บท 166: Chapter 166: Martha

"UGH!....My butt."

I was laying on the rocky ground, face up, rubbing my sore, bleeding ass, cursing the demon who whipped me for hours and hours.

"What the fuck did I do?" I wondered, sitting up and staring at the red sky, recalling what happened after we departed from the place we rested.

It was a long journey, full of whipping, and marching, whipping, and marching. Oh did I mention whipping? That bloody horned demon attached me to the filthy wagon from behind, exposing my cute big ass to the world, then he spent the entire time whipping me.

'I'll fucking rip his heart out and force-feed him his own shit.'

I was mad, and I wanted to kill something or someone. The lovely ass that I like so much was damaged, red, and bleeding non-stop.

'That fucker will pay for this.'

"Hey," a voice woke me from my angry thoughts, and when I looked, I saw the middle-aged human female with dirty brown hair who was attached to the wagon's chain close to me. She witnessed the whole thing from the front seat; she even had some of my blood on her rag.

"Are you okay?" the woman asked. Her voice was soft and low, probably afraid of the demons hearing her and suffering a punishment. After all, I bet she's traumatized by what happened.

"Yeah," I answered. We halted our march since it was nighttime—I think—and the demon who whipped me was gone preparing the slaves for the night, so talking with the woman was a little safe. The demon doesn't even guard us; I guess they don't expect the slaves to run away or anything.

"Can you move?" she asked, leaning closer to me and checking my bloody butt.

"Not yet," I was honest; moving was difficult and hurt, but the moment my body heals and my butt stops bleeding, I'll be fine. I could have used my healing potions; however, I didn't get the chance to be out of the slaves' sight since most of them kept staring at me and whispering among themselves.

'I guess they liked the show'

"You're bleeding a lot," the woman said, pulling something from under her rags; it was a small glass bottle. "Take this."

"What is this?" I asked, staring at the strange dark blue liquid inside the bottle.

"Healing potion," she replied. "A cheap one, but it would help with the bleeding."

"Thank you," I flashed a genuine smile at the mature woman, who for some reason was radiating with a motherly aura. "But I can't accept it; you need it more than I do."

Just by looking at how she was hiding the bottle and how she was holding it in her hands, like it was the most precious thing in her entire life, I could tell that the potion cost her a lot and probably was her last or only one. Yet she was giving it to me, a complete stranger.

"Don't worry about it," the woman smiled back. "I have many of them."

"I see," that was an easy lie to detect, but I kept silent watching her take a quick glance at our surroundings, making sure that no demon was nearby before opening the bottle.

"Now hurry and drink it."

"..."

"Sure," following her instructions, I drank the strange blue liquid. I don't know why, but I felt a strange calmness in the presence of this woman, like meeting a distant friend or what I was strongly feeling.

A mother.

"Oh, nice."

The effect was not bad for a potion of its lower rank; the moment the potion reached my stomach, the pain lessened, and the bleeding in my ass stopped. The wounds were half-closed, leaving only blood where the mature woman used a part of her rag to wipe the blood off my butt. Not in an erotic way, okay!

"Why are you helping me?" I asked, curious to her reasons: is she doing this out of a hidden motive or just wanted to help? I really didn't need the potion; I had better, and my body would heal itself, but I couldn't refuse the help from this woman.

"You'll be fine in a day or two," she said, ignoring my question, taking a step back, and admiring her work. "Your ass is too beautiful to be ruined."

"Pfft....Hahaha." I laughed, not too loud or the demon would whip my ass again, but hey, what she said was the last thing I expected.

"What's funny?" she asked, staring at me as if I were crazy.

"It's nothing," I replied, taking a deep breath. "Thank you."

"Don't worry about it," she nodded, smiling. "It was the least thing I could do. The name is Martha."

"Nice to meet you, Martha; I'm Morgana."

"Nice to meet you too, Morgana," the mature woman—Martha—nodded with a smile. She was about to add something when a sudden voice cut her off.

"Hey you stupid slaves," the horned demon that whipped me appeared with his friend, dragging a cart.

"Eat," he ordered, throwing that shit-like food at us like we were some fucking animals that he was too lazy to feed by hand.

"I hate these fucking demons," Martha cursed under her breath, glaring at the horned demon as she went to fetch her portion of the food.

"Me too," I mumbled, following her and getting a portion myself. It was gray-brown in color and sticky; the smell was horrible, and the texture was not the best.

'Sigh... there is no alternative.' With a sigh, I opened my mouth, preparing myself and my tongue for this 'food,' but then I remembered something that existed in my inventory.

'!!!' Swiftly opening my inventory, I saw that some of the raw boar and deer meat that I bought for my kids before entering the tower was still in there. I bought plenty to the point that all the storages were filled to the brim, and since the meat took only one slot each, I kept them in my inventory, but now I'm in need of real food.

"Hey, Martha," I called the woman, who was eating her share of the 'meal.'

"Yes?" she said, looking at me.

"Come here," I patted the space between my legs, calling her over. "I have something for you."

"Okay," she nodded and moved to me, not caring about the food in her hands. "What is it?"

"Sit here," I replied, pointing at the ground.

"Okay," the mature woman nodded and sat where I told her, between my legs.

"What are you doing?" she asked again, puzzled by my reaction and the fact that I was sitting on my wounded ass normally.

"Just keep eating," I instructed, opening my inventory once again. I couldn't give her raw meat; that would be bad for her stomach, plus there was no way we could cook the meat here. However, I have something in my inventory that I long forgot about.

"Eat this," I said, pretending to take something from under my rag.

"WHA—Hmm!" The mature woman was about to shout in surprise after she saw the roasted rabbit meat that I cooked a long time ago, but I didn't give her a chance to do anything by shoving the piece of meat directly in her mouth.

"Shhh!! Do you want the whole camp to find out?" I whispered in her ear.

"Hmm...hmmm," the woman nodded, munching on the meat and closing her mouth with her hands.

"Good girl," I patted her head, which was strange considering the woman appeared to be older than me, but I couldn't help but feel happy watching her eat with tears in her eyes.

"Sob!...H-How I missed this...Sob!....taste," the mature woman tried to talk, but her mouth was full, and she couldn't stop sobbing. "The taste of real food."

"Hey, no talking while eating."

"Mm!!" she nodded and started eating with newfound energy, savoring every bit and swallowing every piece. She was eating the meat like a hungry animal. Thankfully, none saw us, as all the slaves were busy fighting over the 'shit' food that seems to get less with every mealtime.

"Hmmph!" Martha finished the last bite, licking her lips and gazing at me with her teary eyes. "Thank you."

"Don't worry," I nodded. "I just returned the favor."

"You're too nice," she shook her head, a smile forming on her face. "How did you end up in this place?"

"It's a long and bad story," I said, faking sadness, giving a clear image to the woman that I don't want to talk about my sad past. This was the only thing I could do; I can't say, well, Martha, I ended up here after drinking a black potion that contained the essence of a primordial goddess, which happened to be my wife, and this place is my trial to ascend to godhood, right?

"I see," the woman said, understanding my signals.

"Do you know where we are heading?" I asked, changing the topic.

"To the mining city."

"A mining city? Are the demons going to have us work in the mines?"

"Yes, among other things," the woman nodded, explaining. "Almost all males are sent to the mines, where they extract the bloodstones that power the demons. The females can work in the mines too, but most of them are used for breeding more demons."

"So, they are using us as cattle," I said, not surprised. Not really; I expected it; however, being sent to the mines was something new. Bloodstones—what are those?

"Yeah," the mature woman nodded. "It takes a long time for a pure-blooded demon to be born, so the demons use females from other races, especially humans, elves, and beast-folk."

"I see," I nodded, recalling that the elf I ate said the same thing. But then an idea came to mind, a crazy one but not impossible. And the key was my race and my passives.

'Every creature I give birth to would be loyal to me. I wonder what would happen if I gave birth to thousands of demons.'