NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 9: Some Kind Of Slave Harem?
"What's the capital of Albania?"
"Don't know."
"What's the capital of Albania?"
"Don't know." Marianne sighed. "What's this about?"
"Hm. Did you feel the Mark burn?"
"No. Can you take it back? I've never wanted tattoos."
"No." Elijah turned towards the digital map that appeared with the start of the Main Quest. "It's divided in four. Do the areas mean anything to you?"
"Yes. The one there on the left is the Faculty of Social Sciences. North is the Faculty of Science. South is the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. The one we're currently in is the Sports complex or whatever."
"What about the red dots?"
"Those must be the Boss Monsters, don't you think?"
"Yeah, but where are they? A building? Underground?"
"I don't know. Never seen a map of campus. The Boss Monster of the Sports complex must be…" Marianne pointed. "In that building."
"That's the gymnasium you came from?"
"Yes. Well, the gymnasium is made up of different spots. Anyways, I would rather not go back."
"Why do you want to leave so much?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Marianne frowned, her gaze moving towards the dead Goblins.
"Yes but… It's the same everywhere."
She clenched her right fist and remained silent for a bit.
"Yes, I suppose it would be."
Elijah stared for a bit before turning towards the gymnasium.
"Does your phone work?"
"No signal. Not until the completion of the Main Quest."
"I see." He nodded, and took a step towards the gymnasium.
"I…" She uttered suddenly before falling silent. "I need to get out of here."
Her gaze was locked on the dead Goblins. Her arms were trembling.
Elijah sighed.
"You will." He said as he positioned himself behind her. "Do you have a change of clothes in there?" Elijah asked as he took off his coat and lay it over her shoulders.
"I'm supposed to worry about the cold in this situation? Are you seri-" Her sentence was interrupted as she sneezed.
"As long as you do what I say…" Elijah walked past her and towards the gymnasium. "You'll make it out of here."
"And then? Don't think whatever this is didn't tell me anything. They called it a Slave Mark."
"Oh. So the person Marked is notified by the System. Good to know."
"What the hell is this? Am I a Slave now? What the fuck? How does it even work?"
"You don't need to think about that. Just do as I say."
"What about my free will? I didn't want to fight that thing! But after you… Did whatever it is that you did, I felt the need to. I felt like… I needed to fight it more than anything!"
"I'm glad it works that way."
Marianne frowned and ran to catch up to him.
"Okay, fine. I understand. I was being stupid punching the Barrier. I get it now. Can you take it off?"
"I can."
"Yes…" Marianne sighed. "Finally some good news-"
"I won't though."
"Why not? I'm here, aren't I? I'll fight. Fine, I'll… Wait until the Main Quest or whatever it is over, I'll wait for the Barrier to disappear."
"I don't trust you." Elijah sighed once he arrived at the gymnasium's entry. "Plus, even if you survive until the end of the Main Quest, you'll die after leaving this place."
"So?"
"So you're safer as my Slave."
"S-Slave?!"
"Yeah. Now stay silent."
Marianne immediately felt the Slave Mark on her wrist tingle every time her lips parted.
"Good." Elijah nodded. "I'll help you make it out of here alive. If you want to… Go wander wherever you want on your own, that's fine. But you have to prove that you can take care of yourself."
"I can take care of myself!" She resisted despite the slight burning sensation.
"You obviously can't. The fact that you're a minor… Huh. I wonder if you being a minor made depositing the Slave Mark easier…"
"Huh? You think it would be easier to enslave minors? What's wrong with you?"
"Minors by definition aren't judged able to take care of themselves, or to choose for themselves.
"I do choose for myself! I chose all kinds of things for myself!"
"What's your major?" Elijah asked as he peeked inside the gymnasium.
"Sociology."
"..."
"What's that look supposed to mean?"
"Listen." Elijah scratched his head. "For some reason, I'm sure I would feel bad if I left you to die, alright?"
"Well, of course you would. I'm a minor. You would be leaving a minor to die."
"If you get that then why are you getting on my ass?"
"Because of this."
"I can't trust you to do what's in your best interest, so it stays on until you prove that you can and will."
"..." Marianne sighed and tightened her grip on the Iron Sword. "Promise?"
"Sure."
'That's the least convincing -Sure- I've ever heard!'
"Now that we're closer, can you judge the distance and tell where the Boss Monster is?"
Marianne stared at the map for a couple of seconds.
"Based on the distance that we travelled just now… It's past the Weights Square, the Basketball courts, past the volleyball courts, past the gymnastics arena I left, past the locker rooms and the pool area. Huh. I think it's on the first floor."
"What's on the first floor?"
"The Boss Monster…" Marianne gulped noticing his reaction. "It should be above the pool area. The first floor is filled with cafeterias and… Tables, places to sit, and relax."
"I don't hear any screaming or shouting, so I guess we'll have to go up to the first floor."
Elijah walked in, and Marianne followed seconds after.
"Guess I was wrong."
Filling the hallway were a dozen Goblins, all armed with Rusty Knives.
Elijah judged it was a good time to do a test.
"Kill each other."
The twelve Goblins started twitching all at once.
'Is it weaker when more are targeted at once? That's certainly possible.'
"H-Hey!" Marianne pulled on his shirt and pointed forward. "Beyond them! The door to the gym is open. They're…"
"A green barrier." Elijah nodded. "People are probably in there, trying their best to stay away from the door." He sighed. "You need to cross the whole place to get to the first floor, don't you?"
"Y-Yeah."
"The areas you talked about were different Tutorial Quest Locations. The gym or weightlifting whatever, the gymnastics arena… They all became Safe Zones that Monsters can't enter after the Tutorial Quest was Cleared."
"So we would be safe in there?"
"Yeah." Elijah answered as the Goblins started to kill one another. "But we're not staying for long. Got any friends in here?"
"Yes. Do you plan on turning them into your Slaves? Some kind of Slave Harem, you creep?"
"Huh." Elijah smiled as he walked forward, stepping over the Goblin corpses. "That doesn't sound too bad actually."
"Y-You're joking, right?"
"Are your friends also minors or...?"
Marianne gulped.
"I'm not letting you meet my friends."