Chapter 288. Weighed, Measured, Judged

Chapter 288. Weighed, Measured, Judged

A person stepped into the square. This time an actual human. He wore a unique hat and black robes with red details. The symbol of chain links was embroidered on his chest and he wore a thick crimson red chain around his neck.

An entourage of people in similar robes followed him. They wore black chains on their wrists and their faces were covered in by a loose fabric with the chain symbol.

As they later came to know these were the Chained Apostles. A caste of priests that were in charge of... welcoming new sheep to the herd.

Anywhere else they would be called enslavers. Their blessing from God gave them the power to force others to answer their questions, to see through lies, and create slave collars based on the worth of the sheep.

Their work was the judgment, registration, and enslavement of the captives by putting a slave collar on them.

One by one the captives were taken from the cages and led before these inquisitors. It did not take long for Seth's turn. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"What is your class?" the emotionless voice asked him, and he felt the urge to answer.

"Blacksmith." he could not resist to answer but what he said was his to decide.

There had been more than enough people who tried to lie and got punished for it before him. Seth decided to be technically honest.

"And your second class?"

"Scald."

The priest made a derogatory sound and mumbled "Useless. Wasting even the second class on something like that."

"You have been judged to be a menial worker. Your number is 3663. Remember it well as this is the first and last name that will ever matter to you again."

An ominous feeling overcame the priest as he said that, but he shrugged it off. Then he laid his hand around Seth's neck and started to mumble a chant.

He felt the priest's hands heat up and when the man removed his hands there was an iron collar around his neck. Just like it had happened to everyone else before him.

With that Seth's fate was decided and he was brought away with the other workers. The other fates he had seen were warriors who got bound by a silver collar and magicians who were bound by a silver one.

As the most numerous, Seth followed the row on worker out of the square. When he passed the castle walls, he felt a restrictive feeling lifted only to be replaced by a new one originating from the collar.

Past the walls came a desolate wasteland into view. Here and there he could spot rests of ruins among the dead plants and lifeless earth.

"To discourage people like you. I am an example of the futility of escape."

"They really like the word futile..." Seth muttered as the man leaned back on his bed.

"That they do. And chains. They talk more about those fucking chains than a goddamn jeweler." the answer came.

~I don't trust him.~

Seth didn't trust the old man either, but he was sure he could supplement his knowledge on how things worked here.

The blacksmith kept talking to the old man and the other told his stories. He was here to show the "futility of escape" it meant they wanted the old man to tell them about all the securities measures that stopped him.

1004, the man's number, had lost count on the many times he tried to escape and was ultimately caught. Whether these stories were true or not didn't even matter.

Seth was sure there had to be some truth in what he talked about. He just needed to glean the right information from the prisoner's yarn. What Simon had told him and Al's presence helped.

First and foremost was information on the slave collars. Depending on the quality of the collar they restricted the wearer more or less.

Warriors were used as a fighting force. They could use their skills, but their collars allowed the Priests to use mind control. They were forced to follow orders and could only act as mindless drones most of the time.

Magicians were slightly better off. Depending on their specialization they had to either fight or help in research. Their skills could be unlocked depending on the situation.

Their collars did not have the function to control them, but they would be punished with tremendous pain if they did not follow a command.

Workers had access to any system functionality or skills completely sealed. They were no better than strong laborers. In exchange, they were only controlled by force. Their collars could be used to locate them if they fled but that was all.

Other than that, it was all about patrols, the terrifying wardens, the covered inquisitors that can find you anywhere so on and so forth. These were the alleged reason why a worker couldn't run, even if they got rid of the collar.

"But nobody can get rid of these collars anyways. They are created with divine magic. It would probably need a craftsmen blacksmith just to open these worker collars. Not to mention those of warriors or magicians."

Oh yeah, that was nonsense. Even without his <Blacksmith's Eyes> he could see that the worker collars were just common items. Most blacksmiths could take them off. He guessed that it was similar for the gold and silver collars.

Seth was sure he could take off his collar but what came afterward?

He couldn't just leave the people behind. Especially Duhu and Evans had grown a little on him.

It was better not to rush things for now. Seth wanted to observe the situation himself instead of deciding on the ramblings of an old coot.