Rise Of The Godking - Chapter 121 The Targe

By the time Daneel reached the place where his companions were sitting, he knew where they had to go.

There were almost a thousand islands, and ordinarily, anyone normal would have needed hours to sift through all the information recorded about them. With the system, though, all he needed to do was give a set of criteria, and in barely a moment, it had given him a list of the places that he could target.

The task to conquer all the islands outside the Mainland seemed to be a gargantuan one, of course, but just as he had done back on Angaria, he broke it down into simple, achievable steps that could be accomplished, one by one, to eventually reach the point that he could only dream of, now. Even while he had waited for the system to give its answer, he had felt flashes of anger fill him due to the conditions of many of the islands that he had just learned of.

There were some where the owners were so cruel that slaves were treated like dogs, chained by their neck day and night. They weren’t the sort of collars used before on Graiton, meant to be out of sight and only activate when someone was fleeing. They were meant to degrade the people so that they thought of themselves as less than human, and in such places, rebellion was a word that couldn’t even be thought of.

He had also learned that there were levels to islands. Some focused only on mining, while some focused only on refining. Those that did the latter were often islands that had already been emptied of their store of crystals. When a group only had to mine and mine and mine, they obviously wouldn’t care about the welfare of those doing the hard work.

Hell, in some places, he had even learned that men and women were penned up like sheep and made to mate so that there would always be more and more people to continue the work. There were still others where even this sort cruelty was taken to the next level. He had read of two where at birth, the legs of a portion of the slaves would be cut off so that they would never even think of trying anything.

The sickening details were so revolting that even Daneel, who had been through so much that could turn a normal man into a vomiting mess, felt his stomach roil. He controlled his thoughts forcefully, though, and after putting away all the information, he focused on the target he had chosen.

“Alex, do you know of an island named ‘Larefa’?”

The thief thought for a moment, then shrugged and said, “No idea. It is impossible to know the names of all the islands…but there’s a simpler way to traverse them. The data that that beggar gave you must have a denomination, too, right? Tell me it’s code, and I’ll take you to it, no problem.”

With a nod, Daneel found the answer from the system and said, “It’s island 4DZ. How far away is it?”

From the corner of his eye, he spotted the elf looking at him expectantly, too. True, both of them had agreed to follow him without asking any questions, but one’s curiosity couldn’t really be controlled that easily.

At least some of what he wanted to do would be revealed when he did it, anyway, so Daneel made the snap decision that he would tell these two as much as he could.

After all, they already knew one of his deepest secrets. Beside it, what he was going to say didn’t really mean too much, so taking a deep breath, he began to tell them about Graiton, and what he needed to accomplish for those people he had left behind.

By the time he was done, the elf was looking at him thoughtfully and Alex had a wry smile on his face.

“An 18-year-old Rebel. The path of Gluttony. A giant king who died and left behind an equally giant skeleton. If I didn’t know that you weren’t a liar like me, I would have been convinced that you read this all in a book, and are reciting it to us to make us fools.”

Hearing the thief’s words, Mors chuckled and said, “But he speaks no lie. Truly… I must thank the stroke of luck that led me to being in that town when you passed through it. Or maybe…ah, I’m holding us up. Alex, lead the way. Those machines won’t buy themselves, after all, and even the money I have won’t be enough to settle the cost.”

Daneel stared at the elf for a few seconds even after he looked away. He really wished that he could make Mors complete that thought…but he knew that he couldn’t really push him in any manner.

So, he looked at Alex who continued to smile at him for a few more minutes before finally setting off, and so, they began their journey to the destination that Daneel had set.

They did talk on the way, but this time, it was only about things that were much more light-hearted than what they were traveling to do. It was almost as if all of them had unconsciously decided that this was a time to just think of inconsequential things and relax, and so, they were regaled by ancient stories from the elf, and tales of thievery from the thief.

Daneel was interested in them both equally, as they gave him hints of what this world was like. He received more hints from the latter rather than the former, though, as most of the elf’s stories seemed to be simple fairytales that were told to children back on earth. There was always some or the other evil character who targeted someone good, and in the end, those who were ‘good’ would triumph by believing in their skills, and their conviction in themselves.

He did learn a bit, as most of the stories depicted humans almost as animals who couldn’t control their greed and other base emotions. The elves were always aloof or smart individuals who managed to outsmart the humans, and from this, Daneel was able to gather that the indoctrination that young elves went through must really be something if such stories were as famous as Mors claimed them to be.

Alex’s stories always painted him as an incredible ringleader who led a band of thieves as daring and witty as had ever existed. According to him, they went up against barons who dealt in spices, mayors who ruled over towns, and even tyrants who terrorized a certain land. They somehow always landed in hot soup from which they were always saved by Alex, and the story would end, without fail, with him in a room filled with giggling girls.

Daneel chuckled the first time he heard that ending, but the man looked dead serious, so he had let him continue. They were all lies, of course, and both of them knew it, but still, they were fun to listen to, and they made the time pass by quickly.

What Daneel gathered from these tales were the different vocations of people here that he couldn’t have imagined back on Angaria. There were all sorts of merchants, some who taught the art of sex, along with other arts, influential architects who could build buildings even in the air, and so on, and so forth.

By the time they reached their destination, they were quite tired. Alex suggested that they make camp and rest before going to see what lay on the island they had chosen, but Daneel insisted that they at least take a look to ensure that they could rest without being worried about them being in danger.

Cautiously, the stepped inside the dome and found an empty land with reddish soil. Only bushes grew in it, and the only animals they saw were a few strange crimson lizards that sped away, sending their approach.

They heard voices coming from somewhere beyond, so they chose to climb a hill and see what was happening. All three of them stayed silent as the scrambled up its side, and when they reached the top, they came upon a scene that made their breath catch.

More than a hundred people were sitting on lacquered chairs, their eyes fixed on a large wooden platform stretching out in front of them. A row of men and women were standing on top of it, each chained hands and legs and neck, holding cards that had numbers written on them.

The people were calling out bids, and a few on the side were noting them down. With dead eyes, those on a platform were taken away one by one, and others replaced them from a large group hidden behind the large podium.

Even though all of them knew what they were seeing, Alex was the one who muttered it under his breath, first.

“A slave action. A damn slave auction! Fuck!”