Chapter 584: July 1**
Any one of the villagers in good standing could house their filthy slaves here. Similar to a stable for horses. The nobles on the other hand were in higher standing. Their slaves needed to be kept separate from the rabble. I found it irritating.
This whole thing was irritating. To the slaves surrounding Sekka as he spoke I seemed to just appear out of thin air. Some were legitimately startled. Others were bold enough to warn Sekka that I was behind him. Sekka turned, nodded, and then continued talking as if I hadn't just appeared out of nowhere.
"...we can get you out of here," Sekka continued, "I'm sure you've heard the rumors about us by now."
They viewed us with suspicion. I clapped my hands together. Startling everyone there that was working incredibly hard to be quiet.
"You don't have to worry," I smirked, "There aren't any guards nearby that can do anything about it. I still want to go after the noble households tonight so you can come or you can stay here, and get beaten for the ones that do choose to leave."
Dead silence. Even Sekka seemed stunned. This was more aggressive then he wanted us to be with them. I was tired of being so shy about it. We were offering them their freedom.
I snapped my fingers, and the collars went slack around their necks.
"Don't you want to know how it feels to be your own master?" I spoke confidently.
My voice carried in the dead silence so I didn't need to raise it.
"No one will be able to give you orders, and even if they do you won't have to obey if you don't want to," I softened my tone a bit to sound more caring, "I'm sure the older slaves have told you about it by now. What true freedom is. That's what we're offering." I extended my hand to one of the men in the front row, "All that's left is for you to take the offer. No more beatings. No more starvation. No more collars." The fire of hope lit in their eyes, "No more masters to serve."
I felt like I was repeating myself a bit, but that appeared to be the push they needed. Once the slave in the front row took my hand they all followed. They'd been desperate for freedom for some time although they still didn't know what it looked like yet. That flame of hope allowed them to imagine a world where they weren't slaves. Between that, and the stories that had been passed down it was relatively easy to convince them to come with us.
Sekka was relieved that they were coming with us, and a little upset that I'd been so forceful. The mask didn't cover the back of my head so when I turned around to lead the way they could clearly see that I wasn't an elf. Sekka's mask on the other hand covered the entire top of his head. His pointed ears would destroy any trust he built up with any of the slaves so it was a smart decision on my part. I would have problems with the half elves getting discriminated against later.
That kind of hatred, and fear couldn't be fixed just by pulling the victim out of their suffering. Even shared suffering wouldn't be enough to prevent problems. I didn't see us having a problem at first. This was a more of a problem I'd have to deal with in the next few years. It would probably be a problem that would take twenty or thirty years of constant work to fix, but for now the slaves would be too focused on their recently acquired freedom to worry about race or religion.
It would take them a few months to properly settle on earth. Another few months to accept that they were truthfully free. Before any of that there was the time in which their wounds, and rehabilitation would have to take place. I didn't see us having any race or housing related problems for a while. The problem was that once these problems started to trickle in they would slowly get worse.
If I was lucky I'd be able to avoid a flood of hate, and only have to deal with childish complaints. That meant we'd have to set up our own version of police. Damn. Life was going to suck for a while once I got back. Between the oncoming official meeting with the ruling powers of the human race, and establishing my own small nation I wasn't going to have time to breath let alone relax.
The fact that I only needed an hour of sleep a day was going to turn into a negative real quick. Maybe I could find some way to delegate out most of my work so I could focus on other things. God, this is too much to think about right now. Focus on rescuing the slaves. I checked my mental map again to make sure the enemies hadn't found us yet.
My vision seemed to sharpen as my heartbeat picked up. Some of the downed elves had been discovered. I cursed myself mentally for not paying enough attention.
"We need to pick up the pace," I whispered, "Take the lead."
I jumped straight from the ground to the rooftop. Three stories straight up was well beyond what a human could normally do. The bright colors of surprised mixing with hope made my eyes sting a bit. Forcing me to squint a little. I hadn't really been around people that were this emotional.
Freedom was an emotional subject for them. I understood that. The problem was that my emotional hues didn't go away even when I switched to infrared. I needed to figure out a way to turn off this emotional rainbow of colors. It was useful, but sometime it obstructed my vision a bit.
The same way bright colors might attract your attention in a dark night. The bright flashes weren't too bad, and I'd gotten quite a bit better at reading emotions, and intent using this new add on to my vision. I could tell who was thinking about attacking us at a glance so it made it easier to focus in on the actual threats instead of interpreting everyone as a potential threat. I should really stop whining. I had a job to do.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone