Volume 1 Chapter 2 Slave Girl Rena 1️⃣
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
At the center of the rough encampment, where the flickering fire cast eerie shadows, a small figure knelt in silence.
She was just a girl—barely in her early teens, by the look of her. Black hair hung in tangled waves around her face, obscuring most of her features. Her thin arms and legs, barely covered in tattered cloth, spoke of neglect and starvation more than youth. Though surrounded by sneering men, she made no sound, no protest.
She moved only as commanded, mechanically. Her expression was hidden, but the trembling of her limbs and the silent tears sliding down her cheeks told the truth: she had been used and degraded for a long time.
The bandits cackled, sitting in a loose circle around her and the man in the center—their leader, no doubt.
”Damn, who would’ve thought this scrap would be useful?” the leader sneered, running a hand through her matted hair. “The bastard who trained her like this must’ve been sick in the head.”
”Right? She looked like dead weight at first,” one of the others replied with a grin. “Can’t even sell her like this now. Who’d buy a broken toy?”
”She’s got her uses. Not like she needs to be in one piece for us to have fun,” another added with a laugh. “We can always toss her after.”
The men howled with laughter at their own cruelty. The girl said nothing.
I had heard enough.
My hand moved into the pouch at my side. From it, I drew four darts—each tipped with a thick black sheen, the venom glistening faintly in the firelight. I’d coated them with a rare poison—something I’d extracted myself from desert lizards found only in the southern sands. A single drop was enough to make a grown man beg for death.
I stepped out from the trees.
In a single breath, I hurled the darts.
Slick whistling sounds—then screams.
”Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!?”
Four of them dropped instantly, clutching their stomachs, backs, or necks. The bandit leader jerked to his feet, shoving the girl aside.
”What the hell!? What’s going on?!”
But the others only shrieked and writhed. Some convulsed, their limbs spasming. Others clawed at their own faces, drool and vomit pouring from their mouths. Their skin turned blotchy and pale, and some were already foaming at the lips.
”Hey! Get up! What’s happening to you!?”
No one could answer. They couldn’t even form words.
As the last of them crumpled to the earth, the leader staggered back, sword drawn.
”What… What is this…?”
I stepped forward, letting the flames light my face.
”They’re finished.”
He spun toward the sound of my voice. “Who—!? What did you do!?”
”A special toxin,” I answered calmly. “No antidote in this part of the world. It burns the nerves from the inside out. Takes hours to die—slow, excruciating hours.”
His expression twisted. “Y-You… little bastard!”
He charged.
But rage made him sloppy. He swung the blade with brute force, no precision. I stepped inside the arc with ease and passed by him smoothly.
As we crossed paths, I dragged my dagger across his side—a shallow cut. Almost harmless.
Or so it would seem.
”Urghh… Gah—GAHHHHHHHH!”
He collapsed to the ground, screaming. His sword fell from his grasp, and he writhed just like the others, howling in pain, clawing at the dirt.
”It’s the same poison,” I said, though he likely couldn’t hear. “A little goes a long way.”
He thrashed like a cornered beast, but his time would come soon. The venom would lock his muscles and shut down his voice eventually. Until then, he could suffer.
”Tch. Just stay over there and keep quiet.”
I kicked his head lightly to push him aside, then turned to the girl who still lay motionless where she’d fallen.
* * *
She hadn’t moved a finger since being shoved away.
I knelt and placed two fingers on her wrist. A faint, steady pulse. Her breathing was calm now, though her body still trembled slightly. Exhaustion and trauma had likely knocked her unconscious.
At the very least, I couldn’t leave her like this.
Gently, I began removing the ragged cloth that clung to her. It was soaked in filth and something worse, and the smell was sickening. As I peeled it away, I saw she wore only a pair of threadbare undergarments beneath. A black collar wrapped tightly around her neck—more a shackle than an accessory.
But it was the state of her body that made me freeze.
”…What is this…”
She was thin—painfully so. Her ribs were sharply outlined beneath her dusky brown skin, her stomach sunken. Her limbs bore the marks of malnutrition and filth, her flesh caked in grime from head to toe. The stink of unwashed skin lingered faintly around her.
But worse than the smell were the scars.
Deep, old, and unmistakable—dozens of them, like claw marks, slashed across her arms, legs, back. Some had healed over, jagged and pink. Others still looked raw, as if they’d been reopened again and again.
I brushed the tangled hair away from her face.
She had a beautiful face. Even with her eyes closed, her delicate features were unmistakable—soft, well-proportioned, already showing hints of a future beauty. Or rather, it would have been beautiful.
A trio of deep scars ran across her left eye, from brow to cheek. The eye itself was shut tight and likely blind. The disfigurement cut across her face like a cruel brand.
”How pitiful…”
I couldn’t stop the tears from falling.
She had endured so much. And no one had helped her.
I used a clean cloth to wipe her hair, trying to remove the worst of the filth. Then I wrapped her gently in my cloak and covered her bare skin. It wasn’t much, but it was all I could offer her for now.
”…Alright. Time to finish the job.”
The fire still crackled in the center of the camp. I turned from her and set about cleaning up the last of the mess.
* * *
I approached the hunter’s cabin and found the iron chain across the door. One swing of my sword severed it cleanly, and I pushed the door open.
A trio of startled cries echoed from inside.
”Ah!”
I raised my hand, casting a simple light spell. A pale orb floated above my palm, illuminating the dark interior.
Three girls sat huddled together, their arms and legs bound, their clothes torn but intact. All were young, no older than the girl outside. Their eyes widened in fear as they looked up at me.
I stepped forward slowly.
”Don’t worry. I came on behalf of the village head.”
The girls blinked. For a moment, they didn’t respond.
Then—
”R-Really?”
”We can go home?”
”What happened to the bad guys!?”
”All taken care of,” I said simply, kneeling to untie their ropes. “You’ll stay here tonight. Tomorrow, I’ll escort you back to the village.”
As soon as the ropes fell away, the girls threw their arms around each other and began to sob uncontrollably.
I watched them for a moment, then sighed.
”…I’ll keep watch outside. Stay in here until morning. If you wander off and get into trouble, I won’t come save you again.”
I left them there and stepped into the cool night air.
The bandits still twitched where I’d left them, their bodies spasming as the poison did its work. I kicked the worst of them into the brush, far enough from the campfire that their noise wouldn’t carry.
Then I returned to the sleeping girl.
I laid her gently near the fire and covered her again with the blanket I used for travel. Her breathing had settled. Her expression, though still pained, was more peaceful now.
I sat down beside her, sword laid across my lap, eyes scanning the treeline.
The fire crackled. In the silence of the night, I muttered softly.
”…This world really is broken.”
No one answered.
* * *
Dawn.
The first light of morning filtered through the forest canopy.
I led the four girls—three wide-eyed and chattering, one silent and still—as we made our way back toward the village.
The three who had been locked in the cabin were loud, full of relief and excitement now that their ordeal was over. They barely even glanced at the fourth girl, who walked behind me, wrapped in my cloak, head lowered.
As though she didn’t exist.
As though she wasn’t one of them.
Their ignorance gnawed at something deep inside me. But I said nothing.
This wasn’t over. Not yet.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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