Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 262 PARTY FORMATION

I ended up with 3 slaves total. Ihlrena of course. She was my mage. The green haired woman named Helena, she was my rogue. And a tall cow-kin woman named Lethlis, she was my wildcard. They weren’t cheap either. Helena and Lethlis were 210 and 285 gold respectively. Ihlrena was 358 gold. I planned to rob the slave house before I left anyway, so I wasn’t too hurt about the money. It served them right for selling slaves. It wasn’t my fault I could transform into anyone and sneak my way in to wherever they hid all of their gold. Then again maybe they could track it with magic. I might have to settle on robbing in smaller amounts from more places. 

I got the 4 of us a large suite at an inn. There were 3 bedrooms and a sitting room between the rooms where we could talk in private. That was where we sat currently. Me in my ragged clothes, and them in whatever gear they were enslaved in. 

Lethlis was honestly my favorite so far. She was 7 feet tall with small nubs for horns on her head. 17 years old she had dark tan skin. The only thing that set her as a cow-kin were the tiny horns. Her grandparent must have been one for how diluted it was in her. But she had the classic large breasts. Giving Ihlrena a run for her money the woman was innocent and eye catching. Long dark hair that went down her back, she had light brown eyes that sparkled in wonder as she looked around the room. 

Helena was rather outspoken as she sat there, tapping her foot. Long green hair she had a sweet face and the smallest rack of them all. At D cup, she was still rather large, but compared to the other 2 she appeared small. Quick to anger, and always saying what she was thinking, the human woman was a nut I looked forward to cracking. 

Ihlrena was the star pupil though. The strongest Spiritual Energy of all of them she had been in more than her fair share of fights. Long glowing white hair I doubted she was fully human. Some mix of a fantasy species, it was muted but there. Either way the mage was hard to look away from. A confident smile on her lips she sat attentively as I studied them. 

“Tell me about yourselves,” I said leaning back into the cushion of her sofa. 

“What was the point of your mirror image or whatever asking us those questions if you were going to ask again?” Helena asked angrily. 

“I remember everything you spoke about with my clone,” I assured. “I’d like to dig a little deeper into it. Learn why you opted to become slaves. What your goals are. That sort of thing.”

“Goals?” Lethlis is asked, nervous to be asking a question. 

“Yeah. What do you want out of this partnership? Have someone you want to kill? Some bastard that double crossed you? Whatever you want out of life. I don’t care. Just want to get to know you before we proceed.”

“Yeah, there’s a few bastards I want to kill,” Helena said. Leaning forward she locked eyes with me. “I had 2 friends that fucked up a job. I took the fall. It was either become a slave to someone random. Or become a slave to the man I screwed over.”

“So I’m someone random now?” I asked. “How I understand it, you had every right to refuse.”

“Yeah, so?” She asked in a challenge. I rolled my eyes. 

“Fine, what kind of job was it? You said you were a tracker?”

“Yeah,” she said, touching her nose. “Get some wolfkin blood in me. Good nose. I can be stealthy if I want. My specialty.”

I waved my hand covering myself in chakra resembling shadow. The area around me darkened. “I could teach you something like this,” I said. “Would help you stay hidden.” I released the chakra. The girl was wide eyed for a moment but sat back, quiet. “I’ll take that as a yes. Who’s next?”

“I uh, don’t really have a good story,” Lethlis said. The young cow girl was nervous and whispered her words. Her large chest made up for all of her shortcomings in my opinion. 

“My family’s farm was lost. I came here to try to become an adventurer since I’m strong. But it’s hard to find groups for the inexperienced.”

“I thought most were inexperienced,” I said. 

“I was warned to not join groups with people that don’t know what they’re doing,” she whispered. “The mortality rate of new dungeon divers is 80%. So when I ran out of money. I thought I could at least survive as a slave. And potentially get hired on for a group.”

“That’s dumb,” Helena said. “There’s only one reason a guy buys girls like us.” She and I locked eyes. “Sex slaves.”

“You’re not wrong,” I said unashamedly. “But I’m also serious about dungeon diving. We can work up to that though.” I looked back to Lethlis. “What about your family?”

“What about them?”

“Do they need money? I have more than enough I’m sure. You could buy the farm back so at least the rest of them could survive without becoming slaves.”

“I uh couldn’t ask that,” she said, blushing deeply. 

“Which is why I’m offering. Get in touch with them. I will do what I can. You shouldn’t have to worry about your family,” I said. She slowly nodded, a smile on her lips as she studied me. 

“Last but not least,” I said, turning to Ihlrena. 

She nodded, pursing her lips. “I want to kill someone,” she said without hesitation. “I became a slave because someone betrayed me. It was this or death. So I chose this.”

“Who do you want to kill?” I asked. 

She thought for a moment. “A…priest,” she said. 

The other 2 girls stiffened. The church was a bit weird in this world. The 2 major powers were the church and monarchy. They were neck and neck in terms of power. They worshiped a god that supposedly made the dungeons. If you delved far enough into the otherworldly dungeons, the relics found were treated like holy items and bought by the church at huge sums. I was sure there was a lot going on I didn’t know about. 

“Want me to kill him, or do it yourself?” I asked. 

“I don’t care,” she said. “I want him and his lackeys dead.”

“Are they in town?” I asked. 

“What?”

“Do you want me to go now? Kill them all off,” I asked. 

Her eyes blinked a few times. “You don’t know who they are,” she whispered. 

“Doesn’t matter,” I said. Letting out a sigh I looked at the girls one by one. “I don’t like drama. I kill those who get in my way. If you’re on my team, I won’t hesitate to do what I can for you. With that, you’re free to go.”

“What?” Helena asked. 

“You heard me. You can be free. Those collars around your neck, I will break the binding on them right now if you ask me to,” I said. “I don’t like keeping slaves. But that’s the world we live in. You’re free to walk out that door at anytime. Consider your price for your lives as my gift to you. I will simply buy someone else to replace you.”

I studied them one by one. Helena looked tempted, but the other 2 did not. “Or follow me and I can help you become stronger. I plan to do what has never been done before. Conquer this dungeon. Take over the city. Whatever the hell I want to do, I will make happen.”

“You’re pretty confident for someone with a few tricks,” Helena said. 

“I haven’t even begun to show you my tricks,” I said. “I could destroy this city if I wanted to.” Pulling at my Tremor fruit I hit the air behind me. The building shook as the air shattered into a spiderweb pattern. Long seconds the building shook. I pulled my hand away and calmed it down. 

“If you didn’t know, this is your chance to leave,” I said. “Otherwise I will consider you part of my party.” I sat down, crossing my legs as I studied them. Ihlrena looked turned on by the show of strength. Lethlis looked scared but didn’t make a move for the door. Helena appeared more at ease. Chewing her lip she relaxed in her spot as well. 

“What do you have in mind?” She asked. 

“Train you. Figure out your strengths and weaknesses. Gear up and start working our way down in the dungeon,” I said. 

“I’m in,” Ihlrena said, raising her hand. Lethlis nodded. Helena let out a sigh but nodded as well. 

“What about the sex part?” She asked. 

I rolled my eyes. “I mean you’re my slaves. Kind of a given. Should we just get it out of the way so you can stop asking about it?” I asked. The trio blushed as I looked between them. But no one said no.