Chapter 99 96. Prepared slaves to inherit debts

Looking at the three people in front of him, Norris swallowed the last mouthful of soup with his throat rolling, his fingers unconsciously scratching tiny marks on the wooden table.

"You run fast!" Fei Ling slapped the table, causing the soup bowl to jump half an inch. "We came to your rescue, and you—"

"Feiling!" Vera patted her shoulder, then looked at Norris, "Don't mind it, she's just a little bit talkative, she doesn't mean any harm."

Fei Ling muttered: "How can you be so talkative..."

"I...know," Norris lowered his head and said in a low voice, "Thank you..."

He stood up suddenly, knocking over the wooden bench with his old leather boots. "Sorry, I have to go into the dungeon tomorrow, so now..."

Norris almost trotted out the door and disappeared into the night.

"What do you mean? It's like I'm bullying him."

Fei Ling grumbled in dissatisfaction. She felt a little frustrated that the person she was helping was afraid of this.

Vera patted her shoulder and said comfortingly, "Well, he said thank you before he left, didn't he?"

…

Norris knew they meant well, but he really wasn't used to being around people like them.

He is like a rat in the gutter, feeling safe only in a corner where no one pays attention to him.

He was afraid of the looks from others, whether they were kind or malicious.

He knew there was something wrong with him, but there was a reason why he was like this.

Isn't it normal for a person who may become a slave at any time because he cannot repay his debts to have some psychological problems?

Some people are born in Rome, while others are born to be cattle and horses.

Norris is unfortunately the latter.

Thanks to my gambling father who died early.

When he was still a minor, he had to take over the debt of thirty-two gold coins with a crooked signature on the Baron's gray account book.

There is no such thing as debts being wiped out when one dies here. Death can take away the breath of a gambler, but it cannot take away the parchment scroll recorded in the notary office that records the debt - it is only natural that a son should pay off his father's debts.

Norris had to be thankful that his gambling father was limited in ability and could not incur debts of hundreds of gold.

According to the law, those who could not repay their debts would be sentenced to become slaves of the creditor. Fortunately, his father drank himself to death before this step came.

As he was only 14 at the time, the United Kingdom law was quite humane and allowed him to repay the loan in installments after he turned 16.

Repay 2 gold coins every three months, including interest, a total of 40 gold coins will be repaid in 5 years.

In order to not live a fulfilling slave life, he had been trying to save money since he was 14 years old.

Then, all the money saved previously was used in the first year's repayment.

There was no way. Norris, who barely met the minimum standards for adventurers, simply did not have the ability to earn so much money.

Now 17 years old, he should have become a slave because he did not pay back the loan, but fate seemed to have favored him a little.

The monsters on the fifth floor were cleared out by Puji and his companions. Even a bronze-level adventurer like him could dig out baskets of magic crystals from there as long as he carefully followed the rules.

Thank you Puji, otherwise he would have been on the slave ship to the archipelago...

Now he just wanted to go down to the dungeon as soon as possible and dig up a basket of magic crystals.

…

Early the next morning, Norris rushed to the underground city with his backpack and pickaxe.

When he entered, he noticed some traces of mycelium above the dungeon entrance.

I don’t know whether the other adventurers passing by didn’t notice it or they have become accustomed to it.

It seems that it is no longer strange where the mycelium grows now.

I heard that mycelium has started to grow on the sixth floor, and Puji is fighting the slime fiercely there.

But it has nothing to do with me for now. As long as I dig magic crystals honestly, I can save a little money while paying off my debts.

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

While Norris was thinking about his savings plan, he shamelessly followed the other teams down to the fifth floor. He was weak, so he had no choice but to do so...

The pickaxe struck out tiny sparks on the rock wall. As usual, it took Norris nearly two days to fill a basket with magic crystal ore.

When we were near the cave entrance, something unexpected happened - someone was approaching.

"Damn it! The ground is covered with magic crystals!" The hoarse voice shook the mycelium on the top of the cave and fell down.

This gave Norris a bad feeling.

Another hoarse voice echoed: "It's a big mistake for not having been here before. Hurry up, pack up everything!"

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

“Well…if you keep doing this, Puji will come over…” Norris couldn’t help but remind them.

When Puji fights with adventurers, he doesn't care if he accidentally hurts him.

"ah?"

An adventurer glanced at him, and seeing that he was only at the bronze level, he sneered and pushed him down.

"Stop pretending, you picked it up yourself instead of letting others pick it up?"

It was obvious that he thought the magic crystals in his basket were also picked up.

However, when Norris fell, the pickaxe that slipped out of his hand drew a silver arc in the air and hit a mushroom cap who was mining right on target.

The shelled mushroom cap cracked open on the spot and fell limply to the ground.

Norris turned pale at this - damn it!

He could only quickly pick up the magic crystal that had fallen on the ground and run outside first.

The two adventurers were not completely unaware of the situation on the fifth floor. After a brief pause, they immediately reacted.

"Oops, that's fucking terrible!"

"Then hurry up, it won't be easy for Puji to surround you in no time."

"It was obviously that kid who killed him!"

A cursing voice came from behind, and two adventurers carrying bags filled with magic crystals chased after him. When they passed Norris, someone tripped him.

This time Norris fell heavily to the ground, and several magic crystals in the basket on his back fell out from behind and even hit his head.

"You killed him yourself, so you should bear the consequences yourself!"

The adventurer's voice faded away, and Norris had no time to pick up the magic crystal. He knew what would happen if he killed Puji.

Got to escape quickly!

However, just after the two adventurers in the distance ran out of the cave for a few steps, Norris saw seven or eight Puji suddenly jumped out from the fungal carpet around them, swooped down, and then there was a series of loud noises.

The force of the explosion shook the cave, and Norris had to stick to the wall to resist the impact. He didn't notice that a large piece of rock above his head was shaken off...

…

…

…

After an unknown amount of time, Norris finally regained a little consciousness.

He wanted to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt so heavy that he could only barely close them.

He tried to reach out, but found that his forearm was stuck in the crevice at an angle that violated the joint structure - half-solidified plasma wrapped around his entire right arm, and the smell of rust seeped into his nose.

His body was being crushed by the rubble, and his body had long lost the sense of pain.

Am I going to die?

Norris felt a sense of panic in his heart, which was the instinctive fear of death of living things.

But then some memories flashed before my eyes like a kaleidoscope.

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

Adventurers of all kinds bullied him for all sorts of arbitrary reasons, and he had no choice but to retreat;

The man he caught stealing his money not only didn’t return the money, but also got his accomplices to beat him up…

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

But for some reason, at the end of the revolving lantern, the girl who wanted to stand up for him flashed by?

Before he could figure out what this meant, Norris's mind began to wander, and his consciousness seemed to be pulled away into the void - he was about to die.

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

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

"I'm sorry to disturb your enjoyment of death, but I just want to ask, are you still interested in continuing to live?"

(End of this chapter)