Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Isekai Slave Hassan
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“Come on, Hassan. Climb up on the platform and fetch that thing. Easy job.”
“Huh?”
“Didn’t you hear me? I said go get it. Don’t make me say it three times.”
The wide open space of an underground ruin lit by torches hanging on the walls. Right in the center stood a slightly raised platform, and atop it lay an antique-looking staff.
Anyone could tell it was an incredibly valuable item from the extraordinary aura radiating off it.
It was studded with jewels, and the staff itself was made of gold, sparkling in a way that even I, a total outsider to this world, could see it was worth a fortune.
“What’re you waiting for? Hurry up. Drop your stuff and go.”
Elfriede was urging me on.
I couldn’t hide my uneasy, foreboding feeling.
Underground ruins like this—especially places hiding treasures—were almost always rigged with traps.
Having trailed behind Elfriede through several ruins already, that fact had become common sense to me. My feet just wouldn’t move.
“Move it already?”
That bitch—. She was clearly planning to use me as a guinea pig for the traps. But I had no other choice.
No matter how unreasonable or absurd the demand, slaves couldn’t refuse. That’s why even decent adventurers hired slaves.
Fuck it.
No wonder things had been going too smoothly.
I set down my overstuffed bag and stretched my shoulders, arms, and legs. A satisfying crack echoed through my joints, sending a refreshing sensation through my body.
Not knowing what trap might be waiting, it was best to loosen up every joint and movable part excessively.
“What’s taking so long? Don’t you wanna leave this ruin?”
Having finished my prep stretches, I felt Elfriede poke my back with her finger. I took a deep breath, then stepped forward.
Step.
Step.
Each footfall felt heavy.
Luckily, there didn’t seem to be any traps on the floor.
I reached the platform without issue.
“Oh.”
The fairly tall platform and the long staff resting neatly on it. Standing right in front of it, I couldn’t help but let out an impressed whistle, my mouth forming a perfect O.
Up close, the staff was adorned with exquisite carvings and gems worthy of being called a wizard’s staff or a king’s scepter.
At the head, serpents intertwined, each biting a jewel. It screamed priceless value.
“Grab it already!”
Elfriede shouted from afar.
But I hesitated to grasp the staff, which lay there like it fit perfectly in its case. Pulling it out might trigger a trap.
There was no other way, though.
Before the trap could kill me, one of Elfriede’s fireballs might slam into my back.
So I grabbed it—fuck it!
Ding-.
『Achievement ‘First Grabber Wins!’ unlocked: You are the first to lay hands on the narrative artifact, Clepius’s Staff.』
『Karma Value + 100』
『Past karma has been tallied, unlocking grace.』
Huh? Achievement? Tally? Grace?
My brow furrowed at the text popping up before my eyes.
Pssshhh-!
From the raised staff, from the serpents’ mouths, a gas-like substance sprayed out, splattering my face. Of course there’d be a trap, fuck.
“Gaaah-!”
Unimaginable pain raced through my eyes and nose.
It felt like entering a chemical weapons lab without a gas mask and rubbing the stuff in my eyes. Tears streamed uncontrollably.
“Fuck— it hurts so much! My, my eyes! My eyes—!”
“Hey! Hassan!”
“E-Elfriede, danger!”
“What? What is it?”
“Ugh! It’s, it’s collapsing!”
Blind with pain, unable to open my eyes, everything rumbled and crashed around me.
Flailing my palms wildly, my head smacked into something blunt, and I blacked out.
“Guh.”
*
“How’s that? Can you see okay?”
When I came to, I was lying on some pristine white bed-like thing. Soft mattress, warm feather blanket.
If I could just sleep a bit more—. But as I tried closing my eyes, I spotted Elfriede glaring fiercely and snapped awake.
“Hey, get up already?”
“F-First, let me check. Can you see well? How many is this? Count my fingers.”
Holding out fingers to me was a blue-haired woman in a bob cut, looking utterly surreal.
But what really caught my eye was the white, flowing dress draped around her like curtains. It vaguely registered as healer’s garb.
“How many is this?”
“Two.”
“And this?”
“Four.”
“What about this? The spot I’m pointing at.”
“Chest. Head. Leg. Arm. Chest. Belly. Arm. Leg. Head. No, how long do I have to do this?”
“Hmm, vision seems fine. Treatment worked well. Any later, and you’d have lost your sight for good. Fire serpent venom needs mid-grade holy water flushed immediately.”
I glanced around.
Beds everywhere, people groaning on them.
Even in my groggy state, I could tell this was a clinic. Treatment was so pricey, I’d never imagined coming here.
Me, stripped of my rags, wearing a fluttering clinic gown. Who changed me?
Wait, hold on.
I patted myself down frantically. But something that should be there wasn’t. The heavy pouch I valued more than my life. Gone.
“Looking for this?”
Elfriede dangled the familiar coin bundle in front of my panicked face.
“Th-That’s...”
“A slave hoarding this much? About 30 silver. What for? Huh?”
“That’s mine!”
I swiped at it with my palms, trying to snatch it from the annoying fairy bitch.
But Elfriede whipped her hand high, out of reach.
“Nope. Fixing your eyes cost exactly 30 silver. This covers treatment. Add hauling you here and all the hassle—.”
“Fuck...”
“More importantly, what were you saving for? Think I don’t know I’ve covered all your meals and inns? Plotting to buy your freedom? Ungrateful bastard.”
“Fuck off! It’s your fault my eyes got fucked, you bitch!”
“What?”
“Give it here! That’s mine, mine!”
“Have you lost your mind?”
Two years.
How much humiliation and misery had I endured to scrape that together?
Every moment I’d endured, dreaming of freedom and a better life, flashed before me.
Not just 30 silver—it was my freedom itself slipping away. I lost all reason.
“Hieeek! Gieeeek! Guuaak!”
I lunged from the bed, clamping onto Elfriede’s hand like a beast. She looked shocked, not expecting violence.
“Wh-What do you think you’re doing!”
That’s when I grabbed her wrist.
Ding-.
『Name: Elfriede Desmond Lv. 35
Strength: 12
Agility: 11
Vitality: 12
Traits: Sadistic >> Selfish
Status: Stiff shoulders >> Cold extremities >> Irregular periods』
A short, eerie chime, and text crept into view.
“What the hell is this, fuck.”
“Let go! You dog! Who said you could touch me without permission!”
Slap-.
A sharp slap across the face, and my vision went black.
As consciousness faded, I swear I heard Elfriede grumble, “This is why black-haired bastards—.”
Amid the growing commotion, I passed out.
*
I awoke to pitch darkness all around.
Rolling my eyes cautiously, the dim lantern nearby let me make out my surroundings.
Smack, smack.
Feeling my face in frustration, I felt foul-smelling medicinal bandages wrapped from jaw to forehead.
“Ugh—.”
Peeling them off sent splitting pain lancing through my skull. Like an ice pick mercilessly gouging my cranium.
“Grgh—.”
All I could do was clutch my head.
The only thing coming to mind was some half-assed acupressure I’d picked up secondhand.
Where’s the pressure point for headaches?
Wincing, I stared at my palm.
Swish-.
My middle finger’s middle joint glowed with an eerie red light, clear even in the dark.
Like I was entranced, I pressed it with my thumb.
Crackle—like something snapped, and blood gushed from my nose.
“What.”
With the nosebleed, shockingly, the headache shaking my head vanished cleanly.
A cool, refreshing clarity washed over me, like a waterfall rinsing my brain.
『Status: Dusar’s Curse >> resolved.』
『Karma Value + 50』
What?
The text floating before me told an unbelievable tale. Dusar’s Curse—the branding I’d cursed and resented endlessly.
“...Chaos Eternal.”
Mumbling the ridiculous incantation, more text appeared.
『Name: Hassan Lv. 7
Strength: 2
Agility: 2
Vitality: 3
Karma: 287
Grace: Blessing of Chaos >> Amateur Handiwork』
Indeed, different from the usual status.
Karma had jumped from 137 to 287, and my statuses had turned into “Grace,” listing mysterious entries.
Grace.
Grace, of all things.
I wanted to shout in astonishment.
This world had countless gods and countless faithful.
Some believers received “grace” from their gods.
With it, people wielded magic, performed miracles—powers beyond mortal limits.
Did grabbing that staff trigger this? Come to think of it, grace messages had popped up then.
Anyway, the curse was definitely gone.
I closed my eyes and pictured soft flesh, warm embraces.
Blood rushed south; my pride stiffened to the point of pain.
“Fuck, welcome back, buddy!”
I couldn’t have been happier. I tested its function, unable to contain my joy.
But after two years as a slave, I lacked proper stimuli.
My mind conjured Elfriede’s pale thighs, slender ankles, the occasional glimpse of her ample cleavage.
“Pointy-eared bitch—. Big tits for nothing—.”
More than enough for satisfaction.
Venting pent-up rage in fantasy cleared my head, my body trembling.
Then, inevitably, sage time.
Even that felt welcome now.
“What now.”
With a clearer, wiser mind, I pondered my future.
The money I’d barely saved was surely taken by that vicious elf.
Rebuilding from scratch? No clue how much suffering, no confidence, no idea how long.
Just run?
The slave curse binding me was gone somehow. Flee to somewhere no one finds me?
No, wait.
Slave hunters chased runaways.
Slaves were hired by wealthy adventurers or nobles, who’d hire pros to kill or capture escapees.
If Elfriede?
She’d definitely catch and torture me.
Until I legally bought freedom, I’d forever be slave or fugitive, hiding.
“Ah, you’re awake.”
Someone spoke, startling me into turning my head.