Chapter 259: Long-Lived Species vs. Short-Lived Species (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 259: Long-Lived Species vs. Short-Lived Species (2)
The topic of lifespan was something I'd considered before.
You know, it's a common trope in fiction.
Especially in stories with an elf heroine.
‘I’ll die long before you, so one day I’ll have to leave you all alone. I can’t be with you, knowing how sad you’ll be when I’m gone.’
That sort of thing.
Sometimes it’s the long-lived one, like an elf, who says it, and other times it’s the short-lived one, like a human. The point is, it’s one of the most common clichés out there.
My conclusion on the matter was this:
‘It is what it is.’
There’s nothing to be done about it.
What can I do about being born short-lived? It’s not like I’m abandoning them. Dying when your time is up is just the natural order of things. Isn’t it enough to do my best for them until the very end?
“Master… are you saying you're going to abandon us?”
“Abandon you? You make me sound like the bad guy.”
“But you are. When you die, we'll be left all alone.”
“Isn't that true for everyone in the world?”
If I were to extend my lifespan, the most I could permit myself is another fifty years. That seems like a reasonable amount of extra time to live.
But look at them. The one with the shortest lifespan among them is Alfia.
The average lifespan of an elf is a thousand years.
A vampire’s is roughly two to three thousand years.
Rin, a god, will never die.
They’re basically asking me to live forever. By that point, civilization would have advanced enough for smartphones to exist, and I could probably create a game called TOS within the world of TOS.
And then I’d make the same mistake, get transmigrated into the TOS game I made in the TOS world, and repeat the cycle for eternity.
‘Wait, could it be that the world I used to live in was…?’
Nah, no way.
“Anyway, it would be difficult for me to live that long. Besides, Rin, you said you wanted nine kids, didn't you? You can all live happily with them.”
“They’re slaves, not our master! No one can replace you!”
“Darling, let's live for just one thousand more years. No more, no less. Okay?”
“Master, a thousand years is too short. Let's make it two thousand.”
“What's two thousand years? Let's live forever!”
This was driving me crazy.
Wasn’t there some kind of groundbreaking solution? A way for no one to be left alone.
Something did come to mind. It was a shocking idea, even to me.
But it was the best I could do.
And to do it, I would need their consent.
“Everyone, can you truly not live without me?”
“Of course!”
“Is that so? Then let's do this. Let's make a pact.”
“A pact?”
“The day I die, we all die together.”
Though we were born on different days, let us die on the same day, at the same hour. Then there’s no need to live for an eternity, and no one gets left behind. A perfect solution.
“What do you say, everyone? Will you die with me, on the same day? Knowing our time is limited will only make the moments we share that much more intense.”
“Wow… To die with you, Master. I think I’d be incredibly happy.”
“Yes…”
“I will serve you until the very last moment, Master.”
Unsurprisingly, the original three agreed.
“I can’t live without you, darling, so I have to agree. Does that mean we’ll die in seventy years? Whoa, just thinking about death being so close makes my heart pound. It’s thrilling.”
Alfia placed a hand on her chest, feeling her quickening pulse.
“As expected of you, Master. I never would have thought of such a romantic method. If I am to die, and at the final moment, you were to drive a stake through my heart… Hehe…”
Elize clasped her hands together and let out a dark chuckle. It seemed Alfia’s tendencies were rubbing off on her.
“Rin won’t do it.”
Rin was the only one who objected.
“You don’t want to?”
“Nope.”
“But you’ll be left all alone.”
“I just had a great idea. I'll twist your fate so that when you die, you'll be reborn as my son. Just wait, Master. Rin will give birth to you. I'll become your mother and raise you.”
“…”
She wasn’t bluffing. When the six of us bound our lives together through the contract, Rin abstained.
As expected, no one can keep up with her ideas.
*
Like a hyena roaming the plains in search of prey, I put my brain into overdrive today, looking for something to do.
‘Maybe I should raise a new slave for a change?’
No matter how you dress it up, you can't beat the classics.
Of course, I’m not talking about the ordinary slaves overflowing in my merchant group. In game terms, they're Normal-grade slaves. They don't have the kind of story that can give me the thrill I’m looking for.
Most of them can be fully liberated just by giving them a place to sleep, clothes to wear, and food to eat.
What I want is a sub-slave with a story I can really sink my teeth into, tear apart, and enjoy. To find one, I recalled a system I’d only used once before.
The gacha.
I currently had about 70,000 points. Since one pull costs 10,000 points, I could pull seven times.
But anyone who’s played a lot of gacha games knows that getting a satisfying reward with just seven pulls is next to impossible.
Sure, some people pull something amazing and flex, saying, ‘I got this in seven pulls, is it any good?’ But that kind of luck has nothing to do with me.
As someone who’s always crying, ‘I’m the only one with bad luck,’ I had to rig the system.
That’s when I remembered the Dice that Twists Fate, the reward I received for liberating Rin. The plan was to roll a high number, and then do the gacha pull!
If I rolled a low number, I’d just wait and try again later.
I took out the dice and was preparing to roll with a deep breath when Rin took an interest.
“Mastah, what's that?”
“It’s the dice Big Rin gave me. If a high number comes up, something good happens. If a low number comes up, something bad happens.”
“Ooh? But why?”
I knew what she was getting at. She could just boost my luck for me. But that would ruin the very essence of the gacha.
I don’t just want a good reward. I want a reward that I’ve earned by enduring that tense, thrilling feeling of knowing I could get something terrible!
Then why not just pull without rolling the dice? you ask.
‘Shut it.’
Tilting her head, as if she couldn’t quite grasp my logic, Rin finally nodded.
“Hmm, I understand perfectly. Gimme the dice, Mastah.”
“I’m going to roll it.”
“Who said Rin was gonna roll it! I’ll give it right back, just let me see it for a sec!”
I placed the dice in Rin’s hand.
After staring at it for a moment, she closed her fist around it, then opened her hand and returned it to me.
“What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything. I just looked at it because it was interesting.”
Well, I suppose from her perspective, an item with the same ability as hers would be fascinating.
“Alright, here I go.”
I focused my energy and threw the dice.
Clatter.
Unbelievably, it landed on 20.
“Whoa~ A 20, just like that? Looks like things are about to go my way.”
Even when I’d simulated it with a normal die, I’d never once rolled a 20, yet here it was on the first try. Am I just clutch when it counts?
A wide grin spread across my face, and I met Rin’s gaze to share my joy. She stared back at me, her expression blank.
A momentary sense of unease washed over me, and my smile slowly faded. Without taking my eyes off Rin, I rolled the dice again.
20.
Again.
20.
And again.
20.
No matter how many times I threw it, the dice only landed on 20.
Rin’s expression remained unchanged.
“You said you didn't do anything.”
“I didn’t do anything. Mastah, do you call breathing 'doing something'? It's the same when Rin manipulates luck. I did no~thing at all.”
Smack!
“Ow! Why'd you hit me!”
“Don't try to outsmart your master with words.”
This was no longer the Dice that Twists Fate. It was a crazy, overpowered die that brought immense fortune.
I put the dice away.
Time to pull.
I spent 10,000 points.
As expected, a golden orb flashed.
“Oh, Mastah! Looks like you got something good! It's the same color as Rin's eyes!”
Ignoring Rin’s sly comment, I checked the reward.
[Slave Clue: Highest Grade]
A talented person cannot beat a hard-working person, and a hard-working person cannot beat one who enjoys it. But reality was too cold for one to live by enjoyment alone.
In Beltrek, the hub of transportation, a girl was reduced from a person to a beast.
Running, the thing she loved most, became a cursed talent, and the girl who loved to run forgot how to enjoy it.
Hoping for a day when she can once again run across the plains and feel that joy.
‘A slave who likes to run?’
I seemed to recall a slave just like that.
‘Was it Miro?’
I was almost certain that was the name.
And judging by the timing, it should be right around now.
As I was piecing together information about the new slave, Narsha arrived with a new report.
“Since we announced the plan to construct the slave city, the humans’ attitude toward slaves has grown hostile. The hatred toward beastkin, in particular, has increased.”
Of all the non-human races, beastkin already received the harshest treatment. The news of a city for slaves must have provoked a backlash from the humans, who were now holding violent protests to send me a message.
“Once the city is built, the level of hatred is expected to intensify.”
“We’ll have to solve that.”
I stared at the edge of the table, thinking quietly. Simply using force or rescuing slaves who were being harassed wouldn’t be enough.
I had to fix the fundamental perception of slaves. They needed to be seen not as toys to be treated roughly, but as precious treasures to be cherished.
I had to make people see slaves as objects of affection. I mulled over how I could achieve that.
‘Come to think of it, the slave I just pulled for is a beastkin, isn’t she?’
In that case, I had a brilliant idea that would allow me to rescue the slave and solve the beastkin-hating problem at the same time.
“Narsha, there's somewhere we need to go.”
Just you wait, you beastkin-haters.
I'm going to make you go absolutely wild for them.