Though I had struck the back of its head with a sharp stone, my strength was clearly insufficient.
Blood flowed, yet at a glance, the wound didn’t seem substantial.
I found myself resenting Rie, who had so abruptly chosen the attack option.
The hand clutching the stone trembled uncontrollably.
‘What was I to do now? If I were to prostrate myself and beg for forgiveness, would it accept? This wasn’t something I wanted to do, was it? My body had merely moved on its own, against my will, hadn’t it?’
‘Surely, if I confessed everything honestly and bowed my head, it might spare me?’
My legs began to tremble.
As I stumbled backward, the creature, its flesh jiggling, lunged toward me with long, deliberate strides.
I had no time to grasp what was suddenly unfolding, much less to make a judgment.
“I’ll cut off your limbs and sell you to a cheap brothel!”
The pig-like creature let out a guttural roar, reaching out to seize me.
It seemed unlikely that begging for forgiveness would make it spare me.
Yet, fighting was out of the question; I knew I could never win.
In that moment, only one course of action remained open to me.
I immediately spun around and fled.
No matter how frail this body might be, everything was relative, and if I committed myself to escape, that mass of fat would surely be unable to pursue me.
[…But you attacked first, why are you running away?]
‘Why was I running away?’
For the instigator of this entire ordeal to utter such a question felt like an insult, and something threatened to surge from the depths of my chest, though I struggled to suppress it.
As my emotions churned, my breathing grew ragged, and with each disrupted breath, my lungs ached as if being squeezed.
“Haa… h-huh…”
Clutching my chest, I tried to flee as far as possible.
Everyone who saw me grimaced and stepped aside as if avoiding something foul, allowing me to escape more easily than I had anticipated.
[Is it because of the traits I gave them?]
‘Traits… so that’s what it was.’
Suddenly, something flashed in my mind.
Ducking into a gloomy alley and concealing myself, I recalled something that just might be possible.
‘Status Window’
Traits: Autonomy B, Silent Steps C, Gloomy Aura E
Skills: –
“…Huh.”
I hadn’t thought it would work, but it did.
Calmly, I began to examine the attributes I possessed.
[Silent Steps C]
You are a filthy orphan from the slums, and no one welcomes your presence or assertive stride. Under the weight of such gazes, desiring to avoid hatred and suffering, you have mastered the art of walking without a sound.
Silent Steps held such a backstory.
Despite the pitiable description, the ability to walk silently seemed far more useful than I had initially thought.
Next, I examined…
[Gloomy Aura E]
Frequent abuse and bullying have caused you to exude a gloomy aura.
This uncontrollable aura will serve as ample reason for people to shun and dislike you.
It was a completely useless trait.
‘Could this truly be why everyone had avoided me when I fled?’
For now, I decided to move on and check the next one.
Grade B.
This seemed to be the special perk included in the “Ultimate Eternal Package” Rie had mentioned.
[Autonomy B]
Should the character harbor extreme aversion to the player’s commands, they will not properly execute said commands.
“…What?”
The trait description, which had consistently referred to “you” while narrating my story, suddenly switched to “character” and “player,” offering a direct explanation.
I bit my lip, lost in thought for a moment.
Something was definitely amiss.
[I told them to fight, but they suddenly went and huddled in a corner… Is it a bug? Should I just delete and remake them?]
Rie’s voice made me flinch and straighten up.
Rie might have uttered those words without a second thought, but to me, they sounded chilling.
I had no idea what effect the act of deleting and remaking a character would have on me.
If deleting the character meant returning me to reality, I would willingly be erased.
However, judging by the way things were going, an unfounded fear that I, too, would perish if the character was deleted began to consume my body.
Knowing that Rie was the type to truly delete and restart if I remained idly crouched, I decided to move first.
Since I had struck down that swaggering pig-creature with a stone, I felt I needed to at least escape this shantytown to be safe.
The problem, however, was that even if I managed to leave, I had no idea where to go.
And why, for heaven’s sake, was I being subjected to such a plight?
Though I felt wronged and enraged, I clearly understood what needed to be done.
‘I had to move.’
No matter the destination, I needed to move, to provoke Rie’s interest.
[Ohh… they’re moving… But where are they going? Don’t you guys know either?]
Ignoring the voice, I continued walking in one direction, determined to leave the shantytown behind.
My reasoning was that if I kept walking in any single direction, I would eventually reach an end, and that proved to be correct.
In the direction leading out of the shantytown stood a single gate, guarded by two sentinels clutching spears.
As I cautiously approached, one of the guards looked down at me, then pinched their nose.
“…What is it?”
“Excuse me, might I pass through?”
“Do you have a pass?”
“…A pass?”
‘Was there such a thing?’
I rummaged through the pockets of my tattered clothes, but all I found was a small insect corpse.
I possessed nothing.
Even my clothing was incomplete; I had only a top, no bottoms.
Without shoes, I had been treading through filth.
And as for how long it had been since I last washed, I had initially believed the foul stench emanated from the refuse scattered on the streets. It was only when I approached the relatively cleaner area near the gate that I realized the odor was coming from myself.
“You cannot pass without a permit. The mere sight of you slum-dwellers makes the citizens uneasy and uncomfortable. We can only allow you through if you possess a permit proving you won’t cause trouble on the streets, at the very least.”
“…How does one obtain a permit?”
“Even in the slums, there must be an administrative office. You can buy one there.”
“…Haa.”
A wave of despondency washed over me.
‘So, I needed to buy a permit to cross.’
‘If I had money, I wouldn’t be sleeping on a street littered with such refuse.’
‘Moreover, with protection money and the like…’
‘It seemed any money I might have earned would have been seized by that pig, so possessing any was out of the question.’
‘Though I didn’t fully understand the situation, I could at least infer.’
‘I was a beggar.’
‘Not just any beggar, but an orphan beggar.’
Suddenly, time froze once more.
A cold sweat broke out as I recalled the sensation I had experienced before.
‘What absurd options would be laid out this time, and what insane choice would Rie make?’
1. Converse.
2. Return.
3. Attack.
[I want to attack this one too… but because of the Autonomy trait, they don’t seem to listen if I do anything too strange… Let’s just go with a safe conversation.]
1. Converse. < Fortunately, and I mean truly fortunately, Rie selected the most reasonable option. My lips parted against my will, and a frail voice, one I could barely believe was my own, emerged. "I have no money, you see... Would you perhaps consider giving me some work?" "Work...?" The guard stared at me for a long moment, then clicked their tongue and gestured toward the ground with their head. "How about cleaning? We clean this area every day, but the slums are a constant nuisance because people there have no concept of hygiene, so it gets dirty quickly." Though they seemed annoyed, they appeared to be treating me with a certain degree of seriousness. "I'll do it!" "I'll tell you upfront, the pay won't be much." "I'll still do it!" [But the guard is kind, aren't they? Giving work to a kid?] 'Indeed, they are.' For the first time, Rie and I were in agreement. In this world, if a grimy girl exuding a gloomy aura approached, asking for work, the default reaction would surely be to ignore or chase her away. Yet, this guard listened to my plight and even offered me a job. Beaming, I replied energetically, and one of the guards went inside the gate, returning with cleaning tools, which they handed to me. Accepting them, I bowed my head in gratitude. "Just so you know, if you don't clean thoroughly, you won't get paid." "Yes!" 'If that pig-creature is working near the gate, it won't be able to do anything to me, right?' 'I would earn money and ensure my safety.' The situation had turned out better than expected, but recalling my circumstances, I quickly grew despondent. That this entire ordeal was happening to me in the first place was profoundly unpleasant. Clutching the broom, I swept away the filth. *Splatter!* Filth dropped precisely onto the spot I had just cleaned. Raising my head, I looked up to see a second-story window open, as if someone had tossed refuse out of it. "Oh, for crying out loud." A quick glance confirmed it: this was indeed a medieval-esque setting. Hygiene and cleanliness seemed to be utterly foreign concepts. Feeling so wronged by the situation, tears welled slightly in my eyes. Wiping my eyes with my sleeve, I resumed sweeping with the broom. Finally, after I had repeated the task until blisters burst on my hands and my legs trembled, I returned the cleaning tools to the guard and received two copper coins. I wasn't sure of the exact value of the money I'd received, but I instinctively knew it was a meager sum.
