My oldest memory was hell.
"Hey, what are you resting on?!? Tired? Can't you move?... hey, you can't use it, kid."
I don't know what they make me work for. I don't even know what this job will do. Every day I even work as I was told because I wasn't even allowed to ask.
Cold days, hot days, rainy days, snow days. Carry heavy baggage all the way out and repeat the return, eating one meal a day of non-flavorful rice and going to sleep.
On days when you can't move due to fatigue or heat, you don't get rice. Instead, I can just get a mole somewhere in my body.
I never even thought about it because it was such a life from the moment I realized it was hard or help.
I just had to work to live. No matter how painful you feel, to live.
To work like this here, I believed you were born, and that was normal. That was everything.
"Honestly, I can't use a kid. It doesn't look good, it doesn't look good, it doesn't mean you have special skills. You're just moving luggage! You're losing money for dinner. This way!
I kept getting those words spoken every day and did my job. I didn't even know what that meant. I understood it later, but at that time, I was glad I didn't understand it. I can't believe you got it for a fool, huh?
The first time I realized those days were hell was when the greats here died all at once. I'm not talking about someone catching me or killing me.
It was caused by an epidemic that was highly infectious and had a good chance of dying.
Thanks to this hellish day came to an end, but it was like hell to see one fellow die after another from an epidemic disease, and that was it.
It was strange that a few people, including me, could not have developed the disease. Anything, I was born with antibodies in my body or something. I don't know, but that's why I picked up my life.
It was clear and we were slaves. We'll be free. But even if I'm suddenly given freedom, I don't know what to do. Because I can only work. Other than that, I have no idea how to live.
For me, "freedom" was the same as being told to "die".
Thus a few of them each left of their choice. Are we just waiting for death to come slowly, here as it is? Do you wait for something called "death," which comes while you do nothing, don't know, and stand still?
At this time, for the first time in my life, I knew "fear".
It was Gordon who saved me from fear.
"You want to come with me?
"... I will"
Gordon, about ten years older than me, relied on me. He's pretty easy to say and act rough, but I don't care about that stuff. For me, Gordon was the only brother I could count on.
I don't know how I got there. I was just following Gordon. That's how we patrolled each other. ─ ─ To human trafficking organizations.
So, see that the products (...) are treated as not people. As soon as they heard it was slavery, we knew we were slaves.
Slaves are things. If you don't move, slap it and see if it moves. Feed a little and if you move, use it, and if you have to move, discard it. Exchange for new items.
That's common sense. We weren't particularly pessimistic, and we had nothing to think about.
"Shit. Suddenly, I stopped getting products from the side of the Devil's Continent. If this were the case, we'd only be waiting for criminals. Then we wouldn't be in business. You can't use witchcraft. Humans are cheap, but you don't have to say that. Go to the poor house and tell them to sell someone if they want money."
"If you don't want to sell it, just leave the money and scratch it."
We did more and more of the work we were told. That's right, because I've had rice three times, and when I took a lot of them home, they gave me money.
I did a particularly good job. Because I remembered that it was easier to bring him home when I spoke up gently than the men who would bring him abusively to power. No scratches, no healthy slaves. That's why I was treasured.
"Hey, Serabis. How can a slave be in the shape of a person...?
Before going to bed, it was routine to have a little talk with Gordon over a drink. That's what Gordon muttered about one night, in a heartfelt wonder.
"After all, maybe it's because it's more convenient to be in people's shape..."
Unlike me, Gordon, who worked with captive slaves, never got involved with normal (...) people. Me too, I'm not that familiar with it...... I guess since then. I'm starting to think that Gordon's thinking is distorted.
"We were lucky, weren't we, Serabis? I was a slave, but I could be a human being."
But I'm sure slaves are the same person (...), I couldn't tell you that. I started to realize that by dealing with people.
"Slaves aren't allowed to live as people. They're creatures. You mean we were forgiven, right? We're not worth it, but we were worth it as slaves, I'm sure."
What the hell could I have said to Gordon, who laughs happily? Value as a person? Aren't you allowed to live? To whom? God?
I don't believe it. If there's such a thing as God, why aren't people equal?
The villagers said that the bad things and the good things are done so that we can make money on the good things in life. I don't believe that either.
Because then I am. I mean, there's a lot of happiness ahead of me. That's impossible.
Because the weight of happiness falls apart. I thought I was just happy to have dinner once, but now I think I have to eat three times to suffer. There's no limit to happiness.
God, I didn't want anyone to decide that to be an ambiguous thing that nobody had ever seen.
The month passed, and I was nearly thirty years old. Gordon is such a good old man. I realized that Gordon and I had become leaders in the organization.
Even before that, I've been taking turns. We're all in bad hands. If you get caught lightly, the stuffing won't be sweet.
I'm sure I've always thought I'd live and die like this. It was Richter we met one day.
It was on a whim that I picked up Richt. I happen to be sleeping in a cabin near the city for work. I picked it up fine, but it would get in the way, and I was going to kick it out right away. It is still strange that the idea of just the right product because I was a child didn't come to mind at all for some reason.
Besides, this is what I thought when I found out Richter had magic.
Gordon told me I shouldn't know.
Why, that's not working? I didn't really understand my thoughts myself.
No more. Behind my heart, I heard that voice. I got scared. I was careful not to go in. The hindsight was all because of the country, and it was best to hide the truth.
"Oh, who are you? Yikes! Get me home... Get me home!
"Yes, yes, then don't go home on your own. Live with masters."
Richt was a troublesome kid. I even left him alone because he said he was leaving, but in the end, he came back.... Worry, you will. Idiot.
It was time to stay focused when contacted to activate the example transfer formation. I was a lot looser in my life with Richter, too.
A magical child collected to collect for many years. It took me a long time to gather it up here because I only have a little bit of this guy.... I was trying not to think about what would have happened if Richt hadn't been here any time soon.
Gordon was really surprised that this sorcery team could only gather children with a lot of magic. Even I don't know that. But I think I can trust the guy who went into stealing because he infiltrated the castle as a magic researcher for a long time and did some digging to keep in mind.
The magical children gathered in this way are dimensioned to have another magic team continue to shed their magic. Now he's got a little bit of magic. It's just a transfer to get the kids together. Plus, up to a few people at a time, that's a restriction. I can't deal with it when there's a lot of people here. I was even frightened that magic was anything that could even be set up that complicated.
It all works, that's what I thought. Richt has grown a lot, and I'm sure he can live alone. It's time to say goodbye. 'Cause I thought so. For whatever reason, I've spent a long time here.
Come on, I have to get back to base. That's what I made up my mind.
So when I saw Richter suddenly disappear outside, I faded.