I'm a human male.

My age is nineteen and my price is fifty silver.

I'm Ken and currently I'm in a big pinch.

After a drought that destroy our farmland, my family is in debt and on one stormy night decide to sell me to slavery.

Why on one stormy night i said?

Well it's because when i woke up I'm already chained up in a carriage.

After a few question and a few beating i finally come to a conclusion on what is happening now.

And another question manage to gain me  the information about my price, it's fifty silver.

After hearing that i laugh hard, in my head.

Why? 

Well because i know that a healthy young man my age is worth at least one gold coin.

How do i know this you say?

I know this because I've been to the city before, and i accidentally passed by a slave market so i know at least this much.

So in conclusion my pa.. whoever it is that sold me got tricked because of their stupidity.

Fifty silver isn't enough to settle the debt anyway so…

I don't feel good talking about this anymore so let's talk about something else.

Looking around i see many middle age man chained up, my eyes!

Well luckily there's no beautiful girl here or the one that would hurt is my heart.

Honestly i don't know what to think about now.

Do i think about escaping… or do i think about how i will spend the rest of my life in slavery.

Well I'm still young so let's think about how to escape first, I'll think about the other thing when all hope is lost.

So my hand is chained, the chain look rusty it seems like i can easily break it with a stone but i guess there is no way to get a stone in a carriage.

There is one guard at the back of the carriage, a strong man complete with an armor and a sword.

Looking around again only to see many middle age men with soulless eyes, yeah that one guy is enough to beat all of us. 

I'm wasting my time thinking a few more escape plans…

How long do i have to wait, I'm bored.

Then suddenly.

Swoosh

Hmm…

I think i hear something.

I look to my left to see something sharp stick out from the wall.

"Aaaaaaaahhhhh!!! Goblins!!!"

And then a scream was heard from outside.

Goblins huh, those are the small green one right…

Wait! Goblins!

It seems like before getting sold again I'm gonna die first.

I see the guard at the back already got down from the carriage.

The other slave here seemed to panic and followed the guard outside luckily our legs aren't tied.

Between getting sold and getting killed i choose to escape so i want to hurry and use this chance to escape, but before i come down from the carriage i see all the people outside getting shot by a bunch of arrow.

All dead.

When i look closely i can see the guard from before dead on the ground with his head still burning.

Don't tell me, magic?

Is it some kind of goblin magician?

Don't know what to do i only sit there stunned.

After a while all the sound of battle outside stopped.

It seems the battle has ended and considering I'm hearing what i think is goblin voices cheering then i guess I'm dead.

So rather than die a horrible death by getting beaten up by goblin it's better to die getting shot with and arrow and die and instant death.

With determination not to die a horrible death i jump down from the carriage and run as fast as i can.

I keep looking forward, because I'm scared to see anywhere else.

I keep running and running and running.

and running.

…

In the middle of running i try checking the back of my head.

No arrow.

When will i die?

Can't hold back anymore i gather all my courage to turn around to see what's going on.

I turn back only to see, nothing?

What? 

Did i perhaps manage to get away?

I rub my eye with my still tied hand and still see nothing.

…

I did it!

I'm alive!

Yeah!

suddenly feeling relieved of surviving that, my leg give up and i fell to the ground.

It hurt a little but at least I'm alive and I'm free!

Seems like i have to thank the goblins for attacking the carriage, i never want to see them ever again though.

Now, where am i?

All i see is a muddy road and forest on both side of the road.

Looking around i feel like this place is quite familliar, this place should not be too far from my village.

It seems like the carriage haven't actually gotten far.

It means that the goblins is so close to the village.

Monster never got this close to the village before so im quite worried.

If it's the usual me i probably would have warn the village about this, but the newly emancipated me didn't want to, I'm only human after all.

The best thing for me to do right now is run into the forest far away from where the goblin is and find shelter there and wait until the all the goblin is killed by adventurer before going somewhere far away from here.

But before that i have some problem to solve first.

My hand is still tied by this rusty chain.

Even though i said that it can be destroyed with a stone before, but the problem is i don't know how to do that.

After thinking for a while and still havent found a solution i decide to think while walking into a safe place first.

So i stand up, it seems like my leg already feel better.

I'm quite familliar with the forest because i used to play there all the time when i was small and because there is no monster i can go quite deep into the forest and didn't get scold at.

If i remember correctly then there is a hidden cave somewhere in the forest that i found, i found it by accident because its a place that you can't find easily if you search for it normally.

I think i more or less remember where it is, i should have left some clue so that i can find it again,

i think I'm planning to make it my secret hidden base so i didn't tell anyone about it, but after a while i got bored so i just didn't go there anymore.

I walk while trying to think more about it.

After a while of walking i got a little bit tired.

looking around to see where i am right now i see a big 'K' carved on a tree.

This is it, the clue!

I was a kid back then so i make up some random stuff to be the clue.

If i remember correctly then the < in K is pointing to where i should go but there is a | there so that is the wrong way, to the right it is then.

After walking for a while i see a E carved on another tree, but this one is not as big as the other one.

E… Hmmm…

Ah! i see, if im not wrong then E should mean two to the left.

Because the E look like its pointing to the left like the K from before and there is two of them.

So it should be the second tree on the left.

Looking at the tree i spot a really small N carved at the bottom of the tree.

I knew it!

As expected of me i guess, hehe.

This one is quite hard.

I'm trying to remember this one but it seems like I forgot about it.

N… It should be like before, N is pointing up and down but which one.

Up and down… left or rig..!

That's it!

I remember now, someone said to me before about left or right.

I forgot the exact word but it should be about left or right, if you have a choice then choose right because right is always right or something like that.

Down it is then.

I walk to where the clue is pointing to.

Around five minute of walking i finally see something other than tree, i see a really big rock on the side of the hill.

Seeing this my mind suddenly remember many thing about the cave.

This is it!

The cave is behind the big rock, if i remember correctly then there should be a gap on top of the rock that i could use to get in.

Because you can't see the entrance from down here, so it is impossible to find the cave unless you climb it.

I remember climbing the rock just for fun but when i reach the top i accidentally slipped and enter the cave luckily the rock have many place you can hold onto so it is quite easy to climb.

Seeing a nostalgic place i feel quite safe now so it is time to finally find a way to get out of this chain.

There are many rock here maybe if i just find the right one and hit it hard enough maybe it would break, i hope.

Maybe that one over there would work.

It's a rock that look sharp if i can just make it stand right like this...

There we go.

With the rock in the right position, I'm ready to fully gain my freedom.

"Hyaaaaaa…"

With all my strength i swing my hand downward toward the stone.

Crack

And then a sound was heard, i can only hope that is the sound of the chain breaking and not the rock.

I look down to see that my hand is freed.

It worked!

Yeah!

I see the broken chain on the ground and some rock pieces with it too, it looks lik the rock broke too.

I pick up the the chain and bury it in the ground, take that!

Hahaha!

I'm totally free now!

hahaha…

…

Now what?

Even though I'm free my future looks really bleak, maybe it's actually better to be a slave somewhere ar least i can still live in a place where there is no monster but…

No! even if i can live without the constant worry of being killed by monster but my dignity is more important, there is no way i want to be a slave!

With my newfound courage i start to work for a better future.

Well, for now i should look into the cave first to check if it's really safe i guess.

I climb the big rock with my unchained hand, the big rock is really easy to climb just as how i remembered it to be.

When i get to the top of the rock i see the gap where i could come in.

It seems large enough for me to pass through.

Through the gap i see the inside of the cave, it's bright inside the cave not dark like the usual cave because there is a small hole on top of the cave and there is also water at the side of the cave coming from a natural spring.

Now that i look at it properly it looks like a place where someone could live comfortably in.

Perfect for me, hehe.

Can't wait anymore to get to a safe place far away from all the bad things from the outside world i quickly enter the cave.

I'm here finally.

I breath the cave air but i didn't find it bad, it is refreshing actually.

I can't stop imagining my comfortable live here from now on.

In the middle of daydreaming about my new life i feel like i saw something on the corner of my eye.

Surprised, as fast as i could i turn my head to see what is it…

Well I'm dead.

Why is there something like this here!?

The thing that made me fall into despair is what you usually call a tiger, if it's only a normal tiger than i woud have already run away but this one is diffrent, because if i run away i would just die faster, Why?

Well because this tiger is the size of a house.

Why did i not see this when i was looking inside earlier, how did it even get in here.

I did not know why but when i see into the tiger eyes i didn't see any fierce look but all i see is a calm one.

Well i guess when you're a big tiger when you see a small and weak human it would be like when human look at ants on the ground right, you would feel nothing.

Somehow the thought of being a slave cross my mind again, what is dignity is it edible?

But that is already too late, so i gather all my courage even if I'm gonna die today at least i want to do something no one has ever do.

Finish gathering my courage i run to the tiger with the intention to at least get one good hit before i get eaten but…

Thump

What?…

Then everything turn black.

___

A girl wearing a white robe is standing in the middle of a cave, with a frown on her beautiful but pale face looking down on something on the ground.

"Human?"