Chapter 04 (1/2)
Side story 04 – A Certain Slave’s Salvation
Is in a sense one of the few (almost) completely serious chapters in this story
It’s a little depressing, so readers who are bad with it are advised to skip this chapter and read only the final three lines
In the dark dungeon filled with despair, she was the only one who extended her hand to me
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This year was a bad harvest
The crops in the field had shrivelled, and unable to even provide a good meal, they had no worth on the market We had just a little bit saved up, but even so it wasn’t enough for a family of five to pass the winter with
When the slave es, there was already nothing else we could do
I have a father, a mother, a brother two years older than er Because they needed the manpower of the boys, it was inevitable that I was the one sold
Although I say ‘sold’, that wasn’t exactly correct Strictly speaking, we entered a contract of debt with the slave merchants
The slave ave my father a loan, and I became the security If my father couldn’t pay back the , we all knew that there was no chance of paying them back It seems the slave merchants intended this as well because they told us that if we gave up on paying theive a better price
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While averting his eyes froht there that he couldn’t pay them back
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I had hoped that so fortunate would happen after this misfortune, but it seems that Sacred Goddess-sama wouldn’t permit such naivety
Misfortune followed the e back to town, I contracted a fatal illness It was tough to even raise my body, and hed blood
There were two other slaves weak fro the healthy ones, ere tossed into a heap on the carriage that held the luggage The chances of being sold were lower because ere going to die, so the food ere given were less than the other slaves, but I couldn’t really find the appetite either
By the tie finally reached Riemel, I was already at death’s door
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In the slave merchant’s shop, the three of us were put into the sae of death like us Because it was a waste of , and everybody just sat around the way they wanted Even ere first put into the cell, only half of the slaves in there made any response, and when I saw these people whose hearts had died in despair first, I felt heart chill over
That was my future, and it wasn’t a far off one
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I was told by the slave e of death were sold off to be killed
Huuards, or h they weren’t many, there were also those who siht cheap slaves to use to death
If ere sold, ould be killed On the other hand, if we stayed unsold like this, then before long as well…
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A body wracked with pain being corroded by disease, and a heart that was corroded by despair that went beyond that
Days where it seemed like my heart would die first passed by
Customers came in before our cell a number of times, and the number of slaves in the cell decreased
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One day, the slave ht another customer
Still leaning against the wall, I hazily had a look
Most of the custoh I couldn’t see their face under the black robe, this time they were probably a woman… And what’s more, somebody who only seemed a little older than me
After the slaveto them, that woman stepped forward and took off her hood herself
The moment I saw her eyes, e of stopping, was for so
“This girl is?”
“Her nae a little distance from Riemel, and is a debt slave, but on the way here she was attacked by a fatal disease and she probably only has a month left to live”
I unconsciously flinched at the slaveto live, hearing soer I had made the fear of death well up in me
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I don’t… want to die…
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“If it’s ht be able to save her”
… … … … … …Eh?
It took a little while until I properly understood what the woman had said
Saveto save me?
I looked at the black eyes that were staring in my direction, but they were serious and didn’t look like she was lying And for some reason, when I look her in the eyes, my heart can’t stay calm
“I don’t have any proof, but if you’ll believe and accept me, then take this hand”
With her words, the woe and held her hand out to me