DMS Chapter 51
DMS Chapter 51
Flinx was 22 years old when he was kidnapped by the wizards. He had been a slave for two years, so he was now 25 years old. He was also now a powerful wizard with magic at his command that would awe anyone from Earth, but in return for that power, Flinx knew that he was a broken man. All of the Earthling dungeon miner slaves were. The brutal torture they had experienced regularly while the wizards enslaved them had probably turned all of them insane, and the only reason they were able to cling to some form of sanity was because of their access to the internet through their transmigrator gift.
That was also the main reason why Flinx felt guilty for taking his time in traveling to where the high-level dungeons were located. Any delay that he made would also delay his attempt to rescue his fellow Earthlings. One piece of good news that he had read from one of the messages posted by his fellow Earthlings in the forum that they were using was that, apparently, the wizards who knew Earth’s dimensional coordinates had all died from the attack of those attackers in white, who looked to be from some religious organization. That meant that the wizards would not be able to kidnap anymore Earthlings. That meant that the Earthlings remaining with the wizards were the only ones from Earth, and the number would not increase anymore. At the last count, there were only 56 of them left.
One little side effect of losing Earth’s coordinates was that the wizard was now extremely careful with the Earthlings' safety, making sure that none of them died anymore. Still, the wizard kidnappers did not loosen the shackles on the Earthlings' transmigrator system. They were still extremely afraid of the power that the Earthlings would receive if they were able to access more of their gifts.
Fortunately, Flinx would be able to travel back to Earth using his 7th-level spell Plane Shift once he reached the legendary 20th level. He did not even have to know the coordinates since he was a citizen of Earth. Thankfully, he could attempt to rescue his fellow Earthlings once he reached the 15th level, which was probably a lot easier to reach compared to reaching the 20th level.
On the day that they were supposed to reach the next town, which was the Oathwheel Town, Flinx woke up early. He learned that the merchants would not provide breakfast to the bandit youngsters. He tried not to care, but Flinx felt pity towards them. Some of them looked really young, around 14 or 15 years old, so he cooked a few large pots of Lugaw, which was a garlic-infused rice porridge seasoned with salt, pepper, soy sauce, and lemon. It was fast and easy to cook. He learned it from an Asian co-worker who taught him since he asked for the recipe. He found it extremely delicious when that co-worker brought it and offered some to him.
Thankfully, Flinx woke up early and managed to finish cooking the porridge at around six in the morning. He purchased 100 pieces of disposable bowls and 100 pieces of plastic spoons for 20 dollars.
With the help of Rendra, Camry, and Oliman, they distributed the bowls of Lugaw to the bandits, who were able to eat the porridge since their ties were loosened by the caravan guards as per Flinx’s request.
The smell of the savory rice porridge was enticing, and it looked like even the guards and the merchants wanted some, so he told Rendra that she could distribute the remaining porridge to everyone in the caravan.
The amount the Flinx cooked was enough for everyone, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Before the caravan left, Rendra, Camry, and Oliman returned all the bowls to him. Flinx cleaned them using his Prestidigitation spell and stored them in his 4th tab space since he thought that he probably would be able to use them again in the future.
Before Rendra left for her cart, she asked Flinx a question.
“What kind of porridge was that?”
“It’s called Lugaw. It’s rice porridge, seasoned with garlic, salt, pepper, fish sauce, soy sauce, and lime.”
“What kind of grain is rice?”
Flinx was startled that Rendra did not recognize what rice was. He used the English word for rice since he did not know the local word for it, but he assumed that the locals would recognize it since they ate it. When he described what rice was, like what it looked like raw and how it was grown, Rendra finally recognized it, but told him it was extremely rare and only available in the islands of Lumidos, located in the south.
Thankfully, Barthos was not too angry about the little delay caused by Flinx’s breakfast. First, it was not too much of a delay. Just a few minutes. Second, the caravan master and his family also received bowls of Lugaw, and his kids liked the rice porridge.
The caravan moved slowly enough that the young villagers who stupidly turned to banditry were able to walk behind without too much difficulty. Besides, they should have the energy since Flinx had provided them breakfast.
An hour before noon, Flinx saw Oatwheel town in the distance. He was glad that they would be able to finally get rid of the bandits. It irked him that he kept feeling a combination of irritation and pity towards the young bandits. They did not deserve his pity since, based on their looks, they had not suffered enough to turn into bandits. They were not thin or malnourished but looked like healthy young farmers. More than likely, someone among them was gifted in speech and urged the others to try robbing the caravan for a quick buck.
Flinx knew that if the wizards kidnapped young people and turned them into slaves, he would not have lasted long and would have tried to attack the wizards, which would have caused his death. He knew he could not accept seeing children being tortured, just like how James, his first friend, died because the man could not accept being a slave.
He knew that the main reason why James died early was that the man was also sexually abused. Luckily, Flinx developed his technique of making sure that his face was injured enough so that the eyes of pervert wizards would pass him by. Flinx wondered if his years as a dungeon miner slave also turned him asexual. He had not had the urge to have sex ever since he was kidnapped, and even now that he was free, he did not find an urge to find someone to be with. At first, he thought that maybe he had become gay or something, but he found doing something sexual with anyone was a little repulsive, be they a woman or a man, but he found that he found it more repulsive thinking about having sex with a man. He could not help but remember the faces of their perverted wizard kidnappers.
Flinx just knew that he was broken and that was it. Maybe if he were able to return to Earth someday and undergo years of therapy, he would be able to return to being a normal human male, but that was something to think about in the future.
Oatwheel town did not have walls, which he found a little odd. Since they were the town closest to Beldor Town, he expected that monsters would still be able to find their way to their town. He just shrugged and looked forward to roaming around in the new town.