Chapter 105: Alive.

Chapter 105: Alive.Lee woke up and stretched like a lazy cat, enjoying the refreshing feeling of a lengthy rest. He slept really well, although the nightmare was terrifying. It was still dark outside, but ...

’Wait! It’s never dark in Ashland!’ Lee sat up in realization, and the tightness in chest forced him to cough uncontrollably.

He spewed out mucus, blood-clots and pieces of broken teeth, but fortunately that was all that was left from the unforgettable agony he experienced. While the process left a bad taste in his mouth, Lee was thrilled to find out his teeth had grown back. It was a pleasant surprise to learn that the water spark had this unexpected bonus ...

’Looks like I won’t need a dentist in this life.’ He grinned to himself, but only then realized he wasn’t born anew, ’Wait! How ...’

It took a moment for him to register that the fact that he was actually alive didn’t make sense. Didn’t he have to die? But he could figure it out later. The first thing he had to do was to get out of here, wherever here was.

The ground was hard, but at the same time pleasant to touch, as if Lee was sitting on some kind of a carpet. Recognizing the fur-like surface being the familiar moss, Lee guessed that Arax didn’t lie about bringing him somewhere deep in the mines.

Of course, it didn’t matter how deep he was. He had different problems – he was thirsty and hungry, and he lacked any kind of clothing. But he was alive, although it was hard to believe.

Lee shuddered, remembering the agony he went through, but then shook his head, trying to dismiss the unnecessary thoughts, and got up. The next moment he did fall of his feet, though.

He was fully healed, but apparently he had lied there for quite a while. He felt invigorated, full of energy, but at the same time his extremities felt numb.

’Alright! In that case, let’s go slowly.’ Lee thought, and spent a few moments massaging his legs, and only afterwards attempted to leave.

He had no clue where to, though. He was in complete darkness, with no sense of direction. After taking a couple of insecure steps, his stretched out hand touched the stone wall, and from that moment on it went easier.



The tunnel he was in turned out to be some kind of a dead end. That left Lee with only one direction to go, but it took some time until he saw the first source of light.

On the way he had to crawl over few piles of rocks, and even when he didn’t, he managed to stumble quite a few times. Nevertheless, with bruised knees and elbows, but with a faint smile on his face he arrived at a cave hall.

It had only two dim stones embed in its walls, but those were enough to recognize the dead bodies piled up at one side. These were obviously slaves, or how the locals called them – the cursed ones, and, even though the sight was revolting, Lee felt as if he had found a wardrobe.

After quickly picking out the best shirt and trousers, he quickly dressed, trying to ignore the disgusting smell the dregs he wore emitted, and left through the tunnel on the opposite side of the hall. Now he somehow had to get out without anyone recognizing him as an escaping slave.

Unfortunately, with how Lee currently looked it was impossible. Even the cursed ones would think he was one of them, let alone the guards, and that left him with only one option.

After he arrived at the next cave hall, he picked up a rock in the size of a water melon. Then he hunched over, put it on his shoulders and slowly, imitating the manner the lifeless slaves moved, walked to the tunnel leading further. Of course, he didn’t have any shackles, but the main idea was to imitate him being a slave, not becoming one.

It didn’t take long before Lee came across the first people. As expected, they were the cursed ones, weakly hitting the walls with their mining sticks. There were no guards in this place and Lee proceeded further.

After passing through a couple of similar cave halls, he arrived at a larger one that was brighter, with more illuminating stones embedded in the walls.

For the first time since his arrival to the Ashland he had a thought that the smell of the disgusting stew actually wasn’t that bad. He squatted right after though, his stomach growling, hiding right at the tunnel entrance.

The three guards next to the stew pot were busy discussing something, and Lee put the stone down on the ground without making a sound, and quickly hid behind a pile of stacked sacks, boxes and baskets.

"... are you two going?" One of the guards asked.



"Of course!" The other two exclaimed at the same time, but then one continued, "You don’t expect me to stay here when I have a chance to receive a God’s gift!"

"But something feels off." The first one said, "It can’t be that the conquest to another world can be safe."

"Since Lunax said it’s safe, it’s safe." Another one said, "I don’t dare to doubt the words of the God!"

"Me too, me too!" The first one rushed to agree, "It just sounds too good to be true. A world without any danger, and anyone can join the conquest to look for that thing. And it’s another special conquest only three months after the previous one ..."

’What the f...’ Lee barely held back from cursing out loud.

The previous special conquest was to Haonia! Does that mean he was out for almost two months? How was that even possible? On the other hand, after swallowing the water spark, he was also in coma for a similar period, but back then it was Tess who saved him.

"But who’ll look after the cursed ones while we’re gone?" The first guard interrupted Lee’s train of thought.

"Let it be the problem for the higher ups!" One of his colleagues said.

But the other one laughed, and said, "Hahaha! You can stay! We’ll tell you how it went afterwards."

The three bantered for a while, and two left only after they had a meal. The third one, though, lied down on the opposite side of the pile Lee was hiding behind. Lee’s patience was rewarded soon after by the guy starting to snore.

Now he had to be quick, but silent. Guided by the touch, Lee found one of the sacks that was filled with clothing and changed, ignoring the fact that the new clothes were too big for him. They were clean and, besides the footwear, now he lacked only one item to look more or less normal.

Fortunately the guard that was asleep left his waterskin bag next to the pot, and Lee grabbed it unhindered on the way out. His heart didn’t even accelerate as he left, from that moment on becoming a regular citizen once again.



Arax didn’t lie – he did bring him deep in the mines. On the way out Lee even managed to have a hearty prayer along with the other devotees, but the upside was that he could fill his new waterskin multiple times, and left the mines happily burping from how full he was.

***

Ashland was bustling with activity. Clearly everyone was excited about the prospects of joining the special conquest that was about to start in a couple of days. It felt unbelievable Lunax intended to let all the people in Ashland join it, but then again, it wasn’t Lee’s problem.

If the claim was that there was no danger, that mean there were no humans. And that, in turn, meant he had no interest in going anywhere.

He had different worries. The first thing Lee did upon the return – he went to the Artisan district and borrowed scissors and a sharp knife. Then he cut his hair and shaved the head, ignoring the blood from from the many wounds he suffered in the process.

Now, being bold and wearing the oversized clothes he resembled a goblin that was trying to pretend to be human. It was unlikely Arax would recognize him if they ran into each other, and the only thing left was to find someone to make him comfortable gloves.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t a part of any squad and didn’t have any divine contribution to exchange for services, thus the best thing he could do was to hide his palm by walking around with clenched fists.

Be as it may, his life was back to normal, well, as normal as it could be in Ashland.

The first day he spent standing in lines to get the stew, eating, and then getting more again. It felt as it would never be possible to quench his thirst and satisfy his hunger.

He had a revelation, though. Arax messing him up had a side effect, or rather – him being unconscious had a side effect. His brain was finally functioning at full capacity. At least it felt so.

The shameful part was the first thing he thought of, but fortunately he didn’t have to share it with anyone. He could’ve left Arax’s squad at any time and join any other if he wanted to. So what if there was a rule against it? Caretakers weren’t human resources department and didn’t have computers to verify his identity!

Lee felt stupid, but relieved at the same time. It was good to be back!