Chapter 4: Discounted
Forest Area
By nighttime, Theo found himself chained again. He let out a quiet sigh. It hadn’t even been a full day since he was last unchained.
His gaze drifted toward the small campfire in front of him, the flames flickering gently in the dark. Then he glanced to the side, the wolf from before was still there sitting beside him. Watching him with its tail wagging.
At first glance, it looked intimidating, large enough to pass as a wolf. But after spending some time with it, Theo had come to a simple conclusion. It was just an oversized dog. A very well-trained one.
Theo decided to test that again.
“Pant… pant… pant…”
The dog sat calmly, tongue out, panting lightly. Its tail continued wagging in a steady rhythm. Honestly, it looked… kind of cute.
Then Theo shifted his body, lifting himself slightly off the ground.
“GRRRRRRR!!!”
The reaction was instant. The dog bared its fangs, its entire posture changing in a split second. Muscles tensed. Eyes locked. Ready to pounce.
Theo slowly sat back down.
“Pant… pant… pant…”
Just like that, the dog returned to normal. Tail wagging again. Expression relaxed.
Theo stared at it for a moment.
“…Yeah. Very well trained.”
He exhaled and leaned back slightly.
“Sigh…”
There wasn’t much he could do for now. So, like he had been doing for the past three months, he went back to briefing himself.
“Status Window,” he muttered.
The familiar screen appeared.
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[ GENERAL INFORMATION ]
Name : Theo Poliznev
Title : Prisoner
Class : Necromancer
Level : 1
EXP : 27 / 1000
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[ CORE STATS ]
HP : 64 / 100
MP : 70 / 70
Stamina : 20 / 40
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[ ATTRIBUTES ]
Strength : 1
Agility : 2
Intelligence: 5
Charisma : 4
Luck : 2
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[ SKILL AND SPELLS ]
(See detailed page)
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[ UNIQUE SKILL ]
N/A
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[ PASSIVE TRAITS ]
→ Fragmented Taxation
Effect :
- EXP gained from kills reduced to 25%
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[ CONTRACTS STATUS ]
Souls : 0 / 13
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Aside from his core stats—which went up and down depending on how exhausted or injured he was—nothing had really changed in the past three months.
Theo scoffed quietly. He always did whenever he saw the word Necromancer. Was it because of the séance gig back on Earth? If that was the case, the system had a sense of humor. A bad one.
But the real joke, was that he didn’t even have a single summoning or reanimation spell.
“…Sigh.” This time, the sigh lingered a bit longer.
Everything about his situation in this world looked bleak. Still, he wasn’t the type to sit still and accept it. Over the past three months, he had gathered as much information as he could. From fellow prisoners. From guards. From overheard conversations. Anything useful.
He closed his eyes and began reviewing it all.
Rule #1: Only summoned heroes possess a “Status Window”, or what some people call a “System.” Only they can see it directly. Others require special Church crystals to view their own status.
Rule #2: Everyone in this world can improve skills and abilities over time. But increasing core stats—HP, MP, stamina—that is exclusive to summoned heroes. Not everyone gets to become something.
Rule #3: Experience points are gained through killing monsters, killing intelligent beings, or performing certain feats. Even forced labor, like long-distance marching, grants small amounts, hence his current title and the miserable amount of EXP he had.
Rule #4: The worst one. Passive traits are something you are born with. They cannot be changed, they cannot be removed.
Which meant, he was permanently stuck growing at one-quarter the normal rate.
Theo opened his eyes again and sighed. Other than that, the rest of the information he gathered was about this place.
The Border Prison.
It was located right next to the Demon Realm. Fortunately, the realm itself had been sealed for millennia by some ancient mage. But that didn’t make this place any better. If anything, it made it worse.
This was the place every parents across Civara used to scare their children into behaving. The infamous open prison where kingdoms had been dumping unwanted individuals for centuries.
Theo’s expression darkened slightly as the thought settled in. Then suddenly the veins on his forehead tensed.
“How could you decide I’m an unwanted individual,” he snapped under his breath, anger rising, “when you’re the ones who wanted me! Into this world in the first place?!”
His voice rose.
“Goddamn stupid fat king and that old hag—”
“Shut up!” A sharp voice cut him off.
Theo turned toward the bushes where the sound came from. It's the elf girl. She had just returned to the camp from hunting others like Theo.
“Woof!”
The oversized dog immediately trotted toward her, tail wagging enthusiastically. She bent down and patted its head.
“Good boy. You guarded the loot well.”
Loot. Theo had heard that word far too many times today. Its always refer to him.
Without hesitation, the elf girl began removing her outer clothes right there in front of him. Theo didn’t react, not even a little. This wasn’t new. He had already seen what was underneath.
The simple, modest peasant outfit came off and revealing something entirely different. A fitted black outfit, resembling a medieval version of special forces gear. Some parts were leather, others cloth, all designed for movement and combat rather than appearance.
The transformation was immediate. Gone was the harmless-looking village girl, enter the S&M elf princess.
Theo watched quietly. She was undeniably beautiful. The kind of beauty that matched exactly what people imagined when they thought of elves.
In the stories his former victims used to write, this would be the “waifu” type. The classic setup, enemy at first then slowly realizing the hero is different, eventually falling for him.
Theo scoffed hard. Those writers had no idea how things actually worked.
Rustle Rustle Rustle
“Miss Erika!”
A man emerged from the bushes behind Theo, grinning widely.
“I got one!”
He dragged a captured prisoner along with him.
Another rustle.
“Miss Erika!”
A second man appeared from the left.
“I got one too!”
Same situation. Another prisoner.
Then from the right—
“Miss Erika! I got two! HAHAHAHA!”
This one had two prisoners chained and stumbling behind him.
“Aah… you’ve all been working so hard,” Erika said with a sweeter and higher pitch, placing a hand near her face as if holding back tears. Completely fake. Theo knew that expression.
Even back on Earth—where life was far easier—beautiful women understood exactly what they had: Beauty. And they used it. Here? In a place like this? Where survival decided everything? Of course it would be the same, if not worse.
And just like that, Theo was no longer the sole prisoner. Tonight, his situation was almost identical to the night before. Chained, surrounded by other prisoners. Sleeping in a cramped, uncomfortable position with bodies pressed too close on all sides.
The only difference, last night it was at sea. Tonight, it was in a forest.
---
12 Days Later
Theo walked in a chain gang alongside dozens of other “recaptured” prisoners.
The elf girl—Erika—and her group had grown in number. Along the way, more people dressed like them had joined, each bringing their own batch of captured prisoners.
Theo had learned what they were called. The Scavenger Tribe. A mix of races. Elves, beastmen, humans, dwarves. No single origin, no shared background.
Only two things connected them. Their way of dressing, and how frighteningly well they knew the territory. More than once, Theo noticed how they avoided the obvious paths. Instead, they guided the group through routes that looked far less safe at first glance.
But there was always a reason. One time, he spotted monsters lingering along the main path they chose not to take. Another time, he caught a glimpse of a distant settlement, likely belonging to a different tribe.
Because of those choices, the journey remained relatively safe. At least, safe in terms of not getting eaten. Whether being captured by the Scavenger Tribe counted as “safe” was… debatable.
---
Agriculture Tribe
Eventually, they arrived at a settlement built around the ruins of an old fortress. But what stood out the most wasn’t the stone walls. It was the land. There were actual farmlands, wide enough to sustain a population. Crops. Livestock. Signs of stability.
This settlement is very clearly not the home of the Scavenger Tribe. Because the moment they arrived, Theo understood what this place was. A marketplace.
Theo and the other prisoners were lined up in front of a familiar object. A crystal ball, just like the one used by the church old hag priestess. One by one, prisoners stepped forward, placing their hands on it. Behind a desk, an officer observed the results, occasionally scribbling notes. Evaluating, pricing, assigning value.
Slaves.
Then it was Theo’s turn. He stepped forward and placed his hand on the crystal. The officer leaned in slightly. Squinted.
Then he scoffed.
“Pfft! Rejected. Next.”
Just like that.
Two guards immediately pulled Theo away from the line and dragged him back toward Erika, who was waiting off to the side. Theo blinked once then frowned slightly.
That… hurts more than he expected.
“Sigh… I was expecting more from this loot,” Erika muttered to one of her men, glancing at Theo.
“Yeah, miss. Me too,” the man replied. “His clothes were pretty convincing.”
“So what should we do with him?”
They both looked at Theo.
“Should we release him?”
Theo’s expression immediately changed. His face lit up and a smile started forming. Will this be his freedom?
---
Moments later, Theo was sitting by the roadside. Theo stared forward, speechless and expression empty.
He's still tied, but this time a wooden board hung from his neck.
It read: Discounted
He had gone from the cheapest summoned hero to the cheapest slave.