Chapter 7

Volume 1

CH 10

Barkas, Dot, and Terry returned to the inn they had rented and immediately fell right on their beds .

To them, it was an act that could only be considered natural . They’d spent several days subjugating orcs and chasing down an Aurel Rabbit before picking a fight with a group of newbies and ultimately drinking themselves all throughout the night . Another factor that contributed to their lack of energy was the fact that they’d actually captured the Aurel Rabbit . The joy that resulted from their success had pumped them full of adrenaline and stopped them from feeling their exhaustion .

The rush that had kept them going petered out the moment they got back to the inn . The sudden crash rendered them unable to resist their drowsiness any longer, and thus, they ended up passing out almost right on the spot . All three adventurers had long hit their limits, and thus slept soundly until some time in the afternoon .

Brakas, who’d gotten up with his body once again pumped full of energy, immediately visited one of his favourite bars upon waking in order to repeat the cycle all over; he’d already thrown yet another toast to his party’s success . His group wasn’t the only one drinking either . The bar was already filled with customers despite the fact that the sun was still high in the sky .

「We sure have gotten ourselves caught up in some trouble, haven’t we Barkas-san?」

Dot spoke to Barkas as he raised a wooden mug and downed its cheap, beer-like contents .

「Huh? What’re you talking about?」

「You know, the thing that with that one kid . Isn’t our party already D ranked? Why should we be doing something as lame as going hunting goblins?」

Terry followed up Dot’s statement and provided a bit more info as he used the tips of his fingers to grab a beer-friendly snack composed of meat and low grade vegetables .

「Pffft . Ahahahahahahaaaaah!」

「Was what I said really that weird?」

「Dunno, was it?」

Both Dot and Terry responded to Barkas’ laugh and taunt by raising their eyebrows in confusion .

「Sorry, my bad . Couldn’t help myself . I didn’t realize I forgot to tell you guys, could’ve sworn I did . This little event of ours won’t be even the slightest bit lame . In fact, it’ll earn us a hell of a lot more than just some Aurel Rabbit . We’ll probably be able to get ourselves a few gold coins out of it, in fact . Man, it’s been a long time since we’ve gotten a chance to earn this much of a payout . 」

It didn’t take much for Barkas to convince both Dot and Terry . The little bit that was said had caused their faces to emulate his and warp into a pair of grins .

「You serious? Man, that sounds great . Looks like I’ll be eating well for quite some time . The orcs and aurel rabbit we got should pay out pretty well too . I think we’ll still have about half the payout after paying off all our tabs . 」

Dot spoke happily as he considered the group’s debts .

「Gold? That’s perfect . I just so happened to have my eye on a certain magic item . 」

「God damn Terry . Why the hell are you so obsessed with magic items? How about getting yourself a woman for once, huh?」

Terry reacted to the grin that accompanied Barkas’ comment by shrugging his shoulders .

「I just can’t really bring myself to really get in the mood with any women in the trade . Come on, you guys know what I’m into, right?」

「Yeah, yeah . You only like it when the woman doesn’t . I really don’t get you . Don’t they resist? How exactly does that make it more enjoyable?」

Dot voiced his knowledge of Terry’s preference in a bit of a questioning tone .

「That’s the good part, you see . Wait . What the hell, Dot .  You’re questioning my tastes? Aren’t you a pervert yourself? You basically don’t show interest in anything but the nape of a woman’s neck . 」

「I’d say the both of you are fucked . All that matters is that the woman lets you do her, come on . 」

「「You definitely have no right to say that when you can’t be satisfied till you totally break whoever it is you’re screwing . 」」

Both Barkas’ companions responded to his slander in unison .

「Whoops . I must’ve let that one slip . 」

The three men broke out into a series of vulgar laughs . However, none present judged them, for the only people that would bother visiting a bar and ordering cheap booze in the middle of the day were their kindred spirits .

Hence, their laughs merely ended up blending into the background, and their conversations drowned out by the noise around them . They were the only three to know what’d been said between them .

「So which brat are we going after? The stupid one that got himself involved with us, or the lanky one that calls himself a swordsman and has a slave?」

Dot asked Barkas about the two options as he contemplated them .

「The stupid one . Have you seen his staff? That thing’s got value . I mean, should be pretty obvious by now, but he’s definitely a noble of sorts . He’s definitely not his family’s first or second son either, seeing as how he hasn’t got an attendant or anything . It’s like he was given the staff to make up for that . 」

Barkas’ conclusions were followed up by Terry .

「Oh yeah, I think he was going off and blabbing about himself too . Both his stupidity and haughty attitude make it pretty obvious that he’s gotta be a noble . 」

「The kid with the slave looks like a good mark too . He seemed to speak fairly politely too . Plus, the fact that he’s got a slave at that age has to mean that he’s either some rich guy’s kid or a noble’s illegitimate son or something . 」

「No need to bother with him, Dot . My money sense doesn’t react at all when I look at him . Still, would probably be better for us to off him just so there ain’t any witnesses . He’s probably at least got a bit of cash on him . Plus, I’d love to get myself a taste of that rabbitkin slave’s body . 」

「I’m with you on that one . Do make sure you give me a go before you totally break her, Barkas-san . 」

Dot’s expression warped into a perverted grin .

「At least let me go first . Their cries always sound best right off the bat . 」

Terry, however, protested in an attempt to sate his fetish to its fullest .

All three men once again let loose a vulgar laugh . But again, the bar was far too noisy for anyone to bother listening in . Or rather, any human being .

「Chuu . Chu chu . 」

A single mouse had happened to be sitting nearby, with its body blended into the shadows as it listened in on all they’d said .

On said mouse’s back was a unnatural pattern, a shape only engravable through the use of magic, a mark only known as the『Crest of Subordination』 .

☆

「Yup . Looks like they’re scum through and through . 」

Minnalis and I had gone into the forest in order to run a few preliminary checks . There, we decided that it’d be a good idea for us to keep an eye on Barkas and his companions . Hence, we had mouse relay to us what we wanted to know .

As one could assume, the mouse we put to use wasn’t just your everyday average mouse .

I’d used the【Magical Beast’s Egg Blade]in order to subordinate and train a Small Mouse, a rodent-like monster . Though the species’ members were technically classified as monsters, they weren’t really functionally different from their animal counterparts . They didn’t have any special abilities, nor were they thought of as dangerous . In fact, they were often mistaken for regular mice, seeing as how they kind of basically were .

The【Magical Beast’s Egg Blade]wasn’t actually shaped the way you’d expect a sword to be shaped . The grip and sheath were both normal, but that was about it . The blade instead bore the shape of a budding flower . It allowed me to control any monsters whose stats, HP and MP aside, totalled to less than 1% of my own through the act of engraving upon them a Crest of Subordination . I could also store the monsters I took control of inside a mysterious space that lay within the blade by temporarily sacrificing 100 of my max MP . Likewise, I could increase the total number of monsters I was capable of controlling at once through the same action . Another feature that once again shared the same requirement granted me the ability to share senses with any of the monsters I had under my control .

Mouse #1 was originally just supposed to be a prototype . I’d only intended on using it to test my abilities, but I ultimately decided to keep it because it turned out to be useful than I’d been expecting . Much to my surprise, it was smart enough to understand human speech . Naturally, it lacked the vocal cords to reproduce any sort of human language, but the rodent was still capable of responding with a yes or no by making gestures . Its small size only added to how convenient it was to make use of, as I didn’t need to store it in the【Magical Beast’s Egg Blade] . That in turn meant I didn’t actually have to have the sword out in order to have the mouse sortie . Another benefit to its size was that it was basically capable of squeezing in anywhere so long as the building wasn’t completely sealed off, which meant I could effectively have eyes and ears everywhere I wanted .

Its current mission, observing Barkas, functioned as a bit of a test run that would allow me to determine how practical it was to use going forward .

「Is something the matter, Goshujin-sama?」

「I just got some info in from Mouse #1 . Barkas’ party was exactly what I’d been expecting it to be, a gathering of retarded douchebags . 」

「Can you let me listen in on them too?」

「Hmm, I dunno . The【Holy Blade of Vengeance]makes it so we’re always connected through magic, so it should theoretically be possible . I don’t recommend you do though, just hearing them’ll be enough to annoy you . 」

I give my shoulders a light shrug as I answered . I’d been thinking that it’d be better for her not to listen in on them, but it seemed I was mistaken as my choice had led her to become rather displeased .

「Oh come on, Goshujin-sama, how could you say that? I know I’m your slave and all, but aren’t we still supposed to be accomplices? I won’t be unreasonable and ask you not to hide anything from me, but I will say that I don’t need you to act all considerate of me . Do you know how frustrated I’d end up being if I found out that I didn’t torture them enough, and that they deserved a fate even worse after we finish them off?」

「A-Alright, I get it . You’re getting a little too close for comfort . 」

I did have to agree with Minnalis despite the fact that she’d invaded my personal space .

「Alright, here goes . 」

I successfully managed to connect Minnalis’ auditory senses with the mouse’s right as Barkas and his buddies started going off about their fantasies . I fundamentally viewed the stuff they were saying as the ramblings of a couple drunks, but they’d gone so far off the deep end that just hearing what they were saying made me want to murder them right here and now .

Minnalis remained silent as she listened to them, but the air behind her almost seemed haze up as she started to give off an incredible amount of pressure . I couldn’t let her just stay like that, so I considered asking her if we could get back to surveying the forest .

My accomplice turned towards me and smiled a smile as pure as that of the Virgin Mary herself right as I considered cutting off the link between her and the mouse .

「Hey Goshujin-sama, you remember how you said you wanted to do an even split? You wouldn’t mind changing that to a 6:4 cut, do you?」

「S-Sure…」

The manner in which Minnalis smiled simply rendered me unable to argue the matter any further .