I'm the Only One With a Different Genre - Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – A New Slave

Odil spent the entire day going through a pile of parchment as if something was happening outside. Except for preparing lunch and dinner, there was nothing else for me to do. After tidying up here and there, to my surprise, the cleaning was already done.

Thud.

“Phew, looks like I’ve finished just about everything.”

I yawned lightly, slumped on the bed where I had awakened.
T h is w a s c o p i e d f r o m k in g m t l . org

“Oh, I mustn’t fall asleep.”

Straightening up, I scratched the back of my head.

‘Let’s recall the contents of the original work before it’s too late.’

Thanks to having read it before falling asleep, I could easily remember the novel’s details. It went something like this:

One day, the Demon King opened the portal to the demon world and appeared in the human realm. Knowing that humans would be massacred, God granted divine powers to a righteous human, designating him as the hero.

The hero, along with his companions, fought and defeated the Demon King! This much was like a fairy tale.

‘The current cliché trend would be that the companions betray the hero – and the hero dies.’

What followed next was quite an unexpected development.

After returning to the castle, the companions enjoyed all the honor and glory that should have been the hero’s. But then a problem arose. The Demon King they had killed was not, in fact, the Demon King, but the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings!

When the real Demon King invaded the kingdom later, King Eiscenia, who learned of this, was in a frenzy for the hero’s party to defeat the Demon King.

Just as the cliché went, the hero’s party, who had been ignoring him, stood up to the challenge but ended up captured, tortured, and killed. The king, too late, sought the gods’ aid at the temple.

[Dare you kill my chosen hero and now ask for help?]

Knowing that the king and the hero’s party had a hand in the hero’s death, God immediately cut ties with the humans. In response, the king bowed his head to the Demon King and pledged his loyalty. Thereafter, Eiscenia became the land of the Demon King.

‘The real story starts here.’

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The hero, who had already perished, in fact, had a daughter. She had drifted into Eiscenia as a baby and, at a young age, was sold as an experimental subject to a dark sorcerer.

‘That’s her over there.’

The hero’s daughter, who underwent horrifying experiments, went mad. Then one day, a knight infiltrated the dark sorcerer’s lab and rescued her. The hero’s daughter, Iris, did not flee alone but also saved other test subjects. She even mercifully rescued the trashy steward, Lian.

‘That would be a good time to escape.’

It was appropriate to treat Iris well when she arrived here and accompany her to the empire.

‘I must stay away from the duke’s house.’

I rubbed my arms and shook slightly, recalling the demise of Lian from the novel.

‘Let’s not swagger around like a fool trusting the color of my hair.’

The steward, Lian, claiming to be Iris’ older brother by flaunting his white hair, similar to Iris’. By chance, when Iris and Lian arrived at the duke’s house, the head of the house, Iris’ mother, was away, so there was no one to refute his lie.

Tasting the power of the ducal house, Lian believed everything would be his if only Iris disappeared, and thus threatened her life several times. Frightened, Iris fled from the ducal house.

‘Lian was later tortured and killed upon the overdue return of the head of the house…’

It was understandable to be furious, as the long-sought daughter had gone missing because of Lian.

‘I’ll just accompany her to the empire. After that, maybe I’ll live in a forest? I’ve wanted to try farming… that would be perfect.’

I was chuckling at the thought when suddenly—

Knock, knock!

The sound of someone knocking on the door. ‘What’s happening?’ I wondered, and then the memories of this body’s owner surfaced.

‘Ah, it must be the slave trader.’

Lian, who took care of all the chores inside, was not allowed to deal with the slave traders.

Due to being a mediocre dark sorcerer, Odil did not have a large residence. That was also why there were no proper jailers in the underground prison.

Because of this, if the underground prison were to open, the children inside could flee to the first floor. Of course, given the location in the depth of the back alleys, it was far from safe outside, but they had the chance to escape.

To prevent this, the dark sorcerer had enchanted the door on the first floor. Anyone who couldn’t draw the magic circle in a specific order wouldn’t be able to open the door. If someone tried to force it open, an explosive magic circle was set to trigger.

‘Such obvious malice.’

For that reason, not even Lian, who had credit from Odil, could open the door, let alone approach it. Indeed, Odil had come to depend on Lian’s service more and more.

Clunk, thud!

I heard the sound of something being moved. Was it Odil who went down to open the door? I approached the door and pressed my ear against it.

“Is this enough?”
“Ahem, sure.”

Normally, the two would have bargained loudly, but today they ended their transaction quickly.

‘Could it be Iris?’

If Odil offered a slave that would satisfy the slave trader with a high price, it was likely her. My heart pounded at the thought.

‘First greetings, what should I say? Welcome, Miss? Wait, Iris does not know her own status, does she?! Then what? Hello, Iris? No, it’s a first meeting, so just hello? Even so, she is a lady, so I shouldn’t be informal…’

The thought of meeting Iris, whom I’d seen in the novel, made my heart race.

“Lian!”
“Yes!”

As always, Odil called for Lian to bring in the slaves. I rushed out of the room and headed down to the first floor.

“Move these fellows to the new prison.”
“Yes!”

As I nodded energetically, Odil nodded back, pleased, and went upstairs. I approached the children trapped in the narrow cage.
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“Whe, where…”

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“Shh, it’s ok. I’ll protect you.”

Inside the cell were two children who appeared to be siblings, hugging and watching me warily. Next to them, a girl with red hair lay there, looking dazed.

T h i s w a s co p i e d fr o m k in g m t l. o rg
‘Gosh…these children! They’re Iris’ friends!’

The three who had escaped with Iris from this place. My gaze shifted to the two coping siblings.
T hi s w a s c o p i e d f r o m k i ngm tl . o r g

‘Were those two boys..?’

I thought they had been girls.

But then I let go of that thread of thought.

‘I might have been mistaken.’

Thinking so, I opened the cell.

“Come on out. I’ll take you to where you’ll be staying. Keep it down or Master Odil might come down.”

Trying to keep my voice as kind as possible, I opened the door for the siblings who hesitantly stood up and slowly stepped out of the jail. The boy, Noah, glanced back and forth between the door and me. I stepped inside, saying,

“The door is enchanted; you couldn’t leave even if you tried.”
“…!”

Noah jerked and hugged his sibling, Nero, tightly. I lifted the listless girl off the floor. Limp like a doll, she slumped into my arms, her pupils dilated and drool spilling from her mouth.

‘She’s a werewolf beastkin, and they must have administered a tranquilizer…but that’s way too much.’
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Even for a beastkin, the dosage seemed too much for a child. I frowned, wishing I could just let her rest, but leaving her here would likely catch Odil’s eye, and she’d be dragged to the lab immediately, so I had no choice but to carry her down to the basement stairs.

“It’s better if you move quickly. If Master Odil catches us, he might send you straight to the lab.”
“Eek…!”

With those words, Noah, who had been scouting for a way to escape, hesitantly moved towards the stairs.

“Come on, I have the slave control brand, so stop dawdling and go downstairs? I don’t want to drag you by force.”

At my words, Noah and his brother Nero’s faces paled. On the inside of my wrist lay the brand that could compel a slave’s actions. Odil had etched it onto me since he found it too bothersome to manage every single slave. It showed just how much trust Lian had received from Odil.

If a slave violates an order given through the slave brand, they will foam at the mouth from excruciating pain and pass out. The two children, either from experience or having witnessed it on others, trembled as they descended the basement stairs.

“Go inside there.”

The cell assigned to them was right next to the one where other children were imprisoned. The cells were separated by walls rather than bars, making it difficult for the occupants to see each other’s faces.

Creak.

I opened the rusted cell door and gently laid the girl down. I fetched a blanket crawling with bugs, shook it out lightly, and covered the girl’s body with it. After tidying up her hair, I got up and dusted off my hands.

“Do you, brother, live here?”
“…! Nero!”

Encouraged by Lian’s kind demeanor, Nero spoke up. Noah, taken aback by Nero’s unexpected behavior, pulled Nero back into a deep embrace and took a step back.

“Yes, I live here.”

I lightly answered Nero’s question and turned towards the cell door. Noah watched me with wide eyes, not expecting a response.

‘Ah, how cute. They are so tiny.’

I smiled fondly at Nero. His feline-like face and big eyes reminded me of a black cat and were really adorable.

T h is w as c o pi e d fr o m k in gm t l . o r g
‘I should bake some cookies for them.’

With that thought, I left the cell.

Clank, as I locked the door I pondered.

‘But does this lock actually work properly?’

In the original world, a lock could be opened simply by inserting two thin metal rods and shaking them. Curiosity struck me.

Click-clack.

Even as I left the underground dungeon, my curiosity didn’t fade.
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‘Might it actually work?’

I wasn’t interested in testing my lock-picking skills. I was wondering if the laws of the comedic world still applied here.
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‘Let’s give it a try.’

After turning off the fire under the soup I was cooking, I opened a kitchen drawer and took out two metal rods.