The Cursed Lands of Erindale
Askal leaned back in his armchair, idly stroking Fer’s fur. The little creature had put on some weight and its coat had grown thick and lush, making it wonderfully soft to the touch.
‘Pretty soon this guy’s going to be too big to handle. I should build him a stable.’
Normally he would just pay to board him at someone else’s stable, but if anyone found out Fer was a Pegasus, it would become a huge hassle.
Of course, building a private stable would cost quite a bit, but Askal had saved up a decent amount of money.
“That tickles, you little rascal.”
Fer was still at the age where he should be clinging to his mother. As Askal gently pushed away the foal burrowing into his chest and played with him, a sound suddenly came from the mana-powered receiver operating on a magic stone.
> Today’s story comes from our listener “RetirementHopeful.”
RetirementHopeful.
It was his own username. Askal perked up and listened carefully.
> Hello. I’m a worker stuck in a toxic job. The thing is, I want to get fired, but whenever I try to make a mistake, things somehow work out and I end up succeeding instead. At this rate I’m going to die at this company. What should I do?
They say the king’s ears are donkey ears. Sometimes you just need to vent that pent-up frustration somewhere.
In that sense, the Empire’s mana transceiver—essentially a radio—where you could anonymously send in your stories, was the perfect medium for relieving stress.
The host read Askal’s story in a calm voice, then spoke slowly.
> That’s a very unique story. Wouldn’t it be simpler to just quit? If there are circumstances preventing that… hmm. Maybe you should try the opposite—decide from the start that you’re going to succeed. That might lead to failure instead.
It felt like a light bulb had gone off in his head.
Up until now, he had always tried to fail, yet things always turned out the opposite. So if he deliberately tried to succeed from the beginning, wouldn’t that lead to failure?
Askal stood up from his chair, determined to test this new “hypothesis.”
> Today’s lucky zodiac is Leo, and your lucky direction is west! Have a wonderful day, everyone!
Askal turned off the receiver and began preparing to go out.
Maybe today, he could finally step down from this unwanted spiral of success.
The guild.
Even in the capital of the Barba Empire, guilds existed.
When people thought of a guild, they usually pictured a beautiful receptionist, request boards ranging from F-rank to A-rank—that sort of image.
The image Askal had in mind wasn’t all that different.
But the moment he stepped into the guild, that image shattered into a thousand pieces.
“I heard the harbor union’s been paying pretty well lately.”
“Yeah, but once you go there, you can’t come back for a whole month, right? I heard a lot of people die on those ships.”
“There’s no such thing as safe, high-paying work. You just have to accept the risks…”
It was far from ordinary.
At a glance, the burly men who looked like they’d been doing manual labor for over a decade were deeply inhaling from their pipes.
If he had to compare it to something, this place was like a labor office where only the most seasoned veterans gathered.
Askal immediately turned around, intending to leave the guild.
“Oh. Never seen your face before. Newbie?”
“Did he say newbie?”
“Newbie?”
But it was already too late.
Their eyes had met.
One of the burly men approached the table where Askal sat and casually draped his arm over it. His muscular, scar-covered arm spoke volumes about the life he had lived.
“You don’t look like the type to work in a place like this. Did you come looking for some quick cash to buy your girlfriend a present?”
“If you’re a beginner, I’d recommend starting with cleaning jobs. The pay’s a bit low, but it’s perfect for learning the ropes.”
“Nah, you gotta start big. Hop on a fishing boat right away. Real men make it big by going all in from the start.”
Their philosophies clashed fiercely. In an instant, the guild turned into a noisy marketplace.
Askal used the chaos to slip away unnoticed. He had come to the guild on his day off to find work, but it didn’t seem like he would accomplish his goal easily.
“Are you looking for work?”
The person who spoke was a girl who looked to be in her mid-teens. Despite her youthful face, she wore dirt-stained work clothes that gave her an air of experience.
“I am. It’s my first time at a guild, so I’m not sure where to even begin.”
The girl approached and immediately squeezed Askal’s arm.
“……?”
“You’ve got surprisingly solid arm muscles for how you look. At this level, you could handle farming or mining work. Would you like to look at some requests?”
“Sure.”
The girl’s name was Jenny, and she was the guild master’s daughter.
There was a timeless prejudice that middle-aged men who had gained some age and experience tended to wander outside often, and Jenny’s father was a perfect example of that.
‘She must be the family breadwinner.’
Jenny went to a corner of the guild and brought back several crumpled request forms, then showed them to him. At a glance, they were the kind of jobs no one wanted—ones that had been rotting on the board for ages. It seemed she was trying to palm them off on the clueless newcomer.
Everyone knew fresh meat was the easiest to take advantage of.
‘Perfect. Just what I wanted.’
Askal decided to let himself be fooled. After all, he had come here today to “succeed” at something difficult.
“The first one is a mining job, and the second is farm work… I think you’d do really well at either, mister. Those muscles aren’t just for show, right?”
It was such obvious flattery.
“Which one is harder and more rewarding?”
“Hmm. The farm work. The land is so barren that crops barely grow. Plus, we’re always short on manpower, so everyone’s overworked… That’s why the pay is a bit low— I mean, in the end, gaining experience is what matters, right?”
Askal accepted the farming job.
With firm resolve to “succeed” at farming on barren land no matter what.
“Someone actually took that request?”
“He looked smart too. Tsk. Guess appearances can be deceiving.”
“He’ll suffer for nothing and won’t earn a single coin.”
He decided to ignore the petty comments from the small-minded men.
Fortunately, he didn’t have to walk all the way to the farm. Perhaps because no one had taken the request for so long that it had become a headache, the guild even prepared a carriage for him.
“It should take about five hours to get there. Just show them this request form when you arrive and they’ll understand everything.”
The moment Askal climbed into the carriage, it sped off at an alarming pace. He could clearly sense their true intention: they were afraid the sucker might realize the truth and run away in the meantime.
“When the carriage cuts through the darkness and crosses the hill road— you’ll arrive at Erindale Village in the west— that land is cursed so not a single crop will grow— the livestock grow gaunt and die— the natives cling to the thinnest thread of hope just to survive—”
The driver hummed to himself.
‘Is he singing or cursing me?’
Quite a bit of time had passed since the carriage departed. Askal was eating the preserved rations and water he had brought when the carriage finally stopped at a village.
— Erindale Village
The sign was so old it looked like it would blow away in the slightest breeze.
“I don’t see any people.”
“Mm. It’s nighttime, that’s why. We’ve arrived, so I’ll be on my way.”
The driver dropped Askal off at the village entrance, shouted “Hyah!” and drove off, disappearing beyond the horizon.
It was night.
Unlike his previous life, night in this era was a time that required extreme caution. Without light, you couldn’t see even an inch ahead, and if you ran into a wild animal, you were as good as missing.
Askal lit the rather expensive magic stone torch he had bought and went looking for people.
As he moved deeper into the village, he spotted a place with light. A bonfire was sending smoke into the air.
Wary of potential danger, Askal silenced his footsteps and approached the bonfire.
He could hear people talking.
“We’ve finally run out of food today.”
“The chickens, pigs, and cows have all starved to death.”
“We can endure it, but what about the children?”
“Chief. You must make a decision.”
They were elderly men with faces painted like Native Americans. The old man called the chief suddenly stood up and declared.
“I will sacrifice myself. Eat me. That should sustain us for a few days.”
“……Chief!”
“Ancestors, watch over me!”
The chief picked up a long knife. Then he closed his eyes.
“Wait! Please wait a moment!”
Startled, Askal jumped into the middle of the bonfire circle.
“Who are you?”
In an instant, all the elders’ attention focused on Askal.
“Slurp.”
He thought he heard the sound of someone licking their lips, but it must have been his imagination.
“I came after accepting a request from the guild.”
“Is that true!”
The chief threw the knife to the ground and brightened up.
“But you’re alone?”
The chief’s voice sank again. He seemed to be reaching for the knife he had dropped.
“……I brought a little food with me.”
“A savior has come! Everyone, welcome the village’s savior!”
“Waaaaaaaaah!”
Sweat trickled down Askal’s forehead.
He had come to succeed, but at a glance, this request didn’t look easy at all.
He might experience his very first “failure” in this life.
‘My stomach acid is really flowing. Heh heh.’
Askal felt a thrill of excitement.