Shepherd Tantra

Chapter 1184 Burn it all to ashes!
"Hassan the Flame Fist..."

Aiwass muttered the name.

He had more than just heard of it.

Judging from the sequence of events alone, one could even say that they were chasing after Hassan the Fire Fist - or more precisely, they were chasing after the [Fire Tetrahedron] in his hand.

Although Aiwas no longer planned to get the piece of geometric Tiansi fragment... after all, the water-attributed fragment was obviously more valuable, and Aiwas had already figured out where to get the Tiansi fragment that Leah was going to use.

"From what you said," Aiwass showed some interest, "He is the leader of the rebel army you sponsored?"

If a businessman like Grandet could remember his name and someone like Aiwass could talk about it with great interest, then he must be no small figure. Even if he was a small figure, it must be his "masterpiece", the fulcrum that could move the boulder.

"He is also a legend in this desert."

Grandet said in a low and gentle voice: "You must know that he is a Parthian and a slave..."

"Yes," Aiwass nodded, "It is said that he is a snake man with dark skin and a skinny body."

According to the characteristics of snake people, if they do not eat enough or even overeat before adulthood, they will become quite ugly after adulthood. They will also be thin and short, and their status in the snake people society will also decline.

As a slave, he naturally could not enjoy any nutritious food. Therefore, Aiwas could imagine his general appearance.

Grandet hummed, and continued, "In Parthia... even snakemen who were born as slaves actually have a chance to leap up the social ladder. As long as they develop into young snakemen with good looks and figures through the trait of 'overeating' before adulthood, they can be chosen as priests by the snakeman temple that worships beauty. The snakemen will be responsible for paying a sum of money to buy them from the good master.

"According to the rules of the Parthian Empire, children born to slaves also belong to their masters, just like the offspring born to cattle and sheep raised by herdsmen also belong to the herdsmen. And all slaves without indentures belong to the good master. Even all slaves in the hands of indenture masters still belong to the good master in terms of ownership. The indenture masters only have the 'secondary ownership', and their consent or disapproval has no final say.

"Therefore, the snake people do not need to buy them from the original contract owners. From this perspective, if a slave is taken away by the temple, it is actually equivalent to the contract owner losing a slave that can be passed on to his descendants in the future. Therefore, the contract owner will try his best to make his snake slaves hungry... so that he can keep their descendants for a long time."

"...In other words, Flame Fist Hassan is such a snake slave who is not allowed to have a full meal?"

Aiwass asked.

Grandet sighed. This cunning and careless businessman now seemed to have some genuine sympathy: "His situation is even more special. Because the mother who gave birth to them wanted her children to break free from their slavery in the future... But under the control and supervision of the master, this is difficult to accomplish.

“So she had an idea—

"She gave up four of her five children to focus on raising the one with the best talent.

"Because of the master's control, the children's food intake was reduced. Each child could only eat half full. In a state of constant hunger, the snake-man's transcendent instinct would gnaw on their flesh and blood to strengthen their brains, intestines, and nervous systems first, thus increasing the success rate of 'taking a gamble before death' at the lowest cost.

"And this mother forced each of her children to vomit out two-thirds of their food, while only feeding them half full. She gave priority to feeding the most beautiful female snake people. The snake people value beauty, and women are often more beautiful than men. Therefore, the cost of training a qualified female priest is much lower than that of a male priest.

"There is another problem here. The work of female slaves is mainly to wash clothes, cook, take care of housework, and provide bedding for their masters. Male slaves will be sent to mine, hunt, patrol, protect their masters when they travel, or serve as militia guards and other more dangerous jobs. Therefore, they are more likely to have disabilities or scars, which will affect the level of 'beauty'. For example, the arm of Hassan the Flame Fist... He lost it in an accident due to excessive hunger and fatigue.

"His brothers and sisters also paid a price. His youngest sister was sold by her master because she was too skinny and ugly. Later, her scales were seen in the ritual shop. His eldest brother died of hunger during a hunt. His second oldest sister was so weak that she dumped scalding food on her young master. As a result, one of her arms was cut off and she died of infection. He was the only survivor.

"The decision made by that mother was cruel, powerless, and correct - it was indeed the only plan that could possibly help her family escape the shackles of slavery."

“…I see.” After hearing this, Aiwass understood.

It’s like when children from poor families don’t have money to go to school, so they ask their brothers and sisters to work to provide tuition.

But in Rest, this kind of offering is much more cruel.

If Aiwass guessed correctly... this kind of support would come at the cost of life.

In any case, it is not easy to get into trouble while working. But in this damn desert, slaves really have to do tiring or dangerous work, and there is no medical guarantee...even when they are completely hungry and can only barely maintain their vital signs.

If you can eat half a meal but have to vomit out two-thirds of it, then you'll be lucky if you don't starve to death.

But in the Parthian world, the death of slaves was a very normal thing - unless they did not send slaves out to work, but did some business themselves, opened a hotel, etc. Otherwise, if they died outside while working, no one would suspect it.

"Did they succeed?"

Aiwass asked.

"It's considered a success."

Grandet replied, "Indeed, she was raised. The female snakeman named Nia had a considerable degree of beauty at the age of fourteen, meeting the standards of the snakeman temple. With rich nutrition, she was more than three times taller than her brothers and sisters, and had soft skin as white as jade, and scales that could emit purple phantom light in the sun.

"But because of this... her contract master didn't want to let her go. After beating her, he even tried to scratch her face. However, the snake man who had completed overeating already had the power equivalent to a second-level extraordinary person. She did not resist the violence, but resisted when the other party destroyed her appearance, breaking the contract master's bones.

"Although the Serpent Temple had purchased the slave, as usual - the contract owner did not receive compensation from the good master. The contract owner went to the good master to cry and complain, claiming that his slave had injured him and asked the good master to punish him. But his ability to organize words was too poor, and the good master was annoyed... So the good master directly punished both parties at the same time.

"He hung the indenture master, who had become so noisy and annoying, to dry, and had the slave who had dared to hurt her master tortured by skinning her snake.

"The Snake Temple did not want to risk offending the good master by sheltering a new priest who had not even begun to worship the Ring of Heaven, so she was captured and skinned before arriving at the Snake Temple.

"After the indenture master was hanged, his wife and son were about to become slaves because they would lose their income and the ability to pay the water tax. They went mad and brutally killed Hassan's mother before they became slaves.

"So, Hassan lost all his relatives."

"...Where is his father?" Aiwass asked with a frown.

"It is the Contract Master himself."

Grandet sighed: "Yes... a father, when his illegitimate daughter was about to gain freedom and hope, he paid the price of his life out of jealousy and greed by reporting her and letting her die with him.

"——Hassan felt that this matter was too cruel, too absurd, and too unreasonable. These people and this torn country together were like a joke that no one could laugh at."

At this point, Grandet bared his teeth: "So he escaped and joined the rebels. He vowed to burn all these people to ashes."

That extremely ugly and ferocious smile made Aiwas seem to see through him the appearance of the "Snake Man Hassan" whom he had never met before.

(End of this chapter)