1 Week Earlier
[Liam's POV]
"The mission was way too easy this time," I say to Mikhail, the mage of our party.
We are making our way back from the looted villages to the city of Slocrough, famous for its beer.
"Well, you did have me," Mikhail answers, walking behind me.
He keeps one hand in his bag and the other on his mage staff.
"Oh, right. You didn't even do anything!" screams Kajus, our swordsman.
He is walking behind the wooden cage cart holding the captured beasts.
"By the time you finished your spell, half the village was already dead."
"Oh yeah?" screams Mikhail, clearly in the mood to argue.
"Well, you would have been dead by her hands," he says, pointing toward the chained beast in the cell. "If it weren't for my Icicle Spear."
"The same Icicle Spear which takes you minutes to cast but can't even fully immobilize a single elf woman?" Kajus fires back. Before Mikhail can speak, Kajus continues. "While using mumbling magic, I might add."
"Oh, Kajus, why did you have to say that?" I sigh. I stop and get closer to Mikhail to console him.
"What? I said the truth." Kajus shrugs, not caring what Mikhail thinks. "He shouldn't have lied about being able to use chanting magic."
As they bicker back and forth, I see Mikhail start chanting.
Before I can do anything, he speaks. "You call me useless? You say I can't even immobilize a woman? Well, how about you try and take this without being immobilized, you little bitch!"
As he talks, he waves his staff. A huge Ice spear starts appearing in front of it.
"Oh yeah? Attack me! I'm standing right here!" Kajus shouts, jumping directly into the path of the spell.
Thankfully, before they can kill each other,
Mr. Ian steps between them.
Mr. Ian, our party leader, is a middle-aged man famous in Slocrough. He has various connections, including the client who asked for these special half-breeds.
He is also deaf.
"DO NOT FIGHT," he signs with an angry expression.
His glare scares Kajus enough to make him shut up. He quietly sheathes his sword and goes back to guarding the rear.
Mr. Ian looks at me and signs, "Do not let this happen again."
"Yes," I sign back. I quickly apologize for not stopping them and return to guarding the front.
We pick up the pace to reach our old campsite before nightfall.
"I am leaving to catch some food. You three stay here and protect the goods," Mr. Ian signs to us. He leaves with his bow, arrows, and short sword.
As we start setting up camp, we hear a scream.
Before I can find the source, I see Mikhail pointing at the sky.
"Look, someone's falling!"
"It doesn't look like a wingbeast," says Kajus, squinting his eyes.
"Let me check," I say.
I quickly climb the tallest tree nearby. I watch the object crash-land in the nearby plains.
"What is it?" Kajus asks, looking up at me.
"It's definitely a person, not a wingbeast," I answer.
"Shall we go for it?" Kajus asks.
"I don't think anything will be left of someone falling from such a height," Mikhail intervenes.
"Isn't that why we should go? We can loot the dead body," Kajus mocks him.
Before another fight can break out, I intervene. "Yeah, let's go."
I jump down from the tree.
SFX - THUD
"What about the slaves and Mr. Ian? Won't he be angry?" Mikhail asks.
"The beasts won't be able to run or do anything since they are under the influence. As for Mr. Ian, we will just say we were attacked and chased them off or something," I answer, picking up my spear.
"Good idea," says Kajus, getting ready.
We head out toward the crash site.
After walking for about an hour, we see it. A small crater, visible from far away. As we get closer, we see the earth is covered in blood.
"Holy shit," says Mikhail. He starts running toward the crater. "Someone's still alive in there!"
We run after him.
Getting close, we see the body. It seems to be a human male, late teens or early twenties. All he is wearing is a short garment.
"What should we do now?" Kajus asks.
"Doesn't seem like he has anything on him."
"Before I answer that," I say, looking at our mage. "Mikhail, how did you know he was alive before getting close?"
"Well, since I am a mage, I am more sensitive to mana," he answers sincerely. "There is some leftover residue of healing magic. Since healing magic doesn't work on dead people, I just guessed he was alive."
"So, what about my question?" Kajus asks.
"Well, let's just enslave him too," I answer.
"Let's do what?!" Mikhail screams. "You want to enslave another human? And a mage at that?"
"Exactly why I want to enslave him," I answer back.
"I don't know..." says Mikhail.
"I don't think we should enslave him either,"
says Kajus, agreeing with Mikhail.
"Yes, we should," I say, trying to convince them. "Think of the money. A male in his prime."
"What if he's powerful? He did survive a fall of thousands of meters," Kajus argues.
"Without being harmed," adds Mikhail.
Before I can retort, we hear the man speak.
"Whi— whit iro yae siyung?"
"Shut up, he's up. Act like we are just trying to help him," I whisper quickly to end the argument.
"Hello, can you hear me?" Kajus says. He bends down and places a hand on the boy's shoulder.
The boy struggles to open his eyes against the sunlight. I step between them to block the glare.
"Hey! You there?" I ask. "Are you deaf?"
"Whit iro yae siyung," the man blurts out. We don't understand a word.
"What language is that?" asks Mikhail, slowly coming closer.
"I don't know, you think he hit his head or something?" says Kajus.
"No shit, he hit his head," I answer. I move aside to let Mikhail inspect him. "He fell from such a height. It's a surprise he's even alive since there's so much blood around this area."
"Doesn't look like he's high," Kajus notes, examining the man's eyes.
Kajus reaches for the man's wrist, but the stranger pulls back. He tries to stand up,
almost falling over until Kajus catches him.
As the stranger looks around at his
surroundings, the three of us look at each other, silently debating what to do.
"Should we do it?" I ask them, slowly gripping my spear.
"I am against it. No weak person could survive that fall, lose so much blood, and still be able to operate normally," says Mikhail.
"I will do whatever you decide," says Kajus.
But before I can say anything, the man waves his hand. It looks like he is trying to use some kind of chanting magic.
We jump back immediately.
Before the man can finish saying something we don't understand, we pull out our weapons.