I slammed my pickaxe against the rocky surface. The sound of a clink echoed through my ears every time I took a swing. My arms moved in the same cyclic motion, hitting against stone over and over again.

How many times did I hear that sound today? 10,000? 20,000? 30,000? Whatever, I don’t care.

All I know for sure is that I’ll be doing this for the rest of my life. I’ve been training with the sword for the longest time, so I’ve been able to bear with the workload so far. To think that all it's useful for is me lasting longer in the mines. Is this what I was meant to do all along? Is this….my purpose?

A few hours pass by…and it’s finally time for us to sleep.

We were bunched up in small shanty houses. Only a few people got to sleep on the bunk beds, the rest of us slept on the floor. Others would fight for the right to sleep on those pathetic worn-out excuses of a bed, creating a huge disturbance that kept me from having a good night’s rest. Not like I could ever have a good night’s rest on a flat wooden surface anyway.

Four hours later…and we’re called out by the guards to eat breakfast. As usual, I could barely catch any sleep last night. Ever since the last 2 weeks I’ve been here, I could never get myself to fall into sweet dreams in peace.

We all held a wooden bowl in our hands and lined up to get our daily food supply. Our only food supply for the day.

At the end of the line was a giant metal cauldron boiling with steam. I picked up some of its contents with a big ladle and poured them onto my bowl. A murky mix of leftover stew is what it looked like to me. Upon taking it through my lips, it was pretty much the same disgusting mushy substance that they fed us everyday. At first, I couldn’t get myself to take even a single spoonful of it. But now, I could take it all down in one sitting. Turns out that it tastes better if you do it quickly. And by better, I meant less worse.

After a while, a bell would ring to signal the start of work hours once again. We all walked towards our assigned positions to start the day.

“Gooooooood morning! everyone!” Hector’s voice reverberated from the top of a tall stone fortress at the end of the mining complex. I couldn’t make out his appearance from here, but I’m pretty sure that’s him because he always does this obnoxious speech everyday.

“How are you all doing?! I hope you all had sweet dreams last night! Because today’s gonna be a great day! A great day of mining! Keep up the good work everyone, we need to get those Magium stocks rolling! I believe in you, we’re all in this together!”

The way he acts so enthusiastically about everything makes me want to puke.

And so, the repetitive sequence of swinging my pickaxe begins once again. First swing, clink. Second swing, clink. Third swing, clink. Something so monotonous, so tiresome, so empty. Doing the same thing over and over again, wasting my life into doing this braindead routine. I ask myself, does life even have any meaning anymore? Is there any point to continue living? Why do I still bother? My hopes, my dreams, my family. Everything is gone now. Lars Lyons….is a failure. And he will die a failure.

A slave to my right fell down to the floor, making a slight thud and dropping his pickaxe. A guard with a yellow sash on his waist noticed this and walked over to smack the fallen man with a short whip.

“Get up!”

“P-Please stop! I can’t take it anymore!” the man curled over on the ground.

I watched silently as the guard struck the man several times, but he could no longer get up from the ground and could only cry in pain.

Too bad. The poor guy has no one to help him. He’s hopeless. This is what happens to weak people in this world. Punished for their inability to accomplish. What a pitiful sight. If only there was a Hero to save him-

I drop my pickaxe and gasp in realization. It was like a switch had been flipped inside my head.

What am I doing?!

“Help……” the man’s voice was slowly weakening.

Shivers start to develop around my body, putting me in a state of unease. My legs felt stiff, like they were planted into the ground.

Come on, move! Don’t be afraid, Lars! Just do it!

I force myself to take a half-step forward with my left foot and one step with my right.

“Hey! Why won’t you get up?! Your work isn’t over yet!” The guard kicked the man’s body repeatedly.

I…….I…..have to….move!

The next thing I knew, I was in between the guard and the injured man.

“Stop!" I yelled at the guard. "Can’t you see? He can’t even move anymore! You’re only making it worse!”

"Shut up, slave!"

The guard launched a punch right towards my face, but I duck just in time and counter with a hook to his cheek, causing him to fall down to the floor.

"A-Ah…sorry! I didn't mean to!" I muttered.

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"Hey!" Another guard came to his rescue. "What's going on here?!

"The bastard just punched me!" the guard got up from the floor, rubbing his cheek. "Do you want to get your head blown up?!"

"N-No! Please! I was just trying to protect him!" I pointed towards the unconscious slave. "He can't work anymore!"

"That's not for you to decide." the second guard said. "Slaves work until they are dead. That is the rule here."

"Can't you be more considerate?!"

"I have an idea!" the first guard's frown turned into a smile. "How about you take his punishment as well?!"

"What?"

The guard grabs my shoulders and kicks me in the stomach with his knee. I crouch down and clutch my abdomen in pain, wincing at the fact that I can't resist.

"Get up," he grabs my arm and drags me away from our mining spot. "We ought to teach you some manners!"

—------------------------

It’s dark inside. The floor beneath me, cold and hard as stone. Everything feels silent, except the grunting noises of a man and the sound of a whip striking against my body. It hurts, but it’s for the greater good. I would rather not let someone else suffer. All I can do is grit my teeth and hope it all ends.

“Why won’t you scream?!” the guard yelled and continued to strike even harder.

Keep it together, Lars! You can endure this!

Eventually, the guard stops and starts to breathe heavily.

“D-Damn it! This isn’t satisfying enough! Not after what you did to my face!”

“I-I’m truly sorry…”

The guard tries to hit me one more time, but the cell door opens and interrupts him.

“Hey! I thought I told you not to distur-” Before he could continue his sentence, his jaw drops in horror.

Many footsteps walk inside the cell and yellow eyes gleam towards the guard, searching for an explanation.

“H-Hector!”

“What are you doing to my precious merchandise?” Hector tilts his head and smiles at the guard.

“P-Precious merchandise?!”

Hector punches the guard’s in the face and grabs his shirt.

“I’m talking about the Enforcer kid, idiot. Can’t you see his hand?”

“B-But he punched me in the face! I just thought he needed punishment, just like all the other slaves!”

Hector sighs. “He’s not just any slave. He’s an En-For-Cer!” he says, repeatedly poking the guard’s forehead. “Do you have any idea how valuable he is?”

“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t know!” the guard bowed on the floor.

“All right. So why don’t you go ahead and get out,” Hector smiled and pointed outside.

The guard hurries away and closes the door, leaving me with him and two of his bodyguards.

“So, have you finally considered my offer?” Hector placed his hands together.

I dragged myself upwards and sat on the floor.

“I already told you. I’ll never work for slave owners like you,” I glared at him.

Hector slaps his hands against my cheeks and drags my face closer to his. “I don’t understand, Lars. Why won’t you just end your suffering and join my business? You’re wasting your potential!”

“I’m not interested in ruining people’s lives.”

“Don’t you see? With your abilities as an Enforcer, you’d be able to capture a ton of slaves with ease! Think about productivity, man!”

“Power shouldn’t be used to bully the weak, but to protect them.”

“Wrong,” Hector places his finger on my lips. “Only the strong survive in this world and get what they want in life. Things such as caring for the weak are meaningless. It has no benefit for me. Nor does it have any for you. Why suffer caring about everyone? It’s not like they did anything for you!”

“Because it’s my ideal to be a Hero.”

“...........”

Hector lets out a loud laugh and slaps my shoulder. “Hero? Seriously? How can you think of such a thing when you’ve been banished here in the Under Sectors?”

“It’s not something you’d understand.”

“It’s not something you’d understand, I’m a wannabe Hero,” Hector mocks my tone.

He lets go of my face and kicks me in the ribs, taking the air out from my breath.

Damn, so much for precious merchandise.

Hector sighs and puts his hand on his forehead. “You know what? I’ll just let you stay here for 3 days. No food, no water, no anything. Just isolation. Maybe then, you’ll come begging for me to save you.”

Seriously…..can I really survive for that long?

Hector holds me by the chin with his fingers. “Only then will you be mine.”

Hector and his men walk out of the room and close the door, leaving me all alone.

Now, everything is dark again.

So this is how my life is going to be, huh. This might be better than working in the mines. Just mindlessly laying down on hard stone, contemplating on my life decisions. Maybe if I banged my head hard enough against the wall, everything would all come to an end. All my pain, my anguish, my despair could just disappear. Then I’d be able to join Master, Alessia, Sir Alvarro and Miss Felicia in the afterlife or something.

No. That isn’t the honorable way to do things. A true hero will always persevere, no matter what the circumstance. I won’t lose here! Even if there isn’t any hope left!

But it’s impossible. There’s no way I can escape my fate. What can I do? Someone…help me. I’m all alone. I don’t know if I can take it anymore. I’m trying to be optimistic….but it’s like I’m falling down an endless abyss. What would Master do? I DON’T KNOW!

I got up and punched against the wall with my knuckles, with sweat and tears running down my skin. Blood starts to stain on my fingers and I drop to the floor, curling like a ball.

I know. I’ll just sleep. That way, I can escape the horrible reality that is my life.

…….

Condition Achieved.

The heart brimming with hope has sunk down into absolute despair. Balance is established.

H-Huh? What was that voice?

A blue light starts to glow…..from my left hand? It’s coming from Master’s cat ring!

The light grows too bright for my eyes, so I close them and everything starts to go black.