However, no matter how resilient Gareth was, he could only keep going for so long. On the final day, Gareth was reaching his limit when the countess saw him. Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate for him is yet to be seen.
All he knew was that he was able to escape those hellish mines and was safe, at least for the meantime. However, that relief was short-lived when those thugs came to get him.
Huhhh!
Gareth let out a long breath as he finally digested all the memories from the boy. Having gotten a general grasp of the situation, he now knew the essence of his current circumstances.
Though he hadn't seen the countess before, rumors of her escapades had traveled far and wide across the territory. Sometimes, even the slaves amused themselves with tales of her rendezvous when they had nothing to do.
The bars and taverns were filled with various stories about her nightly escapades. In short, the whole territory knew she was a harlot, a whore, a bitch. They knew she had multiple lovers and was never satisfied with one man.
Heck, there were even tales where she fucked more than one man at a time. Her penchant for picking up random men and turning them into her boy toys was well known, which caused her notoriety to rise. And it seemed that Gareth was going to be the latest addition to that list.
When the guards came for him, he received mixed gazes from the miners. Some looked at him in surprise, some scowled in jealousy, while others shook their heads in pity.
However, to the current Gareth, the situation wasn't too bad. In fact, he thought it was a good opportunity to get rid of his slave status. He wasn't a virgin who would reject the woman, especially when she was basically going to throw herself at him.
Unless she was some sort of monstrosity of a woman, then everything was peachy. Come to think of it, very few of the residents had seen the countess. None of Gareth's acquaintances had seen her before.
What if she was indeed a walking Godzilla? Shit. Gareth cursed inwardly. Well, there was nothing he could do about it now. He was going to deal with the problem when it came. The day came to an end, and sure enough, Gareth couldn't help himself anymore.
He devoured the rest of the pastries and bread, convincing himself it was to prevent them from going bad. Consuming the pastries relieved him of his hunger, but it wasn't enough to completely get rid of it. Still, it was enough for now. He finally went to bed with food in his stomach for the first time in a long while.
The next day came, and to his surprise and delight, the two maids that had come previously were here again. This time, the food they brought wasn't just pastries like before. They brought soup, boiled eggs, and even some smoked meat strips.
Gareth tried to strike up a conversation with one of them, but something odd happened. Both of them didn't respond to him. They simply dropped the baskets of food they came to deliver, picked up the empty ones they had brought the night before, and left.
At first, Gareth thought it was only one of them. Perhaps she was just mute. But no, the same thing happened when he tried to talk to the other one. They didn't even pay him any attention, treating him as if he were air. They were fast too, not even spending up to a minute in his shed.
Gareth felt as if his pride as a man was challenged and resolved to make those two pay one way or another. However, he wasn't really mad. He knew they had probably been given orders not to engage with him. Still, he wasn't going to forget it so easily.
So his days passed aimlessly. Every day, the two maids would come and drop off food for him. Since they didn't give him any further instructions, he had ample free time on his hands. He began exercising slowly to ward off boredom. His body was still too weak for anything too rigorous, so he had to take it easy.
As the days passed, the meals the maids brought became more elaborate. Graduating from ordinary pastries, there were now meat and fish dishes included. At one point, Gareth felt like a lamb being fattened up for slaughter.
And his slaughter date was fast approaching. However, there was little he could do about it. He thought about running away, but he ultimately discarded that idea. Even with his years of military training, he genuinely didn't think he could escape those thugs.
He didn't know what it was, but he felt a strange aura coming from them—something that told him they were not ordinary humans and that he shouldn't treat them as such.
By the end of the seventh day, Gareth was inspecting his body in wonder. Moonlight shone through the lone window in the room, caressing his body in a soft light. His body, which had looked skinny and malnourished almost a week ago, was now brimming with energy.
His face, which had been a bit sunken before, had now regained its shine. Because of the previous owner's mining work and Gareth's recent exercise, he was fairly muscular. Not perfectly toned, but certainly very noticeable.
This result was certainly not natural, at least to him. The food he was eating tasted very good—much better than their counterparts from Earth—but evidently, that wasn't their only unique feature.
"Well, it wouldn't be much of a fantasy world without weird food," he muttered to himself before dismissing those thoughts. As long as they weren't harming him, he didn't really put too much thought into it.
He lay down on the bed, trying to at least get some rest before the long day he knew he was going to have tomorrow. Still, he was a bit excited for it. These past few days had been boring, and he wanted something to do. He would literally be fine doing anything.
However, as he dozed off to sleep, he didn't know just how much he was going to regret those thoughts.