Noah's perspective
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The town of Reilich in North. One of the cities in the Kingdom of Ignar, it is also one of the few places in the country where humans can live. It was in this haven, that I was a slave.
My parents died when I was young, so I spent most of my childhood in an orphanage. In a world where the threat of monsters is prominent, and with the city having limited land and resources, orphans are not given decent food or clothing.
While they are occasionally adopted by wealthy people or crazy nobles to satisfy their egos and display their "kindness", becoming an orphan is more often than not a step towards slavery.
When we reach an age where we can work, the director of the orphanage will find work for them. They will be forced to do dirty, tough work, such as cleaning excrement and sewage, work that no one else will do. After being forced to do these filthy, smelly jobs, we return to the orphanage and sleep like a log.
The only reward for continuing this lifestyle was to be sold as a slave once we become accustomed to the work. The slave trade was also the source of income for the orphanage, so orphanages function as nothing more than a slave brokerage center.
Like many others, I was sold into slavery.
Perhaps because I was good-looking, I was given priority in sales and seemed to enjoy a fair amount of popularity. At the time, I thought that if I was bought by a wealthy person, I would be able to say goodbye to this lifestyle.
But reality is different.
Even after being bought, my duties didn't change much. I was forced to do the work that no one else wanted to do. And at night, I was used by my master to relieve stress.
The food situation was probably better than when I was in the orphanage. But what was even more unpleasant was the physical assault, punches and kicks I received from a chubby middle-aged man I was forced to call my master. However, humans are creatures that get used to things, and after a few months of living like that, I no longer felt any particular aversion to it.
After several years of living like this, treated no better than farm animals, the turning point came for me.
I am a beauty, that is something everyone agrees on. Perhaps it was because of my appearance that I was bought by one of the powerful people in this town, whose eyes just happened to meet while I was walking down the street with my master.
No matter how rich my master is, he cannot defy the powerful people in this town. Unfortunately, the one who took a liking to me at this time was not some small-time powerful man in town, but the second son of the North family, who ruled this territory.
And my master, unable to resist power, let me go after receiving a large sum of money.
From then on, I was treated like I was in heaven. All I had to do was follow orders. When I did that, I was given decent food, clothing, and even my own bed to rest in. It was treatment I had never imagined in my life before.
Even when I was whipped or strangled, I could endure it.
That was how happy I was.
However, this daily routine did not last long.
In short, I was boring to them.
After all, I was just another slave.
One day, my master came up with an "exciting" idea for entertainment. His idea was to throw several slaves into the demon world.
When the man I was forced to call master and other powerful men were talking about how long they believed we could run away from the monsters and who they thought could survive the longest, I was filled with rage that made me feel like all the blood vessels in my brain were going to burst.
A rage swirled within me, wanting to hit him once before he died, but doing so would only hasten my own death.
I no longer even had the will to hit him in my mind, I will lose my life for the temporary entertainment of some vulgar nobleman.
Meanwhile, several of us slaves were brought to the base of the Border Guardians.
Border Guardians. Those who have gained the power to fight monsters are heroes who fight day and night to desperately maintain the relative peace of the living space for humanity.
I visited them once with my master. They were all young men and women, not much older than me. I was a little surprised by this, but the nobles, laughing merrily, began to explain what they were going to do.
The guardians' expressions at that moment were simply blank. That was understandable. If they showed even the slightest bit of dissatisfaction with the wishes of the lord, who held overwhelming power in this territory, they could be beheaded immediately.
And so, we were driven out of the boundary. There were four slaves, including me, we didn't know what to do so we just ran. That man looked at us from the top of the wall with amusement.
There was no time to feel angry. I could see the shadow of a monster in the distance. It had probably noticed us. It was approaching at a speed several times faster than a human.
I ran for my life.
I used the magic I had secretly learned on my own, struggling to find a way to extend my life even a little.
Us slaves who were exiled together began to die one after another.
One I used as a decoy so that I could survive a few seconds longer.
One was brutally eaten alive while I stood there frozen in fear.
The other died with little resistance, cursing the master as their head was crushed.
I'm the only one left.
I don't want to die.
There's no hope in life, but I'd rather not die like this.
I struggled, struggled and struggled, using everything I had to escape from the monsters.
Magic doesn't work well on monsters because their magic cores absorb the magic. But it does manage to slow them down a little.
I kicked up sand, blocking their vision, and turned the soil into mud, making it difficult for them to get closer to me.
I used all that I could and ran and ran and ran as fast as I could.
However, my desperate struggle didn't last long. These are the Demon lands. Hearing the commotion, other monsters gathered to kill me. No matter what I tried, the outcome was clear.
No matter what I did, I couldn't win against numbers.
Countless strange monsters gather around me.
I could no longer see clearly, even the ground right in front of me was blurred. My body was exhausted and in tatters from fighting monsters. But...
"...I don't want to die. I absolutely won't die!!!"
I don't remember much from that point on. After my powers awakened, I continued running around killing monsters.
Twisting their necks, crushing them, slowing them down... I broke through any monsters that got in my way head-on, no matter what they were up against.
And then, having no idea how far I had ran, I finally arrived at a space where there were no monsters.
"... it's beautiful"
A field of flowers stretched out before me. The sunlight illuminated the colors, and the glossy petals gave me a view I believed could only be paradise. A veritable paradise. A haven where no one could attack me.
I was so exhausted I could barely think, and all tension suddenly snapped.
"I wonder if this is heaven..."
Muttering this, I lost consciousness.
*
The next time I regained consciousness, I was in bed inside of a crumbling old house.
"...Where am I?"
I was thrown into the demon lands along with the other slaves, and after a desperate fight I must have lost consciousness.
And yet, I'm on a bed. It's an old, hard bed that smells of dust. But it doesn't bother me. I'm just grateful that I'm allowed to sleep in a bed.
"Could this be a dream?"
No, that's impossible. I'm sure I've been through that hell. Besides, if it was a dream, it wouldn't make sense unless I was inside of that garbage mansion.
Where on earth am I? To clear my mind of this question, I tried to get out of bed.
At that moment, the door to the house opened. I wondered if the person who had saved me would come in, so I thought it would be best to at least say hello. But despite my naive thoughts, what I saw was a monster.
It was nothing more than black fog wearing an old robe. That was the only way to describe it. I froze up at the sight. For some reason, the monster froze up too.
The strange creature appeared before my eyes. It exuded an aura that set it apart from the monsters I had fought up until then. It had an overwhelming sense of intimidation and presence. I could sense it was on a different level.
My instincts were ringing the alarm, telling me that I had to either run or fight immediately.
Once I understood this, I instantly used my ability to manipulate every piece of furniture in the house and slammed them at the monster in front of me at high speed.
However, the monster in front of me neutralized all of that with simple wind magic. It pushed away the objects that were flying towards it at a high speed with just wind magic. I wonder how much practice was needed to perform such a feat.
Seeing this, I panicked and tried to crush the monster directly. However, it didn't budge. An overwhelming image appeared in my mind, as if I was pushing against a castle wall with my hand.
They were never an opponent we can win against.
Realizing this, I gave up.
This was where I was going to die. I tried my best.
I tried my best. But deep down, I couldn't help but think that maybe I should have been rewarded at the end.
Feel free to cook me or grill me however you like.
With that in mind, I collapsed weakly on the bed with my eyes shut, awaiting the inevitable.
After a few seconds, I opened my eyes and I noticed that for some reason the monster in front of me had started to cut up the boar corpse it had brought in with it. It cut off the head, drained the blood, chopped it into pieces, made skewers from the destroyed furniture and began to roast them using fire magic.
I don't understand. I mean, why is a monster making skewers?
I thought you would boil or grill me, why was it grilling a boar?
Such doubts swirled inside me, but my eyes were glued to the meat as it steadily cooked. I then remembered that I hadn't eaten anything since before I was sent into the demon lands. My hunger had reached its limit.
Then the monster handed me the finished skewer.
...I just don't understand.
I wondered if it was poisoned or something, but there's no way a monster would go to such a roundabout route! But even so, my brain was coming up with all sorts of theories.
It doesn't make any sense. I'm at a loss.
"…You mean I should eat it?"
I barely managed to say that, and the monster nodded. It seemed to understand what I was saying.
I don't understand! What is going on? What should I do?! Eat?! I should just eat!!
With my train of thought now completely ruined, I timidly put the skewer in my mouth.
It was delicious.
It was delicious. It wasn't what you'd call luxurious, the meat wasn't even salted, but it had a gentle flavor that I had never experienced before.
It wasn't supposed to have any flavor, but as I stuffed my mouth with the skewers of meat, I could taste all sorts of new flavours.
Although I no longer understood anything, I was touched by my life's first "kindness."