Another three days later, at the crack of dawn, Fraser had achieved another breakthrough in a tier one technique. He decided against advancing this technique to tier two, as it expended far too much mental energy, and it was not as helpful to advance it, the only effect being less arcane expenditure. Fraser also lacked time, the carriage was going to arrive at the camp in less than two days, so he needed to act fast.
After attracting Leslie's attention one night, Fraser convinced her to secretly talk to him every few nights. Every few nights turned into every two or so nights, and that turned into every night. Fraser used the excuse of "loneliness" and made up fake, tragic stories that pulled Leslie closer to him. They bonded as time went by, trust grew between them.
Fraser was now convinced Leslie trusts him enough, so he waited patiently until sundown.
"Enough noise! Keep it down, the sun is setting! Put up the barricades!" Ingram's arcane slowly expended, as he yelled at the top of his lungs.
"This time took less arcane than last time, am I approaching mid level tier three mastery?" Ingram thought to himself, as he walked down the steps toward the slave cages. Met with the sight of all the slaves fast asleep, he nodded in satisfaction, passing his thanks to the watchful guard, before heading back up the steps toward the nobles' carriage at the front.
Three hours later, at the peak of midnight, Leslie tiptoed toward the slave cages, they all were still dozing off, as Fraser waited patiently, cross-legged on the wooden floorboards.
"You know. I really wonder how vast this continent is. I am curious." Fraser gently whispered through the iron cage bars.
"Curious? Are you not from here?" Leslie asked with a confused look on her face.
"No, I am quite foreign, I fled after rogue sorcerers attacked my family and I. Far west from here, my father sacrificed himself using a technique to send me here instead of himself, to safety." Fraser looked back up at Leslie, with tears in his eyes.
Leslie looked back with a hint of pity, seeing her own reflection in Fraser's mirror-like eyes, sympathy filled her heart. Fraser's acting was immaculate, impossible for the mortal to see through.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, He spoke again after wiping his tears, "I know you can't accompany me, my fate is sealed as a filthy slave, please, at least show me the vastness of this world before I'm gone, even just a map will satisfy my emptiness."
Leslie nodded with sadness in her expression, she rapidly walked away, planning to come back and show Fraser the map. Fraser felt this was going perfectly to plan, and that his escape was inevitable, but he stayed vigilant, he knew that by being complacent, he would cause his own demise.
Leslie came back moments later, holding a scroll in her delicate hands. A sharp glint flashed in Fraser's eyes.
"I wish i could save you from this mess, my father is heartless, not having a trace of sympathy for people like you, he won't listen to my pleas to free you, im sorry…", tears ran down her face, as she sobbed quietly.
Fraser reached through the bars, gently holding her face and consoling her. A warmth erupted in Leslie's body, she stood up and slowly unlocked the cage door, standing before Fraser. He approached her and tightly hugged her.
"Thank you." Fraser's calm voice resounded in Leslie's ears, comforting her.
He began thinking at this moment, "Is this the love people speak of? It's so warm, so relaxing. Why should I lead such a painful life for revenge over this?"
He felt Leslie's tears drip down onto his ragged shirt, he began embracing this feeling of true lov-
"True love?"
"Such a superficial feeling, this attachment people feel between each other is simply a bond created with the passing of time, yet people do not realise, they have spent longer with themselves far more than any other irrelevant individual. Why chase love in a partner, when you have yourself guiding the path, shining a light along your own road?"
Suppress Sound!
Fraser activated his newfound technique, releasing clouds and dense fog that covered everything in his cell, dragging Leslie inside, grabbing at her throat and scorching it with high temperature smoke from his hand, directly burning her vocal chords to a crisp, killing her on the spot.
Yet nobody heard anything, her screams dampened by the suppress sound technique.
This was the first time Fraser had killed another human, yet he didn't feel horrified, satisfaction arose in his heart, vortices swirling in his cloudy eyes.
"What may the future have in store for me? I truly wonder."