The Dawn of the New World Chapter 1629

This place- which was teeming with hundreds of slaves not too long ago- was now as quiet as a library and just as orderly.

All the slaves had been moved out which only left the two hundred or so guards to busy themselves with other things. Nearly a quarter of them stood at full attention near the exit while the rest shuffled back and forth moving large crates.

"Bit of an overkill, don't you think?" Hao Xuan whispered into Ketillaug's ear but the demihuman did not think so.

"Should have been this way from the start. Left unchecked, disorder only leads to more severe problems later down the line. This way..."

The exit was neatly divided into two sections with a long wall in the middle. As Hao Xuan crossed to the other side he saw a few familiar faces among the gathered crowd.

He remembered seeing a few of those slaves before but only one of them held any significance to him.

"Sir!"

The boy pushed and crawled his way out of the crowd to meet Hao Xuan.

"Che Yun!" Hao Xuan was pleasantly surprised to see him in much better condition, "Looks like you're not doing too bad now, huh?"

He was clean and not covered in grime unlike the last time, and even though his clothes weren't exactly new, at least they didn't smell like weeks-old garbage anymore.

He had even combed his hair which made him look like his age now.

But this somewhat proper appearance did not keep him from kowtowing in front of Hao Xuan on all fours.

"Thank you sir!" he yelled, gathering the attention of a few bystanders.

Hao Xuan quickly pulled him up with an unpleasant frown, "Don't do that! I despise that kind of a behavior!"

Che Yun quickly apologized by lowering his head, "I'm sorry sir! I only- My sister...she said I should-"

'Right, he had a sickly sister, huh? He was doing all this for her,' Hao Xuan recalled some of the details.

"Is she doing better now?"

Che Yun bobbed his head up and down in excitement, "Yes!! Thanks to you, Master Rufgar sent a healer to take a look at her as soon as we came back. An-And she can already stand on her own now!"

"Good, that's all that matters then. Don't bring it up again," he said while patting him on the head before realizing- "Why are you here then? Since she is doing better you don't need to take such risky jobs anymore."

Che Yun's smile faltered but he answered confidently, "That- I...want to repay the favor, sir...if you will let me."

Hao Xuan glanced at Ketillaug for confirmation but he simply shrugged, "Your call. Won't make much of a difference to us."

"Alright...in that case get ready."

"Yessir! Thank you sir!"

Che Yun kept bowing repeatedly until Hao Xuan went around the corner.

Ketillaug couldn't help but comment, "You've grown fond of the boy I see," with which Hao Xuan did not completely agree.

"You can look at it that way. He doesn't bother me and it doesn't hurt having company around. What I am surprised about is how quickly you guys dealt with everything."

Ketillaug admitted his part in the process with some pride.

"I only did what Master Rufgar ordered me to, it wasn't much trouble moving them. It was thanks to your contribution points that his sister still lives and they have a better living space. In fact, it's even better than ours."

"Ohh? Did Rufgar give him a fancy house? In that case I might be a little jealous too."

"Hahaha no, nothing of the sort. But compared to what other slaves live with it is a paradise."

"That's something I guess..."

Their conversation came to an end when Rufgar's "office" came into view. The massive minotaur could be seen from quite a distance away since the walls were not nearly tall enough to cover him.

Ketillaug waited outside while Hao Xuan ventured forth.

"You're here..." he mumbled without looking up from the stack of papers in his hand, "Since you have more experience you can choose which side you want to work on. We need to get to the core as soon as possible so if you can do anything to speed it up I will count it towards your contribution."

Impressed, Hao Xuan had no reason to deny it.

"Sure, I can do that."

"Good. And-" he finally raised his head to look at him, "Sumeet won't be bothering you anymore. I have expressly ordered him to stay away from your side."

"...."

"Thank you, I appreciate that."

"Go now, time is of the essence," Rufgar waved him out while saying, "Come to me if you need anything else."

Ketillaug led him back where the other slaves were already packed into the cages.

"Over here sir!"

Che Yun's malnourished arm popped out from behind one of the bars to signal him.

Hao Xuan gave a nod to Ketillaug and went over while two platoons of guards exited the city on beast-back.

Sumeet was watching it all from the front and cracked his whip unhappily once Hao Xuan was inside.

"Haya!"

The feathery beasts jumped into action and sped into the wasteland at breakneck speeds.

Hao Xuan took the bag from Che Yun's shoulder to inspect the tools and was surprised to see they were all of the highest quality. The pickaxe especially looked like it had just been made.

There was even a rune inscribed on the handle which made it almost weightless.