I am a woman who has silver-colored hair and has a very beautiful face. Or so the people around me say.
However, I also hate this beauty. It's not that I'm ungrateful or anything like that. But it is because of this beauty that makes me work like this.
With my beautiful face, my brother uses me to become an entertainer for the rich people in poor regions.
Not only the rich people. Every man who has wealth, whether they are slave traders or other vile people, I am asked by my brother to seduce them in order to get money.
That makes me always live in fear because those who aren't pleased with me might target my life.
I actually don't want to continue this anymore. But this is for the sake of fulfilling my goal of revenge against the rich people.
*Clenching fist. Because they... Because they...
*Tok. Tok. Tok. Someone knocks on my room door. Sreet, he opens the door. "What are you doing, Sylzee?!" He says. I turn to the source of the voice. "Nothing." I turn my body away. "Who's next?"
My name is Sylzee Aileen. And he is my brother named Zert Aileen. We were born in the Aileen family. But for some reason, we hide our family name.
"Geaz City." My brother says, he looks at the marked map.
He hands me the map with a red mark, his eyes only see me as a shortcut toward piles of gold coins.
I only sigh. "Geaz City, huh?" Geaz City is a city that's about 5 days by horse carriage from here. That city is known as a place where slave trading is legalized.
Although the entire territory legalizes slavery, it's different with Geaz City. It's the worst region. Where all slaves are forced to fight to the death and gambled on. There is no safety guarantee there. Even children who wander around will be caught and sold at auctions. And that region has been abandoned by people who have families.
"Get out first. I want to pack." I tell him. He doesn't respond to my words and immediately leaves.
After a while, I finish packing and then leave the room.
"Alright, let's go." I say softly.
My brother is also prepared with the pouches of gold coins tied together inside a cloth. He cares more about those gold coins than me, he doesn't even glance at me when I leave the room.
We both leave the inn with face coverings and cloaks so we won't be recognized.
It's not that I'm arrogant. But I am someone famous, so if I want to go anywhere, I must be fully covered.
My brother and I pass the crowds, I look at the street side. The place with that shabby mat is where someone I recently gave bread and water to was. "He's not here today, huh." I mutter in my heart.
We've been in this city for around 2 months to do our job. And when I was doing my job, one of the clients talked about how he was betrayed by his own assistant.
That made me feel slightly sympathetic and I decided to give him a piece of bread and a cup of water every day. Maybe it's not much, but that's all I can give because my spending is controlled by my brother.
I can only stare at that empty place and smile when passing it, "I hope he's doing well." I whisper softly, my brother doesn't hear it.
[Sylzee and her brother head toward Geaz City using a horse carriage. Even though she knows that the city is known for crime, she is still not afraid to go there. Because for her, she must do her job for something in the future]
[Behind the carriage that moves farther away, the world seems to prepare another trial, far in the bottom of the ravine, a young man struggles against death.]
"Focus." The words spoken by Guiver really annoy me. "Shut up already." He keeps telling me to focus but doesn't give any solution.
I've been at the bottom of this ravine for 3 days. An empty stomach because there is no food, my whole body hasn't healed at all. Even some parts of my body are rotting and there's something crawling on my severely wounded body.
I haven't studied healing magic at all for these three days. In the dark ravine with this condition, who could stay focused?
"Hey, Guiver." I call him softly. "What?!" He snaps back harshly.
"Can't I use fire magic for lighting? It's so dark here." I ask him. Honestly, it's very dark here because it's at the bottom of a ravine about 50 meters deep. And that makes me constantly anxious because I can't see my surroundings.
Hearing my question, Guiver suddenly gets angry. "No! It's too dangerous!"
I'm confused. "Why?" I don't understand at all, he always forbids me from doing that. I've been down here for 3 days without a single light, food, or hope.
"If you light a fire, then the oxygen here will disappear. That will worsen your condition." He explains. True, I understand what oxygen is from his memories. "I see."
Then he adds, "Not to mention, we don't know what's down here. You might attract their attention and you'll be hunted."
I'm shocked. "What?! You mean there are some monsters here?!" I shout. Since I fell to the bottom of this ravine, we always talk within our minds. So only the sound of my ragged breathing is heard.
"I don't know. There are many monsters in this world. So it's possible there are some here." He answers harshly as if uncertain.
"But when I first fell here, didn't I scream loudly? Why didn't they come?" I ask him.
"I don't know. Maybe they were sleeping and too lazy to move?"
That makes me even more hopeless. Not only must I heal myself, but I must completely hide my presence. I have to be more focused so I can get out of this place.
I've stopped my bleeding with clothing stuffed into the abdomen. But my fingers, legs, and nails that have all come off cannot be handled that easily. It's extremely painful, I must get out of here quickly.
My 'Mana' is also limited. Previously, I tested that I could coat my body with Mana for only five days. And it must not run out completely.
If all my Mana is depleted because I force myself longer than five days, then it's certain I will die.
Everyone has Mana in their bodies, but only a few people can use it. And most of those who can use it are elites in wealthy territories.
Mana also has weaknesses, where if the user loses all Mana in their body, the user will lose their life. Because Mana is like life energy.
In the middle of this despair, for some reason, I become even more excited. I suddenly laugh loudly. "Hahahaha!" Breaking the silence in the dark ravine.
I don't care anymore about any monsters around me. "This pain... So delightful! Hahahaha!" I get even more excited realizing how miserable I am now. I really have no idea what else I can do.
Guiver doesn't react at all to my laughter and screams. That makes me more confused, is he deliberately waiting for this? Now I can feel him smiling.
[I knew you would become like this, kid. "Hahaha. Good, kid." I mutter in my heart. I planned to make the situation even more desperate so that he becomes a masochist.
And the reason I want to make him like this, is because if he doesn't care anymore about pain, then he will become unbeatable, fearing nothing. Because he has once felt such deep frustration.
With all his nails gone, fingers broken, arms broken, legs broken, abdomen pierced by sharp rocks so it must be stuffed with clothing, limited Mana that only lasts five days, that will truly make him utterly hopeless.
And because of that, he will become a young man who fears nothing anymore. This is meant because in the future he will face one hundred thousand imperial soldiers. Alone. No one but me inside him.]
"Haaa... Haaa..." I exhale after shouting out all my emotions. And now, it seems something is approaching me. "Hey, Guiver. You hear those footsteps?" I ask him.
"Hm? Yeah, I hear them." He answers. "Seems like there really are monsters." He adds. "What are you going to do?"
I become more excited. "I'll kill them all," I whisper. I stand up, all my bones scream in pain, but I don't care. The footsteps get closer, several pairs of glowing red eyes appear from the darkness.
I don't move at all. "This time I'll use water magic?" I ask Guiver, waiting for his approval.
"Go ahead. Remember the early training to make water as thin as a blade."
"Water blade, huh." I whisper. "Alright. I'll do it." I raise my broken arm by force. *Crack. Crack. The sound of bones grinding is loud, I don't care anymore about the pain.
Several monsters are right in front of me. They sniff my scent, *Hsshh Hsshh. Maybe because they can't see me, so they rely on their sense of smell.
I can hear their growls and know exactly where they are. I don't know how many there are because I also can't see in this darkness.
Just attacking forward might hit them. Forming water on my palm, then thinning it. Even though I can't see, I can control it and know the water is already thin. "Water cut!" I shout, *Sret. Sret. several water slashes move forward.
I don't know whether it hits them or not. *Grrrr. Grkhh. Argkhh. ... ... They groan in pain, *BRAKK. and suddenly the sound disappears.
"All done?" I ask softly.
"No idea." Guiver replies.
I sigh. "Haaa..." *Fssshh. There is a slashing sound in front of me, maybe from the water slash hitting the rocks?
I don't care. "Better continue again." I sit back down and start focusing on learning healing magic.
[Reigh decides to keep studying healing magic, he spends the remaining 2 days with all his effort. Despite his entire body filled with pain and hunger without any food, he remains determined to escape the situation.]
[The only way is by learning healing magic, if he can learn it, then he can heal himself and eat properly up there.]
[And, after one more day, after all his struggles.]
"Heal." My entire body suddenly emits a greenish white light. "T-This." Now because of that light, I see my palms and my entire body.
"Hooo... You've done it, kid." Guiver says softly.
My face brightens with joy. "F-Finally!" I can't hold back this feeling. As my entire body begins to heal.
Even though some parts can't be healed because I'm just starting to use it, this is still the beginning of everything. "Hahaha!" I laugh loudly, not caring about my surroundings.
I can feel Guiver smiling too. "Congratulations, kid." He says sincerely to me. I'm truly grateful that I'm still alive.
After some of my bones are healed, "Time to get out of this damn place!" I start climbing the steep rocky walls. Not only steep, but also slippery.
I don't care about that, because for me this is nothing compared to the 4 days I spent here. I create footholds with earth magic and start climbing.
After reaching the top of the ravine, for the first time after 4 days of darkness and pain. "This..." The blinding sunlight pierces my eyes.
I don't care. Slowly, tears begin to fall. "Haha... Hahaha! I'm back, BASTARDS!"