Zed quickly left the small tent and went to the nearby well where he fetched a bucket of water and quietly began to clean himself. If he had to get a job at the alchemy association he needed to look presentable at the very least. Once he was done he checked his reflection on a metal longsword and felt himself presentable enough, quickly changed to a set of modest clothes provided by Joseph and slowly began his way towards the Alchemy association.
It was almost dawn while he slowly began his journey taking in the surroundings, as usual he quietly observed the smaller shops began to open and start displaying their goods, the shipments for merchants began arriving with their daily goods, the travelers started to slowly arrive or begin their journey from the city. He observed while quietly plotting his way to get out from this city.
While still pondering his way out, he arrived before the Alchemy association and sat on a branch of a large tree, out in the open but also quite hidden between its leaves. He observed the people as they arrived. There were mostly nobles who visited the the Alchemy association while they were cloaked and trying to be subtle, Zed always noticed by their gait and clean clothes and neatly groomed appearance. He sat and observed for a few hours and while mostly there were common folk coming and going, there was one visitor who appeared seemingly out of nowhere and disappeared just as quickly. Zed was shocked that someone could just appear and disappear at will but tried to imprint as much as he saw as possible and noticed a small tattoo on the persons arm just above the wrist in the form of a tiny crescent moon.
He stayed for the whole day but still didn't figure out a way to get inside although he did notice a few noteworthy people of interest he decided to mark for further observation. He stayed almost till midnight and observed knowing that staying longer would only help improve his chances at his task. Almost at midnight he decided it was probably time to leave and head back to meet his 'employer' and sighed while making his way back.
He stopped outside Josephs tent and waited for a few minutes till he heard a voice telling him to enter. He entered and sat on the floor at the same spot he sat earlier during the day and started recalling his observations. He spoke about his observations one by one while observing Josephs expressions until he spoke about the man with the crescent moon tattoo who disappeared as quickly as he arrived.
As soon as he spoke about the tattoo, he noticed Josephs expression shift for a millisecond but didn't say anything so he continued to speak about the rest of his observations. Once he was done he kept quiet and waited for a few minutes until Joseph finally said, 'Well done, continue to observe anything related to this man and report back', Joseph was quiet for another minute and added, ' Although you didn't enter the association, you did a good job, Go ahead and ask chef George to give you a double serving'. Zed was pleased and had a fawning expression on his face and quickly said his thanks and exited the tent.
As soon as he was out, his expression went back to neutral and thought to himself, 'I need to find out why Joseph is interested in this person and the only way to do that is to enter the Alchemy association'. He made his way to the small kitchen where chef George was busy cooking away and spoke, 'Hey chef, Give me a double serving today' with a big smile on his face. George looked at him with doubt on his face and spoke softly, 'Boy, the last time you got whipped for getting caught and today you're bold enough to lie to me?', 'The master will whip you again and this time it wont be light'. Zed just smiled and said 'The master has approved it this time, you can ask him if you want.'
George felt something different about Zed as he didn't think he was bold enough to demand or lie about such things and also with a trace of pity about his situation and just gave him a double serving of some animal meat and stew and spoke, 'I hope you're speaking the truth for your own sake'. Zed just nodded while eating like a starved boy which was technically true since he hadn't eaten anything since he woke up.
He finished up quickly and waved to the chef and made his way to one of the 'cells' which was basically a large cage which served as the housing area for most slaves. He entered and found a small corner which was empty and laid down. The other 'cellmates' of his just observed him without saying anything and minded their own business while two small kids approached him without making any noise. These two kids, a young boy and girl aged 10 and 8 respectively were siblings who had been acquired by their 'employer' after their parents had met with misfortune while travelling between the cities. Somehow these kids stumbled onto travesty city following the path used by travelers and were 'acquired' by Joseph as soon as they entered the city but promising them a place to stay in return for work. They accepted and followed him only to realize that they were meant to become slaves.
All slaves were implanted with a small chip which worked like GPS and could be monitored by Joseph and trying to forcibly remove it would only result in major injuries since the chip worked by drawing energy from their bodies. All they knew was that it was impossible to remove the chip without major harm and left with no option they had to follow their 'employer' without a fuss.
Coming back to the present, the sibling duo named Joey and Alice approached Zed while Alice spoke, 'Zed, how are you now? Does it still hurt?' referring to the whipping he had received earlier the previous day. Zed smiled sheepishly and said, 'It's all good now, I got a new job today' and slowly looked around and removed a few small pieces of meat wrapped in a leaf from his pocket and offered it to the siblings. They looked shocked but also happy and quickly accepted his offerings.
They had met a year back when Zed was cleaning the stables and Joseph had walked in with these two new 'acquisitions' and introduced them to Zed and told him to show them around. Zed felt pity looking at the siblings high expectations and soon explained the new reality of their situation while watching their eyes fill with despair. He had seen this look many times during his time at the slave camp and had gotten used to it but they usually did not receive such young folk so he felt a sense of kinship especially since he had no one else to relate to.
Over the coming days, the siblings tried to escape and revolt and complain but it all ended in only one way, a whipping for Joey while Alice received no food and ended up in the cage. As to why she did not receive any whipping was probably because Joseph saw some value in her to be sold to the brothels eventually and he needed as clear skin as possible for that. Over the next few months the siblings grew to accept their fate and give up. But Zed had other plans and as the siblings saw the light in his eyes never fading but becoming ever more resilient, they soon felt motivated and harbored hope that someday there would be a chance and they had to wait for an opportunity.
As the three grew closer together, they watched other slaves come and go, but that only strengthened their bond together and they made a pact that they would escape this life together and stay together always since they had no one else left in this world.
They accepted Zed as their leader and shared stories about their days, what they had to do, the skills they learned while watching and observing everything around them. Alice got special treatment and was entrusted to the nearby brothel, one of the services operated by the collective where Joseph had some connections with the manager and she began to be a maid for the courtesans there. She took care of the cleaning and became friends with the many ladies of the night. Learning how to carry herself and how they shared information gathered by the various visitors.
She then relayed all this back to the boys while they did the same with her. Joey meanwhile had the same purpose as Zed, He had to find a way to make himself useful so he took up odd jobs as a manual laborer, barely earning himself anything but netting their employer a few coins. Such was the life of a slave in this world.
Joey was a little fat kid when he first arrived at the camp mostly because the siblings were children of some wealthy parents but right now none of that mattered since they were forced to accept their new reality, and now he was athletic with muscle showing on his body. He was also helping out at the nearby fighting arena where travelers would visit for entertainment and gamble on the fights. From nobles to bandits, everyone enjoyed fighting for it was the way to grow stronger. And Joey was working as their helper, cleaning up the blood and serving as a punching bag for the warriors practicing their moves.
Alice meanwhile was a cute girl with some baby fat still on her cheeks but now she was more slender and slowly growing while imitating the grace carried by the courtesans. But she was a smart girl and quickly found the value of information that was exchanged in those halls and between the sheets. The power of gossip and accidental slip of the tongue was valuable in the right hands and she was there in the middle of it all to capitalize.
As the trio spoke about the days activities, they hatched a long term plan that would be their eventual way out of this place. They would each observe and learn from these places, Zed would learn from the Alchemy association, while Joey would learn from the fighters at the arena, while Alice would learn from the courtesans at the brothels. Over time there would come a day where they would eventually find their way out but for now the objective was to observe and learn and share their findings with each other each night.