The Sound Of Despair

(Two months later)

On average, it takes more than two months before a new behavior becomes automatic. After eight weeks of working in the quarry, Sturm finally felt like he got somewhat used to the hard work. His studies, too, were going well, and Edgar had told him to document every day in a diary to practice his writing and to learn to organize his days better. He had never really written a diary, but he used to update his Four Chapters every day, so it was not entirely foreign to him.

<<Ok, Edgar is right, and I should try to optimize my daily life down to the last second. Let's take a look at those last two months.>>

Sturm's Diary:

Day 4: It is the fourth day since I got to be Edgar's servant, and the second day he is teaching me. Today he told me to start writing a diary, so here I am. My muscles are sore, and my body has difficulty moving. Unsurprisingly I learned the math Edgar was teaching me very quickly. He rewarded me with extra stambread and even some herbal tea for fatigue that he had acquired in the town for me. I hope this is enough to get me through tomorrow.

…

Day 8: It is the fifth day in the quarry and my first big fuckup. After my third break, I tripped on a stone and dropped my buckets. First time I got whipped since that dreadful day. Hurt like hell, and I will have to sleep on my stomach over the next few days, but at least they spared me from the pole. The day after tomorrow, I will ask Edgar for some herbs. I am scared the wounds are going to get infected.

…

Day 19: It is the seventh day I am studying with Edgar, and finally, my wounds from the whipping on my first day have gotten better. It probably would have taken a lot longer if not for the herbs Edgar got me. I can already help Edgar with his accounting, and he is very satisfied with me. I feel my knowledge about this world is increasing every day with him as well. My four chapters are advancing well, and I feel like I will reach my previous progress before I am ten years old.

…

Day 21: It is the 14th day in the quarry, and something happened again. A while after I got back from my third break, a handle on one of my buckets broke. Luckily I managed to avoid a disaster, and nothing spilled out of the buckets. I had to adjust the way I carry it for the day, which will slightly disturb my training plan, but it is better than getting whipped.

…

Day 25: It is my ninth day under the merchant, and I gave him a particularly good idea for his business, increasing his sales a full twenty percent. As a reward, he told me I could wish for something. I asked him for martial arts manuals to practice my reading. It is time to update the Fourth Chapter that has been lying still for the whole time I have been to this world. Maybe the way the locals generate power and use their muscles differs from Earth. I am hoping that new discoveries will spill over to the first three chapters.

…

Day 35: It's the 23rd day in the quarry, and somehow, I felt really sick during the day. I do not know if it was the water from the fountain that another slave offered me. Edgar warned me only to drink the water he gives me, but I just was so thirsty, and the slave seemed nice. I hope he did not get sick as well.

<<Wait. Isn't there a pattern here? How come I did not notice it before? Motherf*****! This cannot be a coincidence. Someone has to have been sabotaging me. I am lucky I have only been whipped once, but that is enough to kill a normal eight-year-old slave.>>

Sturm went through his diary repeatedly, and every time, he found new clues pointing towards someone trying to mess with him. Most of the attempts failed in one way or another, so the perpetrator could not be too bright. Sadly that still included most slavers and slaves. It was not realistic that one of the deputy overseers or the Overseer would hinder him. If they really wanted to, they could just execute him, and not even Edgar would be able to stop them.

The prime suspect was Smiling Diego, but he had not heard from him nor seen him since his first day. He had already punished Sturm as well, so why would he cause trouble for an insignificant child slave, risking the Overseer's wrath? Yes, the slavers and guards despise slaves and enjoy torturing them, but they should not be going out of their way to make it difficult for one specific slave that did not even antagonize them in any way.

Following this logic, it had to be a slave, but that did not really narrow it down as there were thousands of slaves on Dagger's Rock Island.

<<Damn. I wasted my morning because of this. Edgar will kill me if I arrive late.>>

He had never skipped on his morning routine until now, not even when his muscles were aching and his back destroyed from the whipping. Now he had wasted his entire morning on a diary. After quickly hiding the notebook next to his stache of stambread, Sturm started sprinting towards the merchant's camp.

"You are late. You have one opportunity to explain yourself, or you will write 'I will never be late again' ten thousand times for the next three days with me."

Writing anything ten thousand times would take hours of work. Sturm did not have time for that, and he quickly explained what had happened.

"So you say someone is out for you? Ever since I took you in, slaves have asked me 13 times if they could work for me. I always declined and told them I already have someone, but I made a list of candidates anyways in case we should ever need someone else. I will give it to you later."

"Does this mean I am not getting punished?"

Edgar thought for a while and then shook his head.

"No. You lost track of time and forgot about your responsibilities. That is unforgivable for a merchant, but in view of the fact that you were indeed facing problems, I will reduce your sentence to a thousand."

<<Oh, come on! I never even had to do that in my previous life. Isn't that something only Bart has to do?>>

"Yes, Sir!"

Three long hours later, Sturm could finally put his pen down. The sun was high up in the sky already, and the feather had not stopped moving ever since he started writing. He had planned to organize his day better but ended up wasting the morning and his first three hours with Edgar.

"Very good. Accepting your punishment and faithfully completing your sentence is a sign of maturity. Or wait, is it sentences in this case? Hahaha."

The laughter Edgar expected never arrived, and instead, a little slave just rolled his eyes at him. Not that it bothered the merchant, he had seen that Sturm was an overly serious child over the last weeks. There was also still a secret weapon he had prepared.

"Come on, try to enjoy life a little bit more!"

<<Easy for you to say. You're not the slave working in the quarry here.>>

"I've got a surprise for you, boy. You have finished the martial arts manuals I got you, right? Well, I managed to acquire a new one! It is from the famous Huo Dynasty on top of that. It is called 'Submerged Crocodile Awaits The Prey'¨.

Edgar threw a thick scroll on the table. Sturm opened it and saw that he couldn't read it from left to right like standard writings. Instead, it went from the top to the bottom, and each row explained a different technique.

"It's good for you to be developing interests, especially as this one will help you protect yourself in the future. But you will have to read other literature as well, so please read these two books until next time."

Two more books were thrown on the table and threw up some sand. One of them dealt with herbs and first aid, while the other was called 'The Electrifying Trade Basics Of A Handsome Merchant.'

<<It can't be.>>

Sturm slowly lifted the book and turned it around.

'Author: Edgar Stormsong'

<<Indeed, he wrote it.>>

"I heard the author of that one is a genius blessed by the heavens, so you may want to memorize it." *wink*

"I will treat it as my holy scripture!" Mike affirmed.

"Hahaha, very good! Your ass-kissing abilities are starting to resemble a true merchant more and more. Very well, I initially wanted to surprise you, but I will have something for you in three days."

Now that was something that interested Sturm. No matter what the merchant gave him, it always ended up being useful. He didn't expect to get anything else for a few days, as he already received the martial arts manual.

"What is it?"

Since the beginning, Sturm displayed the behavior of a serious child that didn't play around. Edgar attributed that to both the traumatizing experiences the young slave had to have been through and the uncommon intellect the boy displayed. The quick way the boy absorbed his lessons and teachings and the priorities Sturm showed when making significant decisions were both proofs of a mature and developed mind.

The merchant likened Sturm to the geniuses the Empire seemed to groom a few of every year. If he were correct with his guess, then the return on investment would be truly incredible.

"Aaaaah. You want to know, huh? Well, too bad! You will see in three days!"

It was no longer clear who the eight-year-old was out of the two. Sturm could just shake his head and exercise patience. As he trained his mental capabilities in accordance with the First Chapter, his resilience against childish provocation and dad jokes were improving as well.

They continued with their daily lessons, and when the sky was getting dark, Edgar gave Sturm the list of slaves that had approached him and finally sent him on his way.