The Inko Villagers soon reached the gates, with thousands of unwilling followers right behind them.
Gurnam was walking alongside these people as he looked around, taking in as much information as he could.
He made a rough calculation that this was more or less 2000 people, which was easily half the Juno population—including those who could only afford visitor's pass.
The new 'slaves' shivered as they went past the threshold of the territory, stepping into the dense forests outside.
With every step they took, it felt like they were leaving a piece of themselves behind. This felt even more exacerbated as they realized they had gone farther and farther from the walls and sentries.
The sentries may have been sparse, but being able to see them—even from a distance— still brought a sense of peace. Losing sight of it naturally made people feel imbalanced.
Gurnam's breath hitched when he realized they were completely away from their walls.
He was feeling , what about the others who had no control of their bodies?
His lips pursed as he slightly turned his head to a young lad next to him. He was very young, probably around 10 years old. The lad was sobbing, mumbling helplessly. "Sister… sister…"
He recognized this kid. He was one of the refugees who came a few days ago from the North. Scores, if not hundreds of refugees came to Juno every day after the protection period ended. He could remember him because he was brave. While many of the adults ran away, he tried to help the guards get rid of the monsters.
When Gurnam asked why he was so brave, the kid had told him that he needed to be brave and strong to find his sister.
Seeing him sob now… his hope must've broken.
He must've realized that he had truly become a slave without freedom, so how could he find his sister?
"QUIET!" The guard yelled and they all flinched, and the child could only pitifully shut his mouth.
Gurnam frowned, gazing blankly in front of him in thought. How did slavery work? Would every one of the enemies be able to control them wantonly?
Before he could ponder deeply about it however, one of the fearsome sounds echoed in the area, sending shivers down their spines.
The slaves flinched and soon the ground vibrated, soon revealing a small mob of monsters. Because the slaves were asked to shut up, they couldn't even scream. You could just see their faces reddening in terror.
Soon a group of about a hundred level 6-7 monsters arrived. They had thousands of people there and it naturally attracted a relatively large mob.
This also showed how uselessly aggressive and bloodthirsty these beasts were. Any beast with some cognitive ability would've avoided a group many times larger than they were, but these monsters just looked at them hungrily.
By any standards, with their numbers, this mob should've been no problem, particularly to the Inko Villagers who were at least level 9 and above. But the enemies decided to have a bit of fun.
"Hey! Slaves!" One said, "Stand. Still."
Gurnam's eyes widened as he whipped his head towards the bastards. They were all laughing so they didn't notice any oddities in him, and if glares could kill, they'd have died under Gurnam's right now.
Soon a few monsters reached their group and a few were immediately taken into the monster's mouths!
Gurnam immediately gestured to move—it didn't matter if he was discovered! It didn't matter if he wasn't strong enough to defeat the monsters at all! He needed to save who he could!!
However, before he could jump at the monster, an order from the front of the line resounded.
"STOP MESSING AROUND! THE ARRAY WOULD BE CLOSING SOON!"
At this, the guards around them sighed in disappointment, but otherwise gesturing to follow orders anyway. "Okay, time to stop! Kill the monsters already!"
Although it was notable that the aborigines level 11 or 12 still worked together to handle the monsters, they had the advantage of numbers and no one else died during the fight.
Gurnam's heart was still beating out of his chest and all he could hear was his own heartbeat the entire time they traversed the forest. It took a couple more minutes before the crowd stopped moving, and he raised his head when he realized something was different.
His eyes widened when he saw a glowing circle of magic about a hundred meters in front of them.
He gaped when he saw the crowd of people ahead of them enter it, disappearing from view after a flash. It would've been a magical sight if they didn't dread for their future.
He followed the line until it was finally his turn to stand at the magical circle.
His heart shook, not knowing what to expect.
It was quite disorienting. One moment they were in the middle of a dense forest, the next they were right in front of a level 3 wall.
"Let's go!!" the guards yelled, and the thousands of them were herded through the gates.
[Welcome to Inko Village (Lv3)! Please pay 50 copper for 1 day entrance.]
Gurnam shakily paid the fee—he was still disoriented from the teleportation—but it was apparently different for others.
"The one good thing about being a slave is that you don't need to pay entrance fees!" A person nearby said, mockingly. "Which is very lucky because you all don't have money anymore!"
He could hear some muted gasps from people around him, no doubt looking at their own Wallets. He watched as the people around him fell into an even bigger pit of despair.
They didn't think it was possible to fall even lower!
Seeing them lose blood on their faces, the guard laughed out loud. "What? You don't know? Slaves lose their money to their new owner! Thank you for contributing to our treasury."
Gurnam pursed his lips in an attempt to calm himself down. There was no gain in losing his cool.
After heaving deep, deep, breaths, he looked around to observe his location.
Inko village wasn't much different from their own village, it had low-level housing, narrow roads, basic stores, and amenities.
In terms of lifestyle, their Juno people were still superior because they had lived a good life a few months prior, and they tried to at least elevate their lifestyles even in the new place in any way they could.
Juno at least had a well, wider roads, cleaner houses, and not as much shit to be stepped on every few meters!
But they could only cry inside because they were ordered not to make any noise, so their cries were stopped so simply, and it felt incredibly suffocating.
The slaves were herded deeper into the territory, then past the small plaza, and onto a zone near another gate.
They were led to a massive shanty-like structure that gave off a horrid stench even when they were far off its doors. The walls weren't even covering the interior all the way up.
It reminded them of farm animal corrales but were several hundreds of square meters in size.
"This is where you'll live from now on," the aborigine said with a grin, before turning to leave while laughing.
The Terrans looked at each other, faces pale and eyes filled with hopelessness.
What happens to them now?