[A/N: Check out the new prologue chapter in the auxiliary volume. It contains Sylvester's past.]
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"Why did you help her? What did she tell you?" Felix asked from the back, still lying to heal the body joints. They had just left the Fallshoot Village. Since Markus' family had already moved towards the East to buy new land with the help of Felix's contacts, they had no reason to stay.
Sylvester was holding the reins of the two horses. It was cold now as the winter had finally started knocking on doors, and sadly they had no extra clothes.
"Someone has to, Felix. As for what she said, it'd be a disservice to her trust if I told you. It wasn't much; forget about it." Sylvester replied and focused on the road.
Traveling on the dirt road, they soon arrived at Fort Sunflower. And since Sylvester's attire was very famous, they were quickly given entry. This time, however, they didn't go to meet the Duke as they were in a hurry. Instead, they went to the market to buy some blankets for the remaining journey first.
Their plan was to avoid the Riveria Kingdom as a whole in their return journey as the chances of being attacked again were very high. So instead, they were going to keep going up on Desert Road until the Snake River crossing, and from there, they'd enter the Garcia Kingdom and take the Green road straight to the Holy Land.
"I wonder if that slave you gave money to the last time is still alive." Felix wondered as they entered the market streets.
Sylvester was also interested in that man. A merchant to a seasoned warrior—a victim of the world he lived in. Not to mention, the name Kaecilius Silvanus was unique enough to make it memorable.
"If he's strong-willed and nobody plotted against him, I don't think he'd die that easily. He has everything to lose if he loses one fight. Anyway, I shall go and meet Duke's Prima. They should at least know we're here." Sylvester took off without explaining much further.
He soon arrived at the Duke's castle first, but he was informed the Duke had gone to the River City, the capital of the Kingdom of Riveria. So Duke's Prima was handling things.
He was allowed a meeting relatively quickly since they knew each other.
The man came to greet Sylvester himself at the door. "Lord Bard, welcome back. I'm sure the Duke will be heartbroken to hear the time of your arrival."
"Thank you for the hospitality, Lord Jeremiah. I only wish to inform you of my visit… and meet the Duke if possible. We shall be heading back to Holy Land after buying some winter clothes." Sylvester plainly informed the man.
This earned a raised eyebrow. "I shall order one of our commanders to escort you out of the Riveria territories then."
Sylvester raised his palm and quickly denied. He'd rather not take useless favors from these nobles, as he never knew what hid behind their masks. "No need, Lord Jeremiah. We shall take the Desert Road towards the Gracia Kingdom. However, maybe you can help me with one thing. What happened to my reward the last time I was here? Did he survive?"
Smiling, the brown man smiled. "He is alive and well. Thanks to you, his rise has quickened as now he owns armor and a better sword. Worry not for him, Lord Bard. I, too, was a slave once in the same arena and fought until I got my freedom and slowly climbed enough ranks to sit here. I know when I see men with a greater purpose—he has one… just like you."
Sylvester felt some lies and excitement from the scent coming from this man. He didn't like it, but he didn't care either. He had no plans for this man. After all, if anything, he'd wish to kill him and make the Duke more vulnerable.
"One more thing, Lord Bard. Duke expected something like this to happen, so he left a letter for you. Here…" The man took out an envelope from his desk drawer and handed it to Sylvester.
It was a premium, neat, clean paper with excellent cursive writing, named to him directly.
"Thank you, Lord Jeremiah. I shall take my leave then." Sylvester left the Duke's castle and went straight to the fighting pits to see the slave. He wondered if he could use the man in the long run or how good he was at fighting and accounting.
Using his status as a man of faith, he entered the fighting pits, mainly the area where the resident fighters are kept. It was all underground space under the arena, so the place was dark and unpleasant, as bleak as the future of many dwellers.Still, there were fire torches every few meters and guards standing straight. There were long corridors, and each held rooms, at least they looked big considering the space between each door.
He knew he would not be allowed to meet the prized top fighter of the arena, so he had to utilize some underhanded means of corruption. It was good for him in this case because as long as the guards felt they did something wrong, they'd try to keep his visit a secret.
He paid the guard a coin of gold and easily went into the man's living quarters. At first glance, the place seemed spacious enough, with two large rooms interconnected, but it had nothing other than a mattress in the corner and a table and chair in the other corner beside the oil lamp.
When he entered uninvitingly, the man was writing something and jumped to his feet in fright, a reflex that saved him all these years. He turned around and was ready to fight. But instantly, his shoulders relaxed as he recognized Sylvester.
"Nice armor you bought," Sylvester muttered as he walked around to the armor pieces hung on the wall.
The man—Short black hair, a stubble beard, and a face that told a sad story with scars and dark circles beneath the eyes—frowned a little and spoke in a hoarse voice. "I will give back the money once I win three more fights. I only have half the money at the moment."
Sylvester waved his hand, appearing serious. "I care not about the gold, Kaecilius Silvanus."
'Sniff-Sniff… my gold.'
Sylvester ignored Miraj's whimpers and walked forward to shake hands with the man. "A man of numbers counting dead bodies instead of gold? Your story is fascinating to me, warrior. So I offer you here—I invite you to join the church as a Knight. You shall serve in the Inquisitor's army."
Kaecilius denied it immediately. "What is my life's worth when I leave behind my treasure—my family? I thank you for being considerate, my lord… by I desire nothing but the warmth of closeness of my family."
Sylvester nodded silently in admiration. He never really had permission to recruit someone, and he was merely testing the grounds. If the man had accepted, he'd have left him behind. But now, this proved that this man would fight no matter what for something he cherishes. A man worth investing in because this one also had brains.
"I hope you did not spend all the money on the armor. Did you give some to your family?" Sylvester asked him.
Kaecilius was trying hard to understand what Sylvester wanted from him. He had lived in a world of merchants and then slavery for years now, and he knew there was no black and white. Everything was in shades of gray.
"I sent some to my family… they could use some new clothes and better food."
Sylvester nodded, but somewhat rudely, he sat down on the chair and took a paper from the desk, and started writing on it with the quill. "What does your family do, Kaecilius?"
"My wife is the handmaiden to the Duke's wife, and my kids… they help clean around."
Sylvester sighed as if hurt deeply. "This is unacceptable. The fact that you are a learned man means your children have the potential to be scholars or traders as well. What are their names?"
"Remus and Cirus… my lord, did they offend you in any way?" Kaecilius asked nervously as a caring father. He knew he couldn't do anything if a man like Sylvester decided to make his life hell.
Bam!
Sylvester took out his wax seal of Sanctum Inspector and melted it, then stamped it at the end of the document. He blew on it to let it dry, then folded it before handing it to the man. "Here, a letter of recommendation and request that the local monastery allows your children to get basic education… and that they are treated equally—or the bard will sing some songs."
Kaecilius quickly looked at it and silently read it. To his shock, the letter was indeed about his children's education. He felt conflicted by this, however. He had never met or talked to this man before, and what scared him was that there was no request."What will this cost me, my lord?"
Sylvester gave a faint fake smile and extended his hand. Kaecilius felt obliged to shake it and did so. "Kaecilius, not always there has to be a reason for kindness to be shown. Because if there was a price involved, it was never kindness. Now, I believe you were busy writing your book, so I shall take my leave. If fate wills it, we shall meet again."
Sylvester proceeded to leave calmly. But deep inside, he hoped the scheme he had just hatched would someday work in favor. 'How will the wind bow for you, my friend Kaecilius—Only time shall tell if you will be my Spartacus.'
[A/N: Spartacus was a slave who led the third and largest slave revolt against Rome in the 1st century BC.]
…
"Ha!"
"It's good to be able to do this again!" Felix relaxed as he was finally able to move and sit in the front seat and hold the reins. It had been three days since they left the Fort Sunflower. They quickly moved West and took the Desert Road again. Then, it was a smooth journey as the Desert road here saw a lot of movement, and no one dared attack him on it.
Then, finally, the crossing of the Snake River came. There was no bridge, however, as the location held strategic importance for Riveria and Gracia. But it was shallow enough to allow carriages to move with care.
Sylvester was relaxing beside Felix and looked towards the north. He remembered just a few kilometers upstream, there was the Black Pit, the place that brought cholera to Pitfall town years ago.
p
Sir Dolorem glanced and sighed instantly. "Because it's usually covered in mist… It's rare we can see it from here today."
Gabriel was interested, too, since the map showed nothing out there. "What is it?"
Bishop Lazark chimed in. "That's the Tower of Godless, the largest Slave market in the world, divided into a hundred floors. Each floor caters to specific needs. Humans, elves, dwarves, beastkins, merkins, vampires, centaurs… anything that moves, you can find it there at the right price. I have only seen the ground floor once… they don't allow clergymen to go above 3rd floors."
"How can faith allow such a thing to exist? So close to the Holy Land?" Gabriel asked in disgust.
Felix chimed in, already knowing about the place as it was near his family county. "Because the land it lies on belongs to none. It's on the other side of the Snake River, everything is barren desert there, and Desert Cannibals constantly attack."
Sir Dolorem also added. "And on the top floor lives the Slave Imperia Council—Made of 5 self-proclaimed Slave Gods—three of them being Grand Wizards and two being Diamond Knights."
Bishop Lazark had more to say. "It's also protected by nobles… for it's the place where they get their best slaves for work—best elven women to bed—and best orcs to do hard labor."
Sylvester nodded in silence as he glanced at the distant mystical but dark place. Its size was so enormous that Sylvester was forced to imagine how many tears of blood and cries of pain were echoing in there.
But then he shook his head since he could do nothing about it and focused on the road ahead. "Even with all of us living under the same sky—the light that reaches us comes in many shades of gold... some dark and some pale—some accept the false peace, and some get rid of that delusional veil."
Felix agreed and responded. "That's why they say Ignorance is bliss—Because once your eyes open, it's just an endless dark abyss."
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[A/N: Look at the map to see the location of Tower of Godless.]
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GT = 1 Bonus chapter.
Super Gift = 1 Bonus chapter.
APE TOGETHER STRONG!