Chapter 5 _ The Price of Compensation, or the Carriage That Carries Death
Keeping just the right distance from Iris—
not too close, not too far—turned out to be more mentally exhausting than I expected.
After about ten minutes of walking, a building came into view,
radiating not so much liveliness as a strange, feverish intensity.
“That large pale-blue building over there is the Adventurers’ Guild,” Iris said, pointing.
“All kinds of requests and jobs gather there. It’s the heart of this city.”
The color of the building was a vivid blue, like a piece of the sky cut out and placed on the ground.
“Blue is the symbol of courage in this country.
They say it was the color of the armor worn by Fanann, one of the Four Heroes who founded the nation.
…Fanann also established the Guild.
Even our currency is named after him.”
“Hero… Fanann…”
At the sound of that name, I sighed, imagining a brilliant story that had nothing to do with me.
“And registering with the Guild costs money,” Iris added flatly.
“Huh? It does? I don’t have any…
Hey, Iris, could you lend me—”
“Absolutely not.”
She cut off my faint hope without leaving a single fragment behind.
“Why would I lend you anything?
…Do you understand why I was surprised you were still alive when I met you yesterday?”
“…No. I don’t.”
“Most people who come from your world leave the city within a few days.
And then… they die.”
Her words were cold, merciless.
The city was protected by a powerful barrier that kept monsters out.
But one step beyond it was a land of slaughter.
Reincarnators with no strength and no stamina couldn’t even handle simple labor.
They either collapsed and died—or worse.
“…The worst cases are caught by monsters that lay larvae inside their bodies,
letting them eat the flesh from within while the victim is still alive.
A living hell far worse than death.”
“H—hey…”
“Either way, even if you registered, no one would want you as a party member.
…Goodbye. Don’t follow me any further.”
She disappeared briskly into the Guild.
As I stood there, lost and unsure what to do,
I heard a voice I recognized all too well behind me.
“Yo. …What’s wrong, doll?”
The moment I turned around, my entire body froze like stone.
Roger—the man who had violently stolen my “first time” the night before.
“Heh. Don’t get so tense.
I’m not doing anything right now.”
“…After what you forced on me yesterday, how could I not be on guard…?”
At my weak protest, Roger’s expression twisted violently.
“—Don’t screw with me!!”
His low, ground-hugging roar nearly stopped my heart.
“You didn’t have money.
That means your body was the only price you could pay.
That’s just how things work in this country.”
He glared at me like a hunter eyeing prey.
“If you don’t like it, leave.
But the moment you step outside the city, you’re monster feed.
…If you don’t want to die, come with me.
I’ll give you work—your means to eat.”
“I—I don’t…”
“Listen carefully.
Trash like you—dolls with no money and no trust—
have no choice but to sell their bodies and slowly build ‘credit.’
Even kings don’t hire guards whose origins they don’t know.
They give jobs because there’s trust—
the trust that someone won’t slit their throat in their sleep.”
Roger’s words were brutally, painfully true.
“Selling your body isn’t the worst option.
Standing naked means you’re unarmed—proof you won’t harm anyone.
…Be grateful. I’m teaching you how to survive.”
“Why… why does it have to be like this…!”
“Just come.
Tonight, I’ll give you your first job.”
At Roger’s shack, I stuffed black bread, dried meat, and ale into my stomach.
It was nothing but salt.
But maybe because I was starving, it tasted better than I expected.
“The job’s after midnight.
Sleep.”
With the help of the ale, I sank into a deep sleep, as if trying to forget my fear.
…And then, in the middle of the night.
When I was shaken awake, Roger pressed something into my hand—
a small pouch heavy with gold coins.
The weight was unmistakable.
“Two thousand Fanann.
I’ll pay you in advance this time.
Your first reward.
…Don’t lose it.”
I stood there, stunned, as I shoved the pouch into my pocket.
It was heavy.
Far heavier than money should have been.
We headed for a white mansion standing atop a hill overlooking the city.
There was no doubt it belonged to one of the nation’s powerful elite.
Late at night, Roger led me into the noble’s estate.
The moment we opened the bedroom door,
the stench of iron—like rusted metal—hit my nose.
“H—!”
What I saw was a sea of blood.
At its center lay the bodies of a man and a woman, collapsed together.
“…Carry them.
You take the legs,” Roger said quietly.
I was frozen in place, unable to move.
But the cold催促 of the wealthy client—
“Hurry, please. Dawn is coming”—forced my resolve.
Transporting corpses.
That was my first job in this other world.
I grabbed the dead woman’s ankles.
The sensation was sickeningly real.
She was young.
And beautiful.
There was no need to ask questions.
Right now, I was nothing more than a “doll.”
We loaded the bodies into a carriage prepared by the noble
and rode for two hours.
We arrived at the boundary of the city’s barrier.
“See that faintly glowing line?” Roger said.
“That’s Lady Frey’s barrier.
Monsters can’t cross it from the outside.”
He gave the order.
“Throw the bodies beyond the line.
The monsters will take care of the rest.”
Together, we lifted the corpses
and hurled them past the boundary.
In an instant, grotesque cries echoed from the darkness, drawn by the smell of blood.
Shadows swarmed, tearing flesh, crushing bone.
The sounds rang through the night forest.
My legs wouldn’t stop shaking.
“…Relax.
As long as we’re inside the barrier, we’re safe.
Now let’s finish this.”
When everything was done and we returned to Roger’s shack by carriage,
the eastern sky was beginning to pale.
The carriage quietly disappeared into the darkness.
This was my first job in another world.
The cold of the dead still clung to my hands—
and in my pocket, the two thousand Fanann, heavy as sin.
I had taken my first step
toward surviving in this cursed world.
