CH 4

“S**t.”

As I watched the family ride away in a horse-drawn carriage, I cursed a few words in whispers.

If I’m s**t, then they’re s**t too.

At the same time, the frustration that welled up tightened my chest.

Until now, I wholeheartedly knew that if I vented my feelings to my family, I would get beaten with force. If I shouted, I would get treated like a monkey, so I had no choice but to vent my anger on my servants.

Really, now that I think about it, I was nothing but an idiot for making more enemies for myself.

With this in mind, I ring the bell to summon a servant. An elderly servant, Sebas Tian, the Kvist family butler, arrived without a sound.

It would be fitting to say that he used to work for an assassination guild.

Well… They weren’t actually an assassination guild but immigrants who made their living by assassination. However, that doesn’t matter anymore.

His life was full of ups and downs, that’s all I’m saying.

Sebas then asked me why I called him without showing any pretense of hiding his condescending gaze.

“Can I help you?”

“I’m hungry. Can you bring me something to eat?”

Normally, I would be outraged at the expression on his face, but here, I held my ground and told him to bring me lunch.

“… Yes, sir. Please wait a moment.”

Sebas gave a moment of thought to my unusual reaction but then disappeared from the room without a sound to bring me my lunch.

“Well, here’s what we’re going to do now…”

And thus, I tried to figure out how to act from now on.

◆

It’s been a month since my memories returned. My mornings have been early since then.

I am currently collecting funds for a guild after registering as an adventurer; enough money to keep me afloat.

For now, the immediate goal is to purchase slaves. I would like to have at least three.

The status of the slaves doesn’t matter.

All I need is talent.

As long as they aren’t dead, I can take care of the rest with my magic, one of my character abilities from the game, even if the slaves go missing or are on the verge of death.

Human bodies seem cheaply valued because they can’t perform any labour. Yet they are still in demand by necromancers and apothecaries. They can be cheaply obtained from slaves, though prices are too high for common citizens to afford.

However, even though the cost can get big, it is an amount I can earn if I work a little harder now that I live in an environment where I don’t have to worry about food, clothing or shelter. The money I earn isn’t spent and stays in my pocket.

I initially thought there should be no problem with death flags since I inherited abilities, status, skills, magic, storage, and various items from the game. But my life is on the line, so it’s better to be careful and make sure to knock on every stone bridge before crossing. [TN: Being extremely cautious.]

Still, I have no idea why the villain of this world inherited the character abilities from when I played, but there is no point in worrying about what I don’t know, so I will stop thinking about this matter.

I have the funds to buy the slaves, the ability to cure abnormal conditions and more. It wouldn’t hurt to buy them as pawns.

Incidentally, just as one currency doesn’t work in all countries—except for virtual currency—, the in-game currency I could use in all the countries in the game can’t be used in the Empire.

Empires and kingdoms have their own currency, and the prices for the same commodities varied, reminding me that this wasn’t a game but reality.

In the worst-case scenario, I could sell gold coins from the game as gold to a pawn shop, but I would try to avoid this as much as possible because I would likely get tangled up with troublesome people if I had to redeem them every time.

Therefore, if there is a way to earn money, I will use it.

“T-the rest are defective pieces that have severe illness…”

“I don’t care. Just get on with it.”

“Y-yes, sir.”

I was now on my way to the slave trader, clutching the money I earned from my adventures.