*This work contains inappropriate content for teenagers under the age of 15.
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“Can’t you walk faster? You worthless bastard of a wretched family!”
The hairy slave trader kicked Inataek on the back. Nataek, who had already been moving at a sluggish pace, fell onto the dirt floor face first. In his blurred vision, a system message appeared in front of him, not unlike an illusion.
<SYSTEM> Your status has been demoted due to the downfall of your family.
At the same time, Furball (Nataek’s nickname for the hairy slave trader) raised his whip and shouted loudly, “From today onwards, you are slaves belonging to the great House of Uruk Ninurta! Don’t you dare forget that fact!”
Nataek coughed and managed to get up on his feet. The ropes bound tightly around his hands and feet had chafed his skin. After walking for half a day without any rest, he was hungry and his legs were aching. On top of that, he felt like he was going to ripen from having to endure the heat of the scorching sun. Nataek slowly raised his head as another message appeared in front of him.
<SYSTEM> [Main] The Story of ‘Slave’s Oath’ Begins.
“…I’m going crazy.”
Nataek let out a bitter laugh and spat out any dirt that had gotten into his mouth. Before him stood rows of square buildings made of mud. Baskets of fruits and vegetables were put on display, the imagery resembling that of a marketplace.
Everyone was wearing either long or short skirts. At first glance, their attire could be mistaken for clothes that the Greek and Roman wore, but these garments were actually kaunakes (layered fabric with fringes on the outside that was used in ancient Sumer and Babylonia, usually worn around the waist or over the shoulders). In other words, it meant that the scenery in front of Nataek’s eyes belonged to an ancient Mesopotamian city.
“What the hell…” Nataek uttered in disbelief.
Seeing Nataek’s sluggish movements, Furball approached him with his whip in hand. It was at that moment when someone next to Nataek urgently whispered to him, talking so fast that he thought the man was rapping.
“Teresi, you stupid bastard! I don’t want to get punished as well, so walk faster!”
Nataek shifted his gaze towards the person who spoke. It was a man with curly hair, his eyes wide open as he stared at Nataek. He was the older brother of Teresi, whom Nataek possessed the body of.
When Nataek didn’t respond, the man shouted again with an urgent look, “Hurry!”
Nataek began to move his body. He didn’t want to follow the man’s orders, but there would’ve been a 100 percent chance that he’d be whipped by the Furball if he had stayed put like that. He disliked the idea of getting beaten, especially if it was going to be by a whip rather than a cane.
As Nataek’s pace quickened, the speed of the other slaves chained together also increased. Furball rolled up his whip again and moved away from the front of the line. As soon as the slave trader left, the curly-haired man clenched his teeth at Nataek.
“Teresi, you damn bastard. If you put me in danger like that one more time, I’ll personally cut open your stomach and salt your intestines.”
Nataek brushed his hair to the side with a rather pathetic expression on his face.
Teresi. This name was a three-character name that Nataek always used when coming up with nicknames or creating avatars for games. It was derived from the character ‘Taek’.
The ancient Mesopotamian city and the name Teresi. After putting those two clues together, Nataek could only come to one conclusion: this setting is from the role-playing game , a game that he had played until recently. Because of its extreme difficulty, his strategies had always failed, and he had only experienced the bad endings…
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Rjajfx’r wbeat ifa bea j tbiibk, rjgmjralm ijeut.
Qtja atf tfii jw P…
“Qtja vb sbe kjca wf ab rjs…”
“Qtja vb P kjca sbe ab rjs?!”
In the ancient city of a game that is doomed for failure, Nataek woke up to find himself suddenly a slave.
What do you want him to say to you?
* * *
The place where the slaves were brought in was a mansion located in the center of the city. The grand building was surrounded by white walls on all sides. Furball dragged the slaves into the mansion. Several of the passing attendants in the mansion respectfully bowed their heads to the slave trader. Furball, originally thought to be a mere slave trader, seemed more like someone who served as a supervisor overseeing all slaves within the mansion.
After passing through the garden, the main annex, and the courtyard, they arrived in front of the dingy mud-brick warehouse. Furball raised one hand to signal for the slaves to stop.
All the slaves covered in dust, including Nataek, seemed to be on the verge of dying. People passing by inside the mansion had only given brief glances at said slaves.
The fatigue and pain that Nataek felt while being dragged to this place was still fresh in his mind. Besides, he still hadn’t woken up from this dream, so he was forced to accept that this wasn’t just some illusion. Nataek thought, first he had to figure out how to deal with the absurd situation at hand.
The game Nataek played, ‘Sununki’ (which was short for Sumer’s Anunnaki), is a game that was notorious for its extreme level of difficulty. A game in which the player must unify all six city-states of Mesopotamia, develop a strong military presence, and prevent the Hittite invasion in order to see the ending.
However, Nataek had never been able to reach the ending of Sununki. He always failed when it came to unifying Mesopotamia. He would conquer five out of the six cities, but he was never able to occupy the last one.
Sununki was set in Mesopotamian civilization, but its historical accuracy was a mess. Therefore, the information that could be found in history books was of no help. Still, Nataek had always succeeded until the fifth city…
Nataek recalled what the slave supervisor, Furball, had said.
‘From today onwards, you are slaves belonging to the great House of Uruk Ninurta! Don’t you dare forget that fact!’
‘Uruk’ was the city that had to be conquered first at the beginning of the game. If Nataek was to add a bit of exaggeration into the mix, he’d describe it as having the difficulty level of a tutorial. That’s how ridiculously easy it was.
Right before he opened his eyes inside this strange world, Nataek had been reviewing the information of his player’s character in his head in order to prepare for the next playthrough. It was a given that Nataek would choose the “Inanna’ family, which focused all its stats on offensive power. And true to the nature of the family, Nataek went all-in to strengthen his military power and expand the city. Lagash, the city that he had built…
‘So I’m in a situation where we lost to Uruk? So the family I chose became slaves? This…’
This can’t be true.
No matter how calmly Nataek tried to accept reality, he couldn’t understand it. Nataek pursed his lips and squeezed his eyes tightly shut when someone next to him spoke cautiously.
“Second Master. Are you alright?”
When Nataek turned around, a chubby man was looking at Nataek anxiously. The man’s hands were clasped together as they trembled with tension.
When Nataek sighed, the curly-haired man intervened between the two.
“Dudu. If you can afford the energy to care about this insect, then come here and scratch me. I’m about to die from all this itchiness.”
“Yes, First Master.”
The servant called Dudu immediately went behind the curly-haired man and used his tied hands to scratch the young master’s back and waist while whimpers escaped his mouth. Suddenly, Furball was nowhere to be seen. Presumably, he went to check where the slaves were to be assigned.
How did it come to this? Is this really not a dream? Will there be any way to leave the game?
Could Nataek return to his world if he finished the true ending?
It was his only hope, but his family had already fallen and was demoted to the status of slaves. It would be impossible to see the ending under these initial circumstances.
There was no easy answer. Nataek closed his eyes as a deep sigh escaped from his mouth involuntarily.
At that moment, another message appeared in Nataek’s field of vision.
<SYSTEM> An unknown energy is emanating from the storage room in the main palace.
Nataek, whose eyes flashed wide open when the message popped up, turned his head and looked back. From one of the buildings in the distance that they had passed, a faint blue light could be seen leaking out. Others seemed to not be able to see the light that Nataek could.
Could there be an exit over there? Or a clue that will wake Nataek up from this dream?
Before Nataek had any time to organize his thoughts, another message appeared.
<SYSTEM> The unknown energy is fading away.
Nataek’s eyes widened. The blue light was becoming fainter. Regardless of what it was, Nataek had to go there. He had to see what it was. The mysterious light was Nataek’s only guide in this situation.
* * *
He had to hurry. However, the ropes that bound his feet together made it hard to move. Although his hands were tied individually, the rope tied around his legs was loosely connected to the rope of the other slaves.
Nataek looked around. It would be nice to have something that could cut through the rope…
It was at that moment when a small dot of light sparkled underneath Nataek’s feet, flashing in the shape of a bright circle around a very specific area. This was how Sununki would usually point out the location of an item to the player. Nataek quickly dug into the dirt floor with the heel of his foot. A sharp piece of metal was eventually uncovered as a result.
The surrounding slaves, both in front and behind him in the line, were all half out of their minds and consumed by utter despair. Nataek slowly leaned down with his back hunched, like a person in a state of grief, which would’ve looked natural to anybody who wasn’t paying him close attention. Nataek wielded the small blade slowly, carefully cutting through the rope that was tied around his ankles. Although the blade was too small to completely cut through the rope around his wrists, it still filled him with a sense of freedom just having his legs freed.
And perhaps because of the fact that a crowd of smelly slaves were all bundled together in one place, nobody went near the warehouse. It was a golden opportunity for Nataek. Seizing the moment when nobody was watching, Nataek quietly slipped out from the crowd of slaves. The quick-witted Dudu noticed what Nataek was trying to do and grabbed him, asking where the second young master was going. However, when Nataek said he was in a hurry, Dudu let him go and pretended not to know. Saying that he urgently needed to use the restroom was an excuse that worked regardless of what era one was in. Maybe it was an act of loyalty to preserve the dignity of Teresi, who used to be an aristocrat.
The blue light had faded noticeably. However, Nataek couldn’t rush to the storage room because he had to hide behind pillars or sometimes pretend to be one of the people who belonged to the mansion. His bound hands greatly hindered his ability to move swiftly. Nataek’s steps soon became impatient.
Fortunately, the source of the light wasn’t too far away. Suddenly, his destination was right in front of him. He only needed to pass through this one building. It was time for Nataek to calm his racing heart, instead needing to prepare himself in anticipation for what could happen when he would reach the light.
Thud—
He bumped into someone’s shoulder. Nataek was startled and looked off to the side. He had been so distracted by the blue light that he didn’t even notice that there was a person approaching right in front of him.
“Sorry… I mean, my apologies.”
Is this the right way to greet someone? For now, I’ll just lower my head.
“Are your eyes only for decoration?”
The man’s voice was so low that it seemed to sink beneath the floorboards. I’m screwed, Nataek thought. Should I get down on my knees and beg for forgiveness?
“I’m sorry…”
“Check how many lives you have. If I were anybody else, your head would’ve instantly flown off your neck. Take care,” the man spoke in a blunt tone.
Nataek simply bowed his head, waiting for the other man to leave first. All of Nataek’s accumulated experience and memories were making his body move on its own.
Fortunately, the man walked past him first. Nataek’s heart was beating so fast, it felt like it would explode. It was at that moment when Nataek hurriedly took one step toward the warehouse—
“Wait.”
Just when Nataek thought they would part ways, Nataek was called over by the man. The man returned to the spot in front of Nataek, whose body froze up as if it had been engulfed in ice. Nataek could see the man’s face clearly for the first time.
The man, taller than Nataek, had a straight nose, smooth jawline, and drooping eyes. Light brown hair and gray eyes that could be considered exotic. His features were even noticeably different from the people here.
The eyes examining Nataek from top to bottom stopped at his tied wrists.
“I haven’t seen your face before. Are you a new slave?”
“…Yes.”
“Name?”
“Ina…”
Right. Should he answer ‘Teresi’ instead? However, before Nataek could correct himself, the man made a noise of realization.
“You must be from the Inanna family. They said you would arrive by today.”
It was an answer he gave by complete accident, but it somehow still worked out in his favor.
“If you’re from the Inanna family, then you must tread even more carefully. Because all the bastards from this family hold a lot above the heads from those of your family.”
From the way that the man talked, it almost seemed as if he was specifically talking about someone else entirely. However, he didn’t have time to focus on that at the moment. Nataek needed to reach the blue light. When Nataek lowered his head as if he had taken note of the man’s words, the man once again left, this time without any hesitation.
As soon as the man’s presence had completely disappeared, Nataek raised his head. The light in his vision was as dim as a candle that was about to die out.
<SYSTEM> The unknown energy is fading away.
No, don’t go!
Editor: An Zheee
Thanks for the update ❤️❤️❤️
thank you for the chapter!
this seems super cool and very difficult for the mc to overcome. how is he going to make it from being a slave to having his own sense of agency?
I’m willing to bet he just met the ml 😍