A few dozen minutes later, the three girls returned from the other room, Nivelayna wearing her new maid uniform like a pro. It was clear now that a proper training made a world of difference, her stance and gait emphasizing her modest curves, all ingrained into her so deeply she was doing so subconsciously. In contrast, both Sindu and Lita seemed a bit crude, though they had their own charm as well, unpolished as it was.

  "Nivelayna. Come over here." Jack called her over soon enough, deciding to address and solve that obvious discrepancy. She obeyed immediately, walking over to Jack and standing next to him, drawing the eyes of everyone else present.

  "This does not concern you Spartacus, so you can do whatever for now." Jack pointed out, then proceeded "walk back and forth here Nivi. Yes, I will call you that from now. Nivelayna is a bit of a mouthful."

  "Understood master." she replied, doing as told.

  "Look at the way she walks." Jack said to the rest of the girls "See how her waist sways with each step? I want you all to slowly learn to do the same, adjusted slightly for your own body shapes. We will iron out the details later though. Find time when not delving to train, though do not over do it. Make sure you keep yourselves in perfect condition."

  "Yes master." the girls replied in near perfect unison.

  "And do tell me, why is Nivi blushing?"

  "She asked when she is supposed to serve you in bed and we could not answer her. That must be the reason." Lita immediately exposed the few questions Nivelayna had asked in the other room, causing the elven girl to blush even more. Sure, she was trained to be a great servant, with a few pleasure slaves explaining in detail what to do and how to make sure her master would find her service pleasant, but she was a virgin all the same, and a young one at that- just barely adult in the eyes of elves.

  "While I can commend her for her willingness and desire to serve, neither am I in need of a release, nor do I believe any of you are ready for that. Only once you have become proper maids could I entertain the idea of expanding your skill sets and tasks, among which would be taking care of my carnal needs. Do note that proper maids need to be at least tier four- above level fifty that is, so we still have plenty of time before that."

  The words Jack spoke made all the present servants go slack jawed. The casual way he was speaking about them reaching tier 3 was downright incomprehensible, though none of them even for a second felt as though he was joking. None besides Nivelayna that is. The latest addition to the ranks of Jack's servants knew far too little about him to make the correct read on his words, hence the admittedly quiet, yet still perceived by Jack, question.

  "Does that mean master's never gonna call me to warm his bed?"

  "Ha, ha ha ha ha." Jack could not help but laugh at the question, golding his belly as he did so. Even the rest of the girls could not help but giggle a little, much more aware of the likelihood- an eventuality more like it if they had understood anything about their new master-about the way things would play out.

  "Huh, huuu. Don't you worry Nivi. One day you will get to do that job. I will make sure of it. Would be a poor master otherwise, what with your dejection at the thought."

  Nivelayna suddenly blushed even harder, her previous blunder taken in an entirely different way she herself had intended, though well aware she could not say otherwise.

  "Of course. Anything to please the master." she half murmured, capable of doing nothing but go along with the flow now. She always knew this was how things should go after all.

  "Sindu, bring her up to speed regarding the way things work around here. And make sure you all have eaten a proper meal. We are getting a carriage or two after the meal and heading out today as well." Jack added, walking over to the corner where the swirling energy vortex was, begging to dismantle it, leaving behind not a single trace of its temporary existence. Once done with that, he proceeded to remove all the extra wards he had placed around, returning the house to its original state- secure, but not unbreachable by those of true skill and desire.

  And all the while Jack was doing his own thing, the group of servants cooked a decent meal, bringing Nivi up to speed on how things worked around here, as well as her role in their maid team. That too was quite the shock for the young elven girl- a team of servants sent in a dungeon to train and grow stronger, all because their master deemed their current strength too low for his liking?

  "Is he not worried about a revolt or something? I know the slave marks and collars exist, but there is a reason the slaves are kept weak." she asked in a half whisper, though keeping her deepest thoughts to herself- the maids had already proven willing to expose her to their master after all. Still, so far it seemed that her new master was overly relaxed and lenient- a trait she assigned to him as a particularly powerful human who had no need to fear most things.

  "You only ask that because you were clearly kept as a prized merchandise, no doubt trained specifically for that." It was Arsha- the auburn haired hunter maid who answered " Unlike us, who had to work hard every day while fearing the whip of the overseers and being lucky to get fed at most once every day, you don't know how bad the life for an ordinary human slave is. In comparison to before, master treats us more like hired help, keeping us well fed, healed and healthy. Better yet, he does not ask us to do anything that we cannot achieve, all so he could punish us. Sure, we are delving the dungeon, but who of us had not dreamt of being able to do precisely that when we were young and free? Better yet, wait until you receive your battle gear, You will understand then just how great we have it now. Only an absolute idiot would wish to lose him."

  "Arsha speaks true. But you will understand soon enough, especially so if master will take us past the slave square." Virgo chimed in, quickly followed by an agreement from Nesta, the twins as always on the same page.

  "Oh, worry not girls. Since Nivi here needs a healthy dose of reality check, we will do as you mentioned. Let the naive elven girl see what it's like for an ordinary slave, one that's not deemed more valuable in pristine condition. Remember, despite captured and turned into a slave, she has been twice lucky. First, she was deemed more valuable preserved and developed. Secondly- her master was a human to begin with. What are the chances a beastmen slave master would see additional value in our ilk?" Jack commented, finalizing his own tasks, leaving no trace of his modifications behind.

  Soon enough the servant team had eaten, cleaned up after themselves and prepared for their new journey, only awaiting Jack's order to set out. With one final double check, making sure nothing was out of place, Jack finally gave the signal as the group departed the rather cozy temporary home this particular inn house had served as for a little over a week. Jack payed for their tab at the main inn house, returned the key and dropped a few coins for the cat beastwoman servant who had served as his guide a few times, nothin that she was well trained. No excess talking, just doing her job as ordered.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  "If only all beastmen would be like her." Jack's added at the very end, a slightly wishful tone in his voice, causing the innkeeper's bushy lion brow to twitch.

  "Oh, well. One can only hope." Jack added "A good day to you sir." he finished, turning around and leaving, his gaze locked on ahead as though he did not dare look back, lest he decide to stay a bit longer, too used to the quality of the place. Of course, unlike the aforementioned appearance, Jack had absolutely no attachment to the place, all too aware he could make something better should he put his mind to it, though that too was a task for another day. Plenty other, more urgent matters required his immediate attention.

  Once again, Jack followed his maids, lead by Sindu, towards the Slaver square, all while Nivi was urged to look around and tell the group what she saw. And so, the closer and closer they got to the aforementioned slavers square , the more and more terrified Nivi's expression got, culminating with sheer horror once she laid her eyes on the slavers square itself. There, just like the last time, or any other time really, slaves in conditions one would not wish upon anyone could be seen in the darker corners, with the better ones placed more in the eye of the passerby's- clearly with hopes that some of those poor sods would be taken of their hands, for some coin at least.

  "What, sweet and innocent Nivi, is the fate of most slaves captured during the raids of beastmen." Jack spoke once he had stepped behind Nivi, his voice calm and factual, as though he was not affected by the sight before his eyes one bit. That too broke something inside the innocent and sheltered young elven slaves mind, her gaze, still filled with fear and horror, slowly turning towards Jack.

  "Cruel, isn't it? Some would say that's even worse than the cruel, but fair way of nature where strong eats the weak. There, at least you could roam free until the moment a larger, stronger, faster- or all above- predator would catch and end you, feasting on your flesh. But you know what's worse still?" Jack leaned in towards her ear slowly, speaking just a bit more softly now "That is not all there is to slavery around here." then, he turned his head towards Sindu "Lead us to the fighting pits. Let us show her that too."

  A bad premonition arose in Nivi's mind, the name of the place already warning her of the likely content they would find inside, but it was clear she could not escape the truth, not when her master deemed it necessary for her to know, and so, the group left the slaver's square, heading further into the city, but not all that far away from the slaver's square, the fighting pits having been built relatively close to the largest supply of slaves within the city.

  It was no over exaggeration to say the guards at the fighting pits were flabbergasted when they saw the group of exclusively humanoids arrive before their establishment, with one of the only two males paying for their entire group to gain access, with one of the slaves- obviously Sindu- mentioning a necessity to learn as a reason. Not that the guards were planning to question them anyhows, Jack's face ingrained in all beastmen minds who had any self preservation instincts.

  The colosseum like arena, though much smaller in size and scope- fitting no more than a thousand spectators inside- was filled with blood and sweat, the smell and feel reaching all the way to the entrance, though not nearly strong enough to make it unbearable. Clearly, the place was kept as is, the atmosphere feeling just that much more heavy for it. It was clear the beastmen liked it so, the cheers and laughter resounding across the spectator area as more than one group were expressing their enjoyment of the bloody spectacle to the fullest. Sure, this was not the largest of the pits around, with the one reserved for the upper clans being much more fancy and with more exotic and imaginative battle scenarios. Did not matter to Jack one bit however, the lesson he wanted Nivi to learn could be easily taught right here as is.

  By the time their group reached their seats, the previous fight had already ended, with one of the two combatants now dead body being dragged away, the gruesome finisher not seen by the maids and Spartacus. Jack, thanks to his spirit sense, had seen it all, though he decided to say nothing. Seeing was believing after all and Nivi would get to 'enjoy' the sight with her own two eyes in its full gruesome glory. Of course, he left the explaining to Sindu and the rest of the maids once again, their knowledge about how a slave reaches this moment in time much better than Jack's own understanding. They had lived within the city, and the culture of this continent in general, for much, much longer than he had after all. Still, once the next fight was about to start, a rather excited beastman rambling on about the two fighters, if they could even be called that- their bodies emaciated and thin and their weapons clearly dull and rusted, Jack ushered Nivi to focus on the arena, only barely warning about cruelty of the coming act.

  From his vantage point Jack could see the already shaken girl come to the obvious understanding of what she was about to bear witness, her face getting paler and paler by the second, though thanks to the clear order from Jack, as well as the recently observed fate and condition of the general slave populace, she dared not disobey as worse and worse possible ways of punishment came to her mind.

  The emaciated couple of slaves- their bodies just barely holding to gether slogged to the center of the arena, a savage glint in both their eyes, no doubt the promise of half decent meal the prize for the winner. And what a prize it was for the poor souls that were sent down to the fighting pits. That or the release of death for the one who would lose- either way some sort of a release awaited both. Their weak limbs moved with surprising might, as though their souls alone drew in mana from their surroundings, strengthening their attacks a whole level above what they would otherwise be capable of achieving.

  Still, Jack knew better. There was no actual extra mana siphoning from the surroundings, the fighters were unknowingly burning away their life energy, what little of it they had. Subconsciously, they both had recognized that unless done so, their death was guaranteed, thus the result. Normally, such life and death battles could push ones adrenalin production through the roof, elevating their ability to perform with simple bio chemistry, however, due to their already horrible and starved conditions, the same could not apply, their bodies already running on fumes, resulting in the expenditure of their vital energy. And unlike Sindu and the other human maids, it seemed that Nive, as an elf, a high elf at that, could sense it to a certain degree as well.

  "You may look away." Jack spoke as the fight was drawing to a close, allowing the elven girl to not witness the last couple of strikes as one of the fighters slightly stumbled, his energy running out just slightly before his opponent, earning him a rusted, yet still sharp enough sword blade tip in his gut. A sword that was then driven further in and then to one side, splitting- more like half tearing- his belly open, causing innards to fall out. The only silver lining in the whole situation- if it could be called that- is the relative speed with which the sword was then pulled back out and pushed sliced across losing mans throat, ending his life then and there. No prolonged suffering as his body bled out. A small mercy to his brother in misery.

  "Let's go." Jack spoke as he stood up, the naive and sheltered elf now aware of just how harsh the world was for your average humanoid slave in a beastmen ruled world- a fate she had escaped juts barely thanks to a series of good luck that followed the one bad episode where she was caught to begin with.

  Once outside, Jack called out their next destination that Sindu had to lead the group towards- any shop, or institution that provided travel services. There was simply no reason for Jack and his group to walk all the way towards the outer regions when there must be perfectly viable transport services available. The raiding groups would no doubt use something similar to reach the border forts, so why would Jack be any different?

  Turned out, he had been correct, with Sindu even knowing more than one such place, eventually leading them towards the one closest to their current location. Jack had no personal connections, or acquaintances whose business he would need to support so the closest one was a go. Thankfully, the carriages seemed decent enough, with plenty of space in one to fit six people- three on either side, requiring him to pay for two to fit all of his people.

  Realizing he could also use the time spent on the road to figure a rather interesting tidbit he had read about Nivi through his own appraisal, Jack ordered Nivi, Sindu and another of his maids- their choice who- to ride with him, leaving the other four, and Spartacus, for the other carriage.

  Jack Raja(?)

  Age- 27

  Species- human(?)

  Level- 30

  Class- Awakened twin aspect of Creation and Destruction(Ex)

  Stats unassigned: +4

  Attributes:

  Strength- 34 (14+7+13(gear))

  Vitality- 28 (12+8+8(gear))

  Dexterity- 29 (15+6+8(gear))

  Intelligence-20(15+ 5(gear)

  Spirit- Spirit- 30 (20+10)

  Skills- Wisdom of Creation and destruction(EX), Choice of the creator(EX), Eyes of procurer(EX), Matter storage(EX), Arukain language(C), Spark of inspiration(EX), Origin of matter(EX), Unbound by laws of the lessers(EX), The end made manifest(EX).

  Spells- none.

  Titles(unlocked): The real Monster, Big Game Hunter, The brilliant rookie, The insane Solo. Monster debugger.The actor. Executioner. Survivor. Pioneer, Record breaker.The new champion supreme. Slavemaster.

  Gear: Two handed sword(t3)+ 5 str +5 vit: Armor 3str +3 vit +3 dex; Ring 1 - spatial storage, ring 2 +5int, ring 3 +5 str; amulet +5 dex.