Mythology: Ragnarok

Two days later, Izz woke up in the morning. Weak, he looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings but couldn't even speak. His throat felt like it was on fire, and even breathing was painful. At that moment, Izz felt extremely thirsty, and his whole body was in excruciating pain. He didn't know how long this uncomfortable state lasted. The pain blurred Izz's concept of time. It felt like a moment had passed, yet also like a year had passed. The pain made him feel that every minute and second of being alive was an unbearable torment.

Just then, the door to the woodshed was pushed open, and the black boy came to check on Izzy's condition. Upon seeing that Izzy had woken up, the boy excitedly ran over and asked, "Are you feeling any better?"

Izzy watched him struggle to sit up and asked hoarsely, "Did you save me? Can I have some water first?"

The Black child quickly brought him a bowl of water and said, "Here you go. Where are you from? Are you being chased because you're so badly injured?"

Iz drank the water in one gulp, didn't answer the child's question, and then couldn't help but cough and gasp for breath for a while. After feeling a little better, Iz leaned against the wall and looked at the child in front of her, asking again, "Did you save me?"

The dark-skinned child nodded, revealing his white teeth as he smiled and said, "My name is Emma. What's your name? And why are you lying on the riverbed covered in injuries?"

Iz replied weakly, "My name is Iz. I was attacked by a wild beast and fell into the river after being injured. Where am I?"

Emma replied enthusiastically, “This is Lord Kingpin’s estate. I am a slave here. Your injury was treated by a doctor arranged by our overseer, Lord George. They are very kind.”

Izzy wondered if he'd hit his ears. He heard a slave praising his oppressor. Izzy asked in shock, "Emma, ​​do you... know what 'slave' means?"

Emma nodded and said, “Slaves are Lord Kingpin’s servants. We are born for Lord Kingpin. Lord Kingpin provides us with food, and we should repay him with everything we have, including our lives.”

Iz looked at Emma in disbelief and asked with a hint of helplessness, "Are your... parents still alive? Do they think the same way?"

Emma shook her head and said, "My mother died in childbirth. It was Lord George and Master Kingpin who raised me, so I must repay their life-saving grace."

Iz was a little at a loss. It seemed that the child had been brainwashed at birth, so much so that he felt his current life was... perfectly reasonable!

Just then, a fat and greasy middle-aged man pushed open the door of the woodshed, followed closely by two burly men. The middle-aged man was the foreman "George" that Emma had mentioned. Izzy looked at him and inexplicably thought of the wild boar he had hunted. However, he quickly dismissed the thought. George's fat, which jiggled with every movement, was not worthy of being compared to a wild boar. At most, it resembled a mass-produced pig from a slaughterhouse. To say that he looked like a wild boar was truly an insult to wild boars.

When George saw that Izzy was awake, he turned to the two burly men and said, "This is none of your business. Go back to work." George had brought his men here to check if Izzy was dead. If she was dead, he would have her body taken away and fed to the dogs to avoid bringing bad luck. Now that Izzy was alive, George had a chance to make his move.

Then George walked up to Iz with a smug look on his face and asked, "Kid, you're awake. Let's settle the accounts. Your lodging, medicine, medical expenses, consultation fees, and labor costs during your stay with me total five hundred gold coins. How are you going to repay that?"

Upon hearing the amount, Izzy immediately lost her composure and shouted, "Five hundred gold coins (equivalent to approximately five million RMB)?! A family might not earn that much money in their entire life! You're deliberately extorting me!"

George, however, was certain that Izz had no status or background. After all, the material of a person's clothes was enough to tell him his identity and status. George could tell at a glance that Izz was a hunter in distress. Although he was a poor man with no money to be made from, he would still work as a slave supervisor for nothing if he didn't take advantage of him.

George continued to tease you with a malicious smile: "Don't say that. We paid for the doctor to treat you. He's your savior, so you should at least make up for our losses, right?"

Izzy touched her wounds, smelled her fingers stained with blood and medicine, and roared, "This is the medicine you paid five hundred gold coins for on me?! It's just the kind of wound medicine that hunters and ordinary people use to treat their wounds?! This stuff costs fifty copper coins a bottle on the market!"

George's smile gradually turned cold as he continued, "I don't care about that. Anyway, I paid this money to hire this doctor for you. If the doctor tricked me and used inferior medicine, I, as a layman, wouldn't know. But the money has been spent, and you have to pay me back!"

As he spoke, George gave Emma a look and said, "Emma, ​​go and call Big Fool and Little Fool over. Tell them there are people here who don't want to follow the rules." Upon hearing the order, Emma immediately ran out. Seeing this, Izzy calmed down. Now he was seriously injured and living under someone else's roof, at the mercy of others. Now, he... had no choice.

So Iz had no choice but to resign himself to his fate and asked, "I don't have a single copper coin on me right now, so what do you want?"

Seeing Iz compromise, George sneered and said smugly, "It would have been better if you had been this sensible earlier. It's simple, just be a slave on this estate for a while, and we'll release you once you've paid off your debts." As he spoke, George took out a pre-prepared indenture and handed it to Iz.

Izz's lips twitched. He could never pay back five hundred gold coins even if he worked himself to death. Besides, he was a slave in their household, and their wages were not up to them. Judging from their attitude, if he really signed this bullshit contract, he would really be exploited to death in this manor.

Iz picked up the contract and tore it to pieces in anger, saying, "Don't even dream about it! I will not sell myself into slavery, you greedy bastards!" Just then, two burly men walked in. Even if Iz were in good health, let alone still being seriously injured, it would be difficult for her to defeat those two burly men.

Then, at George's signal, two burly men rushed forward and subdued Izz. Izz weakly resisted and roared, but he was too weak. George took out a knife and made a cut on Izz's thumb before pressing it onto the contract. Afterward, he laughed triumphantly, "If you had been more obedient, you would have suffered less, but it seems you still need to be properly disciplined. Big Fool, Little Fool, drag him away and teach him the rules. Go easy on him and don't kill him, because now he is Kingpin's servant and the property of this manor!"

Izzy was then dragged out by two burly men for a "welcome ceremony."