MapleSAP Special:
Justice Arrow part 7: Interview with the Man who Lost his Kids

As the next few weeks pass, the weather turns from cool autumn to a bitter cold winter. It’s November, and already temperatures fall below zero at night. Frost coats the ground every morning. It’s only a matter of time before snowfall season begins. At this time, the field workers work frantically to harvest the reamianing crops. The fields growing cranberries are the last to be emptied, and everyday produces several truck loads of fresh cranberries in. In some areas, noob slaves are forced to pant seeds, but most of the time, the ground is already frozen. As winter season kicks in, most of the animals in the forest are retreating to their hibernation places, leaving the forests bare and quiet. Most of the birds have already flown south, to roost on the hot southern coast of Victoria or on Florina Island. In the winter, the heat from the air currents is blocked by the Henesys Mountains and collects on the south coast, maintaining warm temperatures all year. In the winter, much of the territory is bombarded with cold wind currents that dip down during the winter months.

Most of the residents work furiously to prepare for Thanksgiving and homecoming- a festival to welcome returning Justice Arrow troops. Almost everyone including the team are caught up in the work. Everyone works long hours every day and evening to prepare food for the troops or Thanksgiving. Because the fields are frozen over, most of the field workers work in the food processing centers, preparing the crops for winter storage, or export. The whole town has twice the man power now than in the summer, and more gets done faster.
Huge magic powered wooden trucks come in from the mines in SleepyWood, packed with ores of metal and jewel. Every week, trucks enter town to empty the ores at the smith and metal shop and exchange crews of workers, slaves, and Justice Arrow troops who patrol the mines, hunt mushrooms, reptiles and Kargo beasts. Full grown kargoes are slain and used to make food. Baby kargoes are brought back alive to be raised and trained.

As for us, no one is exempt from all the busy work going around. Rannbo is put to work in the barns outside of town tending to the livestock animals. He lies and tells his co-workers he is from Henesys to spare himself harassment and abuse. Hank was put to work in the food inspection center, stacking boxes. Maria works full time at the butcher shop, and when she is lucky, she is sent to the bakery or the candle-stick shop. As for me, its the metal shop.
Here, we break down the ores to extract the metals and mold them into plates. When the troops arrive, the plates will be used to make weapons and armor. I end up working next to Jake, the man whose kids were burned at the stake with the SEA Lander last month. Since the burning happened, he is less productive in shop, and the boss has repeatedly threatened to fire him and report him. Jake shows all the signs of severe depression or some other mental health problem.

One day, it was only the two of us in the shop, and he was explaining to me what they do in the Ant Tunnel mines. Jake says while the miners are busy smashing out ore, the Justice Arrow men patrol the area, but keep close eye on the magicians training there. Half the time, the JA hunt down hackers and kill them. Any accomplices are not spared.
Jake says he used to work the mines when he was younger. he said he witnessed the JA commit acts of deciet, such as causing ‘accidents’ where magicians would end up injured.
“It goes like this: A hunter will fire off an arrow bomb and have it explode near the magicians. They get hurt real bad and can’t move, so the JA guys pretend to be medics and offer aid. They haul the person up to the trucks and drive them to town and toss them into cells. If the JA directly attacked other people, the GMs would find out and come down,” Jake says. “The Justice Arrow’s got a full book of dirty tricks to pull on people training down there,”
I asked Jake about his life when he was younger:
“So you worked the mines for three years?”
“Yeap. Three winter seasons down there. I’ve been down there for 5 winter seasons when I was with the JA.”
“You were in the Justice Arrow?”
“Yes. I was a crossbow man. I did patrol for the miners. I almost had it when I caught a hacker. He damn near slashed me with his dagger, and got me infected. I was in the cell for three days while the JA decided between inspectin’ me or just killing me!”
“How long have you been in the Justice Arrow?” I asked.
“About six years. They hired me when I helped their guys kill a hacker. I got my second job advancement. First two years I was at home, keepin’ watch over the noobs and punished fellows. A few times I had to deal with outsiders, but not much. I busted a guy who had a summon bag. The people said I did good, but the JA were never impressed with my work. They always got pissed when I did something, and one time I went to train some noobs at the hunting ground, the ranger women would get angry at me,”
“Why?”
“They hated me, they thought I was a creep,”
“And they let you-” He cut me off.
“The JA didn’t want me around town no more so they sent me away all the time. I was at Ellinia or Perion, or Kerning City. When we went to Ellinia, it was so the troops could catch magicians. They had these huge cages on the trucks, and would load them up with kids, noobs and magicians during the night and drive off.”
“What was your specific task?”
“They made me catch noobs who didn’t get the magician job yet. I tried to be nice to them, but it was so hard, what with what you gotta do, I felt bad, really I did, and if I refused to do the job, the rangers would shoot me. They always like to kill insubordinate guys,”
“I see,” I said. “What did you do in Perion and Kerning?”
Jake scratches his head. “Perion, we just looked for hackers and bagged up noobs who were going for the swordman’s job. Outside of town there’s a bunch of us stationed on the road that goes north. They like to shoot people who sneak in from the canyon.”
“And Kerning?”
“I was in this crew who had to shoot people who fight the J.A. guys when they go into the Azn districts. The gangs there are really vigilant, and hate the JA so much because we go in there and shoot people everywhere or blow up stuff. Other troops kidnap as many kids and noobs as they can and drive off. Sometimes they steal trucks to do that.”
I asked a hard question, “Did you kill anyone while you were in Kerning City?”
“I don’t know,” Jake says sadly. “I felt bad for what we were doing there. The SEA Landers never did anything to hurt people from Henesys, and yet the Justice Arrow is always there causing a ruckous. When I was on duty, and I had to shoot people, I would go for their legs so they wouldn’t die. I didn’t want to, but the JA has bad punishment for disobedience,”
“Did you ever have to kidnap kids personally?”
“Nope. One time I was running through the allweys with some guys, and I was behind them. I saw a bunch of kids hiding behind a dumpster, scared crapless. They got out of a building the rangers just blew up. One was holding some lady’s hand that got blown off. She was sad like she lost her mom. I left them alone, and had to lie to the guys so they wouldn’t come and bag the kids,”
“How did you leave the Justice Arrow?” I asked.
Jake takes a deep breath. “I was injured in Kerning. Some guy shot an arrowbomb and it missed its target and almost hit me. It shattered my left arm, and I can’t use it no more,”
Jake shows me his left arm- it is twisted and scars mark every square inch of skin from his wrist to his shoulder.
“The SEA Lander kids were about kill me when lots of bowmen shot them all. I knew killing me would be a victory for the kids. I was taken back home and the JA fired me.
“What happened next?”
“When my arm was good enough not to hurt anymore, I had to work my community service hours in the fields or clean out animal manure. Everyone hated me becase of my arm and they thought I was creepy. Lots of people called me a hacker because of my arm, they thought hackers screwed up my arm. People reported me all the time and even called the GM. The Justice Arrow helped me out and told the GM about my arm and how I’m not a hacker.”
“Um, if you’re an outcast, why not leave Henesys?”
“Oh, god no! If you do that, it’s the death penalty! Nobody wants any people living here to leave; expecially the home-born! They won’t allow it. Father Lykon says going away from home is like condemning yourself to a fate worse than death- the infection of the sinful influence from everybody outside, because they don’t take up the faith like we do here.”
I was stunned by his reply. “So…what did you do?”
“Everyone thought I was worthless, and people wanted be to be a slave and not a part of society, but the JA wouldn’t have it. Because I served them, they wanted me to have a good hard-working life like everyone else. So they said my contribution to Henesys was marrying a woman and having kids. My kids were my gift to the town. They were supposed to be fine citizens.”
“Who’s your wife?”
“Miselle. She was a field worker like me. The JA put a note on my record saying I was supposed to have kids and she was too, but the thing that pulled us together was she was kind, warm, and loving, not like most of the women in Henesys. They’re only nice when they get what they want, like if the guy meets all her standards or if the kids are behaving good. She was the first woman to look at my arm and not cringe in fear or disgust. After a year, we got married in church. Father Lykon looked me in the face and had the smile that says, ‘finally you are doing something decent'”
Jake pulls a framed picture out of his pocket. it’s of him and Miselle on their wedding day. Instead of a fancy bride’s gown, she was wearing a plain dress, and Jake wearing simple dress shirt in the picture.
“The wedding was only us and some of Miselle’s friends. My parents are JA rangers, and they disowned me when I was a kid, all because I was too weird to them. We had two kids, and we were bringing them up good. The thing is, Miselle and me both didn’t like the Justice Arrow. She was with them too, and she saw them do things she didn’t like. She quit after a year. Because we had kids, we got some decent respect from the town and Miselle and I worked very hard to keep with the faith, and to conform to the society here.”
I interrupt, “Excuse me for a second, but if I may ask, where is Miselle from?”
“She’s from Kerning. She was just a little kid when she was out of the Scania reserve on a day trip when the troops ambushed the group and bagged up the kids including her. She’s been a field worker ever since because she didn’t buy all the stuff about the faith and the morals.”
“Do you believe in it?”
“Yea, I do, well the faith yes, and some of the morals, but theres a lot of things she and I don’t like here.”
“What happened to her?” I asked.
“Miselle got killed. She got into a fight with some other women and they smashed her with rocks. She didn’t start nothing, but they all hated her, probably for just being wierd like me. They always harassed her. We don’t know how we are wird. we tried not to be wierd, but it never works. She was a scapegoat. The JA told me and the kids she got killed because she was acting in a bad way. They got punished, though, 15 years of hard labor.”
A moment of silence. I asked, ” That’s sad. How did you end up with the girl that was burned?”
“I was really sad after Miselle was gone. So were the kids. The town council [Equitas Party] took them away and had them live in other people’s homes. They were with me for the weekend.
I got some servants because they needed service hours. People kept saying I was suicidal so they sent noob slaves to my home. Not just kids, but teens. No, I’m not a pedofile! All we did was talk. I was also not allowed to be at home much because they wanted me to work all the time. It’s a remedy for depression here. When I was, the servants kept my house clean, fixed the food, and stuff. I helped them with the chores and showed them how to do things. They were always around with me and the kids. The girl, Wei was her real name. they just called her Star. The kids fancied Wei big time because she was so different, and nicer than other people. They come over to see her more than me sometimes. She’s from Kerning. She got kidnapped a few years ago and forced into slavery. Because she looked so different from everybody is probably why she was sent to work for me,”
Jake explains how his servants accompanied him at work and on the weekends. A common habit of the Henesys government or Equitas Party, is their dealings with depressed people: They are never to be left alone. they are put to more work than other people, and always have servants accompanying them. It is the job of the servants to constantly report to the Justice Arrow on how the person is doing. If the person fails this ‘treatment,’ they are arrested and become slaves. In Jake’s case, Wei became a close friend to Jake and his two kids. She became a good substitue mother to the kids. Jake tells me of when Wei would tell the kids stories of events and things in Kerning City, and she even taught them words from Mandarin and Singlish.
“She didn’t know about the JA’s hostility to people like her. She thought it was a good thing.”

On the weekend, I went to the human resources office and asked about Jake. The people working there described him as a creep and a pest ever since he was a little kid.
“He was the runt of the family. If he were my kid, I would have had him burned. No one should go through life of constant scorn expecially when they don’t have the ability to correct himself. He just didn’t fit the picture here, and allowing him to exist is a crime committed by his family! He just does things that disturb other people. Jake’s been disciplined, preached, beaten, worked, even tortured; all attempts to set that guy straight had failed! If the Justice Arrow isn’t going to take him, he should die! That is probably why his wife was stoned to death; the othe women feared she would too spread the disease that the man has. I’m just happy the kids are coming up just fine, but we were watchful.”
The human resorce officers were got reports from the school that the kids were talking about odd topics; things that should never reach the minds of Henesys residents. “They were talking about Kerning City alot, and using strange words no one has heard before. They would sing songs with those filthy words, and it just infuriated the teachers and school master. So, a petition was started by the townfolk to put the kids and that filthy SEA Lander servant down for good. They wanted Jake to be burned too, but the Justice Arrow is still deciding what to do with him!”
The petition went through and warrants for the kids’ arrest were issued. They were arrested and burned to death.
Jake’s home was re-posessed by the Justice Arrow, and now he lives in a servants’ halfway house on the outskirts of town.

Aside from his sorrows, Jake is living in fear. Everyone here is scared of facing eternal torment after death so they do what they can to live up to every value, moral, and belief. It is the approvals of Father Lykon and the high priests of the Jalonska Church everybody seeks. If you die without commiting sin, the Universal Migrator will take you to Heaven. If not, you fall to Hell. In everyone’s views, Jake is far from being the ‘ideal man’. He is scared of hell, and so he fears for his life. I told Jake everything I learned from the human resorce office.

“I want to leave Henesys, but if anyone finds out, or sees me going anywhere other than work, they’ll burn me on the stake!”
Jake wants to leave Henesys, but the only options are smuggling himself out of town, and that task is difficult, scary and the risks are enormous; if discovered at the Justice Arrow’s checkpoints on either side of the Henesys region, he’ll face capital punishment. “If you try to walk by the checkpoint and tell them you’re leaving, they just have you brought back in. You gotta get special permits to leave town, and they sure as hell won’t give me one,”
However Jake Ketchen is not the only one suffering in silence.