Chapter 5
Everything began on this day.
A miner's day begins early. The six o'clock bell wakes us, and when the six-thirty bell rings, we gather at the tunnel entrance to head into the mine. I soaked some hard bread in yesterday's soup and stuffed it into my mouth. Lunch was a luxury we didn't get. If we didn't eat properly, we wouldn't last the day.
Lark and I left the dining hall together.
When I looked up at the ceiling of the great cavern, I could see a washed-out blue sky. In this mine, which was cool in summer and warm in winter, only the color of the patch of sky overhead told us what season it was.
Today, it was a spring sky.
"Hey, little brother."
"What?"
I answered while rubbing my sleepy eyes.
"I like your black hair and black eyes."
"? What's that all of a sudden?"
No one had ever told me anything like that before.
My hair was black, and so were my eyes. Apparently, those were fairly rare features—and people had even called them an "ill omen."
That "black" was why, among my siblings, I alone had been singled out and sold.
But no one in this mine cared about the color of my hair. Everyone was cheerful, carefree, and a little foolish.
"Ugh!?"
"L-Lark!? What's wrong?"
"Uuugh... I kinda need to use the bathroom..."
"What!? The morning assembly's about to start!"
"Cover for me somehow! Bye!"
Clutching her stomach, Lark ran off.
"What the heck was that...?"
It wasn't like her, I thought. Not the fact that she'd gone to the bathroom, but that she'd complimented my appearance.
I attended the morning assembly alone. The miners gathered and listened to the mine chief speak from a raised platform—just another ordinary day, no different from any other.
The area in front of the tunnel entrance was a plaza, and miners trickled into it in scattered groups. But something seemed strange. There were more than twice as many mine guards as usual.
Since it was still dim and early, the mine guards carried torches. Tiny sparks danced through the air.
The tunnel entrance was a gigantic hole, large enough to swallow all of us miners if we charged into it at once. The farther in we went, the narrower it became, until things called Badger Holes began to appear.
But that was beside the point.
The mine guards had gathered in one place. At the center stood the mine chief—a massively obese man who hid the bald spot on his crown beneath a top hat—and someone else.
"...Who's that?"
He was just as fat as the mine chief, but his hair was thick and slicked back.
His eyes were sharply upturned, intimidating everyone around him. And the mine chief—the man who never even tried to remember our faces or names (setting aside the fact that I didn't have a name), and did nothing but throw his weight around—was now bowing and scraping before him.
"Everyone listen! His Grace, Duke Achenbach, owner of Six Mine and a duke of the Keesgran Federation, has some important words to share! Kneel!"
At the mine guard's shout, the miners glanced at one another. Their expressions seemed to say, "What do we do?" and "What's a duke?" But when one miner knelt, the others began to follow suit, and I did the same. My kneecaps hurt against the hard ground...
That was when I first learned that this mine belonged to a federal nation called the Keesgran Federation. No one had ever told me, and the country's name wouldn't have helped me anyway as I ventured through Badger Holes underground, afraid of the monsters lurking in the shadows.
"Hmm... It's a damp, unpleasant place no matter when I visit."
"My apologies, Your Grace."
The one complaining in a shrill voice was the duke, and the one bowing and scraping was, as expected, the mine chief. Of course the inside of a mine was damp, so what was he apologizing for?
"Oh, it reeks. The smell seems to waft up to this raised platform."
"My apologies, Your Grace... I'll make sure the slaves properly wipe themselves down."
"Enough. I'll simply never come here again."
We miners watched the exchange blankly. I felt as though we were being insulted, but I didn't feel particularly irritated. Could that be another effect of the contract magic placed on us when we became slaves?
"Then let's get this over with. I hear that a six-star Skill Orb was excavated in this mine the other day. I have come to inspect it."
Six stars! It had to be the Skill Orb Lark had found.
It had been important enough for a high-ranking person from this country to come in person. Lark had certainly said that, if it were given a price, it would be worth enough to "bring a country to its knees," while Old Man Hinga had said it was "beyond price," but still...
"Yes, Your Grace. The orb is right here."
One of the mine guards carried over the Skill Orb on a tray. It was covered with a purple cloth, hiding it from view.
Duke Achenbach peered down at the respectfully offered tray from the raised platform, then whipped the cloth away.
The miners let out a collective "Oooh..."
The rainbow-colored radiance it released was definitely the same one Lark had shown me that day. So it was still in this mine.
"So this is it... I see. It is a Skill Orb with a unique trait."
"Yes, Your Grace."
"I would use it at once, but my cousin, King Geffelt, the head of the Federation, has expressed his desire to see it. Therefore, I will discuss the matter with King Geffelt and decide how this Skill Orb is to be used."
"Yes, Your Grace."
Things were getting serious. The Skill Orb Lark had found was going to be taken to some king or other! ...Though Lark still hadn't returned from the bathroom.
"Accordingly, the slave who found this Skill Orb shall be released from slavery and made a commoner as of today."
Duke Achenbach announced this grandly, but since it was within the bounds of our expectations, the miners responded with little more than a few subdued oohs.
"Bring me the one who found this Skill Orb!"
At those words, the miners looked at—me.
"Huh?"
"Ah, yes, that's right. It was you. Come here."
The familiar inspector came running over, grabbed my arm, and pulled me to my feet.
"No, wait, it wasn't me. Lark found it..."
"Just hurry up."
I was dragged before Duke Achenbach. No one could stop them. From the miners' perspective, it made no difference whether it was me or Lark who was freed from slavery.
No, that's wrong! It wasn't me—it was Lark. It should be someone like Lark, who was optimistic, energetic, and full of drive, who got to leave the mine, not a listless boy like me. Right?
I wanted to shout, but no words came out. There was nothing around my neck, yet I felt an inexplicable pressure constricting it. I couldn't breathe.
"T-this one...?"
The duke's face twisted when he saw me.
"What is this black hair!? It's a symbol of calamity! Don't let it come near me!!"
Everyone flinched at his sudden shout.
"Mine chief!"
"Y-yes!"
"If we let this thing live, nothing good will come of it! Kill it!"
"...What?"
"Didn't you hear me? I said kill it!"
"N-no, but, Your Grace, this one found the six-star Skill Orb..."
"Silence! If you won't do it, I will."
The duke drew the sword hanging from the waist of one of the mine guards standing behind him. I stared blankly at the torchlight reflected in the silver blade. I knew that I would die if I continued standing there, yet my body wouldn't move. I understood rationally that the contract magic was to blame, but my body still wouldn't move.
Everyone looked at me with disgust. Why? Why were black hair and black eyes considered such a terrible thing? I didn't understand. I just didn't understand.
"Hold on!"
The voice that interrupted was—
"What did my little brother do!?"
There was no mistaking it—it was my older sister's voice.
"Who are you!?"
"I'm Lark."
"Why is this filthy little brat here!? Mine chief!"
"Y-yes, Your Grace."
"Dispose of them both, right now!"
"B-but..."
"You dare disobey meeeee!"
It was just then that the duke's scream rang out.
Rumble, rumble, rumble...