Chapter 1
Beastman Job Agency.
A place where all beastmen visit at least once to find a job.
Today again, I was raising my voice at the beastman job agency.
“You’re a sparrow?”
“Yes!”
“A sparrow? Among herbivorous beastmen, you’re neither fast at running nor meticulous in action, and you shed a lot of fur. Why should I introduce a job to a sparrow who constantly complains at the agency?”
“Well, what you said is true. Sparrows have that image. But I can’t guarantee I’ll be the same as others, right?”
Confidently, I brushed aside my falling side bangs and puffed out my chest.
But.
“You can’t guarantee you’d be different?”
“…No. Look at this. My graduation certificate. I’m the top graduate from the Beastman Academy. There’s no way someone like me could be like the other sparrows. Sure, sparrows have a bad reputation, but I’m different. I’m different!”
The agency owner didn’t even bother to look at the certificate I handed over and casually waved it aside.
“Beastman Academy? Anyone can get in as long as they pay.”
I was speechless for a moment.
“Isn’t that true?”
“No, it’s not! There have been rumors, but that’s not the case with me!”
“Don’t be like that, Miss Sparrow. Why don’t you use your cuteness to your advantage? Sparrows have become so rare, you could sell your face for money. How about it, Miss? If you want, I can introduce you to such a position, a hundred or a thousand times.”
“No! I’m not doing that!”
Anger boiled up inside me. Since the past, sparrows had been kidnapped even by their own kind just for being cute. They were reduced to ornamental use, their reputations tarnished, and the number of sparrows had drastically decreased.
“Why? It’s hard to find sparrows lately, so they sell for a high price. I’m not asking you to sell your body, just your cuteness. How easy. Go to those who want a sparrow, spread your wings, and shake your tail feathers. You’d be loved and earn money. And your little black fur on your forehead is so unique. You could get 1.2 times more than the others.”
“I absolutely won’t do it!”
I glared at the agency owner, knowing well that it was all because of our cuteness that sparrows had been subjected to such things.
“Ah, so cute. You think I’ll be scared of that?”
“…….”
“Cute little sparrow. Isn’t this an easy world? Just because you were born cute, you can earn money.”
It was clear that he couldn’t be reasoned with.
“Fine, you can keep selling whatever you want. Oh wait, nobody’s going to buy from you because you’re not cute.”
“Ha ha, you don’t have the cuteness of a sparrow. But still, the world is so easy. I’d love to be born a sparrow. If you’re fat, they think you’re cute. If you’re small, they think you’re cute. What a bunch of foolish sparrows.”
I tried to hold back, but after hearing him insult my kind, I finally turned and stormed out of the agency.
The agency owner called me out as I left, but that was the end of it.
“Cute? Use my cuteness to win? Ridiculous. I’m not an ornament! If I were, I wouldn’t have worked so hard to be top of my class at the academy!”
I glared at the agency and, grinding my teeth, turned away to walk off.
“Ugh… How many times has this been? I thought I’d get a job easily after graduating from the academy.”
Even though I tried not to, a deep sigh escaped me.
It had already been a year since I graduated from the academy. And I still hadn’t found a job.
I had the prestigious top graduate certificate, yet I was unemployed. Unemployed!
“I need to make money.”
Clutching my crumpled graduation certificate, I held it high and trembled in frustration.
‘This was all a lie!’
They said if you graduate from the Beastman Academy, jobs would come to you easily, but that wasn’t true at all.
“Well, even if it wasn’t, I would have ended up at that place anyway.”
It was what my mother wanted. She wanted me to become someone who could live as a full human. That’s why I came to the Beastman Academy.
“If I don’t do something, I’ll never be able to save Mom. I have to make a lot of money. I have to, Swallow. I need to. My mom is in that state because of me.”
My mother was imprisoned in the Elder Council’s underground prison just because she gave birth to me, a sparrow.
Before she was imprisoned, she was constantly mocked and scorned by other sparrows, so I could only imagine the treatment she was receiving in prison.
‘I can’t leave her like this.’
This all started because of a prophecy.
Surprisingly, even among beastmen, some believed in the gods to an extreme, and sparrows were one of those races.
The prophecy said that the sparrow inside my mother would elevate the sparrow race’s reputation in the world.
“Elevate, huh.”
But I wasn’t happy about it. I had no special powers, and unlike beastmen who could turn human in three years, I still couldn’t become human even after ten years.
That’s why my mother was imprisoned. She gave birth to a failure. She ruined the prophecy.
And now, I needed money to save her.
By the time I turned 11, I had successfully become human, but the Elder Council still didn’t recognize me. They still treated me like a failure, and another prophecy was given, turning their backs on both me and my mother.
‘I’ll save her. I will.’
The only reason I wanted to make money was to save the one person who always loved me, my mother.
My childhood friend and the leader of the Elder Council’s son, Hertz, promised me that if I paid him, he would secretly release my mother.
But today, I was still unemployed.
‘Should I really act cute as a sparrow somewhere…’
No. That would be my last shred of dignity…
At that moment.
“Hehehe! What’s this?”
A piece of paper flew and landed on my face.
I truly had no luck, or maybe it was because I was a sparrow. Now even trash was flying in my face.
“Ugh!”
In frustration, I pulled the paper off. As I was about to crumple it, the contents were crystal clear.
“A 5-year-old boy. Herbivorous beastman tutor needed. Weekly salary: 10 gold coins.”
I belatedly realized I was standing in front of a bulletin board with job postings and quickly examined the paper again.
‘Tutor?’
That wasn’t even the important part. Weekly pay: 10 gold coins! Hertz had promised me that if I paid 300 gold coins, he would free my mom. That meant with a salary of 40 gold coins a month, I could save her in 8 months!
This salary was ridiculously high.
“Oops. Sorry, miss.”
The worker who had been posting the notices seemed to notice that a piece of paper flew to me and quickly came over to apologize.
“This one.”
“Huh?”
“This! Where do I go to apply?”
“Huh?”
I quickly handed the paper to the worker.
“Ha, ha?”
The worker seemed surprised for some reason, but this wasn’t the time for me to be picky. Even if I had to walk straight into the mouth of a predator, I had to go. I had to for my mom.
“Yes! Where do I go?”
“We just posted it as the last notice… Would you like to come with me?”
“Yes! I’ll go! Thank you.”
With a bright smile, I quickly unfolded the crumpled paper.
‘God hasn’t abandoned me.’
Not long after, the workers finished their work, and they placed me on a wagon. They asked if I was sure it was okay, and while some discomfort crept in, there was nothing odd in the posting.
Of course, I noticed the lack of a family name on the notice, which was very suspicious, but I hadn’t agreed to go blindly.
‘They’re not going to sell me. The workers are wearing expensive clothes. That means they work for a wealthy family, right? Many families provide clothes for their servants to uphold their family name.’
