“Hey ya Bubble boy I seen you over the hic!..Over by the Soothing Water pavilion that old hic wife of yours finally had some..sense hic!… and started cheating on your sorry ass”

“Tsk tall words coming from you old man, I can go anywhere at any time for quite a while too, do you have to make a stop this weekend? your ‘fighting’ pills run out yet?”

"Hey easy off my old buddy, you might make fun of us old men now but lemme tell ya, you are not going to age gracefully, the signs are all there I can picture it already, with that ol' cranium of yours you'll be like my cousin Micky with the alien brain. It's not that big now but you got the right shape for it. Micky was the same and was surprised he turned out to look like a steelhead mantis fish. Ah, the years are ruthless not everyone can keep their handsomeness like me."

Several middle-aged men and elderly men who were drinking and jovially poking fun at each other sat around a chipped wooden table, all of them covered in blue dust and glitter that bothered none of them. The air was mixed with light blue smoke coming from the stains on their clothes and bodies. The stale fishy scent from the liquid in the jug on the table was bad enough but mixed with their sweat and saliva, a unique odor was in the air. Nonetheless, the men were used to it and gallivanted within the small break room with each other forming a harmonious atmosphere.

However, this harmonious workplace picture was slightly off due to the presence of one person.

A thin young boy with gaunt cheeks and a dirty complexion visible even under the blue soot sat a few feet away from them, his eyes and ears peeled.

“…..several reports from the borderland cities confirm the frequent earthquakes that are lasting longer with each outbreak but not to worry, representatives from the royal palaces of many of the 108 duchies and grand duchies have stepped forward to assure the public that there is nothing to worry about”

“In later news, the young heir of the Graywater family has broken the record for the youngest ‘Freedom’ class extraordinary professional and has been nominated to sit on the Lower Ring of the Deep Ocean Explorer Association…..”

***

“A new civilization ruins has been discovered that shows signs of a legendary race rivaling mermaids and dragons! Professor Sunnagan continues with more as our special …..”

The young man’s eyes were glued to the tv unwilling to look away as he ate his coarse loaf of bread and occasionally dipped it into a small, tattered dish full of sauce.

But even without doing anything he was caught in the crossfire, those foul mouths eventually pinpointed him under the leadership of one the top chatterboxes, fortunately, they seemed to go easy on the insults when it came to him the newbie.

“Hey Kano, there’s no use watching that you know, those things are too far away from people like us at the bottom it's best you start saving money to carry home a wife one day” One man came over and put his arms around the boy’s shoulders.

His breath filled with the pungent smell of cheap fish wine. Kano's nostrils flared as his focus was broken from the tv and now was battling the assault on his sense of smell. How they stank so bad and he didn't was beyond him.

“Leave the kid alone Family man, stop trying to corrupt people into your ways, not everyone wants to have a wife and six kids to take care of.”

“Besides.... we all were like him once. It’s said that in the past before the 108 dukes rose to power it was a dog-eat-dog world, survival of the fittest! not much difference now except then everyone had the opportunity to enter the World of Endless Seas, and become ship captains and professionals. Now those nobles have firmly locked down the entrances and serfs like us have no chance at extraordinary power, until we're as gray as old Tim and had better spending habits in our youth to boot. Fucking prudes sicken me.” Another man with a stern look on his face interrupted without looking back.

His attention was focused on the daily free work meal: bread and wine. That was all. The wine was more noteworthy as despite its similarities to alcohol it was quite nutritious as well if you ignored the smell, taste, and looks but for people like them, this was a luxury they didn’t look down on and looked forward to every day. Just the lack of a price tag enhanced the taste severalfold.

“Hey, my wife and kids might be expensive but-!”

“They are very cute!” Everyone continued in unison followed by a chorus of laughter. The man’s name was William but he never shut up about his family so his nickname was family man, everyone had become used to his lines.

“Come on Jack you old sourpuss, family man might be a broken record, but he’s got a point with that attitude you’ll be alone forever. Sure, life’s hard and most people got it better than us but that’s no reason to spend your life in depression. You'll have welfare for each kid too and can be like family man pumping them out, wonder if his wife can take much more.”

After the eruption of laughter finally settled amongst the daily gathering of drunkards a few insults were sprinkled in. Once they drank, they all gave speeches to each other and even themselves which was typically interrupted by curses and insults. Then the cycle repeats.

Kano looked over for a moment before slowly returning his attention to the tv; seeing as they were about to talk nonsense again, he had gotten used to their shenanigans by now and knew not to get involved as to waste his time.

But he didn’t notice that the vibe had slightly changed as soon as the news mentioned ‘civilization ruins’ followed by 'relics'. The hearty laughter seemed to have some energy sapped away.

Soon after a tall man with a pronounced mustache came over,

“Hey there kiddo what’s up?”

Kano replied expressionlessly, “Nothing much Jenk”

“That’s not right, young people should be more lively…”

After young kano finally began to get annoyed by the blabbering of Old Jenk he finally stated his main purpose.

“You’ve been here long enough now that you’re now a part of the family kiddo, so I’m going to have to ask you to do me a favor.”

Hearing this Kano’s eyes narrowed.

Was it a trick? I thought this place was a bit too nice after 4 months. So, they finally show their true colors.

Noticing his change in attitude Jenk quickly spoke while stroking his mustache and looking up at the ceiling:

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“Easy there it’s nothing special, I’m just going to have to ask you to use my wireless headset to listen to the news, I won’t ask you to turn it off or change the channel since we old folks hardly use it anyway and just play games to pass the time, but the reality is here. We’re lowly serfs with no right to move up the ladder, bottom of the barrel, marrying ten wives, the power to level a mountain, owning a giant ship that can sail through the skies and lava…that’s all impossible for us.”

“Even if we had the chance like low and middle-class commoners or those who have merits to their name, just like them facing the intense competition and monopoly of the nobles even in the other world, dooms us to never be able to achieve much in life but even so, we all had that glimmer of hope like you do now but the times have left us weary, our paths were cut off so course we feel dissatisfied but we’re powerless to do anything, Jack might be the only one saying something but the others feel the same, even I to an extent, the regret, the dashed dreams and hopes of becoming a revered ship captain stumbling upon a great treasure from a ruin and rising all the way to the top like the many stories we often hear. And starting some generational wealth for our bloodlines like the nobles.”

“But that’s impossible for us, basically I’m just asking you to get it out of sight out of mind, even Williams despite his love for his family, no, especially due to his love for family he wishes he could give them a better life by being a professional or ship captain but both are out of reach for us. The news just rubs it in.”

It was quite tragic that even common global news had become a sore spot for those less fortunate, a constant reminder of what they didn’t have.

Kano was taken off guard, this was less of an intimidation or coercion than he thought and more of a plea and wallow in despair.

Seeing this elder with similar life experiences as he, but farther along on the path it led to, he felt a tight grip on his heart, the hopelessness was like an infection and was as heavy as stone, sinking deep within him.

“Is it really hopeless? Surely you can start from a professional at least, right?”

The young boy finally spoke up after a moment gathering his courage, his words filled with ambition, but they were only met with a low depressed chuckle.

“I heard you dropped out of school; it seems you didn’t get to that lesson yet. Professionals can’t become ship captains. Once you become one you are no longer qualified. You must become one after becoming a ship captain then more options are available to you. Even then a mere Black Iron ranked inaugural material costs tens of thousands and that's just the main ingredient without the others. It's hopeless.”

Before Kano could say anything in response,

Pit pat

The sound of footsteps echoed through the nearby halls.

Suddenly the raucous laughter died down and the place was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

The culprit was a man dressed in business attire, but he had a glaring pin on his collar and a similar image was embroidered on a piece of blue silk cloth he wore on his shoulder. A green falcon holding a fish. A mark of a noble household.

Immediately everyone got down on one knee. Although the man didn’t hold a title himself, he was apart of a noble family and this was customary.

“What’s all the ruckus I hear, get back to work, we have an order for 10 tons of broken moon crystal that’s due at the end of the month, no more breaks until it's filled and you’ll all be working overtime as well with no pay.”

“But-!” Before Williams could say anything, his mouth was covered by Jack.

“Did I hear something just now?” The man asked.

“No sir just my old boot creaking, it’s been a while since I had it” Old Jenk spoke out.

“Get it changed I don’t want to be interrupted again.”

"Yes m'lord"

“Well did I stutter, back to work now!”

Immediately everyone got back up and headed to the mines, a few supporting Williams. Everyone knew he had a kid that was due soon and it was likely he would not see its birth now. He had five young kids, and his wife was pregnant with the sixth.

Kano clenched his fist until they were white.

His eyes were like a fierce bull looking at its enemy. As if sensing his gaze, the man turned around but he had already stopped looking.

Kano wasn’t stupid enough to glare at someone who could kill him without an excuse but his anger was fueled and it was burning brighter each second. The eyes that looked at them like trash, the disregard, and the colored fabric that only nobles could wear contrasted their washed-out rags that were work uniforms. The man looked like a rat dressed up as a human which made his power over them not only oppressive but disgusting as well. He was perhaps the only noble who looked the same as he was inside.

Each time they ordered him around, he remembered all the previous times like war flashbacks.

Again, and again!

Exploited every step with barely enough to eat, moreover he was a trainee in the workplace so his pay was already very low compared to the others and he didn’t have a compounded yearly bonus since he hadn’t even worked here a year yet!

He didn’t have kids so no child welfare either.

From the very beginning since the orphanage was shut down and demolished because a noble fancied the land, then his rich classmates bullied him with visible wounds at school yet suffered no punishment, the welfare officer taking all of his war orphan subsidies without leaving so much as a crumb!

Even if he was used to it from being born like this, even so!

Even he had a limit on what he could take!

‘This can’t continue. I must break out, I refuse to continue living like this.”

“Don’t let it bother you kiddo, it happens from time to time, the new supervisor is from the Illroy Family so he is a bit more bossy than the previous old supervisor from a common family. But with his heritage, it’s only a matter of time before he leaves to someplace better so don’t worry about it.” Old Jenk comforted with a pat on the back.

Kano’s eyes became even more fierce with hate and dissatisfaction, so thick they seemed to be moments away from materializing.

The bottled-up rage after years of collection and the added rage from the last four months which was triple that of all the years before had finally overflowed.

“Well just..about that earlier thing.” Seeing he made things words Old Jenk started to move away fearful of the young man gritting his teeth in anger, he didn’t want to be the victim of misdirected anger. Last time Williams cried after his youngest learned to write and got snot all over his brand-new clothes. Before that Tim threw a cup at Bubble and it hit him instead.

“I understand” Kano replied, calming down a bit on the surface.

“Haha good, welcome to the family.”

“Thanks.”

Kano thought to himself.

I’m afraid I won’t stay for long though

Kano picked up his work pickaxe and headed to his designated mining area, his thoughts boiling.

The Endless Seas World is opening again in 3 days but the nobles and other organizations control all of the gates….the only way I can enter is through the school’s gate but I’ve already been expelled thanks to those Hornpincer little fishbaits and the biased school board. All students are treated equally my ass!

I have to find a way to attend the ceremony and forcefully enter the gate!

Kano’s hesitancy in breaking school rules and the noble law had vanished after these few months of struggle. So what if he was a criminal or died in the process! He would no longer be a fly they could order around, exploit and kill at their convenience.

He would no longer stifle his dreams!

Their ancestors were just like him, completely mortal!

He could be the same as..no he could surpass all of them!

****

“Hey, kid want to join us at Jingle’s Family’s Scrap joint? I hear they got some great shrimp feet in stock.”

Kano turned down his colleagues and convinced them that he really couldn’t go with great difficulty.

Looking at their backs still laughing joyfully and making jokes despite the bad news he subconsciously smiled. Being like them and accepting his place at the bottom wasn’t bad, maybe someday he could even save enough to become a professional and give his kids a better life.

Having such a harmonious workplace with no feuds or petty squabbles which was like a true family was also a treasure in its own right. He was probably a fool to give it up to throw his life away at an uncertainty.

But he really couldn’t stomach such a life…his smile would never be genuine.

And he would never truly be living.

He bowed to coworkers as they walked away. In respect and thanks although they couldn’t see him, he was grateful for the way they treated him as one of their own and also... sorry.

If I were to succeed, then the school’s disciplinary department and also the city ‘hounds’ will launch an investigation. With the variety of different magical powers professionals possess they might be able to recreate my every move, my coworkers will definitely feel a bit of brush with the disregard of life those upper-class people have towards us….

Their lives might not be in danger but losing their jobs is a strong possibility.

Kano quickly distracted himself before the guilt could set in. He was alone in this world and had to look out for himself. He couldn’t go soft now because they were nice to him.

This was his future that was at stake.