"This is a rare, talking half-orc! I nearly broke my back dragging him here. Just the labor alone is worth more than three copper coins!"
Hearing the price quoted by the Slave Guild, the tavern owner immediately grew furious. Yosuke had carried only 27 copper coins on him, and now selling him for 3 more made a total of 30 copper coins. That wasn't even enough to buy a single plate! The gap between that and what he had lost was still massive.
"Well then, if you were the buyer, would you pay for such a strange-looking half-orc yourself?"
When the Slave Guild manager said this, the tavern owner looked again at the bruised and battered Shima Yosuke. His expression fell silent. In that instant, he understood why Yosuke was worthless.
The exchange between the two would later become one of Yosuke's most painful memories. After he eventually mastered communication with elves—and through that, memory magic—this was the very first memory he erased.
If not for the fact that he was now explaining to Minami Yojuro what had happened after they were separated, Yosuke would never have wanted to recall that humiliation.
Still, clinging to the idea that "a mosquito's leg is still meat," the tavern owner sold Yosuke anyway, pocketed the paltry coins, and left with a sour face.
But for Yosuke, the suffering only deepened. He was locked in a display cage and forgotten by the shop owner for an entire week, starving until he grew so gaunt his very appearance changed.
He survived only by drinking the rainwater that dripped through the cracks, and to keep his sanity, he began talking to the moonlight as though it were alive.
Because of his ability, Yosuke unintentionally managed to communicate with the spirit of light. That connection allowed him to use light magic, which in the end saved his life.
After quietly listening to Yosuke's story, Yojuro was left completely speechless.
If he remembered correctly, hadn't Yosuke called this ordeal "a pretty good start"?
This counts as a good start?! That was pure hell! If it had been someone weaker-willed or less fortunate, they'd have died long ago!
An ordinary person, locked up alone and starved for a week, surviving only on rainwater. Worse, trapped in a dark, closed space without any interaction with living beings—yet this guy didn't go insane, and instead even managed to discover the correct way to use his cheat ability!
From this experience alone, Yojuro was almost certain—Yosuke had to be what people called the "Child of the World." No matter how miserable his trials were, there was no denying he was fated to be this world's protagonist.
What Yojuro admired even more was that, after going through all this, Yosuke somehow hadn't developed deep psychological trauma. His heart was truly resilient.
And yet, compared to the inhumane week of imprisonment, what Yosuke brooded over most… was the fact that he'd only been worth three copper coins.
"You were right all along, Yojuro. The ability of mine isn't limited to communicating with humans and other beings of this world. I can even talk with micro-spirits that ordinary people can't perceive.
And it's precisely because of that that I'm now able to use all kinds of magic. As long as I negotiate with the micro-spirits in the air and reach an agreement, I can wield any type of spell."
When he spoke of this, Shima Yosuke's expression was full of excitement. After all, this meant he'd finally managed a successful start in this other world. At least now, he wasn't completely powerless.
"Magic, I can understand—you rely on the spirits' cooperation. But what about your magic power itself? When we first met, you were just an ordinary man. Yet the surge in your mana now is way too outrageous!"
Indeed, Yosuke's mana was the other thing that shocked Yojuro. Even if Yosuke was the so-called Child of the World, cheats weren't supposed to be this ridiculous. It had only been nine days!
Back then, Yosuke had been utterly powerless—any strong local could have beaten him down with one hand. Yet now, Yojuro was stunned to sense the astonishing mana within him. Though not quite on par with himself, Yosuke had already surpassed the young elf girl, Sue.
By adventurer standards, Yosuke was at least rank A now—possibly even among the elite.
And this transformation had taken him less than nine days.
"After escaping from the Slave Guild, a lot more happened," Yosuke continued.
"Starving and desperate, I fled back into the forest to avoid pursuers and find food. By accident, I stumbled into a hidden realm. After defeating the monsters inside, I earned a reward—a cup of brightly colored fruit juice.
I was so hungry at the time that I didn't care if it was safe to drink. I gulped it all down. Afterward, I found it much easier to converse with spirits, and the magic I cast grew far more powerful."
Hearing this explanation, Yojuro felt sour all over again. We're both transmigrators, so why is the difference between us so huge?!
Apart from his miserable start with low charm that got him sold as a slave, everything afterward had gone like a cheat code for Yosuke. His luck stat was practically EX rank.
Meanwhile, Yojuro had cleared a dungeon not long ago, and aside from his target objective, there had been nothing at all. No mysterious rewards whatsoever.
But when he glanced again at Yosuke's sunken cheeks and prematurely aged appearance, Yojuro's mood balanced out. Clearly, Yosuke had traded looks for power.
If the choice were his, Yojuro would never pick that path. Strength could be trained over time, but good looks were for life.
"So what's your plan now? Want to come back to the town with me? With your current strength, those who once tried to capture you wouldn't dare touch you again."
After hesitating, Yosuke shook his head. "Forget it. I only just escaped from there—I don't want to stir up more chaos. Besides, I'm searching for a way back to my original world. Staying in town won't help me; it's better to travel the world and look for clues."
So, since their paths overlapped, Yojuro and Yosuke traveled together for a while until they reached a village.
Yosuke planned to rest there and stock up on supplies, while Yojuro had come to claim his reward for slaying the Poison Dragon.
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