{Emperor’s Diary}
The plan was simple, go to town for scouting and find out the location of the slave market. While I did that, I would pedal my potions and buy anything that’s needed with the money I earn. If possible, I would like to buy a cheap child slave. That was the plan at least, but it changed right when I looked around at the weakened children being sold for just a few coppers. Something must have clicked in my pursuers to check the slave traders. The princess didn’t recognize me at first though. Perhaps, she expected me to be the one in the cage, not looking into it, but something must have drawn her attention to me, as I felt the mark on my chest burning as translation magic5magicstory mechanic was cast onto me.
“Here you are my dear fiance. If I knew you were interested in small children, then I would have let you have a small harem.” (Princess)
She laughed slightly as I held my burning chest. I looked at her with defiant eyes as one of her guards kicked me in the face. I coughed weakly, then I rolled over onto my stomach as I received another kick to the ribs.
“Enough! He’ll need his strength when he starts his retraining.” (Princess)
I was then pulled to my feet and dragged by a pair of guards. I closed my eyes and reached out with my mind to a lovely lady drinking in a bar nearby before smiling. I had given her my old adventurer’s id, and since her armor covers her chest, it was easily assumed that she’s a slave working as an adventurer. I got smacked in the face for my smile, then I got to my feet while one guard was off balance. Though not as anticipated, we did have a contingency action.
As we passed the dragon1dragonspeciesnewt display, I broke free and ran toward them. The slave master must have been informed about the circumstances, because the dragonnewts tackled me when I got close. All I needed was a single moment as I focused through the pain. Ability, ‘pain tolerance’ has been acquired. I saw that pop up from my menu as I coughed up blood. As the dragonnewts lifted me up, I put a hand on each of their chests while saying.
‘Be free!’ (Emperor)
As soon I absorbed their slave tattoos, a black miasma began to surround me. They soon let me go and backed away.
“Capture him, you idiots!” (Slave Master)
I heard the slave master yell that, then the third dragonnewt grabbed my arm. I put a hand on her bare chest.
‘Be free!’ (Emperor)
I started coughing up blood again, as I went to my knees in pain. She then let me go and backed away like the other two. I shook my head, then I took a potion out of my pouch and drank it.
{Narrator}
The first raid. History describes this raid as the most dangerous in history for the founding couple. While historians claim it to be a brilliant and daring success, the personal records of the empress described the raid as a near failure. Confusion was their fall back. Dragonnewts were known to be a strong and intelligent race. It was a gamble to rely on freeing the slaves, but under the empresses command, they had far greater results than they initially planned. Records show that the dragonnewts rebelled against their slave masters for the first time without recourse. They were an unrestrained force, but after being armed by the empress later on, nothing substantial could measure up to them. Soon after, the beastkin and the other slaves were freed one by one, and they soon had the strength to combat the resistance. The princess, who was looking for the demon hero, was shocked at what was before her, but she didn’t dwell on it. She pulled back with her guards as soon as the path was clear. While it would have aided their cause in the short term, they made no attempts at capturing her.
After the freeing of the slave market’s strongest, the next battle ensued. These were the local governor’s and the town’s guards. However, over one-third of the latter, and almost all the former were beastkin slaves. The empress’s records showed that she only feared for the emperor dying only once, and it was during that battle. As history tells it, the two always had several close calls. That tells you how dire the future emperor’s condition became. At the time, it was known that his power to take on the curses6cursesstory mechanic of others was untested to such a degree. Taking on over two hundred curses with so little experience would have killed a lesser being. Many say that because of this act, he lived the rest of his life carrying the pain of his entire people. It was a burden that can figuratively be matched, but a literal one with no equal.
