"Heh... I mean, raising you until you're older isn't a problem, but I've heard some twisted bosses actually enjoy playing with little ones like you..."
The fat man stood up, his pig-like face folding into a revolting grin as he stepped toward me. That expression alone was enough to ignite a murderous rage deep in my heart.
Just ahead, at the curve of the tunnel, I saw it.
The stairs to the surface.
But they were guarded. And the revolting pig wouldn't let me go.
Still, I knew one thing.
There would only be one chance.
"Those sickos pay good money for girls like you. Maybe I should just take you to— GRAAAHHHH!"
As soon as he stepped closer, driven by raw instinct, I lunged forward and sank my teeth into his greasy, bulbous nose. I bit down hard. Blood burst into my mouth.
He screamed in agony, and I didn't hesitate. I released my jaw and rammed my knee into his groin. The pig let out another howl of pain and collapsed, howling and clutching himself.
The cart skidded to a halt.
My eyes locked on the small knife that had fallen next to his twitching body. I dove for it, grabbing it with the one hand that still had some movement, and leapt from the cart.
My target: the passageway to the surface.
I should have been too weak to run, too dizzy from hunger. But the will to survive gave me strength I didn't know I had. With the knife clenched tightly, I ran.
I ran toward freedom.
"Hey, you can't come through now! The guards upstairs are on break— wait, what the—?!"
"Wha—?!"
The stairway guard had only taken this job for pocket change. But now he was staring down a wild-eyed child sprinting toward him with a knife.
He flinched.
Jumped out of my path.
My small frame allowed me to slip straight through the iron bars with ease. My bound hands still clutched the blade, and I bolted through the exit like some crazed fugitive.
For the first time, I broke free of the underground's iron grip.
What lay before me was a blinding light.
No one would believe that this glittering world on the surface existed right above the filth. That the underground slums were hidden just beneath the center of the capital, within Wall Sina itself.
"Oh my god!"
Elegantly dressed citizens shrank back in horror at the sight of a filthy child brandishing a blade.
"Seize her!"
Surface guards, clearly fresh from their afternoon tea, rushed in with batons raised. Their eyes locked onto the worm that had crawled up from below.
I ran.
I ran through this unfamiliar place, my feet pounding against clean, paved streets. For the first time, I breathed fresh air. For the first time, sunlight touched my skin.
I felt reborn.
And as I ran, a single thought echoed in my mind.
Is this... what freedom feels like?
I darted through alleyways, using the towering stone walls of the city to shield my path. Left turn, right turn—I was fast. Faster than their armored boots.
Then I reached a clean riverbank, nothing like the murky cesspools of the underground.
"Water..."
I slashed through the ropes binding my wrists and threw myself into the stream. The current embraced me like a long-lost friend, washing away the filth, the pain, the past.
"Ha... hahaha..."
For the first time, I laughed.
Drinking the river's pure water, bathed in golden sunlight, I was just a child.
Just a six-year-old girl.
My smile bloomed under the light. No ropes. No cages. No lies.
As I floated in the river, I looked up and saw something massive.
A wall.
Towering above me, at least fifty meters high.
I had always heard whispers of the world outside the underground. Of three massive walls that guarded humanity—Wall Maria, Wall Rose, and Wall Sina. Together, they kept humanity safe from the creatures I had never seen with my own eyes.
Titans.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
"Get all this cargo into Wall Maria! Move it!"
I was drying myself off on the riverbank when I heard the clatter of wheels. A horse-drawn cart approached, its driver shouting orders.
A thought surfaced.
I came from the underground. Everything I'd learned—how to lie, steal, cheat—might be worthless up here. My stomach growled, twisting in pain.
Maybe that cart had food.
I crept toward the bridge, watching the cart roll into view. I slipped to the back and saw it was covered only with a canvas tarp. Quietly, I lifted the cloth and climbed aboard without making a sound.
Unknowingly, I had just stepped onto the road to my new home.
Inside the cart, I found a basket full of fruit.
Real fruit.
Not apple cores dug out of garbage.
Tears welled up in my eyes as I grabbed one and devoured it, seeds and all.
As the cart rolled over dirt and stone, I curled into a corner.
Exhausted.
And in the lullaby of wagon wheels and bumping roads, my eyelids grew heavy.
Sleep claimed me.
I didn't know how long I slept, but at some point, the cart stopped.
The driver climbed down, preparing to unload the goods and deliver them to merchants at the nearby market.
"My word, what is—?"
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