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

"You sure ran fast!" Fei Ling slapped the table, causing the soup bowl to bounce half an inch, "We stood up for you, and you—"

"Fei Ling!" Vera placed a hand on her shoulder, then turned to Norris, "Don't mind her, she just talks a bit too much, no ill intentions."

Fei Ling muttered, "What do you mean talking too much…"

"I... understand," Norris lowered his head, his voice barely audible, "Thank you…"

He suddenly stood up, his old leather boots knocking over the wooden stool: "S-sorry, I have to go into the Underground City tomorrow, so I…"

Norris almost ran out of the door, disappearing into the night.

"What does it mean, as if I'm bullying him."

Fei Ling grumbled, feeling a bit frustrated that the person she helped was afraid of her.

Vera patted her shoulder, comforting her, "Come on, he did say thank you before he left, didn't he?"

…

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

He was like a rat in a gutter, only feeling safe in unnoticed corners.

The gazes of others, whether kind or malicious, terrified him.

He knew he had issues, but there was a reason he ended up like this.

Someone who could become a slave at any moment due to unpaid debts, it's quite normal to have psychological issues, isn't it?

Some are born in Rome, others are born as cattle and horses.

Unfortunately, Norris was the latter.

Thanks to his gambler father who died early.

While still underage, he took over a debt of thirty-two gold coins marked with a crooked signature in the grayish ledger of Baron.

Here, there's no such thing as debts dying with the person. Death can take away the gambler's breath, but not the sheepskin scroll recording the debt—it's natural for children to repay their parent's debt.

Norris had to be thankful that his gambler father didn't have the skills to accrue a hundred gold debt.

According to law, those who cannot repay debts become the creditor's slave, and his father was lucky enough to drink himself to death before reaching that point.

And for the then 14-year-old him, the United Kingdom's laws were somewhat humane, allowing him to defer payments until 16.

Repaying 2 gold coins every three months, with interest, 40 gold coins over 5 years.

To avoid a fulfilled slave life, he started saving money from age 14.

Then during the first year's repayment, he spent all his savings.

He had no choice, Norris barely met the minimum standard for Adventurers, he simply couldn't earn that much.

This year, at 17, he should have become a slave for not repaying enough, but fate has favored him a little.

The fifth level's demons had been cleared by Puki, even copper-level adventurers like him could cautiously follow the rules and dig a basket of demon crystals.

Thanks to Puki, otherwise he would probably already be on a slave ship heading to the Archipelago…

Now he just wanted to go back to the Underground City and dig up a basket of demon crystals quickly.

…

Early the next day, Norris hurried to the Underground City with his basket and pickaxe.

Upon entering, he noticed some traces of fungal growth above the entrance of the Underground City.

Whether the other adventurers coming and going didn't notice it or were used to it, he didn't know.

It seemed now that fungal growth appearing anywhere wasn't surprising.

He heard that the sixth level also started growing fungal, there, Puki was fighting fiercely with Slimes.

But for now, it had nothing to do with him, he only needed to honestly dig demon crystals and still save a little money while repaying debt.

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

Norris calculated his savings plan while thick-skinned trailing behind a team down to the fifth level, he was too weak to do otherwise…

The mining pick struck the rock wall, producing fine sparks, as usual, Norris spent nearly two days filling a basket with magic crystal ores.

Approaching the cave entrance, however, something unexpected happened — someone was approaching.

"Damn it! The ground is covered with magic crystal stones!" A raspy voice shaking the top fungi loose from the ceiling.

This gave Norris a bad premonition.

Another hoarse voice responded: "It's a huge loss not coming here before, hurry up, gather them all!"

When Norris came up, he saw two figures in leather armor madly grabbing scattered ore.

"Um… if you do that, Puki might come…" Norris couldn't help but say.

When Puki fought adventurers, they didn't care about collateral damage.

"Huh?"

One adventurer glanced at him, seeing that he was only a copper level, sneered, and shoved him down.

"Stop pretending, you just don't want others to pick what you picked?"

Clearly considering the demon crystals in his basket were also picked up.

However, as Norris fell, his mining pick drew a silver arc in mid-air, straight onto the cap of a mining Puki.

The capped mushroom split open on the spot, and Puki flopped softly to the ground.

This made Norris's face turn pale — Puki was dead!

He quickly picked up the demon crystals that had fallen to the ground and made a dash for the exit.

And the two adventurers were not completely unaware of the fifth level situation, after a brief stunned moment they immediately reacted.

"Damn it, Puki is dead!"

"Then hurry up and leave, Puki will not swarm all at once."

"It was obviously the kid who killed it!"

The cursing voices came from behind, as the two adventurers chased up behind carrying bags filled with magic crystals, as they passed Norris, one of them somehow tripped him.

Thoroughly, Norris fell hard to the ground, several demon crystals fell from his back basket, and even hit his head.

"You killed Puki, bear the consequences yourself!"

The adventurer's voice faded, Norris couldn't afford to pick up the demon crystals anymore, he knew what the outcome of killing Puki was.

He had to escape quickly!

However, the two adventurers hadn't run out of the cave more than a couple of steps, Norris saw seven or eight Pukis suddenly leap out of the surrounding fungal mat, pouncing fiercely, followed by a series of loud explosions.

The explosive force shook the cave intensely, Norris had to press against the wall to withstand the impact, completely unaware that a large stone above was falling down...

…

…

…

Norris regained a sliver of consciousness, unsure how much time had passed.

He wanted to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt immensely heavy, he could only barely squint open a crack.

He tried to reach out, but found his forearm stuck at an angle defying joint structure within the rock crevice — semi-congealed blood coated his entire right arm, with an iron smell seeping into his nostrils.

His body was pinned under rubble, having already lost pain feedback.

Am I about to die?

A wave of panic surfaced in Norris's heart, an instinctual fear of death humans experience.

But soon, memories began to flash before his eyes like a lantern show.

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

Various adventurers bullied him for arbitrary reasons, forcing him to retreat consistently;

The person he caught stealing his money not only didn't return it but found accomplices to beat him up...

Perhaps... this wretched life ending like this isn't so bad?

Yet for some reason, at the last moment, a flash of that girl wanting to stand up for him passed by?

No time to figure out what it meant, Norris's thoughts began to unravel, his consciousness seemingly detaching in the void — he was about to die.

In the final blur, something seemed to touch his neck.

A voice he had never heard before unexpectedly emerged in his mind:

"Sorry to interrupt your enjoyment of death, just wanted to ask, any interest in continuing to live?"

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