The group of five stared at the pile of potatoes for a few second, none of them saying a word. There were three girls and a boy no older than thirteen dressed in rags and unconscious. They were each bound and gagged in thick straps with their knees to their chests and their arms tied behind their backs.

All four of the children had a circular metal plate embedded in the back of their necks. The metal plates had deep red crystals set into them that pulsated quietly. They weren’t just stuck on either, the device was latched into them with claws, like a parasite.

“They’re already thorned,” Allen thought with a sigh. “We need to find an adult if we can,” he said.

Ty just returned a blank look while Camila was visibly angry. Amelia only seemed sad, but Allen knew she was just as angry from the look in her eyes. On the other hand, Allen just felt empty. He had already seen enough of this kind of thing that it no longer gave him the visceral reaction of a normal person. Slaves were fairly tame in terms of the horrors that Unnamed World had to offer.

“Slaves… I… I couldn’t sense their miasma in the crate,” Christopher started, looking shaken. “It was sealed or something; how did you know?” he continued, directing the question at Allen.

“Experience,” he replied. Nobody added anything to that after a few seconds, so Allen took control again. “Get the rest of the crates out,” he commanded.

Giving them a task seemed to snap the others back to their senses. After about five minutes, the group had freed nearly two dozen slaves from the truck. All of them were similarly bound and unconscious, though the few adults were chained by the wrists as well.

There was a total of fourteen young girls, four adult women, three boys and two men. After getting them out of the boxes, Allen searched for the most stable looking adult. He settled on one of the men. He was a level sixty-seven Worker and appeared to be in his late twenties.

Allen’s attention fell back on Ty as the Defender crouched next to one of the children. “Do not untie the kids,” he said firmly.

“What?! Why? They’re fucking tied up like animals! I need to free them; they’re going to die!”

“No. The thorns will keep them alive. Do not untie the kids,” Allen repeated.

Ty looked up at the Assassin and met his blank stare. His lower lip was quivering, and he started to shake. “What’s wrong with you man? Who do you think you are! Slavery is banned and heavily punished in every major country like this one. The Empire, the Kingdom of Cornea, Krëztland… Slavery is banned!”

Allen sighed. “Well, mister Imperial Knight, banning something bad doesn’t make it go away. In fact, it only makes it stronger and more lucrative,” Allen began, waging a finger. “If you had gotten out from under the Emperor’s desk for just one day to get an idea of what your country is really like, then you’d know what I mean.”

Ty hissed and looked away, but he stood up, nonetheless.

Allen and Camila began untying the straps around the man they had chosen to wake up first. His hands were chained as well, but Camila managed to pull them apart with some added strength from her skills. To everyone’s discomfort, many bruises and rashes from the straps revealed themselves under the straps. The man had clearly been beaten, and recently, judging by the lack of scaring.

“Heal him first,” Allen said, then he huffed to himself, “and me too.” He tuned around to face Amelia and recoiled again. Her face was, for some reason, still mangled beyond recognition on one side. Bone was showing on her skinless scalp and bits of flesh hung down her neck, she had reformed her eyeball though, which was worse somehow. “What the hell! Fix your face woman, holy shit,” Allen spat, mostly annoyed.

Allen couldn’t understand why she felt the need to casually disregard the damage to her own body. “I get it, your in the Order of Pain, just heal me for fucks sake.” He grumbled to himself as he poked around at the raw flesh on his arm.

Camila looked up while the Healer sighed to herself and got to work on the slave man. The Berserker also went wide eyed when she saw Amelia, though there was a hint of fascination in there as well.

“Doesn’t that hurt?” Christopher asked.

Amelia glanced back at the professor as she switched to healing the massive injuries to Allen’s stomach and upper arm. The professor flinched, but he didn’t look away. “Yes,” Amelia said. “but it’s just a tissue wound; I don’t need to waste mana.”

“Sure, whatever you say,” Allen replied dismissively. “Show-off.”

The Healer returned her attention to Allen. There was loose patchwork skin covering his wounds, but it was nothing more than a bandage. It took her a few minutes of concentration to stitch his flesh back together. Only after that did she finally heal her own face.

With everyone fully recovered, Allen decided to wake the man. They needed any information they could get from him. Allen put a hand on the thorn crystal embedded in the back of the man’s neck and felt around for a moment. He channeled is mana through it in a specific pattern, causing it to blink once and hum a rising tone.

The slave awoke with a gasp and sat up. He had a strong build, dark brown hair, and a dependable feeling about him. Nevertheless, his breathing quickened as his wide eyes flicked between Allen and the others. He managed to get out a whimper before he was cut off by Allen.

“We’re freeing you. You were a slave being trafficked by the Lanthinus company until just now,” Allen began. He left the man with that to see how he would react.

The man squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath. “Um… Th-thank you,” he said. “Who are you people, and where am I?” he asked. His posture was still defensive, but he was taking control of himself and that was what mattered.

Allen cleared his throat. “Can I have a name first? I’m Allen.”

“Lucas,” said the man.

“Ok Lucas, we’re just a party of adventurers, we had our suspicions, so we decided to… intervene in this situtuation.” Allen replied calmly. “You’re in the rural South-west of the ESF.”

“The ESF?!” Lucas exclaimed with horror. “That’s… I’m from Nash!” He stood up and spun around. Allen made no move to stop him as he looked upon the twenty other slaves still tied and unconscious. “Oh gods,” he mumbled, standing frozen.

“Do you recognize anyone?” Allen asked, also getting to his feet. “I need you to remember if you’re respawn point has been reset?”

Lucas slowly turned around. His face was red, and his teeth were clenched. “Y-Yes, they’re all from my village I think. I recognize a few of the… kids.”

“We need to fucking untie them and report this to the Hillford authorities!” Ty shouted.

Allen glared sharply at the Defender. “Are you stupid?” he asked, drawing Ty’s anger. “Where do you think these people were being delivered to, huh? We can’t go to the town and stop trying to untie them. I don’t want to deal with twenty terrified children.”

“He has a point, that would make everything worse,” Amelia added.

“Honestly,” Allen continued, “I can’t believe that you’re really this stupid, Ty, or maybe just ignorant. Either way, it should be obvious that these people won’t be saved if they’re handed over to the Hillford administration. They’re the ones allowing the Lanthinus company to do business right outside their walls, and their probably the ones buying the slaves in the first place. These people won’t be safe until their thorns have been removed, because as long as you have a thorn, you won’t be treated as a human.”

Lucas brushed his hand across the back of his neck, face morphing to despair as his fingers touched the crystal. He was just about to speak when another voice cut him off.

“You assholes won’t get away with this!” said the young man from before. Blood was streaming down his forehead, but he was still alive. He waved around a small device in his hands with a manic grin on his face. “They’re already coming! HAHA They’re already he—” he couldn’t finish his sentence before one of Allen’s throwing needles struck him between the eyes, embedding itself so far in that the point came through a few centimeters on the other side.

You have defeated Worker – Level 43

Awarded: 24 XP

The young man died before his head even hit the ground. Lucas sucked in a breath and looked away.

“That was a communicator,” Christopher said.

“I know,” Allen added. He looked off in the direction of the Lanthinus company and squinted down the long straight road. He saw the forms of at least a dozen vehicles speeding towards them “We need to leave. Get everyone in the truck now!”

The group flew into action, including Lucas. Other than Christopher, who couldn’t move, everyone helped load the magicarriage with the unconscious slaves in a matter of minutes.

“I’ll drive,” Christopher said.

“You’ll what?” Camila snorted.

“It’s a magic vehicle, I don’t need my legs to drive it,” Christopher added.

Allen didn’t have time to doubt the professor, he lifted him into the driver’s seat and shut the door. Camila and Amelia got in the back while Lucas took the passenger seat in the cab. Then, Allen and Ty both hung onto the outside of the truck. There was space between the cab and the back of the truck for them to get behind.

“We’re gonna Mad Max these idiots,” Allen began, grinning psychotically. “You have any legit defense skills yet?” he asked Ty.

Ty hesitantly glanced over at the Assassin on the other side of the truck between the gap. “You could say something like that.”

Allen chuckled a little before his face went solid again. “Christopher, get us the hell out of here.”