Limits

Chapter 13

I slept well for the whole night, I was rested but hungry nevertheless. It was 5am when I woke up and because I had no breakfast to eat, I went out to start my tasks. I arrived at the well and noticed that there are again couple of buckets. I checked all of them again and only one was without holes. I decided to break the other ones. 'If they have to waste buckets everyday maybe they will stop doing this shit' I thought to myself and destroyed all the buckets except the one without the holes.

I finished much faster that day due to familiarity of the task and also because I arrived earlier then previously. I used some water from the well to wash my face then drank quite a bit, if I couldn't eat anything I could at least drink water to my fill. After that it was about 6.45am so I sat down and rested for couple of minutes before heading towards the woodcutter's lodge.

This time when I arrived, the woodcutter didn't come out. He already told me to just go behind the lodge and start my work. I took regular breaks and when the break got a bit too long I could hear a voice screaming "GET BACK TO WORK!". I wondered where did the voice go yesterday when I was working in the fields.

After finishing that task, I went back home and ate the breakfast. It was the same as last time but the bread was less stale, I guess they didn't have a lot of stale bread at hand so I got a better quality one.

Done with my breakfast, I rested a bit then headed to the blacksmith's workshop. When I arrived the blacksmith was not there. I shrugged my shoulders and just went to work. This time I managed to create three ingots with the breaks I usually did. As expected the blacksmith came back just before 12pm to check my work. I showed him the three ingots and he just said the same sentence as last time "You may go now".

When I returned to the house I was staying at, I laid down on bed and rested before the work in the fields. Because I had some time on my hands I decided to think about the fishing net. I wondered how to create it, If I had a design and everything already prepared, it wouldn't take that long to create it. I decided that the net couldn't be too large otherwise it would be too much work. Next would be the gap between each branch or vine in the net. Surely the smaller the gaps the better but the longer it would take to create it. I decided to create a net small enough that a fish about 30 centimetres long will not go through. Anything smaller than 30 centimetres could be eaten but this would require smaller gaps in the net and that would be too time consuming.

I had design in mind and the materials were already gathered. I just hoped that they were still there. This way it would take me an hour or something in that region to create the net and if I were to fish for one hour…. Maybe there was a possibility of getting some fishes.

There was also the problem with the hoe. I had to use stone previously but there were no materials in the fields I could use to make the tool from. I had access to the blacksmith's workshop and I worked with metal everyday but stealing would probably be too difficult. If I found some old and tattered metal, then melted it and created a tool from it. I could use it in the fields.

With these plans in mind, I left the house to start my work in the fields. This time I just went to my area and used the same stone to plough the earth. The voice shouting "GET BACK TO WORK" didn't appear this time either when I took breaks.

The day passed quietly and uneventfully. I was hungry therefore I returned to my home first to eat the dinner. It was again two bowls of porridge and two breads. After devouring the food I took of my shirt and looked at my body. It was all shrivelled and looked extremely weak. Although I did get some food and water, it wasn't enough to return my skin and muscles back to normal due to constant physical jobs I was doing.

I was even more motivated to go fishing and get more food. If I was at the top of my strength I would be as strong as the blacksmith in this village, if not stronger. I again arrived at the river. I could see no one and the sticks I left previous day were still there. I already had a plan formed in my mind and so I started working.

It was quite a fiddly job to weave the vines, branches and what not to create a net. It took me about an hour just to create a net half the size of a human. The net had four vines used as a lines to retrieve the net from the water. It was quite flexible considering that I made from wood. I immediately went to the river to try it out. I was green when it came to fishing, therefore fishing for 30 minutes brought me no results.

After another 20 minutes I could see some fishes swimming towards my net. When they were below the net I pulled the vines in my hand and the net trapped some fish inside. I was happy that I will get to eat something and dragged the net out with the fishes inside.

I managed to catch 3 fishes, one was about 40 centimetres long the others were smaller about 30 cm long. Pleased with my fishing, I immediately created a fire and cooked the fishes. I finally ate some meat. It was like I ate the best delicacy on the planet, the fish simply melted in my mouth.

After I ate all 3 fishes, the hunger I felt was not comparable to before. It was like someone just skipping one or two meals, instead of couple of days of meals. I hid the net somewhere not visible, extinguished the fire and left the river.

Not even 2 minutes after I left I could hear the same voices again. "Shit!" I exclaimed and tried to change the direction. After walking for a while I noticed a young man standing in that direction, the same one from the previous day. So I turned around and changed directions again.

He followed me with a smile on his face. It was weird because he said nothing. After a bit of walking another young man stood on my path. I frowned and thought 'So that is what they wanted to do'. I swiftly turned left and moved in different direction. Again after walking a bit I noticed the young woman from the day before standing on my path, blocking my way.

Now I had nowhere to go, there were two guys behind me and this woman in front of me. All of them had a smile on their faces as if I was their friend. I stop and one of the young men said "Where are you going slave?" To which I answered nothing.

The guy got worked up by that and said "Drop on your knees and beg for forgiveness!" I still did nothing. The other guy said "You either beg us or you will regret it for your entire life" to which I of course said nothing. Both of them frowned and started to get closer to me. I on the other hand begun backing up. I kept my eyes on the woman as well. She smiled all of a sudden and without any warning rushed at me.

I tried to evade but for some reason she knew what I would do and a punch landed on my stomach. "UGH!" 'How the hell was she so strong' I though to myself, I knew I was in a weakened state but still. She tried another punch but I rolled away and evaded it. She didn't seem happy about that and chased after me. Of course I wasn't stupid enough to just stand in one place. I quickly got up and ran towards the village.

They chased after me and the woman was actually faster than the two other men. It was like she had the same strength as both of them combined. Sometimes I would get hit from behind and sometimes I evaded her attacks. The other guys stayed out of it, mainly because they couldn't catch up.

After about 10 minutes of such running and evading or getting beaten up I managed to arrive at my house. Breathing heavily I looked back, the woman also breathed more roughly. She apparently got tired too but not as much as me or the other guys who were now catching up to her. She was standing about 20 metres away from my front door. I went inside and closed the door, then I heard her say "This is not the end slave, be prepared to face that everyday!" then I could hear them leaving.

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