Three weeks had passed since Conan had been taken to the slave farm. During that time, he had seen other slaves being bought and taken away to other places. Some were taken against their will, while others were happy to leave the farm.
Conan was now in the library, surrounded by books, but focusing on the ones that caught his attention. Among the books, Conan found one discussing the basic concepts of a warrior from the continent of martial arts.
"In our bodies, there are veins capable of carrying mana..." Conan said thoughtfully, "so that's how magicians create fireballs?" He remembered seeing some boys with fireballs in their hands.
In the three weeks since his arrival, Conan devoted himself to practicing so that he would not be defeated in physical training, as he already knew how difficult it was to go without food for days on end. But even with his efforts, he was still a child and the youngest among the others, most of whom were three to four years older than him.
After winning for the first time, he had lost for two days in a row before winning again, following a pattern of losing for two or three days until he won again. His lack of food was evident; his body, already thin, was now even thinner. That was why he wanted to know more, to be stronger and not starve to death.
With his face buried in his books, he barely felt the hand on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw Anna, a short-haired redhead and one of his many classmates in his room.
"It's time to go back, put that down," said Anna, walking away and leaving the library with the others.
"Anna is older than me, should I ask her about mana veins?" Conan said to himself, putting the book away and running after Anna.
"Anna!" Conan called, running after her.
"What's up?" Anna asked, seeing Conan following her excitedly.
When he caught up with Anna, Conan convinced her to spar together, taking advantage of the opportunity to ask her about the dantians.
"Anna, do you know how to use magic?" Conan asked, holding his sword and standing in front of Anna.
"Magic? Why are you interested in that?" she asked, charging at Conan and swinging her sword toward his abdomen.
"I-it's to be stronger!" he could barely say.
Anna's blows were heavier than Conan could bear. Covering himself with his sword before deflecting Anna's attack, he slowed the blow, but was still pushed back by it.
"You're fine like this. Focus on training," she ordered the boy, giving him no chance to rest and attacking him repeatedly.
Conan could barely keep up with Anna. The girl's attacks overwhelmed him and pushed him further and further back.
"Mana veins are for getting stronger, right?" Conan asked tiredly.
Repelling the attacks had left him exhausted. He decided to back away, walking backwards and leaving Anna's attack range.
"Yes, they do, but you can't use them," she said, seeing the state of the child and pressing him further in order to defeat him.
Seeing how his partner was attacking him, the boy decided to attack her by surprise, moving forward and lunging at Anna's chest.
"You're too small to reach me," Anna said as she struck him on the head with her sword, causing Conan to lose his balance.
The blow caused Conan to lose his balance, falling straight to the ground and leaving him unprotected against Anna. She instantly kicked him in the stomach, pushing him a few meters away.
The boy was unable to protect himself in time, causing him great pain and leaving him gasping for air. His older sister wasted no time and lunged at him again, determined to end the duel.
"She's going to hit me again, I have to get up!" thought Conan, rising with his last ounce of strength and preparing for his older sister's blows.
The girl went straight at Conan. Knowing that she would not win in a duel of strength, she hit him with her sword with the intention of pushing him and kicking him again. When Conan blocked Anna's attack, he was pushed back by her strength, and seeing Anna prepare to kick him, he decided to jump backwards, but not before grabbing Anna's foot and pulling her with him.
"It was obvious you would do that," said Anna, bending her body and striking Conan's side with her sword.
Although he took the blow, Conan did not give up. He endured the pain and, holding Anna's foot, threw his wooden sword at her face, stunning her enough to lower her guard and receive a punch in the face.
"I win," he said, quickly putting his sword to Anna's neck and marking the end of the training.
"Tcht..." Anna clicked her tongue before getting up and leaving, leaving Conan behind.
<<<>>>
At night, while most were asleep, Conan went to Anna's bed, sat down next to her, and woke her up.
"Anna, wake up, I want you to teach me about magic," he said, shaking her body in an attempt to wake her up.
"Mmm... Stop bothering me," she said sleepily as she pushed Conan, causing him to fall off the bed.
"Come on, get up and teach me," she said, holding her head because of the blow.
"Ask the wizards," she said, trying to convince the boy to give up and let her rest.
"They're on the other side of the farm!" Conan said angrily, not giving her time to refuse.
Tired of the boy, the girl got up, determined to hit him so he would let her sleep. Her fist was about to strike the boy, but she was stopped by someone else.
"Even if you hit him, he won't stop bothering you. Just teach him once and for all so he'll stop bothering you," said Ghislaine, a golden-haired boy who slept in the room and lived with the other slaves.
"Ghislaine, don't get involved. Go lick the boots of the caretakers," Anna said aggressively.
"Why don't you want to teach me? I'm sure I can do it!" said Conan, looking at Anna with a smile.
"You're obnoxious," said Ghislaine angrily, looking at Conan, who had pure curiosity on his face.
"Why? I didn't do anything," Conan replied, looking at both adults.
"Just because you have the favor of the instructors doesn't mean you'll have ours," Anna told him.
"The adults? They don't help me at all!" he shouted, assaulted by the memory of his capture.
"...because you're a child, everyone treats you with care, even if it doesn't seem like it," the blond man told Conan, who still seemed curious about the reasons.
"Even though I'm a child, I've seen others being beaten..." Conan retorted, his spirits sinking as he remembered how other slaves two or three years older than him were beaten for their mistakes.
He remembered how, after winning his first fight, the boy he had fought appeared the next day with several bruises and welts.
"We are beaten because we have no talent," said other voices from behind Conan. These were the other slaves in the room, some even with visible injuries.
"I don't have it either," said Conan, surprised by the words of the others.
"You do have it. You have won many times for a 4-year-old who has never trained before," said Ghislaine, looking at Conan seriously.
"The first time was luck," said Conan, trying to make the others see his point of view.
"Even if it's luck, you're good at fighting, so all you do is train and read. Anyone here would give anything just to do that," said Ghislaine, trying to convince him, telling him about his daily routine as a slave.
"I'm in charge of cleaning, cooking, and I've even faced monsters many times, and if I fail..." Without finishing her words, Ghislaine lifted her clothes, revealing bruises and whip marks.
Seeing the marks, Conan's skin bristled, feeling an invisible pain in the places where Ghislaine had the marks.
"Why don't you try to defend yourselves?" Conan asked, looking at the expressions on the others' faces.
"We already tried, and it didn't end well..." said one of the teenagers, pointing to two empty beds in the room.
"Four died last time," said Anna, pain in her eyes.
"Then why don't we try to escape? There are more of us than there are guards. We can defeat them all together," he said, stating something so obvious that he was surprised no one else had thought of it.