Trial for a better life

We all know the story of Mikami Satoru, how he died, was reincarnated as a slime, and slowly rose from a nameless monster to a powerful ruler shaping an entire world. We watch his growth in strength, wisdom, and influence.

But this story is told from a different angle. A bit before his arrival, a group of siblings was captured, enslaved, and treated as property. Their days became a cycle of brutal labor, hunger, and punishment. They were beaten whether they obeyed or not, chained from sunrise to sunset, sold and returned like defective goods because they refused to break completely.

Among the slaves, they were known not as heroes, but as troublemakers, children too defiant to be useful. Some of them endured pain with unnatural resilience, hiding dangerous secrets like skills granted by the world itself. Others paid a far heavier price. One sister was taken away, returned changed, silent, and carrying a trauma so deep it shattered what little safety remained between them.

This is a story about survival in the shadow of a legend.

cross-posted on Ao3