A Tale of One Deviant (Book One)

Chapter 98: Step 3...

Time left until I promised we would be back:

2:08:17

     The combatant that we had sent through a while ago lost, and never came to us again. That meant we didn't have to lift the door again, so we could rest. For the people here that just meant stand in place and await further orders, but I sat on the ground and pulled a wine glass out of my storage.

     Drew had moved to the end of the other line, and was now sitting on the ground and leaning against his lever. His eyes were turbulent as he stared at the ground, keeping his body tucked in and curled up like a little boy. His face had no expression to it, but still had a shadow that showed he was finally understanding the gravity of the situation.

     Great. That meant step three would come soon enough.

     "Hey! Start opening the door, the next combatant will be entering in five minutes!" The ringmaster shouted from the other side.

     I tossed my wine glass of apple cider back into my storage, then stood and stretched.

     "Hai hai~"

     The slaves were already moving, pushing down on the wooden beam and pulling it back so the rope would pull towards us. Drew was doing the same laboring work, not complaining and not making the same effort to draw away from people anymore. He was mindlessly doing his work, stuck in his own little world.

     We've got two hours, boy. Pick up the pace in those groundbreaking, sky-shattering thoughts of yours. You need to realize as soon as possible that you need to 180 your attitude, and fast, or you'll be brainwashed into doing this work for the rest of your life.

     I'd leave you here for as long as possible until your father told me to come pick you up.

     He was the crown prince, after all. Heir to the throne and all those bells, which meant I couldn't so easily do as I wished. Well, I could, but...

     The next competitor was here already, this one coming for me again. I cut a glare to him as he approached me, sober unlike the last one.

     "Be ready to open to gate for when I come back, victorious," he smirked, smacking my bottom before heading through.

     In the background, I heard the announcer say, "And here we welcome the brave of the east! Aloysius, his very name boasting that he is a warrior!"

     I purposefully commanded all of the slaves to back off the lever as I slammed it shut behind him, breaking the mechanism. He yelped, which made the crowd laugh as I had an evil smile. I wasn't smiling because of that, but rather because I was thinking about my future plans.

     ...that's not all I'll do to him once I bust this place up.

     No one touches Knight, even if she's in disguise.

     I fixed the mechanism and made the slaves rest against the wooden poles they churned like oars, filling them with strength bit by bit. I was transferring my HP over to them, converting my MP into health points so that I didn't expend too much. I gave ten HPs per person after all, and since there were thirty people here, three hundred HPs were lost of me. That's half my HP total.

     The rest of them were looking perfectly healthy again, being average people only needing ten or fifteen. They didn't gain anything to their stats from being here, no STR from working or HP from surviving. It just tore away at them, and with all the HP I put in them, their bodies were filled out but extremely dirty. The only things wrong with them were their minds.