ALL NOVEL First Blood
“Do you have a name?” The commander asked. “We haven’t formally introduced ourselves, granted because of the situation.”
“Hyun, let’s get along from now on, Sir.” I replied in kind. I needed to keep a balance between respect and necessity. There was no need to be so submissive, after all, we were in a cooperative agreement.
“Hyun…huh? It suits you.” The man shook my hand. “Rudolf, there’s no need for formality.”
He didn’t have a last name. I suppose nobility isn't a thing here. However, that brings me to my current predicament.
Since there is no social hierarchy enforced in the form of ranks, which means everyone is free to progress through unimpeded.
That was the case for their extermination problem.
Natural law, common sense, and common morals did exist, but even those can be overcome. In the end, these two and probably someone else in the city are planning to take it into their own hands.
Well, that’s nothing to do with me. I’ll help as much as I promised I would. I don’t plan on staying here for long, but then again, time wasn’t an issue. I could probably stay here in this town for a hundred years and not age a day.
Living creatures in the world of Source have negligible senescence, but we are by no means immortal. We can still be claimed by disease, accident, or even murder, but time is nothing.
Training for a hundred years, that sounds boring. I might just kill myself at that point. Anyway, I need to get to something immediately.
I didn’t notice it earlier, but Eric came back with a necklace with a plate on it. He gave it to me, albeit in an annoyed fashion, and as rudely as he treated me, I simply snubbed him.
My face still stings, you asshole.
“I take it you can handle yourself from here on out?” Rudolf asked me. I was in the middle of putting on my weapons back to where they belonged, and even my cloak was there on the table.
The mud had dried on it, so it made a small mess, but this wasn’t my office, therefore it wasn’t my problem.
“Sure. I’ll head to an inn or something, get a bite to eat and something soft to sleep on.”
I simply was just excited to explore a city for the first time.
Thankfully, it was a simple city separated into eight quadrants, with the main roads bisecting the territory. It was just a straight road to the center.
There was the north road, then there was the east, the west, and the south roads, and at the end of each of the four directions were fortified gates. The next most-populated roads were the ones in-between the four but they did not have a gate on each end.
I came from the south gate so I walked to the center of the city. It was not that big of a city as I had imagined, or maybe the efficiency of the wide streets made walking to my destination quite easy.
In the end, I made it to the centerpiece of Ironhold, a giant clock-tower the size of the UK’s Big Ben. I have never been there myself so I can only estimate. I looked up at the tower and smiled. This was not so bad.
“Wowie mummy! He’s a big person!”
“That’s rude! Pointing at people is bad, don’t do that again!”
I wasn’t that tall compared to the populace, maybe albeit, but if this girl were to see the Professional basketball players back on earth, she’d take that statement back immediately.
I couldn’t help but chuckle.
Kids, innocent creatures with no perception of the hardships of life.
They were very precious in many ways. The mother and the daughter moved on with their day, but I managed to give the small girl a wave.
The girl seemed happy as she practically beamed. For some reason, her smile eased my stress.
Still, I looked like a homeless man, a tall homeless man, creepily waving at a small child.
That’s why image is important. I could feel the stinging gaze of a nearby grandparent.
I need to find an inn fast, I need to eat and shower. I looked at the base of the tower to see a group of men huddled in groups some distance away from a spectacle. I needed directions, but something else came up.
I wasn’t sure at first as to what they were snickering and mumbling about, but when I followed their line of sight to two beauties, I just sighed.
There were two gorgeous women holding sign boards with instructions to find a Casino-Escort Club.
I wanted to get a bite to eat first before I saw anything related to my task with the Garrison.
Furthermore, the women were admittedly eye-catching, in many ways.
For starters, they were beast men, or were-people, people with Characteristices similar to animals.
They identical white foxes to be exact.
Twins perhaps, but maybe the fact that there were not many non-humans, it shouldn’t have been a common sight nevertheless.
They wore revealing clothes that did not leave much for the imagination. For simplicity’s sake, there were playboy bunny costumes, the whole set including tall heels and pushup on their breasts, minus the bunny tail, stockings, and ear-headbands.
They were foxes with tall ears and a very fluffy tails.
However, the thing that got my attention was their collars. They were metal chokers with padlocks that have already been rusting for a long time.
They weren’t just show girls, they were slaves.
Rudolf mentioned the existence of slaves, so I wasn’t too surprised.
Greed doesn't have morals, nor does it have mercy.
It was pitiful, in a sense, but what was I going to do about it? I have no desire to play the hero of my own story. This was just the course of their lives, tragic as it may seem.
But that does bring up the option however…
If I were to travel the world, wouldn’t slaves be better than companions? They technically were property, and not people…
“That’s…evil, even for me.”
I understood the practicality of the situation, but I don’t think I could ever own another life, an intelligent life capable of feeling, thinking, and living, as if they were things.
I was definitely scum but I’m no monster. Still, I have to keep my options open…
“I’m to hungry to fucking think about morals, what am I even doing…”
Whether or not morality outweighs my current problems, I’ll think about it later.
Growl.....