[...]
[Trial preparation complete!]
[Good luck!]
Somewhere shrouded in fog, with dense trees and deep ravines, accompanied by strange sounds and a chilling atmosphere, as if the mountains held unsolved mysteries that made even the sun reluctant to illuminate them with its light. In those dark and gripping mountains, a white-haired teenager found his vision darkened, as if his eyes were covered by something. He also felt his hands and feet bound by something cold and hard, producing a rattling sound that pierced his skin every time he moved.
W-where... is this? Why can't I see anything? And, why can't I move my hands. The white-haired teenager wondered in his head. He tried to move his hands to remove whatever was covering his eyes, but the object binding his wrists was so tight it caused pain. He chose to stay silent for a moment, staring into the darkness.
The teenager had never felt anything like what he was feeling right now. He had never felt something binding his hands. Forget about feeling; he had probably never even seen something like the shackles on his hands and feet before. Unlike his hands, which could barely be moved, his legs could still move with a little freedom, though still limited, which confused him even more.
Suddenly, he heard a voice begging for mercy.
"Forgive me, Master! Forgive me! I swear I won't resist You again! Please, release us! We are ready to be fed only once a day... No, once every two days, as long as You release us. We will work even harder!"
The voice was heavy and hoarse, as if the owner had almost lost their voice. Listening to it, the white-haired teenager could tell that the person begging for mercy was crying.
Why is he apologizing? No, what confuses me is... Where am I? Wasn't I just fighting a bear in the forest and almost... died? And what's even stranger, I remember my left arm was crushed and severed, but now I can feel it again... The teenager named Lian became confused. For the time being, he could only wonder in his head.
"Don't touch my leg, you bastard!" Someone shouted. Lian guessed this person was yelling at the one begging earlier.
"You slaves should be obedient to your master. But look at you now. You aren't even fit to live like the filthiest and vilest pigs. Even my pet dog has a status far higher than yours."
As Lian listened, he suddenly felt someone approaching him. A moment later, his eyes slowly began to see beyond the darkness. He glanced around. It was a place full of trees with thick fog that almost completely obscured his view. He then looked at the person who had removed his blindfold.
He was a man with a body like a lump of meat, with a belly like a pregnant woman. He had dark brown eyes, neatly combed black hair, and a long mustache that looked suitable for a bird's perch. He also wore clothes that shimmered like fireflies in Lian's eyes.
Who is this disgusting boar-like creature? Lian thought to himself. It wasn't meant as an insult, but an honest description based on what he saw.
"W-who are you? Why does your body look like a wild boar?" Lian asked the large man.
Hearing Lian's question, the people present were shocked, including the man Lian asked, whose face now turned red.
Suddenly, the large man slapped Lian. The sound of the slap echoed through the forest, causing birds to fly away. Lian's right cheek turned bright red, and dark red liquid began to flow from his nose. His ears rang, while his vision began to blur.
Lian had never felt a slap like that before. Even his parents, when angry, never slapped him or used physical violence. And yet, some guy who looked like a wild boar, whom Lian didn't know, suddenly slapped him hard just because he spoke honestly.
Lian stared at the large man, who was now directing a sharp gaze at him. "You... You... How dare you say that to me." He then shifted his gaze to two people wearing strange sparkling silver clothes covering their entire bodies. These guards stood to the left and rear right of a horse-drawn carriage.
"You there, restrain this cursed slave!" The pot-bellied man ordered the guards.
The guards nodded before stepping toward Lian. They restrained him and forced his head down to the ground.
Lian struggled with all his might, shouting, "What are you doing?" But unfortunately, his small body couldn't even move while gripped tightly. If he forced it, he would only feel more pain.
The shackles on his wrists were unlocked by the pot-bellied man using a silver key. His right hand was then pulled forcibly, with all five fingers spread wide.
The large man then took a knife tucked in his belt. The knife was silver, bright as a mirror, reflecting the surrounding fog.
The large man crouched down, getting quite close to Lian's fingers.
He lifted each of Lian's fingers with the tip of the knife, speaking in a soft tone, "Let me see! Hmm... You have nice fingers. I haven't seen a slave with fingers as beautiful as yours. Even female slaves don't have fingers as pretty as these. It's a pity such beautiful fingers belong to a fool like you. So, let me keep them. Since I am very annoyed today, I will let you choose which finger I should keep."
Hearing this, Lian began to tremble, his body breaking out in a cold sweat. *What is he going to do to me? Why is he holding a knife and using it to lift my fingers?*
He could actually guess what the boar-like man wanted to do to him, so he chose to remain silent. He seemed to know that whether he answered or not, he would still lose a finger.
Getting no answer after five seconds, the boar-like man grew angrier. He suddenly stood up and stomped Lian's head into the ground while shouting loudly.
"WHY DON'T YOU ANSWER ME, HUH? ARE YOU DEAF, YOU CURSED BASTARD?"
Lian felt excruciating pain as his face hit the earth, hearing a piercing ringing sound. His nose felt immense pain, and his eyes slowly began producing clear liquid. Experiencing this, Lian remembered when Roy stomped on his brother Lin's head until it was crushed. Remembering that, Lian's anger overflowed like magma about to erupt. Lian struggled fiercely, not caring that his body screamed in pain, until the sound of cracking bones was heard.
Lian roared loudly, glaring at the large man in front of him, who was looking at him with a condescending gaze.
"Oh, you dare to glare at me?" The man said coldly... That gaze, that gaze was the same as the Captain's gaze, the gaze of the man who had killed and slaughtered his family.
Lian tried to crawl to reach the large man in front of him, but the guards tightened their grip, preventing Lian from moving even an inch.
The slaves standing a few steps behind the pot-bellied man broke out in a cold sweat. Their hackles rose as they swallowed hard, slowly backing away and averting their gaze.
Lian, who had been struggling, had now lost his energy; even moving his head felt very dizzy and nauseating. His body lay limp on the ground as he breathed heavily.
The man with the long mustache then glanced at the slaves behind him, shouting at them, "If any of you look away, you will share the same fate as this slave."
Hearing the threat, the slaves stiffly and slowly turned back. They lowered their heads, staring at the ground, and then finally looked toward Lian.
The man with the long mustache then picked up a block of wood lying not far from them and dropped it right in front of Lian's face. He crouched down and slowly placed Lian's middle finger on the wooden block.
A fast, harsh, wet, and sticky sound echoed in the ears of those present. Without warning or any preparation, the man with the long mustache instantly plunged his sharp knife onto Lian's middle finger.
A wave of excruciating pain seized Lian, who was now screaming with all his might. If there were a tiger nearby, it would surely think twice before approaching the source of that scream. Lian's middle finger was severed and fell to the ground, fresh blood gushing out like a waterfall, staining the forest floor with human blood for the umpteenth time.
The fresh white bone in the severed finger was visible to the other slaves even from a distance.
Lian's head shook violently as he clenched his teeth, his face turning dark red. With heavy breath and streaming tears, he stared at the person who had cut off his middle finger, inflicting unbearable pain on him for the third time.
"You there, release him, take that finger and store it in the chest!" The man ordered his guards while standing up. He then walked toward the carriage cabin and entered it.
"Yes, Master!" The guards nodded in unison. They then handcuffed Lian's hands again, locking the shackles just by pressing them, not caring whether the wound from his severed finger would spread and rot or not.
After picking up Lian's freshly severed middle finger with disgust, the guards entered the cabin. They left the slaves with a spectacle that could make one female slave nauseous and vomit the entire contents of her stomach... Wind.
Meanwhile, Lian was accompanied only by excruciating pain.