*New* Half-Dragon Slave Life- Prologue 2

Alright, I’ve been waiting for this forever, but now it’s finally time! Following in the footsteps of a certain female-MC loving holy sheeprabbit and a bit of certain beast-loving vietnamese man (and I guess a bit of my own “everyone’s a slave”), Here’s my first post of “The Slave Life of a Half-Dragon Girl” or as I have stylized “Half-Dragon Slave Life”!

Now a bit of forewarning, the author points out that these Prologue chapters are pretty depressing (And I agree) but the series will turn into a heartwarming one soon (Which I also agree).

Also Note that this is Prologue TWO, not Prologue 1. This series is a semi-continuation of the author’s previous work so Prologue 1 contains a bunch of background information about the world, like how it was created, the gods, etc. Since it’s kinda long and doesn’t seem to play a major part in the story (at least in the beginning), I skipped it in favor is actually getting to the main story. Perhaps I will do a summary of the chapter later.
Edit: Prologue 1 can be found here if you feel inclined to read it.

As for the translation status… I’m only translating it because I’ve become emotionally invested in it and felt like sharing. Like Kenja, these opening chapters are a bit more advanced than I’m used to so they might not be 100% accurate (though nothing I put out is, really). I Hope that someone faster (and probably better) will take it off my hands (so I can be lazy and read their translation instead :P) but we’ll see… If people like it maybe I’ll do more.

As always, the ToC page contains some spoilers so I suggest you hold off on reading it until after this chapter. The title of the series should pretty much give you the premise though.

Anyways, enough yammering. Onwards to the chapter~

 

 

 

TL side note: I wrote this in a partial-third person narrative, sometimes using “I” and “My” to make it sound less awkward. This is sort of like a diary so it’s all about the same person though and is originally in 1st person.

 

Prologue 2: Origin

 

From the memoir of ？？？

 

『Watashi^[1] (I)』 lived near the city of Marba, born at the foot of a mountain.
The village where 『Watashi-tachi (We)』 lived was, an area carved out of the trees by the mountainside, earning a living by baking charcoal.
In the past, 『Watashi-tachi (We)』 climbed the mountain to this place where a Evil God’s shrine was said to exist. 『Savages who didn’t know fear』 the people of this village were thought of as such, This was taught to all at a very young age.
The truth, if one climbed halfway up the mountainside, for some reason they would they would end up losing their way and getting lost.
Their sense of direction would go astray, and even though they should have been climbing up, for some reason they would end up in the place where they started…… That was something that remorselessly happened on this mountain.
However, it was necessary for the village to have fire. As a Fuel, As a Light. For that reason 『Watashi-tachi (We)』 continued to live off the natural greenery that was deep in this mountain. Even if we despised it, it became a necessary resource to live.

 

Well then, in regards to 『Watashi (Me)』 …… Ah, you’re probably wondering why I refer to myself as 『Watashi』, but the answer is simple. It’s because I have simply forgotten my name. I’ll explain the reason at a later time.
From the moment of birth, 『Watashi』 possessed a single 『Gift』.
That 『Gift』 was, it was a blessing bestowed onto someone by god. Leaving that topic aside, possessing such a thing meant that you could display things like Exceptional Talent or Abilities (Unusual Powers).
However, although the genres included things like talent for swordsmanship and sorcery, it covered a wide variety of abilities including things like being good at Rock-Paper-Scissors.
The one that『Watashi』 possessed, a praiseworthy ability was given to her.

 

That ability was “Other Dimension Storage”.
By opening up a hole to a different dimension, a Power that let her put things in there, and retrieve them again later.

 

The 『Watashi』 without strength, without magic powers, without much intelligence. This Ability that could be used to carry goods, it could bring her constant respect from this community to which She was born.
Enormously large trees, Freshly baked charcoals, and the meat and fur from animals.
The things placed in “Other Dimension Storage” had their time stopped. As if fresh, it was possible to carry them to the village as if they were freshly roasted.
But this Ability wasn’t used as a simple convenience.
This Ability of 『Watashi』, her father cleverly hid it. And he told her to make sure to hide it so that the important people of the village wouldn’t discover it.
The young 『Watashi』 didn’t understand at the time, but it seems like this Ability had a very dangerous side to it.
Successfully escaping from the public eye, while hiding her unusual power, 『Watashi』 believed that she lived a live filled with happiness. That is, until that day.

 

 

 

At the time when 『Watashi』was 13, the mountain suddenly erupted.
That eruption happened all too suddenly…… Fire abruptly spewed forth from the summit, the Earth shook, Destruction…… An avalanche of debris came raining down from above.
”Avalanche” is a vocabulary word that She learned after the fact.
In any case, all of a sudden, earth and sand came flowing down like a landslide, and She remembered the entire village being swallowed up in an instant.

 

By the time 『Watashi』 came to her senses, she was buried underneath all the rubble.
The fact that she had barely enough room to breathe, that would be consider the very definition of a miracle.

 

However, her movement was completely sealed…… It would be difficult to call her current situation “safe”.

 

She couldn’t really tell since it was pitch dark, her left eye hurt.
But She could still tell that that some sort of warm and sticky fluid was flowing from around her eye socket.
She couldn’t move her left arm either.
It seems like something was pinning it down, almost like it was being crushed flat.
Rather than pain, She felt the sensation of heat from it.
A similar feeling came from her right leg.
Her body was held down in a diagonal fashion, her movement restrained so She couldn’t even twitch.

 

By the time 『Watashi』 realized her current condition, her strength was exhausted, and her consciousness left her.
In short, right now 『Watashi』 was…. she had fallen into such a situation.

 

 

 

When I once again opened my eyes, the situation had not changed at all.
If I had to say, from my right leg to my left arm, and also my left eye, I could clearly feel a dull pain being transmitted from them.

 

――This is the Worst. It would be much better if I didn’t know about any of this!

 

The pain was agonizing, it made me want to squirm…… but I couldn’t so much as move. The rubble that pinned down my chest left me with just enough room to let out a scream. But my stamina was once again exhausted, and 『Watashi (I)』 lost consciousness for a second time.

 

 

 

Just, just how much time has passed……?
When, when will help come……?
When, when will 『I』 die……?

 

Hazy thoughts and the dull pain clouded my thoughts, I could only think about those three things.

 

The first thing to come, was Hunger.
The stamina and blood I have lost, I think my body wanted nutrients to repair the wounds I had.
Of course, there was no food beside『Me』 who was covered by this rubble.

 

The next one to come, was Thirst.
From what I could tell, not a single thing has entered my mouth for a whole day now.
How many days can a human go without drinking any water, Do they die after that?

 

Waking up, Being tortured by the Pain and Hunger, then losing consciousness.
How many times have I repeated this? I have already lost track of how much time has passed, but then a single drop of water fell on my face. It ran down my cheek, using my mouth I desperately tried to lick it up.
Was some of my own blood mixed in with it? The drop tasted irony and had hints of blood in it, but for 『Me』 it tasted like sweet nectar flowing down from the heavens.

 

Drop by drop, I continued to lick up the falling droplets as if it was my final lifeline, I wonder how much time has passed?
『I』 finally came to realize an abnormality.

 

――My arm…… could, move?

 

My right arm could just barely move. My left leg―― could move too!
I still couldn’t move my pinned down left arm and right leg, but I somehow managed to pull them free.
With my impaired body I desperately clawed at the dirt. The space I could move in slowly widened, I was able to dig away until there was just enough room for me to curl up into a ball.
A feeling I haven’t felt in a long time, my body was free. The sense of freedom caused tears to flow from my eyes.
After I cradled my very own body for a while, I began thinking about what to do next.

 

「If I stay trapped underneath this rubble forever; eventually I will exhaust all my energy. In any case, I’ve got to escape ……」

 

Anyhow, if I don’t get out from under this rubble then…… Thinking that, I hastily faced the surface and began digging at the earth.
Maybe it was because the fluid from before gave me back some strength, but it was much easier than I thought it would be to dig through the dirt.
As after advancing what I believed to be a few meters, a wall made of stone appeared before me.

 

「In…… A place like this……!」

 

This was without a doubt man-made, From 『My』 point of view, it was like a colossal obstacle blocked my path to the revered Earth’s surface.
Some sort of design was carved on the stone surface. I tried hitting the wall with my hands just to see but it didn’t leave a single scratch. Perhaps this 【Toughness】 was because of those “black magics” I heard rumors about?
I was aware of the potential danger of a cave-in if I carelessly kept digging around, but if I can’t get past this stone wall somehow then I won’t be able to reach the surface.
If I took a different route around the wall then maybe there will be a break in it somewhere.

 

I tried digging a small detour, and discovered an area where there the stone wall was damaged.
The crack barely wide enough for something small to fit in, but with a small body like 『Mine』, it was possible for me to slip past.
Squeezing past the crack by crawling through, the space opened up into what seemed like a considerably large room.

 

A questionable room that was about 20 meter in all directions, an enormous space. In the center of the room was a stone with perfectly shaped sides.
Is this place what you would call a ‘Stone Hut’? 『I』 rested my upper body against the rock.
Taking up more than 70% of this room was the mass of this giant rock.
A few days passed, and when I woke up I heard the sounds of rippling water by my feet. Did the water that fell on my face earlier come from this place?
It seems like water was oozing out of this lump of stone.

 

「You’re not easily beaten huh…… “Watashi”」

 

Rather than being unlucky that my limbs got crushed, I was lucky enough to have a figure that allowed me to squeeze through the narrow crevice to get here. Then suddenly I realized the strange reality of my current situation.

 

「Huh? Why can I…… Why can I tell how big this place is?」

 

It wasn’t because there was some light. I was in completely darkness without even a glimmer of light.
『I』 could… This stone hut that was 20 meters on all sides, and the physique of the large stone installed in the center, I could clearly see it all.
Being raised on a mountain, there was a saying that we could naturally see better in the dark, but this was still strange.

 

「But…… Right now I should be grateful, I guess?」

 

This was much better than seeing nothing, after all.
Also my throat was completely dry, I’m almost at my limit. Since water is leaking out of that stone, maybe there’s more water inside of it.

 

「This giant rock…… Since water is coming out of it, does that mean its some kind of container?」

 

I patted down the surface of the stone, and as I was surprised by it’s lightness one of the stone’s surfaces Slid Right Off.

 

「Ah wah!? This, It’s…… Like I thought, a box?」

 

More accurately, this cube-like thing placed here was… I clearly thought it was something man-made. That’s why I thought it might be something like a wicker basket.
The sturdy lid on this rock, even though 『I』 was impaired, for some reason I was able to easily push it off.
Moving the over 10m lid on this stone with only one hand, Was some sort of sorcery at work here too?
Ever so carefully, 『I』 took a peek inside――

 

「――Hiiii!」

 

Even though I let out an unsightly cry, I think it couldn’t be helped.
After all, in that box…… No, in that “coffin” was the dead corpse of a dragon frozen in ice.
It was bigger than 10 meters, the body of a dragon with it’s head crushed. The section that was frozen in ice, it was melting and had crevasses that were leaking.
Having just died a while ago, or you could say it died just now, the fresh corpse of a dragon.
From it blood oozed out and mixed together with the melting ice…… In other words, what 『I』 was drinking was――

 

「Uguuu!?」

 

A disgusting feeling as if my stomach was turning.
I went and vomited in a corner of the room for a while, but since my stomach was completely empty all that came out was stomach acid.
The acid burned my throat, that unpleasant feeling made me start crying once again.

 

Once 『I』 had calmed down I took one more look inside the coffin.
I didn’t look at it in fear, but rather――

 

「I’m…… hungry」

 

Several days, No, maybe a week has already passed?
I didn’t know exactly how many days, but 『I』 was buried and wounded under the earth and sand, and worked laboriously to reach this place.

 

My body desired nourishment.
It craved moisture.
And in front of me… was the meat of a dragon. And it had blood flowing from it.

 

That day, 『I』 lost to the starvation and thirst, and devoured that flesh and blood.

 

 

 

Still, devouring raw meat and blood wasn’t very good…… That day, for an entire day, Fever and Stomach Pains, my entire body suffered aching until I was on the verge of passing out.
Since I figured that the corpse might rot if left alone like that, I tossed it into “Other Dimension Storage”.
After all, it won’t spoil in there even though it was a corpse.
Even if it was revolting, Even if eating it would destroy my body, in this place without any food or water, this corpse was the last lifeline keeping 『Me』 alive.
But still, maybe it was punishment for eating gross food, the resulting fever and pains were extremely terrible…… Eventually I lost consciousness because of it.

 

How must time has passed until I woke up…… My throat was dry and I was hungry, I could physically tell that quite a bit of time has passed.
Maybe it was because I slept on the stone floor, My joints were in pain.
I used my Left Hand to fix my messy hair…… left hand?

 

「No way, I’m sure that my left hand couldn’t move much―― Eh?」

 

The left arm that came into my view…… was not in the form of a human’s.

 

The upper arm was covered in a tough hide, and furthermore scales were sprouting from it.
The hand portion had become rough and bony, and the fingernails were long and sharp.

 

This was… no matter how you looked at it it was like a reptile’s―― No, it was a Dragon’s.

 

「Lies, this is a lie…… My arm…… Ha, haha…… It became like a Dragon…… A ha ha ha ha」

 

A laugh came out in a hollow voice.
The only thing left to do was laugh. Her home in the mountains was destroyed, The village was buried, and『Watashi』 had lost her “humanity”.

 

「A ha, a-ha-ha-ha…… AHAHAHAHAHAHA, HAHAHAHAHAHA!!」

 

Perplexed at the still human form of her right hand, loud laughter cried out as if driven by madness.
And with that right hand, a shocking realization suddenly struck her.
Hidden behind her hair, a small horn was sticking out. It was growing out of her head.

 

「Hahaha…… Yup, this is all a dream. This has to be a dream」

 

She gently laid herself on the floor. If it was a dream then if all she had to do was wake up again…… She went to sleep while tightly holding on to that small ray of hope.
Even though her hunger was at an unbearable level, she decided that if this was all a dream then none of that should matter. Though it took a lot of effort, she closed her eyes.

 

 

 

Of course, no matter how many times she tried, this was not a dream. It was reality, however sad that may be.
『Watashi’s (My)』 left arm and right leg had become exactly like a Dragon’s, and a horn was growing out of her head.
And, this left eye of hers that could distinctly see the surroundings in this dark place, Surely it was no longer something a human would have.

 

 

 

But still, in order to live, 『Watashi』 had no choice other than to continue devouring the dragon’s flesh.

 

 

 

---

TL note: I hope the change in narrative wasn’t too confusing/annoying. I just wasn’t sure how to portray the story properly without incorporating 『Watashi』 to help set the mood.

I wanted the story to come across the best way possible so if you have some qualms with it then please comment. I will be grateful for it.

Also I left a few end-notes explaining some things. I could’ve added links during the story but I felt that it was distracting so I’ll leave it as an after-thought. Please read if you are curious.

 

Footnotes:

1.

TL note: [Watashi] is a way to refer to yourself, like I or Me. Technically [Watashi] is gender neutral but it is mainly used by girls. Augmenting it to [Watashi-tachi] means “I and others” or just “We”. Almost everything in 『Brackets』 is originally 『Watashi』 except for a few that are obvious. I tried keeping as many 『Watashi』’s as I could until it made sense to switch. For any strange conversions like [Watashi’s] I added context like (My).

Keep in mind that [Watashi] is the girl herself. I only treated [Watashi] as a name to retain the mood.

In Japanese pronouns/possessives aren’t used as often as in English, but I added extra ones to help the flow.

 

 

Extra TL notes:

1. I chose to use “memoir” instead of diary because I felt it was more fitting as a collection of memories.
2. The opening paragraph has really strange sentence structure so I’m sorry if any of it is incorrect, the contents should all be there though.
3. The word for “Stone Hut” can also be used to refer to a “Burial Ground/Mound”. Like a stone cave used to hide away a corpse.
4. I read the description of the “box” to be square but if it was square and 70% of the room then [Watashi] would have to be 10m tall to even see over it. So I assumed square sides meant that the sides were “Perpendicular” and I use the term “cube-like” loosely.

5. Random thought: If the coffin was leaking out blood+water… and [Watashi] woke up soaking wet… Then that’s pretty messed up, waking up to be covered in blood.

 

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