Return of the Woodcutter

Barely a few weeks after Aito's imprisonment, a henchman of someone whom his father owed money, came to pick him up, saying that since Tevari was dead, he had to pay for it. 

Ironically, nobody, nor the guards, nor Justice intervened. Thus, he had been forced into a position even worse than a prisoner.

Years of industrial fishing had depleted the ocean's resources. Paying fishermen became nonprofitable, for they would always bring fewer and fewer fish. Even with the overall price of fish rising to an unreasonable level, fishing companies couldn't remunerate their employees properly. Thus the birth of a new "profession": fishing slaves. 

Forbidden?

Injust? 

Who cared? 

On the open sea, no one was willing to check and chase those ships. A few adventurous fools had tried to denounce such practices but ended up at the end of a fishing line. 

The governments around the world closed their eyes to this new practice. The reasons? As per usual, money. Always money. 

As a fishing slave, Aito was never remunerated and basically treated as a slave of old.

Slaves could never leave the ship. When they neared a coast, they would swap ships on the sea, so that the one they had filled with fishes could go to the harbor. 

With barely enough to eat every day, Aito had to work to exhaustion. If he complained, only a beating awaited him. He never did, thinking it was part of his punishment. The captain beat him up sometimes anyway when he was in a foul mood because they hadn't had a good harvest.

Lodgings were crude. Dozens of slaves were literally crammed in a small ten-meter square room. If they were to fall sick, the captain would force them to work, nonetheless using various means. Boiled seawater. A good beating with a club. Sometimes he'd even point a gun at their heads. 

Many lives were lost that way.

Aito endured this situation for a few months. Beatings after beatings. At some point, he came to realize that his sister and mother might have suffered the same fate because of his father's debts.

Although uncertain, he had to check up on them. He had had no news of his family since his imprisonment. No one had ever come to visit him while he had been in jail. He couldn't blame them, though. 

And so, he devised a plan to escape. 

Pitying the other fishing slaves, he had shared his plan with them, offering a partnership. However, deep down, he knew he only helped them because of his sin. Thinking that, helping someone else could ease the unbearable guilt. That saving them would grant him a modicum of salvation.

Trusting they wouldn't betray him. After all, they were in the same boat.

Grave mistake. 

The night of the operation, after the captain and other official crew members were supposed to be asleep, followed by others, Aito discreetly went for a lifeboat, planning on using it to escape with the others. 

There, he fell into an ambush. While he was beaten up by the captain, Aito learned as the despicable man ridiculed him, that a fellow slave of his had betrayed him. In fact, all of them had. Why? Because they feared punishment. They feared for their own lives. 

With almost no other way to escape death, he jumped off-board. His fall was accompanied by the captain's laugh. After all, they were hundreds of kilometers away from the shore. It was pure suicide. 

Lost in the middle of the ocean, Aito almost drowned on multiple occasions. But his anger and desire to survive fueled his laughable storage of energy. Pushing him to swim, while cursing the crew, those wretched traitors, and himself for playing hero. 

Until finally, luck blessed him with an encounter that would save his life, and grant him the best possible friend someone could have. 

Jack, a jovial man who had been traveling the world on his sailboat, rescued him. 

***

"Indeed. Some humans are hardly worth a single coin of trust." Ainar said, "Still, that doesn't answer my question. Actually, I'm even more curious to know your answer now.." 

"Honestly, I have no idea, myself," Aito said bluntly. "I just do not want to go through that kind of betrayal, again. But… this… all this. Somehow…"

A part of him could relate to it. He hated this the most because he could actually put himself in Ogoro's shoes. 

On one hand, he felt envious, jealous. Because Ogoro actually had a sister to care for. Aito had no one. Not anymore. Maybe that was also why he worried about monkey Jack so much and considered him an important friend.

On the other hand, he understood Ogoro perfectly. He would have done the same if Haley were in Sheyla's place. He'd have rushed into certain death without batting an eye. Preferably with a plan of course.

"The more I think about it, the more I feel that I was mistaken. Because helping them…" 

He stopped and closed his eyes to fight his better judgment. The side of him telling him it was foolish. 

Amidst the struggle, he remembered Ogoro's pitiful pleas. 

Don't you have a family too?

Then you must understand what I'm going through!?

Sheyla is my only little sister.

My only family.

He pushed out a heavy sigh from his throat, opened his eyes, and at the same time, made up his mind. 

Please, help me.

"Because this feels like the right thing to do." 

Ainar clicked his tongue. The boy was clearly just speaking from his heart. There was no real logical thinking to it. He could see Aito's lingering hesitation, close to overruling the sparse amount of foolish but commendable bravery he had gathered. 

However, Ainar did not mind such a fool. 

'Hum, not a hero.' He thought, eyeing Aito with a content expression. 'He sure does have the look of one in the armor I crafted though.' 

Silently, without a word or warning, Ainar gestured for Aito to follow him. He led Aito in a back alley located in the bazar district, far from the prying eyes, then took out a medallion to open up a door in a wall. 

The door led to a spiral staircase that surrounded the entire second floor like a snake. Furthermore, from the stairs, one could see the outside, as if the walls were invisible. 

"There, go down. Hurry, before anyone sees you." Ainar said, practically pushing him into the opened gap in the wall. "If you survive, come back to see me at my stall. Ah, also take these. Use Durability on these then throw them." 

The inventor rapidly put two metallic balls the size of an egg in Aito's palm. 

"Thank—," Aito's tried to say but the wall abruptly closed behind him. 

BAM!

"…you."

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