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 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 have decided would be best under the circumstances my family was under in that moment.
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 elevated 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 Roxannes 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.