"YOU BOUGHT A SLAVE?!"
"Hey, that's what I said." Helena chuckled.
"Roko what are you doing?!" Azimuth cried, "You can't be buying slaves with the rebellion's money!"
"I bought her with MY money!" Roko snapped, "I'm not that irresponsible."
"That doesn't make it much better!"
"Roko..." Momo said amused, "What are you going to do now?"
"What is he going to do now?! I'm still stuck on WHY you did something like this!" Azimuth shouted.
"Look, it's because she has a unique trait!" Roko admitted.
"Unique trait?" Helena raised an eyebrow, "Do tell."
"She knows light and dark magic."
"She does?" Melia looked up, surprised, "Those are extremely rare forms of magic. So rare they're not usually counted alongside the other elemental magics. Learning one of them is rare enough but to find both in one child is unusual indeed."
"I've only seen light magic once before." Momo nodded, "And that was from Rivera. And she's the queen of the elves in Granreveria, the city of elven magic."
"Why do you know someone like that?!" Azimuth cried.
"We all do." Helena chuckled, "You can't be surprised by every little thing, Azimuth."
"What kind of people did I recruit?" Azimuth held her head in blank shock.
"Well, I guess you're a father now Roko." Momo grinned.
"And that makes Corissa a mother!" Helena added, "Finally."
"What does Corissa have to do with this?!" Roko snapped, "And I'm not a dad, I'm going to free this girl eventually!"
"How?" Azimuth scoffed, "You can't free slaves that easily. That Master's Seal binds her life to yours. And that's not easy to remove. She can't live her own life so long as that seal exists."
"Simple." Roko crossed his arms, "I have Corissa remove it."
"Oh yeah, holy would probably remove it pretty well huh?" Momo nodded, "Nice thinking, Roko."
"Should we call Corissa over now?" Melia asked.
"...Let's stay the course for right now." Roko replied.
"So does anybody want to explain what this holy is?" Azimuth asked.
"It's anti-magic." Helena explained.
"Does that even exist?" Azimuth said, dubious.
"It's a little more than just anti-magic but whatever." Roko sighed, "For now, lets get the weapons stored up and start settling into M83. Did you manage to clean up any there?"
"Like a room or two." Azimuth shrugged, "You weren't gone for that long."
"Well, let's get the weapons there at the very least." Roko said, "Melia?"
"Right behind you." Melia nodded.
Fort M83 was nowhere near as well built as M48. Though it wasn't as bad as entire homes that some of the above ground residents were living in there were still a few drafty holes in it and nature had reclaimed parts of the lower floors. Still, at least there was a defined armory that they could've placed the weapons in and the guardrooms were still in good condition. At the very top of the building was the supervisor's room. Still furnished a bit but dusty as hell. Desk was still good, shelves were good as were the few records remaining. The rug had been chewed on by bugs and in clear need to be replaced. But patching up the holes were the first priority. Roko would need to find a mason somewhere.
Roko found a decently clean room and set down the girl he bought on the bed. Sitting across from her on a desk chair, Roko finally had time to contemplate exactly what he did and what to do now. First things first though.
"Hey..." Roko said, gently but awkwardly, "I'm Roko. Do you have a name?"
The girl didn't reply. She hasn't responded to anything around her, keeping her head low, her eyes still empty of life. She did eat the crepe when offered to her so she wasn't so depressed that she simply wanted to die. But she clearly wasn't responding to anything either.
"Ummm..." Roko struggled to think of what to say, "So I know I said I bought you for your unique magic abilities but you don't have to worry about me forcing you to use it or anything. You can adjust to things at your own pace. Everyone here will help you to settle in."
The girl still didn't reply.
"Ummmmm...don't worry about the seal." Roko rubbed his hand where the seal was, still a bit sensitive after the seal was carved onto his hand, "We'll get it removed eventually. It'll just...take some time."
Roko was already kicking himself for that last sentence. Sure, tell the girl with no hope that hope is on the horizon, she just needs to wait a little. Idiot. He really wasn't good with children was he? Maybe he should call Corissa early…
"This room is yours alright?" Roko sighed, "I'll leave you here for now. If you need anything you can find me somewhere in his fort. I'll just be cleaning things up around here. If you need anything, just tell us."
The girl didn't move or respond.
"Alright." Roko got up and sighed, "Take care of yourself."
The rest of the day was spent cleaning up Fort M83. Mostly removing all the indoor greenery, putting them into a compost pile outside the backyard. Said backyard was clearly meant to be a field for combat practice but like everything else, grass has overtaken it. There were already other places they could train in so there wasn't quite a need for an outdoor one. Perhaps they can take this time to grow something. Nothing like obtaining a renewable source of food. Perhaps he needed to call Kaguya over then. Either way, the backyard was still too overgrown to be used properly so Roko just placed all the cut greens into a compost pile made out of an empty crate. He absorbed himself into his work while coming up with some plans for the Earthbound's next operation. Sirius probably knew they had a new base already and would be spending time touching it up. Now of all times was a good chance to launch an unexpected attack. But there was still a lot of things Roko didn't know. Both about Sirius, the Five Planetary Stars and even the Earthbounds themselves. Not that he didn't trust anybody in particular in the rebellion but there were still things he needed to read up on. Including that one name that popped up when they were making that deal. Zenith. Whoever that person was, it seems like they were the best the rebellion had. Perhaps it had to do with that change in leadership that caused Alphard to switch sides?
"But does that matter in the end?" Roko leaned on his shovel as he took a bit of a break, "All I have to do is beat Sirius."
"Way to be a parent, Roko."
"I'm not a parent." Roko sighed as Helena approached him, "Where have you been?"
"Well someone has to fill in for Corissa." Helena said as she reached behind her, "Ta-da!"
Helena shoved a newly dressed and cleaned nameless child in front of Roko. She was dressed in a pale blue dress that clearly didn't suit her. Her messy hair was still a tad messy but at least it was cleaner. The nameless child looked quite annoyed with her current situation. Perhaps already tired from how pushy Helena could be.
"You can't leave a child alone, Roko." Helena placed her back down on the ground, "They'll die of loneliness."
"That's rabbits, Helena." Roko said, "And I've been cleaning up the plants here. She can't help me with that."
"She can still watch, Roko." Helena sighed, "Goodness, did handling Aida not teach you anything?"
"Aida's much older and more independent." Roko scowled, "You act like I've been around children all my life."
"I don't know what you've been doing in your past life."
"I told you before. Data analyst."
"Data analyst...of kids?"
"No! What kind of job do you think a data analyst is?!"
"Now now, let's not argue in front of the kid." Helena giggled, "Actually have you come up with a name for her yet?"
"I was hoping she could tell me." Roko sighed, "I mean, she has to have a name right?"
"I don't know. She hasn't said a word to me."
Roko knelt down and looked at the nameless girl in the eye, "Do you have a name?"
The girl didn't reply.
"Do you even understand us?"
The girl's eyes looked away but she nodded shyly.
"Do you remember your name?"
The girl held her hands together, unable to look him in the eye or answer.
"Do you want me to give you a name?"
The girl nodded.
"Ooo, what are you going to name her?" Helena asked excitedly.
"She just arrived today, give me some time at least."
"Today? It's already night." Helena sighed, "Boy you really get into your own head when you're alone do you? Remind me to never leave you alone for long."
"Has it been that long?" Roko wiped the sweat from his brow, "I think I'll go grab dinner now. I am surprisingly hungry now that I think about it. How about you?"
"I already fed her." Helena sighed, "God, you're hopeless without Corissa."
"I'm just going to go get dinner." Roko scowled.
"At this time of night? Dining room's closed for the night."
"Then I'll go to bed without dinner."
"Okay but first, have you learned your lesson?" Helena asked.
"...To take better care of myself?"
"Mhm." Helena nodded.
"...Yes?"
"Good." Helena reached into her bag and pulled out something wrapped in tin, "I had this gyro made for you in advance. Might want to heat it up a bit."
"You couldn't have led with this?"
"This is the only way you learn lessons."
Roko grumbled but took the food from Helena.
"Anyway, this place is much cleaner now." Helena said as she looked around, "You really did a bang up job. You gonna head back to the base and sleep now?"
"No, someone has to stay here and make sure the weapons we just bought doesn't get stolen." Roko sighed.
"Wow. Maybe you should've started with dusting off those beds then."
"I'll manage."
"Okay but dust inhalation is not good for a child."
"Oh my god, leave me alone!"
Roko sat down at his room's dusty desk, dinner finished and fresh from a bath taken courtesy of Fort M83's shower rooms. He had to run the showers a bit before going in to get rid of the dirty and stale water that was stuck in the pipes for years but at least the utilities were still running. Now that he had time to himself without working, Roko just sat there, taking in what he did today. Not all the clean up work he did but…
Roko looked at the Master's Seal that was now tattooed onto his hand.
He really went and purchased a human life huh? The idea still didn't sit right with him. He should've saved everyone. But he couldn't. He neither had the power nor the right or authority. And stopping one slave trader wouldn't have abolished slavery all over the world. Hell, even in his own original world, slavery was still alive in a few underdeveloped cities. There was nothing he could do in either world about this. After all...how does one fight an idea?
Tired from his mixed feelings on the subject, Roko turned his attention back to the seal on his hand. The slave trader had called it a Master's Seal but did it have any functions? Well there was one way to find out.
"Scan. Analyze."
Scan revealed the spell seal that made up the enchantment. Most enchantments tended to be more complex than straight spell casting but this one was much more complex than even that. It was layered and hard to distinguish at times but Roko could probably still recreate it if he had the skill. Not that he could or even would inflict it on anybody but if someone was under this sort of slave seal than he could take control of it. But what does it do?
Turning to the analyze results,
Master's Seal
Power: 150
Properties: Punish, Control, Summon, Call, Monitor
And interesting set of powers. Punish, control, call and monitor were to be expected. To cause the slave pain, to control the slave's actions, to speak to the slave from afar and to monitor the slave. Was that of their current setting or of their health? Could be either. Summon was interesting. Did that mean he could summon the nameless girl to anywhere he was? That would take a lot of magical energy according to what he remembered from briefly studying summon magic.
Among the functions Roko would actually use, punish and control were out of the question. Summon might be difficult to use depending on how much mana it takes to use. Call and monitor seemed perfectly fine to use though. In fact, he could try using monitor right now.
"Monitor."
The seal glowed in response and a magic seal appeared underneath his hand. Turning his hand over, Roko could see a magical screen that displayed...stats. The exact stats that Roko's scan spell showed. With the exact same numbers as his scan spell had recorded. It didn't show any spells but it was functionally the same as his scan spell. Just...a live feed of it maybe? This was odd. Everyone he's met has called his spells unique which couldn't possibly be the case if this slave spell functioned identically to his. So he thought to call the resident magic expert he knew. But when he picked up his phone, he realized how late it really was and resolved to do so the next morning instead before finally returning to bed.
"Monitor? Yeah, that's a common medical spell for hospitals and stuff. It records health information on patients and logs them. If it's showing you the same stats as your spell then it's probably just the spell adjusting it's data to make it easier for you to interpret."
"So it's not operating on the same principle as scan, it's just chosen to mimic it to better serve the data."
"Yep." Edea replied, "If you need more information then you could probably call Rivera on this one. The elves have more advanced monitoring magic so she could explain the ins and outs of it better than me."
"Perhaps but this is also a situation unique to me so I don't think there's much else to explain. If anything they might request to study it so they can try and replicate it in their own systems."
"Hey, I can't say that doesn't sound appealing to me either. But why are you asking about the monitor spell right now? Is someone in the hospital?"
"Eh. I'll let Helena explain it to you."
"That right? Well, I'm a bit flattered you'd come to me over Rivera for this stuff but hey, don't tell anyone I said that, alright?"
"Alright. I'm about to start my day now."
"Same here. Talk to you later."
Hanging up the call with Edea, Roko went down the stairs of M83 to the foyer where Helena was already there with Melia, Roland, Roswell and the yet-to-be-named child.
"Hey Roko!" Helena greeted, "Stay up late again?"
"2 am is normal sleeping time for me." Roko yawned.
"Remember not to grow up to be like Roko okay?" Helena said, patting the child on the shoulders.
"Oh drop it." Roko sighed, "I assume the weapons are still there?"
"All accounted for." Melia replied, "There should be another shipment later today. That'll bring us up to around 70 sets of equipment."
"And what do you plan on doing with all that equipment, newbie?"
Strolling into the base with unfounded confidence and a few groupies following him was Malus, dressed up in fancy armor and a fancy looking sword. He even had a bit of a royal cape draped over his shoulders like he was some sort of hero.
"What are you doing here, Malus?" Roko said, already disassociating.
"I wanted to see you, boss man." Malus sneered, "Been hearing all these good things about you but I must've gotten something mixed up because you look like you couldn't possibly achieve anything good."
"Get to the point, Malus." Roland called, "Nobody wants to hear you bluster."
"And we don't want to hear it when you do it either." Helena muttered.
"Hostile." Malus whistled as he removed his fancy sunglasses, "I don't even know you ladies and you're acting like I've ruined your garden."
"Malus, this base is meant for those who are willing to fight with Roko." Melia crossed her arms, "Unless you've come around then you have no place here."
"This rickety base?" Malus scoffed as he looked around, "Maybe if all you clean it up a bit for me it'll actually suit me. But enough dancing around the topic, I'll tell you what I'm really here for."
Malus pointed at Roko, "Roko was it? I challenge you for leadership of The Earthbounds."