Chapter 0

"Sold for 1000 gold coins!"

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I'm in nightmare.

I wish someone would wake me up. But as days passed, my realization that I'm not in a dream struck me.

I don't know how I end up in this situation. I seriously don't know.

If you told me one month ago, I would wake up in a strange place the next morning, get caught by pirates and be sold as a slave. As a modern woman who lives in one of peaceful developed countries in the world, Japan, I wouldn't believe it. Who would write a crappy story like that?!

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Aoki Rena, 21 years old, despite her full Japanese name, is actually a half-Japanese. That fact probably made her more stand out compare to her peers at a glance. Her father was a passionate travel journalist so he did a lot of travel. That's how he met her mother and how he lost her. They divorced when she was 5 years old and since then she lost contact with her mother. She lived with her grandmother and they were very close. When her grandmother died, she lost the only person who would support her in hell and high water.

That said, Rena's relationship with her father was fairly good. He often called her and asked her how she's been doing. He loved showing me a lot of pictures he had taken. Each of his pictures had a story to tell, and she always loved listening to his stories. She wanted to see the world like him, but not as an occupation. She hated the idea to not be able to spend time with family or friends. That's why she decided back then, after finishing her study, she'd go traveling around the world.

"I'll go backpacking around the world!"

When Rena told her plan to her friends. One of them, Jun, decided to tag along with her. He thought it's too dangerous for her to go alone.

"Hey, I'll be alright, it's not like I'm planning to go to war-zoned countries!"

That was she said when Jun said his concern.

She said that in light-hearted manner, but it made him even more determined.

Actually, it was also because he secretly liked her even though he genuinely was worried about her. As far as Jun's know, Rena has never been interested in a relationship with a guy. That's why he never confessed to her. But their relationship can't be like this forever, so he decided to move by using this opportunity.

In the end, she gave up and let him joined her. To be honest, Rena was happy that he's going with her. She imagined that they would have a lot of fun together.

The day before departure, they had a small party with their friends in Jun's apartment. It was meeting between friends before their temporary separation, and to celebrate Ai and Ta-kun's first jobs.

Rena ended up drinking a bit more than she intended to, so she told them she was going to bed early. She didn't want to mess up her important day tomorrow. She borrowed Jun's couch and went to sleep.

(Ah, I'm so excited for tomorrow!)

...was what she thought before drifting to sleep.

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When Rena opened her eyes, what greeted her was the sound of clanking metals and the screams of people. Laying down on a floor in a place that seemed like a circular tent. She pinched herself, making sure she wasn't dreaming. She got up, walked toward the exit, and opened the door.

What she saw back then was... a terrible view she'd never seen before in real life. People were fighting with swords in their hands, some were running away, dead bodies, burning tents, and smoke rising in the night sky. Two moons, illuminated the sky.

While she was standing in confusion, a man riding of what looked like a giant Dodo came to her direction and grabbed her. She tried to resist but the man was strong. He sag-carried her on his shoulder so she couldn't do much resistance. Being carried in this position while moving and shaking at the fast pace made her dizzy.

When he stopped, they were on the shore, and she could see a ship. As she tried to confirm her surrounding in the hope of escaping, Rena finally noticed how abnormal her situation was. The ship that looked like it's coming from Pirates of Carribean movies, and these dirty and rugged people who looked exactly like pirates.

(...I am still dreaming, right?)

He carried her to the ship and threw her on the deck. There were other women who also got kidnapped. Suddenly, one of the women hugged her.

"Se'ra, se'ra... I'm afraid. What will happen to us?"

Rena could feel the girl's tears on her skin.

(Sera, who is that?)

Before she could say anything, those pirates separated both of them. One of the pirates looked at Rena and shouted,

"Hey, this girl has purple eyes!"

(Huh? What is he talking about?)

Rena didn't understand what he meant. Her eyes were dark brown color, she didn't even wear any contact lens.

"Whoa, jackpot! Then let's start by checking her first."

Then the worst situation happened, they started a body check on the women. Again, she tried to resist as hard as I could, but it was useless. After confirming her virginity, they furthered checking her body for any visible scar. It was humiliating.

"Hehe.. What a luck we find today. She will give us a lot of money."

Said the guy who looked like their leader.

"Put her in the cell and watch her. Don't let her do anything stupid."

The pirates tied her and threw her into a cell under the deck.

There were two other girls who they found virgins, one of them was the girl who hugged her earlier, but Rena had no idea what happened to them after that. For the rest of the women though... She didn't even want to think about it. From the dark stinky cell, she could hear their disturbing cries and screams on the deck. She really wanted to cover my ears but couldn't. Leaning her back against the wall, she was sobbing badly. Rena was very confused why she was in this situation.

(Jun, everyone... are they alright?)

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Many days have passed since she was caught. During this time, Rena tried to get any information from the pirates who was guarding her. Mostly by listening to their talks. It wasn't anything useful really... These minions were only talking about booze and women.

(Tawarr? That doesn't sound like any place I know...)

One day, one of the pirates told her that they were going to sell her at Tawarr. Of course Rena had no idea where was that.

Still wanting to get more information, she braved herself to ask where was that place precisely. Luckily, that guard was generous enough to explain it to her. Probably, he was also bored for keeping watch.

When he explained Tawarr is a big port city at the west tip of East continent, part of Haffa Kingdom. Her complexion got paler. She'd never heard about Haffa Kingdom before.

(THAT definitely is not a place on earth.)

Rena gulped her saliva before asking him another question, she could heard the sound of her own heart beating faster.

"You want to know today's date and year?

It's the 57th day of Sommer, 1340."

Hearing the answer, all the color left her body. She slumped on the floor... She'd been crying a lot these past few days, but that day she cried even more. The realization that somehow she was in another world.

(I have nobody who will look for me. Nobody who is going to save me. I'm alone in this world.)

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