At any rate, there is no one to believe,
Nor to blame.
What I can do is believe in myself,
And blame myself.
Here we are—
The first buyer came.
He sounds like a general.
He was seeing everyone's eyes until he saw mine and said,
"I want him."
Then he saw another kid's eye and said he wanted him.
I get why he is doing that,
But that doesn't make it a good choice for a slave.
In this kingdom:
Dark brown,
Light brown,
And rare ones have gray eyes,
Which naturally means that he wants someone who is not from this country.
Either he wants to take us for something and let us fail because we don't know about it,
Or we are just being scammed.
When it comes to money,
Someone who already knows this place will ask questions—
And even stop obeying sometimes.
But someone who doesn't know anything about this place,
And considering they left their kingdom for a reason (which probably means a harsh one),
They will choose any mission over their life.
As a means of:
"I'm never returning."
Cute, right?
He was acting aggressive and playing strong.
He put us inside a carriage and closed it.
The kid beside me was really standing out.
I think he's from the Avaguard. Kingdom
He sounds like one—
He didn't flinch or move at all.
As his hands were tied,
He just looked down and sat.
The way he sat was so terrible.
He sat closing his legs and compressing his back so hard.
And damn—he's my age.
I told him,
"Sit like a man. Why are you hiding your balls, bruh?"
He raised his head and saw me,
Then saw his legs and saw mine wide open.
So he did the same.
Then I said,
"Don't bend your back. Straighten it.
Sit like a man.
Whether you're weak or strong,
Confidence is needed.
You have to have some confidence."
Then he really snapped out of it and said,
"Thank you."
He was so quiet—
He reminded me of my old days.
He didn't even look me in the eye.
Then I low-key locked in and said,
"Look at me.
Look at my face.
Look at my eye.
What are you afraid of?"
He said,
"I'm not comfortable doing it."
Then I interrupted him and said,
"You should know, bro—
You're going to work,
And we don't know what that work is.
It's a pain in the butt to see that you're a slave
And yet complain about not being comfy enough."
Then he said,
"I'm not a slave. I'm a royal, you hear me?
It's all thanks to mom. I'm a royal.
You don't know a single thing about me!"
Then I said,
"Maybe you are…
But act like it when you're in the right place.
Okay? In your palace, bro.
Listen…
If I killed you now,
Do you hardly think anyone will avenge you?"
He looked down and said,
"I get it… sorry."
Then I said to him,
"If you have any weak talk like that,
Get it out of your head.
We are all equal at birth,
You hear me?"
Then he said,
"Thanks."
To be honest,
I got so much info about him:
He loves his mom.
He was a genius—at least, not good at sports.
And he is a royal.
I guess this is going into a betrayal story…
And I guess his mom is dead.
Well… good luck, I said to him.
And he said,
"To you too."
Then we both chilled.
And he said,
"Where are you from?"
Then I said,
"From an orphanage.
They held me a lot that I couldn't really make a living for myself.
That I ran out.
"What about you?"
He said he is from Avangard—I was right.
He said he was in the middle of the city, in a very fancy life that felt like hell.
Then I replied,
"Listen, I just hope you're a good person.
And I hope we end up at the same mansion and work together.
We might be broos from hell.
At least make a fresh new start."
He kinda lighted up and said,
"Yeah, you're right."
This kid is smart.
If I asked about his life, and when he said "in middle of the city, royal, and fancy life"
—and even other things like hell—
He might have taken some measurements.
Though I don't know what it is,
But I don't think I'm right.
Still, I think he doesn't care about his life anymore.
What a shame, bro.
If it turns out right,
My new royal dog servant is getting ready—
I'm gonna cook Avangard.
There we are.
The general guy said his name is Faris and left us, broo.
Like, he said "come with me" and he even untied us.
They must be this confident.
Wait a sec—
The place I'm standing in is a whole compound,
But it's so big it feels like a city.
Then he took us to the master of the house,
The big brother of the king himself—Fayes Murad Al-nure.
He was sitting down.
I figured I would read about the cities near us just in case,
When I was in the mana drainer dorm.
That's why I know a bit about this kingdom.
The reason why the big brother is alive,
But still the little brother is the king,
Is because he refused to become one.
When the former king Heyan Alnure died,
He gave the one and only Resepi to his firstborn son.
He was able to continue the legacy of his family,
That is well known by their position.
This house is a wall of the city.
From here on out, there are several demons.
As I remember going in that direction,
There is an underground basement,
And there are the three fruit trees that are essential for this position to be made.
And good thing is—
This family's generation is cursed and banned from getting there.
So now, they're using people like us to bring them the fruit.
The fruit blooms every f*cking day,
And we must bring them every day.
I was wondering about it—
And then here I am, getting to see it.
He said it exactly like I expected.
But he didn't tell us the details.
So, you might ask—
Why is he not being careful?
We might steal it and go back to another country or whatever.
The reason is simple—
Whoever cuts the fruit will be cursed
Unless they exorcise the fruit and make it into a potion.
So every fruit is worth a life.
One tree can exactly grow one fruit,
Ready to get cut in 24 hours.
And what if they took it and exorcised it?
No one can do that except the former king's brother—Zehir.
That's what his father passed down to him.
And just like that,
He keeps the family name,
And his little brother keeps the country name.
What a very interesting family.
Their family dynamic is too good to
be true as well.
But all this came by sacrifice—at the very least.
Then they told us to go get it tonight.
Until then, we must refresh ourselves.
The kid with me said,
"Thanks so much, that it's you I'm going in with."
Then I said,
"Well, it doesn't change the fact that we both dead."
He said,
"Wait, we're just going to bring a fruit?"
I said to him,
"Past the wall is not one of the kingdom's territories—
It's the demons' land."
He was so shocked he was about to cry.
Then I said,
"It's okay, really.
The ones who live there are serpents and gigantic earthworms.
Well then, we have an advantage—
They follow smell and hearing.
Because they can't see,
Those monsters depend entirely on hearing.
But they are able to even hear a tiny little dust fall, bro.
Their hearing ability is even bigger than themselves.
This is most likely due to their defense mechanisms—
They actually don't have any.
So they are sensitive to sound."
He said,
"Then what are we going to do?"
Then I said,
"Simple, bro, you just need to get me.
It's all about outsmarting.
We must fly and we must kill one of them
And drench our clothes with the blood.
So hopefully they will mistake us for their dead friend's blood smell,
And we will be fine.
Well, you ready?"
He said,
"I guess it's better than dying.
I still have questions though."
Then I said,
"What is it?"
He said,
"What about the flying stuff?
How are we going to fly?"
Then I said,
"You aura farmer or mana user?"
He said he is an aura farmer.
Then I said,
"Are you special or hunter?"
He said he's special.
Specials only have one skill,
One ability,
One thing—
But just like me,
They can use it to access what they want.
Then I said,
"Tell me about it."
He said he can create fine barriers.
Then I said,
"That's what we need, bro.
Do your barriers get affected by gravity?"
He said,
"No."
"Then we'll be skating on them, bro."
He said,
"What? For real?"
Then I said,
"Trust me.
We kill one of them,
You stand in the middle of the body,
Covered by blood,
And create the barrier.
And I hop on it,
And you send me flying.
Then I make a sound and make them follow me.
Then you drop me inside.
I'm gonna take a weapon.
And if something attacks,
I'm gonna have to fight tonight.
But considering the size,
No underground demons like them can enter—
Even the small ones can't.
So yeah, I'll be fine."
Then he said,
"Yeah, that's good."
Then I said,
"Begin creating the barrier.
Let's see how far you can push me up.
If it's low, then we'll have to create many
So I can dodge their attacks while making sound."
He said,
"What about when you get out?"
Then I said,
"When I get out,
I'll use my weapon—
It's probably a spear.
I'll jump and launch myself, screaming.
The minute I do,
Create your barriers for me, bro.
My life is on the line.
Just make sure you stay close to the door.
Don't be scared.
You are stronger."
As if, bro—
I'm just acting like someone who wants some experience
And trying to approach it by saying,
"You're so damn rich.
You're royal."
Just like how others do.
"You're talented."
He must have never heard it at all.
Assuming he is an aura farmer while still being a noble,
And he ran to here—of all the worst places at that.
Lucky him
.