Published: March 21, 2026
Thank you, as always, for reading!
I have never thought of myself as pitiful. Yet the adults around me say I am a pitiable child.
What does pitiable even mean? Is it something the adults around me decide? Or is it something I get to decide for myself?
Is having white hair pitiable? Is having red eyes pitiable? Is it pitiable if my younger sister is better than me?
I no longer know.
It's true that my sister has more beautiful hair, more beautiful eyes, and is very strong. For as long as I can remember, my sister has taken everything from me. Parents who should have been on my side, friends, even the fiance who whispered love to me. Before I knew it, every member of my kin was gathered around my sister, and somehow it had become my fault — that I had been bullying her. My sister cried in front of everyone and passionately described how cruel I was.
All our kin sided with my sister. I was exiled from the Elf race territory and forced to choose to leave the Sacred Tree. No one believed my words. I, too, lost the ability to trust anyone.
After that, I left the Forest and I think I drifted to the Human race continent, Cantinen. Lost and confused in an unfamiliar wood, I was eaten by that black, sludge-like slime creature.
I braced for death. Or rather, I thought I died.
The next time I opened my eyes I was in a Human race labyrinth. If I remember correctly, it was called the Cantinen Labyrinth. A dark-haired, unremarkable-looking man gave me food.
I think that sludge-like creature that ate me was a modified slime sub-species released by the kidnappers who have been disturbing the Elf race territory recently — a slime altered to capture elves.
I have two reasons for thinking that.
The first is that, just before being eaten, I faintly sensed other people. And not just one or two. There was probably a village nearby. If that creature were a carnivore that ate humans, it would have been better to attack the village rather than take only me. Even if it struggled a bit, that slime could have eaten non-combat villagers without issue. And even if there happened to be adventurers, that slime would have needed considerable power to be turned away.
The second reason is that it ended up in the Cantinen Labyrinth — and lower layers that clearly didn't match its presumed strength. Labyrinth monsters generally don't move outside the tier that matches their power. Exceptions happen once every few years, when monsters overflow the labyrinth and climb tiers to appear on the surface.
From this I hypothesize that after capturing me, it attempted to bring back another person. Given its size, it could have fit at least one more. If that slime-thing was following orders to capture targets based on high magical power, not because they were of the Elf race, then the man in front of me — who seems to have very high magical power — fits that condition.
If that theory is correct, I still don't know why the kidnappers targeting elves would release monsters into the Human race continent…
Curious if this man might have answers, I used the World Eye — the skill my kin despised because it sees through everything — to check his status.
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Akira Oda
Race: Human Profession: Assassin lv.68
HP 23000/23400 Attack 15600 Defense 10400 Magical Power 8400/9100
Skills: Arithmetic lv.5 negotiation lv.5 hidden weapon lv.8 assassination lv.8 curved blade technique lv.9 dagger technique lv.5 presence concealment lv. max presence detection lv.9 crisis sensing lv.8 intimidation lv.7 roar lv.3 dual-wielding lv.3 magic control lv.8 illusion magic lv.1
Extra Skills: language comprehension world eye lv.2 shadow magic lv.7 luck
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For a moment I was speechless. Clearly something was off. He was far stronger than my sister, who held the Adventurer Guild’s highest gold rank. By attack power alone he surpassed the previous demon king. And yet his presence was somehow thin. That unique aura of the truly powerful was absent from him.