Embracing Magic - E.M Chapter 1 (Part 2)

It was a taste I had never experienced before. It was so delicious that I felt like my mind went blank. If I could eat food like this every day, being a slave wouldn’t be so bad.

I slowly tore the bread and dipped it in the soup. After finishing the bread, I licked the remaining soup with my tongue. It was clean enough not to need washing. I finished the meal with the water.

About 20 minutes after finishing the meal, part of the ceiling opened again. Soon, a bearded man peered in.

“Dishes.”

“Ah, yes. Thank you.”

The bearded man took the empty dishes and closed the ceiling again. Shortly after, the carriage started moving again.

* * *

After traveling for about five more hours, the carriage stopped.

‘Is it mealtime?’

Rodin looked up at the ceiling with a smile on his face.

But this time, the door on the side, which was used to enter the wooden box, opened.

It was already dark outside. It was roughly 7 PM. Although there was no clock, Rodin could roughly tell the time.

“Come out.”

“Yes.”

Rodin got out of the box and looked around. There were many boxes similar to the one I had been in.

‘A total of eight.’

The merchant’s subordinates were opening the doors of the boxes and pulling out children. Somehow, Rodin was the first child to come out of the box.

‘Hmm? Ah.’

Rodin understood why he was the first to come out by watching the other children’s behavior.

While he came out as if he was waiting, the children in the other carriages were resisting, not wanting to come out. It seemed they were expressing their anxiety in that way.

‘It’s pointless.’

The children were forcibly dragged out by the adults. Crying and throwing a tantrum was useless.

‘Hmm? The age…’

Rodin thought the other slaves would be around his age. He thought there would be a reason for buying someone as young as himself.

But the children coming out of the boxes were older than himself. They looked about 8 to 10 years old.

“Prepare the meal.”

“Yes, boss.”

At the merchant’s command, his subordinates moved in perfect order. Only one adult was watching over the children.

‘There are nine children including myself. Forty-five subordinates of the merchant.’

There was one adult right in front of me, but many adults were nearby. With this ratio, it was not even worth trying to escape.

While the children gathered and spent some time together, a man in his 30s came and lit a campfire. The children who were shivering in the cold quickly gathered around the campfire.

After a while of warming themselves by the fire, the adults came and threw nine blankets at us.

Rodin wrapped himself in the blanket that was given to him and stuck his head out. The heat from the campfire warmed his face.

‘The treatment is good.’

Although we were clearly bought as slaves, they were overly concerned about the children’s health. The food, the campfire, and the blankets all showed this.

Rodin had never received such care in almost five years with his parents. Being cared for like this made him strangely uneasy.

While Rodin was warming himself by the fire, the children gathered to one side. It seemed they were excluding him on purpose.

Rodin glanced at them and sighed softly.

‘I don’t want trouble.’

Rodin anxiously watched the children and adults alternately. It seemed those children were planning to cause some trouble.

When I was at home, my second brother, who was sold a month ago, always caused trouble.

He would break the pillars of the house while practicing his kicks, and he often climbed the walls and caused them to collapse. He threw mud at the doors of the neighbor’s houses dozens of times just for fun. He even beat up other kids just because he didn’t like the way they looked.

Every time my second brother caused trouble, my sister and I were also beaten. It was because we didn’t stop him.

Even though his younger siblings were unjustly punished, my second brother’s troublemaking never stopped.

‘This is troublesome.’

While I was contemplating, I smelled something delicious. It seemed the cooking was almost done.

“Hey, kid.”

“Hmm?”

While I was savoring the smell with my eyes half-closed, I heard a child’s voice in my ear. It was one of the children who had kept their distance from me.

“Aren’t you going to answer?”

“Wha…”

“Shh! Lower your voice.”

Lowering the voice meant they had something to say secretly from the adults. It seemed they had been whispering among themselves, planning to cause trouble.

“What?”

“You, go to that man and say you need to go to the bathroom.”

“Hmm.”

“Say you’re scared and ask him to go with you.”

Rodin immediately understood what the children were planning.

Escape.

They planned to distract the nearby adult by making him escort me to the bathroom, then escape themselves.

I was clearly the bait.

I stood up and approached the adult who was watching from not far away. The other adults were busy preparing for the camp and the meal, so there was only one nearby.

“What’s the matter?”

“I need to go to the bathroom.”

“Hmm.”

The man exhaled lightly and looked at Rodin strangely. As if he knew exactly what we were planning.

‘It doesn’t matter.’

I didn’t plan to escape anyway. I actually did need to go to the bathroom. I was just doing what the children wanted.

‘They’ll fail anyway.’

I could tell just by looking at the man’s expression.

These people had traded slaves many times before. Their quick response to commands and natural movements made it clear. They must have encountered many children planning to escape.

“Can I go?”

“Are you going alone?”

“Can you come with me?”

“Sure.”

Rodin entered the forest a little away from the road. He squatted behind a large rock and relieved himself.

“Run!”

At that moment, a loud noise came from the group’s direction. It was the child who had given me instructions.

“Mister, it seems the children are trying to escape.”

“Pfft, were you abandoned?”

“I abandoned them. I have no intention of escaping.”

Rodin finished his business while chatting.

He stood up and glanced at the man’s face. Despite the children escaping, he didn’t seem worried at all.

“Oh, do you mean you like being a slave?”

“I don’t know about that. But I know the outside world isn’t easy.”

Rodin conversed with the man and returned to his original spot. Only nine blankets were left lying around.

He found his blanket, wrapped himself in it, and sat by the campfire. The heat felt nice on his face.

“The outside world isn’t easy? You talk as if you’ve lived out there.”

“You don’t have to live out there to know. Adults starve in this winter because there’s no food. My parents did too. That’s why I was sold. But what can children under ten do out there?”

“Oh, you’re an interesting kid.”

Hyung_Otaku2

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