Isekai Walking - Vol. 7 Ch. 70 - Slave Contract

[thycondrius]

She loves food.

 

[elrorro]

...yeah this is such an annoying trope. Slavery is Slavery. Why it's some Isekai thing to somehow make it "less bad" by giving it a strangely idealized and extremely unrealistic image to it is something I will never understand. Is this some contractual Isekai Author obligation?
Nonetheless this Chapter Topic should be very entertaining to read at least. I wonder how many Faces that claimed last chapter that they will now drop the Manga I will see here.

I think the worst part is that they start to sound more and more like plantation owners with the amount of bullshit pseudo-science arguments about how "slavery is good for the economy actually" in order to justify it.

Why can't we have a Protagonist that doesn't immediately lose his sense of disgust for human right violations when he transmigrates for once??????

 

[elrorro]

I'm pretty forgiving when it comes to this topic in isekai, like I'm of the mind that different worlds have different morals and for most you can just turn your brain off and chill but this series takes it too far for me.
Like it's trying to justify a girl who just escaped slavery and brainwashing, being taken in as a slave and her wanting that. Yeah nah man that's a bridge too far.

Like, he couldn't just have lied that she was his sister or something? They already look alike and It could explain why she doesn't have an id either.

 

[T-sama]

Why can't we have a Protagonist that doesn't immediately lose his sense of disgust for human right violations when he transmigrates for once??????

Maybe typical Japanese mentality of accepting things how they are and do their best to fit in?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shikata_ga_nai

Like, he couldn't just have lied that she was his sister or something? They already look alike and It could explain why she doesn't have an id either.

Typical "nice" japanese protagonist, lying is baaaad.

 

[Hikineet]

Thanks for the chapter.

 

[DeOneChester]

Author really spent an entire chapter trying to convince me slavery is ok...when what they were describing was 100% not how slavery would play out.

"Its slavery but also a mutual agreement thats beneficial to the slave"

Actual lunacy.

 

[DeOneChester]

It wasn't the americans that horrified them, in fact the american slaves had it better than some nations, look at how slaves were treated in south america where the literally worked them to death because it was cheaper to buy new slaves then treat them for example.
People love to talk about how bad american slaves had it, but that's not why the us has the stigma, it's because the us was the last western nation to outlaw it.

Oh and slavery is still widely practiced outside of the west btw, usually not in the open except in north africa and china though, but it's still far too common, most of the world's governments tend to ignore it when they should put work into stomping it out completely.

Hate to be that guy, but American slaves were worked to death, abused, and raped too. Saying they had it better is just factually incorrect lol

 

[DeOneChester]

Last comment before I drop this manga for good because the thought is funny.

Imagine he meets the 2 girls he traveled with before and he introduces his child "special slave" and they beat his ass. Funny thought.

Anyway thats enough of this manga. Straight into the garbage bin it goes.

 

[Maiorem]

Once again, a whole bunch of kids (at least mentally) come in here with half-baked ideas about slavery being evil while not being able to actually comprehend the reality of the vast majority of history where, prior to industrialisation and capitalism, extreme poverty in the world was at about 94% compared to around 10% today. This shows that the education they received taught them how to recognise words, and it even taught them what to think, but it clearly has never taught them how to think. Let's start by someone trying to explain the moral basis for saying that slavery is bad. Clearly, you can't just begin with "slavery is bad, just because".

 

[ChrisFromMrBeast]

Sorry I'm not American, just pointing out how over saturated the slavery trope in Isekai is and moreover how bad it was portrayed in this manga. Although you seem much more invested in this or at least stirring the pot.

What's wrong with slavery? Pro-slavery fiction is like 1% of all fiction being released in the world. No one likes homogenized american culture everywhere.

 

[Kurodaka]

Once again, a whole bunch of kids (at least mentally) come in here with half-baked ideas about slavery being evil while not being able to actually comprehend the reality of the vast majority of history where, prior to industrialisation and capitalism, extreme poverty in the world was at about 94% compared to around 10% today. This shows that the education they received taught them how to recognise words, and it even taught them what to think, but it clearly has never taught them how to think. Let's start by someone trying to explain the moral basis for saying that slavery is bad. Clearly, you can't just begin with "slavery is bad, just because".

Look. This is a lie. You cannot say ‘extreme poverty was at about 94%’ because prior to the establishment of capitalism the modern concept of poverty did not yet exist. Modern poverty is directly linked to fiat currencies and their domination over all socio-economic transactions. Conversely, well into the 19th century, the vast majority of all human commerce was done via local currencies, mutual aid and other moneyless exchanges.

Attempting to make this comparison is impossible precisely because it’s a useless comparison with no historical basis. How are you going to value the lives of a 17th-century Hunanese peasant, who probably used at most 10 paper notes in service of his rentiers, in a way that you could make a useful comparison? It’s simply not possible without extreme difficulty and abstraction.

And the study you linked to is, frankly, historically illiterate. It constantly uses GDP numbers and other modern financial stats that have no correlation to the actual function/behaviour of pre-capitalist and capitalist modes of organization. It would be exactly as useful for me to prescribe that Rome was the most prosperous place in the world because it had modes of currency familiar to us. You can’t attempt to infantilize dozens of other people immediately after pretending the capitalist fantasy of natural progress is somehow historical.

 

[StealthAria]

I can't help but see the parallels between slaves and contract workers now.

"They won't be able to legally stop working for us, but they aren't slaves they still have rights and also they came to us themselves."

^THIS!^ Thousand times, ^THIS^
"Slavery is bad because I don't like the word" is the entire substance of the argument, but all it takes is 5 minutes actually looking at the world around oneself to see that slavery is still very much alive and that it's even praised now just because it goes by some new names or operates out of sight. The "slavery" in isekai is absolutely no different from being an intern or contracted worker, if there's any difference it's only that the repercussions for violating the contract are magical instead of legal. Making the argument even more ridiculous is that this argument is only possible because of slavery, which makes the haters hypocrites; throwing a fit about fictional slaves in a fictional world, while indulging in the fruits of actual slavery in the real world and continually throwing money in the direction of actual slavers to make sure the industry stays alive for their own benefit.

 

[StealthAria]

My whole question with authors using is slavery is why not just use indentured servitude? Half the time the slaves in these fantasy words are working towards their freedom. If you're going to use an established 'system of labor's, why not use the one that by definition has a contract that aims for the laborer to gain their freedom? Using slavery and trying to moralize it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

The reason is the language barrier. Even most English speakers don't know what an indentured servant is, and then the term gets lumped together with slavery because the basic description is identical. In the case of Japanese, they really are the same term, the term that most translators will give you is "nenki houkou" which is actually "apprenticeship" and does not cover nor convey what indentured servitude involved.

 

[Fidelas]

Once again, a whole bunch of kids (at least mentally) come in here with half-baked ideas about slavery being evil while not being able to actually comprehend the reality of the vast majority of history where, prior to industrialisation and capitalism, extreme poverty in the world was at about 94% compared to around 10% today. This shows that the education they received taught them how to recognise words, and it even taught them what to think, but it clearly has never taught them how to think. Let's start by someone trying to explain the moral basis for saying that slavery is bad. Clearly, you can't just begin with "slavery is bad, just because".

Is the argument "the magical slave contract is totally reasonable, because this fantasy pastiche is referencing historical context, and history had slavery, so it's okay for the author to try and overwrite the protagonist's modern morals with slavery apologia"? We're not pointing at a history textbook here, or even a work of historical fiction! It's one thing for Vinland Saga to have a discussion of slavery in the context of 11th century England, but its not like Isekai Walking has been making an effort to show the plight of the third estate. The author had infinite choices in how he wanted to structure the society in this work, and he decided, likely without any critical thought because that's just how paint-by-number isekai are structured, to have slavery in it. And then have the balls to try and convince his audience (and his protagonist!) that this structure is not some necessary evil, but in fact a net good for the enslaved.

Seriously, where are all you people coming from, where your moral compass is somehow pointing in the direction of "You know what, society is a little too free." "Let's start by someone trying to explain the moral basis for saying that slavery is bad." I dunno, maybe because of a belief in fundamental rights of human beings (of which freedom is one of them)? Perhaps because it degrades an individual's dignity from person to object? Perhaps because it is, in the end, achieved solely through violence or the threat of violence, and the sufferers of that violence receive no recompense for their pain*? Perhaps because despite the assumption of magical safeguards, the potential for abuse is rife? Perhaps because the vast majority of modern individuals have recognized that slavery is intrinsically unethical, and while argumentum ad populum is indeed fallacious, the burden of proof for "slavery is good" is on the author, not the reader!

*That is, to distinguish it from other elements of society that are ultimately backed up by a monopoly on force by the state. "Taxation is theft" is meme but its in part true; if you don't pay your taxes you will be violently thrown in jail. But if you do pay your taxes, then those taxes are hypothetically to your net benefit.

 

[DrunkinDonut]

@T-sama I don't think anyone actually answered your question about doggies, https://mangadex.org/title/b3a9c1f8-93d2-49ba-96e2-84727c1031a6/isekai-ni-otosareta-jouka-wa-kihon . Another Isekai that Haikai is translating.

@tekkenshu7 I believe he is underage and couldn't adopt her.
@elrorro , In Chapter 69 Page 10, the Guard flaunts a Blood Relation Detector Magic Item, so he /can't/ lie about her being his sister.
Plus, one of the reasons he's having to do this rigamarole, is he is now a stateless person without an established identity. He tossed his Guild ID with his clothes to fake his death. So he is lucky that the guard even let them inside the city. (lampshaded, Ch 69 page 13, where the guard specifically says this)

And, it's not like she has an actual identity? She's a black ops orphan who doesn't exist. How do you prove she's doing anything of her free will in a society with magic? If there are Identifying Magic Items, like in Death March, what would it even register her as? She doesn't know her own name, her parents are likely dead. Maybe it would just say ??? under her name.


Ignoring all that. He's now a teen, who brings an "orphan" to the orphanage to "adopt" her. That's so many red flags on its own about laundering a child to kidnap them.

 

[Chireall]

I ran out of popcorn.

 

[StealthAria]

Hate to be that guy, but American slaves were worked to death, abused, and raped too. Saying they had it better is just factually incorrect lol

"Better" is a relative term, it does not mean they had it good, only that other places would have treated them worse. Need an example? How about Rome, where slaves may be expected to fight each other to the death for no reason except to entertain the higher castes, and where neither gender was safe from being turned into an outlet for sexual relief against their will.
Heck, most of the mistreatment that American slaves experienced wasn't even by the Whites, it was done by other slaves and former slaves turned slave owners. People did keep documentation, but it never gets brought up because it doesn't support the narrative of reparations but also ends up being used as ammunition against those whose ancestors owned slaves some 8+ generations back.

 

[ItsumoKnight]

The "slavery" in isekai is absolutely no different from being an intern or contracted worker, if there's any difference it's only that the repercussions for violating the contract are magical instead of legal. Making the argument even more ridiculous is that this argument is only possible because of slavery, which makes the haters hypocrites; throwing a fit about fictional slaves in a fictional world, while indulging in the fruits of actual slavery in the real world and continually throwing money in the direction of actual slavers to make sure the industry stays alive for their own benefit.

There is a fundamental difference between slavery and internship/contract work: if you disagree with the relationship, you have a reasonable expectation that the other party won't kill or torture you physically. You can also expect some form of reward in exchange for services. They are very important distinctions.
What I'm seeing here is that modern practices have close comparisons, but make no mistake; if you live in a society where you can complain about it, it's not the same at all.

My whole question with authors using is slavery is why not just use indentured servitude? Half the time the slaves in these fantasy words are working towards their freedom. If you're going to use an established 'system of labor's, why not use the one that by definition has a contract that aims for the laborer to gain their freedom? Using slavery and trying to moralize it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

The creative decisions are up to the author in the end. However, as readers we are free to speculate.
In my opinion, slavery is a convenient worldbuilding tool. It can be used to quickly establish how harsh reality is in this fantasy world, as well as a way to contrast the morals & ethics of its main characters by how "kind" they are to enslaved characters. I could even say it's such an established trope in the isekai genre that not using is a creative choice.
In addition, it's possible that the idea of indentured servitude may hit too close to home. I certainly wouldn't want to be a Japanese worker with deadlines, let alone in their entertainment industry. Perhaps the extreme of slavery is a way to write about fictional exploitation while distancing the writer from any depressingly similar experiences.

 

[StealthAria]

@T-sama I don't think anyone actually answered your question about doggies, https://mangadex.org/title/b3a9c1f8-93d2-49ba-96e2-84727c1031a6/isekai-ni-otosareta-jouka-wa-kihon . Another Isekai that Haikai is translating.

@tekkenshu7 I believe he is underage and couldn't adopt her.
@elrorro , In Chapter 69 Page 10, the Guard flaunts a Blood Relation Detector Magic Item, so he /can't/ lie about her being his sister.
Plus, one of the reasons he's having to do this rigamarole, is he is now a stateless person without an established identity. He tossed his Guild ID with his clothes to fake his death. So he is lucky that the guard even let them inside the city. (lampshaded, Ch 69 page 13, where the guard specifically says this)

And, it's not like she has an actual identity? She's a black ops orphan who doesn't exist. How do you prove she's doing anything of her free will in a society with magic? If there are Identifying Magic Items, like in Death March, what would it even register her as? She doesn't know her own name, her parents are likely dead. Maybe it would just say ??? under her name.


Ignoring all that. He's now a teen, who brings an "orphan" to the orphanage to "adopt" her. That's so many red flags on its own about laundering a child to kidnap them.

Don't forget that everything in her memory is incredibly suspicious. She doesn't remember anything before she woke up draped in his cloak (which would clearly be his if they ever thought to compare sizes) so for all they know he might have traumatized her so much she chose to forget, it's better to not be putting up a fuss and instead just accept whatever means are offered before they start asking too many questions.

 

[StealthAria]

There is a fundamental difference between slavery and internship/contract work: if you disagree with the relationship, you have a reasonable expectation that the other party won't kill or torture you physically. You can also expect some form of reward in exchange for services. They are very important distinctions.
What I'm seeing here is that modern practices have close comparisons, but make no mistake; if you live in a society where you can complain about it, it's not the same at all.

You think I'm talking about companies like Google, using unpaid interns that got suckered in thinking they'd get a good job only to end up saddled with the knowledge they have no future and that if they quit it's going to make them unhirable? Oh, I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about how all the rare earth metals that make modern computing possible come from mines operated with actual slaves exactly as you expect a slave mine to be run: no pay, no choice to leave, harsh working conditions, and absolutely zero safety considerations. Too far back in the supply line for you to consider? The factories that assemble most of the electronics aren't much better, it's the same deal there except without as much toxic leeching or risk of a collapse.

The fact you are here, using the internet, means that you are enjoying the privileges of slave labor. That makes those complaining about fictional slaves in a fictional world, hypocrites. You can't go twisting it around into being tired of the trope either, because it's not in every isekai or fantasy setting and you don't seem to be tired of the other tropes that are even more overused, you're literally only complaining about the inclusion of a system that is nominally called "slavery." Even indentured servants and apprentices aren't given the same protections as these "slaves," they're truly no worse off than an intern or contracted worker and in some ways they may even be better off.