Through the streets of Rome, a Jeep and a limousine travel. Tenya is escorting Empress Malty to the construction of Notre Dame. It took over fifteen years, several slaves were taken to build this colossal cathedral, and may lives were lost. It doesn't matter to the Empress however. They were disgusting creatures who should be taken into slavery. During this travel, there is a glimpse of the people of Rome. Years of heavy taxation, war, bad harvests, and home destruction paved way to the current level of poverty in Rome today. Disease ran rampant leaving many citizens on the streets to die. Children run amok on the streets on their own, begging, stealing, and working. Empress Malty wouldn't care though. If she could, she would round up all of these children and enslave them. Actually, she should do that. She would make a mental note to pass a decree that all children on the streets are to be enslaved. They continue their way to the construction site of Norte Dame Cathedral. The outside of the cathedral is about completed with the roof, the interior, and the bell towers still needing construction done. Working on this wonder are multiple slaves of the empire. Men, women, and children from conquered lands are enslaved to do hard labor for no pay and horrible working and living conditions. Right now, multiple children are bring materials around and using dangerous equipment to finish the cathedral. Some of them aren't even ten years old, but they are forced into hard labor, just because they are conquered peoples. Most of these children are from the recently conquered lands of Egypt, others are from China and Korea.
"Faster scum!" One of the guards shout, whipping the slaves to make them work faster. A child passes out from the forced labor catching the eye of the head-slave inspector Sir Motoyasu Kitamura, a young man usually an army corporal during times of war. His sleek, pony tailed, blonde hair shines over the suffering slaves, and his orange eyes glare down angrily. He orders the child to get up and when that failed, he sent guards to punish him severely by whipping and electrocution. It was this time that Malty and Tenya exit their vehicles.
"All hail the Gracious Empress of Rome. Empress Malty Melromarc is in our presence" Tenya shouts proudly. People are in the presence of the empress! They must all show respect to their benevolent leader. This grabbed the attention of Sir Motoyasu, who is loyal to his Empress.
"Ah! You Graciousness!" Motoyasu says, kneeling down on his knees. "I am truly honored to be in your presence".
"I have decided to show our gracious empress around the construction site of this glorious wonder. As head of the Three Hero's Church, she is the one to give this place of worship her blessing".
"Oh Graciousness Empress. It will be my pleasure to escort you through the place as well. As head-slave driver, it is my duty to make sure that each slave is working. Or else".
"Well thank you for your service" Malty says graciously to Motoyasu. They continue their way through the unfinished cathedral. The huge building was taller than most of the many buildings in the Roman capitol. The only other wonder taller than Notre Dame is the Pyramids of Rome. Slavers work the slaves tirelessly as their frail, ragged bodies give up on their work. Thousands of dead or dying slaves are buried in a pit next to the cathedral, where they will be neglected by others making it a breeding ground for underground spread of disease. With the presence of Empress Malty, the slavers work the slaves twice as hard as they usually are. That was not the problem for the Empress though, she was too busy admiring the almost finished product that is Notre Dame.
"This massive cathedral will hold thousands of pious subjects to worship the three heroes" Tenya explains to Malty. "And in the center of the church will be a statue of you oh gracious Empress, made with the finest gold from our colony in the Philippines. The windows are carefully crafted in Alexandra, color stained glass that will represent the three Heros' actions. And the benches would be made from the finest wood from the forests in the Austrian territories. We have also ordered two fine, golden thrones for you to sit in during masses and one for the priestesses to sit in. Now, we don't have any funds left to pay for the rest of these materials, but I can assure you that-"
"Tax the poor" Empress Malty interrupts. "What would they do with that kind of money". She hates the idea of the lower class having any wealth what so ever. She rejected the ideas of socialism, communism, nor capitalism, ideologies created by France, Belgium, and America respectively. She promptly declared heavy taxes to fill her treasury and build her wealth. No one is richer than her. To keep her power and position, she restricted a lot of freedoms like speech, press, religion, and privacy. No one is allowed to worship anything other than the three heros; and any criticism of the empress and her regime will be suppressed.
"Yes. Most wise your Graciousness" Tenya responds. He would have said otherwise, but his job was on the line, as well as his life. "Might I add that we raise tariffs on luxury amenities, like pearls, crabs, maybe whales?".
"Are you kidding?" Malty scoffs "I will not raise tariffs for the good of foreign relations". Which was a bluff, no one wants to be friends with Rome because of all the controversies it had acquired in the past years. "Besides, the demand for whales for the nobles are astronomical".
"Oh! How wise your Graciousness" Tenya says. "Off that note, we shall have this wonder done by the end of the year".
"And I'll make sure that these slaves finish it on time, or else" Motoyasu says, spear in hand smirking. All of a sudden a guard comes in shouting.
"Sir Motoyasu! Sir Motoyasu!" The guardsman shouts."There is something you must address".
"Well, Show the way" Motoyasu says. "Follow me your Graciousness" he says as Malty follows him to the other side of the cathedral. On the other side, two guardsmen were holding a young slave boy in their arms. A weak, scrawny boy with dirty blue hair, a weird red tattoo on his right eye.
"Sir Motoyasu" the guardsman shouted. "This Egyptian boy here was caught raiding the store houses last night while we were off guard. This brat thinks he can get away with theft of Roman property?" The young boy falls down on his knees as the guards throw him to the ground.
"Really!?" Motoyasu said "What do you have to say for yourself ya brat?". Motoyasu grabs him by his rag.
"I-I was trying to feed my friends" the boy pleaded. "W-we're starving. We're going to die if we don't eat something". Now, it was either the abuse, the hunger, or the health of his friends, but the boy began to develop tears in his dull, chocolate brown eyes, cracking under the suffering of slavery, Empress Malty doesn't pity the boy and punches him in his stomach. Motoyasu drops the boy on the ground as he coughs and vomits out blood, lying on the ground.
"How DARE you!" Malty shouts angrily. "You don't know how fortunate you are to be working under the Roman Empire. If it weren't for us, you'd be living in some hell hole. We pious people took you in and those working for us should be grateful!"
"Please calm down your Graciousness" Tenya says to Empress Malty, trying to keep her calm. Not wanting another murdered child on his hands. Granted the empress can get away with it, but Tenya dares not fall behind and dead slaves equal wasted workforce. Instead, Sir Motoyasu goes up to the boy and with his baton, pushes it under the chin of the boy.
"Tell me boy. What is your name?" Motoyasu Asked.
"J-Jellal. Jellal F-Fernandes" The boy Jellal said, weak and febishly.
"Well, Mr. Jellal Fernandes" Motoyasu said in a sarcastic, sadistic tone. "We don't take kindly to those who steal from us gracious Romans". With anger, Motoyasu kicks him in the same place where he punched him. "My Gracious Empress!" Motoyasu said, turning to Malty. "What shall be your order. Under such divine power of the Three Heros". It is clear that Malty did not adhere to the standard sentencing conventions agreed upon at the Vancouver Convention of 1920, therefore her sentencings are cruel and unusual. But today she's feeling a bit playful. She goes up to the boy.
"Lets see" Malty replies as she grabs the Jellal by the head, squeezing his face. "Tell you what boy. You seem to be a strong person. How about if I let you go. You won't receive any meals for the next two weeks if you swear your servitude to the Roman Empire. Praise us as benevolent benefactors. Be grateful to be working for the glory of Rome!" Malty shouts with vigor and insanity, squeezing the cheeks of the young boy harder than she should. Jellal grew more angry and in a single gasp of breath...
"No" was all he mustered out. In a fit of rage, Malty threw the boy on to the ground and proceeds to press her boot on his skinny body. This garnered the attention of other slaves, including a redheaded gril and a tan skinned boy with black hair who were Jellal's friends. They silently watched in the background as Malty lays down her authority.
"What was that ya brat?" Malty asks angrily.
"I will not swear to a tyrant like you" Jellal says boldly, angering Malty even more. She takes out a whip she always carries around her and with no warning whipped him brutally, scaring the children watching in the shadows.
"You UNGRATEFUL DIRTY DISGUSTING BASTARD!" Malty shouts as she whips Jellal harder. "WE granted YOU MERCY. If IT WEREN'T FOR OUR BENEVOLENCE, YOUR KIND WOULD BE WIPED OUT COMPLETELY!". For minutes he continues to whip the poor boy mercilessly, her posse pleads to end this madness because of how far she is taking this but she completely ignores them like she always does. Eventually the young red headed girl came out of the hiding spot.
"STOP!" She shouts, going up to her friend Jellal trying to protect him from the Malty's wrath.
"P-please don't hurt him" the girl says frightened and afraid of what will happen to her for speaking out. Her friends followed her afraid like she was. Malty is pissed at this point.
"What the hell do you think you are doing!?" Malty shouts. "Get back in line this instant!" She begins to crack her whip towards the children, whom whimper at the sound. Which makes Malty smirk.
"I see what this is..." Malty remarks, "you all want to receive a worse punishment than whipping don't you?". The children look at her trembling in fear, they have seen different ways that slaves are brutally tortured and maimed. What is going to happen to them?
"I have a wonderful idea!" Malty exclaimed. "I always wanted to try out my new torture device. Now will be my chance and I will use this boy and that red hair girl, and all of you are going to watch. Motoyasu, Tenya, prepare my device!" Malty commands. Now the children were extremely frightened. The girl looked in fear and shock. She did nothing but protect her friend, but now she was going to be tortured because she was a slave.
"NO! Leave Erza alone!" Jellal shouts referring to his red hair friend. Her friends were crying and begging not to have their friends tortured. Though not concerned for the slaves, Tenya and Motoyasu were concerned for their empress's aggression. This could boil over to diplomatic talks which could boil over to war, with international tension already at an astronomical high. Malty's advisors try to keep her in sane and not kill anyone, so that is what the two men tried to do.
"Your Graciousness, don't you think that is a little too far" Asked Tenya, panicking out.
"Maybe whipping might still be the best solution to keep these brats in line, or maybe just starve them?" Motoyasu says, possibly regretting having her empress punish the slave children.
"DO YOU WANT TO SHARE THE SAME FATE AS THOSE BRATS!" Malty shouts, feeling like she is being denied her request. Her subjects caved in and set up the torture device, two poles that create electricity and is used to electrocute slaves into submission.
Malty ties the two children to these poles and subsequently, chained their friends so that they won't escape from watching them be tortured. For extra measures, guards point their guns to the brats. It took a couple of minutes to get all of this prepared but it was ready, earlier as this was getting set, a telegram was delivered to the empress, but she ignored it, more on that later. For now, Malty begins the punishment, producing 1250 volts of electricity, enough to make the victims suffer but not to kill them. The two children, Jellal and Erza began to feel immense pain throughout their bodies. Jellal withstands the pain while his friend screams in agony. The other children just watch, scared for their comrades and fearful that they would be next. Malty stops the electric poles for now as the two children dangle their heads in a unconscious state from their tied positions.
"Ugh. That blue boy is no fun" Malty remarks referring to the boy Jellal. "He hasn't made a single scream this whole time, unlike the red head over there". She then walks up to young Erza.
"P-p-please..." Erza weakly says. "N-no more".
"Ah! I see you have succumb to he might of our empire, is that right young girl?" Malty says smirking. Erza says nothing in her current state. Malty starts to reach for something in her pockets. "Maybe this will reiterate your belief". She takes out what she had in one of her pockets, a dagger and begins to commit a gruesome act upon the poor girl. She stabs and gorges out the right eye. Her friends cry out in fear while Tenya and Motoyasu look away from the scene. Jellal turns his head around and sees Malty maim Erza's eye. He muttered her name in despair, weakened by the electric torture. Malty turns to the boy after maiming Erza.
"And I see that you realize that our glorious three heroes have saved you. Now, will you praise our three heroes and our glorious empire?" She asks the boy. Jellal looks up at the empress in anger.
"Never, you ugly pig" he mumbles. Malty is taken back in anger. Is this kid trying to defy her?
"What did you say you brat?"
"How can anyone worship gods who let us suffer" The boy said angrily. "We did nothing to deserve any of this. You took our lives and enslaved us, you starve us, you took my friend's eye. I will not worship your gods, nor praise your tyranny, you sadistic, ugly, pig". That spelled the death of the young boy with an infuriated Malty, she begins to electrocute Jellal again at a higher voltage of 1750. Within minutes, the torture ends and it effectively killed Jellal, Malty orders the guards to send them back to their cells and not to give them any food for a good two weeks. They mourn and cry for the loss of their friend as they try to drag him back to the cell to give him a proper burial. Erza just collapses from the shock feeling hopeless, the light of freedom she had trying to escaping this horrid place is shattered by this punishment. Malty shoos them away and asks to return to the palace. Not before giving the papers to bless Notre Dame Cathedral with the divine power of the Three Heroes. And off home she went, not looking back at the slave children, not giving a damn about their livelihood, as if she cared for anyone anyway.
-End of Chapter Two-