“I’m going to collect 100 coins and go outside!”
Evangeline declared this boldly about collecting 100 Davis coins to go outside, but obviously, it wasn’t going to be as easy as she said.
“…So, how many have you collected so far?”
“Just this one!”
“Sigh, I figured as much…”
Beatrice shook her head in disbelief at Evangeline’s cheerful grin, having only managed to collect one coin so far.
Davis coins were notoriously hard to come by. The frequency at which they were distributed was entirely up to Davis’s whims, and special events were really the only times you could expect to get them.
Considering Beatrice had been working here for about two years, and had only received the coins twice, that probably explained how rare they were. It was about one coin a year.
Of course, that was partly because Beatrice had never really done anything notable enough to earn a Davis coin, but either way, the point stood that under regular circumstances, getting one was quite rare.
It meant that even if Evangeline diligently collected from now on, gathering another 99 coins could take her several decades.
“…At that rate, I think you’d age and die before you collected all of them.”
“Hehe, that’s why I think I’ll do errands and maybe get coins from other people for my trouble!”
Evangeline seemed to have thought of that on her own. It was true that trading Davis coins was allowed.
But asking for coins as payment for doing errands…
With the knowledge she had gained from books, Beatrice, who understood economics to some extent, thought that sounded difficult as well.
Most slaves spent the coins they received the day they got them, just like Beatrice had traded in the two coins she received for a day off.
In economic terms, Davis coins were a limited resource with a disposable nature.
People who kept such disposable goods without immediately using them were very rare in this mine, so there were hardly any people who could give coins in the first place.
Besides, even if such individuals existed, one might question whether they would be willing to hand over a coin for something trivial like running an errand.
In Beatrice’s eyes, the value of the Davis coins was quite high.
Transactions couldn’t happen without some shared understanding as well.
Beatrice had read about it somewhere and knew that some female slaves exchanged Davis coins for a night with a man.
Given that such things were possible with coins, it was unlikely that a slave would pay her for something as trivial as running an errand.
Unless something special happened, it seemed unlikely that anyone would.
“I’ll have to work hard to collect them! Hehe!”
“…Yeah. Good luck, Eva.”
However, how could Beatrice mock the bright-eyed Evangeline, who was filled with dreams and sparkling eyes?
Realistically, she had no choice but to support Evangeline’s incredibly whimsical plan.
*
It was on one of those days.
During work, a major incident occurred where about ten slaves were crushed in a collapsing tunnel and died.
It was the largest incident since this underground mine had been in operation.
However, rather than mourning or being frightened by the deaths of their fellow slaves, the remaining ones actually cheered.
“Really? You’re giving us three coins?”
“Haha, I should be thanking those dead guys!”
“Hooray for Davis! Hooray for the Master!”
The owner of the underground mine, Davis, had summoned all the slaves and, under the pretense of reassuring them to not be afraid and to keep working hard, distributed three Davis coins each.
Sadness was sadness, but good things were good.
With Davis tossing coins around, the atmosphere among the slaves, which had turned tense, quickly returned to normal.
It was indeed unusual for every slave to receive a large batch of coins at once.
Perhaps because of this, Davis took measures to ensure that the slaves wouldn’t use their coins all at once this time.
It was complicated to manage if everyone used all their coins right after receiving them.
As a result, some surplus coins naturally piled up among the many slaves.
“Eva…! This is it! Now’s the chance to gather coins!”
“Oh, you’re right…!”
For Evangeline, this may have been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Beatrice urged Evangeline to hurry to the slaves with the coins.
“Hey there!”
“Hmm? What do you kids want?”
“Is there anything you need us to run errands for? Cleaning, laundry, or anything annoying, we can do it all!”
“Huh? Really? For free?”
“Well, not free! Just give us one Davis coin, and we’ll do it!”
But predictably,
“Oh dear, just one coin for a simple errand? You kids are just little thieves.”
The slaves who heard this reacted as if they couldn’t believe what they were hearing.
It simply didn’t make economic sense.
“Hey, kids. You could take a day off with that coin, buy a pack of cigarettes, or even spend a night with that beauty over there! Do you really think that’s reasonable?”
“Hey, bald guy, wait a minute. You’re saying you’ll do anything? Why not have a night with me instead of that girl? I’d be willing to pay.”
“Damn, you crazy bastard… Are you really thinking of harassing young girls like that when you’re already a slave? Anyway, kids, don’t get too greedy. Just go home and sleep.”
When they tried to approach other slaves, they received similar responses.
Except for the few bad slaves who showed interest in their bodies, everyone else just told them to quit with the nonsense.
“…I honestly thought someone would show interest.”
“Hehe, guess it can’t be helped! I can’t force anyone to ask me for errands! Besides, I just got three coins, so I just need 96 more!”
Although Beatrice had suspected things might go this way, she never imagined it would be like this…
She felt a bit bitter in her mouth.
It was even worse seeing Evangeline, who should be disheartened, cheerfully comforting her.
“Well, shall we part ways for today?”
“Yeah, Beatrice! See you tomorrow!”
Just when Beatrice and Evangeline were about to part ways without any gains,
“Hey, you kids over there. Can I ask you something?”
Someone called out to them.
It was the bald male slave who had first proposed running errands.
He stopped Beatrice and Evangeline and asked them,
“Just curious, but what are you collecting Davis coins for? You just got three, so you don’t need them immediately, right?”
In response to that question, Evangeline smiled and replied,
“I’m collecting them to go outside!”
“What? They’ll let you out if you collect those?”
“Yep! If I gather 100, Davis said I’d get to go out for 5 minutes!”
The man’s expression went blank at the mention of five minutes.
“…Five minutes? You’re collecting 100 coins just to go out for a measly five minutes? What can you even do in that little time…?”
“I’m going to go outside and see the sun! It’s my dream to draw the sun. Hehe!”
As Evangeline answered honestly, the man’s expression gradually turned stern.
“…You’re the one rumored to have been born here? So, you want to see the sun… Ah, hell… This is… Huh…”
He hardened his expression, muttering to himself and then suddenly seeming to come to some realization, he asked Evangeline,
“What is this about… Ugh, okay… Hey, kid. Do you have any special talents?”
“Special talents?”
“Yeah, just skip the errands and put on a show for me. If you impress me, I’ll give you this.”
The man pulled out a Davis coin from his pocket and held it out to Evangeline.
Upon hearing that, Evangeline responded with a bright face, “Then can I draw a picture since I’m good at it?”
“A picture? Sure, go ahead and draw it here.”
Evangeline picked up a stone nearby and focused, swiftly sketching on the ground.
As soon as the drawing was complete, everyone could tell what it was just by looking.
Because her head was bald.
“Is this… me?”
“Yep! What do you think? Do you like it?”
Evangeline nodded and eagerly asked the man, who paused for a moment and then let out a small chuckle before bursting into laughter.
“Puhaha! Yeah! I like it! I’ve only seen my face on wanted posters, so this is quite a nice feeling! Honestly, kid, you’ve got a talent for drawing! You drew me looking more charming than I am! Right?”
Seemingly genuinely amused, the man chuckled for a while before offering a coin to Evangeline.
“Here you go, kid. As promised. And next time, just say you’re going to draw rather than asking for errands. Your drawing is worth far more than a pack of cigarettes.”
“I’ll think about it! Thanks for the compliment! And I’m not just a kid, I’m Evangeline!”
“Is that so? Well then, Evangeline. You should get going. Make sure you chase your dream.”
After receiving such kind words, on her way back, Evangeline was beaming with delight.
“Did you see?! Beatrice, he said I draw well! And I got a coin too!”
“…Yeah, good for you.”
“Hehe! I’m so happy! Now I just need 95 more!”
It seemed that what brought her more joy than earning coins was that her drawing had been praised by someone.
Watching her, Beatrice thought,
Although they had somehow earned a coin today, she knew they couldn’t just keep earning coins like this.
The bald slave they encountered was just a fortunate exception; it would be foolish to expect others to be the same.
But seeing Evangeline so happy made her feel happy too, and Beatrice quietly prayed that night,
May Eva be happy again tomorrow.
And perhaps the gods heard that prayer.
In the following days, astonishing things began to happen.
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.