Chapter 23
Chapter 23
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Not Human
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Mophin imagined it every night.
What would his family do if he returned home?
Would they be shocked and make a fuss?
Would they welcome him back with wide smiles and affection?
Would they worry about whether he was hurt anywhere?
He imagined such things.
Just for a moment, he imagined them.
["Son! What happened? Are you okay? Come in first. Our son... I don't know what happened, but Mom's always on your side. Thank you for coming."]
He imagined that. He imagined such reactions.
He unwittingly convinced himself that's how they would react.
He forgot for a moment.
That his parents weren't decent people,
that poverty twists even the soul,
he had forgotten because his life as a slave had dragged on too long.
["Son, how did you get here? Is it okay for you to be out like this?"]
"Why are you... here? A slave like you, is it okay to come out here?"
["Our son... you've been through a lot, haven't you?"]
"I just hope you don't cause us any trouble. I don't want to get punished for being mistaken as hiding a runaway slave."
["I'm always grateful and sorry to you. For you to become a slave for the family... I really have no face to show."]
"Don't you know how well your little sibling is doing? Second in the Academy. Second place. That child will become a noble, so don't drag them down."
He didn't want an apology at all.
He didn't particularly want thanks either.
Becoming a slave had been his own choice.
He didn't want his family burdened by guilt because of it.
He just believed that.
If they had even a shred of familial affection,
if they were 'human',
they would naturally react that way.
He mistook them for humans.
["Come on in. Son."]
"Or... yeah. Come in for now?"
["If you need any help, just tell me freely. I'm always on your side."]
"If I report the runaway slave and get the reward... I can support that child even more."
He never imagined they weren't human.
Who could even imagine such a beastly spawn existed in the world?
Even a mere slave knows familial affection.
Even a mere slave bows in thanks when receiving kindness.
Even a mere slave can feel sorry.
Then,
what was this human who couldn't even match a mere slave──
what on earth was it?
["Aren't you hungry? Our son's face has become half its size. Come in and have some porridge at least. Sorry there's nothing prepared."]
"And where did you steal those clothes? Running away and stealing, aren't you ashamed in front of your sibling?"
"...Mother. I'm fine. I ate my fill of bread and stew before coming."
Perhaps,
at this point, Mophin had already cracked a little.
["No hardships? Is there nothing I can help with?"]
"What do you mean... bread and stew?"
"It's tough, but... I can endure it. I'm managing on my own, so don't worry too much."
No.
It wasn't that he had cracked.
Rather, to avoid breaking under the weight of reality, he was simply denying reality.
He denied the existence of the 'something' that wasn't human standing before him.
["I'm worried you might go through terrible things because you're a slave..."]
"!@#$%^..."
"I'm fine, Mother. The master is a good person. He cares a lot for the slaves. If you heard what he gives us, you'd be shocked. It's a bit complicated to explain here, but I eat delicious meat stew, and sometimes even white bread."
Instead,
he conversed with the delusion he had imagined every night while buying outing passes and waiting days for permission to go out.
He had the conversation from his dreams.
He enjoyed the peaceful daily life he had imagined.
He did what he wanted to do.
Ah, familial affection was truly warm and beautiful!
["I can't believe it, but... since our son says so, I feel a bit relieved. Our son, you can always tell me freely if something's hard. I'm always on your side."]
"!@#$%^──."
"Thank you, Mother. Haha. Seeing you after so long makes me feel so good! I'll visit occasionally from now on. The master made something called an outing pass. You can buy it with talants── oh, talants are like..."
At that moment,
something beastly pushed him down with a face pale with fear.
No.
Beasts don't make such expressions,
so it must have been mistaken.
So Mophin just smiled.
Smiling, he grabbed his mother's ankle and continued the conversation.
Haha!
"Mother, your ankle is so thin. I'm worried you're not eating properly."
"Get lost! Let go! Let go of me!"
"Don't just take care of the siblings, make sure you eat properly too. Please."
"You crazy bastard──."
Brutal kicks thudded into Mophin's body.
Haha.
The harder the kicks, the louder his laughter grew.
The two seemed to live in completely different worlds.
No.
In truth, they did live in different worlds.
How could the world of a slave be the same as that of a free person?
Even without possessing a novel,
even without becoming a ghost and taking over someone else's body,
people all live in their own incomprehensible worlds.
"Mother, stay healthy."
"Die! Die!"
Just then,
as the free person's world tried to cruelly shatter the slave's world,
a man approached silently and grabbed the free person's shoulder, slamming her against the wall.
"Kyaaak!"
"This one is Count His Excellency's property. You dare try to damage His Excellency's property?"
"Wh-what──."
"Hoo..."
He was a soldier monitoring the slave out on leave.
He had planned to drag the slave away if it caused trouble,
but he hadn't expected to intervene like this.
Glancing alternately between the slave and the free person for a moment, the soldier sighed deeply,
scowling irritably as he snapped,
"I'll take the slave. Leaving it like this would be a loss for His Excellency."
"......"
"Damn. What a ridiculous mess..."
Hoisting the fallen slave onto his back,
the soldier sighed.
The world was like this everywhere.
An unfamiliar ceiling.
"...Awake?"
"...Ah."
Mophin opened his eyes on a bed made of straw and leather.
It was excessively luxurious for a mere slave.
Mophin blankly looked around,
and when his eyes met the soldier looking down at him, he startled and bowed his head.
"S-sorry!"
"Enough. I was watching what happened. Even a slave can't be blamed for going through that..."
"......"
"That expression tells me you're not completely mad."
Mophin wasn't mad.
On the contrary, he clearly remembered everything that happened before collapsing.
If only he could have gone mad.
Realizing in his right mind that his family didn't miss him,
that was too painful.
"...I thought if I had money, I'd have some peace of mind."
"......"
"So, by selling myself into slavery, I could send my sibling to the Academy, and we'd have no problems making ends meet. So... I selfishly believed they'd miss me at least that much, to the extent of that peace of mind."
Incoherent lamentations poured from Mophin's mouth.
It wasn't something a mere slave should say to a free person── let alone the master's soldier.
But for some reason,
the soldier quietly listened to Mophin's tale of woe.
"...Now, I don't know what's left for me."
His longing for family
had been the last shred of 'humanity' left to Mophin.
Writing letters to his family,
imagining his sibling studying hard at the Academy,
hoping their lives improved,
that's how he could remain 'human' even while being used as a slave.
Then,
having lost even that longing for family,
what had he become?
If not human, just a tool, no?
Miserable.
Ceasing to be human was truly miserable.
Mophin, a bit later than other slaves,
and a bit more desperately,
had realized that miserable truth.
"......"
"......"
"...Ah. S-sorry. A slave like me saying this must be a bother. And thank you for carrying me when I collapsed."
"......"
"But where is this? A bed covered in leather... I've never slept on one like this..."
"My house."
"Pardon?"
"That bed is mine. It'd be trouble to lay His Excellency's property in the filthy street, so this was the only place to bring you."
"S-sorry! For the trouble... Really, I'm sorry."
"Damn it. Stop with that 'sorry' already."
"Sorry for saying sorry..."
"Now I see you're definitely mad..."
The soldier, who had been getting annoyed, covered his face with his palm and sighed wearily.
There was a subtle dignity in that gesture.
The leather bed and tidy house too,
he had the air of someone from a fairly well-off family for a soldier.
In the past, he might not have noticed,
but having received etiquette training and become an instructor, Mophin recognized it immediately.
This person has dignity ingrained from childhood.
"...12 hours left."
"Pardon?"
"In 12 hours, your free outing ends."
"Ah..."
"As your monitor, it's more convenient for me if you waste time lying in bed, but will you keep doing that?"
"...I don't know."
He had planned to spend time with his family.
But it turned out like this.
What more could he do now?
Now he just wanted to return quickly
to the slave life where he didn't need to think about anything.
"Then let's talk."
"Pardon?"
"Sitting silently must be boring. You're wasting my time too, so at least be my conversation partner."
"Ah. Yes. Of course. Though I wonder if a wretch like me can be a conversation partner for a soldier."
"Crouch."
"Pardon?"
"Not soldier. Crouch. My name."
"...Yes. Mr. Crouch."
The soldier, who had been sighing and staring blankly into space,
opened his mouth in a tired voice.
"I'm a former slave."
"...Pardon?"