Chapter 97

Looking at the three people before him, Norris swallowed the last mouthful of soup, his throat bobbing, his fingers unconsciously scratching fine lines into the wooden table.

"You ran fast enough!"Fling slapped the table, making the soup bowl jump half an inch. "We stood up for you, and you—"

"Fling!"Vera grabbed her shoulder, then looked at Norris. "Don't mind her; she's just a bit talkative, no malice intended."

Fling muttered, "Talkative? I'm not that talkative..."

"I... know,"Norris said, head down, voice tiny. "Thank you..."

He jumped up, his old leather boots knocking over a wooden stool. "I-I'm sorry, I have to go into the dungeon tomorrow, so now..."

Norris almost ran out the door, disappearing into the night.

"What's that supposed to mean, like I'm bullying him?"

Fling muttered in dissatisfaction; being feared by the very person she helped frustrated her somewhat.

Vera patted her shoulder, comforting her. "Come on, he said thank you before he left, didn't he?"

Norris knew they meant well, but he really couldn't get used to interacting with people like them.

He was like a rat in the gutter, only feeling safe in corners where no one noticed.

The gaze of others, whether kind or malicious, terrified him.

He knew he had some issues, but there was a reason he had become this way.

Isn't it normal for someone who could become a slave at any moment for failing to repay debts to have some psychological problems?

Some are born in Rome; others are born as cattle and horses.

Norris was unfortunately the latter.

Thanks to his deadbeat gambler father who died early.

He had Norris, not yet of age, take on a debt of thirty-two gold coins with a crooked signature on the Baron's dusty ledger.

Here, there was no saying that debts die with the debtor; death could take a gambler's breath, but not the parchment scroll recording the debt in the notary's office—fathers' debts are sons' to pay, as heaven decrees.

Even so, Norris had to be grateful his deadbeat father had limited skills and couldn't rack up a debt of hundreds of gold.

By law, those unable to repay debts would be sentenced to become their creditors' slaves; his father had luckily drunk himself to death before reaching that point.

And for him, only fourteen at the time, the United Kingdom's law was quite humane, allowing him to repay in installments after turning sixteen.

Repay two gold coins every three months; including interest, forty gold coins over five years.

To avoid a life as a full-fledged slave, he had been trying to save money since he was fourteen.

Then, in the first year's repayment, he threw all his savings into it.

No choice; Norris, barely meeting the minimum standard for an adventurer, simply lacked the ability to earn that much money.

He, now seventeen, should have become a slave for failing to repay enough, but fate seemed to finally favor him a little.

The monsters on the fifth floor had been swept clean by the Pujis; even a Copper-rank adventurer like him, if he carefully followed the rules, could dig up baskets full of magic crystals.

Thanks to the Pujis; otherwise, he would probably already be on a slave ship bound for the archipelago...

All he wanted now was to go down into the dungeon again quickly and dig up a basket of magic crystals.

Early the next morning, Norris, carrying his backpack and pickaxe, rushed to the dungeon.

Upon entering, he noticed a trace of mycelium above the dungeon entrance.

He didn't know if the other adventurers passing by hadn't noticed or had already grown accustomed to it.

It seemed that now, mycelium growing anywhere was no longer strange.

He heard the sixth floor had started growing mycelium too, where the Pujis were fighting fiercely with the Slimes.

But for now, none of that concerned him; as long as he diligently dug for magic crystals, he could save a little money while repaying his debt.

Even just a few dozen silver was precious to him.

Norris, calculating his savings plan, shamelessly followed another team down to the fifth floor; his strength was weak, so he had no choice...

The pickaxe struck sparks against the rock wall; as usual, Norris took nearly two days to fill a basket with magic crystal ore.

Near the exit, however, something unexpected happened—someone was approaching. "Damn it! Magic crystals everywhere!"A raspy voice shook mycelium from the cave ceiling, making it rustle and fall.

This raised a bad premonition in Norris's heart.

Another hoarse voice chimed in, "It's a huge loss we never came this way before; hurry, hurry, pack them all up!"

When Norris came up, he saw two figures in leather armor frantically grabbing scattered ore.

"Um... the Pujis will come if you do this..."Norris couldn't help but warn them.

When Pujis fight adventurers, they don't care about accidentally hurting him.

"Huh?"

One adventurer glanced at him, saw he was only Copper-rank, sneered, and shoved him down.

"Stop pretending; you're picking them up yourself and don't want others to?"

Obviously, they thought the magic crystals in his basket were also picked up.

However, as Norris fell, the pickaxe he dropped traced a silver arc in the air and landed squarely on the cap of a mining Puji.

The shelled cap cracked instantly, and the Puji fell limply to the ground.

Norris's face went pale at the sight—a dead Puji!

He could only quickly pick up his fallen magic crystals and run out first.

The two adventurers weren't completely unaware of the situation on the fifth floor; after a brief moment of shock, they immediately reacted.

"Damn, a dead Puji!"

"Then let's go; Pujis won't swarm us all at once."

"Clearly that kid killed it!"

Cursing voices came from behind as two adventurers, carrying packs filled with magic crystals, chased up from the rear; passing Norris, someone tripped him.

Norris fell hard this time; several magic crystals tumbled out of the basket on his back, even striking his head.

"You killed the Pujis yourself; bear the consequences!"

The adventurers' voices faded; Norris had no time to retrieve the magic crystals, for he knew what would happen if one killed a Pujis.

He must escape quickly!

Yet the two adventurers had barely taken two steps out of the cave when Norris saw seven or eight Pujis suddenly leap from the fungal carpet all around, pouncing forward, followed by a series of deafening booms.

The force of the explosions shook the cave; Norris was forced to press against the wall to withstand the shock, completely unaware that a large chunk of stone above had been shaken loose and was falling...

After an unknown duration, Norris finally regained a sliver of consciousness.

He tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt as heavy as a thousand pounds; he could only manage to squint a sliver of a crack.

He attempted to reach out, only to find his forearm wedged in a rock crevice at an angle defying joint structure—semi-congealed blood plasma enveloped his entire right arm, and the scent of rust seeped into his nose.

His body was pinned beneath rubble, and his torso had long since lost all pain feedback.

Am I about to die?

A wave of panic rose in Norris's heart; this was the instinctive fear of death inherent in all living beings.

But immediately, memories flashed before his eyes like a revolving lantern.

The debt collector had ruthlessly taken the last copper coin from his hand, looking at him as if he were a dying beast struggling for its life;

Adventurers of all sorts bullied him for every whim and fancy reason, and he could only retreat again and again;

The man he had caught stealing his money not only refused to return it but had gathered accomplices to beat him up...

Perhaps... it wouldn't be so bad if this shit-stained life ended right here?

Yet for some reason, at the very end of the revolving lantern, a fleeting image of that girl who had wanted to stand up for him flashed by?

Before he could ponder what this signified, Norris's thoughts began to scatter; his consciousness seemed to be pulled away into the void—he was about to die.

In his final daze, something seemed to stick to his neck.

A voice he had never heard before abruptly appeared in his mind:

"Sorry to disturb your enjoyment of death; I just wanted to ask, do you still have any interest in continuing to live?"

(End of this chapter)