Our trip took a month and half. The interactions with the soldiers of the company were kept to a minimum. They would give me food three times a day through the bars of my cage and change my chamber pot twice a day, nothing more. They didn't even try to speak with me and kept even those short interactions as short as possible. It was obvious that, even chained and caged as I was, my build was able to strike fear in their minds.

Through the gaps in the cover of the wagon I was able to see a bit of the world outside. We encountered the first real village only after a whole week of travel, and it was entirely populated by humans. As the days went on the climate became warmer, conifers gave way to deciduous trees and the settlements grew larger and more varied. Sometimes I'd see small people that could look like children at a first glance but were obviously adults once one looked more carefully, beastmen of any shape and form, reptilian people, and even the odd elf.

After the third time that, when entering a city, some guards opened the flaps of the wagon to check what was inside and the company was let through without any issue, it became obvious that the law was not on my side, at least for the moment.

Our trip finally came to an end in a city full of buildings of sand-colored bricks with red tiled roofs. They left my wagon in what, from what I could see from the gaps, looked like the inner yard of a building. I waited there for hours before a man that looked to be in his fifties came to speak with me. He had well groomed salt and pepper hair and beard and was wearing fine, elegant clothes, accompanied by a multitude of golden rings on his fingers.

"Good afternoon, I'm Denzel Smith, may I have the pleasure to know your name?" he said in my language.

"No, but you may have the pleasure to go fuck yourself with a branding iron."

He frowned at my answer, then produced a rolled up piece of parchment from a pocket in his jacket. He opened it and turned its written side towards me before saying, "I command you to obey my orders."

The writing on the scroll lit up and my mind suddenly felt hazy. When the scroll stopped shining he said, "tell me your name."

I felt something tugging at my mind, compelling me to answer him. It was still not enough to win over my current anger so I managed to reply, "Fuck. Off."

Immediately pain struck my mind, making me wince. Fortunately, it lasted only a second and I was able to quickly shake it off, while I watched the scroll burn away in his hands.

He sighed. "That geas scroll costed me over three thousand crowns, you know?"

"Well, sucks to be you," I said, with a grin on my face.

"We clearly started on the wrong foot here, why don't we try again," he said.

I nodded. "Sure, just bring me back to my home, I'm sure my tribe would love to have a nice conversation with you."

"I did you a favor by bringing you to civilization," he said, exuding arrogance.

"Oh, right, sorry." I bowed my head. "Thank you very much, I was so looking forward to becoming a slave, how may I ever repay you?"

He let out a long sigh and rubbed his nose between his eyes with two fingers. After a few seconds of thinking, he said, "what can I even do to make you work for me?"

"My freedom, first of all, then it depends on the type of work."

"You would become one of my gladiators," he said, his tone making it sound as if it was obvious.

I thought about it for a bit. On one hand I really didn't want to work for the guy who had commissioned my kidnapping and had tried to magically enslave me. On the other hand, I was over a month away from home, who knows where, and he was the only one I had met up to that point who knew my language.

"I have some conditions," I finally said.

"Please," he said, gesturing me to continue.

"As I said, I want my freedom." He nodded and let me continue. "This means that I'll be free to move as I wish and that you will have to inform me of any incoming match at least one day before."

"That's fine for me, but may I add that you will have to notice me in case you plan to be unavailable for more than one day?"

I nodded. "Yes, that's fine. My second condition is my pay. You will provide adequate food, lodging, and pay."

"How does twenty percent of the profits from you matches sound?" he asked.

"I have no idea how much that would be, so we will go over that again down the line."

"Of course, of course."

"My third condition," I continued, "is that I will not fight any slaves, only paid volunteers, beasts, and criminals."

"We don't have cri-" He stopped himself as a lightbulb seemed to lit up over his head. "Oh gods! You're a genius! Please continue."

"Thanks? I guess? Anyway… I also ask that you provider a teacher for the language you people speak around here, I'm getting pretty tired of not knowing what is going on."

"Sure, I can arrange some lessons for you."

"My next condition is that I get to beat the shit out of the people who kidnapped me."

He sucked in air through his teeth before saying, "I'm afraid that won't be possible, they're a mercenary company I employed only for this job, they don't normally work for me."

I shrugged. "Oh well, I can always beat the shit out of them when I find them around."

"Is that all?" he asked.

"I have one last condition," I said, raising a finger, "you will provide me something to write a letter with, you will have it delivered to my tribe, and have the answer delivered back to me. I suggest sending a dwarf for the job."

He gave me a look of incredulity as he said, "you brutes can't-"

I raised an eyebrow.

"Sure, I'll have your letter delivered."

"Good, that was all," I said, crossing my arms and giving him a triumphal look.

He smiled. "Perfect, I'll have someone come and attend to you while I prepare everything. It was a pleasure to do business with you, miss…?"

"Anya, Anya Irinado."