The carriages themselves were cozy and wide enough for Jack to either lie alone on one of the seats while the three maids sat together on the other side, or use one's lap as his pillow while the other two sat on the other side. And since now Jack had a perfectly groomed pillow, he deemed it such a waste not to use it, giving Nivi her first master pampering task.

  "Firm and soft. Just the way I like it." Jack hummed in approval once his head was on Nivi's thighs, their carriages slowly beginning their journey towards one of the outer forts, its pace slow at the beginning, almost crawling as it departed the town. Leaving through the gate was yet again a simple task, their coachman needing just mention who was his passenger for all inspections to be waived- not a single guard willing to risk their neck for mere formalities.

  The dirt roads- trails more like it, with a patch of grass running between the indentations of carriage wheel paths- were rather bumpy, only mitigated by the relatively decent amortization of the carriages Jack and his maids, plus a Spartacus, were inside at the moment. As the fourth person, Lita had been chosen, though Arsha could have been a viable option as well. The twins preferred to be together, if at all possible and since Jack did not mind one bit, they were not much of a choice. And Valente was a chatterbox, and as such not quite the person Jack wanted with him, talking his ear off while he was trying to enjoy the firm yet soft goodness that was his personal Nivi lap pillow.

  The carriages were also somewhat soundproofed, even with the windows open, a small array of silencing engraved in the floor and roof, ensuring that whatever the people inside were talking about would remain between them and no one else. Of course, against someone like Jack, whose spirit was not only above ten- already a feat rarely seen in this world- but reaching a mind blowing thirty, such simple arrays could do nothing but serve as mere ornaments.

  For the first hour or so of their travel, the carriage interior was surprisingly calm and quiet, with not a single one of the four passengers uttering a word, each sunk in their own thoughts while either half napping- as was the case with Jack, his head still enjoying the magnificent pillow that were Nivi's thighs,- or gazing outside at the ever changing scenario of the steppe, with different kinds of wild flowers and grass changing one after another, every now and then replaced with a pond or two.

  "I was wondering." suddenly, Jack interrupted the silence, his voice calm and relaxed "How come a member of elven royal bloodline like you Nivi found themselves in slavery? I strongly doubt that if the information about an elven kingdom of all things was common, the beastmen would not be running around in maddening frenzy, doing everything in their power to find its location and then proceed to begin what could only be classified as a holy war to make sure said kingdom falls and their denizens are enslaved."

  To Sindu and Lita, Jack's question was quite the curiosity, neither of the two human maids ever even heard of such a thing as elven territory, at best having heard a thing or two about some scarce few tribes of them traveling along the outer edges of the steppe much like any other free folk, not to mention a kingdom and a royal bloodline. Their next question was answered soon enough by Jack as well, confirming what the two maids had suspected for a while.

  "You don't have to try and deny it Nivi, my Appraisal is just that wickedly good and advanced." he smiled, his eyes still closed and his body relaxed.

  "Landalenia is it? The place you come from. Care to tell me about it?"

  "Master, I don't know what you are talking about." Nivi spoke quietly, causing Jack to open one of his eyes, his brow furrowing in slight confusion.

  "Come now Nivi, you know it's not a good thing to lie to me." Jack spoke, his tone still calm, but just as he finished the sentence, he realized something "Sheesh, you are telling the truth. Interesting."

  He then quickly rose to a sitting position, leaving the heavenly pillow that he had enjoyed for a while, his body turning towards Nivi as he observed her with great intensity, his eyes even glowing a bit.

  "Hmm, come out come out wherever you are." Jack hummed as visually dissected Nivis being, both his appraisal and full weight of his spirit sense enveloping and observing the elven girl.

  A few minutes later, Jack exclaimed triumphantly "Aha, found you." he rubbed his hands with a grin adorning his face, clearly having found a loose end to the ball of mystery yarn that would allow him to untangle this whole situation.

  "This might feel a bit weird, possibly unpleasant even, but do be a good girl and sit still. If all goes according to plan, in a few hours at most we will have the answers we are looking for."

  Both Sindu and Lita had their gazes locked on Jack, his eyes glowing and arms moving through the air as he as unravelling some invisible tangle, and judging by the slight smirk that never left his face, he was making progress. It was also clear that Nivi was not enjoying the experience all that much, her face scrunched in a rather uncomfortable expression, though both maids had to give it to her, the young lithe blonde elven maids was soldiering through.

  "Almost there Nivi. just hold in a bit more. You are doing great." Jack spoke up almost an hour later, the movement of his hands having not slowed down even once. At least now Nivi seemed much more comfortable, the worst part having ended some ten or fifteen minutes ago.

  "Mhm." Nivi just slightly hummed in response, her focus directed inward, seemingly getting closer and closer to the information Jack had been hunting for this whole time. And then, seemingly out of nowhere, she gasped, her hands quickly moving up to block her mouth on reflex, though her eyes were glazed as her mind was clearly not here with them.

  "Huuuh." Jack exhaled as allowed his hands to drop down, straightening up and pressing his back against the backboard and enjoying the moment of victory. He did warn Lita and Sindu though "Let Nivi get through what she just regained on her own for now. She needs some space."

  "Yes master." both answered in whisper, remaining in their place, patiently awaiting for Nivi to return to the reality with what was clearly a case of sealed memory, as inconceivable as it was.

  "Gasp!" another thirty minutes later, Nivi broke out of her trance, gasping for breath as her mind reeled from the recovered memories and flood of information. After a few, deep and greedy breaths, she carefully glanced over to Jack, even more wary of him than ever before. Now, with her memories returned, she knew just how much effort it takes to do the deed, making it all the more apparent just how much of a monster her new master was.

  "Hmm? Is my sweet little Nivi developing a rebellious streak and ideas I wonder?" Jack asked then, his tone light but his gaze sharp, locked on the elven maid.

  "N-no master." Nivi replied, slight stammer in her voice, though years of rather gentle obedience training still taking over soon enough.

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  "That's the correct answer." Jack hummed, returning to his previous position stretched out across the seat, his head landing on her lap once again.

  "So? Do tell me about Landalenia and why were you exiled. You were exiled, I am correct there, yes?"

  "Yes master." she replied in a half whisper, organizing her own thoughts as she did so, trying to figure out what to tell and what not. Admittedly, her feelings about the subject were a mixed bag, a part of her wishing to condemn them, while another still feeling love for her family, diminished as it was for what they had done to her- blood was thicker than water and all that In the end, her new role as a maid took over, and so she explained.

  "From what I remember, I was accused and deemed guilty for an attempted attack on a fellow royal- a crime graver than any other- yet I never did anything of the sort. My family refused to believe me though and, because I too was a part of the lineage, I was exiled, my memories of Landalenia stripped away and sealed."

  "A jealous sibling removing you from the line of succession? A cliche as old as the royalty itself, yet common beyond belief at the same time as well." Jack commented "Do go on dear." he added a second later, realizing that Nivi was likely waiting for him to speak more.

  With the command given, she continued on, speaking of her previous home, the family she had and the relatively happy life she had led, all up to the moment she was exiled and subsequently captured by slavers, only for her to luck out and avoid the suffering almost every other slave went through.

  Landalenia was a relatively small region within the steppe, surrounded from all sides with rather advanced illusion formations, concealing the forest and the lake in its very core from eyes and other senses of any passerbys', allowing the elves living within to slowly grow in both numbers and strength- as much as they could without access to high level dungeons and with their relatively slow reproduction rate. They even had their own dungeon there, though much like with every other constantly open one, theirs too was of a low level, allowing them to reach level fifteen at best. It was because Nivi was exiled at quite young age that her level had not reached the sof cap of their territory.

  Yet just as expected, the relative safety always grows contempt and greed, with plenty of new bloods scheming for power, though thanks to their memory sealing rituals, the most egregious lawbreakers could be exiled, maintaining the law and order. But that only helped so far in reigning in the power hungry individuals. As a saying goes- you are only guilty if you get caught. Not that exile was a punishment lightly chosen most of the time. Still, sometimes examples had to be made, one of which happened to be Nivi.

  "The elves are not among my target list, so I have no plans of going for them, though if at any point during our travels we happen to run into them, I don't mind teaching them a lesson or two on behalf of my elven maid." Jack hummed once the explanation was more or less over, adding a question "What would you like done with them in such a scenario? Cooked, skinned? Thrown to goblins? Anything at all is fine in this imaginary scenario. make your pick."

  "I am angry with them, though I do not know what I would like done with them in such a case. No matter what, they are still my family." Nivi replied, though the last part was quieter and a bit unsure, her mind slowly coming to a full understanding of how wronged she had been, as well the lack of care her family had shown to her pleas in innocence.

  "That's fine too, I suppose. Do think on it when you have the time. Who knows, I might just add it to my 'to do list' on this continent."

  Jack's last words were picked up by all three, the implication all too massive and clear. This continent. That implied one of two things. Either his ambition was too large to comprehend, his mind already aiming at horizons so far it beggared belief, or he was not from this continent to begin with, somehow finding himself stranded in an unfamiliar land without any of his close ones nearby, his plan to return from whence he came. Sindu and Lita immediately zeroed in on the latter probability, their memory of Jacks' arrival on their coast of the river all too recent and burned in their memories for it began a new chapter in their lives- one that actually was a joy to live day by day.

  It was also at around the same time that their carriage began to slow down, clearly stopping to rest for the night, their entourage of two carriages having reached one of the few forts built along the way and serving as temporary stops for travelers to rest the night. Much like Avalente, the fort in question was surrounded by thick, brown brick wall, with a couple of sentries pacing along the three meter high walls, their gazes bored and somewhat distant- clearly no attacks from wild creatures had been experienced by the locals for a very long time, their daily patrols becoming more and more mundane and routine.

  The coachman in charge shouted a few words up the gatehouse walls and soon enough the gates opened, allowing their small company of two carriages to enter. Once again, a sight that was all too similar to that of Avalante came into view, with simple brick building littering the fort, though even smaller in scale and number. The fort was small enough that Jack could easily envelop the place with his spirit sense, immediately spying on everyone present- no more than a couple hundred souls total, with a fornication act or two underway. And the sun was yet to fully set as well.

  A few moments later still their carriages came to a complete halt, their coachmen signaling the passengers of a temporary stop. Jack and his entourage exited and were promptly instructed, with all the proper caution taken by the coachmen due to Jacks' presence, about their temporary stay and the small inn they could rest in the carriages were stopped in front of. Together with the coachmen- both belonging to some sort of a german shepherd beastman race- they entered the establishment and rented a few rooms for the group, with Sindu as always doing the translation work to communicate with both coachmen and the innkeeper.

  'Oh? A ding? The kids must be working hard, like always. I should probably prepare some new toys for them soon to lift their spirits.' Jack though as his mind focused on the notification of reaching level thirty one.

  "Share what you learned with the other four and then get some rest. Tomorrow will be another day of long travel and there is nothing that beats a good nights' sleep and a hearty breakfast, the latter not something you can deal with just yet.

  And at Jacks command, the girls gathered in one room, with Spartacus standing guard over them, and shared the newly acquired information, with plenty of gasps and questions resounding every now and then. Spartacus might have been tempted to try and listen in, but he knew better than to fall for said temptation. Jack had already laid out that Spartacus was not going to be a part of the maids squad, his destiny set to try and make the current beastmen supremacy and slave raiding based society fall, replaced with something new. Jack had also not forbidden Spartacus from only flipping the system should his revolution succeed, making the current overlords experience the pain, suffering and misery humanoids had lived through for millenia.

  Due to the season of calm there were few people around, the couple hundred or so being the ones stationed here permanently, or as permanent as it could be, allowing them to return to their home cities for the duration of season of conflict, to once again return once the next season of calm rolls over. Not that many did so, with forts like these serving as a de facto neutral grounds and sanctuaries of sort for all the would be raiders and what not. There would be occasions when a fort itself gets raided and sacked, but those were few and far between, with most larger groups banding together to hunt down the perpetrators. No one like their select few safe locations sacked and looted after all. During a season of conflict, much larger raiding parties would travel through, stopping to rest and recover or make deals with each other should a full on fight was not a desirable outcome. If you shared an origin city, it was always best to avoid bloodshed as much as possible. Inter city wars were a thing after all, so knowingly weakening your own side was indeed in bad taste. What then would you do if you still saw stuff that you wanted but it had been claimed by another raiding party already? Thus the neutral grounds that were the forts where challenges and exchanges could be made, significantly cutting down on conflict among the same city raiders.

  The night passed by without an incident, the locals staying away just far enough that no altercations could come to pass, no doubt in large part thanks to their own understanding of the role of forts, as well as a clear warning from the coachmen about Jack being a second awakening human. Nothing stopped trouble better than a scary and powerful dude with a reputation for extremely violent reaction against any sort of trouble.

  Jack Raja(?)

  Age- 27

  Species- human(?)

  Level- 31

  Class- Awakened twin aspect of Creation and Destruction(Ex)

  Stats unassigned: +4

  Attributes:

  Strength- 34 (14+7+13(gear))

  Vitality- 28 (12+8+8(gear))

  Dexterity- 29 (15+6+8(gear))

  Intelligence-20(15+ 5(gear)

  Spirit- Spirit- 30 (20+10)

  Skills- Wisdom of Creation and destruction(EX), Choice of the creator(EX), Eyes of procurer(EX), Matter storage(EX), Arukain language(C), Spark of inspiration(EX), Origin of matter(EX), Unbound by laws of the lessers(EX), The end made manifest(EX).

  Spells- none.

  Titles(unlocked): The real Monster, Big Game Hunter, The brilliant rookie, The insane Solo. Monster debugger.The actor. Executioner. Survivor. Pioneer, Record breaker.The new champion supreme. Slavemaster.

  Gear: Two handed sword(t3)+ 5 str +5 vit: Armor 3str +3 vit +3 dex; Ring 1 - spatial storage, ring 2 +5int, ring 3 +5 str; amulet +5 dex.