133. Little Miracle (1)
A dark, narrow space enclosed on all sides.
A boy was sitting there crouching.
The boy’s name is Rothburn. An orphan, an inn worker, and a student of the tower… No, he was a rat who thought he would be a student.
laboratory rats.
Well, it was common in this city.
The children who thought they had the chance of a lifetime with luck and ability and then fell to the bottom.
In particular, the proportion of orphans was high.
They had no adult to advise that there are countless crises disguised as opportunities here in Landa.
Maybe it was a sin if it was a sin.
“Is that really a sin?”
Rothburn asked softly as he wrapped his arms around his knees.
It was impossible for an answer to come back because he was the only one in the room, but surprisingly, the answer came back in the dark.
A voice as soft as a mother’s voice and gentle as a sister’s voice.
It was highly probable that it was an auditory hallucination, but Rothburn didn’t care.
Does it matter so much whether it is an auditory hallucination or not?
Rothburn just longed for an answer.
“Is it really a sin to not have an adult to tell me to be careful?”
“I do not know?”
A voice in the dark answered bluntly. Rothburn was confused.
“Well, then why am I being punished here? I, I have never committed a crime…?”
The gentle voice answered with skepticism again.
“I do not know····. If you are being punished, you are not guilty. Otherwise, there’s no way you’re being like this, right?”
The boy was silent.
She was right. If you didn’t sin, how would you be punished? If so, how sad is that?
You haven’t committed a crime, but you’re being punished.
The boy touched his own body.
Bandages were wrapped around his upper body. A very thick bandage.
I was in this state when I woke up from the injection, and the researcher said the operation was successful.
He said that he could evolve from an inferior Barbary to a true human if he endured a little bit of suffering.
I couldn’t understand any of what was being said.
What is a Barbary, and what is a real human being?
Rothburn opened his mouth.
“I am…”
“Yes, I am listening.”
“Well, I just wanted to go to school. Just… so I can study… Maybe, is that a sin?”
Again a skeptical reply came back.
“I do not know? I don’t think it’s a sin to want to study. Rather, it deserves praise. Learning is a virtue and a joy.”
Rothburn closed his eyes tightly.
It was all dark anyway, but when I closed my eyes, I was able to concentrate on my thoughts a little more.
“Well, then, is it because I bothered you?”
“Are you bothering me?”
“Yes····. Is it because I annoyed the customer because I wanted to learn to write?”
“Well····. Did the guest hate it?”
Rothburn grabbed his head with both hands. Did your teacher hate you?
“Oh, no…. Probably not. So, is it because I was lazy just because I was learning to write? The inn?”
“Are you lazy?”
Rothburn thought for a moment, then shook his head.
I took a little bit of my working time to learn how to write, but I worked even harder during the rest of my time.
In order not to be deprived of the opportunity that was barely obtained by being caught by the book.
really·····. I worked really hard.
That’s why Rothburn didn’t even understand. It was confusing.
“no·····. I worked really hard.”
“really?”
Rothburn wrapped his head around those words and slammed his forehead to the floor.
I worked really hard, wasn’t it?
What did you work hard for in the first place?
When I couldn’t tell what was what, a voice in the dark spoke softly.
“Actually, Rothburn was lazy, so maybe he came here to annoy customers? So maybe the aunt of the inn handed over Rossburn, and the guest who taught me to write didn’t come to see me?”
Rothburn’s head was covered in chaos.
I had been in the dark for too long, and now I couldn’t tell what was what.
He couldn’t be sure whether he had worked hard, whether his eyes were open or closed, whether he was sitting or lying down.
Is Rothburn really a sinner?
So am I being punished here?
“Oh, no. That’s not it.”
“What?”
“I asked my mother to send it to me. I want to study, so I didn’t sell myself.”
“okay?”
“Yes·····. And the teacher. You couldn’t come because you were busy. I’ve had that happen a few times already. it would be like that Obviously, that’s why you couldn’t come.”
Rothburn shouted so.
as if struggling.
You worked hard, but you were sold, and you were forgotten by someone who did you a favor. Isn’t that too cruel?
So Rothburn desperately denied this. To keep the minimum rest.
The voice in the dark did not know this.
“okay. But you are here, and no one is looking for you.”
Rothburn’s eyes widened again.
Whatever it was, it was true. It was the only truth for Rothburn, who was alone in the dark, a small space where he could barely lie down.
He is sold here, and no one saves or seeks him.
At that moment, anger erupted in Rothburn’s mind. primal anger.
Why did this happen to you?
I searched deeply in my head to see if there were any memories I had missed.
I looked back on life at an orphanage or when I was just sold as an inn for a job.
what was so wrong
broke the plate? Didn’t you help your sick friend till the end? Did you not finish the cleaning that the manager ordered on time?
Then, suddenly, an idea came to my mind.
“Is it a sin to be born?”
The voice in the dark answered in silence.
That silence persuaded Rothburn more than any affirmation.
It was a sin that he was born.
As many adults have said, it is a sin to be born orphans, and they will eventually go to hell.
Rothburn had a look on his face that he couldn’t even think of as a child.
“Are you angry?”
Rothburn lifted his head slightly and saw a faint silhouette in the darkness.
A woman riding on a monstrous beast.
she asked softly.
“Do you want revenge?”
“····Yes.”
“Then I will help you.”
unexpected offer. But Rothburn did not doubt that.
The reason could not be explained, but there was no doubt.
I was rather worried.
If she helped me, I could get revenge, but it seemed like a disaster beyond my imagination would spread.
A disaster far beyond Rothburn’s imagination.
He wanted to get revenge, but his conscience urged him not to, and Rothburn kept his mouth shut.
“·················ogue.”
“You don’t want revenge? ····He is a good boy. You don’t want to hurt others even if you’ve been like that. That’s great. I’m serious. But do you know that?”
“······?”
“Even if you act so kindly, no one in the world recognizes you? Because there will always be good kids like you in the past, in the present, and in the future.”
With those words, she, composed of darkness, reached out and tapped Rothburn’s temple.
Taken from n̲o̲b̲l̲e̲m̲t̲l̲.̲c̲o̲m̲
Numerous fragments of memories flashed faintly through Rothburn’s head.A child who works in a mine, a child who sells newspapers on the street, a child abandoned by his parents, a child who sells his body.
Past, present and future There were many good children and they suffered. unanimously.
Then came the terrifying emptiness.
The emptiness of feeling that something precious that you want to protect until the very end is useless.
All that was left in the emptiness was anger. Anger towards everything in the world. Anger at the world that neglected them and pretended to be ignorant.
Rothburn asked with a trembling mouth.
“·····revenge····. want to do. What should I do?”
At that moment, the woman in the dark seemed to smile faintly.
she said softly.
“It’s simple. Give everything.”
“Yes? . . . everything?”
“Yes, everything. Your dreams, your hopes, your hard work, your life, your conscience, your humanity, your soul, whatever. Then, I will take revenge beyond the anger you feel. Never, no one will ever forget.”
Rothburn’s heart pounded.
After coming here, deceived by sweet words, his heart, which had not been pounding for the most part in life, was pounding.
How many times has this happened other than now? Probably, except when the teacher taught me to write.
can take revenge In a world where you dropped yourself here, in a world that pretends not to know you.
He could have left a scar in this world.
Rothburn wanted to say that he was willing to give at any moment.
Even so, I wanted to get revenge. I wanted to leave a scar in this world. Traces of yourself…!
As he was about to speak, a flash of memory flashed through Rothburn’s mind.
My mother-in-law made me rest when I was sick and took care of me more. And Dave, who accepted his request.
Impulse and reason were fighting desperately.
“·····Shut up!”
When Rothburn couldn’t answer, in the dark she stroked Rothburn’s head.
I don’t know if it was because of a mistake, but his hand was very soft.
“If it’s hard to choose, you can’t do it. I don’t like that either. Seriously.”
“·················ogue.”
“I will tell you one thing with a special meaning.”
“·········?”
“If you do not take revenge, you will be saved.”
“… Salvation?”
“yes. Of course. God will save even orphans if you live a good life. They are equal.”
Rothburn felt like he had met a ray of light at that moment.
Until the woman in the dark opens her mouth.
“Of course, you never know what will happen to those who were captured with you.”
“…and others?”
“Yes, they may or may not be saved. It is not easy to live a life of integrity and not committing sins like you.”
Rothburn fell into trouble again. Again I don’t know what
Is there no way to save everyone? The anger rose again.
What the hell did we do?
The indescribable anger no longer covered the target. I just wish they were all dead.
all of them!
Rothburn opened his mouth when he was tired and angered even thinking about it.
Finally, I was about to make a decision.
“I-“
━━━━Bang!
“…?”
A roar from the entrance in the distance. Rothburn, of course, even the woman in the dark, who had never looked away, turned her head.
She said happily and sadly.
“Hey, it seems like he came first. I’m sorry.”
“Yes?”
I didn’t understand what he was saying, so I asked, but there was no answer.
The woman in the dark, which I could barely feel, had disappeared.
Every conversation we’ve had so far felt like a fantasy.
━━━━Bang!
━━━━━━━━ Boom!
There was a continuous roar, and then a shattering sound was heard.
I thought it might be an auditory hallucination, but he told me that it wasn’t the shaking floors and walls.
I’ve never had anything like this before.
The sound of footsteps was heard.
The sound stopped in front of Rothburn’s room.
Rossburn instinctively retreated.
I heard the sound of grabbing the iron door, and shudder! The iron door swung open with a sound.
The light slowly illuminates the room.
A man appeared with the light. It was the first time he had seen him, but Rothburn seemed to know who he was.
He said.
“It’s a little late. Rothburn.”