it". I somehow managed to hold in that remark. They both went silent for a while.

After contemplating on what to do for some time, Rand finally said "We will offer him to work at the blacksmith's workshop. He will not be a slave but he will have to stay in the village and we will pay him as well. We will set the low wages for him and deduce for housing and food. We still have to give him something so that he doesn't feel like he does it for free. This should settle it, set 10 coppers a day for him as his wages and deduce 5 of that as housing and food".

I'd say, their plan was not bad and I was tempted because I still needed to stay in the village and if my work was only in one place, for example in blacksmith's workshop I could use that to my advantage as well. I still needed weapon and If I could get some materials, I would be able to produce something thanks to the tools already available there.

Rand continued "When he wakes up, present to him this offer. Stress it out that he will not be a slave and he will work for money. Tell him that his daily quota will be to complete 3 purified steel ingots. Even if we feed him and give him that house, which is abandoned anyway. 5 coppers a day means nothing compared to 3 ingots more of purified steel".

The guy said "Alright. I will take him to the house and wait for him to wake up. Just in case he doesn't accept, what should I do?". Rand just sighted and said "then he is not needed, do whatever you want with him".

After that, the guy I followed in here picked me up from the floor and carried me to my house. When we arrived, he threw me at the bed and just stood next to the door waiting. I thought to myself 'I can play this game, if you want to wait, you will wait' and so the game started.