Chapter 88: 97. The Debt-Inheriting Slave-in-Waiting

Watching the three people before him, Norris swallowed the last mouthful of soup, his throat bobbing, while his fingers unconsciously scratched tiny grooves into the wooden table.

"You ran fast enough!" Feiling slammed a palm onto the table, making the soup bowl jump half an inch. "We stood up for you, and you—"

"Feiling!" Vera caught her shoulder, then looked at Norris. "Don't mind her; she’s just a bit sharp-tongued, she means no harm."

Feiling muttered, "I'm not sharp-tongued..."

"I... know," Norris said, head bowed, his voice faint. "Thank you..."

He stood up abruptly, his old leather boots knocking over the wooden stool. "I—I'm sorry, I have to enter the dungeon tomorrow, so now..."

Norris practically jogged out the door, disappearing into the night.

"What's that supposed to mean? Making it look like I'm bullying him."

Feiling muttered in dissatisfaction; being feared by the person she had helped left her feeling somewhat frustrated.

Vera patted her shoulder, comforting her: "Alright, he said thank you before he left, didn't he?"

Norris knew they were well-intentioned, but he truly wasn't used to interacting with people like them.

He was like a rat in a gutter; he only felt safe in corners where no one noticed him.

The gazes cast by others, whether kind or malicious, terrified him.

He knew there was something wrong with him, but there was a reason he had become this way.

For someone who could become a slave at any moment for failing to pay off a debt, wasn't it normal to have a few psychological issues?

Some are born in Rome, and some are born as beasts of burden.

Norris was, unfortunately, the latter.

Thanks to his early-departed gambler of a father.

Before he had even come of age, he had already signed his crooked signature onto the Baron’s dusty ledger, inheriting a debt of thirty-two gold coins.

There was no such thing as "death clears the debt" here; death could take away a gambler's breath, but it couldn't take away the parchment in the notary office recording the arrears—it was only natural for a son to pay his father's debts.

Even then, Norris had to be thankful that his gambler father had limited talent and hadn't managed to rack up a debt of hundreds of gold coins.

According to the law, those who couldn't pay their debts would be sentenced as slaves to the creditor; his father had luckily drunk himself to death before that step.

And for the then-14-year-old Norris, the United Kingdom's law was quite humane, allowing him to pay in installments after turning 16.

Repaying 2 gold coins every three months, including interest, meant 40 gold coins over 5 years.

To avoid living a fulfilling life as a slave, he had been trying to save money since he was 14.

And then, in the first year of repayments, he had used up all the money he had saved.

There was no help for it; Norris, who barely met the minimum standard for an adventurer, simply didn't have the ability to earn that much money.

At 17 this year, he should have become a slave for failing to pay enough, but fate seemed to have finally favored him a little.

The monsters on the fifth floor had been cleared out by the Puji, and even a Copper-rank adventurer like him, as long as he carefully followed the rules, could dig out basket after basket of magic crystals.

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

Now, he just wanted to hurry back into the dungeon to dig up another basket of magic crystals.

Early the next morning, Norris took his basket and pickaxe and rushed to the dungeon.

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

He didn't know if the other adventurers coming and going hadn't noticed, or if they were already used to it.

It seemed it wouldn't be strange no matter where the mycelium grew now.

He heard that the sixth floor had also started growing mycelium, where the Puji were fighting fiercely with the Shi Laimu.

But for now, it had nothing to do with him; as long as he honestly dug for magic crystals, he could save a little money while paying off his debt.

Even if it were only a few dozen silver coins, it was precious to him.

While calculating his savings plan, Norris shamelessly followed behind other teams down to the fifth floor; his strength was weak, so he had no choice...

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

Approaching the cave entrance, an accident occurred—someone was approaching. "Damn it! The ground is covered in magic crystals!" A raspy voice shook the mycelium on the cave ceiling, causing it to fall in a flurry.

This gave Norris a bad premonition.

Another hoarse voice echoed: "It’s a huge loss that we haven't been here before, hurry, hurry, pack it all up!"

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

"That... if you do this, the Puji will come..." Norris couldn't help but warn them.

When the Puji fought adventurers, they wouldn't care if they accidentally injured him.

"Huh?"

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

"Stop pretending, you don't want others to pick them up just because you want to?"

Apparently, they mistook the magic crystals in his basket as also being picked up.

However, when Norris fell, the pickaxe that slipped from his hand drew a silver arc in the air, landing squarely on the mushroom cap of a Puji that was mining.

The shelled mushroom cap split on the spot, and the Puji collapsed limply to the ground.

Norris turned pale at the sight—a Puji had died!

He could only quickly pick up the magic crystals he had dropped and run outside first.

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

"Crap, a Puji died!"

"Then let's go, the Puji won't be able to surround us all at once."

"It was clearly that kid who killed it!"

Cursing voices came from behind; the two adventurers, carrying bags filled with magic crystals, chased after him. As they passed Norris, one of them tripped him.

Norris fell hard to the ground this time; several magic crystals fell out of his basket from behind, even hitting his head.

"You killed the Puji, you bear the consequences!"

The adventurers' voices faded; Norris didn't have time to pick up the magic crystals anymore. He knew what would happen if a Puji was killed.

He had to escape quickly!

However, just as the two adventurers in the distance ran two steps out of the cave, Norris saw seven or eight Puji suddenly jump out of the mycelium-covered ground, pouncing forward, followed by a series of loud bangs.

The power of the explosion caused the cave to shake violently; Norris had to press against the wall to withstand the impact, completely failing to notice a large rock falling from above...

He didn't know how much time had passed, but Norris finally regained a sliver of consciousness.

He wanted to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt as heavy as a thousand pounds; he could only manage to squint a slit.

He tried to reach out, only to find his forearm stuck in a rock crevice at an angle that defied joint structure—semi-coagulated blood plasma coated his entire right arm, and the smell of rust seeped into his nose.

His body was being pressed under rubble, and his torso had long since lost all pain feedback.

Am I going to die?

A sense of panic welled up in Norris's heart; this was the biological instinct of fear toward death.

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

The debt collector mercilessly taking the last copper coin from his hand, looking at him as if he were a dying prey struggling;

All kinds of adventurers bullying him for various arbitrary reasons, leaving him with no choice but to keep retreating;

That person he had caught stealing his money not only didn't pay it back but found accomplices to beat him up together...

It seems... wouldn't it be nice if this shitty life just ended like this?

Just, for some reason, at the end of the revolving lantern, did the image of that young lady who wanted to stand up for him flash by?

Before he could figure out what this meant, Norris's thoughts began to scatter, his consciousness seemingly pulling away into the void—he was about to die.

In the final haze, something seemed to stick to his neck.

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

"Sorry to disturb you while you're enjoying death, just wanted to ask, are you interested in continuing to live?"