Chapter 24: Volume 3 - CH 22

The next morning.

The sound of a distant bell announcing the first koku of the day woke Satoru up, though his head was still dragging from a slight sleep.

Although last night's little event had been a trial battle to confirm that he was a cheat, he was still nervous about fighting against other people, and it took him some time to fall asleep.

Also, for the first time in his life, he had not held Leia the day before. He was afraid that he might let his aggression get the better of him in the heat of battle. He didn't tell her that Leia looked a little sad.

Still, it must have been a habit for him to wake up at the time he usually did sinceshe was in Japan.

「Good morning, my Lord.」

Leia, who was sewing, noticed that Satoru was awake and called out to him.

「Oh, good morning.」

Today, too, he lazily approached the tub, made the minimal amount of "water balls" he has gotten used to exercising, filled the tub with water, rinsed his mouth, and washed his face. He plugged his cell phone into the solar charger, as was his habit in his former life, and sat idly for about two minutes, nibbling on a branch of the terror tree as a substitute for toothpaste, waiting for his brain to start working.

When he was in Japan, he would have had to prepare a meal and lunch box after this, but now he doesn't have to do that.

He got dressed and went downstairs to ask the Old man at the reception desk for breakfast.

Yawning loudly, he went back to his room and once again sat in a daze until breakfast arrived. Soon there was a knock at the door, and a large breakfast was brought in.

He immediately devoured it, demonstrating his usual healthy daring.

「Come to think of it, it seems that the town was a bit noisy last night after my Lord went to sleep.」

「Well? I wonder what's going on there?」

They laughed at each other, knowing the commotion of last night, and Leia handed a freshly sewn leather sleeveless vest to Satoru. It had three pockets and was not badly designed.

「Yaa, I'm sorry.」

「Nothing. Don't worry about it. I like this kind of thing, too.」

She had wanted to sew the underwear, but the leather was too thick and took too much time, and she wanted to get Satoru's opinion on the pants first, not the shirt, so she decided to leave it at that.

The pants Satoru was wearing now were stretchy boxer shorts. This material is indeed something that cannot be imitated in this world.

「I especially don't understand this great stretching and shrinking thing that hooks around your waist without any strings.」

「Oh, rubber. ...... It's going to be tough in this world.」

The atmosphere was completely free of last night's rough stuff. After all, they were talking about elastic pants. At any rate, they've agreed to make a pair of pants that can be tied with strings. I'll be able to change them tomorrow morning. I'm thankful for that.

「Are you going shopping today?」

「Yeah, I missed it yesterday.」

「I've spent an extra day on it.」

「What. Are you blaming me?」

「Not really.」

As expected, after six days of being together, they start to feel at ease. The two of them look at each other and laugh.

「Oh, that reminds me. How long will Minerva's "Shrink" last?」

「...... Oh, I was careless!」

She is indeed an idiot. It's this element of carelessness that prevents him from putting his full trust in her. Leia immediately extends the duration of Minerva's "Shrink" effect with "Extend Effect".

He decided to leave the Giant-Killer behind today. Yesterday, as he walked around town, he realized that Satoru stands out with his height. On top of that, with a big sword on his back, he's like a sandwich man with a sign on his back. It was right after yesterday's commotion, and the roughnecks who belong to the thieves' guild don't have time to pick fights, but he still doesn't want to start any strange rumors.

After telling the innkeeper that he would be staying another night and that he would be leaving tomorrow morning, and paying the slightly discounted room rate for today, Satoru and Leia went into town.

Even though it was a small town, it was the royal capital of the kingdom. You can find almost anything you need. First, he went to the market to buy some spices and food while looking at the various ingredients, and then went back to the fabric store. There was only one piece of ready-made underwear that fit Satoru's size, so he bought it without hesitation. He walked around looking at various other tools.

The sun was getting a little high and Satoru was getting hungry, so he bought a kebab from a street vendor in the town's central square, sat down on a stone that had probably once been a fountain, and watched the people pass by.

Once again, Satoru wistfully thinks that this is another world. As if he had slipped back in time, the cars passing through the town were either horse-drawn carriages or large eight-wheeled vehicles. The roads are cobblestone on the main streets, and mere dirt on the small streets. The buildings are mostly wooden pillars with mud walls, and the tallest is about four stories high. Most of the people on the streets were walking, and their clothes were distinctly plain. There is none of the glamour of today.

There is no electricity, of course, no cell phones, and from Satoru's point of view, there is nothing at all, but there is magic in this world that does not exist in his original world, and it supports people's lives.

He suddenly overheard the conversation of a group of men nearby, who were also eating a light meal.

「Did you hear that there was a commotion at the Thieves Guild last night?」

「I know, I know! I've heard that Zareth, the "Magic Sword User", has been sent to the authorities.」

「It's been bad since he took over the throne.」

「I hope the economy improves a bit now.」

Satoru felt relieved and left the place.

It was good that he had sympathized with Rico's situation and helped her in the moment, but Satoru had only heard Rico's point of view. In fact, there was a possibility that Zareth was the good guy and Rico was the bad guy. However, the atmosphere of the town he had seen so far had motivated Satoru, and seeing the reaction of the general public now, he was relieved that he had done the right thing.

He doesn't know if he's a good judge of character, but when she told him that her brother had been taken hostage, there was nothing calculating about it. That's why he felt like he could help her.

After observing people, Satoru visited the magic guild. It had been two days since he had tried to come yesterday, but Rico had snatched his wallet and he hadn't been able to make it.

「I'm sorry, do you have a measuring ball?」

The guild employee politely replied, "Please wait a moment." He went through the inventory, instructed his subordinate to bring it from the warehouse, and chatted with Satoru.

「You're purchasing measuring balls? That's unusual.」

「No, I was just asked to do so by an acquaintance. Something about a kid who lost it when she was being naughty.」

「Oh, I see. Children certainly like shiny stones like this.」

「Something like that.」

He felt a small sense of guilt as the lie came out of his mouth. By the way, the price is 2L, which is quite expensive.

Again, he's searching information about the labyrinth in the vicinity, but there was no information to be found.

「Labyrinths? ...... In this suburb, I guess it's "The Deepest Labyrinth". It is one of the labyrinths that have not been conquered in the 300 years since it was discovered.」

「Hmm. ......」

「Are you mainly going to explore the labyrinth? If so, have you been to the west?」

「No? When you say west, you mean ......」

「The Union of Thirteen Cities - it's around the magic city of Ares. The area around that place was home to some of the largest countries in the ancient magical kingdoms. I'm sure there were several labyrinths in that area that have yet to be conquered.」

He was convinced that this was the case, and in exchange for 2L and 3d, he finally bought what he was looking for and breathed a sigh of relief.

Now he have no reason to stay in this town. Now he's just waiting for Rico to bring him some information - not that I'm expecting much.

They had planned to spend the afternoon wandering around the town, but Satoru and Leia both fell in love with one place.

It was a bookstore. At first, Leia was looking at it from the shadows, but she ended up casting a "vision" on herself to find it on her own. Fortunately, the "illusion" was not forcibly canceled and there was no commotion.

Leia, of course, fell in love with books on magic, while Satoru was absorbed in illustrated books and cookbooks. He had been reading to himself for the past few days, and since he could now recite most of the words, he was gaining information in a single-minded way.

Books are a precious commodity in this world. Even so, he surprised the bookstore clerk by buying three copies for Satoru and three copies for Leia. Incidentally, six books cost 5L, which is expensive if you think of it as 40,000 yen per book, and they spent 200,000 yen on books.

「Well, they're useful, and thanks to the "Shadow Diving" system, they don't weigh down our luggage, ........but they're still expensive」

『Are books cheap in my Lord's world?』

「It's a bit tricky, but for used books, it's probably 1d for 2 books. For new, expensive books, it's about 1s.」

『That's cheap. It's the difference in technology, huh』

「Well, I guess it does.」

Leia is surprisingly meticulous, so even though she puts a lot of stuff in the shadows, she keeps things in order. Satoru is careless in that area, which is a great help.

He put his purchases away in the shadows and return to the Honeycomb Pavilion. He told the innkeeper, who was not very friendly, but treated him in a businesslike manner, that he would be leaving tomorrow morning, ordered dinner, and went into his room to catch his breath. For some reason, he like this inn. There are no prying eyes, and although the innkeeper is unsociable, he does his job well. Besides, the food is plentiful. He wondered if they knew that the quality of the food was inferior to others, so they tried to compete with it in quantity.

He devoured his dinner, which was more quantity than quality, as it arrived shortly after.

As he finished eating and wiped his body with the hot water in the tub, he heard a knock on his room.

「Come in」

He answered the door and found the innkeeper. He was as unsociable as ever.

「You've got a visitor.」

「A guest? For me?」

He responded and went downstairs to find Rico there - I felt strange.

He didn't have to think about what made him feel uncomfortable. It was her clothes. She was wearing a dress that was open at the chest to show off her cleavage, which was slightly larger than Leia's, and a wraparound skirt underneath. It was as short as Leia's. Satoru looked at Rico confused.

「.........Who are you imitating for?」

「What's the big deal? I'm a woman, after all.」

It looks good on her. But Rico had never worn anything that used her looks as a weapon before. Surely she's been wearing short pants, almost hot pants, at best.

They went to the room. The room was lit by a lantern with a "Light".

When they returned to the room, Leia saw Rico following behind Satoru and raised an obvious eyebrow.

「....... My Lord. Would you like me to get out the room?」

「Nope. No need to.」

Satoru said simply, and sat down on the bed. Rico was a little lost, and sat down next to Satoru. Yesterday, he was sitting in a chair. Leia had no choice but to sit down in the chair.

「............」

Of course, Leia was aware of Rico's intentions. She trying to use her body as weapon, no matter how you looked at her. If you think about it, what Satoru did is not something that can be balanced with just information about the labyrinth in the suburbs. So it was obvious that she was trying to flirt with Satoru in order to get a better balance. That's probably why she's wearing such revealing clothes.

Satoru's intention is to embrace a woman other than Leia, but his true feelings are of course against it. They have been traveling with the two of them up to this point - well, technically speaking, Minerva is there too, but he's not sure if he count the flying dragon in the account - without any problems. He doesn't like the idea of a foreign object coming into a journey of two plus one.

However, the current Leia can not stop Satoru. So, there's no way around it - even though I was going to sit out of the room because I didn't want to see it, even though I had already made that decision.

「So, the information you have...」

Satoru started off abruptly without any preamble. For a moment, Rico looked as if she'd missed the point, but then she regained her composure.

「I've been to temples, magic guilds, adventurers, and even the country's knightly orders, and I've done all the research I can.」

「And.」

Rico glances at Leia. She looks unsettled. When she sensed that Satoru had no intention of letting Leia go, Rico sighed. After taking two deep breaths, she grabbed Satoru's hand and pulled up the hem of her skirt with her other hand. He caught a glimpse of her bare thighs.

「 ...... I've got a piece of parchment tucked into my underwear that I wrote on.」

「You ......」

Satoru smiled. But Leia immediately understood. It was a smile that hid his anger.

Rico stepped on the bomb - Satoru is a man who has always said that he hates people who take advantage of him by calculating above all else. He may have decided that the information about the nearby labyrinth was not balanced, and that is why Rico did what she did, but he is not the kind of man who would easily allow this act of calculation.

「What do you think?」

Rico's attitude was provocative, but he could tell she was trembling.

Satoru was also trembling. This is out of anger.

But Rico, who was so full of it, didn't have time to notice.

Satoru managed to control his trembling lips, and let out a shaky voice.

「Leia」

「Wh-What is it?」

Leia, who hadn't expected to be mentioned here, raised her voice in confusion. Satoru told her crisply.

「Watch this」

「Wha」

A voice of surprise was uttered in unison.

Satoru, without showing any sign of making her say anything, grabbed Rico's shoulders and pushed her down. Satoru slips on top of her.

「And? What were you thinking when you asked me out?」

「I-I'm going to ask you to stay here in this town. ......Eekk!」

Satoru's hand reached for Rico's chest, and she let out a small scream. She bit her lip and shivered, wincing even though she wasn't cold. Satoru shook his head from side to side, enjoying her chest, which was a size larger than Leia's.

「I can't do that. I'm traveling for a certain purpose.」

「E-Even if I say I'll be your concubine?」

「What!?」

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「Shut up Leia」

Satoru squeezes her breasts and turns his cold eyes to the girl who is being pushed down. While feeling a chill run down her spine from the cold stare, Rico tried her best to keep her voice down.

「I-I think I'm more feminine than that [Immortal King] over there, don't you think? A-And besides, I'm a virgin, you know?」

「I don't care. I refuse.」

――As I expected

Satoru is not surprised. Rather, it made sense.

Even though her brother was safely released, Rico did not go near him. If she was a virgin, then she was definitely disgusted by the whole idea of selling her body. So she stayed away from her brother.

And on the contrary, her brother is probably ashamed of his dirty self. That's why he couldn't get close to his sister either.

On the other hand, Satoru's anger deepened even more. How could Rico, who had always had aversion and resistance to selling her body and had maintained her innocence, of all people, use it as a selling point  to ensnare Satoru?

This is the kind of calculating behavior that Satoru hates the most.

Relentlessly, the hand crawled from her chest downward, and Rico's limbs jumped. Under Satoru's gaze, Rico asks the strong man who is pushing him down.

「No matter what?」

「I told you, didn't I? I'm just giving you a chance. I don't know anything more than that, and I don't want to get involved.」

A moment later, Rico fluttered back and stood up away from the bed, while hiding her chest. He could have caught her if he had wanted to, but Satoru didn't dare do anything.

「Then I can't give the information to you.」

Satoru threw a cold stare at Rico, who hadn't moved a micron since he had told her so crisply.

「That's a breach of contract. You give me the information, I'll take care of Zareth and his cronies. Isn't that what we talked about?」

「That's ...... not a contract to begin with. I didn't respond to you.」

She stammered for a moment, but it was probably a line she had prepared. Satoru is looking at Rico with a cold stare.

「Nonsense. ......」

Leia also spoke out in disgust. What was the point of signing a contract under such circumstances? It would have been enough to turn Rico over to the authorities. Not only did Satoru spare her, but he even helped her.

Satoru half-raised himself and called out to his magical slave without looking back.

「Leia」

「What is it, my Lord?」

「I've changed my mind. Go blow up that guild and the entire building」

「What!?」

Leia just snorted at the surprised Rico. As expected. Satoru is very angry.

「There's no doubt that people will die.」

The deaths that Satoru should have avoided at that time.

Leia understood his hesitation because he's a person who came from a world where peace and human rights are protected to a world that is rough and where human rights are not taken into account, and she responded by not killing even Zareth.

「I don't care. I'm not even going to feel the need to deal with people who can't even keep their word. If you want, I don't mind if you blowing up this whole town.」

However, Satoru has completely abandoned his hesitation and is telling her in a cold voice.

With Leia's power, it would be quicker and easier to blow up the entire town. Two ranged attack magic will do the trick.

「Hoo, that's very impressive. Well, I'm no stranger to such things.」

There are not many people who can resist the Leia's magic, who has one of the best souls in the world. When Leia was about to sit up at her Lord's command, a voice came to stop her.

「W-wa-waiiit!!」

Of course, it was Rico who shouted at her to stop. She shot an impatient and angry look at Satoru and Leia.

「...... Aren't you ashamed of holding everyone in town hostage?」

「At least I'm better than you are now.」

Rico's anger came back to her as an unexpected blade. What Rico was doing was more shameful than taking innocent people hostage, Satoru had told her.

「You were trying to seduce me. Blackmailing me with the information I asked for in return. And?　You're accusing me of trying to use force? You've got to be kidding me.」

「B.......Because」

At this point, Rico finally realized her mistake. She realized that Satoru was angry.

「I don't give a shit. To be honest, I was a little hesitant about killing people, but it seems like the people in this town are nothing but assholes. That's enough. Go ahead, Leia.」

「S-stop! Stooooooppp!! Please don't do that!!

Rico screamed at Leia, who stood up with a clatter of her chair. The only time Rico had seen Leia's direct power was when she confronted her in the underground canal and that moment when she took out Zareth. It was also probably her minimal power. If the rumors about the Immortal King are true, it would be natural for her to blow up this town. She can't let her go.

「Because if I don't get you locked up, the guild in this town will be finished!」

Satoru's voice was fierce.　Satoru replied "Ahh?" in a dusky tone.

「I thought the previous generation's son was smart?」

「That's right, Jim is smart, and he's definitely going to have better off than Zareth. But he's not powerful enough for that either. You have the power. And it's overwhelming.」

「And? Are you going to be the chain that binds me? How high do you think you are?」

Rico was stunned by Satoru's foot-dragging comment. She had only come to this place with the belief that Satoru would respond if she tried to seduce him, but Satoru's remark had clearly knocked her down.

Rico would not be a chain to make Satoru give up the purpose of his journey. It's not worth it, that's what he said.

「I just happened to be passing by. I was just shaking off the fire that flew at me. Rico, didn't you say so? Even though there is no merit for me. This is how you treat the person who went to such lengths to help you?」

Satoru's voice was filled with emotion. Of course, anger. For the second time, Rico shivered at Satoru. That feeling of desperation she had felt when she had been cornered in the underground canal.

「I-I'm sorry. ......」

「If you don't have the power, you just have to use your head. In the end, you underestimate this Jim guy, too. "He can't run the thieves' guild in this town" you said that.」

「Th-That's not true.」

「If that's the case, then you don't need my help, right? Don't screw with me!?」

Satoru shouted at her head-on. Because of the effect of the "silence barrier" now, the voices in this room cannot leak out. But even without the silence barrier, Satoru would have yelled at her. That's how angry he was.

「............」

Rico gulped at the head-on revelation. Satoru's words were indeed true. She can't even hear his own voice as her own naivety is exposed.

「You came here, you tried to ensnare me, you did it all on your own. Do you think your "Mr. Smart Jim" would look good in other eyes, if a man of overwhelming power, near him?」

Rico imagined the situation and was again stunned. Jim is smart, but weak-minded. There was no way such a man could stomach having an overly strong man by his side.

Satoru took a long, deep breath. He was angry at Rico, but he was also angry at himself for misjudging the other peson in that way.

「I'm disappointed. I thought you'd be a little smarter than that.」

When Rico tried to argue with him, Satoru stopped his nonsense by holding up his hand.

「Go home. Don't even show your face anymore. I'll find the information here. I may have to use force if necessary, but you made me do it, so if you want to hate me, hate yourself.」

There's nothing she can do about it. When Rico was still hesitating, Satoru picked up the Giant-Killer that was propped up against the wall and pointed the tip of it at her.

「Or do you want me to beat you?」

「Ah ......」

She doesn't think she can talk about it any more. No matter what she say, it's an excuse - I've been defeated. It was a head-on smash.

Rico's shoulders slumped and she left the room, unable to say anything.

Satoru breathed hard, propped the Giant-Killer up against the wall, and lay back on the bed. There was a figure coming up on the bed behind him. It was Leia.

「My Lord ......」

Even though Leia's voice sounded concerned, Satoru kept his back to her.

「I'm not going to hold you today. I don't want to throw my anger out on you and let it out.」

「I-I don't mind at all if you do that. ...... Not that, not that.....」

After a few stumbles, Leia spoke her mind.

「I think that little girl is also ...... anxious.」

「............」

Satoru did not answer.

「How many people do you think can suddenly open their eyes and move properly when they are told to do whatever they want?」

「You're right. But you know what, Leia? That's not the only thing I'm angry about.」

Satoru half-raised himself and turned to Leia. His face is still dominated by anger.

「Then, what is it?」

Satoru huffed in response to Leia's question.

「Did you know that she had mixed feelings about her brother?」

「Somewhat.」

It wasn't just Satoru. Leia, too, felt uncomfortable with the siblings who did not have an emotional reunion. Somehow, they seemed to have a wall between them, or something.

「Even though she knew she had to do it to survive, she thought it was dirty to sell her body. And from Rico's point of view, it was even more unforgivable that he was giving his body to someone she hated so much.」 (TLN: Sorry bit confused here)

Satoru's tone of voice has a telling ring to it.

「That's why she was protecting her virginity, even though she was a bandit in a gangster business. She's different, she tell herself that. She can't do it, but she's proud of it. ......sigh, I thought she were an idiot.」

Satoru hit the bed very lightly.

「She tried to sell her virginity, which she cherished so much, by making some excuse to herself. Where's the pride that she cherished so much!?」

Leia understood Satoru's anger. He was furious that she had thrown away her pride and clung to him for the sake of calculation. Moreover, her calculation is too shallow.

Even if that's the case, he's too angry... Oh, right. It made sense.

「....... my Lord, no. ......」

「...... Sorry. I took it out on you.」

Satoru muttered, and lay down again with his back to Leia.

Leia hesitated at her Lord's feeble apology, which she had never seen before.

She wondered if she should cut in or avoid it.

She's not sure what she can do to help her Lord who has shown such weakness... She thought about it and quickly came to a conclusion. To wrap him up.

Leia slowly took off her clothes and attached them to Satoru's back, which was facing away from her. She wrapped her arms around his broad back and down his chest. Satoru doesn't even twitch.

「My Lord must have had a hard time in the other world, aren't you? You must have protected something even if you had to throw away all your self-respect at times.」

「...... That's right. For my sister Alice, I'm...」

A voice squeezed out of his lungs. No more words could be spoken.

Satoru did so. In order to do so, he threw away his pride, and endured the pain of being painted. He quit school, got down on his knees to make money for the president of a security company who was an acquaintance of his father, sold his house, moved into a cheap apartment, and lived as if his nails were on fire.

All in order to protect his younger sister, Alice, who is his only living relative.

On the other hand, what about Rico? What did she do to protect her brother? She did the pickpocket work that she didn't want to do, she kept herself isolated, she despised her brother who allowed himself to be bodied by someone she couldn't hate enough, she made excuses for her pickpocket work saying that she had no choice because her brother was being held hostage, and now she was going to give up the innocence that she had protected for the sake of calculation.

「That's why it makes me even more angry.」

A sigh from the bottom of his stomach.

Rico was only halfway compromised in every way. If she wanted to protect the guild and her brother, she could have done it a long time ago, but she didn't. She simply wanted Satoru's overwhelming power, wanted to use it, and used her own innocence as a tool - an act that threw away the meaning of what she had protected until then.

So Satoru was furious.

「...... Forget about that little girl. I know my Lord said that you didn't want to hold me, but my late father told me that when you're in pain, it's different to have human skin around you.」

For Leia, it was a distant memory. She doesn't even remember her father's face anymore, but she does have a warm memory of him hugging her and sleeping with him when she was a little girl, when she was crying because she was having a hard time.

「It's not a very warm body, though. I hope this gives you some comfort.」

「Sorry ......」

Satoru muttered to himself as he felt Leia's body heat on his back.

It is not only because of anger that he is trembling a little - Leia felt that way, but continued to hug Satoru without saying anything.

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