Swiss Bank Lump-sum Transfer
It was the summer of her thirteenth birthday when Miriam was forced to sell herself in order to cover her parents’ debts.
Her father had always been a poor peasant farmer, but after he fell ill with an epidemic, the family’s finances began to suffer like a downhill slope.
Then one year, a bad harvest put the final nail in the coffin. The family could no longer pay back even the interest on their mounting debts, and they finally decided to clear their debts in exchange for Miriam’s sale.
Miriam’s parents cried and apologized to her, but she remained firm and only asked them to take care of her remaining siblings. She convinced herself that if she could save her entire family in exchange for herself alone, then so be it.
There is only one kind of “work” that a girl who has been sold for a debt would do. Prostitution.
Miriam felt an irresistible aversion to the idea, but she tried her best to hold it in. There was no way she could rebel. She knew what kind of a horrible person was her owner.
Those who run the night world of Ciel-Terra… “Night Pythons”. Her father owed money to a moneylender who was also a member.
Apparently, they are willing to do anything for money. They manipulated officials with bribes and threats, and even the Knights could not touch them.
If Miriam escaped, they would chase her to the ends of the world and kill her. It was that kind of fear that bound those of her profession.
After a few years, Miriam had become a full-fledged prost***te.
Even the nauseating “work” eventually became “routine” and she no longer thought of it as such.
However, after a certain point, Miriam began to receive only troublesome customers.
One who gets excited by hurting people. Some would give Miriam strange drugs. One who was reluctant to pay but possessive and would not allow her to take another client.
At first, she thought it was a coincidence, but it wasn’t. The establishment was pushing Miriam to take on such customers.
Now Miriam understood why. Because the least valuable commodity in there was Miriam.
For Miriam, who looked about average, the only thing she could sell was her youth. The younger she was, the more valuable she was, provided she had the same looks. She had learned how to flatter and charm, but even that was only at the level of “what she should have been able to do”.
In order not to wear down the others, they concentrated the damage on Miriam, whose value was relatively low.
Miriam was injured more often. When she missed a day of work because of it, she made less money and was beaten by her master.
She was mentally trapped. She could no longer eat and became emaciated. The number of customers decreased even further.
Miriam continued to endure, but one day she heard her master talking about selling her for a bundle of change.
He sold her to a drug workshop, which was also under the control of Night Pythons. There was always a shortage of experimental animals for the development of new drugs. In other words, that was Miriam’s next… and last role. Miriam had given up being a prost***te.
It would be underestimating what she could do to talk about such things in a room that could easily be eavesdropped on. But Miriam acted quickly.
While a client was sleeping, Miriam took his wallet and fled with it. Miriam then ran to her family, whom she had not been able to contact since she left.
She wondered if her actions might put her family in danger. But Miriam was still afraid of dying. She wanted to escape with her family to another country.
She changed her clothes to plain cheap ones, cut her hair, and hid her face with a hooded cloak, and took a ride in a stagecoach. She prayed that the next passenger would not be a pursuer from the Night Pythons.
Whether her prayers were answered or not, Miriam made it safely back to her home village, almost on the other side of the country.
When Miriam returned to her home for the first time in several years, she was greeted by two skulls lined up on the dining table.
“Eh…?”
Miriam wondered why these things were here.
There was no sign of anyone in the house.
There were signs of rough rummaging, but the thick layer of dust on top told her that no one had been inside or outside for years.
Where had her father, mother, and siblings gone?
Miriam tried to ask the villagers what had happened.
The villagers, whom she had not seen for a long time, were all surprised to see her, but they were somewhat distant and would not open up to her, no matter what she asked them.
A neighbor who was a good friend of hers said, ‘Never tell them that I spoke’, and she was very careful to preface her statement by saying that Miriam’s family debt had not been canceled.
It seemed absurd, but whatever it was, the contract at the time stated a number of conditions for the debt to be written off. One of them was that Miriam had to make a certain amount of profit for the business during the first year of work.
Suddenly, Miriam knew what happened.
Miriam’s salary was disgustingly good during her first year. She had to spend the money on clothes, cosmetics, and accessories to attract customers (especially the clothes she had to buy for her future), and she could not even save enough money because she was always getting ripped off by her seniors.
At the time, she had just started working and thought this pay was normal, but in hindsight, the profits of the business must have been decreasing considerably.
Anyway, the remaining family was unceremoniously sentenced to a “no write-off” and had no choice but to flee into the night.
The family disappeared without telling anyone in the village… A few days later, only the heads of the father and mother silently returned.
In retaliation for their attempt to evade their debt, and as an example to others, the Night Pythons killed them both. The whereabouts of Miriam’s siblings were unknown, but they were worth a lot of money. They must have been turned into commodities. In some way.
The villagers could not even bury the heads for fear of incurring Night Pythons’ wrath. Somehow, they became nothing more than bones that greeted Miriam on her return.
“No way…”
Miriam collapsed in front of the sight of her parents’ remains.
She was too shocked to cry.
What were the years of endurance? Her mother and father were confident that her younger siblings, though poor, would help each other and live happily ever after. That was the only thing that supported Miriam’s heart.
How long had she been doing that?
Miriam felt the presence of someone behind her and turned around.
Someone was standing in the doorway of the house, bearing a reddish-black glow.
A young man in a common traveling outfit. At first glance, he seemed to be a man who could be found anywhere… and that’s why he was so strange.
Miriam realized what he was.
He was an assassin sent by the Night Pythons. An assassin who showed up to make an example of Miriam after she escaped.
“Why……?”
Miriam blurted out, and the man had no answer.
He simply pulled out a knife and walked up carelessly to Miriam.
“Why did mother and father have to die? Why aren’t my siblings here? Why do I have to die?”
The man never answered.
It didn’t necessarily mean that he had killed her parents, but Miriam couldn’t help but ask.
What had her father, her mother, and Miriam done?
Even though they were poor, they lived each day to the fullest.
Yet, she was being exploited and ruined just to make money for the wrong people.
“Why, why!?”
Miriam stood up.
She was so anxious that she pulled out the knife she had bought along the way for self-defense.
“I want them back!!”
Miriam thrust the knife toward the man.
Two of knives were then thrust into Miriam’s chest.
“Ah……?”
A heartbeat later, the pain came.
She didn’t even know what had happened.
The knife that had disappeared from Miriam’s hand was now standing in her chest, along with the man’s own knife. In an instant, the weapon had been taken from her and used against her.
“A…h…”
She couldn’t breathe well. Blood rushed to her throat. Her body was weak. Miriam collapsed.
“Return… them…”
Miriam’s outstretched hand did not reach, and her consciousness sank into darkness.
＊ ＊ ＊
Miriam looked down at herself sinking into a pool of blood when she suddenly felt her body lighten.
–This is……?
She was slightly suspended in the air.
The assassin from earlier was still in the house, examining the interior.
When she looked at her hand, it was pale and transparent, and she could see the other side.
–Just a soul…
Yes, Miriam was dead.
A starving, desperate sense of loss that cannot be made up for filled her heart.
It was said that the souls of the dead are guided by the light that falls from the heavens and return to the bosom of God to be at peace. Then they will be born again into the world.
Miriam, however, felt no such guidance.
Miriam was trapped in this world because of her resentment.
“Aaaaaahhhhhhh!!!”
The flames of deep black resentment flared up inside Miriam.
“Why!? Why!!”
In a rage, Miriam punched the assassin.
But her fist only hit nothing.
“Father…, mother…”
Tears welled up in her eyes now that her physical body was gone. Huddled on the floor, Miriam howled and cried.
Sadness, anger, and resentment bubbled up after she cried and cried.
Eventually, the assassin pulled up. He was checking to make sure Miriam had not hidden anything in the house.
Eventually, the assassin pulled up. He was checking to make sure Miriam had not hidden anything in the house.
But she could not actually kill him. She could not magically attack people like the Undead monsters she had heard stories about. She was trapped on the ground, defying God’s reason because of her resentment, and she couldn’t even do that little thing.
–I can’t forgive you…Night Pythons…!
But unforgiveness can do nothing.
How much resentment, blood, and tears did the Night Pythons stand on? Nothing would change if Miriam alone hated them…
“Guah…!”
Suddenly, a wild scream made Miriam look up.
The assassin was lying on the ground just outside the doorway. Miriam had no idea what had happened.
–Did he die …?
But why was he dead?
“Fufufufufu……I hate you…I hate you… I’m not going to die like this…”
Suddenly, a chuckle echoed from somewhere.
A young girl’s laugh, filled with a horrifying sense of dread.
“Then shall I settle your resentment? If it’s a wish worth offering your soul for…!”
The world seemed to tremble.
The pressure was so great that Miriam’s soul was bubbling, and almost distorted.
Looking up, she saw a silver moon in the indigo sky.
–Different. Not the moon…
Silver hair spread out softly like an angel’s wings. Silver eyes with an attraction that seems to suck her in when she is looked at. Skin as white as snow. White, delicately decorated dress.
There was a beautiful, noble-looking girl there, her entire body uniformed in white and silver. But she, like Miriam, was also a … soul. She was dead.
She knew immediately that the girl was no ordinary person.
She felt a pressure that seemed to crush her soul.
She was something paranormal, something Miriam had never imagined.
“Did you kill this man?”
“Yeah, he was in the way. He didn’t seem to see us, but I didn’t want him to hear us, just in case.”
The girl’s soul said matter-of-factly.
Miriam was more interested in how she killed him than why she killed him, or rather, why she had the power to kill him.
“What are you…”
The girl seemed a little lost as to how to identify herself as she muttered in dismay, but eventually opened her mouth like a flower opened its petals.
“The Avenger… René “Rosey” Ruvia Ciel-Terra.”
“Ciel …, no way!”
Prost***tes were also in the clientele business.
Many customers talk about themselves and share gossip and information, and Miriam usually heard about topics that were causing a stir among her peers.
Miriam had heard about a former princess who had died an untimely death, and that she had come back to life as an Undead and caused extensive damage.
“You were executed and came back as an Undead…!”
“Huh? Has it become quite the rumor?”
René laughed.
It was not a childish laugh, but a sarcastic adult’s laugh. The fact that she was able to make such an expression on her innocent face was somewhat insane and frightening.
“Now, I don’t have much time for you, so I’m going to be direct with you. If you continue like this, you will turn into a resentful soul and eventually become an Undead of the soul system.”
“Can I… become one?”
“Do you want to be one?”
When Miriam was asked back, René tilted her head.
“Because … I think it might help me get rid of my resentment.”
Miriam has never seen a monster directly, but she has taken as customers adventurers and traveling merchants for whom it was not unusual to encounter monsters in the course of their work. Therefore, she has some knowledge of monsters.
She had heard that undead monsters are terrifying regardless of whether they have physical bodies or not.
Perhaps if she could become such a thing, she might be able to take revenge on the Night Pythons, she thought.
“You can’t do it. A self-bound soul will lose its sanity in no time. You’ll go on a rampage, not knowing whom to vent your resentment to. Even if you are good at fighting the target of your resentment, even the low-level undead will be defeated by an average adventurer.”
“No…”
René’s commentary was unrelenting.
After all, Miriam’s resentment would never reach the Night Pythons.
“So, let’s talk about something. I’ll go and make a bloodbath of these Night Pythons guys. I’ll only accept your soul as payment. It’s a little out of budget, but hey, I’ll give you a discount as part of my opening sale.”
René’s smile was as sweet as poison.
