*
> ‘Give and Take’ is now level 7.
> New ability has been unlocked.
<Give and Take LV7>
You can disable the target’s skills, blessings and curse marks. The range of effect is the same as regular skill transfer.
For some reason my unique skill’s level increased. I’m pretty sure I only gave the monster girls a single piece of advice during their fight with the Giant Man-Eater, so why did it go up?
Well, I guess it’ll make for a good countermeasure against the other monsters with ‘Seven Deadly Sins’. Since it’s the curse marks’ effect that prevents them from being tamed, I can just temporarily disable it and tame them that way.
Wait. …Doesn’t that mean I could have tamed the Giant Man-Eater as well? It’s pretty rare for my unique skills to miss a critical timing like that…
For now, I put the corpse of the Giant Man-Eater in the ‘Inventory’. I’ll feed it to Tamo-san later, but first I have to show it to the City Lord as proof of subjugation.
The corpse being our property is something we’ve included in the contract. The City Lord asked for it at first, but he quickly gave up when I told him it’ll be an ‘extra charge’. I can understand why he’d want it, it being a rare and valuable material for many things, but I had to give priority to Tamo-san.
Just like before, we used ‘Portal’ to transfer most of the way towards the city of Norrkut, and then walked the rest of the way.
I used that chance to tell everyone that my unique skill’s level went up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Oh! You’re back! And it looks like you’ve been able to defeat it safely!”
At the city gate, we were greeted by the bald gatekeeper. Please spare me being welcomed back by a bald old man.
“Shouldn’t we bring the corpse to the City Lord’s mansion?”
“Right. My Lord is the client, so please do.”
We followed the bald gatekeeper to the mansion. The city is still in turmoil, but seeing the bald gatekeeper calmly pass by, some people called out to him.
“Joshua-san! What happened to the monster subjugation team?”
“They defeated it, so it should be safe now! My Lord will make an announcement soon, so don’t do anything stupid until then!”
The bald gatekeeper answered their questions, and the commotion gradually began to die down. Could it be that the bald gatekeeper is actually pretty popular here? The area of his head without any hair is certainly pretty big. (ED: It literally says “Could it be that he has a big face?”)
As the bald gatekeeper kept answering everyone’s questions, we arrived at the City Lord’s mansion, same as before, though it took us a bit longer to get here this time around. From here, it also went the same as before, with the senior maid leading us into the City Lord’s office.
“Welcome back… that was pretty fast… still, it looks like you’ve succeeded…”
“Yeah, we defeated the Giant Man-Eater without any problems.”
“Can you show me the corpse…? Perhaps we should take this outside…”
“Very well.”
We followed the City Lord and the bald gatekeeper into the garden. There’s a lot of space here, so it should be okay to pull it out.
“‘Storage’.”
I said, as I made the corpse of the Giant Man-Eater appear. Obviously, I actually took it out of the ‘Inventory’, but I used a fake skill name as a cover.
“It’s amazing. I didn’t mean to doubt you, but I’m still surprised seeing it with my own eyes…”
The bald gatekeeper muttered at the sight of the huge corpse lying before him.
“Indeed… I’m horrified when I think that such a monster was coming for the city…”
Just seeing its corpse is enough to fully convey the threat that it posed. It made the City Lord’s already pale face turn even more white. Honestly, I was beginning to worry he might actually collapse.
“Right… you’ve definitely fulfilled the request… I’d like to pay you the full reward… I’m sorry, but can I still accept your previous offer?”
“Sure, I don’t mind.”
“Then, I’ll prepare the 50 million gold… and the land deed and a trading licence for the store…”
“Please do.”
During our contract negotiations I’ve offered to take only half of the initial reward, in exchange for getting permission for the Chamber of Advanced Commerce to open a branch store in Norrkut. In other words, I took the chance to do some extra business, since I was already negotiating a deal with the Lord of the city.
According to Maria and Lucia, “There’s no need for Jin-sama to trouble yourself with such minor details. Please feel free to use your subordinates however and whenever you might need them.”, but since I already knew from Lucia that we had no presence in the city just yet, and the Lord was likely to agree, I decided I might as well take this opportunity to further spread my influence into the area.
A: Rather, Lucia is depressed that she had Master do her work for her…
…Moving on, it’s a city where the Adventurers’ Guild is a bit pathetic and the residents aren’t very reliable, but it’s probably large enough to open a branch of the Chamber. Though I’ve already been told that “If you have an unpleasant experience, it’s fine to just skip it altogether.”.
“But before that, I’d like to let the citizens know that the monster threat is over now, if that’s okay with you…?”
“Sure.”
Once I agreed, the City Lord proceeded with giving out instructions to his subordinates to announce that the monster had been successfully subjugated. As a side note, the bald gatekeeper also joined them in spreading the word. I guess he really is quite popular.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Now then… this is the agreed 50 million gold, and here are the documents for the store… I’ve also included a map with the location marked on it…
“Okay, guess that concludes the request.”
After returning to the City Lord’s office, I’ve received the rewards as promised. Looking at the map, it’s a reasonably sized plot of land in the commercial district.
“So… are you going to call over someone from the Chamber of Advanced Commerce…? Or are you planning to hire some local constructors…? I can’t really help you myself, but I might be able to get you a discount…”
“No, there’s no need. It won’t take that long.”
“Is that so…?”
According to Lucia, there are some excellent architects among the maids. Apparently, it will only take them half a day to get the job done. Then again, our maids are excellent… Anyway, with them taking care of things, I won’t really need any help from the City Lord.
That concluded our business with the Lord. Before leaving, I had him announce that it was Maple and her fellow mercenaries from the Chamber of Advanced Commerce, who defeated the monster, so I guess you could say that the ‘Mysterious Rookie Mercenaries Masterpiece Strategy’ ended in a partial success. Well, the part with ‘spreading the word in the Adventurers’ Guild’ was an utter failure, but I guess you can’t win them all.
“By the way, what will happen to the chief of the Adventurers’ Guild?”
“Perhaps… Did he run away…?”
“Very much so.”
The chief of the local Adventurers’ Guild fled to another city, leaving behind a weak excuse like “I’m gonna go get help.”. It wasn’t really my problem, but I got a bit curious, so I asked.
“I just heard from Joshua… the city is starting to calm down… but we will wait a bit before announcing it… as for what happens to him… that’s for the citizens to decide. I could just remove him from his post… but I doubt the citizens would let him get away with just that…”
“Isn’t it better to just tell them now?”
“You would think that… but wouldn’t that only cause unnecessary confusion…?”
“Point taken.”
Seeing as the city is still in turmoil after the event with the Giant Man-Eater, there’s really no point spreading further dissent. Waiting until things calm down, and then letting people calmly decide, might indeed be the right way to go.
By the way, I’ve later learned from one of the maids, that the guild chief did return to the city after hearing about the Giant Man-Eater’s successful subjugation, only to get beaten up and kicked back out again by the angry citizens. Guess he should have seen that coming…
Incidentally, with the public image of the local branch of the Adventurers’ Guild now in tatters, it let the Chamber of Advanced Commerce take over by employing the local adventurers as mercenaries, effectively putting the guild out of business.
In addition, they also put more effort into their regular business, making the local branch store of the Chamber quickly overtake all the other ones in sales. At the time I spoke with her, they already had more power in Norrkut than the City Lord.
The maid believers might have gotten a bit overzealous, given how I had personally participated in this branch store’s establishment. It was a total overkill.
“Is there anything else you would like to know…?”
“No, not really. I think that’s all for now. I don’t want to take up too much of your time, so please excuse us.”
“I see… All right then… Thank you for all your help this time…”
“Don’t worry about it. I also got what I wanted out of this. Besides, you’ve got a lot of work ahead of you, don’t you?”
“Indeed… There’s a lot of work to be done…”
There were plenty of urgent issues for the City Lord to address, even discounting the guild chief. He really shouldn’t be wasting any more time on us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After being sent off by the senior maid, and leaving the City Lord’s mansion behind, we decided to go sightseeing in the city of Norrkut.
It’s a place we’ve never been to before, so it would have been a waste to just go back without seeing anything. Plus, with the City Lord’s announcement, the city began to calm down already. As you might expect, walking through a city in the middle of a panic wasn’t exactly my idea of having a good time…
– grr
Just as I was about to decide where to start our city tour, I heard a cute little sound coming from somewhere.
“Dora is hungry~!”
Looks like it was Dora’s stomach growling.
“It is getting a bit late. Shall we go and have lunch somewhere?”
“Yes… I’m starving…”
“Let’s eat~!”
As it turns out, the whole process of subjugating the Giant Man-Eater, bringing its corpse back to the city, and then talking things out with the Lord, actually took us half a day. We didn’t have time to stop for lunch, so I’m actually pretty hungry myself.
“All right, let’s look for a place to get some food.”
“Hooray~!”
“But, will there be any open ones right now…?”
“…Right”
Even though the panic has mostly subsided, it’s still not the same as at normal times. Still, it looks like some shops are already reopening, even if only a few. Alta, what kind of food is this city famous for?
A: Yes. The city’s speciality seems to be egg dishes.
Oh, so it’s eggs?
With my new harpy followers around, I really got a taste for eggs lately.
Plus, it’s a local speciality, so we just have to give it a try…
A: I will display the recommended shops on the map.
There’s a couple of them nearby. Let’s pick one with a large menu.
“I’ve asked Alta and decided on a place, if you don’t mind.”
“I will obey Jin-sama.”
“If the two of you have chosen it, I’m sure it’s the right one…”
“Leave it to Master~!”
“As you wish.”
“Yes.”
“Yep ♪”
I asked everyone just in case, but there were no objections. It’s okay to disagree sometimes, you know…
I also let Mio and Sara know to see if they were interested.
“We’re going to eat egg dishes in another country. Do you want to come?”
“Sure thing!”
“I will come as well!”
Two two used ‘Portal’ to reach the vicinity of the city, before coming to the restaurant. Altogether, we made up a pretty big group, so we all picked different dishes in the name of Mio’s culinary research. The one I chose happened to look a lot like fried crab balls for some reason…
A: If you want, I can list all the ingredients and allergens in each dish.
No, let’s not go that far. Unless there really is something dangerous in it…
The food was good, but Mio said she was going to remake the same things with harpy eggs next time, so I was already looking forward to it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After lunch, Mio and Sara joined us on our tour of the city. The place seems to have calmed down a lot during our meal.
A: Master, there is a problem to the north of the city.
…Please don’t make more trouble appear as soon as I say ‘it calmed down’. …Well, let’s hear it.
A: An adventurer has been infected with the ‘Gluttony’ curse mark.
Come again?
What do you mean by ‘infected with a curse mark’?
A: Monsters that went on a rampage as a result of receiving one of the ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ curse marks will infect other creatures, making it spread over time. The infected don’t actually get the curse mark itself, but they do enter a rampage-like state.
So… what does that actually mean…?
A: Here’s the present status of the adventurer in question
Aisha (Rampage – Gluttony)
Level 45
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Race : Human
Skills: <Mounted Combat Mastery LV7> <Life Magic LV2> <Monster Taming LV8> <Horse Riding LV7> <Beast Training LV7> <Body Strengthening LV4>.
I see, it’s the same ‘Rampage – Gluttony’ state that the Giant Man-Eater was in. However, does that mean she doesn’t have the curse mark itself?
By the way, is she one of the A-rank adventurers who fought with the Giant Man-Eater before us?
A: Yes. She most likely got infected with ‘Rampage – Gluttony’ at the time. It doesn’t always happen, and then the chances of it actually developing are also pretty low, so I was only monitoring her for the time being, but it seems she had the misfortune of contracting it.
In other words, it’s a very rare case.
By the way, we also came in contact with that Giant Man-Eater, but are we OK?
A: Yes. The protection from mind attacks granted by the <Avatar LV2> skill is enough to protect you from infection.
When ‘Avatar’ reached level 2, it gained the ability to preserve and protect the minds and memories of its users. It looks like it’s strong enough to keep all of my subordinates safe from getting infected by curse marks.
By the way, what’s going on with that adventurer right now? You said there’s a problem, but please tell me more about it.
A: The adventurer in question developed ‘Rampage – Gluttony’ while eating at a reopened restaurant. Because of this, she can’t control her appetite, and if things continue like this, she will soon die of overeating.
It turns out to be surprisingly dangerous.
It’s not like I’m obliged to help her, but there’s actually something I’m a little curious about. If you become a subordinate of mine while in the state of ‘Rampage’, can the effect of ‘Avatar’ still cancel it out?
A: It should be possible.
Since Alta confirmed it should work, I decided to give it a try.
“So, I’m gonna go to the northern side of the city and make an adventurer who’s currently in a state of ‘Rampage’ into a subordinate.”
“I will accompany you, Jin-sama.”
I summarized to everyone what I’d just talked about with Alta. Unsurprisingly, Maria decided to come along. Even though the adventurer was likely going to join our group soon, I didn’t want to drag everyone along in vain, so I asked them to continue their city tour. Since they had some free time, Mio suggested they should go shopping for new clothes for the monster girls.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once we reached the northern part of the city, we noticed a large group of people gathered around the tables in front of a nearby restaurant.
“Ugghhhh, another one!”
“Hey, stop it, you can’t possibly be still hungry!”
“You’re going to die at this rate!”
At the centre, there’s a female adventurer with an abnormally bloated stomach and some residents trying to stop her. She’s the adventurer I’m looking for, Aisha. Most of her body is wrapped in bandages, probably due to injuries she’d sustained in her fight with the Giant Man-Eater. There’s a pile of empty plates on the table in front of her, more than twenty at a glance. You’ll obviously get bloated if you eat this much! …unless you’re Sara.
“Please stop!!!”
“Out of my way!!!”
Aisha punched the man who tried to stop her by grabbing her arm. Looks like the A-rank adventurers are pretty popular here, based on the amount of people who are trying to help her. Still, getting hit by her, the map collapsed to the ground.
“Hey! That’s going too far!”
The other man tried to stop her. I thought Aisha was going to punch him as well, but things turned out a little different. Aisha looked around at the people around her and muttered:
“I don’t have to wait for the food to be cooked, there’s plenty of meat already here.”
“”What?””
The people around her exclaimed. The way Aisha looked at the men was like a predator eyeing its prey.
A: The ‘Rampage’ is progressing. At this rate, she will become like a beast, driven to attack others out of hunger. Although, her stomach will most likely burst open killing her before that happens.
Hmm, talking about people going on a rampage, it kind of reminds me of Mira, right after she was turned into a vampire. With her ego destroyed by the magic sword, she also acted like a beast at the time.
A: It’s similar, but she’s not a monster, so you can’t tame her.
No, I wasn’t really planning to tame her to begin with. Just… enslaving her instead…
“Run away! Something’s not right with her!”
“Oh, we’ll take care of her!”
Hearing me say this, the citizens around us ran away at full speed. The man who lost consciousness after getting punched by Aisha got left behind, still lying on the ground. I guess that’s as far as the good intentions of this city’s citizens actually go…
In no time at all, Aisha was left alone in the restaurant.
“Oh, the meat ran away… Too bad, I’ll have to make do with just this one.”
Aisha lifted the unconscious man and tried to bite his arm.
“Well then… bon appetit…”
“Yea, I’m not gonna let you do that now.”
I approached Aisha and snatched the unconscious man from her hands. Watching humans get eaten is totally no good in my book. I can’t even stomach monsters eating them, not to mention other humans doing so. I’m absolutely not gonna let it happen right in front of me.
“Are you interrupting my meal? Or do you want me to eat you first?”
Something about the way she said that made me want to have her. At that moment, I made the decision to take Aisha under my wing.
“……”
Maria sent her a deadly stare, when she proclaimed her desire to harm me. Still, this time she waited for my command, instead of instantly trying to cut her down. Looks like she’s got some self control after all.
“Very well. If you want to eat so badly, eat this too!”
“Mmm?!”
Saying this, I flung a small pill into Aisha’s mouth.
It’s one of the food pills I’ve made for Sara with ‘Energy Pill’, one of Sakura’s original spells, that allows you to turn your MP into highly nutritious pills. Because, due to her unique body type, Sara required a huge amount of calories, she still needs to eat around 20 of those pills after having a regular sized meal, to actually eat her fill.
“I’m… stuffed?!”
Of course, a normal human being wouldn’t be able to endure such a meal.
“Ugh!!! I’m still hungry! But I can’t eat any more! So hungry!!!
In Aisha’s case, her hunger is caused by the effects of ‘Rampage’, so no matter how much she eats, she will never be full.
“Ugh, I’m dying. I’m going to die if I keep going…”
Looks like she’s close to her limit. She collapsed to the ground with a pained face.
This is just right.
I approached Aisha and said:
“If you become my slave, I can free you from this suffering.”
To be honest, it’s nothing more than a devil’s whisper.
“I will! I will, so help me!”
Aisha said without a moment’s hesitation. Immediately, she lifted her clothes showing me her back.
I used a drop of my blood to establish a contract, using the <Slave Arts> skill. Maria made sure to provide us some cover, so that none of the onlookers could see what’s happening. With Aisha’s consent, the skill succeeded without any problems.
Then, Alta, please.
A: I understand. Done.
So fast!?
A: Her spirit isn’t broken, so I only had to transfer the ‘Avatar’ skill.
Oh, I see. I guess it was that simple now that I think about it.
“Kuh…”
Having finally been released from the effects of ‘Rampage’, Aisha fainted on the spot from overeating.
Unsurprisingly, the place where she went on her rampage was now empty, but there were still a lot of people watching us from a distance. We hid the use of <Slave Arts>, so no one should have seen that part, but we still stood out with all this commotion.
I didn’t really feel like explaining things to the guards, plus, there were too many things I didn’t want to have to explain, so…
“Excuse me. I’d like to pay the bill.”
…I decided to skip the explanation part altogether, and just leave like nothing had happened.
“Maria, let’s leave this place.”
“Very well. I will carry her.”
“No, carrying an unconscious woman is suspicious enough, but having a little girl do it would attract even more attention.”
“I apologize. If only I was a little bigger…”
If I let Maria carry her, we would stand out even more, so I reject it. Next, I paid for Aisha’s meal, healed the unconscious man just in case, and then left the area post haste.
We could go meet up with the rest of the group, but I’m still carrying Aisha, so we should probably use ‘Portal’ to return to the mansion.
A: Then, please head to the planned construction site of the Chamber’s new branch store.
Why?
A: You’ll find out when you get there.
If you say so, I guess I’ll do just that. Basically, the only time Alta doesn’t tell me things, is when she either deems them trivial (or unimportant at the time) or when she’s trying to surprise me.
Knowing that, I followed her advice and headed for the plot where the new branch store of the Chamber of Advanced Commerce was being built.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I see, this is a surprise…”
There’s a magnificent store here that’s already 80% complete. It’s two stories high, with part of it being used as accommodations for employees.
It’s only been three hours since we got this land…
A: ‘Inventory’ allows for easy transport and storage of materials, ‘Engage Link’ improves communication and coordination, while ‘Give and Take’ increases physical performance. We have all the necessary aspects of construction work covered.
She’s right now that I think about it. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say we have better construction capability than people back in my old world.
“Welcome, Jin-sama.” x20
“…Right, good job everyone.”
As I approached the building, the maids formed a line and bowed to me. They were apparently informed by Alta to stop the construction work and prepare to welcome us. Incidentally, they are all wearing maid uniforms, according to them, “because they’re our work clothes.”. …They are certainly the clothes you work in, but it somehow clashed with my image of a construction site’s work crew.
The maids led us into the room that looked to be the best one in the building.
Sakura’s group joined us after they finished their shopping. We would stand out too much if we tried to exit the city this late in the day, so we decided to stay for the night. Or, we could always go home with ‘Portal’. Sightseeing is nice and all, but nothing beats coming back home after all.
*************************************************************************************************************
Backstory – Chamber of Advanced Commerce
A company created by Lucia and run by the maids under Jin’s command.
Officially led by Lucia (her being one of Jin’s slaves is known only to the select few), with the aim of further spreading Jin’s influence.
Their headquarters are located in Kastor Queendom, with additional branches in Estia Kingdom and several countries of the Atto Union.
Because of Jin’s influence (almost 100%), they are very strict when it comes to handling trouble related to nobles.
When at one time, an influential noble in one of the countries of Atto Union tried to force a detrimental deal onto the Chamber, and then complained to the country after not getting his way, all the stores of the Chamber in the country stopped their business there and disappeared overnight.
If Jin wants to visit the country in question at some point, they will try to persuade him against it (if he still decides to go, they will support him nonetheless).
*
> ‘Give and Take’ is now level 7.
> New ability has been unlocked.
<Give and Take LV7>
You can disable the target’s skills, blessings and curse marks. The range of effect is the same as regular skill transfer.
For some reason my unique skill’s level increased. I’m pretty sure I only gave the monster girls a single piece of advice during their fight with the Giant Man-Eater, so why did it go up?
Well, I guess it’ll make for a good countermeasure against the other monsters with ‘Seven Deadly Sins’. Since it’s the curse marks’ effect that prevents them from being tamed, I can just temporarily disable it and tame them that way.
Wait. …Doesn’t that mean I could have tamed the Giant Man-Eater as well? It’s pretty rare for my unique skills to miss a critical timing like that…
For now, I put the corpse of the Giant Man-Eater in the ‘Inventory’. I’ll feed it to Tamo-san later, but first I have to show it to the City Lord as proof of subjugation.
The corpse being our property is something we’ve included in the contract. The City Lord asked for it at first, but he quickly gave up when I told him it’ll be an ‘extra charge’. I can understand why he’d want it, it being a rare and valuable material for many things, but I had to give priority to Tamo-san.
Just like before, we used ‘Portal’ to transfer most of the way towards the city of Norrkut, and then walked the rest of the way.
I used that chance to tell everyone that my unique skill’s level went up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Oh! You’re back! And it looks like you’ve been able to defeat it safely!”
At the city gate, we were greeted by the bald gatekeeper. Please spare me being welcomed back by a bald old man.
“Shouldn’t we bring the corpse to the City Lord’s mansion?”
“Right. My Lord is the client, so please do.”
We followed the bald gatekeeper to the mansion. The city is still in turmoil, but seeing the bald gatekeeper calmly pass by, some people called out to him.
“Joshua-san! What happened to the monster subjugation team?”
“They defeated it, so it should be safe now! My Lord will make an announcement soon, so don’t do anything stupid until then!”
The bald gatekeeper answered their questions, and the commotion gradually began to die down. Could it be that the bald gatekeeper is actually pretty popular here? The area of his head without any hair is certainly pretty big. (ED: It literally says “Could it be that he has a big face?”)
As the bald gatekeeper kept answering everyone’s questions, we arrived at the City Lord’s mansion, same as before, though it took us a bit longer to get here this time around. From here, it also went the same as before, with the senior maid leading us into the City Lord’s office.
“Welcome back… that was pretty fast… still, it looks like you’ve succeeded…”
“Yeah, we defeated the Giant Man-Eater without any problems.”
“Can you show me the corpse…? Perhaps we should take this outside…”
“Very well.”
We followed the City Lord and the bald gatekeeper into the garden. There’s a lot of space here, so it should be okay to pull it out.
“‘Storage’.”
I said, as I made the corpse of the Giant Man-Eater appear. Obviously, I actually took it out of the ‘Inventory’, but I used a fake skill name as a cover.
“It’s amazing. I didn’t mean to doubt you, but I’m still surprised seeing it with my own eyes…”
The bald gatekeeper muttered at the sight of the huge corpse lying before him.
“Indeed… I’m horrified when I think that such a monster was coming for the city…”
Just seeing its corpse is enough to fully convey the threat that it posed. It made the City Lord’s already pale face turn even more white. Honestly, I was beginning to worry he might actually collapse.
“Right… you’ve definitely fulfilled the request… I’d like to pay you the full reward… I’m sorry, but can I still accept your previous offer?”
“Sure, I don’t mind.”
“Then, I’ll prepare the 50 million gold… and the land deed and a trading licence for the store…”
“Please do.”
During our contract negotiations I’ve offered to take only half of the initial reward, in exchange for getting permission for the Chamber of Advanced Commerce to open a branch store in Norrkut. In other words, I took the chance to do some extra business, since I was already negotiating a deal with the Lord of the city.
According to Maria and Lucia, “There’s no need for Jin-sama to trouble yourself with such minor details. Please feel free to use your subordinates however and whenever you might need them.”, but since I already knew from Lucia that we had no presence in the city just yet, and the Lord was likely to agree, I decided I might as well take this opportunity to further spread my influence into the area.
A: Rather, Lucia is depressed that she had Master do her work for her…
…Moving on, it’s a city where the Adventurers’ Guild is a bit pathetic and the residents aren’t very reliable, but it’s probably large enough to open a branch of the Chamber. Though I’ve already been told that “If you have an unpleasant experience, it’s fine to just skip it altogether.”.
“But before that, I’d like to let the citizens know that the monster threat is over now, if that’s okay with you…?”
“Sure.”
Once I agreed, the City Lord proceeded with giving out instructions to his subordinates to announce that the monster had been successfully subjugated. As a side note, the bald gatekeeper also joined them in spreading the word. I guess he really is quite popular.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Now then… this is the agreed 50 million gold, and here are the documents for the store… I’ve also included a map with the location marked on it…
“Okay, guess that concludes the request.”
After returning to the City Lord’s office, I’ve received the rewards as promised. Looking at the map, it’s a reasonably sized plot of land in the commercial district.
“So… are you going to call over someone from the Chamber of Advanced Commerce…? Or are you planning to hire some local constructors…? I can’t really help you myself, but I might be able to get you a discount…”
“No, there’s no need. It won’t take that long.”
“Is that so…?”
According to Lucia, there are some excellent architects among the maids. Apparently, it will only take them half a day to get the job done. Then again, our maids are excellent… Anyway, with them taking care of things, I won’t really need any help from the City Lord.
That concluded our business with the Lord. Before leaving, I had him announce that it was Maple and her fellow mercenaries from the Chamber of Advanced Commerce, who defeated the monster, so I guess you could say that the ‘Mysterious Rookie Mercenaries Masterpiece Strategy’ ended in a partial success. Well, the part with ‘spreading the word in the Adventurers’ Guild’ was an utter failure, but I guess you can’t win them all.
“By the way, what will happen to the chief of the Adventurers’ Guild?”
“Perhaps… Did he run away…?”
“Very much so.”
The chief of the local Adventurers’ Guild fled to another city, leaving behind a weak excuse like “I’m gonna go get help.”. It wasn’t really my problem, but I got a bit curious, so I asked.
“I just heard from Joshua… the city is starting to calm down… but we will wait a bit before announcing it… as for what happens to him… that’s for the citizens to decide. I could just remove him from his post… but I doubt the citizens would let him get away with just that…”
“Isn’t it better to just tell them now?”
“You would think that… but wouldn’t that only cause unnecessary confusion…?”
“Point taken.”
Seeing as the city is still in turmoil after the event with the Giant Man-Eater, there’s really no point spreading further dissent. Waiting until things calm down, and then letting people calmly decide, might indeed be the right way to go.
By the way, I’ve later learned from one of the maids, that the guild chief did return to the city after hearing about the Giant Man-Eater’s successful subjugation, only to get beaten up and kicked back out again by the angry citizens. Guess he should have seen that coming…
Incidentally, with the public image of the local branch of the Adventurers’ Guild now in tatters, it let the Chamber of Advanced Commerce take over by employing the local adventurers as mercenaries, effectively putting the guild out of business.
In addition, they also put more effort into their regular business, making the local branch store of the Chamber quickly overtake all the other ones in sales. At the time I spoke with her, they already had more power in Norrkut than the City Lord.
The maid believers might have gotten a bit overzealous, given how I had personally participated in this branch store’s establishment. It was a total overkill.
“Is there anything else you would like to know…?”
“No, not really. I think that’s all for now. I don’t want to take up too much of your time, so please excuse us.”
“I see… All right then… Thank you for all your help this time…”
“Don’t worry about it. I also got what I wanted out of this. Besides, you’ve got a lot of work ahead of you, don’t you?”
“Indeed… There’s a lot of work to be done…”
There were plenty of urgent issues for the City Lord to address, even discounting the guild chief. He really shouldn’t be wasting any more time on us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After being sent off by the senior maid, and leaving the City Lord’s mansion behind, we decided to go sightseeing in the city of Norrkut.
It’s a place we’ve never been to before, so it would have been a waste to just go back without seeing anything. Plus, with the City Lord’s announcement, the city began to calm down already. As you might expect, walking through a city in the middle of a panic wasn’t exactly my idea of having a good time…
– grr
Just as I was about to decide where to start our city tour, I heard a cute little sound coming from somewhere.
“Dora is hungry~!”
Looks like it was Dora’s stomach growling.
“It is getting a bit late. Shall we go and have lunch somewhere?”
“Yes… I’m starving…”
“Let’s eat~!”
As it turns out, the whole process of subjugating the Giant Man-Eater, bringing its corpse back to the city, and then talking things out with the Lord, actually took us half a day. We didn’t have time to stop for lunch, so I’m actually pretty hungry myself.
“All right, let’s look for a place to get some food.”
“Hooray~!”
“But, will there be any open ones right now…?”
“…Right”
Even though the panic has mostly subsided, it’s still not the same as at normal times. Still, it looks like some shops are already reopening, even if only a few. Alta, what kind of food is this city famous for?
A: Yes. The city’s speciality seems to be egg dishes.
Oh, so it’s eggs?
With my new harpy followers around, I really got a taste for eggs lately.
Plus, it’s a local speciality, so we just have to give it a try…
A: I will display the recommended shops on the map.
There’s a couple of them nearby. Let’s pick one with a large menu.
“I’ve asked Alta and decided on a place, if you don’t mind.”
“I will obey Jin-sama.”
“If the two of you have chosen it, I’m sure it’s the right one…”
“Leave it to Master~!”
“As you wish.”
“Yes.”
“Yep ♪”
I asked everyone just in case, but there were no objections. It’s okay to disagree sometimes, you know…
I also let Mio and Sara know to see if they were interested.
“We’re going to eat egg dishes in another country. Do you want to come?”
“Sure thing!”
“I will come as well!”
Two two used ‘Portal’ to reach the vicinity of the city, before coming to the restaurant. Altogether, we made up a pretty big group, so we all picked different dishes in the name of Mio’s culinary research. The one I chose happened to look a lot like fried crab balls for some reason…
A: If you want, I can list all the ingredients and allergens in each dish.
No, let’s not go that far. Unless there really is something dangerous in it…
The food was good, but Mio said she was going to remake the same things with harpy eggs next time, so I was already looking forward to it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After lunch, Mio and Sara joined us on our tour of the city. The place seems to have calmed down a lot during our meal.
A: Master, there is a problem to the north of the city.
…Please don’t make more trouble appear as soon as I say ‘it calmed down’. …Well, let’s hear it.
A: An adventurer has been infected with the ‘Gluttony’ curse mark.
Come again?
What do you mean by ‘infected with a curse mark’?
A: Monsters that went on a rampage as a result of receiving one of the ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ curse marks will infect other creatures, making it spread over time. The infected don’t actually get the curse mark itself, but they do enter a rampage-like state.
So… what does that actually mean…?
A: Here’s the present status of the adventurer in question
Aisha (Rampage – Gluttony)
Level 45
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Race : Human
Skills: <Mounted Combat Mastery LV7> <Life Magic LV2> <Monster Taming LV8> <Horse Riding LV7> <Beast Training LV7> <Body Strengthening LV4>.
I see, it’s the same ‘Rampage – Gluttony’ state that the Giant Man-Eater was in. However, does that mean she doesn’t have the curse mark itself?
By the way, is she one of the A-rank adventurers who fought with the Giant Man-Eater before us?
A: Yes. She most likely got infected with ‘Rampage – Gluttony’ at the time. It doesn’t always happen, and then the chances of it actually developing are also pretty low, so I was only monitoring her for the time being, but it seems she had the misfortune of contracting it.
In other words, it’s a very rare case.
By the way, we also came in contact with that Giant Man-Eater, but are we OK?
A: Yes. The protection from mind attacks granted by the <Avatar LV2> skill is enough to protect you from infection.
When ‘Avatar’ reached level 2, it gained the ability to preserve and protect the minds and memories of its users. It looks like it’s strong enough to keep all of my subordinates safe from getting infected by curse marks.
By the way, what’s going on with that adventurer right now? You said there’s a problem, but please tell me more about it.
A: The adventurer in question developed ‘Rampage – Gluttony’ while eating at a reopened restaurant. Because of this, she can’t control her appetite, and if things continue like this, she will soon die of overeating.
It turns out to be surprisingly dangerous.
It’s not like I’m obliged to help her, but there’s actually something I’m a little curious about. If you become a subordinate of mine while in the state of ‘Rampage’, can the effect of ‘Avatar’ still cancel it out?
A: It should be possible.
Since Alta confirmed it should work, I decided to give it a try.
“So, I’m gonna go to the northern side of the city and make an adventurer who’s currently in a state of ‘Rampage’ into a subordinate.”
“I will accompany you, Jin-sama.”
I summarized to everyone what I’d just talked about with Alta. Unsurprisingly, Maria decided to come along. Even though the adventurer was likely going to join our group soon, I didn’t want to drag everyone along in vain, so I asked them to continue their city tour. Since they had some free time, Mio suggested they should go shopping for new clothes for the monster girls.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once we reached the northern part of the city, we noticed a large group of people gathered around the tables in front of a nearby restaurant.
“Ugghhhh, another one!”
“Hey, stop it, you can’t possibly be still hungry!”
“You’re going to die at this rate!”
At the centre, there’s a female adventurer with an abnormally bloated stomach and some residents trying to stop her. She’s the adventurer I’m looking for, Aisha. Most of her body is wrapped in bandages, probably due to injuries she’d sustained in her fight with the Giant Man-Eater. There’s a pile of empty plates on the table in front of her, more than twenty at a glance. You’ll obviously get bloated if you eat this much! …unless you’re Sara.
“Please stop!!!”
“Out of my way!!!”
Aisha punched the man who tried to stop her by grabbing her arm. Looks like the A-rank adventurers are pretty popular here, based on the amount of people who are trying to help her. Still, getting hit by her, the map collapsed to the ground.
“Hey! That’s going too far!”
The other man tried to stop her. I thought Aisha was going to punch him as well, but things turned out a little different. Aisha looked around at the people around her and muttered:
“I don’t have to wait for the food to be cooked, there’s plenty of meat already here.”
“”What?””
The people around her exclaimed. The way Aisha looked at the men was like a predator eyeing its prey.
A: The ‘Rampage’ is progressing. At this rate, she will become like a beast, driven to attack others out of hunger. Although, her stomach will most likely burst open killing her before that happens.
Hmm, talking about people going on a rampage, it kind of reminds me of Mira, right after she was turned into a vampire. With her ego destroyed by the magic sword, she also acted like a beast at the time.
A: It’s similar, but she’s not a monster, so you can’t tame her.
No, I wasn’t really planning to tame her to begin with. Just… enslaving her instead…
“Run away! Something’s not right with her!”
“Oh, we’ll take care of her!”
Hearing me say this, the citizens around us ran away at full speed. The man who lost consciousness after getting punched by Aisha got left behind, still lying on the ground. I guess that’s as far as the good intentions of this city’s citizens actually go…
In no time at all, Aisha was left alone in the restaurant.
“Oh, the meat ran away… Too bad, I’ll have to make do with just this one.”
Aisha lifted the unconscious man and tried to bite his arm.
“Well then… bon appetit…”
“Yea, I’m not gonna let you do that now.”
I approached Aisha and snatched the unconscious man from her hands. Watching humans get eaten is totally no good in my book. I can’t even stomach monsters eating them, not to mention other humans doing so. I’m absolutely not gonna let it happen right in front of me.
“Are you interrupting my meal? Or do you want me to eat you first?”
Something about the way she said that made me want to have her. At that moment, I made the decision to take Aisha under my wing.
“……”
Maria sent her a deadly stare, when she proclaimed her desire to harm me. Still, this time she waited for my command, instead of instantly trying to cut her down. Looks like she’s got some self control after all.
“Very well. If you want to eat so badly, eat this too!”
“Mmm?!”
Saying this, I flung a small pill into Aisha’s mouth.
It’s one of the food pills I’ve made for Sara with ‘Energy Pill’, one of Sakura’s original spells, that allows you to turn your MP into highly nutritious pills. Because, due to her unique body type, Sara required a huge amount of calories, she still needs to eat around 20 of those pills after having a regular sized meal, to actually eat her fill.
“I’m… stuffed?!”
Of course, a normal human being wouldn’t be able to endure such a meal.
“Ugh!!! I’m still hungry! But I can’t eat any more! So hungry!!!
In Aisha’s case, her hunger is caused by the effects of ‘Rampage’, so no matter how much she eats, she will never be full.
“Ugh, I’m dying. I’m going to die if I keep going…”
Looks like she’s close to her limit. She collapsed to the ground with a pained face.
This is just right.
I approached Aisha and said:
“If you become my slave, I can free you from this suffering.”
To be honest, it’s nothing more than a devil’s whisper.
“I will! I will, so help me!”
Aisha said without a moment’s hesitation. Immediately, she lifted her clothes showing me her back.
I used a drop of my blood to establish a contract, using the <Slave Arts> skill. Maria made sure to provide us some cover, so that none of the onlookers could see what’s happening. With Aisha’s consent, the skill succeeded without any problems.
Then, Alta, please.
A: I understand. Done.
So fast!?
A: Her spirit isn’t broken, so I only had to transfer the ‘Avatar’ skill.
Oh, I see. I guess it was that simple now that I think about it.
“Kuh…”
Having finally been released from the effects of ‘Rampage’, Aisha fainted on the spot from overeating.
Unsurprisingly, the place where she went on her rampage was now empty, but there were still a lot of people watching us from a distance. We hid the use of <Slave Arts>, so no one should have seen that part, but we still stood out with all this commotion.
I didn’t really feel like explaining things to the guards, plus, there were too many things I didn’t want to have to explain, so…
“Excuse me. I’d like to pay the bill.”
…I decided to skip the explanation part altogether, and just leave like nothing had happened.
“Maria, let’s leave this place.”
“Very well. I will carry her.”
“No, carrying an unconscious woman is suspicious enough, but having a little girl do it would attract even more attention.”
“I apologize. If only I was a little bigger…”
If I let Maria carry her, we would stand out even more, so I reject it. Next, I paid for Aisha’s meal, healed the unconscious man just in case, and then left the area post haste.
We could go meet up with the rest of the group, but I’m still carrying Aisha, so we should probably use ‘Portal’ to return to the mansion.
A: Then, please head to the planned construction site of the Chamber’s new branch store.
Why?
A: You’ll find out when you get there.
If you say so, I guess I’ll do just that. Basically, the only time Alta doesn’t tell me things, is when she either deems them trivial (or unimportant at the time) or when she’s trying to surprise me.
Knowing that, I followed her advice and headed for the plot where the new branch store of the Chamber of Advanced Commerce was being built.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I see, this is a surprise…”
There’s a magnificent store here that’s already 80% complete. It’s two stories high, with part of it being used as accommodations for employees.
It’s only been three hours since we got this land…
A: ‘Inventory’ allows for easy transport and storage of materials, ‘Engage Link’ improves communication and coordination, while ‘Give and Take’ increases physical performance. We have all the necessary aspects of construction work covered.
She’s right now that I think about it. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say we have better construction capability than people back in my old world.
“Welcome, Jin-sama.” x20
“…Right, good job everyone.”
As I approached the building, the maids formed a line and bowed to me. They were apparently informed by Alta to stop the construction work and prepare to welcome us. Incidentally, they are all wearing maid uniforms, according to them, “because they’re our work clothes.”. …They are certainly the clothes you work in, but it somehow clashed with my image of a construction site’s work crew.
The maids led us into the room that looked to be the best one in the building.
Sakura’s group joined us after they finished their shopping. We would stand out too much if we tried to exit the city this late in the day, so we decided to stay for the night. Or, we could always go home with ‘Portal’. Sightseeing is nice and all, but nothing beats coming back home after all.
*************************************************************************************************************
Backstory – Chamber of Advanced Commerce
A company created by Lucia and run by the maids under Jin’s command.
Officially led by Lucia (her being one of Jin’s slaves is known only to the select few), with the aim of further spreading Jin’s influence.
Their headquarters are located in Kastor Queendom, with additional branches in Estia Kingdom and several countries of the Atto Union.
Because of Jin’s influence (almost 100%), they are very strict when it comes to handling trouble related to nobles.
When at one time, an influential noble in one of the countries of Atto Union tried to force a detrimental deal onto the Chamber, and then complained to the country after not getting his way, all the stores of the Chamber in the country stopped their business there and disappeared overnight.
If Jin wants to visit the country in question at some point, they will try to persuade him against it (if he still decides to go, they will support him nonetheless).
