Part 3 – Side Story 33
Title: In the case of Toru Yoshida (Age 25 at the time of accident)
T/L: IonMan
Editor: Zioming
Raw Chapter: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n9511bs/397
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What day is it today? I know that there’s a day called Valentine’s Day in this world. However, it has nothing to do with me. Today’s the release date of the super popular video game called “Tokimeki Childhood Friend ☆ Idol Project V”! Chocolates should be given to Kyoko, an angel, who lives on the video screen, so it doesn’t concern me.
I love this game series so much, that when they announced another sequel, I immediately pre-ordered a physical copy at an actual games store, instead of just buying it on-line, to get all the extra bonuses.
It takes some time to travel from my apartment to Akihabara district, but it can’t be helped, since you can only get the pre-order bonuses at the store.
The reason, why I didn’t line up, at the same time, as the store opened, was because I ended up playing video games until morning, and overslept. This is my sixth year at the university.
Sitting on a train’s seat, I launched my slightly out-of-date smartphone browser. I’m going to scan for reports from people, who’ve already played this game. While I was looking at the posted boasting tweets, I happened to come across, I ascended to heaven.
・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・
I was reborn on the outskirts of a big city called Doran [1] in the Kingdom of Rombert. I was born as the second son of a slave, owned by a merchant, who established his delivery business there. I was pretty freaked out for a while after being born, when I realized that I had a tail, but I kind of got used to it when I learned that about half of the people living in this city were demi-humans with tails.
My race is the lion tribe (Laios) by the way. It’s a race, that’s physically blessed among the demi-humans. My father can carry bags of goods and diligently work for the delivery services without getting tired every day. They normally pick up firewood purchased from another company for fuel to boil cotton, or split it with axes, that they bring along. Because cows and horses are expensive, there are extra delivery fees, when you order the firewood, so most merchants use slaves to pick up and deliver the materials instead.
The chairman of the company, and also the one, that owns our family, seems to have constant money issues.
By the time I was seven years old, I was already working at the factory (although it’s hard to really call it a factory). In addition, I often skipped such troublesome work, because I couldn’t perform repetitive works, but, when they discovered my laziness, I was beaten, both by the manager, that oversaw the quota, and by the other slaves. Hitting a child was a serious violation of human rights.
I think the factory wasn’t very profitable at that time. After a bit of time had passed, my father and my older brother were both sold, along with the delivery bags. It seems, that there was no buyer interested in me, because I was still too young.
However, on that one faithful night.
“How about Ross?”
“Ross …”
When I was drinking water at the well behind the main building attached to the factory, I overheard a conversation. The voices belonged to the quota manager and his mother. By the way, Ross [2] is my name.
Just to let you know, I knew how to use the {Status Open}.
[Male/14/2/7428・Laios Race・Damuru [3] Family owned Slave]
[Special Ability: Instant Speed]
[Special Ability: Night Vision]
[Unique Ability: Super Dexterity [4] (LV.4)]
I have special abilities called [Instant Speed] and [Night Vision], as well as a unique ability called [Super Dexterity]. Can this unique ability be useful?
Unfortunately, it’s not very useful.
Having it, doesn’t make me better at using tools. It just means, that I can move my fingertips more dexterously, and I can fashion/sculpt materials into familiar shapes with the tools. However, I can make a ship out of various materials, such as leaves, origami leafy materials and so on.
At first, I didn’t even notice any difference, when I used the ability. Even worse, I tend to get abnormally hungry after using it. And it’s not like I could get more food to eat, so I ended up becoming pretty hot-headed.
Even so, as time passed, I gradually learned how to use it. I was about 5 years old, when I finally managed to fully use it.
“Kamul, a slave trader, told me he’d buy him, but since he’s not even seven years old, he won’t even pay a million Z …”
“That’s enough for a seven-year-old.”
Did he make that story up to trick me? To be honest, I wanted him to sell me, so that I could get out of this harsh working environment. I didn’t know where my dad and older brother had been sold to, but I even envied them for it.
“He could have been sold as a warrior slave, if he were just a bit bigger …”
“It’s not really possible, is it?”
“Well, yeah. No one in his family was sold as a warrior slave after all.”
That wasn’t much of a surprise. The chairman’s family gave us as much food, as the other slaves. That was why my father and older brother both had small fleshy statures for Laios men, when they were sold. Was it even possible, to become a combat slave, without physical strength? I didn’t even know how to use a spear.
“Were they sold as mine slaves?”
“That’s right. He’ll probably be digging in some hole at some mine soon too.”
I wonder if my parents were in some mine … Wouldn’t it be easier to work in a mine, than here? My father was a mining engineer before I reincarnated. He was assigned to work alone at a mine overseas, instead of in Japan. I had heard about the job’s content when I met up with him once in a while. He basically managed the operation in designing the tunnel and performed safety inspections. It appeared he had almost no physical labour.
But everything would be different between mines on Orth, and the ones on Earth, that used advanced machinery. I recalled something I heard back in school a long time ago.
— The people who worked in the mines of old were placed in poor working environment and were often forced to do hard labour. Not only did cave-ins occur frequently, there were also many deaths resulting from suffocation due to gas. But the conditions improved dramatically during the Showa era. The number of mining machines had increased, and the change in approach to human rights had also changed drastically after the end of the war. People working in large mines, represented by Gunkanjima (island mining unions), were paid better than the average during that time and their families lived a blessed life with greater provisions. —
“Then, what do you want to do Ross?”
“I want to be sold as a mine slave …”
The worst possible decision.
I didn’t even think about what I was saying back then. In my mind, I only wanted to escape.
・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・
I chose a place with little traffic on the outskirts of Doran. Never sure whether I’d be chased or not, I spend my days lurking around in the back alleys, thinking I had reached my limit, while hunting for small amount of garbage every day. Then, one day, I noticed a lone old man.
[Unique skill: Super Dexterity (LV.4)]
If I use this skill, can I pickpocket?
I could use it several times a day now, and even if I managed to get just a little, from the people on the road, it was good enough. I would die if I’m left alone, and he was my final resort.
I had to choose my prey carefully.
That old man was a good candidate. I didn’t know if he was some kind of a slave, but there were a lot of crispy potatoes in the basket on his back. Although the basket was covered with a cloth, depending on my dexterity, I could probably steal a potato or two, without giving the old man a sense of discomfort.
I gingerly followed him, while making sure no one was paying much attention to me.
…….
………….
………… Now!
When the edge of the cloth was lifted, I managed to grab a couple potatoes as the basket shook. I quickly put the cloth back in place.
I immediately dashed into the back alley, like a chased rabbit, and glanced around. The stolen potatoes were covered with mud. I wanted to remove as much of it as possible, but I was too hungry to care, as I bit in. The crispy potatoes tasted very sweet, much better than the regular cascus potatoes.
・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・
I was able to get enough nutrition to not starve, thanks to my unique skill. Of course, there were many times when I got yelled at for slamming into the victims.
However, I was never caught, because I always carefully selected the place for pickpocketing and planned my escape route properly in my head. Moreover, I noticed, that, as the skill level of Super Dexterity increased, so did my pickpocketing skills. Now I could even lift a wallet from an unbuttoned pocket. However, If there were too many heavy coins inside, the victim would immediately notice, so it was necessary to carefully determine the prey.
The best ones, were the ones with a couple silver coins and at least a few big bronze coins. Gold coins were too heavy, not to notice the weight change, when they were removed.
Based on the clothes and appearance of the prey, it was possible for me to get a rough idea of how to deal with things.
By the way, I also noticed, that when the skill level had reached MAX, even tools could be handled dexterously. It became possible to cut the target’s wallet with precision, using a sharp knife, and extract only one or two silver coins.
It took me almost three years, before I managed to reach this level.
Some time ago, I became the leader of a thief group, that controlled a corner of the back town of Doran. There were sides to this city.
One side, was a scenic city, full of tourist attraction. The other, was a city, divided between various criminal groups, mine included.
If one could handle a knife or a sword, no one would be a hindrance.
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Footnotes:
[1] Doran (ドラン – Doran) – City in the Kingdom of Rombert
[2] Ross (ロズ – Rozu)
[3] Damuru (ダムル – Damuru)
[4] Super Dexterity (超器用[ウルトラ・デフト] – Chō Kiyō [Urutora Defuto])