Chapter 10 (part 1/2) - Slave Labor

  After spending a couple of days under observation, Vincent appeared in the dormitory one morning as if nothing had happened. He simply walked through the door and started organizing his things, made his bed, and checked the chest stored beneath it, making sure nothing was missing. To his surprise, everything was still there: the burner, the empty vials, the marbles, and the other items Lily had left him.

  They probably didn’t touch my things thanks to her…

  Every moment he spent in that tower had been smoothed over and made possible because of her. Without Lily, he would likely be dead already. The debt he owed her was so overwhelming he doubted he could ever repay it, but he had to try. He had to stop being a parasite and learn to stand on his own. His biggest concern was mastering the language. His new body already understood it, he just needed to associate it with the new alphabet. He would have started studying right there, but the air felt strange, heavy, and he could sense a wary gaze burning into his back.

  “Hey, you…”

  Charly, the red-haired leader of the husk trio, called out timidly.

  Vincent ignored him as he arranged his satchel. It was obvious he wasn’t the same as before. His expression had changed, his posture was firmer, and there was something different in the way he held himself.

  “Don’t ignore me-”

  Charly stepped closer, feeling his ego wounded, placing a hand on Vincent's shoulder. In one fluid motion, Vincent turned his body and twisted his wrist, not enough to hurt him, but enough to let him know that he could subdue him if he wanted to.

  “Ahh-”

  “I heard you the first time, but I’m busy.”

  Vincent whispered it into his ear, still holding his arm. Then he released him and went back to what he was doing, though he kept talking.

  “I figured it was better if they don’t see us speaking, right? After all, you wouldn’t want to raise suspicion about what happened with the artery.”

  “!!!”

  Charly froze, shaken.

  “Don’t worry, I haven’t said a word. I’m not a snitch.”

  “Hmm… g-good, I’m glad that’s clear.”

  He answered while trying to save face in front of his companions, returning to his group a little humiliated. Besides the other two, several husks were watching Vincent with open curiosity.

  His return had caused a stir. It wasn’t normal for a husk to awaken, much less survive after touching an artery… but whether by luck or misfortune, something else seemed to be drawing everyone’s attention. The mood in the dormitory was lively, and even without knowing the details, Vincent could guess why… today was special. It was payday.

  “I read that if we extract the oil from the herbs, the effect becomes much stronger.”

  Tammy commented while the trio discussed how they would spend their money, trying to lift Charly’s spirits.

  “That requires a lot of material, and if we mess it up we lose everything… I’m not risking that.”

  “We could also pay for information. Between the second and third hearts a new floor is forming, so there must be small arteries there. If we talk to the husks assigned to that area… but after what happened.”

  Tammy shot a glance at Vincent, and he met her eyes. She decided to change the subject.

  “Forget the arteries. He only survived because of all that expensive medicine. Let’s stick to what we already know. Herbs are the safest choice. If anything, I’d save up for a burner with pipettes to waste less material.”

  The trio stood up along with the other husks, and Vincent followed. Along the way, he overheard their plans: what they wanted to buy, and how many years of work they still owed. Hearing a twenty-year-old speak casually about ten or fifteen more years of service was normal among husks, so Vincent assumed most wouldn’t be free until their forties.

  That’s far too long… and I doubt an empty earns anywhere near as much as someone capable of thinking… at this rate I’ll finish paying at sixty.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Since he still didn’t know how to operate the elevators, he used the crowd to slip into one of the floating platforms heading toward the treasury. The atmosphere was relaxed and cheerful. Today was the husks’ day off, and it showed on their faces.

  When it stopped, the elevator entrance was already packed. A long line stretched from the treasury, the longest made up of gray robes without ornaments: the husks. Vincent joined them. All husks were paid at the same counter, located outside the treasury, nearly a full turn around the tower’s inner ring. Resurrected and other scholars received special treatment, collecting their pay inside the offices, while husks and empties were served at the small window that opened onto the corridor circling the heart.

  “Ah, I knew we should have come earlier…”

  “Either way, we are not spending it today, so it doesn’t matter.”

  The more Vincent heard them talk about money, the more exposed he felt. He had been the richest man on Earth, and now he did not have a single penny to his name. He had not even seen what currency this world used. Magical quartz? Some sort of condensed essence, or simply gold?

  He glanced at a group of husks standing at the side of the line. They had already collected their pay and were counting it. In their hands they held coins, the smallest made of copper and a larger one made of silver. Each had a hole in the center and faint markings that divided them into quarters.

  So they use metal, huh? At least that is something I can understand.

  But while they talked, the husks began passing coins among themselves, settling debts and bets. To Vincent’s surprise, they snapped the coins in half before handing them over. With a satisfying clank, the pieces split apart, then rejoined, melting back into a single coin.

  Huh? Magnetic? No… the coins themselves must be magical.

  “Hey Charly... what are those copper coins called?”

  Vincent asked the redhead, who stood behind him in line.

  “Huh? Well, coppers. What else would they be called?”

  “They are copper towers. You also have them in silver and gold… although you won’t see those around here. They are minted on the upper floors.”

  Tammy answered.

  “And how are they splitting them like that?”

  “Oh, that?”

  Tammy pulled a copper coin from her pouch and placed it on her palm. She snapped off a fraction of it and handed it to Vincent.

  “That is a pinch of copper.”

  Using the bitten coin, Tammy brought her piece close to the fragment Vincent held, and the little piece snapped back into place, restoring the coin to its original shape.

  “And that only works with copper towers?”

  “Imperial alloys are standardized. As long as they are made from the same composition, they will merge. Copper ones only snap together. Silver ones melt into a solid coin again. But if you use a different currency, it will only stick…”

  Impossible to counterfeit or shave down… that is a clever use of magic.

  “Ugh, why do we have to be the ones teaching this baby about the world? He’s got a magister friend, let her handle it.”

  Charly complained, making Tammy put her coins away.

  “It’s alright, Charly. It’s the least we can do after the…”

  “Shhh!”

  Tammy realized what she almost said and apologized. It would be far too obvious to connect the pierced artery to them if she kept talking.

  “If you don’t want to talk about that, we can just keep talking about money.” Vincent cut in with a slightly mischievous tone, making the insinuation clear.

  “Fine, fine… what else do you want to know?”

  “What’s the value of a copper? What can you buy with it? Or with a pinch?”

  I need a reference for their smallest unit of value.

  “Hmmm… with a pinch you can buy an apple or a loaf of bread, so with 1 copper, or maybe 2, you can feed yourself for a day.”

  Tammy answered, a bit unsure. The tower provided their meals, so they rarely bought food themselves.

  “And how much do husks earn? Is that something you can say, or is it rude to ask?”

  WE husks earn 3 coppers a day… actually 2, because a third goes toward paying the debt. You earn nothing because you’re a parasite.”

  “Charly!”

  Such crude provocations had no effect on Vincent, but Tammy apologized anyway and continued explaining.

  “We make a little over 1 silver a week, since we’re paid on the seventh day. A silver tower is worth 12 coppers, and 20 silvers make 1 gold… the cost of our resurrection is 60 gold towers…”

  Doing a quick mental calculation, Vincent estimated how many years it would take them to pay off that debt.

  “Forty years to settle the debt with the tower? That’s ridiculous. We’re practically slaves.”

  Tammy was impressed by how quickly he calculated it, but Charly only saw an opportunity to argue.

  “That’s if you stay a mere husk. I don’t plan to stay at this level for long. The resurrects earn at least three times more.”

  Twenty years is still too long... and Lily has been carrying both of our debts. Does that second bracelet represent another 60 gold towers as well? It's impossible that my treatment could have been that costly.

  Beyond that, something else troubled him. Archon Lutero had mentioned that once awakened, he would be charged a standard quota… the workload expected of a resurrect. About one silver and two pinches, only to cover the debt. More than what a husk earned in an entire week. Vincent looked at the golden bracelet, still pulsing from his lack of effort.

  How does this thing measure work? If I can’t even meet a husk’s quota, being reclassified as a resurrect will force me to sell my memories.

  Was there a way to trick the system? Impossible without fully understanding it. He needed more information.

  So that’s what they use to measure retribution?

  Vincent thought as he noticed the object used in the Treasury. From several bodies away he could already see inside the window and part of the operation. The most striking thing was the thick, perforated disk resting on the counter. How could that possibly know how much someone had worked? Did labor not count if it caused no stress?

  Luckily, there was someone in front of the Treasury comparable to him. A shabby, dim-looking husk. Vincent always observed everything: the place, the people, the details. That particular husk was also from his dormitory, but his lack of presence had never mattered… until now. It was precisely that lack of prominence that made him valuable. Always the last to wake, lazy-looking, he would be the perfect avatar for Vincent, especially since his bracelet wasn’t entirely smooth either...