Chapter 33: The Past 1

I’d acquired [Body Enhancement].

I told Reina shortly before returning to the inn.

“…Understood. I’ll tell the Master myself.”

Reina nearly cried out in surprise but somehow endured it at the last moment.

After returning to the inn, I ate dinner, bathed, went to my room, and immediately lay down.

Days when I used magic truly left me exhausted.

The moment I lay on the bed, I sank into a deep sleep.

The next morning, the bell woke me.

“Mmm, I slept well.”

No exhaustion remained. I rose, took my laundry, and went into the backyard.

Amanda appeared to have arrived only a little before me and was preparing to wash the laundry.

“My, I thought you might not come today, but you got up after all.”

“Yes. The bell woke me.”

“Hee hee. It sounds as though you had a tiring day yesterday.”

While we spoke, I prepared a washboard and tub.

I finished my own laundry, then washed the inn’s sheets and other linens.

“Ah, come to think of it, I went to Cain’s house on a request yesterday.”

“Oh, Cain was back in the royal capital? That boy travels to all sorts of places, so I only see him occasionally.”

Amanda told me about when Cain had stayed at this inn.

He’d originally come from a prosperous town, though one not as large as the royal capital.

However, he’d admired adventurers since childhood.

Apparently, he’d decided that the capital was the best place to work as one and moved here.

“Cain was extraordinary from the beginning.”

Unlike me, who’d possessed only a special skill, he’d begun with four ordinary skills.

He used them all to begin his adventuring career.

His talent soon blossomed, and he advanced as an adventurer at tremendous speed.

“So someone that incredible is my senior from this inn. I feel as though I need to work harder too.”

“Hee hee. Other people are other people. You should progress at your own pace. Besides, your goal is to survive, isn’t it? In that case, can’t you take your adventuring work in moderation?”

“…No. For my own peace of mind, I intend to do it properly.”

Becoming an adventurer had been the choice I’d made to survive.

If I maintained my current circumstances, I could certainly continue living, but I wouldn’t have freedom.

To live freely.

That was my ultimate goal.

“So you have a dream that surprisingly many people share. Was there something that made you begin dreaming of it?”

“Something that made me… I suppose there was, but…”

I stopped there, uncertain how I should continue.

“Erik, if you can’t discuss it, that’s fine for now. Tell me the rest when you feel able.”

“…I’m sorry. No, I can discuss it now. I was only uncertain how to explain it. The reason I think this way is that I nearly died once.”

When I said that, Amanda looked shocked, and the clothes she’d been washing fell into the tub.

“I was five at the time, but even then, I understood that nobody wanted me in the house. I spent a great deal of time outside and gathered nuts and wild vegetables by myself.”

Shortly before I began helping people for work, I’d gone to the forest near the village as usual.

I’d gathered wild vegetables without any trouble that day, but sudden rain soaked me completely.

I rushed home, dried myself with a towel, and tried to keep from becoming ill.

However, because my body remained chilled, I fell sick by the following morning and developed a very high fever.

“As I’ve mentioned before, my family treated me as though I didn’t exist. That didn’t change when I was sick.”

“…Then nobody cared for you even in that condition?”

“No. Nobody came to check on me while I lay there.”

I somehow endured the first day.

I’d gathered wild vegetables the previous day, so at worst, I could use those to distract myself from the hunger.

However, although I had a cold, I couldn’t change my clothes or eat anything nutritious.

The illness dragged on, and in the end, I spent two days without eating or drinking.

“I truly came close to dying. The day I finally felt a little better, I ate too much of the food prepared that morning and vomited.”

“…Not one member of your family checked on you while you were ill?”

“None of them did. Even when I showed my face for the first time in several days, they acted exactly as usual. I’d become soaked because I went to gather wild vegetables and nearly died. But thanks to that, I realized I wouldn’t survive if I remained in that house.”

From that day onward, I began helping people around the village.

I improved my skills because I wanted to live and didn’t want to die.

Sometimes I received a small amount of money, while other times I was paid with food or household goods.

At times, I even worked in exchange for being taught a skill.

“I learned my letters fairly early. I decided that without reading and writing, I’d never manage in the future, so I pleaded with the village chief to teach me.”

“That explains why your handwriting is so beautiful.”

“I’m grateful to the village chief for teaching me. He knew how I was treated at home, and apparently he’d wanted to help me somehow.”

The village chief and other villagers who treated me kindly protested to my family several times.

However, my family told them not to interfere in another household’s affairs, and the way I was treated never changed.