The Main Family Is About to Die Out, so I, from a Branch Family, Am a Seed Provider (WN): Chapter 67

 

Chapter 67: Ideas and Debt

 Living together at Alice's house... or rather, it's been a month since my freeloading began.

 The day we went shopping together. At first, I thought Alice was joking, but when I saw her picking out clothes and work clothes for me at a big stall market, I knew it was true.

 After that, I went back to the dormitory, which served as an infirmary, and asked Schultz again. He said, "There is no such thing in this village.". In fact, he was rather suspicious of my knowledge of a POW camp, but that's another story.

 It seems that the head of Vu-alheit village was going to take care of me, and that by living with him, he would be able to keep an eye on me 24/7.

 As a result, it was decided that I would live with Alice, whose own father is the village chief.

 Well, I have nothing to be guilty of, on the contrary, I have no memory of anything before I woke up here.

"Hey, rookie! Get your ass in the hole!"

"Yes!"

 There was a time when I thought, too.

 Under a clear blue sky. Dunkel, a senior miner, appeared beside me as I was resting in the shade of an unused windmill hut, hidden from the sunlight pouring from the sky, and thrust a pickaxe into the ground.

"Damn, the village chief asked me to include you in the mining group, but all you do is rest, you know."

"I-I'm sorry."

 He shrugged his shoulders and said in a tone of exasperation, and this time he silently pointed toward the mine. I think he probably meant we're going back.

 I hurriedly stand up on the spot and follow Dunkel back into the coal mine again.

 Dunkel, in front of me, had a muscular body that had been naturally toned by digging in the mines, and he was slightly taller than me, with broad shoulders. He is truly a man for whom the word "big man" fits.

 He was my senior as I had started working as a coal miner here in Vu-alheit a few weeks earlier.

"No, it's absurd to ask a beginner like me to dig through the bedrock and collect five boxes of ore."

 The entrance to the coal mine... A rusty trolley rail leads to the back of the mine, underfoot, lit by a torch.

 The mine shaft is constantly ringing with the sound of pickaxes pounding on the bedrock, and I involuntarily cover my ears with my hands.

"No, that's right, but it's unreasonable for a beginner like me to dig a bedrock and collect 5 boxes of ore."

“What are you whining about, rookie? You forgot what the village chief said to you, that if you don't meet the quota, you won't be able to repay your debts?"

"Ugh."

 As I walked through the dark tunnel with Dunkel, I involuntarily choked on my words at the word "debt".

 Yes, debt.

 When I had asked Schultz how I had come to live with Alice that day, he had told me the total amount of money he had spent to heal me, including the cost of medicine, the cost of the dormitory where I stayed, my daily meals, and various other expenses.

 At first, I thought it would have been better if I had just died. No, I was about to jump into the river with the intention of committing suicide, but I was held down.

 I seriously cried to Alice's father, the head of the village of Vu-alheit, and he told me to go to work here. But.

"I didn't expect to do manual labor from morning till night, though."

"Hmm? Did you say something?"

"Ah, no, nothing."

 The work begins when the sun rises and ends when the moonlight illuminates the road at night.

 The quota is five crates of ore per day. The goal is to pay it off through work in two years by giving about two-thirds of the daily wages to the Imperial soldiers outside to repay the debt.

"I want to die."

 I sigh in secret, wanting to give up right now, even though my life was saved.

 We continued walking for a while and eventually arrived at a fork where the tunnel split into two, and Dunkel, who was walking ahead of me, quickly indicated the right path.

"I'm going this way. Hurry up and get back to work, okay?"

"Yeah."

 It had already been half a day since we entered the mine. Dunkel, showing no signs of fatigue, disappeared deeper into the mine with a light footstep...... this job, I end up envying a muscular body and physical strength like Dunkel's, really.

 I trudge along on the rusted, no longer used trolley rails.

 The sound of pickaxes pounding on the wall, echoing in a lively rhythm, bored me half to death, but I reached my destination.

 The tunnel, where two adults can just barely walk side by side, suddenly widens out on either side.

 There was a wall there that was clearly of a different quality from the smooth bedrock I had seen on the way here.

 Several miners other than myself were digging silently. Everyone is from Vu-alheit, and a non-brown-skinned person like me stands out from the crowd.

"...You're back."

"Eh!? Y-yeah, Frankel. Thank you for your hard work."

 The one who appeared soundlessly from behind me was a man even larger than Dunkel, who had been with me a while ago......

 He was terribly tall, with his head reaching the ceiling. ……In the beginning, the tunnel here was really wide. And the question that came to my mind, meeting this person... No, I don't think so.

"Take your breaks in moderation."

"Y-yeah. I will."

 As I was thinking about such unimportant things, Frankel muttered in a nonchalant manner.

 Frankel, who has a different kind of intimidation than Dunkel, has been working at the same place as me recently.

"Were you resting at the usual place in the side of the river?"

"Ah, no. I was sitting in the windmill shed near there."

"Well, it gets hot in the hole."

"Yeah, you are right"

 We dig through the wall in front of us, exchanging idle conversation.

 The good thing about Frankel, or rather, unlike other Vu-alheit people, is he doesn't avoid or keep me at a distance, but he's not friendly either.

 He doesn't try to get involved any more than he has to. Frankel is someone I feel comfortable with.

"Breaks are important, but the goals are also important."

"Well, that's true, but this job is really tiring. Partly because it's hard work that I'm not used to."

"I see."

"It's especially hard to carry this outside."

 The ore that was roughly packed into boxes was piled up and then carried out of the hole.

"I don't need you to tell me that."

 Frankel replied bluntly, swinging his pickaxe wildly and slamming it into the wall with all his might.

 ……This guy, Frankel is amazing. The crack just now reached where I was digging. What is that strength? Was he a bear or something in his previous life?

“Um, can we at least use this trolley or something?”

 In contrast to Frankel, who displays a power that would scare the crap out of me even though I'm watching him every day, I turn my attention to the trolley that is left in a state of disrepair.

 Probably in the old days, they used to load it onto that trolley and take it outside.

 If we could use that rotting trolley, it would have been much easier. Or rather, wouldn't Frankel and Dunkel be happier if they could work easier?

"That's impossible."

"Eh? Why?"

 However, my idea was immediately rejected.

 When I asked why, Frankel gently pointed to a certain place.

“The pulley that powers it is broken. I asked for a replacement, but it never arrives, so we can't use it."

 According to Frankel, the trolley was originally operated manually using the pulley principle, with people stationed inside and outside the mine.

 A rope would be tied to the trolley with a wooden box on it and several people would pull it, just like drawing water from a well.

 In short, the pulley for the trolley was broken, so they asked for a replacement parts some time ago, and it seems that the parts has not arrived.

 Even more problematic, he added that even if the parts arrived, the imperial soldiers watching outside would likely steal them.

 It seems that the negative effects of racial discrimination against the people of Vu-alheit village are affecting even such a trivial matter.

 However, I came up with an idea after hearing about it.

"...Um, so you're saying that once we power it up, we can use the trolley?"

"Well, yes, but don't use fire. The smoke will kill everyone in the hole."

 Unlike his usual calm tone, Frankel said so with a slightly serious tone.

"I understand that. But you're saying that any method other than using fire would be better, right?"

 But using fire is not an option for me either. I don't think we all want to agree to becoming smoked meat.

"Well, do what you want. My work comes first."

"……"

 With that reply, Frankel took the full crate in both hands and prepared to turn back to get out.

"Um, Frankel." 

"What?"

 I called out to him again.

“If I do what I want, does that mean I have to do whatever it takes to get it?"

"There are limits, but only as long as it doesn't cause trouble for the others. Let's stop talking about it...... I haven't finished my work yet."

"Ah, sorry."

 Holding a crate full of ore in both hands, Frankel walked out.

 As I stared at the rotting trolley with his words telling me to do what I wanted, I ended up staying in the mine all night long to give shape to the idea that came to my mind.