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A Harem in the Fantasy World Dungeon Volume 4 Chapter 5 Part 21

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist  Editor: Weasalopes

「I have seen what debts, even the smallest, seemingly insignificant ones, can do with those who have taken them and their families. It might not be immediately obvious to those looking from the outside, but the families stricken with debt are all the same: slowly rotting away from the inside, little by little, until it tears them apart completely. I. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I absolutely did not want that to happen to my family.」

So it was actually such a thing? Well, I can certainly agree with what Sherry said just now. Once you get yourself stuck in the clutches of debt, there is no way to easily get out of them, because interest rates are unfairly high and they keep on growing on a day to day basis, not to mention that if you fail to deliver the payment in time, moneylenders will not hesitate from employing hired muscle to finish the collection in a. . . . . . . . not so subtle manner.

「I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I guess houses like that really do exist, huh?」

「Yes, unfortunately. And, well. . . . . . . you know how it is. Once you start to borrow money, no matter how hard you would work the amount that needs to be returned never seems to be dwindling down but keeps on increasing instead, and before you even realize it, you end up relying on borrowing more money and taking other debts just so you could pay off the previous ones, and soon you are going to run yourself so ragged trying to pay them all off until at one point you are going to be too sick and tired to lift a finger, much less work to get money for your lenders. And. . . . . . . . . . . . . . and once that happens, it will inevitably lead to a family break-up. That is why I offered myself to be sold as a child-slave before the same miserable fate could have befallen my family.」

She did what?! Did I just misheard it, or perhaps heard it right after all?!

「Wait a second. Are you telling me that you. . . . . . . . .sold yourself into slavery of your own free will?!」

「. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Yes, that is what I had decided would be best under the circumstances my family was under in that moment.」

Was that the rational thing to do? Could Sherry not have look for some other solutions first before turning herself towards this drastic one. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . no, if my assessment of her is correct, then Sherry must have been a smart individual ever since she was young, so she probably determined that given her family’s situation, it really might have been the best thing for her to do. . . . . . . . . but I still feel like I have to ask her about it. I need to hear her say that it was the only option remaining for her, or else I feel like I am not going to be able to fully accept it.

「Was. . . . . . . . was there no other way besides that? Because becoming a slave just so that your family could get out of debt seems a bit. . . . . . . . excessive.」

「I realized that as well, but back then, it seemed like a perfectly reasonable thing to do for me. . . . . . . . . . no, it was the only. . . . . . . . the best thing that I could have done. Think about it, master. I was a failure who failed to become not only a Master Smith, but a Shrine Maiden as well, so the reputation of my family as a whole has already been damaged enough, so I decided to remove myself from it before my presence could cause any more harm than it already did to them. Of course, I was uncertain. . . . . . . and scared of what would happen to me, but if I became a slave, then the least I could do was to learn how to speak and write in Brahim, which would allow a whole new set of possibilities to open themselves before me one day when I would eventually regain my freedom. All I had to do was to do my best to learn it, because I heard over and over again that highly educated slaves tend to be bought by the richer kinds of clients.」

「Brahim, huh?」

Was the ability to learn how to speak and write in Brahim really worth selling yourself into slavery? I mean sure, in this world, if you can speak and write in Brahim, you will be able to do much more than those who cannot speak and write in it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . so did Sherry analyze all of the pros and cons of that situation and ultimately decided that the potential profits far outweighed the demerits?

「Was. . . . . . . . . . was your family really okay with such a solution?」

「It was more like they accepted that solution, because to be honest. . . . . . my offer was a Godsend to them. My younger brother and sister were still too small to work, and selling my older brother, the one responsible for supporting the family with his income from his goings into the Labyrinths was absolutely out of the question. Whether they liked it or not, they had no choice. Selling me was the best option from the standpoint of my family’s well-being.」

The best possible choice? Could they not sell their father? Or maybe they did consider it at one point, but ultimately decided that it would not be worth it because no one would be willing to give half a decent price for a Dwarf who has a reputation of having no talent as a Master Smith? Yeah, that would make frighteningly much sense, because Sherry could always be sold to someone as a sex slave, and since she was a virgin, and an educated one at that, then her overall price could have been raised that much higher.

「Well, that is in the past, so do not worry about it anymore, okay? Right now, Roxanne and I are your new family, and we will never abandon you, so just focus on doing your best and making sure that you are going to be living your life to the fullest everyday from morning until dawn, all right?」

「Of course. Thank you for your understanding. . . . . . . . . . . and your compassion. It really means a lot for me, Miss Roxanne, master.」

「Now that you have met master, you will never have to worry about things like that, Sherry. Because master is the best possible, most amazing master we could have ever hoped for!」

「Yes, that is certainly true.」

Although it made me immensely happy to hear Roxanne singing such high praises of me, I was beginning to think that it is more than a little scary how she was able to come up with such increasingly complex things almost at the spur of the moment and without batting an eye at that. Okay, do not think too hard about it. Just. . . . . . . . . . just go and offer her more meat. Yeah, that is a good thing to do. Stuff Roxanne’s mouth with more of that delicious meat of your so that she would focus more on eating rather than on anything else.

That being said. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . god damn, this Genghis Khan hot pot turned out to more popular than I thought, which could be clearly seen by the rate of how fast all of the ingredients were disappearing from my makeshift grill. Even though there were three of us at the table right now and we were all eating as if tomorrow was supposed to never come around, we still practically burned through all of the side dishes in an instant, and the meat and vegetables that my Genghis Khan hot pot consisted of were running low at an astonishing rate.