The man left Frei alone and as he left, he had his eyes fixated on him.

“That man.” Arthur said, looking at Frei.”You think he might be a homosexual?”

Frei looked at Arthur confused.”What’s a home..osexual?” 

“You see, it’s a guy who likes another guy…” Arthur continued on for a while. While the others beside them listened. It’s days like these where they can talk the most, tighten the bond a little.

“..and thus that’s why they are called a homosexual.” Arthur ends his explanation. 

“...” Frei stared blankly at Arthur. “Oh! I think… i understand now, what a home..osexual is” Frei answered nervously, as he didn’t understand a single word Arthur said but in order to end the awkward tension between himself and Arthur he knew he had to end it.

“What on earth are you telling the boy?” sighed Berg. “He doesn’t need to know it yet, all he needs to do for now is to avoid trouble from CornWall.” Berg ordered. “Especially avoid his father. That man is not one you want to annoy, let alone troubled.” Berg said anxiously. “That man may look weak and frail to you, but inside lies a hideous monster. “

“What makes you say that?”

Berg looked down at the ground. “It’s not something I really want to share, but just so you know, Inside that mansion there is a basement underneath.” As Berg pointed towards the mansion. “A Big dark basement. I saw it once, 25 years ago, the exact day I was put here to work for the rest of my life.” Berg said. “Inside the basement, there were cabinets and metal tables, holding what i think are torture devices, and on the wall were shackles chained on it. I remember there being blood everywhere, both fresh and old. And when I reached there, I saw, at the end of the basement, a woman was chained to the shackle on the wall. With her guts spilled open. It was dimly lit, but i…I definitely saw it.”

“It’s not far off, based on what I’ve seen them do,” said Johnny. “The gladiator fights, their sadistic wishes, I can imagine it.” Johnny paused for a moment and asked. “When was the last time you saw the old man?”

“I think it was around five years ago.”

“That’s around the time I came here!” exclaimed Johnny. “Do you think him leaving has anything to do with me coming here?”

“I’m not sure, you’ll have to be more specific about your past.” Berg said. “The only thing I know about you is you being a physician.” 

The mansion door opened which interrupted their conversation. CornWall came out happily and somewhat pleased, asking the nobles to come inside to arrange some business deals. Mane and the other whippers were asked to keep the slaves out of their way, and return to the stables. And so they did.

When they returned, they were surprised to see that they weren’t yelled at to go to work, nor did the whippers get aggressive. They just let them be on their own. For most of them, it was weird like there was a sudden hole in their schedule, a hole with nothing to bury in it. 

“Why do you think they cut off work for us? Are they pitying us?” asked Arthur.

“No fuckin’ clue, however if that’s the plan so be it. We have nothing to do anyway except rotting in here.”

While the others were trying to find stuff to do, to deal with the spare time they have been given. Johnny reads through his journal, recalling his nostalgic past, while Arthur is busy looking at Johnny reading through his journal, constantly nagging at him. Berg was sitting near-stationary, thinking deeply, perhaps trying to reason the sudden lack of work and the rather weird treatment from Mane.

“Hey Johnny. Have you ever thought about escaping this place.; I mean you got magic and all that.” nagged Arthur.

“Like I said before, I got no motivation to, nothings waiting for me out there anyways, all I got now is work after work. The mistreatment, I already got used to anyway.” said Johnny flipping his journal not paying any mind to Arthur’s remarks.

“You say that, but you are intently looking at your journal. What? Missing your freedom?” sneered Arthur. “Aren’t you a physician? With that kind of knowledge and experiences, I expect that you probably won’t have much trouble outside here.”

“...” Johnny paused for a moment. “You’re not wrong but remember, I got these chains and heaps of iron shackled onto me, each weighing around 8 kilos. So even if I got out of here using some weakling magic, I still need to deal with these things.” He explained.

“I know a guy who is a blacksmith, can probably get that off for you, if you go out there. Well only if you escape, I don’t see you leaving here legally anytime soon.” said Arthur.

“Do you think that on the way, no one would report a chained person to the authorities? They probably think I am an escaped prisoner.”

“Hide it like how you hide your journal from back then. Though you do you. I am not really into that magic thingy.”

“Perhaps one day I will. When I have nothing to lose.”

“You’re a slave. What else can you lose?” replied Arthur sarcastically.

“...” Johnny paused, unsure of what he was supposed to say next. 

“Well, if any of you guys ever think of escaping, never do it around the old man.” Berg advised them. “It’s fine, if it’s CornWall, the brat’s only tricks are caning and whippings, but his old man is experienced, he knows how to make a person suffer.” 

The two of them nodded in acknowledgement of Berg’s advice, while Frei was simply observing, without saying a word nor making a sound.

The day swiftly passed, and the night came. The slaves were hungry and this is usually when they suffer the most, with the cold air and hunger tormenting them until dawn. But this night, to their surprise came the same bell sound that they heard in the morning. Frei and the others got up to the sound of the bell and the sound of Mane ear-piercing yelling. 

They formed a line again, and quickly passed through the same forest and pathway, and they entered the estate yet again. However this time they saw a big campfire with tables around it, and a feast, prepared diligently by the servants of the estate. On the tables were cutlery, only for eating of course. The smell of the food enticed the slaves, whose minds were already worn out by hunger. Along the tables and campfire were seats and chairs, countless of them, around the campfire and the tables, with fences intervening between the two. The fences were surrounding the campfire and the tables in a ring shaped, sort of like a cage.

Then the slaves were lined up perfectly as they did before. Then sounds of countless horse carriages galloping  can be heard outside, not far away, then the sound stopped and turned into sounds of steps, countless ones. And the gate were opened.

Countless members of nobility along with armed guards entered the estate with one of two slaves in their hands, handing coins to a guy beside the gate as a supposed entrance fee. At that time, the sight confused Frei and the others except for Berg. Who knew exactly what was going on. The nobles sat on the chairs and the armed guards stood right beside them, like chess pieces, each one of the nobles had one guard beside them and at that time.

Frei counted around a hundred of them.

The nobles were offered a feast and the slaves could only watch. Then eventually the same frail old man pointed at two slaves from each of the lines, one on his right and one on his left. Mane and another guy grabbed a hold of them and threw them into the cage. The old man then offered them meat, a singular bite off a scrumptious and juicy chicken breast to the both of them.

Then once the two ate the meat. They wanted more, but the frail old man said one thing, in a cold and manipulative tone.

“Fight.”

The two men inside the fences, looked at each other and without any hesitation, started fighting one another, like wild animals. The nobles surrounding the cage were cheering and amused by the entertainment, and Berg clenched his fists, as he stared at the two men in the cage fighting like rabid wild animals, for foods eaten by the nobility then.