Chapter 9 – First Purchase

This marks the final chapter that I’ve promised you guys. So expect no more chapters. I mean, it doesn’t mean I won’t do them, but don’t expect any! Because they won’t come! Although I might post some. But they won’t come! So you’d better not expect any!

This is a teaser! And I’m doing more teasers which might turn out to be even more amazing to some of you, so yeah! Holdest thy tongue!

A kantoui（貫頭衣） is a Japanese type of clothing that’s basically a simple cloth with a hole for putting the head through, worn like a poncho. According to a certain Chinese text, Japanese people were wearing these at the end of the third century.

Former adventurer, Dungeon Master Anri here.

I fell asleep while still in the bath so I thought I would catch a cold, but I turned out as healthy as ever.
If I had to name a problem, it would be that the curse apparently activated while I was asleep, and I ended up soaking in the bath with the tantou and robe equipped.
I can’t change, so I’m stuck with being soaking wet like this…

Well, if I walk outside for a while it’ll probably dry off, but because I’m soaked down to my underwear it feels gross.
Am I going to be unable to bath for more than 30 minutes?
Pulling myself together, I took out food from my item box and after having a simple breakfast, I teleported to the entrance.

Leaving the dungeon, I headed towards town.
Having made a decision to become a dungeon master, the problem of “shelter” is now gone.
Because of the curse I can’t change, and I can only worry about the problem of “clothing” without being able to do anything.
What’s left is the problem of food, and although I did buy a large amount yesterday, and I’ve established an indoor vegetable garden as well, the food stores can only decrease, and it’ll be a while before I can harvest.
Even if I could harvest them, I’m not a vegetarian so it’d be tough for me to live only eating vegetables.
Meaning that I’ll be forced to make a shopping trip in town once in a while, but… there’s one problem with this; I don’t know how long I’ll be able to come and go here.
With the events with the church and the Adventurers Guild, a group of people probably already have suspicions towards me, and once the transformation of the dungeon is known, it wouldn’t be strange even if there were people who linked the timing together.
Thinking about it like that, it would probably be better to assume that one day it’ll become difficult for me to come and go here.
Considering that I’ll be unable to enter and exit the town, I want somebody I can entrust the shopping to, but unfortunately I have nobody to rely on.
Don’t say lonerised! I know I am.
Even if I were to hire someone, there’s nobody I can trust and leave everything to, so there’s only one choice left that comes to mind.

Showing my Adventurers Card and entering the town, I headed towards the slave dealer.

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

I first found out that this world had slavery right after I reached town.
I had an image of slavery being illegal and shady, but it was in normal shop in a place relatively close to the main street and the memory of being shocked but that is still fresh in my mind.
Based on the information I heard from other peoples’ conversations, as well as some guesses of my own, the slaves of this world are apparently separated into four types; people whose statuses had been dropped to slavery as punishment, the crime slaves; people from a defeated country who were taken as war prisoners, the war slaves; people who had fallen to slavery as security for a loan, the debt slaves; and finally people who were born to two slave parents, the birth slaves.
There are various reasons why they separate the origins of the slaves, but they’re all unrecognised as humans all the same, and bought and sold for money.

The slaves are forced by a contract to their master to absolute obedience.
In this world where magic exists, ‘absolute obedience’ doesn’t mean just a rule, but being compelled to obey the commands of their master.
Even if you ordered “kill yourself”, no matter how much they tried to refuse, their body would move on its own and they would suicide.
Slaves are treated as possessions, so no matter how a master treats them, the master won’t be punished.
Because they’re fundamentally expensive, I dont think people would kill them on a whim too often, but that’s not an absolute.
The most expensive slaves are young females, followed by men with good builds.

As someone born in Japan, I’m opposed to the slavery system, but a person who won’t betray me no matter what could be said to be the most suitable.

…*

…*

…*

“Welcome. Will you be purchasing a slave today?”

When I entered the shop a neatly dressed, tidy-looking man asked me that at the very beginning.
It seems that he’s the shopkeeper here, but he was so different from the arbitrary image I had of slave traders being fat men that I was at a bit of a loss as to how to react.
When I nodded, he guided me to one of the tables set in the shop.
The shopkeeper sat down right opposite me, and our business talk began.

“Our shop has all sorts of slaves prepared. What kind of slave could it be that you are looking for?”

“In the first half of their teens, and a female… ah, and on the verge of death.”

The moment I stated my request, the shopkeeper froze, and looked my way.
Because I can’t look at him in the eyes, with my eyes still hidden, I replied with silence.
There’s no doubt that it was the third condition that he reacted to, but of course I have proper reasons for saying it.
The first is the price; I’d feel reluctant about ordering around people my elder, and since I’d need courage to eat and sleep together with someone of the opposite sex, I want a girl in the first half of their teens, but in that case the 5 gold I have with me might not be enough.
If it’s somebody who doesn’t have long because of illness or injury, then even if they’re a girl in their early teens, I thought that the price would be lowered greatly.
I wasn’t sure if they even sold someone like that to begin with, but there are apparently uses… as human shields against strong monsters, and the experimental materials for mages though.
The second reason is that even if I bought a slave here and left the shopping and my daily life to them, there’s the problem of that slave being afraid of me.
From the point of keeping my secrets, I’d need to have them live in the dungeon with me, but if we’re living together then it’s probably impossible to not ever meet eyes with me.
Even though with the absolute obedience to their master, a slave can’t go against them, in the end they’re only bound in their actions.
If I ordered them “Don’t be afraid of me.” they would just be unable to act afraid, and it wasn’t as if the fear itself would disappear.
I’ve come up with one countermeasure, but for that to work I need them to accept me at least once.
If they’re not somebody grasping at straws on the verge of death, they won’t meet the prerequisites.

“Of course, there aren’t many slaves like that, but we do have some. I must trouble you to come downstairs with me. Would that be all right, miss?”

Nodding in reply, I followed him into the back of the shop.
It seems that if you were looking for a normal slave then the shopkeeper would pick some that satisfied your requirements and bring them out, but for a cases like mine they wouldn’t be able to be brought, so they’d go see them like me.
After descending some narrow stairs, a jail came into view, the illuminating torchlight interrupted by the cell bars.
Inside the cells were a number of females.
All of them were completely naked, but while some were lying on plain futons, others were sitting with their backs against the stone wall.

“According to your requirements miss, it should be those in this area. If any catch your eye, I will give a detailed explanation but…”

I interrupted the shopkeeper who was turned to me and speaking by lining up beside him, and at an angle where he wouldn’t see my face, I removed my hood and looked over the women in the cage.
I could separate the responses into three.
Those who trembled and averted their eyes, those who didn’t react and just unmovingly stared into space, and just one who, though frail, was looking in my direction without budging.
I stepped forwards towards the only one that showed a different response, and stared beyond the bars.

That girl was sitting just by the bars, sitting powerlessly against the wall.
Her long blonde hair was dirty and dull, her ribs could be seen, her limbs were withered away, and she looked like she could take her last breath at any moment.
Even her face that would have surely been pretty if she was healthy had sunken cheeks, and was just a shadow of what it probably had been.
But even on the verge of death, she registered my presence, and had her blue eyes turned to me.

“This girl is?”

“Her name is Tena, and she’s 14 years old. She was born in a village a little distance from Riemel, and is a debt slave, but on the way here she was attacked by a fatal disease and she probably only has a month left to live.”

They’re cruel words to say before the person in question, and Tena trembled when she heard them.
However, at the same time this was proof that she hadn’t yet given up on living.
Despite knowing that her life was about to end soon, without giving up, she was still clinging to the desire to live.

“If it’s me, then I might be able to save her.”

After dropping those words, I could see that her blue eyes that were looking at me were shaken.
She was meeting eyes with me, but she didn’t show any sign of being afraid.
It’s probably that because she spent each day attacked by a fear of death stronger than the fear given by my eyes, her sense of danger was numbed.

“I don’t have any proof, but if you’ll believe and accept me, then take this hand.”

In front of the bars, I held out my hand.
For a while, Tena looked at my face, and the hand I was holding out, but in the end she timidly held out her hand and met mine.

“How much?”

“The cost is 5 silver coins.”

While lightly grasping this thin hand that seemed breakable even with my feeble strength, I asked the shopkeeper behind me for the price, and got that kind of reply.
Having said that she is on the verge of death, I couldn’t tell whether that price was high or low for a human, but with her potential, if she’s healthy she would probably be worth 100 times that.
The shopkeeper probably felt a lot of doubts about my words and actions, but perhaps because of his awareness as a professional, he didn’t ask me about it.

“Got it. Then I’d like you to dress her in any random clothes; I’ll pay for the extra.”

“No, if it’s just simple clothing for slaves, then it’s complimentary.”

He summoned a tough-looking assistant man who opened the cage and carried Tena out.

“We’ll hand her over once we’ve washed the body and given her clothes. We’ll need you to finish the paperwork in the meanwhile, so please come back to the seat from earlier.”

I followed the shopkeeper at his prompt, and left behind the underground jail.

…*

Sitting down when I returned to the shopfront, I entered the necessary details into the contract sheet, and paid 5 silver coins.

“We have certainly received it. Finally, there’s the registration of the slave, and the paperwork will be done.”

When he said that, with good timing came the man with Tena in his arms.
She was wearing a kantoui if you could call it that; it was a simple outfit made of a cloth with a hole for her head.
It wasn’t tied up with a belt, so her naked young body could be seen from the sides.
Seemingly having been washed, her blonde hair had also regained a lot of its colour, but even so the aura of death that floated from her entire body crushed out any of her appeal.
Laid on the floor, there was a collar that hadn’t been there before around her neck.

“Please touch her collar with your hand.”

Following the shopkeeper’s words, I stood up from my chair and reached my hand out to the collar on Tena’s neck.
The collar made of some unknown stone-looking material hadn’t a single seam, and looked like it couldn’t be taken off.
After touching it for a while, the collar shone with light.
Is this the same make-up as the Adventurers Card?

『Tena has been enslaved.』

Just like the times I enchanted something, or the time I became a dungeon master, I heard a voice from somewhere.

“With this, she’s become your slave, and has absolute obedience to you. Because she can’t walk, would you like us to call you a carriage?”

“I don’t need it; I’ll carry her.”

Saying that, I ignored the shaken shopkeeper and assistant, as well as Tena’s voice, and grabbing her arms, I placed her on my back.
She twisted her body to try and get down, but in the end, perhaps finally giving up, she calmed down.
I’m not sure what kind of expression the shopkeeper was giving me when I left the store.

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

She was light.
They did say she was 14 so she was certainly younger than me, but perhaps because of malnutrition, she was more petite than her age, and was one or two heads smaller than I was.
To add to that, she was thin enough that her ribs were showing, and she had so little weight that even the powerless me could easily carry her. Somehow that lightness made me sad.
Having said that though, no matter how light she might be, I still have to carry her all the way to the dungeon by foot, so it’ll probably be tough for both of us.
After leaving the shop, I entered an alleyway and walked a little, and after finding a place where nobody was around, I let her down to the ground.
Tena who was sitting on the ground looked up imploringly at me as I stood next to her, and in reply I took a step back from her and removed my hood.

“You swore to believe in me.”

“…Yes.”

For the first time, words came out of her mouth.
Hearing her answer, I thrust a finger at her forehead.

“If those words of yours are true, then accept this.”

Saying that, I used my skill consciously for the first time.

“Divine Enchantment.”

『Divine protection has been granted to Tena.』
『Divine protection has been granted to Slave Clothing.』

Together with those words, Tena was engulfed in gathering darkness.
When the darkness cleared, Tena’s appearance had completely changed.

The blonde hair that was dull even after being cleaned was now radiantly sparkling, and her sunken cheeks and fleshless limbs were now full, and the softness characteristic to a girl had returned.
There was a black pattern where I poked her, like a sideways letter “S”, and her blue eyes had turned to deep crimson.
Her clothing resembled the kantoui as well, but it had morphed into something resembling a blackened version of an ancient miko outfit, decorated with ornaments.
More than anything, her atmosphere of near death had disappeared, and the brilliance of a bishoujo returned to her.

Mn, seems that it went well.
Though it’s that of an evil god, it’s still a god’s “divine protection”, and a game-broken skill that changes beginner’s equipment into things that you’d find in the final dungeon.
I expected that even a fatal illness could be cured in an instant with it.
That even her clothing would change was a little beyond expectations, but if it’s cursed… sorry.

“Eh-…. Ah-…”

Dumbfounded at the transformation to herself and her outfit, Tena stared wordlessly at her hands and clothing.
While she did so, she realised that despite feeling sharp pains just by breathing before, there was now no sign of her illness at all, and tears began to spill from her now red eyes.
To Tena who thanked me again and again as she clung to the hand I had thrust out earlier, I swallowed down the guilt of distorting her life and future for my own convenience, so that it wouldn’t show on my face.

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

Tena whose tears had stopped after continually crying for a while had paled upon thinking back at what she had just done.
Seeing Tena peeking at my face, I was secretly relieved that even if she had become healthy again, she didn’t show signs of being afraid of me.
I wonder if she’s gained resistance to my magic eyes and aura because of her divine protction.

“Stand.””

“Y-, Yes-!”

I didn’t intend on saying it so strongly, but Tena bolted up, and stood at attention waiting formy next words.
It seems that there’s no terror from the skill, but I got the impression that she was nervous to the extreme.

“I want you to live at my home and do the housework and shopping.”

“…Eh?”

? I wonder why did she react to me like she was doubting me?

“Dissatisfied?”

“T-, That would be absurd! Only, umm… is just that much fine?”

Ahh, I see.
Certainly what I just asked her to do could normally be dealt with by simply taking applications for servants so there’s no reason to go out of my way to buy a slave.
Slaves exist to be forced to do things that servants can’t, or won’t do.
Only, I don’t have anything else I particularly want her to do for me, so it can’t be helped.
If the master was a man then he would probably add serving him at night to that, but I’m a woman so that has nothing to do with me.

“Just that is fine. But, I live quite far from town, so shopping is quite a task.”

“Understood.”

Tena tilted her head in wonder about where I lived, but she probably hasn’t even imagined that I live in a dungeon, huh.
Explaining would be difficult, so I’ll just have her see it for herself.

After buying shoes and underwear for her, I had Tena register at the Adventurers Guild before leaving town.

<Previous Chapter | Imouto | Next Chapter>

Chapter 8 – Moving

Hello, it’s Anri.
This is a bit sudden but… I was driven out of the inn.

Strictly speaking, my five days at the inn were up, and when I asked to extend it I was refused.
I hadn’t noticed it myself, but the innkeeper obasan was terribly afraid, so we probably accidentally had eye contact at some point.
And though I did think that this would happen before long, being driven out this early was beyond expectations.
And the fact that I wasn’t forcefully driven out, but that they entreatied me “I’m begging you, please leave” pierced my heart, so I’m pretty depressed.
Perhaps I should be looking for a replacement inn, but the shock was just so great that I can’t find the motivation for it.
And in a way, it might be perfect timing.
Since I haven’t solved the problem of balancing my income and expenses, you could say that this is a good chance for me to think about really doing something about it.
It’s just that if I don’t think about it like that, I won’t be able to go on, though.

While taking a breather in the central plaza café that I ordered a black tea in last time, I thought about my plan for now.
There are two general paths that I’m considering.
The first is that I’ll guarantee some other income source, and the second is doing something about the “shelter” issue that takes up most of my expenses.
I considered the former when I signed up to the Adventurers Guild too, but because it was too hard I ended up giving up.
In both personality and skill abilities I’m devastatingly unsuited for the hospitalities industry, and it’s not as if I have the know how either so jobs in production are impossible.
There’s basically no path for me to take in trying to earn money except for adventuring.
Alchemy using my divine enchantment──buying cheap things and selling them after enchanting them with divine protection──is something I considered as well, but because there’s a high chance that the weapons and clothing I enchant turn into cursed items, to begin with I wouldn’t be able to sell it, and even if I could sell them, it’d be an extremely eyecatching thing to do and would probably bring me trouble.

As for the latter, finding a place to live is difficult too, and since I only have 5 gold with me I don’t have enough to buy a house, and because renting a house and staying at an inn both have the risk of being driven out, I wouldn’t be able to settle down.
In the first place, living in an environment with other people means that I’d always have to be careful so that I absolutely wouldn’t meet eyes with anyone, so to begin with it was impossible.
Ideally it’d be “a place with nobody around”, “not rented, but owned by me” and also “has a fairly decent living environment”.
Since I’m stating my desires, it’d be best if it comes with “a way to make money” as well.

“As if such a convenient place…”

could exist, was what I wanted to say, but the truth is that if I don’t care about what methods I use, there actually is such a place, which is why I’m so troubled.
Do I take principles, or do I take profits…? That balance has probably already tipped in my heart.
You can’t deal with an urgent problem without sacrificing something in return.
Mn? A samurai pretends he has eaten well when he has no food, you say?
I’m not a samurai, so there’s no problem.

Gathering my thoughts, I headed to a store to stock up on food.

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

Three hours later, with a large amount of food stuffed into my item box, I came to the dungeon from the other day.
I’ve twisted my ideals and chosen the path of profits, in order to live in the dungeon.

“a place with nobody around” …From the town, it takes two hours to get here on foot, and there are no oddballs that have taken up residency here
“not rented, but owned by me” …I am the dungeon master after all
“has a fairly decent living environment” …It’s not that great now, but I can expand it and remodel it as I please
comes with “a way to make money” as well …There’ll probably be plenty of easy targets with money from now on

The demerits are ‘obstructions to my peace’ and ‘the pain to my conscience’ but the former can be fixed by strengthening the dungeon, and as for the latter, even in the worst case scenario, I’m going to compromise and make it a rule in my heart not to let anybody die.
Having made up my mind like this, I entered the dungeon.

I could grasp this vague and delicate feeling of “it feels like I can do this for some reason” with my ability as the dungeon master.
For example, since the dungeon is the area ruled by the dungeon master, as long as it’s within the dungeon I can move where I’d like, and although this is limited to when I’m inside the dungeon, I can see and hear all the places inside the dungeon.
I used teleportation to move to the room with the dungeon core.

In a small room of about 6 tatami, a blue crystal of about 50 centimetres was floating in the air.
This was probably the dungeon core.
I touched the dungeon core with my hand as I muttered.

“Dungeon Master.”

Name:           Holy Land of the Evil God
Attribute:   Darkness, Death, Pestilence
Floors:          3
Mana:           1532

My own status was the same, but the dungeon status couldn’t get any more sinister.
I’ll pretend that I didn’t see the name and attributes, and look at the other entries.
Having three floors means that it probably took over the beginners dungeon as is.
A lot of the fundamental structure has been changed, but I guess the separation into floors hasn’t changed.
It seems that the mana value is the amount of mana that’s been accumulated by the dungeon, and it seems that using this I can expand or maintain the dungeon.
There are two ways to accumulate mana in the dungeon core; either when the dungeon master personally fills it with mana, or when invaders die in the dungeon and their mana is sucked away.
The dungeon core serves as a piggy bank too, and if the dungeon master puts in mana every day, they can utilise mana above their capacity.
For example, an average dungeon master’s mana value is 10 to 20 thousand, and since it costs 1 million to add a floor, at that rate they’d eternally be unable to add floors to the dungeon, but if they store it in the dungeon core then regardless of their capacity, if they store 10,000 each day, a simple calculation will tell you that it’ll take them 100 days per dungeon floor.
But actually putting all your mana into it would probably be bad, and you’ll probably need to use mana for other things as well so it wouldn’t go so simply, and you’d need a longer amount of time to add a floor.

Having learned all this information from the dungeon core, I smiled bitterly.
As expected, it seems that a mana value of 3 million is abnormal.
Just having a nights sleep will restore most of my mana, so each day I can add three floors, meaning that in 100 days I can add 300 floors.
No, I mean, even if I add that many floors it’s just going to get impossible to manage, so it’s not like I’m going to do it though.
Mm~mm, I want to stop saying ‘mana value of ___’ and give it some kind of unit. Maybe points?
Anyway, I poured 3 million mana points into the dungeon core, and used 2 million from that to add two layers.
It seems that the floor with the dungeon core automatically stays the furthest down, and right now it’s become the 5th floor, with a new 3rd and 4th floor above it.
I made the 3rd and 4th floor orthodox and typical labyrinths, but I used the remaining 1 million points to remodel the 5th floor into a base.
I divided it into a few rooms and created a bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom, toilet, storeroom, and an office with the dungeon core in it.
While I was at it I used mana to create a pseudo-sun and established a day/night cycle.
There was an off feeling about having the light come from directly indoors rather than from outside a window, but I’ll probably get used to it before long.
What’s left is to use one of the larger rooms to create an indoor vegetable garden… it’ll probably be a while before any harvests though.
Because I was remodelling as I liked, the 1 million points were used up in a blink, but for now I’ve made it look like the bare minimum for a residential section.
At the end, I instructed all inhabitants to intercept intruders, but I made sure to give a strict order not to kill them and only knock them out.
With normal monsters there’d probably be dissatisfaction and a chance that they’d ignore the orders and go with their instincts, but the inhabitants of this dungeon are all non-living monsters with no sense of self, so they’ll probably obey my orders absolutely.

Because I used a huge amount of mana, I’m feeling sleepy, but somehow overcoming it with willpower, I headed to the bathroom.
It’s the first chance in a while for me to get in a bath, so I can’t fall asleep until I’m satisfied with the bath.
I was really thoroughly soaked in the first bath I’d had in days, and while still in the water, I fell asleep.

<Previous Chapter | Imouto | Next Chapter>

Chapter 6 – Promise

The door opened with a creak, and I passed through it into the Adventurers Guild.
Looking from the entrance there was a bulletin board on my left, and there were a number of papers that seemed to be requests pinned to them.
On the right side were a number of round tables, and chatting adventurers who seemed to be in parties.
And in front of me was the counter, with a young receptionist staff member who was speaking with an adventurer.
At the counter, besides the person speaking to the reception, there were also about two people lined up behind them, and I decided to line up behind them too.

My turn finally came, so I walked forwards to the counter.

“Welcome to the Adventurers Guild. How can I help you today?”

“I’d like to register.”

“Understood. To register you will have to pay 1 silver coin. Will that be all right?”

I nodded and drew a silver from my robe pocket, and handed it over to the receptionist.

“Well then, please place your hand atop this card.”

After saying that, the receptionist brought out 1 unmarked card and placed it on the couner.
I did as I was told and placed the palm of my right hand above the card.
After leaving it there for about a minute, the card shone.

“Thank you, that will be enough.”

Being told that I removed my hand from the card and found that the card that should have been plain up until just now was now marked with letters.
It seems that part of my status has been written here.

Name:  Anri
Race:    Human
Sex:       Female
Age:     17
Job:       Mage
Level:   1

I-, I’m glad it was only a part.
If my title or skills were written here, it might have caused a huge fuss.

“I’ll be transcribing what’s written on the car──”

“Oi, oi, this little girl wants to become an adventurer? It’s the end of the bloody world.”

Cutting off the receptionist oneesan’s words was a voice from the side.
When I reflexively looked that way, I found that one of the adventurers talking by the tables earlier was now standing there, and walking our way.
He’s a large man at around 2 metres, and has a fierce and filthy, thickly bearded face.
Could this be… a ‘picking a fight with an OP protagonist’ event?

“Oi, oi, Gartz. You’re seriously picking a fight with another newbie?”

“Doing this everyyy singleee time. You sure don’t get bored, huh.”

Wai-, this happens all the time?
It seems that I was just being overly self-conscious. I’m so embarassed that my face is burning up with shame.

“Oi, how ’bout saying something. Don’t just stand there wordlessly forever with your face hidden.”

Saying that, the bear of a man that picked a fight with me────Gartz, pulled away my hood with his hands.

“!?”

Gartz who was looking right at my eyes stiffened up, with shock and horror frozen on his face.
Fortunately, his large build was hiding me so it seems that the other people weren’t affected by my mystic eyes.
The next moment, something flew up from below and settled into my hand.

“HII-!?”

When I had a look, I found there the ominous jet black tantou that I got used to yesterday.
It seems that the time limit for leaving it out of my hand has passed.
Seeing me who looked like I was preparing a weapon, Gartz let out a shriek and fell on his backside.
Like that, he backed away to get away from me.
While watching that, I managed to get the hood on and hid my eyes just in time.

“Oi, what’s wrong!?”

Perhaps noticing Gartz’ strange behaviour, one of his comrades who was sitting at a table behind us rushed over to Gartz and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“!? UOOOOAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH――――!!!”

“Ga-!? What the fuck are you doing!?”

Gartz had turned around when a hand was placed on his shoulder, and letting out a roar of terror, he stood up and bolted.
Some adventurers besides Gartz’ companion tried to stop the rampaging Gartz, but Gartz shook them off and jumped out the door.
I can hear shrieks and angry yells from outside but, ummm, this isn’t my fault, right?

Decided that it didn’t happen, I turned around and found that the receptionist ojousan was frozen with the card in her hand.

“Not going to copy it?”

“Heh? Ah-, please excuse me. I’ll immediately copy it over!”

She transcribed the details from my card into what seemed to be a register of names.

“And it’s finished. Umm, what did you do to Gartz-san earlier?”

“Nothing really.”

Taking the card back, I gave a curt reply.
It’s the truth that I actually didn’t do anything, and it was all an act of fate, but it seems that the receptionist isn’t really buying it.
Even if he’s carried off my cursed tantou in the chaos and is affected by the status effects, it’s not as if I’ve attacked him after all.

“Umm, do you require an explanation on the requests?”

“Yes please.”

Even if she hadn’t accepted it, perhaps sensing that it wasn’t a good idea to poke her nose into it, the oneesan changed the topic to pretend it didn’t happen.
I was grateful for that too, so I accepted.

“The things posted on the bulletin board to the left are request papers. Please rip off the requests that you’d like, and bring them to the reception along with your Adventurers Card. Once the request is complete, please present the proof and your Adventurers Card, and we will hand over the reward. There are also some requests with time limits, so please take care. Once the time limit has passed, you will have failed the request, and will need to pay a penalty fee.”

Hmm, so far it’s all normal.
Only, nothing is written on the request paper except the contents of the request, the reward, and the time limit, huh.
Speaking of which, there doesn’t seem to be ranks written on the Adventurer Card either, does there.

“Are acceptable requests divided by rank?”

“They are not; you can fundamentally accept any request. We do warn you if you pick a request that’s too impossible, but we will not force you to comply.”

In other words you’re responsible for yourself, huh.

“Requests are mainly divided into three types; subjugation, collecting, and guarding. Do you requite an explanation of each?”

“Those are fine.”

As you’d expect, at least that much can be understood just by the names.

“That concludes the explanation. Will you be immediately accepting a request?”

After giving a nod, I peeled from the bulletin board a request that I had my eye on, and placed it on the counter together with my Adventurers Card.

“Umm, let’s see, the medicinal plants collection request. The minimum number is five leaves, and are 30 copper altogether, but even if you collect more it isn’t a problem. This is a permanent request by the guild, so there’s no time limit.”

One leaf is 6 coppers, huh?
It’s probably in-between the buying and selling price of the stores.
Eh? Aren’t you going to accept a subjugation request, you ask?
It’s scary, so don’t wanna.

“It doesn’t matter where you collect them, but they grow in large numbers in the eastern forest, so that would be the most reliable place.”

“Got it.”

I collected my Adventurers Card and turned around.
All of the adventurers who were peeking at me averted their eyes together.
What’s with this? Bullying?
It didn’t seem that it’d be a good thing for me to say here like this, so I left the Adventurers Guild.

I bought a sandwich from a stall to eat for lunch, and headed town from the eastern gate.
I returned the temporary ID that I got when I entered town yesterday, and had them return my deposit.
After walking for an hour I reached the forest, and around the time I collected 10 leaves, the sun had set so I returned to town.

Unusually I didn’t meet any trouble, and passed the day without being attacked by monsters, but I only realised that this was something abnormal much later.

<Previous Chapter | Imouto | Next Chapter>

Chapter 5 – Holy Place

The light shining into the room brought my consciousness back.
It seems that today I woke up before my alarm clock woke me up.
Since I finally woke up feeling nice for once I didn’t want to hear that piercing sound, so still lying down, I reached out my hand to stop it before it rang.
While groping around for the alarm clock that was always by my pillow, my hand touched something hard.
I tried to grab it from above and press the button on the alarm clock… when a sharp pain at the base of my thumb sent me jumping right up.

“Tss-!?”

When I looked at my pained right hand, I found that at a cut ran vertically down the base of my thumb, and blood was oozing from there.
In confusion at the sudden event, I looked at where I had stretched my hand towards earlier, and found that in place of my familiar alarm clock was an ominous black knife lying there.
After looking around the room still confused, I remembered that this wasn’t my room.
A six tatami room with a simple table set, and, completely at odds with the rest of the room, a jet black canopy bed.
Right, I was thrown into another world, and made it to this room.

Mn?
That’s weird, there’s something that feels off about this.
No, I mean, being thrown into another world is off to begin with, or rather it’s beyond a level you can just call ‘feeling off’, but leaving that aside, it feels kind of like last night’s scene was a little different, or rather…
While I dragged off the jet black robe that was hard to see atop the black blanket, I frantically tried to work this mind of mine that wouldn’t work well having just awoken.
Wai-, black?
Right, the thing that’s off about this scene is the bed and blanket.
Last night when I went to sleep, it was supposed to be just a simple wooden bed, with white sheets and a white blanket.
And at some point it changed into a pitch black canopy bed… It couldn’t be that I was kidnapped?
No, but the room seems to be the same as the room that I fell asleep in last night.

Still unable to process the situation, the knife from before entered my vision.
Earlier I was wondering why such a knife was in here, but thinking about it carefully, I realised that it might have been the curse.
I put it away in my item box, but because of the curse of being unable to unequip it, it probably flew out while I was sleeping.
Meaning that it’s going to be like this every night? Today it ended with just a scratch, but if I don’t do something about this I’ll probably be seriously injured before long.
While licking my wound, I was at a loss as to what I would do from now on.

Having remembered about the knife, I realised what had probably happened with the bed as well.
While I was sleeping, the divine enchantment had probably activated.
There might have been a voice just like the time with the knife and robe, but unfortunately I was sleeping and apparently missed it.
In other words────

“I’ve done it now.”

Because of the skill, it seems that I accidentally demonically remodelled the bed.
I, wonder if I’ll have to reimburse them.
It’s become luxurious, so I wonder if they might forgive me.

Despite running into trouble first thing in the morning, I put on my robe and shoes.
Let’s just deal with it later.

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

After having breakfast I left the inn.
I roughly asked the inn obasan about the placed I wanted to go today, so all that’s left is to walk about and search for them.
My goals are two places; the Adventurers Guild and the church.
I want to register at the Adventurers Guild for a Guild Card.
I don’t have any intention of proactively going on adventures, but it seems like various things will get annoying without ID after all, and I want to maintain a way of earning money too.
My purpose of going to the church is to dispel the curse.
I experienced trouble this morning too, but I really would like to hurry up and get rid of the curses on this robe and knife.
I’m aware that the idea of ‘removing curses = church’ is largely influenced by the games I’ve played, but given that I can’t think of anything else there’s no choice but to try.
Since the curse really exists, I think there should exist a method to dispel it too after all, and even if the church can’t do it, if I talk to them about my problems they’ll probably teach me how to approach it.
A helping hand to the lost lambs.

The church was apparently somewhat closer to the inn, so I’ll head there first.
Apparently the inn I stayed in is in the western side of town, but the church is in front of the estate of the ruler’s residence in the northern side, and the Adventurers Guild is near the eastern gate.
Turning left at the central plaza, I walked northwards along the road that intersected the east-west road.
After walking for a while, I could see a large building before me.
That’s probably the estate of the lord of this town.
In that case, does that mean the church is that building whose distinguishing feature are the spires?
I arbitrarily had the image of ‘church = cross’ but thinking about it carefully, that’s only limited to the Christians of my old world, and the churches of this world have no crosses.
Upon walking as far as the entrance, I could see beyond the open doors a dignified room that you could call a holy temple.
Benches were lined up, and there was a podium further in, and a person who appeared to be a priest was currently preaching.
Enshrined inside was a divine looking statue of a goddess, and people were sitting on the benches and offering prayers towards that statue.

Mn, there’s no mistake that this is the church.
But still, with such a pure atmosphere, it seems that I can hold some hopes for getting this curse dispelled.
With lightened steps, I headed towards the entrance and went through that do-…MIGYAH-!?
The moment I tried to head through the door I collided face-first into the invisible wall that was there.

Taking a staggered step backwards because of the impact I took to the face, in front of me was a crack in space.
What’s, with this?
Finding it strange, I timidly gave it a poke, when the crack widened from where my finger was, and with a light -pan- sound, something that was surrounding the church ruptured and disappeared.

“Ah.”

Could this possibly be that? A barrier or something?
A barrier charged with holy power in order to ward off foreign enemies… Wai-, no, no, then why did I get repelled?
And moreover, with just a light poke it so easily broke too.

“… … … … … … …”

“… … … … … … …”

“… … … … … … …”

“… … … … … … …”

When I happened to glance that way, I found that everybody in the church was looking at me, frozen up.
It seems that the sound of the barrier breaking earlier resounded inside too, and they were paying attention to my every action.
Um~mm, I think that the possibility of the barrier breaking is only at a ‘not completely non-existent’ level, but I realised that from an outsider’s point of view, it looked like I had obviously destroyed the barrier.
Now that it’s come to this────

“… … … … … … …Strategic retreat.”

I desperately made a smile, and tilted my head in confusion before quickly leaving the scene.

I don’t hear any screaming behind me, I don’t hear any screaming behind me.
That my hood had been thrown off when I bumped into the barrier was something that I only realised after I made it as far as the central plaza.
Frantically putting my hood back on, I decided to take a breather at a cafe by the plaza.

While sipping the black tea I ordered, I thought about what just happened.
It seems possible that the church had some kind of holy protection cast on it, but why did I have to get repelled by it?
I’m a human, and not a devil or anything… Wai-, is this because of the 『Child of the Evil God』 titlee!?
Mn, I can’t think of any other reason after all, and it probably isn’t wrong.
Do people with this title get treated as non-humans? So troublesome.
Like I thought, I really do want to give that evil god a punch.

With things as they are, it would probably be better not to go near the church for now.
I had my face seen without a hood on after all, and I accidentally met eyes with them so with the effect of the mystic eyes, it won’t turn into anything good.
It seems that for now I have no choice but to give up on the curse removal as well.
While drinking my black tea, I let out a deep sigh.

<Previous Chapter | Imouto | Next Chapter>