NOVEL NEXT Chapter 4 Life as a Slave
I was sold for two pieces of fruit, and my treatment was terrible…….I was chained up and taken away in a carriage that looked like a prison wagon…….Then, after a short ride; I arrived at a large mansion on the side of a mountain. At the mansion, I was taken not to the main house, but to a stable-like place in the garden…….
"Come on in, this is your home from today!”
It was not a house…….A shack would be a good place to start, no matter how you look at it……There were about ten men and women crammed inside…….
"Hey, I'm hungry…….”
That's what I said to the man who was leaving…….
“You're done eating for the day; you'll have to wait until tomorrow.”
“Seriously?……”
……I'm so hungry I can't sleep…….While I was depressed thinking about it, a girl came up to me. She was wearing tattered clothes and had shaggy hair…….I guess it's not a bad idea in a place like this, but she wasn't the prettiest girl…….
“Are you hungry?”
The girl said bluntly.
"…… Oh……I'm starving.”
"……Here, you can have this……”
Then she handed me a black dumpling…….
"Nanami, that's your precious emergency food, you can't give it to a newcomer like that.”
When the auntie said that to the girl, the girl said with a blank expression……
"You know Nanami is spicy when she's hungry……”
That's all she said…….I can't believe such a little girl would say that……. I can't take this dumpling; indeed…….I gave it back to her.
“Thank you, I'll be able to eat tomorrow so I'll put up with it for a day.”
“Don't force it. You can eat. And I'm not sure if we'll even have food tomorrow…….”
“Is that so?”
The auntie answers that question……
"Yes……the owner here is fickle……we eat once every three days, that's all…….”
Well……that's why they're all so skinny…….
“Okay, thanks Nanami. …… Well, let's split it in half, it's good enough for me.”
“……Half is enough?”
“Yeah, half is enough for such a big dumpling.”
I split the dumpling in half and handed the larger one to Nanami.
"Okay, let's eat.”
Me and Nanami sat down on a dirty wooden table and ate it together…….As you can see, it doesn't taste as good as it looks…….But more than the taste, Nanami's feelings made me happy……
After eating the dumplings, Nanami led me to my bed…….I wasn't expecting a proper bed, but……it was worse than I expected. It was a bed of flimsy straws on a board, no quilt……and everyone was sleeping together…….
When I lay down to sleep, Nanami came to sleep beside me…….She was a little cold, but she hugged me…….I held her shoulders to keep her a little warmer…….
I couldn't sleep at all……I was cold and stiff……But they wouldn't let me rest in that situation……A man came to our hut and took me out. The women were taken towards the house and the men were taken to the cliffs behind the house and made to work…….
Our work was to excavate something…….We were forced to dig and carry something…….We were forced to do this all day long without a break. And when the sun went down, we were sent back to the hut……. A little bit of water was given to us while we were working…….After we finished our work for the day; we were given water and a piece of hard bread, like a cookie…….
“So this is today's meal…….”
“It's better than nothing…….On a good day; we get a big loaf of bread, some cheese, and some dried meat, but that’s once a month……”
“Okay…….”
Apparently this is the worst place to be……
“Nanami, why would a little girl like you be in a place like this?”
“Sold to……”
“Sold by whom?”
“My mom…….”
Oh, I guess I shouldn't have asked…… But she said that the money from selling her would allow her family to live for a month, so……Nanami was fine with that. What a healthy girl…….Uhh……Wait a minute……her family can live for a month……Nanami was sold for a higher price than me?……I felt a little upset……
For a while after that, I worked during the day and slept at night…….Sometimes I would get a meal and eat it. The turning point came when I noticed the unusual behavior of the man who owned the hut…….
“They don't lock the hut, do they……?”
When I said that, the old lady told me the reason…….
“That door has a Ludia control key…….People with a Ludia value of 300 or less can't open it…….There are only people in this hut with a value of 100 or less. It's……sarcastic…….”
I see…….My Ludia value is 2…….Well, that means I can't open it…….I thought that, but I casually put my hand on the door and opened it……